The pronunciation of many English words sounds different from the way they appear to be written. Some English words have what we can call “disappearing or dropped syllables” – reductions or eliminations of sounds in the middle of the word.
One example is the word favorite – we don’t pronounce it FAV-o-rit with three syllables. Instead, we say it more like FAV-rit – the “o” syllable disappears.
In today’s lesson, you’re going to practice your pronunciation with some of the most common English words that tend to have dropped syllables.
It’s very important for you to participate… don’t just watch – actually repeat the words out loud after I say them! This is training your mouth to pronounce words the same way native English speakers do. You can get a lot more listen-and-repeat practice, with both words and full sentences, inside my American English Pronunciation Course.
basically (BA-sic-ly)
different (DIFF-rent)
business (BIZ-niss)
aspirin (AS-prin)
interest (IN-trist)
desperate (DES-prit)
memory (MEM-ry)
several (SEV-rul)
separate (SEP-rit) – ADJECTIVE
Note: This only applies when separate is used as an adjective (Ex. We have separate closets). When separate is used as a verb, it is pronounced with 3 syllables: SEP-a-rate. See this lesson for more information.
chocolate (CHOC-lit)
conference (CON-frins)
Wednesday (WENS-day)
miserable (MIZ-ra-bul)
temperature (TEM-pra-cher)
probably (PROB-ly)
vegetable (VEG-ta-bul)
comfortable (COMF-ter-bul)
If you’re having difficulty with pronunciation, the key is to practice like this repeatedly and consistently.
You can get that practice inside my Pronunciation & Shadowing Courses. There are lots of exercises for you to listen and repeat, and at the end you get a pronunciation evaluation.
When you buy both these courses together, you get a discount, so you can get a lot of pronunciation training for a great price 🙂
