English Vocabulary: 100’s of Words!

Almost 2 hours of vocabulary and pronunciation practice. Let’s get to work. 

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Video Transcript:

Let’s round up all different kinds of English vocabulary words from daily life and focus on the pronunciation. So you’re comfortable using this vocabulary in your own spoken English. We’ll go over foods, clothes and laundry, the car.  

Let’s start with vegetables.  

Garlic looks good. Tomatoes on the vine. Those look nice. 

These might be heirloom tomatoes. 

They are, mmm, those looks so nice. Slice that on a sandwich. 

There you heard the terms garlic and tomatoes. Words with stress on the first syllable. 

For garlic, we have an R followed by L. Depending on your native language, that can be tricky. 

Try practicing it, holding out your R. 

Garrrr— the tip is pulled slightly back enough and it’s not touching anything. Garrrr— garlic. 

Then bring your tongue tip up and forward for the light L. Garlic. Say that with me. Garlic. 

 Garlic looks good. 

Tomato or tomatoes. Notice that the first T is a true T, unlike tomorrow or today, which also start with an unstressed syllable, T schwa. This really has to be a true T. It sounds weird with a flap T. 

The second T however is a flap T because it comes between two vowels and doesn’t start a stressed syllable.  

Tomato. Toma– dadadada– Tomato. Make that by just flapping your tongue once on the roof of the mouth. Tomato. Tomatoes. Say those with me. 

Tomato. 

Tomatoes. 

You also heard the phrase: tomatoes on the vine, which is just what it sounds like. 

A set of tomatoes still attached to the vine.  

 Tomatoes on the vine. Those look nice. 

Also, I said heirloom tomatoes. Those are tomatoes grown from heirloom seeds.  

Notice that the H is silent in that word. 

Heirloom. Say that with me. 

Heirloom. 

These might be heirloom tomatoes. They are, mmm, those looks so nice. Slice that on a sandwich. 

You also heard a funny pronunciation of the word ‘sandwich’. 

 We often don’t say the D sound in this word. So it sounds like sanwich, sanwich, with just an N sound and you’ll even hear it with an M instead of an N. That’s what I did. Sam, Sam-wich. 

Sandwich. 

Sandwich. 

A very common pronunciation of that word. 

Sandwich. Say that with me. 

Sandwich. 

Slice that on a sandwich.  

Let’s look at a close-up of garlic.  

This is called a head of garlic, and one piece pulled off is called a clove. 

Head. Clove.Say those with me. 

Head.  

Clove.  

Sweet potato. Red onion. Yellow onion. White onion. Red potato. Regular potato. Russet.  

There, you saw several varieties of potatoes and onions. Potato rhymes with tomato. 

The first T is a true T because it begins a stressed syllable even though it does come between two vowels. 

The second T is a flap T because it comes between two vowels and doesn’t start a stressed syllable. 

Potato. 

Potato. 

The first O is a schwa. 

Pot— 

the second O is the OH diphthong. 

Oh. Oh. 

Potato. Say that with me. 

Potato. 

Red potato. Regular potato. Russet.  

Onion. The first letter O is the UH as in butter sound. 

Uh— Onion. 

Onion. Say that with me. 

Onion. 

Red onion. Yellow onion. White onion. 

All sorts of mushrooms. Look how big these portabellas are. 

Oh my gosh, they’re huge. 

Mushrooms. One of my favorite vegetables. So many varieties. And also one of Stoney’s favorite vegetables. 

Two-syllable word, stress on the first syllable. Mush-room. Room, room, room. 

Room is unstressed, lower in pitch, has less energy in the voice. 

Room, mushroom. 

Mushroom. Say that with me. 

Mushroom. 

All sorts of mushrooms. Look how big these portabellas are. Oh my gosh. 

Cauliflower. Oh, that looks good. 

Cauliflower. 

The first syllable can have the AW vowel, caul— or the AH vowel, ca— cauli– cauli– cauliflower. 

The first syllable is the most stressed. Cauliflower. Say that with me. Cauliflower. 

Cauliflower. 

Oh, that looks good. 

Like garlic, a unit of one cauliflower is called a head. When you cut it up into smaller pieces, those pieces are called ‘florets’. Florets. Say that with me. 

Florets. 

Nice and fresh. 

Asparagus. 

