English Vocabulary: Perfect Pronunciation for 100’s of Words!

Let’s round up all different kinds of  English vocabulary words from daily life  

and focus on the pronunciation. So you’re  comfortable using this vocabulary in your  

own spoken English. We’ll go over  foods, clothes and laundry, the car.

Let’s start with vegetables.

Garlic looks good. Tomatoes  on the vine. Those look nice.

These might be heirloom tomatoes.

They are, mmm, those looks so  nice. Slice that on a sandwich.

There you heard the terms garlic and tomatoes.  Words with stress on the first syllable.

For garlic, we have an R followed by L. Depending  on your native language, that can be tricky.

Try practicing it, holding out your R.

Garrrr— the tip is pulled slightly back enough  and it's not touching anything. Garrrr— garlic.

Then bring your tongue tip up and forward for  the light L. Garlic. Say that with me. Garlic.

Garlic looks good.

Tomato or tomatoes. Notice that the first T is a  true T, unlike tomorrow or today, which also start  

with an unstressed syllable, T schwa. This really  has to be a true T. It sounds weird with a flap T.

The second T however is a flap  T because it comes between two  

vowels and doesn't start a stressed syllable.

Tomato. Toma-- dadadada-- Tomato.  Make that by just flapping your  

tongue once on the roof of the mouth.  Tomato. Tomatoes. Say those with me.

Tomato.

Tomatoes.

You also heard the phrase: tomatoes on the  vine, which is just what it sounds like.

A set of tomatoes still attached to the vine.

Tomatoes on the vine. Those look nice.

Also, I said heirloom tomatoes. Those  are tomatoes grown from heirloom seeds.

Notice that the H is silent in that word.

Heirloom. Say that with me.

Heirloom.

These might be heirloom tomatoes. They are, mmm,  those looks so nice. Slice that on a sandwich.

You also heard a funny pronunciation  of the word 'sandwich'.

We often don't say the D sound in this word. So  it sounds like sanwich, sanwich, with just an N  

sound and you'll even hear it with an M instead  of an N. That's what I did. Sam, Sam-wich.

Sandwich.

Sandwich.

A very common pronunciation of that word.

Sandwich. Say that with me.

Sandwich.

Slice that on a sandwich.

Let's look at a close-up of garlic.

This is called a head of garlic, and  one piece pulled off is called a clove.

Head. Clove.Say those with me.

Head.

Clove.

Sweet potato. Red onion. Yellow onion. White  onion. Red potato. Regular potato. Russet.

There, you saw several varieties of potatoes  and onions. Potato rhymes with tomato.

The first T is a true T because it begins  

a stressed syllable even though  it does come between two vowels.

The second T is a flap T because it comes between  two vowels and doesn't start a stressed syllable.

Potato.

Potato.

The first O is a schwa.

Pot—

the second O is the OH diphthong.

Oh. Oh.

Potato. Say that with me.

Potato.

Red potato. Regular potato. Russet.

Onion. The first letter O is  the UH as in butter sound.

Uh— Onion.

Onion. Say that with me.

Onion.

Red onion. Yellow onion. White onion.

All sorts of mushrooms. Look  how big these portabellas are.

Oh my gosh, they're huge.

Mushrooms. One of my favorite  vegetables. So many varieties.  

And also one of Stoney's favorite vegetables.

Two-syllable word, stress on the first  syllable. Mush-room. Room, room, room.

Room is unstressed, lower in pitch,  has less energy in the voice.

Room, mushroom.

Mushroom. Say that with me.

Mushroom.

All sorts of mushrooms. Look how big  these portabellas are. Oh my gosh.

Cauliflower. Oh, that looks good.

Cauliflower.

The first syllable can have the AW vowel, caul—  or the AH vowel, ca— cauli-- cauli-- cauliflower.

The first syllable is the most stressed.  Cauliflower. Say that with me. Cauliflower.

Cauliflower.

Oh, that looks good.

Like garlic, a unit of one cauliflower  is called a head. When you cut it up into  

smaller pieces, those pieces are called  'florets'. Florets. Say that with me.

Florets.

Nice and fresh.

Asparagus.

Asparagus. A four-syllable word with  stress on the second syllable. So the  

first syllable should lead up to it, and the  last two syllables fall away. Ah-spar-agus.

Asparagus. Say that with me. Asparagus.

Asparagus.

Oh wow, look at this artichoke.

I've never made an artichoke.  I've only ever bought them canned.

Artichoke. Here, we have a flap T. Why?

It doesn't come between two vowels. That's the  rule for flap T, but there is a second rule. A  

T is also a flap T when it comes after an  R, before a vowel or diphthong like here.  

So you'll flap your tongue once on the roof  of the mouth. Arti-- dididididi-- Artichoke.  

First-syllable stress. Artichoke.  Say that with me. Artichoke.

Oh wow, look at this artichoke.

The eggplants look good. Is that on the list?

Yep? And the cabbages.

Eggplants. Eggplant has nothing  to do with a chicken but one  

variety was originally called this  because it looked like a goose egg.

Make the G with a back of the tongue,  gggg-- then close your lips for the P,

egg-- and you don't try to pull your  tongue away to fully pronounce the G.

Egg-plant.

Eggplant. Eggplant.

That G is too heavy. Instead,  just lift the tongue, egg-- and  

close the lips for the P and release.

Eggplant. Eggplant. Say that with me. Eggplant.

The eggplants look good.

Parsnips. Don't think that's on our list.

Parsnip. I love these put into  a fruit and vegetable smoothie.

Make sure you drop your jaw for  the AW vowel before the R. Par--  

paarr-- parsnip. Say that with me. Parsnip.

Parsnips.

I also bought a bunch of vegetables and  brought them home. Let's take a look.

Avocado. Let's cut it open.

An avocado. Let's see. What's on the  inside? It's not a seed. Is it a pit?

Does that sound right to you?  It's a pit. There it is. Avocado.

Avocado. We have two syllables here  with the AH as in father vowel.

Don't let that first letter O fool you.  It's a schwa. Uh, said very quickly.

Avo, avo, uh, uh, avo. Avocado. Third  syllable is the most stressed but the

first syllable has some stress too.

A-vo-ca-do. Avocado. Avocado. Say that with me.

Avocado.

Avocado.

I mentioned seed and pit. I went over  the pronunciation of these two words in  

the fruit vocabulary video that I did.  Did you miss that? It's a great one.

I'll put a link to that one  towards the end of this video.

An avocado. Let's see What's on the inside?

It's not a seed. Is it a pit?  Does that sound right to you?

It's a pit. There it is.

Broccoli.

Broccoli. Just like cauliflower,  

this is a head. And when it's cut into  smaller pieces, those are called florets.

This is one of those words that can be  three syllables or two like: camera,  

camera, and family, family. I recommend you  go with the two-syllable pronunciation. I  

think it's more common and it's simpler.  Brocc--li instead of broc-uh-li. Broccoli.

First-syllable stress. Broccoli.  Say that with me. Broccoli.

Broccoli.

Cabbage. Let's cut it open.

I have to be really careful because  this knife is extremely sharp.

I actually gave it to David for  Father's Day and the same day,  

we had to go to the ER because he cut his finger.

I better be really careful.

This is a tough cabbage.

There we go.

Cabbage.

Cabbage. Which can be extremely hard to cut.

Cabbage. This is also called a head. A head of  cabbage. But it doesn't cut down into florets  

the way that broccoli and cauliflower does. Good  thing I was so careful with that knife, right?

The first syllable is stressed so keep the second  syllable really short. Age, age, age. Cabbage.  

Cabbage. Say that with me. Cabbage.

Cabbage. Which can be extremely hard to cut.

Carrot.

Carrots. I can't hear this word without  thinking of Anne of Green Gables where a  

boy teases her for having red  hair by calling her carrots.

Carrots.

You mean, hateful boy!

How dare you!

This word is written phonetically with the AH as  in bat vowel but that's not how it's pronounced.  

R changes this vowel. It's more like the EH  as in bed vowel but not quite that either.

Car-- car-- car-- Just like CARE, care.  

Carrot. Carrot. Carrots. Say  those with me. Carrot. Carrots.

Carrot.

I have two peppers, a red  pepper, and an orange pepper.

Peppers. There are so many  kinds of peppers. Bell peppers,  

like you saw in the video, and then  all kinds of hot spicy peppers.

And then of course, there's the spice pepper,  

which with salt is very typical on the American  dinner table. Pepper. Unstressed schwa R ending,  

said quickly, low in pitch. Er, er.  Pepper. Pepper. Say that with me. Pepper.

I have two peppers, a red  pepper, and an orange pepper.

Here's a bunch of kale.

Kale is a really thick, hearty leaf.

Kale. K constant, AY diphthong, and the dark L.

Kale. Kale. This is a bunch of kale,  not a head like we have with lettuce  

or cabbage. All of the leaves were already  cut off and not attached to a main stem.

So it's a bunch, kale. Say  that with me. Kale. Kale.

Kale is a really thick, hearty leaf.

