How to Pronounce -ed in English

The past simple tense and past participle of all regular verbs end in -ed. For example:

base verb (v1)	past simple (v2)	past participle (v3)
work	worked	worked

In addition, many adjectives are made from the past participle and so end in -ed. For example:

• I like painted furniture.

The question is: How do we pronounce the -ed?

The answer is: In 3 ways - / Id/ or / t/ or / d/

* note that it is the sound that is important, not the letter or spelling. For example, "fax" ends in the letter "x" but the sound /s/; "like" ends in the letter "e" but the sound /k/.

Exceptions

The following -ed words used as adjectives are pronounced with /Id/:

English Phonetic Spelling

When speaking o­n the telephone, it is sometimes useful to spell a word using English Phonetic Spelling. To spell "Club", for example, you would say: "C for Charlie, L for Lima, U for Uniform, B for Bravo."

It is very easy to learn English Phonetic Spelling. Start by spelling your name, then your company or address. Soon, you will know the whole alphabet. It also helps to remember that there are several groups of words that go together:

• Dances: Foxtrot, Tango
• Shakespeare: Romeo & Juliet
• Men's first names: Charlie, Mike, Oscar, Victor
• Cities: Lima, Quebec

A	Alpha
B	Bravo
C	Charlie
D	Delta
E	Echo
F	Foxtrot
G	Golf
H	Hotel
I	India
J	Juliet
K	Kilo
L	Lima
M	Mike
N	November
O	Oscar
P	Papa
Q	Quebec
R	Romeo
S	Sierra
T	Tango
U	Uniform
V	Victor
W	Whisky
X	X-ray
Y	Yankee
Z	Zulu

English is not Phonetic

Always remember that English is not "phonetic". That means that we do not always say a word the same way that we spell it.

Some words can have the same spelling but different pronunciation, for example:

•  I like to read [ri:d].
•  I have read [red] that book.

Some words have different spelling but the same pronunciation, for example:

•  I have read [red] that book.
•  My favourite colour is red [red].

Learn the 52 Sounds of English
The English language may have 26 letters of the alphabet, but it has double that number of sounds: 52. Knowing and recognizing the 52 sounds will help to give you good pronunciation. Of course, everybody knows that good pronunciation helps our speaking. But do you know that good pronunciation also helps our listening? To learn and practise the 52 Sounds of English, check out Pronunciation Power, a pronunciation training program o­n CD-rom recommended by EnglishClub.com.

Understanding Syllables

To understand word stress, it helps to understand syllables.
Every word is made from syllables.
Each word has o­ne, two, three or more syllables.

word		number of syllables
dog	dog	1
green	green	1
quite	quite	1
quiet	qui-et	2
orange	or-ange	2
table	ta-ble	2
expensive	ex-pen-sive	3
interesting	in-ter-est-ing	4
realistic	re-al-is-tic	4
unexceptional	un-ex-cep-tion-al	5

Notice that (with a few rare exceptions) every syllable contains at least o­ne vowel (a, e, i, o or u) or vowel sound.

What is Word Stress?

In English, we do not say each syllable with the same force or strength. In o­ne word, we accentuate o­nE syllable. We say one syllable very loudly (big, strong, important) and all the other syllables very quietly.

Let's take 3 words: photograph, photographer and photographic. Do they sound the same when spoken? No. Because we accentuate (stress) o­nE syllable in each word. And it is not always the same syllable. So the shape of each word is different.

click word to hear	shape	total syllables	stressed syllable
PHO TO GRAPH		3	#1
PHO  TO GRAPH ER		4	#2
PHO TO  GRAPH IC		4	#3

This happens in ALL words with 2 or more syllables: TEACHer, JaPAN, CHINa, aBOVE, converSAtion, INteresting, imPORtant, deMAND, etCETera, etCETera, etCETera

The syllables that are not stressed are ‘weak’ or ‘small’ or ‘quiet’. Native speakers of English listen for the STRESSED syllables, not the weak syllables. If you use word stress in your speech, you will instantly and automatically improve your pronunciation and your comprehension.

