درسنامه اصلی

Hi. This is AJ. Welcome to Unit 13. Now our focus in this unit, “word endings”. I’ve already talked about word endings in several other units, but we’re going to do a whole unit focusing on the ends of words because this is so important.

Why is it important? Because I’ve noticed that many, many English learners have weak word endings.

They cut the endings of words and this sounds very, very strange to Americans and Canadians and British people. It can make you very difficult to understand. If you’re cutting the ends of your words too much it sounds very strange. Okay? That example I was cutting the ends of the words and it sounds very strange.

In English we like to have nice, strong word endings.

Now native speakers, when we speak very fast, we might cut the ends of some words. I don’t want you to do that because usually the problem with learners is they cut too much, so I want you to do the opposite. I want you to make the endings of your words pronounced very clearly and very strongly.

Let’s talk about some of the common problems with word endings. Some of this will be review because we’ve already mentioned it before, but we’re going to practice more in this unit.

The letter P; the letter P at the end of words, a lot of people cut this. They make it too soft. It needs to be clear. We need to hear the P sound. For example, the word “hope.” It’s not “ho-.” Close it. You’ve got to get that full puh. Give me that nice, strong P at the end. Let’s exaggerate as we practice.

Hope. Hope. Strong P at the end. Hope, hope, hope.

Group, group. Group of people. Group, group, group.

Stop, stop, stop.

Finally, sleep. Sleep, sleep. Nice strong P at the end.

Let’s go to the B now. The B sound at the end, another common problem. People cut the B; they make it too soft or too short so we want to stretch it out and make it nice and strong. Let’s practice just two words.

Job, job, job. J-O-B, job. Buh, buh. Give me an extra strong B at the end. Job, job, job.

Club, club, club, club.

Now in the training audio I won’t exaggerate this much. Right? It’ll be a little more natural, but as you practice in the video here I want you to make it super, super exaggerated.

Two other ones, Ts and Ds at the end of words. Often non-native speakers, English learners, will make them too soft or too short. So again let’s practice making them extra strong. A T at the end: What, what, what, what.

You can even use your hands and do some little action to remind you with that sound.

What, what.

Jumped, jumped, past tense. Jumped.

Walked, walked, walked.

Ate, ate, ate.

But, but.

Now the D, the D at the end. Same thing, very strong.

Should, should, should.

He tried. Tried, tried.

End. Not the beginning, the end. End, end.

Did, did, did.

Very good.

Our next important ending: I-N-G or N-G at the end of words again needs to be nice and strong so we here that “ing” sound. For example, winning. It’s not winnin’, right? Don’t cut the G, don’t cut the N, make it nice and strong.

Winning, winning, winning.

Succeeding, succeeding, succeeding.

Trying, trying, trying.

Now a note about this: There’s no K sound at the end of this. Some people will say an I-N-G and they add a little kuh at the end. We don’t want that, with I-N-G it’s a guh, not a kuh. It’s not “winnin-k.” No, it’s “winnin-g.” Guh, guh, guh, guh. It’s the G, get the vibration.

Winning, winning.

Trying.

Walking, walking.

G, not K at the end.

All right. Our final word ending, I-O-N-S. I-O-N-S. Like vacations. Right? You go on vacations to relax, go on a vacation to the beach. What if you have more than one vacation? Then it’s pronounced “vacations-zuh.” It’s an S at the end, but the sound is actually the Z sound. There’s a vibration.

Let’s just do a few words that end in I-O-N with an S. You get the Z sound usually so it’s relations.

Relations, relations.

Vacations. More than one vacation is vacations. Vacations, vacations.

Nations. Countries, nations, nations. Get the zz at the end. Nations.

All right. That’s all. As you do the training audio this time, focus especially on pronouncing the ends of the words. You can exaggerate a little bit and pronounce the ends of the words extra clearly, extra strongly. Later when you speak fast you won’t do it so much, but when you train during the next five days exaggerate it. Make the ends of the words very, very strong.

See you in the training audio.