Lettuce a two-syllable word  with first-syllable stress.

What do you notice about the double T?

Lettuce. It's a flap T. A single sound.  The second syllable is said very quickly.

Lettuce. Us, us, us. Lettuce.  Say that with me. Lettuce.

This is a bunch of scallions.  Also known as green onions.

Scallions or green onions.

Green onion or scallion. You already know onion.

Green can be a little tricky  because of the GR consonant cluster.

With clusters with R, I always recommend  holding out the R as you practice to give  

you some time to focus in on  the right sound and position.

Grrrr-een green, green, green onion.  Say that with me. Green onion.

Green onions.

Scallion. Another word for the exact same  thing. A dark L, scal-- scal-- scallion,  

scallion. Say that with me. Scallion.

Scallions.

Corn. This is an 'ear of corn' and  when you take off the outer leaves  

to reveal the kernels of the corn, this act,  this verb, which is harder than it looks,  

it's called shucking. I'm shucking the corn.

Corn. Corn on the cob.

Corn. This word has the AW as in law  vowel but when it's followed by R,  

just like it is here, it changes. Now, the lips  around more and the tongue pulls back more.

So it's not aw, law but it's  uhl, co-- corn. Corn. Corn. Corn.  

Say that with me. Corn.

Corn.

Shucking corn is a lot of work, isn't it? I  called the green things that I was pulling

down leaves but really that's the husk.  And inside the husk, those strands that

look like hair, that's called corn silk. You'll  see some more corn silk coming up in a minute.

This is an ear of corn, and when  you take off the outer leaves  

to reveal the kernels of the corn, this act,  this verb, which is harder than it looks,  

it's called shucking. I'm shucking the corn.

I didn't get video of celery, cucumber, or  radishes, three other common vegetables.

Celery is another word that can be  three syllables. Cel--err--ee. Celery.

But I recommend pronouncing it  with two: cel-ree. Celery. Celery.

Say that with me. Celery.

Cucumber.

Three-syllable word, stress on the first  syllable, which has the JU diphthong.

Cu-- cu-- cucumber. Say that with me. Cucumber.

Radish or radishes.

The plural here, ES adds an extra syllable because  the last sound of the noun was an SH. Radishes.  

Radishes. It's like the word 'is' said very  quickly as a third syllable. Radish. Radishes.  

Say those with me. Radish. Radishes.

That's it for the vegetable vocabs. Here's some corn silk.

Woo! Celebrate!

You know we could continue on with  food but I’m kind of feeling cars.

Let's get started.

The steering wheel.

Steering wheel. steering is two syllables.  The ing ending is always unstressed it has  

an r in it which can be a tricky sound.  Make sure you hold it out. Steer-ing.

If you can't, steering, rarara.  

Then you're making it with the wrong part of  the tongue. Steering wheel. Steering wheel.  

The tongue tip should be pulled back and up  a little bit so it's not touching anything.

Wheel. WH words like wheel can be pronounced hw or  w without the hw before, I think it's easier just  

to use the w sound. Wheel. Wheel. Steering wheel.  Say that with me. Steering wheel. Steering wheel.

The steering wheel.

This is the gear shift.

We have a P for park, R for reverse,  N for neutral and D for drive.

Gear shift. Gear shift. Gear, ear.  That's the same combination as steer ear.  

Gear shift. Say that with  me. gear shift gear shift

This is the gear shift. We have a P for park.

Park. Paaaaark.  

All vowel plus R. Lots of my students say  something like park without dropping the  

jaw. Do drop your jaw. Get a clear aw vowel before  the R. Paaar, park. Say that with me. Park. Park.  

We have a P for park, R for reverse.

Reverse. Two syllables and the first  syllable is really short. Re, re, re,  

reverse. Say that with me. Reverse. Reverse.

R for reverse, N for neutral.

Neutral. Many Americans make the tr  cluster sound like chr. Neutral. Chr, chr.  

Try that with me. Neutral. Neutral.

N for neutral and D for drive.

Drive some people especially  Japanese speakers have a problem  

with R and L. Remember it's not live with  the tongue tip forward but drive. Drrr,  

with the tongue tip pulled  back and up a little bit. Drr.  

So it's not touching anything.  Try that with me. Drive. Drive.

And D for drive.

We have the emergency brake or parking brake.

Emergency brake or parking brake.

Emergency.

Stress is on that second syllable.

Emergency. Emergency. Try that with  me. Emergency. Emergency brake.

Parking brake. Remember the ing ending is  unstressed. Parking brake. Say that with me.  

Parking. Parking brake.

We have the emergency brake or parking brake.

This is the dashboard.

Dashboard. Stress on the  first syllable dash-board.  

Try that with me. Dash  Board. Dashboard. Dashboard.

This is the dashboard.  Here's the rear-view mirror.

Rear-view mirror. Two words with two r sounds.  This is so hard. Rear and mirror have the same  

sound combination except for the first consonant.  Ear, ear. This is just like steer in steering  

wheel. The tongue tip is forward touching the  back the bottom front teeth and then just lifts  

and pulls back a little bit, eeear, so it's not  touching anything. Rear. Mirror. Rear-view mirror.  

Re-emphasize the R for the second syllable of  mirror. Mirror, mirror. Let's try the whole  

thing together slowed down. Say it out loud  with me. Rear-view mirror. Rear-view mirror.

And now at regular pace. Rear-view  mirror. Rear-view mirror.

Here's the rear-view mirror.

Oh that sun's bright. Let's pull down the visor.

Visor. Even though the letter o is  in the second syllable don't try to  

make a vowel VIs-rrr. Just the r sound.  Visor. Visor. Try that with me. Visor.

Oh that sun's bright. Let's pull down the visor.

I've been driving a long time. Time for  snooze. Good thing I have this headrest. Ahh.

Headrest. Compound words like this have stress  on the first word. Headrest. Try that with me.  

Head rest. Headrest. Headrest.

Good thing I have this headrest.

This area is the console.

Console. This word ends with a dark L. Soul,  uhl, uhl. Tongue tip stays down and the back of  

the tongue pushes down and back a little bit. Uhl,  uhl, console. Try that with me. Console. Console.

This area is the console.

Always buckle up. This is the seatbelt.

Seatbelt. Another compound  word stress on the first word.  

Seatbelt. Notice I'm making both T's stop T's.  Seatbelt. I'm not releasing them like a true T.  

Seat-belt. Seatbelt. Say that  with me. Seatbelt. Seatbelt.

This is the seatbelt.  

If you're having an emergency and need to pull  over, turn on your hazards, also called four ways.

Hazards. Even though you see the letter  a in the second syllable, haz-erdsz.  

You can leave out the vowel. Just r-d-s. Erdz,  erdz, erdz. Hazards. Try that with me. Hazards.  

Hazards. If you're having an emergency  and need to pull over, turn on your hazards also called four ways.

We've got our driver’s seat, passenger seat and back seat.

The driver's seat, the passenger seat, the back  seat. Notice that we have the apostrophe s but you  

can't really hear it because the next word begins  with an s. The two s blend together into one sound  

to link the words. Driver's seat. Passenger's seat  try that with me. Driver's seat. Passenger seat.

We've got our driver's seat,  passenger seat and back seat.

Backseat. We have a couple of interesting  ways that we use this term in English. A  

back seat driver is one who gives too much  input on driving when they're not driving.  

It can also mean of less importance  and we often use it in the negative.

“I won't take a backseat to him.”  That means i won't let him or his  

ideas be more important or prominent than  mine. “I won't take a backseat to him.”

And backseat. Now, if you're going  to be riding in the car and you want  

to make sure you get this seat  you'll want to yell, “shotgun!”

Yelling shotgun. Yelling or calling shotgun  i don't know how this phrase got started.  

But you say it when you want to  sit in the front seat of the car.  

Shotgun. Stop T there. Shot-gun.  Say that with me. Shotgun. Shotgun.

Now if you're going to be riding in  the car and you want to make sure  

you get this seat, you'll want to yell, “shotgun!”

Here's the floor mat.

Floormat. Floor. Phonetically, this would be  written with the ah as in law vowel but before  

R this vowel is much more closed. The lips  round more and the back of the tongue pulls  

back more. Floo-or, floor, floor floormat.  Say that with me. Floor mat. Floor mat.

Here's the floor mat. And we  have the gas pedal and the brake.  

Gas pedal. Gas. We have the ah vowel. Gas, gas pedal.

Try that with me. Gas pedal. Gas pedal.  And we have the gas pedal and the brake.

Brake. This is a homophone and it's  pronounced just like this other word: break.  

Say that with me. Brake. Brake.

And we have the gas pedal and the brake.

Side mirror.

Side mirror. Okay we already went over the tricky  word mirror, here it is again. The word before it  

side ends in a d just make a little sound with the  vocal cords, side, before the next word. You don't  

need to release the d. Side. Side. Side mirror.  Say that with me. Side mirror. Side mirror.

Side mirror.

And here is the car seat.