Try to hear the stress in individual words each time you listen to English - o­n the radio, or in films for example. Your first step is to HEAR and recognise it. After that, you can USE it!

There are two very important rules about word stress:

1. One word, o­ne stress. (One word cannot have two stresses. So if you hear two stresses, you have heard two words, not o­ne word.)
2. The stress is always o­n a vowel.

Rules of Word Stress in English There are two very simple rules about word stress: One word has o­nly o­ne stress. (One word cannot have two stresses. If you hear two stresses, you hear two words. Two stresses cannot be o­ne word. It is true that there can be a "secondary" stress in some words. But a secondary stress is much smaller than the main [primary] stress, and is o­nly used in long words.) We can o­nly stress vowels, not consonants. Here are some more, rather complicated, rules that can help you understand where to put the stress. But do not rely o­n them too much, because there are many exceptions. It is better to try to "feel" the music of the language and to add the stress naturally. 1 Stress o­n first syllable rule example Most 2-syllable nouns PRESent, EXport, CHIna, TAble Most 2-syllable adjectives PRESent, SLENder, CLEVer, HAPpy 2 Stress o­n last syllable rule example Most 2-syllable verbs to preSENT, to exPORT, to deCIDE, to beGIN   There are many two-syllable words in English whose meaning and class change with a change in stress. The word present, for example is a two-syllable word. If we stress the first syllable, it is a noun (gift) or an adjective (opposite of absent). But if we stress the second syllable, it becomes a verb (to offer). More examples: the words export, import, contract and object can all be nouns or verbs depending o­n whether the stress is o­n the first or second syllable. 3 Stress o­n penultimate syllable (penultimate = second from end) rule example Words ending in -ic GRAPHic, geoGRAPHic, geoLOGic Words ending in -sion and -tion teleVIsion, reveLAtion   For a few words, native English speakers don't always "agree" o­n where to put the stress. For example, some people say teleVIsion and others say TELevision. Another example is: CONtroversy and conTROversy. 4 Stress o­n ante-penultimate syllable (ante-penultimate = third from end) rule example Words ending in -cy, -ty, -phy and -gy deMOcracy, dependaBIlity, phoTOgraphy, geOLogy Words ending in -al CRItical, geoLOGical 5 Compound words (words with two parts) rule example For compound nouns, the stress is o­n the first part BLACKbird, GREENhouse For compound adjectives, the stress is o­n the second part bad-TEMpered, old-FASHioned For compound verbs, the stress is o­n the second part to underSTAND, to overFLOW

Sentence Stress in English

Sentence stress is the music of spoken English. Like word stress, sentence stress can help you to understand spoken English, especially when spoken fast.

Sentence stress is what gives English its rhythm or "beat". You remember that word stress is accent o­n one syllable within a word. Sentence stress is accent o­n certain words within a sentence.

Most sentences have two types of word:

• content words
• structure words

Content words are the key words of a sentence. They are the important words that carry the meaning or sense.

Structure words are not very important words. They are small, simple words that make the sentence correct grammatically. They give the sentence its correct form or "structure".

If you remove the structure words from a sentence, you will probably still understand the sentence.

If you remove the content words from a sentence, you will not understand the sentence. The sentence has no sense or meaning.

Imagine that you receive this telegram message:

Will	you	SELL	me	CAR	because	I'm	GONE	to	FRANCE
Click here to hear

This sentence is not complete. It is not a "grammatically correct" sentence. But you probably understand it. These 4 words communicate very well. Somebody wants you to sell their car for them because they have gone to France. We can add a few words:

Will	you	SELL	my	CAR	because	I've	GONE	to	FRANCE
Click here to hear

The new words do not really add any more information. But they make the message more correct grammatically. We can add even more words to make o­ne complete, grammatically correct sentence. But the information is basically the same:

Content Words
Will	you	SELL	my	CAR	because	I've	GONE	to	FRANCE.
Structure Words
Click here to hear

In our sentence, the 4 key words (sell, car, gone, France) are accentuated or stressed.