Asparagus. A four-syllable word with stress on the second syllable. So the first syllable should lead up to it, and the last two syllables fall away. Ah-spar-agus. 

Asparagus. Say that with me. Asparagus. 

Asparagus. 

Oh wow, look at this artichoke. 

I’ve never made an artichoke. I’ve only ever bought them canned. 

Artichoke. Here, we have a flap T. Why? 

It doesn’t come between two vowels. That’s the rule for flap T, but there is a second rule. A T is also a flap T when it comes after an R, before a vowel or diphthong like here. So you’ll flap your tongue once on the roof of the mouth. Arti– dididididi– Artichoke. First-syllable stress. Artichoke. Say that with me. Artichoke. 

Oh wow, look at this artichoke. 

The eggplants look good. Is that on the list? 

Yep? And the cabbages. 

Eggplants. Eggplant has nothing to do with a chicken but one variety was originally called this because it looked like a goose egg. 

Make the G with a back of the tongue, gggg– then close your lips for the P, 

egg– and you don’t try to pull your tongue away to fully pronounce the G. 

Egg-plant. 

Eggplant. Eggplant. 

That G is too heavy. Instead, just lift the tongue, egg– and close the lips for the P and release. 

Eggplant. Eggplant. Say that with me. Eggplant. 

The eggplants look good. 

Parsnips. Don’t think that’s on our list. 

Parsnip. I love these put into a fruit and vegetable smoothie. 

Make sure you drop your jaw for the AW vowel before the R. Par– paarr– parsnip. Say that with me. Parsnip. 

Parsnips. 

I also bought a bunch of vegetables and brought them home. Let’s take a look. 

Avocado. Let’s cut it open. 

An avocado. Let’s see. What’s on the inside? It’s not a seed. Is it a pit? 

Does that sound right to you? It’s a pit. There it is. Avocado. 

Avocado. We have two syllables here with the AH as in father vowel. 

Don’t let that first letter O fool you. It’s a schwa. Uh, said very quickly. 

Avo, avo, uh, uh, avo. Avocado. Third syllable is the most stressed but the  

first syllable has some stress too. 

A-vo-ca-do. Avocado. Avocado. Say that with me. 

Avocado. 

Avocado. 

I mentioned seed and pit. I went over the pronunciation of these two words in the fruit vocabulary video that I did. Did you miss that? It’s a great one. 

I’ll put a link to that one towards the end of this video. 

An avocado. Let’s see What’s on the inside? 

It’s not a seed. Is it a pit? Does that sound right to you? 

It’s a pit. There it is. 

Broccoli. 

Broccoli. Just like cauliflower, this is a head. And when it’s cut into smaller pieces, those are called florets. 

This is one of those words that can be three syllables or two like: camera, camera, and family, family. I recommend you go with the two-syllable pronunciation. I think it’s more common and it’s simpler. Brocc–li instead of broc-uh-li. Broccoli. 

First-syllable stress. Broccoli. Say that with me. Broccoli. 

Broccoli. 

Cabbage. Let’s cut it open. 

I have to be really careful because this knife is extremely sharp. 

I actually gave it to David for Father’s Day and the same day, we had to go to the ER because he cut his finger.   

I better be really careful. 

This is a tough cabbage. 

There we go. 

Cabbage. 

Cabbage. Which can be extremely hard to cut. 

Cabbage. This is also called a head. A head of cabbage. But it doesn’t cut down into florets the way that broccoli and cauliflower does. Good thing I was so careful with that knife, right? 

The first syllable is stressed so keep the second syllable really short. Age, age, age. Cabbage. Cabbage. Say that with me. Cabbage. 

Cabbage. Which can be extremely hard to cut. 

Carrot. 

Carrots. I can’t hear this word without thinking of Anne of Green Gables where a boy teases her for having red hair by calling her carrots. 

Carrots. Carrots. 

You mean, hateful boy! 

How dare you! 

This word is written phonetically with the AH as in bat vowel but that’s not how it’s pronounced. R changes this vowel. It’s more like the EH as in bed vowel but not quite that either. 

Car– car– car– Just like CARE, care. Carrot. Carrot. Carrots. Say those with me. Carrot. Carrots. 

Carrot. 

I have two peppers, a red pepper, and an orange pepper. 

