/ɛ/ vs /ɪ/ | Learn English Pronunciation | Minimal Pairs Practice

Hello guys and welcome to this English pronunciation video.

In this video, I'm going to focus on two very important vowel sounds in English.

/ɛ/ and /ɪ/

Let's take two example words.

The first word is 'bed'.

Can you hear /ɛ/ the sound? 'bed'

Now the second word is, bid.

Can you hear the /ɪ/ sound?

bid bed bid

I know they sound similar, but they are different.

And with a little bit of practice, you will start hearing them differently.

I promise you that.

So keep watching.

Get ready guys.

I am going to help you make these sounds

/ɛ/ and /ɪ/.

I want you to be able to hear the difference and to pronounce them correctly.

It's very important, also

for you to know the IPA spelling.

Watch how I move my mouth.

And as usual, repeat after me.

I know that you can master these vowel sounds, So let's get to it.

So let's first practice how to make the sound /ɛ/.

So your tongue is in a middle part of your mouth.

/ɛ/

Watch my mouth.

How it moves.

/ɛ/

Can you watch my mouth and repeat after me now?

/ɛ/ /ɛ/ /ɛ/.

Okay let's now practice with a word, ‘bed’.

Can you repeat after me?

bed bed bed

Good job.

Moving on to the sound /ɪ/.

Now your tongue - it's a little higher than for the /ɛ/ sound.

And you should stretch out your lips a little.

And it's a short sound.

/ɪ/

So let's practice.

Repeat after me.

/ɪ/ /ɪ/ /ɪ/

Let's practice with a word, ‘bid’.

Watch how my mouth moves and repeat after me.

bid bid bid

Okay guys, let's now use minimal pairs -

same words only the vowel sounds change.

They're a good way to practice these sounds.

But first just the sounds, so just watch how my mouth moves

and repeat after me.

/ɛ/ /ɛ/ /ɛ/ /ɪ/ /ɪ/ /ɪ/

Let's now take the words ‘bed’ and ‘bid’.

Repeat after me.

bed bed bed bid bid bid

bed bid bed bid bed bid

Good, guys.

Okay guys, let's now read minimal pairs together.

Repeat after me.

And watch how my mouth moves.

Let's go.

beg big bell bill

belt built bet bit

bless bliss

check chick

clench clinch crept crypt

dead did desk disk

fell fill fleck flick

gem gym head hid

heck hick hell hill

hem him hex hicks

Ken kin led lid

left lift lest list

let lit

mess miss meddle middle

messed mist peg pig

pet pit set sit

quell quill

Okay let's continue practicing.

I'm now going to show you some words and I want you to read them with the proper

English vowel sound /ɛ/ and /ɪ/.

Let's get started.

Let's start with the first word.

Which one is it? ‘beg’ or ‘big’?

It's beg.

Next word.

Which one is it? ‘bet’or ‘bit’?

It's ‘bit’.

Next word.

Which one is it? ‘mess’ or ‘miss’?

It’s ‘mess’.

The following word.

Which one is it? ‘set’ or ‘sit’?

It's ‘set’ of course.

Next word.

Which one is it? ‘left’ or ‘lift’?

lift Next word.

‘hell’ or ‘hill’?

‘hill’ obviously.

Next word.

‘beg’ or ‘big’?

It's ‘big’ this time.

Next word.

‘dead’ or ‘did’?

It's ‘dead’of course.

Then we have ‘mess’ or ‘miss’?

It is ‘miss’.

And finally, ‘dead’ or ‘did’?

‘did’

Great guys!

Let's continue on.

Okay guys.

Moving on to sentences now.

I have sentences for you and they're filled with /ɛ/ and /ɪ/ sounds.

Repeat after me.

The first sentence is,

‘Ken did not sit on the hill.’

The second sentence,

‘My pet pig fell off the cliff.’

And finally,

‘Set the big desk in the middle.’

Good job, guys.

Let's carry on.

Great guys.

Well now you have a better understanding of

the difference between the English vowel sounds /ɛ/ and /ɪ/.

Keep practicing.

Practice makes perfect.

I know you can do it.

And make sure to watch the rest of my pronunciation videos.

They're very important if you want to improve your English skills.

See you next time.

Thank you so much guys for watching my video.

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