Pronunciation of Similar Past Tenses

A few common verbs that look different in the present tense, look similar in the past tense:

think	I think about my future.	thought	I thought about my past.
teach	I teach a class.	taught	I taught a class.
fight	I fight the enemy.	fought	I fought the enemy.
bring	I bring the coffee.	brought	I brought the coffee.
buy	I buy the newspaper.	bought	I bought the newspaper.

.

In American English, the pronunciation of these past tenses is open and long. Something like this:

• thawwwt
• tawwwt
• fawwwt
• brawwwt
• bawwwt

Also, notice the spelling difference between “taught”, and the other verbs. The sound is the same, even though the spelling is different (“au”, and “ou”).

Try to open your mouth and make a long “awwww” sound when you pronounce these words.

Fun with Words and Sounds

Handout for Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2009.   We practiced these in class. Any questions, please ask!

Some words that have the same letter combinations, sound different:
.

	But!	And!
now, how, cow	low, row, tow, know, snow
pull, bull, full	dull, sea gull
soon, tool, cool	wool, foot, cook, hook
mind, behind, blind	wind
tower, flower, power	lower, lawn mower, rower
count, mountain	country
monk, monkey	honk (a verb), donkey
our, hour, sour, flour	pour, four	tour
eye	they	key
does	goes	shoes
one, done	gone	bone

---

.

 

Adding one letter can change a word’s sound:	The same sound can be spelled in different ways:
how show now know own down to toe ear wear, tear (the verb) ear tear (the noun) ear earn here where	to, too, two, glue, new snow, owe, oh, dough pull, wool where, wear, hair, share, they’re, their drunk, monk, hunt, front oar, more, pour beer, near, here nurse, worse, first eye, die, high, cry money, funny, done, fun

When “o” is not pronounced like “o”

The “o” is pronounced “uh” in many words:

• money
• Monday
• country
• company
• front
• monkey
• done
• won
• oven
• London

Monkey	…has a different sound than:	Donkey

.

Say and Tell

The meanings of “say” and “tell” are very close. The best way to learn the difference is with examples.

Grammatical difference:

tell	Usually, “tell” answers the question:    Who?	Wrong:
	I told him about the change.	I told to him…
	She told them to meet her at the station.	She told to them…
	They told me they would be late.
	He told me to bring the key, but I forgot.	He told to me…
	Every morning, I tell Sam to finish his breakfast.
	The manager told me to do it again.
say	Usually, “say” answers the question:    What?
	He said he would be late.	He said me…
	They said it didn’t matter.	They said me…
	Then he said, “I don’t want to drive”.
	Using “said”, you can also say to whom you are speaking. In that case, you use “to”. Compare the following correct examples:
	Then he said, “I don’t want to drive”.
	Then he said to me, “I don’t want to drive”.	Then he said me…
	I said, “How’s the weather?”
	I said to the man with the wooden leg, “How’s the weather?”

Common Mistakes:

He said me….	Wrong!
He said to me…	right
She told to me.	Wrong!
She told me.	right

.

Pronunciation:

“Said” is a common word. The vowel sound is short, not long. Pronounce it correctly:

Redhead Ted said “bed, wed, fed”.

More Examples:

I told him to get ready but he didn’t.	I said, “Get ready”!  But he didn’t.
Last week the teacher told the class a joke.	The teacher said a joke to the class. (Wrong!)
The teacher told us to study page 65.	The teacher said to study page 65.
He didn’t tell me what happened.	He didn’t say what happened.
She told me about the new store.	She said “Hey, there’s a new store!”
The salesclerk told me they were all out.	The salesclerk said they were all out.
He told me he would look again.	He said he would look again.
He told me I stepped on his foot.	He said I stepped on his foot!
She told her she was sorry.	She said she was sorry.

.

un

un