Peppers. There are so many kinds of peppers. Bell peppers, like you saw in the video, and then all kinds of hot spicy peppers. 

And then of course, there’s the spice pepper, which with salt is very typical on the American dinner table. Pepper. Unstressed schwa R ending, said quickly, low in pitch. Er, er. Pepper. Pepper. Say that with me. Pepper. 

I have two peppers, a red pepper, and an orange pepper. 

Here’s a bunch of kale. 

Kale is a really thick, hearty leaf. 

Kale. K constant, AY diphthong, and the dark L. 

Kale. Kale. This is a bunch of kale, not a head like we have with lettuce or cabbage. All of the leaves were already cut off and not attached to a main stem. 

So it’s a bunch, kale. Say that with me. Kale. Kale. 

Kale is a really thick, hearty leaf. 

Lettuce a two-syllable word with first-syllable stress. 

What do you notice about the double T? 

Lettuce. It’s a flap T. A single sound. The second syllable is said very quickly. 

Lettuce. Us, us, us. Lettuce. Say that with me. Lettuce. 

This is a bunch of scallions. Also known as green onions. 

Scallions or green onions.  

Green onion or scallion. You already know onion.  

Green can be a little tricky because of the GR consonant cluster. 

With clusters with R, I always recommend holding out the R as you practice to give you some time to focus in on the right sound and position. 

Grrrr-een green, green, green onion. Say that with me. Green onion. 

Green onions. 

Scallion. Another word for the exact same thing. A dark L, scal– scal– scallion, scallion. Say that with me. Scallion. 

Scallions.  

Corn. This is an ‘ear of corn’ and when you take off the outer leaves to reveal the kernels of the corn, this act, this verb, which is harder than it looks, it’s called shucking. I’m shucking the corn. 

Corn. Corn on the cob. 

Corn. This word has the AW as in law vowel but when it’s followed by R, just like it is here, it changes. Now, the lips around more and the tongue pulls back more. 

So it’s not aw, law but it’s uhl, co– corn. Corn. Corn. Corn. Say that with me. Corn. 

Corn. 

Shucking corn is a lot of work, isn’t it? I called the green things that I was pulling  

down leaves but really that’s the husk. And inside the husk, those strands that  

look like hair, that’s called corn silk. You’ll see some more corn silk coming up in a minute. 

This is an ear of corn, and when you take off the outer leaves to reveal the kernels of the corn, this act, this verb, which is harder than it looks, it’s called shucking. I’m shucking the corn. 

I didn’t get video of celery, cucumber, or radishes, three other common vegetables. 

Celery is another word that can be three syllables. Cel–err–ee. Celery. 

But I recommend pronouncing it with two: cel-ree. Celery. Celery. 

Say that with me. Celery. 

Cucumber. 

Three-syllable word, stress on the first syllable, which has the JU diphthong. 

Cu– cu– cucumber. Say that with me. Cucumber. 

Radish or radishes. 

The plural here, ES adds an extra syllable because the last sound of the noun was an SH. Radishes. Radishes. It’s like the word ‘is’ said very quickly as a third syllable. Radish. Radishes. Say those with me. Radish. Radishes. 

That’s it for the vegetable vocabs. 

Woo! Celebrate! 

You know we could continue on with food but I’m kind of feeling cars.  

Let’s get started.  

The steering wheel.  

Steering wheel. steering is two syllables. The ing ending is always unstressed it has an r in it which can be a tricky sound. Make sure you hold it out. Steer-ing. 

If you can’t, steering, rarara. Then you’re making it with the wrong part of the tongue. Steering wheel. Steering wheel. The tongue tip should be pulled back and up a little bit so it’s not touching anything.  

Wheel. WH words like wheel can be pronounced hw or w without the hw before, I think it’s easier just to use the w sound. Wheel. Wheel. Steering wheel. Say that with me. Steering wheel. Steering wheel.  

The steering wheel.  

  

This is the gear shift.  

We have a P for park, R for reverse, N for neutral and D for drive.  

Gear shift. Gear shift. Gear, ear. That’s the same combination as steer ear. Gear shift. Say that with me. gear shift gear shift 

This is the gear shift. We have a P for park.  

Park. Paaaaark. All vowel plus R. Lots of my students say something like park without dropping the jaw. Do drop your jaw. Get a clear aw vowel before the R. Paaar, park. Say that with me. Park. Park. We have a P for park, R for reverse. 