Car seat. Just like park you need to  drop your jaw to get a good ah vowel  

before the r. Caaar. Car. Car seat.  Say that with me. Car seat. Car seat.

And here is the car seat.

Trunk

Trunk. Remember the tr cluster can be pronounced  chr. Trunk or trunk. Try that with me. Trunk.  

Trunk. This is the same word that's  used for the trunk of a tree.

Trunk.

License plate.

License plate. Both the letter C and the  letter S make the s sound here. Lic-ense.  

License plate. Say that with me.  License plate. License plate.

License plate and tires.

Tires. Remember for the r, the tip  of the tongue is pulled back and up.

Tiiire. Tire. Tires. Try  that with me. Tires. Tires.

Tires.

Here's the antenna.

Antenna. Stress on the middle syllable.  Antenna. Try that with me. Antenna. Antenna.

Here's the antenna and this is  where you can get to the gas tank.

Gas tank. Both of these words are written  phonetically with the ah vowel. But this vowel is  

followed by the ng sound here and it's not really  an ah vowel anymore. Ah. Gas. But tank, aenk. Hmm.  

It's more like the a diphthong gas. Ah. Tank,  aenk. Try that with me. Gas tank. Gas tank.

And this is where you can get to the gas tank.

Windshield wiper. Windshield wiper. It's  common to drop the d between two other  

consonants and we definitely do that  here. Windshield. Wind-shield. No d.

Windshield wiper

Try that with me. Windshield  wiper. Windshield wiper.

Windshield wiper and the hood. I actually have  no idea how to open this thing. Hood. Double O  

making the uh sound like in look, cook, and  foot. Hood. say that with me. Hood. Hood.

And the hood. I actually have  no idea how to open this thing.

Headlights.

Headlights. compound word stress  on the first word head lights.  

Say that with me. Headlights. Headlights.

Headlights. And in here you would  find the engine and all that other  

good stuff that I don't know anything about.

Engine. Stress on the first syllable  the second syllable should be said  

very quickly. Gin, gin, gin. Engine.  Say that with me. Engine. Engine.

Headlights. And in here you would  find the engine and all that other  

good stuff that I don't know anything about.

Had to come over to our trusty VW for this  one where we have a manual transmission.  

That's different from the automatic  transmission in the other car. Manual  

versus automatic. Look both of these words have  that stressed ah vowel in the stressed syllable.  

But the vowel isn't pure before a nasal consonant.  Here is before the N so it relaxes into ah. Maen.

Manual

Try that with me. Manual. Manual.  Automatic has a pure ah. Automatic.

Notice both of those t's  are flap t's, not true Ts.  

Automatic. Automatic. Say that  with me. Automatic. Automatic.

Had to come over to our trusty VW  for this one where we have a manual  

transmission. That's different from the  automatic transmission in the other car.

Another common word for manual in the US is stick  shift. Try that with me. Stick shift. Stick shift.

Now we have a third petal, the clutch.

Clutch. Try that with me. Clutch. Clutch.

Now we have a third pedal, the clutch.

Don't forget the horn.

Horn. Just like floor in floor mat,  we have the O vowel followed by R.  

The O vowel is a little bit more closed. Ho-o,  horn. Horn. try that with me. Horn. Horn.

Don't forget the horn. Airbag. We have  an airbag in the steering wheel here.

Airbag. Another compound word  so stress is on the first word.  

Airbag. Airbag. Drop your jaw before that r.  Air. Airbag. Try that with me. Airbag. Airbag.

Airbag. We have an air bag  in the steering wheel here.

On the manual we have reverse, and then  five different gears: first, second, third,  

fourth and fifth. first second third fourth  fifth gears. These are all ordinal numbers.  

Different from one, two, three, four. I know they  can be tricky to pronounce. Practice them with me.

First

Second

Third

Fourth

Fifth

On the manual we have reverse  and then five different gears:  

first, second, third, fourth, and fifth.

Here we have vents.

Air vents. Compound word even  though there's a space stress  

on the first word. Air vents. Try  that with me. Air vents. Air vents.

Here we have vents,

climate control.

Climate control. Even though this second  syllable looks like it might be what some  

people call a long a, mate, climate,  It's not. It's really short, mit, mit.  

Climate. Climate control. Try that with  me. Climate control. Climate control.

Climate control.

The radio.

Radio. Three syllables, stress on the first one.  Ra-dio. Radio. Try that with me. Radio. Radio.

The radio.

Odometer. Speedometer.

Odometer. Speedometer. For both of these,  

the stress is on the syllable just before  the suffix, meter, odometer. Speedometer.  

Notice the t's here are flaps. Try these  words with me. Odometer. Speedometer.

Odometer. Speedometer.

This is called the grill of the car.

Grill. Dark L, grill. Keep the tongue tip down  and pull the back part of the tongue back a little  

bit. Uhl, uhl. Grill. Grill. I don't mention  it but the part under the grill is the bumper.  

My bumper really helps me when I'm parallel  parking. Bumper. Say that with me. Bumper. Bumper.

Gas gauge.

Gas gauge. The word gauge is funny because  the first G is pronounced gg and the second  

g is pronounced juh. Gas gauge. Try  that with me. Gas gauge. Gas gauge.

Gas gauge. Here we have the cruise control.

Cruise control. You know when we went over climate  control, I didn't really talk about control,  

did I? Keep the first syllable really short.  Don't even try to put a vowel in there. Con, con,  

control. Control. Cruise control. Try that  with me. Cruise control. Cruise control.

Here we have the cruise control.  Here we have the glove compartment.  

What kinds of interesting  things do you have in yours?

Glove compartment. Two stop Ts in compart-ment.  

Glove compartment. Try that with me.  Glove compartment. Glove compartment.

Whoo! That's a lot of terms. if some of  these words are tricky for you slow them  

down and practice them lots of times in  a row they will get more comfortable.

Let’s go over some clothing  vocabulary. Is there anything  

you need to buy for yourself or your family?

First of all, I'm wearing a button down.  This is what we call a shirt like this  

with buttons down the front and a  collar. Sometimes it has a pocket.

Wow, I chose a hard first word! Most  Americans will pronounce ‘button’ with  

a stop T. This is because of the sound pattern  T-schwa-N. Most Americans make that a Stop T.  

But, n, button. Put your tongue up to the T, but,  stop the air, and then make the N sound. Button.  

Button down. Try those with  me. Button. Button down.

First of all, I'm wearing a button down. This  is what we call a shirt like this with buttons  

down the front and a collar. Sometimes it has a  pocket. This can also be called a dress shirt.

Dress shirt.

Okay, what’s interesting here is that you can  say the 'S' dress shirt. Or you can drop it,  

connect the two words and just say the  SH: dresh-shirt. Dresh-shirt. You can  

definitely do that and it will  still sound normal. Dresh-shirt.

Try that with me. Dresh-shirt. This is also  a ittle tricky because it has two R’s, and

those can be a challenge. If they’re  hard for you, practice holding out the R:  

drrrrrrrrrrrress shirrrrrrrt. shirrrrrrrt. Notice  in the second word there is no vowel, it's the R  

vowel, sh—rrrr—t. Shirt. Shirt. Dress shirt. Dress  shirt. Say that with me now out loud: dress shirt.

This can also be called 'dress shirt'

First of all, let's start with the first  layer. Now I'm not going to show you my  

underwear because that would just  be weird. But we have underwear..

Underwear. Another tricky one with two R’s  in it. Again, hold out the R’s to practice:  

underrrrrr wear. Make sure you have jaw drop  for that EH vowel before the second R consonant.  

Weaaaaaar. Weaaaaaar. Underwear.  Underwear. Say it with me: underwear.

But we have underwear. Another term for  this: panties, some people hate that term.

Panties. Oh boy. This word. I don’t actually use  it, I use ‘underwear’. Something to note about  

the pronunciation: It’s not uncommon to drop the T  after an N sound. So you can either pronounce this  

word with a True T, panties. Or with no T at all.  ‘pannies’. Try that with me: panties, ‘pannies’.

Another term for this: panties, some people hate  that term. Undergarments, that's not as common..

Undergarments. You may see  this word on a sign, like,  

“Keep your undergarments on while trying  on swimwear”, but we really don’t say  

it. We don't use it very much. It's tough to  pronounce, so let's just not worry about it.

Undergarments, that's not  as common. Women wear a bra.  

The full word is brassiere  but almost no one says that.

Bra, brassiere. We usually use the word ‘bra’,  with the AH vowel. Bra. But in the word,  

brassiere, we don't have the AH vowel.  It’s the schwa in the first syllable,  

bra-, bra-. Brassiere. Bra. Say  those with me. Brassiere, bra.

Women wear a bra.  

The full word is brassiere but almost no one  says that. And then men can wear boxers..

Boxers. Did you know that there’s no X  sound in American English? The letter  

X is either the KS sounds together, like  in extra, ks or the gz sounds together,  

like in exactly. Gz. In boxers, it’s the KS  sounds. Boxers. Boxers. Say that with me. Boxers.

And then men can wear boxers or briefs.

