SAME spelling but DIFFERENT pronunciation?! Heteronyms in English

41,618 views ・ 2020-02-25

Accent's Way English with Hadar


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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Hey, it's Hadar.
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Thank you for joining me.
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Today is the second part of the video series about spelling versus
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pronunciation, trying to tackle common confusions.
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In the previous lesson we talked about homophones - words that are pronounced the
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same but spelled differently.
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So we went through bunch of pairs, and if you want to watch that video, if you
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haven't watched it, I'm going to link to it in the show notes.
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In today's lesson, we are going to talk about heteronyms - words that are spelled
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the same but pronounced differently.
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The first one is this - 'tear' 'tear' as in "Don't shed any tears" - right, -
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"when you cry".
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"Tears are running down your cheeks".
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'Tear'.
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Here it's pronounced with a T sound, then a high E - 'tee', and then an R sound
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- 'teer'.
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Make sure that 'ee' is long - 'teer'.
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But this could also mean to tear.
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'Tear', to ruin, like "to tear something down" or "to tear up the page".
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'tehr'.
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And then it's pronounced with an 'a' sound.
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"Tear" - it's a T sound, and 'a', so drop your jaw and bring the tongue up for the R
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only at the end.
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"Tear".
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The next one is "read": an R sound, an a high E - 'ree-', and then a D - 'reed'.
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"I need to read this book" - 'reed'.
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Or "I read this book", the past form - 'red'.
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Then it's just an 'e' sound - 'red'.
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I know it's confusing and you're probably asking yourself, "Why is that?
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Why can't they spell it differently?
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Let's say, just with an 'ea', right, like the color "red".
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Well, probably once upon a time the 'EA' spelling pattern used to always have the
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same pronunciation, the same sound.
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But with time English evolved and sounds have changed and morphed, and this is why
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we have such a distinction or such a differentiation between the spelling and
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the pronunciation.
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Okay.
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So probably, it's because it has changed.
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The 'ea', for example, as in "read" and "read", can also be 'ei' as in break,
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right.
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This is why English can be confusing.
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Hashtag English is confusing.
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Because the same spelling pattern can be several different vowels.
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The most important thing is that you remember it 'as is', and try to detach
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yourself from the spelling.
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Try to really identify the sound of the word with the context.
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Because when you hear people talking about the past, "I read this book", it's obvious, right?
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It's not confusing whatsoever.
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The 'e' sound is an easy sound to detect, and also the 'ee'.
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"I need to read this book", right?
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So try to associate the sound with the actual word and the meaning, and the
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tense, rather than try to identify it according to the spelling.
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And if you're reading something, then see how it relates to the rest of the sentence.
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This is how you know.
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It's easier than you think.
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Then we have [Live].
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This could be 'laiv' as in "It's a live show".
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Then it's the 'ai' as in "my" - 'laiv'.
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Or 'liv', as in "Where do you live?"
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'liv', then it's a relaxed 'i' sound - 'liv'.
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The next one is this [Polish].
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This could be 'pow-lish', as in someone from Poland.
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Then we want to make sure that the O always pronounced with a long 'ow' sound
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- 'pow-lish'.
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The trick is to add the W - 'pow', 'pow-lish'.
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Or 'paa-lish', "I need to polish the glasses before I pour wine into them".
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'paa-lish'.
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You could tell I was a bartender once, right?
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This one is rather confusing [Resume].
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So, it's either "to 'ruh-zuwm' the classes", right.
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"I stopped taking English classes, but I need to resume my studies, or resume
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classes - to start again".
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'ruh-zuwm'.
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It's an R sound, then a Z, and then the U as in "food" - 'ruh-zuwm', close it with an M.
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Or it's 're-zuh-mei' 're-zuh-mei', so different!
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're-zuh-mei'.
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"I need to submit my resume, if I want to get a job there".
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're-zuh-mei'.
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Or "I need to work on my resume".
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're-zuh-mei'.
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're' as in "red", so round your lips for the R, 'zuh' - it's a Z sound and a schwa
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- 're-zuh'.
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And it's confusing cause it's spelled with an S, I know, but it's pronounced as a Z.
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're-zuh-mei', 'mei', 'ei' as in "day", 'mei'.
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're-zuh-mei', 're-zuh-mei'.
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The next one is this [Use].
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This has two meanings.
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One, "to use" - then it's spelled with a Z sound - 'uwz'.
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Or it's the noun - 'uws'.
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"What's the use?"
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'uwz' versus 'uws'.
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Now, this S that is once pronounced with an S, once pronounced with a Z, can also
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be found in the pair "close" versus "close".
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Spelled the same, pronounced differently.
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"Close the door", with a Z 'klowz'.
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Or "Come sit close to me".