Why is this important for pronunciation? It is important because it adds "music" to the language. It is the rhythm of the English language. It changes the speed at which we speak (and listen to) the language. The time between each stressed word is the same.

In our sentence, there is 1 syllable between SELL and CAR and 3 syllables between CAR and GONE. But the time (t) between SELL and CAR and between CAR and GONE is the same. We maintain a constant beat o­n the stressed words. To do this, we say "my" more slowly, and "because I've" more quickly. We change the speed of the small structure words so that the rhythm of the key content words stays the same.

Sentence Stress Rules >

See also: Word Stress

I am a proFESsional phoTOgrapher whose MAIN INterest is to TAKE SPEcial, BLACK and WHITE PHOtographs that exHIBit ABstract MEANings in their photoGRAPHic STRUCture.

Rules for Sentence Stress in English

The basic rules of sentence stress are:

1. content words are stressed
2. structure words are unstressed
3. the time between stressed words is always the same

The following tables can help you decide which words are content words and which words are structure words:

Content words - stressed

Words carrying the meaning	Example
main verbs	SELL, GIVE, EMPLOY
nouns	CAR, MUSIC, MARY
adjectives	RED, BIG, INTERESTING
adverbs	QUICKLY, LOUDLY, NEVER
negative auxiliaries	DON'T, AREN'T, CAN'T

Structure words - unstressed

Words for correct grammar	Example
pronouns	he, we, they
prepositions	on, at, into
articles	a, an, the
conjunctions	and, but, because
auxiliary verbs	do, be, have, can, must

Exceptions

The above rules are for for what is called "neutral" or normal stress. But sometimes we can stress a word that would normally be o­nly a structure word, for example to correct information. Look at the following dialogue:

"They've been to Mongolia, haven't they?"
"No, THEY haven't, but WE have.

Note also that when "be" is used as a main verb, it is usually unstressed (even though in this case it is a content word).

Rules for Sentence Stress in English

The basic rules of sentence stress are:

1. content words are stressed
2. structure words are unstressed
3. the time between stressed words is always the same

The following tables can help you decide which words are content words and which words are structure words:

Content words - stressed

Words carrying the meaning	Example
main verbs	SELL, GIVE, EMPLOY
nouns	CAR, MUSIC, MARY
adjectives	RED, BIG, INTERESTING
adverbs	QUICKLY, LOUDLY, NEVER
negative auxiliaries	DON'T, AREN'T, CAN'T

Structure words - unstressed

Words for correct grammar	Example
pronouns	he, we, they
prepositions	on, at, into
articles	a, an, the
conjunctions	and, but, because
auxiliary verbs	do, be, have, can, must

Exceptions

The above rules are for for what is called "neutral" or normal stress. But sometimes we can stress a word that would normally be o­nly a structure word, for example to correct information. Look at the following dialogue:

"They've been to Mongolia, haven't they?"
"No, THEY haven't, but WE have.

Note also that when "be" is used as a main verb, it is usually unstressed (even though in this case it is a content word).

Homophones

Homophones are words that have exactly the same sound (pronunciation) but different meanings and (usually) spelling.

For example, the following two words have the same sound, but different meanings and spelling:

hour
our

In the next example, the two words have the same sound and spelling, but different meanings:

bear (the animal)
bear (to carry)

Usually homophones are in groups of two (our, hour), but very occasionally they can be in groups of three (to, too, two) or even four. If we take our "bear" example, we can add another word to the group"

bare (naked)
bear (the animal)
bear (to tolerate)

"Our bear cannot bear to be bare at any hour."

The word homophone is made from two combining forms: homo- (from the Greek word "homos", meaning "same" -phone (from the Greek word "phone", meaning "voice" or "sound" You will see many other English words using o­ne or other of these combining forms.

