A CRAZY Poem About English Pronunciation (Advanced 🇺🇲 Pronunciation Lesson)

In this lesson, you're going to  master your English pronunciation,  

you're going to learn advanced pronunciation,  

and you're going to understand the  difference between commonly pronounced words.

And we're going to do this by  reviewing the pronunciation poem.

This is a poem that was written  specifically combining many  

difficult to pronounce words all in one document.

So here's how this lesson will work.

First, I'm going to quiz you to see  if you know the correct pronunciation.

So I'm going to highlight a line from the poem and  

you need to say that out loud to  see how well you can pronounce it.

And after I'll pronounce the poem, so  you can compare your pronunciation and  

I'll explain all the difficult to  pronounce words from this poem.

So by the end of this lesson,  

you are going to feel so much more  comfortable with English pronunciation.

Welcome back to JForrest

English, of course, I'm Jennifer.

Now let's get started.

Remember, first you're going to read  out loud the words that are highlighted,  

and then after I'll see them and  you can improve your pronunciation.

The pronunciation poem, you can say poem, one  syllable or poem, 2 syllables, poem, poem.

I take it you already know of  tough and bow and cough and DoH.

The difference is in the vowel sound.

Each of these words highlighted  has a different vowel.

Listen, Uh ow ah oh vowel is different,  but also the GH at the end is different.

Here we have a an F tough bow.

There is no GH at the end.

It's totally silent and F again cough and no  GH it's silent DoH O tough bow, cough DoH.

I'll read it again.

Of tough and bow, and cough and doe.

Others may stumble, but not you.

On hiccup, thorough laugh and through again,  

the difference is in the vowel  sound and the GH at the end.

Here, Hiccup This is the British spelling.

In American English.

We spell it like this, which the ending  is more close to the pronunciation.

Up, up, hiccup, hiccup.

But this double C is still confusing because  it's pronounced as a hic hiccup hiccup.

So phonetically hiccup hiccup thorough hurro  ur ur thorough laugh with that F laugh.

Laugh through through the past simple of the  

verb throw through exact same  pronunciation through through.

I'll read this again on hiccup,  thorough laugh and through.

Now don't worry about writing these notes  down because I summarize everything in a  

free lesson PDF and you can review this and  practice your pronunciation after the lesson.

So you can look in the description  for the link to download the PDF.

Say it out loud and cork and work and  card and ward here for cork and card.

Notice both of them start with AK sound.

The vowel is or or are are cork card.

Now for work and ward it's the vowel sound.

Here we have a uh uh, uh were, were, were.

Like you're saying the past simple of the verb  

to be were and then you just  add AK on it were work, work.

Now ward, this is like the  past simple of the verb wear.

Yesterday I wore a sweater and then you just put a  very soft D Ward, ward, ward, ward Let's continue.

Read this out loud and font and front  and word and sword with font and front.

Notice the vowel.

We have an ah aunt.

Here we have a aunt font.

Front.

Ward also has that ur ur sound were.

So again we can take the past simple  of the verb to be were and instead of  

AK like work we're going to put  a soft D word word now sword.

Notice the West is totally silent Ord or or sword?

Sword.

Let's move on.

Read this out loud.

Well done.

And now, if you wish perhaps to  learn of less familiar traps, woohoo.

2 sentences that were easy.

Let's keep going.

Read it out loud.

Beware of heard a dreadful word.

Notice we have EAEA but in this case  it's Ur and in this case it's EDD heard.

So you can think of it as her, him,  her, her, and then just add AD heard.

In this case, you can think  of it as Ed, the name Ed.

And then just add a drew dread.

And then obviously full dreadful dreadful heard,  

dreadful, and we've already learned  word, remember, ER ER, word.

Let's move on.

Read it out loud that looks  like beard and sounds like bird.

In this case the EA is that long E ear  like the same as ear or the word beer Beer.

And then you just add AD.

So EARDEARD pronounced completely differently.

Now they're saying the heard right here,  heard is the same vowel as bird, bird, ur, ur.

It's that ur sound.

Remember?

It's that ur in her, so him her.

Take that vowel.

Heard bird, same vowel sound.

You're doing awesome.

Let's continue.

Read it out loud and dead.

It said like bed not bead.

The word dead.

The vowel in it is the same vowel as bed.

So we can isolate this to that Ed Ed Ed,  Ed and then just put AD dead, dead bed.

