English Pronunciation: How to say words ending in -OUGH & -AUGH

Hi.

Welcome back to www.engvid.com.

I'm Adam.

In today's lesson we're going to look at words that generally confuse people, especially

when it comes time to say them, words that have the "ough" or the "augh" inside them.

And the reason they're confusing is because they don't sound anything like they look.

Now, this is a common problem in English.

English is not a phonetically-spelled language.

In other languages, the way a word looks is the way it sounds.

In English, not so much.

So we're going to look at the different sounds that you can have with these letters.

And the thing you're going to have to remember is: This is about memorization.

Now, I know that some of you are asking me:

"Well, why do I say it like this?" or "Why do I say it like that?"

I don't know.

I'm sorry to tell you that.

There is no answer.

You have to remember each word, how it's pronounced, and just remember it, and use it, and practice it, etc.

So if you look here, you'll notice that I have eight different sounds for "ough" or "augh".

Okay?

Let's start with "uff", "uff":

"tough", "rough", "enough".

So, even though it's "o-u-g-h", there's no "ough".

Okay? That...

There's no such sound as "ough" in English.

All of these have a specific sound.

We're starting with "uff": "tough", "rough", "enough".

Now, this word I'm going to get back to in one second. Okay?

Let's look at the next one.

"Oo".

Very straight: "oo".

"Through", like you go through the wall.

If you're going really fast and you break through the wall, you're through.

"Ghoul", "ghoul".

A ghoul like is a some...

Is like a...

An animal that waits...

Or it's like a mystical or...

Sorry.

A fictional animal that waits for somebody to die and gets pleasure out of other people's death.

When people, for example, if you're driving on the highway and you see a really bad car

accident and you slow down to have a look, people might call you a ghoul because you

want to see blood, you want to see death.

Not a good word, but that's how it's pronounced.

"Ghoul", "oo".

Now, let's go back to this word.

The reason why I put it in the middle here is because this word actually has two meanings,

each one pronounced differently: "slough", "slough".

Okay? Different meanings.

Sl-...

It's not a word you're going to use very often, but "slough" is a...

It's basically like a marsh, like a very wet area.

It's not a lake, it's not a pond.

There's a lot of weeds and lots of plant in it, and it's very thick, but that's...

Another word for that is "slough".

"Slough", now, a lot of people will write it like this: "slew".

Especially American English, you can spell it like that.

"Slough" means a lot.

So: "He's got a slough of problems", means he's got a lot of problems.

This is more common usage, but again, you're going to see this more often than you're going to see that.

But if you do see that, like if you're reading British English, for example, you're going

to see that.

Just understand in context which word it is, "slough" or "slough".

Okay.

Next: "af".

So notice I'm using the "a" here, not the "o", so that gives you a little bit of a hint,

but not exactly because we're going to look at something else.

"Laugh", everybody knows "laugh", hahaha.

Right?

And "draught".

Now, again, American English, they don't bother,

they just spell it like that, "draft", exactly

how it sounds, exactly as it looks.

But "draught" has different meanings.

One, you can have a draught beer, like a beer from the keg.

You can drink that, draught beer.

There's also a draught, like a drawing.

Like an architect, for example, when he...

When he or she designs a building they make a draught of the plans, and once everything's

agreed and everything's settled then they make the actual final plans.

You can also have draughts of your essays.

First draught, second draught.

You make all the edits and changes, and you get to the end.

So, "af", and the "t" we're going to come back to...

Remember that "t", we're going to talk about that in a second.

Now, "up".

There's only one word that sounds like "up", and it's spelt with an "ough".

[Hiccoughs].

Oop, sorry, that was a hiccough.

Okay?

Again, American English will spell it like this: "hiccup".

British English will spell it like this, but they sound the same.

"Hiccough".

Okay.

"Of": "cough", "trough".

Again, not an everyday word, but you might hear it occasionally.

A "trough" is like a...

Like a box that you put water or food for animals.

So in the Western movies you see a horse coming down, is bending down and there's a box with

water and it's drinking.

That box is a trough.

When you...

When we speak about pigs eating, they usually eat out of a trough.

"Aow", like: "Aow, that hurt. Aow".

"Plough".

"Plough", like a farmer has this big tool...

Well, in the old days they had this big tool and the bull would...

They hook it onto the bull and they would plough the land, they would make holes to

plant their seeds.

Okay?

Now, again, a more common spelling is this one: "plow", but you will see this one as well.

This one.

Now, here you have to be very careful.

These words: "draught" and "drought", they look very similar.

The only difference is an "o" and an "a".

Keep that "o" and "a" in mind because that's the difference between the two when you see them.

"Drought" is when there's a long period of time with no rain, so the land is very, very dry.

Okay? That's a drought.

Okay.

"Ow", "ow": "dough", like when you put flour and water together and mix them, and you have

that pasty stuff, that's dough.

Now, you...

You might know this word: "doughnut", a very sweet treat.

Okay?

Again, Americans spell it like this: "donut", much easier.

British people will spell it "doughnut", but "dough".

Now, when we talk about the slang word for money:

"Do you have any dough I can borrow?

Do you have any money I could borrow?"

We're still using the same "dough".

"Though", "although", "though" is a conjunction for adverb clauses.

Now, this one's a little bit tricky, you have to be careful because this is a "the", and

then this is a "row": "thorough".

"Thorough" means very complete, full.

When you're making a thorough investigation, you're doing a complete, very detailed, in-depth

investigation.

"Thorough". Okay?

Don't confuse "thorough" with...

Where is it?

"Through", "thorough", and "though".

Where's the "ow"?

Oh, right above it. Sorry.

Okay.

These, one, two, three...

One, two, three words all look very similar.

Make sure you notice the slight differences and the different pronunciations.

"Borough".

If any of you live in New York, you know the five boroughs, basically the neighbourhood

or the area of a city is called a borough.

A "furlough", this is something that is...

Happens in the military.

When a soldier gets a little vacation time, they don't call it a vacation.

They call it a "furlough", time away from the military, approved time.

"Furlough".

But again, the actual spelling gives you no hint as to how to pronounce the word, so you

have to be very careful about it and just remember and use it.

And then: "ot", this is the most common one you know.

A lot of the irregular verbs in the past tense become these. Right?

"Think", "thought".

"Catch", "caught".

Now, here, the "a" or the "o" makes no difference; they both sound exactly the same.

But in writing, of course, spelling matters so make sure you know exactly how it's spelt

and how it's pronounced.

They sometimes can come in the middle.

"Daughter", "ought".

You ought to study this and practice, and you'll be better at it.

Now, remember I told you to remember the "t"?

Notice that most of the times when you have the "ough" or the "augh" followed by a "t",

the sound is going to be "ot".

But because this is English, and English likes to be complicated and difficult, we sometimes

have exceptions to the rule.

"Draught", "caught".

Okay? Or "daughter" or whatever.

Keep that in mind.

Now, again, I wish I could tell you there's a reason for it, and I'm sure for linguists,

there probably is, but it's not important.

What's important is that you know the different sounds, you know how to use them.

Now, there aren't many other words with these "ough" or "augh".

These are the ones you need to know.

If you come across other ones, what should you do?

If you're not sure which sound it is, look in the dictionary.

The dictionary will tell you exactly which sound goes with each "ough" or "augh" sound,

as it were.

Okay?

Now, if you have any questions, please come to www.engvid.com and join the forum,

and you can ask me any questions you like.

There is a quiz there right now that you can practice these sounds.

You will rhyme them with other words to make sure that they sound the same.

And, of course, subscribe to my channel on YouTube and come again soon.

Bye.