Briefs. We have two vowel letters here,  but they’re just making one vowel sound,  

the E vowel. Briefs. If R gives you problems in  a cluster, remember to hold it out: brrrrrriefs.  

Briefs. Try it with me, briefs. Briefs.

Socks.

Socks. Letter O here making the AH as  in FATHER vowel. So-. Lots of jaw drop.  

Socks. Say it out loud: socks.

Socks. You can have just little  athletic socks for running,  

you can have dress socks to wear with your  suit or more dressy outfit. You can have boot  

socks or knee high socks that you should  wear with a boot that came up your leg.

Dress socks, boot socks, knee-high socks.  Notice how the S at the end of dress leads  

you right into the S of socks, with no  break. Dress socks. Dress socks. And no,  

you don’t have to try to make it an extra-long S,  just one S sound. Try that with me, dress socks.

Boot socks, the T here is a Stop T because  the next word begins with a consonant.  

Boot—stop the air—boot---socks. Boot  socks. Try that now. Boot socks.

Knee-high socks. We have three words here,  but they should all flow together. We don’t  

want separation. Knee-high socks. It’s like  one word with three syllables. Knee-high  

socks. Notice the K is silent. Knee-high  socks. Try that with me. Knee-high socks.

You can have dress socks to wear with your  suit or more dressy outfit. You can have boot  

socks or knee-high socks that you would  wear with a boot that came up your leg.

This is an undershirt and it's a common  thing for men to wear an under a dress shirt.

Undershirt. It’s the ‘under’ part from  ‘underwear’ and the ‘shirt’ part from

‘dress shirt’! Remember, the  R is the vowel in ‘shirt’:  

sh—rr—t. Shirt. Undershirt.  Say that with me, undershirt.

This is an undershirt and it's a common  thing for men to wear an under a dress shirt.

Your basic T-shirt.

T-shirt. Once you’ve got ‘shirt’ down, this one’s  pretty easy. T-shirt. Say that with me. T-shirt.

Your basic T-shirt.

Long sleeve T–shirt of course has long sleeves.

Long-sleeved T-shirt. You don’t have to pronounce  the D in ‘long-sleeved’. It comes between two  

other consonants, and sometimes we drop T’s and  D’s when that happens. Long-sleeved t-shirt.  

Long-sleeved T-shirt. Say that  with me. Long-sleeved T-shirt.

Long sleeve T–shirt of course has long sleeves.

You know what I realized I forgot?  The neck line with a T-shirt. When  

it’s shaped like this, we call it a V-neck  T-shirt. V-neck. Say that with me. V-neck.

This is a tank top.

Tank top. We don’t fully pronounce the  K here. Kk. We just do a quick stop of  

air like we do with the Stop T. Tank top.  Tank top. Tank top. And that vowel in tank:  

It’s the A vowel followed by an NG sound.  That NG sound really changes the vowel. It  

ends up sounding much more like the AY diphthong,  tay-, tank. Tank top. Try that with me. Tank top.

This is a tank top.

Then you could also have a shirt  that didn't have any straps. It is  

just tight here and came down. That  would be called a strapless shirt.

Strapless. It has the word ‘less’ in it,  but we don’t pronounce it like that. We

pronounce it ‘liss’. Quickly. It’s unstressed.  Strapless. Say it out loud with me: strapless.

If it’s strapless and it’s tight all the  way down, then we call it a tube top. Tube

top. Don’t release the B, just close the  lips, tub--top, then open right into the T

sound. Tube top. Try that with me, tube top.

This is a nice old comfy sweatshirt. So  it's made out of this thick material,  

really cozy. This one has  a hood. They don't have to.

Sweatshirt. You don’t need to fully pronounce  either one of those T’s. You can make them both  

stops. Sweat shirt. Sweat shirt. abrupt stops  give us the idea that it’s a T. sweatshirt.  

Say that with me. Sweatshirt.

This is a nice old comfy sweatshirt. So it's  made out of this thick material, really cozy.  

This one has a hood. They don't have to. And  this is not quite the same thing as a hoodie.

A hoodie has a hood and then it zips up the  front. So this is David's big ol' hoodie.

Hoodie. Careful the double O here is not  the OO vowel, like in proof, oo, it’s the  

UH vowel like in ‘book’. UH. UH not OO. Hoo-,  Hoo- hoodie. Hoodie. Say that with me. Hoodie.

A hoodie has a hood and then it zips up the  front. So this is David's big ol' hoodie.

This would be a sleeveless shirt. So it's  not a tank top but it doesn't have sleeves.

Sleeveless shirt. Just like ‘strapless’,  the second syllable is unstressed,  

“liss”, and should be said quickly.  Sleeveless. Say it with me. Sleeveless.

This would be a sleeveless shirt. So it's  not a tank top but it doesn't have sleeves.

Dress.

Dress. The thing that’s interesting about  the DR cluster is that it can sound like JR,

and that’s right. So it can be DD, dress,  or JJ, dress. If you’re not sure about your

R, hold it out. Drrrrrress. Dress, dress.  I’m making it with a J sound, I think that’s

more common. Dress. Say it with me. Dress.

Dress.

This is a jumper. I think there are a couple  of different terms for it but basically, it's  

one piece. It's not separate top and bottom but  it's also not a dress. It's like pants or shorts.

Jumper or one-piece. I've also seen this called  a 'romper'. The trick with –er ending sounds is  

to make an R sound but make it really quickly  since it’s an unstressed syllable. Jumper,  

-er, -er. Jumper. Romper er, -er. Romper.  Try those with me. Jumper. Romper.

This is a jumper. I think there are a couple  of different terms for it but basically it's  

one piece. It's not separate top and bottom but  it's also not a dress. It's like pants or shorts.

One piece. Right from the N to  the P with no break, we don’t  

want this to be choppy. Onnnnnnepiece.  One–piece. Try that with me. one-piece.

But basically, it's one piece.

This is a sweater.

Sweater. we have a Flap T here because the T  comes between two vowels. So it’s not sweater,  

with a True T, but sweater, D D D, flap,  with a Flap T. Try that with me. Sweater.

This is a sweater.

And this is also a sweater but you would  probably call it a wrap. It's one of these  

things which you put on and it doesn't close up  in the front but you kind of wrap it like that.

Wrap. The W in the WR cluster is silent.  Just begin with an R sound. Wrap.  

wrap. Say it out loud with me. Wrap.

And this is also a sweater but you would  probably call it a wrap. It's one of these  

things which you put on and it doesn't close up  in the front but you kind of wrap it like that.

Jeans.

Jeans. Do you love them as much as I do?  Jeans, with the EE vowel, jee, jeans.  

Hear the plural is a Z sound, but it’s light,  it’s weak. Don’t give it much energy. Jeans.

Jeans.

Now these jeans are a little different. They  are maternity. So maternity refers to anything  

that is specially made for pregnant women.  These are left over from my Stoney days.

Maternity. First T is a True T, second T is  a flap T. Why? They both come between vowels.  

Yes, but a T is always a True T if it  starts a stressed syllable. Maternity,  

maternity. Say that with me. Maternity.

Now these jeans are a little different.  They are maternity. So maternity refers  

to anything that is specially made for pregnant  women. These are leftover from my Stoney days.

Sweatpants.

Sweatpants. Just like ‘sweatshirt’,  the T in ‘sweat’ is a Stop T because  

the next sound is a consonant. Sweat pants.  Sweatpants. Say that with me. Sweatpants.

Sweatpants.

Shorts.

So these could be called  running shorts, athletic shorts,  

soccer shorts. Whatever you  use them for. Workout clothes..

Shorts. All kinds of shorts. The vowel in ‘shorts’  is the AW as in LAW vowel. But when this vowel is  

followed by R, it’s pretty different. The  lips round more and the tongue pulls back  

a little more. O, OR instead of AW, oooor. O,  OR. Shooooorts, shorts. Shorts. Say it with me.  

Shorts. I also said “workout clothes”. The word  ‘clothes’ has a voiced TH, clothes. But you know  

what? Drop it! Americans almost always drop  the TH in this word, clothes. So now it sounds  

just like this word, close. Yes. They will sound  the same. That's okay. Say it with me. Clothes.

So these could be called  running shorts, athletic shorts,  

soccer shorts. Whatever you  use them for. Workout clothes..

Pants. You can also call them dress pants..

Pants. dress pants. We have the AA vowel followed  by the N consonant. All nasal consonants change  

the A vowel. Rather than A it’s aa-e, aa-e.  The tongue relaxes in the back before the N.  

Paaa, paaa, pants. Pants.  Pants. Try that with me. Pants.

Pants. You can also call them dress pants.

These are khakis..

Khakis. The H is silent. Kaa-kis.  Say that with me. Khakis.

These are khakis.

These are swim trunks for men You  could also call them just a swim suit.

Swim trunks. The TR cluster can be pronounced

CHR. That’s common. So you can  say t, trunks, or you can say ch,  

chruncks. Swim trunks. Swim. Note this is the IH  vowel, swim, not the EE vowel sweem. Ih, ih. More  

relaxed. Swim trunks. Say  that with me, swim trunks.