But we don't want that long E sound like  we have in the word bead, eed, eed, bead.

I'll say it again and dad,  it said like bed, not bead.

Read this out loud for goodness  sakes, don't call it deed.

So this EA is pronounced as the  long E bead this word bead and deed.

They rhyme because the vowel is the  same bead deed, but we have an EA.

So they're saying don't call  dead deed because that's wrong.

Remember, it's Ed.

Ed, I'll say these two lines again.

And Dad, it said like bed, not bead.

For goodness sakes, don't.

Call it deed.

Let's continue.

Read it out loud.

Watch out for meat and grate and threat again.

We have EAEAT in all of these words, but  the vowel pronunciation is very different.

Meat is the same as meat.

That long, E, meat, meat.

Now we have great At the end it's  ate like the past simple of eat.

Yesterday I ate and then just add a great great.

Now we have threat.

Listen to the vowel ET, ET, ET, ET, ET.

So it's the same as this.

If you can isolate the vowel  and de before you add the D,  

it's that eh eh, So you can think of it as  eh eh eh, dead, thre eh threat eh threat.

I will.

I'll read it again.

Watch out for meat and grate and threat.

Read this out loud.

They rhyme with sweet and straight and dat.

Let's review these now.

Notice the poem says they rhyme.

So if they rhyme it means they  have to have the same vowel sound.

So notice here sweet.

This is pronounced exactly the same  as sweet, like chocolate is sweet.

Notice that long E meat sweet.

Great straight.

Now I put just the #8 because that's  exactly how you pronounce it, this 8.

Yesterday I ate, and that is  the same as the number 85678.

Yesterday I ate straight.

So you just add a stir onto the #8 straight.

Now threat, Remember, is that threat debt.

I wrote the word debt here, so it's easier to see  the connection, but it's also on the second line.

Now notice the B is totally  silent in the word debt.

You don't hear it at all.

Debt.

And it's that debt.

I'll read these two lines again.

Watch out for meat and grate and threat.

They rhyme with sweet and straight.

And debt let's.

Continue.

Read it out loud.

A moth is not a moth in mother.

Here the poem is saying that the oth is  not the same in the word moth and mother.

So here we have an ah ma moth, OSS.

Now this is the same word, a moth, A moth.

They're exactly the same.

Now mother Uh uh, ma ma, Mother.

A moth is not a moth in mother.

Let's continue.

Read it out loud.

Nor both in bother, broth in brother.

Let's review these vowels.

Here we have an oh sound, both oh,  both here, an ah bother author.

So you can see above it's that ah in moth,  bother, ma baw, moth, bother, and then we have  

the same vowel sound as in bother, but you just  add an R broth, auth broth, and then brother.

Now we have that uh uh, so, mother,  brother, they're both members of a family.

You can remember that vowel is that uh, brother,  brother, I'll read both of these lines together.

A moth is not a moth in Mother, nor  both in bother broth in brother.

Let's continue.

Read it out loud.

And here is not a match for their two  common words that you already know.

That also sounds like other common words that  

you already know here exactly the  same as here, ear, here, but here.

Notice the vowel is different.

Air there, air.

Now it's the exact same as the  possessive there, their car.

Is there exactly the same pronunciation?

Read this out loud and dear  and fear for bear and pear.

So dear and fear have the same vowel.

It's also the same as here.

So it's that ear, ear, dear, fear.

Now there is also the word dear, which  is an animal, but there is No Fear.

It's just for for the phonetic spelling.

Dear and Fear bear is that air vowel.

It's the same as their bear pair.

There's also a pair, a pair of mittens, for  example, and it's that air there bear pair rhyme.

Here, dear, Fear rhyme.

Let's continue.

Read it out loud and then  there's dose and rose and lose.

So here dose and rose have  the exact same vowel sound.

It's that oh, but the SE is pronounced  differently dose with an S rose,  

so you hear a buzzing because it's a voiced sound.

Dose rose.

And here we have a zed at the end.

It buzzes, but you have a different vowel.

It's a oh lose, lose, lose.

And then there's dose and.

Rose and lose.

Let's continue.

Read it out loud.

Just look them up and Goose and choose.

Let's compare goose and choose.

So the vowel is the same.

It's the same as lose, oh, goo, Choo.

But it's the difference between that S the  unvoiced and then the the buzzing, the voice.

Goose Choose.

Goose Choose.

I'll read these two sentences  together and then we'll continue.

