English Pronunciation Practice: SH & SHR

Hello. I'm Gill at engVid, and today we have a lesson on pronunciation, and it's words

beginning with "sh" in the left-hand column, here. And a little bit more difficult, perhaps,

some people find this, "sh", so there's a "sh" followed by an "r", which is a little

bit more tricky. You may have already seen another lesson I've done, which is "ch" and

"sh". If you haven't seen that one yet, do have a look at it. The two sounds, "ch" and

"sh". So, this one is connected to that, but different because we have "sh" and "sh-r",

so I think some people have difficulty with the "sh-r", because it is quite difficult.

So, we're just going to go through the two lists, here, just to practice the words. Okay?

I think most of the words in the left-hand column you probably already know. Maybe in

the right-hand column, the words can be a little bit more unusual, and I'll just briefly

explain them as we go through. If you're still not clear, you can always Google them to find

out the definition. Okay.

Right, so let's make a start. So, we have "shall", "shall", and "shape", "shape", and

"sharp", "sharp", like a needle, sharp needle. Okay. "She", "sheep", "ship", "shirt", "shock",

"shoe", and "shy". Okay, so they're all fairly simple words. I hope you already know what

they all mean. Okay? So, now the more difficult words beginning, "sh-r". So, you have to just...

When you're saying it, don't try to anticipate the "r" too soon. You have to separate it

in your mind. You might want to practice it very slowly to begin with. "Sh-r", "sh-r",

so you have to do the "sh" really clearly first before you go on to the "r", otherwise

it... You'll get in a mess with it, possibly. So, let's try it with this first word. "Sh-r-ed",

"sh-r-ed". So, I'm deliberately saying it quite slowly just to get the "sh-r" in together,

so "sh-r-ed". So, if you're not sure the meaning, a shred, if you have a... Maybe a thread that

you pull out of your jumper, something like that, it's a... It's a little piece, maybe

a broken or, you know, it's in... Not in a very good condition, so a shred. Or if something

is in shreds, it's all broken up or cut up into pieces, like a shirt. "My shirt is in

shreds." If someone has taken some scissors and cut your shirt up, I hope not, but that's

what shreds are, little cut pieces of material. So, "sh-r-ed", "sh-r-ed", like that.

Okay, next word. "Shriek". I don't know if you know this word, but this is if you know

about onomatopoeia, which is another lesson I've done previously, where the word imitates

the sound. So, if you don't know this word already, can you think what does "shriek"

mean? This is when somebody shouts or screams quite maybe high-pitched, like "Shriek", like

that. "Shriek", it's that kind of sound. So, I heard somebody shrieking out in the street.

They were shrieking, so they were obviously really bothered about something. So, "sh-r-eek",

"sh-r-eek". Okay.

And then the next one, "sh-r-ill", "sh-r-ill", which is another word like "shriek" that means

high-pitched. "Sh-r-ill", "sh-r-ill", "sh-r-ill", like that, very high in your voice, like a

higher note in music. "Sh-r-ill", she had a very shrill voice, that sort of meaning,

which is a bit painful to listen to.

Okay, next one, "shrine", "shrine". So, this is a word in religion where you have a special

place, maybe a picture of a religious leader. You might put flowers there, pieces of fruit,

special gifts at the shrine. You might pray at the shrine, that sort of thing. Okay? It

could be in your own home or it could be in a public place, anything like that. So, "shrine",

"shrine". So, next one, "shrink", "shrink". So, again, be careful, "shr", "shr", "shrink".

Just gradually go from one to the next. So, "shrink", if you're not sure of this word,

this can happen to clothes. If I washed my jumper in very hot water, too hot, it might

go smaller. So, I would say, "Oh no, I didn't want to shrink my jumper. If it goes so small,

I can't put it on anymore. It's so small, only a child could wear it. That's to shrink."

So, when something gets smaller, it shrinks. Okay.

Next one, so this is a capital "S" because it's the name of an area in the UK, in England,

in the west of England. It's called a county. The different districts, areas, large areas

within the UK are called counties. So, this is the county of Shropshire, Shropshire. Okay.

Right, then we have "shrub", "shrub". So, this is a plant that grows. It could be like

a small bush growing in a pot or in the garden. A shrub. And it may have flowers or it may

just have green leaves or leaves of any colour, red leaves, green leaves, yellow leaves. A

shrub, shrub. Okay. And then almost the same, but with a "g" at the end, "shrug", "shrug".

So, to shrug, if you don't know this word, is when people just raise their shoulders

like this, maybe their hands, their arms as well, meaning I don't know or I don't care.

A shrug, a sort of casual gesture. So, shrug, shrug. Okay.

And then finally, this is the past form of this one. So, the past participle, because

shrink is the present. If you say, "I have shrunk my jumper", oh dear, I can't wear it

anymore, or "My jumper has shrunk", shrunk. Okay, so what I'm going to do now, as I've

been sort of overemphasizing these words because of the pronunciation, I'm now going to say

them in a more natural, quicker way so that you can hear the kind of normal way of saying

them. So, here we go. So, this column is easier, but I'll do this one first. So, "shall", "shape",

"sharp", "she", "sheep", "ship", "shirt", "shock", "shoe", "shy". Right. And then this column,

"shred", "shriek", "shrill", "shrine", "shrink", "shropshire", "shrub", "shrug", "shrunk". Okay?

So, to practice these, especially as they are a little bit difficult, I suggest you

just repeat them over and over again just to get used to it, how it sounds, how it feels,

the muscles that you're using to create the sound. And just the more you repeat it over

maybe the space of a few weeks, it will become natural and normal for you, and it won't feel

so difficult. So, I hope that's been useful. So, all the best with your pronunciation practice,

and see you again soon. Bye for now.