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"We're sitting close to each other".
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'klows', long O, as in "go", and then an S.
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The only difference here is the S versus Z: 'klows' - 'klowz', 'uws' - 'uwz'.
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The next set of words are verbs versus nouns that are spelled the same.
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For example, this word [Present].
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'preh-z'nt' versus 'pruh-zent'.
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So here you have a trick.
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When you see the same word and you know that it can be used as a verb, to do
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something or as a noun, the secret is in the stress.
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'PREH-z'nt'. If the stress is on the first syllable, it's a noun.
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"I want to give you a PREsent.
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'preh-z'nt'.
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If it's a verb, the stress is going to be on the second syllable - 'pruh-ZENT'.
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And that is always the case with words that have two syllables and they are
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spelled the same, and you know that they have two different meanings:
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one is a verb, one is a noun.
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'pruh-ZENT'.
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"I need to preSENT my idea".
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'pruh-zent - 'preh-z'nt'.
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Now, the stress shift also changes the vowels, the pronunciation of the other vowels.
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Because once you put the stress on one syllable, the other syllable receives a
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schwa - the vowel is reduced.
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'preh-z'nt' , 'z'nt', then there is no vowel here.
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It's 'uh' - 'z'nt'.
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But then if I shift the stress to the second syllable, the second syllable gets
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the vowel 'zent', the first syllable - 'pruh'.
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'pruh-zent'.
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So it's not 'pre-zent' and 'pre-zent'.
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Then it's not clear what is stressed and what is not stressed, right?
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'PREH-z'nt' - 'pruh-ZENT'.
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Record ['reh-k'rd'].
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"Let's play that record", 'reh-k'rd'.
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Or 'ruh-kord' - "I need to record an album".
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'reh-k'rd': here the 'reh' is the primary stress, as in "red", 'k'rd.
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Or "It's a world record", right?
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Same pronunciation, 'reh-k'rd'.
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Or "I need to record it".
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'ruh', then it's a schwa, 'kord'.
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All of a sudden, it's an O sound as in "for".
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'ruh-kord', right.
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In 'reh-k'rd' it was a schwa, you couldn't hear an O sound.
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But here, 'ruh-kord'.
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See how it works?
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Let's look at a few more.
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Desert ['de-z'rt'] - "Let's go to the desert".
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"The desert is so beautiful in the winter".
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'de-z'rt', stress is on the first syllable.
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And 'duh-z'rt'.
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The first one is 'DEsert' as, "Let's go to the desert", 'de-z'rt'.
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The second one is 'deSERT', "Don't desert that project again", 'duh-z'rt' - to stop
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doing something, to leave it abruptly.
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'duh-z'rt'.
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"Desert" is also a homophone of "Dessert", spelled differently.
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Notice: dessert, which is what you have at the end of a meal.
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"Dessert".
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Or in the beginning, if you're my daughters 😃.
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"Dessert".
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"Dessert".
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Okay. So again, we have 'DE-z'rt' - stress on the first syllable, 'DE-z'rt'.
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That's the place.
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And then 'duh-Z'RT' - stress on the second syllable - is the verb "to desert", "Don't
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desert me".
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'duh-Z'RT'.
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But it's also what you eat at the end of a meal - "dessert".
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So, "desert", the verb, and "dessert", the noun - are homophones cause they're
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spelled differently but pronounced the same.
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Confusing?
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I hope not anymore.
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The last one is "produce" versus "produce".
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"PROduce" versus "proDUCE".
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To produce ['pruh-duws'] is to make something out of raw materials,
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'pruh-duws'.
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Or to make something out of nothing: "I need to produce a sound or produce a video".
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'pruh-duws'.
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So, the first syllable is a schwa - 'pruh', second syllable is stressed
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- 'duws'.
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That's the primary stress with a U as in "food" - 'pruh-duws'.
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'prow-duws' are things that have grown or produced, especially in a farm, like
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carrots and apples, and lettuce.
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'prow-duws'.
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Here we say it with the 'ow' sound - that's the primary stress - 'prow-duws',
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U as in "food".
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'prow-duws'.
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'pruh-duws' - 'prow-duws'.
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Okay, that's it.
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Now I want to challenge you.
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Write in the comments below more words that share the same spelling, but have
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different meanings and different pronunciation.
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Okay?
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So, I can't wait to hear your comments, and if you haven't seen it yet, go watch
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the first part of this video about words that are spelled differently but
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pronounced the same.
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I'm sure you're going to find it very, very interesting.
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If you liked this video, please share it with your friends and click "Like".
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And if you haven't yet, please subscribe either to my channel or you can subscribe
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to my newsletter to get the videos into your inbox every single week.
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You'll also get my podcast episodes straight to your inbox.
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So, have a beautiful week, and I will see you next week in the next video.
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Bye.
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