One very frustrating thing about the English language is that the pronunciation is irregular. There aren’t strict pronunciation rules that you could memorize and always know exactly how words are pronounced – it’s just not possible.
There ARE some pronunciation patterns… but there are also exceptions to those patterns! Some letters and combinations of letters have multiple different pronunciations, and you can’t know which one to use just by reading the word; you need to hear the word. That’s why listening and repeating is so important.
You can improve your pronunciation fast inside my American English Pronunciation Course – we’ll learn and practice all the sounds of the language, helping you to make the differences between similar sounds and avoid pronunciation mistakes.
Let’s try some of these similar-but-different words.
horse / worse
dull / pull
heart / heard
break / bleak
war / far
daughter / laughter
round / wound
tomb / bomb / comb
soul / foul
shoes / goes / does
mint / pint
Learn more: wonder vs. wander
Thanks for practicing with me! And I hope you’ll join me inside my American English Pronunciation Course, because it will help you speak English more clearly and confidently.