Swim suit. If an ending T like this  is at the end of your thought group,  

it sounds nice to make that a Stop T. Swim suit.  Swim suit. Try that with me. Swim suit. You could  

also say bathing suit. This word is tricky  because it has a TH sound. This TH sound is  

voiced and just the very tip of your tongue comes  through the teeth. Bathing suit. Bathing suit.

Try that with me. Bathing suit.

These are swim trunks for men. You  could also call it just a swimsuit.  

For women we have one-piece. This is a one-piece  suit. It's strapless one-piece and strapless.

One-piece and strapless. We already went over  these. One-piece, when we were talking about  

jumper and strapless, when we were talking  about shirts. And then you can also have  

a bikini. That's two-piece. You will never  catch me in one of these in one of my videos.

Bikini, two-piece. In bikini, we have three  letter I’s, but the first one is a schwa: Buh,  

Bikini. Say that with me, bikini. Two-piece.  Two with the T consonant and the U vowel.  

Let your lips be more relaxed and  then round into the position U.  

Twoo. The movement of the rounding N is a very  nice relaxed sound rather than tu-tu where your  

lips are tight in the position the whole  time. Relaxed then round. Two. Two-piece.

And then you can also have bikini.  That's two-piece. You will never  

catch me in one of these in one of my videos.

When I'm at the beach, I also like to wear  one of these. It's called a rash guard  

and it's a shirt made out of bathing suit  material that can protect you from the sun.

Rash guard. Remember to hold  out the R’s if they’re tricky  

for you. Rrrrrrrrash guarrrrrrrrrrrd. ‘Guard’  

is like ‘car’ or ‘far’. you need to drop the jaw  for the vowel, and leave the tongue tip forward,  

then pull it back and up for the R.  Gaah-r. Guard. Say it out loud. Rash guard.

When I'm at the beach, I also like to wear  one of these. It's called a rash guard  

and it's a shirt made out of bathing suit  material that can protect you from the sun.

This is a suit. So it's a  jacket or suit coat and pants.

Suit. Pants. Jacket. Suit coat.

Suit. If the next word begins with a consonant,  remember this ending T will be a Stop T:  

suit pants, suit jacket, suit coat. Say those  with me. Suit pants, suit jacket, suit coat.

I forgot to show one of  David’s ties. This is a tie.  

True T, AI diphthong. Tie.  Tie. Say that with me. Tie.

This is a suit. So it's a jacket or suit coat  and pants. Now there's also something called a  

blazer and it's cut like a suit jacket but it's  a little bit more casual and it's not part of a  

set. Both men and women can wear suits or blazers  and women suits can come with pants or skirts.

Blazer. The letter A makes the AY diphthong.  Diphthong means two positions: jaw drop,  

then tongue arching toward  the roof of the mouth. AY, ay.  

Bla-, blazer. Say that out loud with me. Blazer.

Now there's also something called a blazer  and it's cut like a suit jacket but it's a

little bit more casual and it's not part of a set.

And when women are getting more dressy,  sometimes they wear hose or panty hose.

Hose or panty hose. ‘Panty’, when said  with ‘hose’, pretty much always has a

dropped T. Panty hose. ‘Hose’ has the  OH diphthong. Two positions: jaw drop,  

then lip rounding. Oh, oh, hose.  Say that with me. Hose. Panty hose.

And when women are getting more dressy,  sometimes they wear hose or panty hose.

Now we'll use some of Stoney's clothes.  These are overalls. Believe it or not,  

I don't own any overalls so I have to use  Stoney's as an example of what are overalls.

Overalls. Two tricky sounds: the OH diphthong.  Make sure you have jaw drop and lip rounding. Oh,  

Overalls. And the Dark L at the end.  

Alls. Not ‘all’, ‘alls’ with the tongue tip  moving up. Actually, the tongue tip should  

stay down the whole time. Over uhl, uhl uhl.  It's the back of the tongue that presses down  

and back a little bit to make that dark sound.  Overalls. uhls uhls. Say it with me. Overalls.

These are overalls. Believe it or not,  

I don't own any overalls so I have to use  Stoney's as an example of what are overalls.

A onesie is a piece of baby's  clothing where it snaps at the  

bottom. So you unsnap it to change the  diaper quickly but it's attached there  

to keep the shirt from riding up. Because  if you've ever spent any time with a baby.  

You know if they're in just a shirt. It ends up  around their neck or armpits. So this is a onesie.

Onesie. Spelled with an S, but pronounced with a  Z sound. Onesie. Onesie. Say that with me. Onesie.

So this is a onesie.

Stoney has the cutest little pair of jean shorts.

Jean shorts. So here, rather than saying  ‘jeans shorts’, you drop the S in ‘jeans’.

It’s just ‘jean shorts’. Say  that with me. Jean shorts.

Stoney has the cutest little pair of jean shorts.

Stoney has a pair of jeans that came  with suspenders. So these things that  

you can put on pants to help them  stay up are called suspenders.

Suspenders. A three-syllable word with  stress on the middle syllable. Make  

the first and third syllables as short as you can:  

sus-, -ders. Suspenders. Suspenders.  Try that with me. Suspenders.

Stoney has a pair of jeans that came  with suspenders. So these things that  

you can put on pants to help them  stay up are called suspenders.

So Stoney has a vest. Vest can be  2 different things. First of all,  

they can be like this, something that's  casual that's meant as another layer to  

add warmth. But, you can also have a dressy one  

that would be part of a dress outfit for men and  if it came with a pants and a jacket as a set then  

those 3 things would be called a 3 piece suit.  So a 3 piece suit is a suit that includes a vest.

Vest. Some language groups mix up V and W. This  letter should definitely be pronounced with a V.  

Bottom lip to top teeth. Vvv. No lip rounding, ww.  That’s a W sound. Vvvvv. Vest. Say that with me.  

Vest.

That would be part of a dress  outfit for men and if it came  

with a pants and a jacket as a set  then those 3 things would be called

a 3-piece suit. So a 3-piece  suit a suit that includes a vest.

3-piece suit. Three. Ok, this word is tricky.  You have an unvoiced TH, and the tongue tip  

must come through the teeth, th, thr, hr the the  R where your tip comes back and up a little bit  

thrr hrr. Thrr three. Three-piece. Three-piece  suit. Try that with me. Three-piece suit.

So a 3-piece suit a suit that includes a vest.

Let's talk outerwear.

Outerwear. We have a Flap T here because  the T comes between two vowels. When I say  

vowels in these rules, I mean vowels or  diphthongs. Because the beginning sound  

is the OW diphthong. Ow Outerwear. Wear.  Tricky sound combination. Jaw drop for EH  

before your R. Wear. weh-r, wear Outerwear.  Outerwear. Say that that with me. Outerwear.

Let's talk outerwear.

This is a down coat. It's a  heavy, really warm winter coat.

Down coat. I’ve noticed something that several  different language groups to this combination  

OW + N. They drop the N and make the OW dipthong  sound nasaly. It sort of sounds like this. Down.  

There is no nasal quality to this diphthong.

Let’s break it up. Dow-nn. Dow-nn. Dow-nn.  Down. Down. Down. Try that with me. Down.

‘Coat’ with the OH diphthong: jaw  drop then lip rounding. Down coat.  

Down coat.Try that with me. Down coat.

This is a down coat. It's a  heavy, really warm winter coat.

This jacket is a little more lightweight so  you'll probably wear it in the fall or spring,  

but you could still just call it a jacket.

Lightweight jacket. Notice all  three of these T’s can be Stop T’s:  

they’re either followed by a consonant, or at  the end of a though group. Light-weight-jacket.  

Lightweight jacket. Try that  with me. Lightweight jacket.

This jacket is a little more lightweight so  you'll probably wear it in the fall or spring,  

but you could still just call it a jacket.

This is something a little bit different, a  little bit strange, a little old—fashioned.  

I got this from my sister-in-law. So this  doesn't really have arms. It's just a poncho.

Poncho. We have two different pronunciations for  

the letter O here. The first one  is the AH as in FATHER vowel. Po-,  

pon-. The second is the OH diphthong. Oh  cho. Poncho. Try that with me. Poncho.

I got this from my sister-in-law. So this  doesn't really have arms. It's just a poncho.

Fur coat.

Fur coat. Fur can be tricky because  it has the R vowel in it. Don’t drop  

your jaw or try to make some sort of  vowel sound before the R. It’s just  

two sounds, f and r. Fur, fur Fur  coat. Try that with me. Fur coat.

And we’ll go back to food with fruits.

We're heading into the grocery store  to go shopping for some fruits.

Delicious-looking watermelon. There's a good one.

Okay, so I didn't get too much footage in the  store but did you hear what that melon was called?

It's called watermelon.  Probably my favorite melon.  

Watermelon is a compound word and with compound  words, we put stress on the first word. In  

this case, it's the word water. We have a  Flap T in ‘water’, then the word ‘melon’.  

There is a secondary stress on 'mel'.

