Lesson 13: Speaking-Pronunciation
- Practicing Pronouncing the Vowels: [æ] [ʌ] and [ə]
Practice pronouncing the following vowels right after your teacher.
[æ] as in: cat, man, catch, can, pat, catalogue, jacket, jaguar
[ʌ] as in: up, but, bunch, famine, unrest, up, much, cut, , hug
[ə] as in: the, about, above, us, approve, cotton, cover
Repeat the words given below after your teacher.
II. Practicing Pronouncing the Diphthongs [au] and [oi] and the Consonants [č] and [š]
[au] as in: faucet, august, draw, haul, launch, cause
[oi] as in: boy, toy, boil, coin, join, soil, foil, soil
III. Pronouncing the Consonants: [č] and [š]
[č] as in: church, chair, chewing, bench, fetch, pitch
[š] as in : mention, sheep, ship, show, push, finish
IV. Expressing Personal Thoughts and Beliefs
To express beliefs and thoughts, we use the expressions such as:
I think……I don’t think
I believe…..I don’t believe in I know…… I don’t know
We use the verb “believe” when we want to express something based on truth or our conviction but we are not fully confident whether the fact or our conviction is well accepted by our listeners. We use “think” to state our opinion. It is personal view subject to criticism and disapproval. We use “know” when we have information in our mind.
Look at the examples given below for better understanding
1. Dr. Sileshi strongly believes that using River Nile for mutual benefits is the only solution that enables the downstream countries to use the water equitably.
2. I am a great believer that if there is a feeling of supremacy in the mind of any individual or community, it is obvious that there is always a visible or invisible confrontation.
3. Tihitina definitely thinks that quality education is the only key to the development and transformation of a nation.
4. Afomia has a huge belief that everyone has her/his own unique quality that can never be found in another person’s.
V. Using “so” and “neither”
“so” is used to give confirmation positively to an opinion or statement made by the earlier speaker but “neither” is used to disapprove or oppose the first speaker’s opinion or statement. “Neither” cannot be used with a negative verb since it has negative meaning by its own.
Consider also that both” so” and “neither” are always followed by auxiliary verb + pronoun.
Look at the following conversation between two students using
“so” and “nether”.
John: I always prefer to keep quiet to talking with an irrational person.
Emily: So do I.
John: My fiend hardly speaks any French words.
Emily: Neither do I.