English Pronunciation: Learn when and how to say the S & Z sound

Hello, I'm Gill at engVid, and today's lesson is on the pronunciation of some words which

contain either S or Z sounds.

They look the same quite often, or very similar, but the pronunciation is different, depending

on various factors.

So, let's have a look at some examples.

This - a rule you that you can follow that if it's a verb, an action word, the sound

is a Z sound, "zuh zuh", as with the word "close", okay.

So if you ask someone to close the window, it's a Z sound, but if you have an S sound,

it will probably be either an adjective, a noun, or an adverb, so that if you have "I

like to sit close - close to the window", that's an adverb.

Close to the window, then it's an S sound.

And also, the window looks out onto the close.

A close is like a little street or maybe a little enclosed area.

A close, you sometimes hear street names, something Close, like "Clifton Close", something

like that, with capital "C", Close, so it's a sort of small street outside where people

live in a residential area usually.

Okay, so, you can see that the word "close" is spelled the same for all of these, but

the pronunciation for the verb is "cloze" with a Z sound, and for the other two, for

the noun and the adverb, it's "close" with an S sound, okay.

So, this is a little rule that you can follow for a few other words as well.

So, let's have a look at those words and I'll explain each one.

So, here's the word we've just used here, close, for the verb, to close, to "cloze"

your eyes, "cloze".

"Cloze" the window, "cloze" the door, okay?

But if you're using this word as an adjective or an adverb, you say "close".

Sitting close to the window, okay?

And also, as a noun, the Close, the little street outside.

Close, with an S. Okay, so, another verb and noun which the same thing happens to is "use",

to use, which is the Z sound, what kind of pen do you "uze".

I don't think there's an adjective or an adverb for that word, but we have a noun "use".

What "use" is a pen when the ink has run out?

What use is that pen, and what use is a noun -- "use" with an S sound, okay?

And similar to "use" we have "excuse", or "excuze" "excuze me", to excuse somebody is

the verb, but if you use it as a noun, if I make an excuse why I can't go to somebody's

party, I gave them a good excuse, and that's a noun.

Excuse with S. "Excuze" me, I have an excuse, so it depends on what part of speech it is,

a verb or a noun, okay.

Then this one, mostly we think of this word as a noun, a house, a house, a building where

somebody lives, house, so it's an S sound and it's a noun.

But, you can use it as an adjective if you're describing, for example, somebody who paints

and decorates they are a house painter, so there you're using the word "house" as an

adjective to describe what kind of painter, so it can be used as an adjective.

But you can also, as a verb, you can "houze" people, if you have enough rooms to "houze"

100 people, something like that.

So, house to "houze" as a verb has the Z sound in it, okay.

Then we have a couple of examples where the spelling actually changes, but the Z and the

S rule applies to these as well, and also people often get confused with this one.

Loose and lose, so it's useful to see that and clarify when is it a single "o", when

is it a double "o", okay, as well as how to pronounce it.

Okay, so next one, lose, to lose something.

I hate it when I "loze" my keys, so that's a Z sound.

If something is "loose" though, this a different spelling, double "o" instead of one "o", but

"loose", I'm wearing a loose scarf, it's not tight around my neck so it's loose.

As an adjective it's an S sound.

And then there is a noun, it's not used very much, but in one context.

If some animal, wild animal has escaped from a zoo, you say "It's on the loose".

On the loose, so that's a noun, and it's also double "o" and with the S sound, okay?

And then finally, another one where the spelling changes and, strangely, the Z sound is spelled

with an S and the S sounds are spelled with a "c" just to make it different!

But to advise somebody, I have to "advize" you about something is a Z sound, that's the

verb.

If you have an advice session with somebody, that would be this as an adjective, advice

session, so that's an S sound, advice, spelled with a "c" but an S sound.

And to give somebody some advice is a noun.

So, again, advice with an S sound but spelled with a "c".

Okay.

So, there are not many words that do this.