So the main stress is on wa—. Watermelon.  Don't let that ON ending fool you. It's a  

schwa. Un, un, un. Said very quickly. Watermelon.  Watermelon. Try that with me. Watermelon.

Delicious-looking watermelon.

There's a good one.

We actually bought a bunch of fruits and took them  home so let's go back to my Kitchen. But first,  

let's take a look at the word ‘fruit’.  It has the FR consonant Cluster: frr,  

frr, then the OO vowel: froo— and the T. The  ending T will be a Stop T if it's at the end  

of a thought group or followed by a consonant.  Fruit. Fruit. It will be a Flap T if it links  

into a vowel or diphthong. Fruit in— fruit  in— rarara—fruit in— fruit in the salad.

Apple.

Apple. For the stressed vowel AH, you may find  you pronounce it better if you lift your upper  

lip just a little Bit. Ah. Back of the tongue  should be lifted. Apple. Say it with me. Apple.

Apple.

David ate our last banana so  here's a photo of a banana.

Banana. This word is filled with 3 A's  but we don't pronounce them all the same

way because of syllable stress. The stressed  syllable in this word is the second one. Naaaa.  

Which has the AH as in bat vowel sound.  Banana. Because the AH vowel comes before  

the nasal consonant N, it's not a pure AH vowel.  We'll relax it into the vowel before N: banaaa—  

banaaa— banaaan— banana. The other two  syllables are unstressed and use the schwa.

Ba— na— ba— nan— na— Banana.  Say that with me. Banana.

David ate our last banana. So  here's a photo of a Banana.

Blackberry, strawberry, blueberry.  Not pictured, raspberry.

So here, we have three berries. Berry  is a two-syllable word with stress on

the first syllable. It has the EH vowel followed  by R. This sound combination is tricky because  

the R changes EH a little bit. We don't have as  much jaw drop as we would for a pure EH vowel. Eh—  

Air. Bear. Bea— Eh. You can see I'm  dropping my jaw more for the pure Vowel.  

Berry. Berry. I mentioned four kinds of berries.

Blackberry, strawberry, blueberry.  Not pictured, raspberry.

Blackberry, Strawberry, Blueberry, and Raspberry.  These are all four compound Words. With compound  

words, stress is always on the first word.  Black, blue, straw, rasp. Blackberry.  

Blueberry. In all four of these three syllable  words, the first syllable is stressed.

Blackberry.

Strawberry.

Blueberry.

Raspberry.

Notice the P in raspberry is silent. We don't  say it at all. Say these with me: blackberry,  

strawberry, Blueberry, raspberry.

Blackberry, Strawberry, blueberry.  Not pictured, Raspberry.

A similar word to ‘berry’ is ‘pear’.Bear. Pear.  I didn't get a video clip of a pear but this is  

a picture of a pear. Sometimes we use the term  pear-shaped to describe a body. Bigger through  

the thighs and hips and more tapered up top. Pear.  Pear is just like bear except the first sound is  

unvoiced. Instead of voiced. Bbb—pear. Pear. Less  jaw drop than we would have for a pure EH. Pear.

Cantaloupe.

We took video of in the Store, pictures of.

I couldn't find that video of the cantaloupe so  here's an Image. It has that rough skin and that  

sweet soft orange meat inside. Cantaloupe.  This is a word that will teach you not to  

trust English spelling. The first syllable  is stressed. It uses the AH as in bat vowel.  

Just like with banana, it's not a  pure AH because it's followed by N.  

Caa— ah, ah. Relax the back of the tongue, we  get that AH sound. Caa— ah. Can— Cantaloupe.  

You probably noticed I'm not pronouncing the T.  Like in the words ‘interview’ and ‘intermission’,  

the T is often dropped after N. You just  pronounce the N. Cantaloupe. Cantaloupe.

You can make the True T: cantaloupe, cantaloupe,  

but listen to how I said it in the kitchen  when I wasn't thinking about pronunciation.

Cantaloupe.

We took video of in the store, pictures of.

Cantaloupe. I dropped the T. The spelling of  the last syllable can also cause confusion.  

This is the OH as in No diphthong and  the final E is silent. Lope. Lope.  

Cantaloupe. Try that with me. Cantaloupe.

Cantaloupe. We took video of  in the store, pictures of.

Cherries.

Not to be confused with a cherry tomato. Cherries.

Cherry this is just like berry except it  starts with the CH consonant,ch— cherry.

Two syllables with stress on the  first syllable. Cher— The first  

syllable sounds just like a chair you sit in.  Cher— cher— cherry. Say that with me. Cherry.

Cherries. Not to be confused with a cherry tomato.

Cherries.

You know, I didn't get a good video of  grapes. We have green grapes, and red grapes,  

and also concord grapes. Grapes can have seeds  or not. Grapes has the GR cluster. Lip position  

doesn't matter for the G, so your lips will  already be rounding for the R. Grr, grr,  

gra— AI diphthong, PS cluster. Grapes. Grapes.  Red, green, both of these begin with the R or  

an R cluster so again, lip rounding. Red,  green, grapes. Red grapes. Green grapes.

Concord grapes make great juice, great jams,  and I even have a great pie recipe for concord  

grapes. Stress is on the first syllable. K  consonant, AW vowel, then the NG sound. Concord.  

The letter N is usually pronounced as NG  when it's followed by G or K. So the back  

of the tongue lifts to touch the soft  palate to make the NG sound. Concord.  

Then a quick unstressed syllable, K sound, schwa  R. Cord, cord, cord. Concord. Concord grape.

Red grapes. Green grapes. Concord  grapes. Say these with me.

Red grapes. Green grapes. Concord grapes.

I have an orange and a grapefruit. Let's  slice them open. Not pictured, tangerine.

There are actually lots of different  citrus fruits, aren't there?

Oops.

Too many to put in one video about fruits. Okay,  so here you can really see the difference. First  

of all size, but the grapefruit is that beautiful  pink color inside and then orange is more orange.

Orange, grapefruit, tangerine, citrus.

Orange. This word is known for having nothing  that rhymes with it. It's pronounced with the  

AW as in law vowel. And when that's followed  by R, it's not pure. We round the lips more,  

we pull the tongue back more. Or, orrrr. The  second syllable is unstressed and said quickly.  

Orrr, ange, ange, ange, ange, ange, ange. Super  fast IH vowel, N, and then a J sound. Orrrr,  

ihnj. Orange. Say that with me. Orange.

I have an orange and a grapefruit.

Grapefruit. A compound word of two words  we've already studied. Grape and fruit.  

Do you remember what we said about  stress in compound words? It's the  

first word that’s stressed. So, grape. Grapefruit.

P is a stop consonant and we usually don't  release stop consonants when followed by  

another consonant. Grape-fruit. Notice my Lips  came together for the P but I didn't ppp—release  

the air before going to the F. Grapefruit.  Grapefruit. Say that with me. Grapefruit.

I have an orange and a  grapefruit. Let's slice them open.

Not pictured, tangerine.

Tangerine. A three-syllable word  with stress on the last syllable.  

Tangerine. So the first two syllables are said  a little more simply. Tanger. Tanger. Tanger.  

Tangerine. Tanger. When the a vowel is  followed by N like in this first syllable,  

remember it's not pure, taah, taah, taaan,  tanger, tanger, tanger, tangerine. Tangerine.

Tanger— ine. Tangerine. Say that  with me. Tangerine. Tangerine.

Let's slice them open.

Not Pictured, tangerine. There are  actually lots of different citrus fruits.

Citrus. The S sound is in there twice, at  the beginning, and the end. Once it's made  

with the letter C, and once with a letter  S. In the middle, we have the TR cluster.  

It's pretty common to turn the T into a CH  in the TR cluster. Do you hear a CH? Citrus.  

Ch— Citch— citch— Citrus. Citrus. First  syllable stress. Say that with me. Citrus.

I have an orange and a  grapefruit let's slice them open.

Not Pictured, tangerine. There are  actually lots of different citrus fruits.

Aren't There? Oops. Too many to  put in one video about fruits.

Another word that I didn't get video for  is Kiwi. Unlike many words in English,  

this word is pronounced just like it  looks like it should be pronounced.

EE vowel in both syllables. First syllable is  stressed. Kiwi. Kiwi. Say that with me. Kiwi.

Lemon.

We also have Limes.

Lemon and lime.

Lemon. A two-syllable word with stress on the  first syllable. The L is a light L because it  

begins the word. Then we have the EH as in bed  vowel. Le— lemon. The last syllable uses the schwa  

though you don't really need to think about it,  you can just move from M into N. Mnn, mnn, mnn,  

mnn. The schwa will happen automatically.  Lemon. Lemon. Say that with me. Lemon.

Lemon.

We also have limes.

Lemon and lime.

Lime. One syllable using the AI as  in buy diphthong. This is another  

light L because L is at the beginning of the  word. Lai, lai, then the M consonant. Lime.  

Lips come together. Lime. Try that with me. Lime.

Lemon.

We also have Limes.

Lemon and lime.