The following list of 70 groups of homophones contains o­nly the most common homophones, using relatively well-known words. These are headwords o­nly. No inflections (such as third person singular "s" or noun plurals) are included.

air	heir
aisle	isle
ante-	anti-
eye	I
bare	bear	bear
be	bee
brake	break
buy	by
cell	sell
cent	scent
cereal	serial
coarse	course
complement	compliment
dam	damn
dear	deer
die	dye
fair	fare
fir	fur
flour	flower
for	four
hair	hare
heal	heel
hear	here
him	hymn
hole	whole
hour	our
idle	idol
in	inn
knight	night
knot	not
know	no
made	maid
mail	male
meat	meet
morning	mourning
none	nun
oar	or
one	won
pair	pear
peace	piece
plain	plane
poor	pour
pray	prey
principal	principle
profit	prophet
real	reel
right	write
root	route
sail	sale
sea	see
seam	seem
sight	site
sew	so	sow
shore	sure
sole	soul
some	sum
son	sun
stair	stare
stationary	stationery
steal	steel
suite	sweet
tail	tale
their	there
to	too	two
toe	tow
waist	waste
wait	weight
way	weigh
weak	week
wear	where

NB: In a few cases, a third homophone, although possible, has not been included for simplicity. Different varieties and accents of English may produce variations in some of these pronunciations. The homophones listed here are based o­n British English.

Linking Vowel to Vowel

When o­ne word ends with a vowel sound and the next word begins with a vowel sound, we link the words with a sort of W or Y sound.

oo º	If our lips are round at the end of the first word, we insert a W sound:
We write it like this: too often who is so I do all We say it like this: tooWoften whoWis soWI doWall

 

oo –	If our lips are wide at the end of the first word, we insert a Y sound:
We write it like this: I am Kay is the end she asked We say it like this: IYam KayYis theYend sheYasked

 

Normally, we pronounce "the" with a short sound (like "thuh"). But when "the" comes before a vowel sound, we pronounce it as a long "thee".

vowel sound	we write	we say
A	the apple	thee apple
E	the egg	thee egg
I	the ice-cream	thee ice-cream
O	the orange	thee orange
U	the ugli fruit	thee ugli fruit

It is important to understand that it is what we say that matters, not what we write. It is the sound that matters, not the letter used in writing a word. So we use a long "thee" before a vowel sound, not necessarily before a vowel. Look at these cases:

we write	with	we say	with
the house	consonant (h)	thuh house	consonant sound
the hour	consonant (h)	thee our	vowel sound
the university	vowel (u)	thuh youniversity	consonant sound
the umbrella	vowel (u)	thee umbrella	vowel sound

Emphatic the [thee]
When we wish to place emphasis o­n a particular word, we can use "emphatic the" [thee], whether or not the word begins with a consonant or vowel sound. For example:

A: I saw the [thuh] President yesterday.
B: What! The [thee] President of the United States?
A: Yes, exactly.

Tongue-Twisters A tongue-twister is a sequence of words that is difficult to pronounce quickly and correctly. Even native English speakers find the tongue-twisters o­n this page difficult to say quickly. Try them yourself. Try to say them as fast as possible, but correctly! A proper copper coffee pot. Around the rugged rocks the ragged rascals ran. Long legged ladies last longer. Mixed biscuits, mixed biscuits. A box of biscuits, a box of mixed biscuits and a biscuit mixer! Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper. Did Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled pepper? If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper, Where's the peck of pickled pepper Peter Piper picked? Pink lorry, yellow lorry. Red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather. She sells sea-shells o­n the sea-shore. The sixth sick Sheik's sixth sheep is sick. [Sometimes described as the hardest tongue-twister in the English language.] Swan swam over the pond, Swim swan swim! Swan swam back again - Well swum swan! Three grey geese in green fields grazing. We surely shall see the sun shine soon. (englishclub.com) Please click here: English E-book Think and grow Rich by Dale Carnegie http://www.dalecarnegie.com/flash/gbflash.htm