I found as many of them as I could, so there are not many, but I hope that helps to clarify

a little bit and then, in the second part of the lesson, I will give you - we've got

three example sentences here using "cloze", close, close, I'll give you some more example

sentences using these words in different ways, so that you can hear the different pronunciations,

okay.

Okay, so let's look at some example sentences using these words, and I'll give you the chance

to decide how to pronounce each one depending on whether it's a verb or a noun or an adjective

or adverb, okay?

So, let's look at the first pair of sentences, which are both using this word ___ (use),

okay?

So, you have to decide whether to say "uze" or "use", so first of all: "This bicycle is

broken - it's of no ___ to me."

And the other sentence: "If you need to get home quickly, you can ___ my bicycle", okay?

So, one is S, one is Z.

So, which one?

Which is the verb?

If you find the verb, then you know the other one is the S sound.

So, the verb is Z, the other one is the S, so which one is the verb?

Okay, is it the first sentence using the verb, or the second sentence?

Okay, you can "uze", you can "uze" my bicycle, that's the action word, to use the bicycle,

okay?

So that's the Z there, and it's of no use to me, because the "use" the use, that's the

clue, it has the definite article if you reword it, the use of, no use, no use is a noun.

So, that's the S sound, okay?

Right.

So, then we have another pair of sentences, and this time the word is that one (excuse).

So, "He made an _______, as he didn't want to go to the cinema."

And then "Please _______ me, I need to leave now."

So, which one is the verb, which one is the noun?

Okay, so you're asking somebody to "excuze" you.

"Please excuze me", so that's the Z one, "excuze" me, okay.

So, this one, he made an "excuse", that's a noun, okay?

So, with an S sound.

He made an excuse.

It has "an" with it, the indefinite article, "an excuse" - noun.

So, he made an excuse.

Please "excuze" me.

Right.

Then, we have three sentences together, because we've got this word (house) with three different

parts of speech.

So, "We don't have enough rooms to _______ all the students."

"Their _____ was designed by a famous architect."

And "I have a friend who works as a _____ painter."

So, which one is the verb?

Okay, you've got a clue here, to "houze", you've got the infinitive here, to "houze",

so that's the verb, to "houze", to find space for all the students, for one room for each

student or two students sharing, we don't have enough rooms to "houze", to accommodate,

okay?

Then their - noun - their house is a noun, their house was designed by a famous architect,

and I have a friend who works as a house painter, so adjective, noun, house painter, so another

S sound, okay.

Then we have another three sentences for this word (loose/lose) where the spelling changes

as well from one "o" to double "o".

So, "An escaped tiger is on the _____ from the local zoo.", "There's a hole in your pocket,

don't ____ your keys.", and "I prefer to wear _____ clothes - they're more comfortable."

So, which is the verb?

So, telling somebody not to do something this time, don't "loze" your keys.

So, that's the verb with the Z sound, okay, and you can tell also from the spelling, because

the verb has a single "o" and the other two have double "o".

So, an escaped tiger is on the loose, that's an unusual expression, I don't know how "the

loose" can be used for anything else except anything -- any wild animal or possibly an

escaped prisoner from a prison could be on the loose.

Anybody who is out who shouldn't be out, basically, the loose, okay?

And I prefer to wear loose clothes - they're more comfortable.

Loose as an adjective, loose clothes, S sound, okay?

Right.

Then finally, for this word (advice/advise) which has a change of spelling as well, again.

So, her _____ was very helpful.

I need someone to ______ me.

We had an ______ session at college today.

So, which is the verb, first of all?

And the spelling will give you a clue.

Again, you've got an infinitive here, to advise, so that gives you a clue.

"Advize", Z sound, to "advize", I need someone to "advize" me.

Her advice, S sound, noun, her advice, the advice was very helpful.

And here, it's used as an adjective, an advice session, so that's an S sound again, but spelled

with a "c", so we had an advice session at college today.

Okay, so, that's a bit complicated but I hope it's helped you to find your way around it

and work out how to pronounce these words that all look the same based on what parts

of speech they are.

So, thank you for watching, please go to the website www.engvid.com where there's a quiz

to test you on this, and see you again next time.

Bye for now.