Mango. Let's cut this one open.

Mangoes are really hard to cut because  they have that huge pit in the middle.

They're really sweet. This one's organic.

Mango. Pit. Organic.

When we learned the word ‘banana’, I said how the  AH vowel is not pure before an N sound. Naaan.  

The AH vowel is also not pure before an NG  consonant. A pure vowel would sound like this:  

ah, mah, mango, mango. But we say: mango,  mango. So before NG, the AH vowel changes to  

a sound that's more like the AY diphthong. Mango.  Maay— maay, aay. Mango. So we have the NG sound  

then a hard G. Maaango. Mango. Stress is on the  first syllable. Mango. Try that with me. Mango.

Mango. Let's cut this one open.

Mangoes are really hard to cut because  they have that huge pit in the middle.

I said pit here and earlier I said seed when  I was talking about grapes. Pit and seed.  

With pit, we have the P consonant,  IH as in sit vowel, and the  

T.Ending T's are Stop T's if they’re at the end  of a thought group or followed by a consonant.

Pit.

Seed.

S consonant, EE vowel, and the D Consonant.  Seed sounds longer than pit, doesn't it?  

That's because of the voiced ending versus  unvoiced ending. The unvoiced sound, T, makes  

the word a little shorter. Pit. The voiced ending  D makes the vowel a little longer. Seed. Pit.  

Seed. Say those with me. Pit. Seed.

Mangoes are really hard to cut because  they have that huge pit in the middle.  

They're really sweet. This one's organic.

Organic. Not using artificial  chemicals when growing the fruit.  

A three-syllable word with middle syllable  stress, just like with orange. The first  

syllable has a modified AW vowel where the  lips round more than normal: or, or, organic.  

The stressed syllable is just like banana,  nan, where the AH vowel is more like: aayyaa—  

aayyaa— Organic. Because it's followed by  an N. Organic. Try that with me. Organic.

They're really sweet. This one's organic.

Peach. It's like a nectarine but it's fuzzy.

Peach.

Peach and nectarine. Peach is one  syllable with the EE as in She vowel, P  

peach, the final consonant is the CH sound.  Peach. Say that with me. Peach.Nectarine. Just  

like tangerine, it's a three-syllable word with  stress on the last syllable. Nectarine. Notice the  

middle syllable is really short, there's really  no vowel sound there. Nectar, rr, rr, rr, rr.  

The schwa gets absorbed by the R. Nectar,  rr, nectarine. Say that with me. Nectarine.

Peach. It's like a nectarine but it's fuzzy.

Peach.

I didn't get a video clip of a ‘Pineapple’ but  that's another compound word. We're getting  

lots of compound words with the fruits. Stress on  the first word here, pine, pineapple. Pine using  

the AI as in Buy diphthong. Some students have  trouble pronouncing this diphthong before the  

N consonant make sure you finish the movement  of the diphthong before lifting the front of  

the tongue for the N. Paiii, nn. Pine, pine.  Then the word ‘Apple’ unstressed. Pineapple.

Say that with me. Pineapple.

Plum. Here, I have four plums.

Plum.

Plum. One-syllable word with the UH  as in butter vowel. PL cluster: plum,  

plum, a light escape affair with the lips while  the tongue tip is at the roof of the mouth for  

the L. Pll, plh, plum. This word is a homophone  with a different word ‘plum’ spelled with a B,  

but pronounced exactly the same way. The  B is silent. Plum. Say that with me. Plum.

Plum. Here, I have four plums.

Plum.

Did I miss your favorite fruit? That was a lot  

but I know I certainly couldn't do all  fruits, there are just so many of them!

Laundry is probably my favorite household  chore. Let’s go over laundry vocabulary.

My laundry room is in my basement so we're  going to head down there. It would be awesome  

to have a laundry room where you didn't have to  go down into the dark scary part of your house,  

but I don't. So laundry room.

Laundry room. The word ‘laundry’ is  interestingbecause it has a DR cluster.  

And often, Americans pronounce the DR cluster  so it sounds like JR. jjj Laundry, jjj, -dry.  

You can make aDR cluster, dd, -dry.  But you don’t have to. You may find it  

easier to make a JR cluster, that’s fine.  That’s what most Americans do. Laundry.  

Laundry. Try that with me. Laundry. Laundry room.

And my laundry room is in my, basement.

All right, let's go to the basement.

All right we made it to the basement. So,  first of all this is a laundry basket.  

I have two different laundry baskets.  Now, these should probably be in here.

Laundry basket. Basket with the AA as in  BAT vowel. The unstressed syllable has a  

very quick IH vowel. –it. Basket. Basket.  Say that with me. Basket. Laundry basket.

All right we made it to the basement. So,  first of all, this is a laundry basket. I  

have two different laundry baskets. Now, these  should probably be in here. Hard to tell. Okay,  

so we have lights or whites and darks. And  that's sort of funny because light, dark, white,  

those are adjectives but we put an S at the end  of them turning them into a noun. So if this was  

all white, I could call it whites. But since  I also have other stuff in here, like Stoney's  

cute little gray jeans, I'm going to call this my  lights. It's not all white. And these are darks,  

you could also call them colors. Usually, we  just split our laundry into lights and darks.

Lights, darks, whites, colors. We have  four plurals here. The rule for plurals is,  

the S is pronounced as an S when the sound before  was unvoiced. So that’s an S sound for lights,  

darks, and whites. If the sound before was  voiced, then it’s a Z sound. That’s for ‘colors’.

Ending Z sounds are weak, and they usually sound  like a really weak S: colors, ss, sss, ss, instead  

of SS like in ‘darks’. TS cluster can confuse  people. The tongue tip can actually stay down.  

Lift a part of the tongue further back to  the roof of the mouth and stop the sound.

Tss, tss.

When you lower that part of the tongue,  the tongue is in position to make the S.

Whites.

Lights.

Whites, lights.

Try all four of those with me:

lights, darks, whites, colors.

Hard to tell. Okay, so we have  lights, or whites and darks.

Washing machine.

Washing machine. Look, we have the SH sound  twice. Once, it’s spelled with a SH and in  

‘machine’, with a CH. Same sound, spelled  differently. Wassssshhhhing maccccchhhhine.  

Washing machine. Try that  with me. Washing machine.

Washing machine and dryer.

Dryer. Another DR cluster. So you can either make  it a D, dd-- dryer, or a J sound: jj-- jryer.  

The AI diphthong, lots of jaw drop for  that. Draiiiii-- yer. Then a quick ER  

at the end. No break. Dryer, dryer. Smooth  connection. Dryer. Say that with me. Dryer.

Washing machine and dryer.

And for clothes that you're not going to  put on a dryer, we have a drying rack.

Very useful.

Drying rack. Now instead of  –er, we have an –ing ending.  

Drying, drying. A smooth transition  between syllables, no break. Drying.

Rack. Tight circle for the beginning R.  

Ra-ah-- then lots of jaw drop. Rack.  Drying rack. Try that with me. Drying rack.

And for clothes that you're not going to  put on a dryer, we have a drying rack.

Very useful.

We also have a utility sink,  where we can hand wash clothes.

Utility sink. The T here comes between two  vowels, that’s a Flap T, unless it begins a  

stressed syllable, which is what happens  here. So it’s a True T. U-til. Util-ity.

The second T is between two vowels and doesn’t  start a stressed syllable, so it's a Flap.  

Utility. Try that with me. Utility.

Sink. The IH vowel here is followed by the NG  consonant. The letter N always makes an NG sound  

when it’s followed by a K. So it’s made with the  back of the tongue, Sing-- instead of the front,  

NN. When IH is followed by the NG, which  happens all the time with ING words,  

the IH vowel is a little tighter, it’s closer to  ee. So it’s not ih-si, si-ih-nk. But ee, si-sink.  

Sink. Say that with me. Utility sink.

We also have a utility sink,  we're we can hand wash clothes.

So sometimes, you don't put it  on a washer, you hand wash it.

Hand wash. This is a case  where you can drop the D.

It’s not uncommon to drop the  D between two other consonants,  

and I think it sounds just fine  to say ‘han-wash’. Hann-wash.

The requirement for dropping the D is  you have to link the two words together,  

no separation. Hand wash, hand  wash. Say that with me. Hand wash.

So sometimes you don't put it  on a washer, you hand wash it.

Iron. That's a pretty tough word.

Iron.

And then we also have an ironing board.

Iron and ironing board. Okay, tough words here.  It looks like it should be i-ron, but it’s not.  

Actually, the R comes after the vowel in the  second syllable. Since the vowel there is the  

schwa, you don’t even need to try to make a  vowel sound there. When R comes after schwa,  

it absorbs it. Errrr, just one sound, rrrrrr.  I—rr—nn. Iron. It might help you connect these  

two syllables if you think of a Y sound being in  between them. I—yyyrrrn. Iron. Iron. So separate  

what the word looks like based on the letters,  from the pronunciation. If you focus on the how  

the word looks, it will probably mess up how you  say it. I---yyyrn, iron. Say that with me. Iron.

