Practice Your English Pronunciation: /e/ vs /ɪ/ Vowel Sounds | Course #2

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.

/e/ and /ɪ/

Let's take two example words.

The first word is 'bed'.

Can you hear /e/ 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

/e/ 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

/e/.

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

/e/

Watch my mouth.

How it moves.

/e/

Can you watch my mouth and repeat after me now?

/e/ /e/ /e/.

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 /e/ 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.

/e/ /e/ /e/

/ɪ/ /ɪ/ /ɪ/

/e/

/ɪ/

/e/

/ɪ/

/e/

/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

/e/

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.

‘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 /e/ and /ɪ/ sounds.

And 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 /e/ 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.