And then there's dose and Rose and lose.

Just look.

Them up and goose and choose Read.

It out loud and do and go then Thwart and cart.

Here we have do and go notice oh do  is more like the goose choose lose.

But then we have oh go like dos or rose  do and go 00 and do and go then thwart.

So here this is not an R sound, It's not thwart.

Art like the R in cart it's  a or Thwart Ort Thwart.

So you could think of it like or and  then just add AT and then wort Thwart.

And then, of course with our our car.

Easy one cart and do and go.

Then Thwart and cart.

Read it out loud.

Come, come.

I've hardly made a start  That should be easy for you.

But just notice the come is  actually a a sound in the vowel.

Come, come and then start  and cart rhyme, come, come.

I've hardly made a start.

Try it out loud.

A dreadful language.

Man alive we already talked about.

Dreadful.

Remember it's that dread.

Dreadful alive.

Notice it's the lie.

Lie alive.

Alive.

Read it out loud.

I'd mastered it when I was 5 S here.

Easy for you, right?

We have 5, which of course rhymes with alive.

So this is an easy way to remember pronunciation  

is to find a word that is your  word you know how to pronounce.

You know how to pronounce 5.

So now when you think of alive,  you can remember that vowel sound  

in five and you can apply it to the  word A dreadful language, man alive.

I'd mastered it when I was five.

Our last two lines.

You can read this one.

First read it out loud and yet  to write it, the more I sigh.

Of course, right is the is pronounced  the same as right, the opposite of wrong.

But in this case it's right.

The West is silent, so phonetically it  would just look like this right right now.

Sigh.

It's the vowel sound in I,  I and then just add a sigh,  

sigh, and yet to write it  the more I sigh our last.

Line.

You can do it.

Read it out loud.

I'll not learn how until the day I die.

First, let's look at learn because we've  talked a lot about this EA pronunciation.

We've seen it in many different forms here.

You can think of it as a uh  earn uh more of a uh sound.

Or you can just think of the vowel is just  not even there and it's Lu Earn, ER, earn,  

learn whatever is easier for  you to remember the sound.

Learn, learn.

I'll not learn how until the day I die.

This is pronounced the same as the word die.

And notice all of these have that same I I  sound in every single one alive, 5 sigh, die.

Sure, the beginning is  different, the end is different.

But if you isolate the vowel in all of  these sounds, it's that same I vowel.

And you did it, That's the pronunciation poem.

Now I'll read the poem from start to finish,  and you can focus on the pronunciation and make  

sure after you practice reading this out loud  and focus on all the individual words as well.

So I'll read it from start to finish.

The pronunciation poem.

I take it you already know of  Tuff and bow and cough and doe.

Others may stumble, but not you.

On hiccup thorough laugh and through and cork and  

work and card and ward and font  and front and word and sword.

Well done.

And now, if you wish perhaps to learn  of less familiar traps, beware of herd.

A dreadful word that looks like  beard and sounds like bird and dead.

It's said like bed, not bead.

For goodness sakes, don't call it deed.

Watch out for meet and greet and threat.

They rhyme with sweet and straight and debt.

A moth is not a moth in mother, nor  both in bother broth in brother.

And here is not a match for there  and dear and fear for bear and pear.

And then there's dose and rose and loos.

Just look them up and goose and chews and  do and go, then thwart and cart come, come.

I've hardly made a start.

A dreadful language, man alive.

I'd mastered it when I was 5.

And yet to write it, The more I sigh,  I'll not learn how until the day I die.

Amazing job.

Think of all the pronunciation that you learned.

And yes, English certainly looks difficult when  you see all these confusing words together.

But just remember that this poem was written  specifically to combine all these confusing words  

together, and it isn't common to have that many  confusing words together in a sentence each time.

So just remember that if you're  feeling a little overwhelmed about  

English pronunciation and also if you want me  to keep helping you improve your pronunciation,  

if you want me to make more pronunciation  lessons, then put choose a goose.

Put choose a goose in the  comments, choose a goose.

Because remember, those are two  of the confusing words that have  

similar spelling but different different  pronunciation that we learned in the poem.

So put choose a goose in the comments  and I'll keep helping you improve  

your pronunciation and you can get this free.

You can guide where I share 6 tips on how  to speak English fluently and confidently.

You can click here to download it or  look for the link in the description.

And why don't you keep improving your  English with this lesson right now?