Try it now with ING ending. I-yr-ning. Ironing,  ironing board. Again don't focus too much on the  

letters, that might mess you up, just imitate  what you're hearing me say. Ironing. Ironing,  

ironing board. Try that with me. Ironing board.

Iron.

And then we also have an ironing board.

So you can see we have the  load size and the temperature.

Load size. We have two diphthongs here. First, an  OH diphthong, jaw drop, then lip rounding. Load.  

Load. Then the AI diphthong. Jaw drop then the  tongue arching towards the roof of the mouth. Ai,  

si-- size. Load size. Notice what’s  happening with the D. I don’t release it,  

but I don’t drop it. I make a really quick D  sound, dd-- in my vocal cords before the S.  

Load—dd-dd size. Load size. Connect the  two words. Try that with me. Load size.

Load size.

So you can see we have the  load size and the temperature.

Temperature. This is a tricky word. It looks  like it should be four syllables: Temp-er-a-ture.  

But many Americans will make this just three,  it’s a simpler pronunciation. TEM-pra-ture.  

Try it. TEM-pra-ture. Notice the second T  here is a CH sound. Tem-pra-ture. Temperature.  

Try that with me. Temperature.

So you can see we have the  load size and the temperature.

Temperature. So load size, anywhere from  small to super, which means really big.

Precise fill just means the machine will  figure out how much you have in there.  

For temperature, we have anywhere from cold to  hot. Passing thru warm and colors. Tap cold,  

what does that mean? That just means that  the machine doesn't try to make it cold,  

it just uses whatever the temperature  is as the cold comes out of the tap.

Then we have several different  options here, so these are all dials,  

and these of course are buttons.

Dials and buttons: Let’s start with dials. We  have AI diphthong, and then a Dark L. Dia-uhl,  

uhl, uhl. Tongue tip stays down, it does not  lift before the S. Dia-uhls. The back of the  

tongue does the work here for the dark L. Pulls  back, presses down a little bit. Uhl, uhl. Dial.  

Dials. Try that with me. Dials. Is your tongue tip  lifting? Don’t let it. Try again. Dia-uhls, Dials.

Buttons. The double T here is a Stop  T because it comes before schwa-N.  

So put your tongue into position  for the T, stop the air, butt-nns,  

then make a N sound. Button.  Buttons. Say that with me. Buttons.

So these are all dials, and  these of course are buttons.

This is where you choose your wash cycle.  I don't usually get too crazy here but we  

have a wash cycle. You can also choose  an extra rinse for a rinse or an extra  

spin for the spin cycle. So cycle is  another word that we use with laundry.

Wash, rinse, spin cycle. Careful with  the P not to put too much air in it.

Some people want to, pph, put a lot of air in,  making almost an extra H sound. Spin. Spin. Pph--  

It's just spin. Pp, pp, pp. A very light  separation of the lips. Not a B, sbbin,  

but a very light P. Pp--Spin. Wash, rinse, spin  cycle. Say those with me. Wash, rinse, spin cycle.

So cycle is another word that we use with laundry.

So that's it for the washer. We have a  top-loader, more fancy ones are front loaders.

Top-loader and front-loader. Both P and T are  stop consonants. That means there’s a stop of air,  

and a release. When stop consonants at the end  of a word are followed by another consonant,  

we usually don’t release them. Pp,  tt, we just move on to the next sound.

So top loader looks like this: top—loader. My lips  come together for the P, that stops the sound,  

top—loader. But then I just to into  the L sound. Top loader. Top loader.

Front loader, front---loader. Stop the air in  between. This is not the same as fron-loader,  

fron-loader, where there is no T at all. I am  making a T by making the stop of air. The stop  

is needed. Front loader. Front loader. Say  these two with me: top-loader, front-loader.

So that's it for the washer.

We have a top-loader, more  fancy ones are front loaders,  

and ours has...if you can bring the camera  over here, ours has this thing in the middle,  

which is called an agitator, some  washers don't have an agitator.

Agitator. We have two T’s between  vowels. The first is a True T,  

and the second is a flap. Why? Because the first  one begins a stressed syllable. You might say,  

wait a second Rachel. Agitator. Stress  is on the first syllable. Okay, you’re  

right. But there’s secondary stress  on the third syllable. A-gi-ta-tor.  

Secondary stress generally doesn’t mean much.  It’s really just like an unstressed syllable.

But when it comes to this  True T rule, it does matter.  

A T is always a True T if it starts a stressed  syllable, and that includes secondary stress.

The second T, between two vowels, starts  an unstressed syllable, so it’s a flap.  

Rra--Agitator. Agitator.  Say that with me. Agitator.

Ours has this thing in the middle  which is called an agitator.

Some washers don't have an agitator.

We have laundry detergent.

Laundry detergent. Detergent. First T a True  T because it begins a stressed syllable.  

Detergent. Say that with me, detergent.

This can also be called laundry soap.  

Soap. A light release of the P. Soap,  or not, soap. Say that with me. Soap.

We have laundry detergent.

And we have... Oh, this is heavy! Bleach.

Bleach. BL consonant cluster. As soon as  the lips part, the tip of the tongue is  

right at the roof of the mouth, blll,  bllleach. Say that with me: bleach.

Oh, this is heavy! Bleach.

We don't have fabric softener but that's  another thing you can put in a washing machine.

Fabric softener. Softener – this word is  interesting because in the word ‘soft’,  

we pronounce the T. Soft. But in the word  ‘soften’ or ‘softener’, the T is silent.  

Sof-en-er. Say that with me.  Softener. Fabric softener.

We don't have fabric softener but that's  another thing you can put in a washing machine.

We also have stain remover. Of course, with  the kid, we need to use it all the time.

Stain remover. So important to have. I like the  word ‘remover’ because it’s a stressed syllable,  

‘move’, with a really quick R sound before and  after. The quickest R sound you can make: rr,  

remover, remover. Most non-native  speakers make their unstressed  

syllables too long. How short can you make  these unstressed syllables? Rr move rr,  

Remover. Stain remover. Try  that with me. Stain remover.

We also have stain remover. Of course, with the  kid, we need to use it all the time. I think,  

usually, when I refer to this,  I just refer to the brand. Like,  

"David, I think we need more Zout."  Is this Zout or Z-out? I don't know.  

Spray-On Wash. Stain Stick. Oxiclean.  Max Force. You got to have a variety.

So for the dryer, you have a couple different  options. Automatic Dry. That's what I always use.

Automatic dry. Both T’s are flap Ts. Automatic.  I’ll do it with two true T’s: automatic.  

Wow. Automatic. Flap T’s really help to smooth  out and make an American sound: automatic.  

We love that smooth flow of sound in American  English. Automatic. Try it with me. Automatic.

So for the dryer, you have  a couple different options.

Automatic Dry. That's what  I always use. And of course,  

these are dials just like on the washing machine.

And don't forget to empty...

the lint screen.

Lint screen, lint screen.  What am I doing with that T?  

Lint screen. I’m making it a stop. Lint  screen. It’s different from ‘lin-screen’,  

where there's no break. We need that little  break, lint screen. That little stop,  

to know a T was there. Lint screen. Lint  screen. Say that with me. Lint screen.

And don't forget to empty...

the lint screen.

We don't have any, but you  might put dryer sheets in.

Dryer sheets. Remember, you can make this word  with a D sound, dryer, or a J sound, “jryer”.  

Dryer sheets. Say that with me now. Dryer sheets.

We don't have any, but you might put dryer sheets  in to keep your clothes from getting staticky.

Static, staticky. T’s in beginning  clusters are usually True T’s. St. St.  

The second T, is a Flap. Static. Staticky.  Try that with me: static, staticky.

We don't have any, but you might  put dryer sheets in to keep your  

clothes from getting staticky.  All right I have a load to do.

Let's do it.

This is a big one, this is going to be a super.

I'm not sure if that sweater  should go in, I think it's okay.

Some stuff is dry clean only.

Do you ever put dry clean only  stuff in your washing machine?

I know I do.

I'm guilty of that.

Dry clean. It’s a compound word, written with  a space, and a compound word has stress on the  

first word, like ‘eyeball’ or ‘bedroom’. Dry  clean. So rather than ‘clean’, it’s ‘clean’.  

Unstressed. Dry clean. Try  that with me: dry clean.

Some stuff is dry clean only.

Do you ever put dry clean only  stuff in your washing machine?

I know I do.

I'm guilty of that.

Stuff it down around the agitator.

Wow that's really full.

Okay, I'm pretty sure you're supposed to put this  in first but I have never ever done that in my  

entire life of doing the laundry. And I did have  to start doing my own laundry when I was in the  

fourth grade. About nine years old, that's when my  Mom was like "I'm not doing your laundry anymore."

Okay, normal, super, tap cold.

There we go.

That was a lot of vocabulary. What words were  new for you? Put them in the comments below.

Please subscribe with notifications  on so you never miss a video,  

and keep your learning going right  now with this video. I love being your  

English teacher. That’s it and thanks  so much for using Rachel’s English.