Reverse. Two syllables and the first syllable is really short. Re, re, re, reverse. Say that with me. Reverse. Reverse.  

R for reverse, N for neutral.  

Neutral. Many Americans make the tr cluster sound like chr. Neutral. Chr, chr. Try that with me. Neutral. Neutral.  

N for neutral and D for drive.  

Drive some people especially Japanese speakers have a problem with R and L.  Remember it’s not live with the tongue tip forward but drive. Drrr, with the tongue tip pulled back and up a little bit. Drr. So it’s not touching anything. Try that with me. Drive. Drive.   

And D for drive. 

We have the emergency brake or parking brake.  

Emergency brake or parking brake.  

Emergency. 

Stress is on that second syllable.  

Emergency. Emergency. Try that with me. Emergency. Emergency brake.  

Parking brake. Remember the ing ending is unstressed. Parking brake. Say that with me. Parking. Parking brake.  

We have the emergency brake or parking brake.  

This is the dashboard.  

Dashboard. Stress on the first syllable dash-board. Try that with me. Dash Board. Dashboard. Dashboard.  

This is the dashboard. Here’s the rear-view mirror.  

Rear-view mirror. Two words with two r sounds. This is so hard. Rear and mirror have the same sound combination except for the first consonant. Ear, ear. This is just like steer in steering wheel. The tongue tip is forward touching the back the bottom front teeth and then just lifts and pulls back a little bit, eeear, so it’s not touching anything. Rear. Mirror. Rear-view mirror. Re-emphasize the R for the second syllable of mirror. Mirror, mirror. Let’s try the whole thing together slowed down. Say it out loud with me. Rear-view mirror. Rear-view mirror.  

And now at regular pace. Rear-view mirror. Rear-view mirror. 

Here’s the rear-view mirror.  

Oh that sun’s bright. Let’s pull down the visor.  

Visor. Even though the letter o is in the second syllable don’t try to make a vowel VIs-rrr. Just the r sound. Visor. Visor. Try that with me. Visor.  

Oh that sun’s bright. Let’s pull down the visor.  

I’ve been driving a long time. Time for snooze. Good thing I have this headrest. Ahh.  

Headrest. Compound words like this have stress on the first word. Headrest. Try that with me. Head rest. Headrest. Headrest.  

Good thing I have this headrest.  

This area is the console.  

Console. This word ends with a dark L. Soul, uhl, uhl. Tongue tip stays down and the back of the tongue pushes down and back a little bit. Uhl, uhl, console. Try that with me. Console. Console.  

This area is the console.  

Always buckle up. This is the seatbelt.   

Seatbelt. Another compound word stress on the first word. Seatbelt. Notice I’m making both T’s stop T’s. Seatbelt. I’m not releasing them like a true T. Seat-belt. Seatbelt. Say that with me. Seatbelt. Seatbelt.  

This is the seatbelt. If you’re having an emergency and need to pull over, turn on your hazards, also called four ways. 

Hazards. Even though you see the letter a in the second syllable, haz-erdsz. You can leave out the vowel. Just r-d-s. Erdz, erdz, erdz. Hazards. Try that with me. Hazards. Hazards. If you’re having an emergency and need to pull over, turn on your hazards also called four ways. We’ve got our driver’s seat, passenger seat and back seat.  

The driver’s seat, the passenger seat, the back seat. Notice that we have the apostrophe s but you can’t really hear it because the next word begins with an s. The two s blend together into one sound to link the words. Driver’s seat. Passenger’s seat try that with me. Driver’s seat. Passenger seat.  

We’ve got our driver’s seat, passenger seat and back seat. 

Backseat. We have a couple of interesting ways that we use this term in English. A back seat driver is one who gives too much input on driving when they’re not driving. It can also mean of less importance and we often use it in the negative.  

“I won’t take a backseat to him.” That means i won’t let him or his ideas be more important or prominent than mine. “I won’t take a backseat to him.”  

And backseat. Now, if you’re going to be riding in the car and you want to make sure you get this seat you’ll want to yell, “shotgun!”  

Yelling shotgun. Yelling or calling shotgun i don’t know how this phrase got started. But you say it when you want to sit in the front seat of the car. Shotgun. Stop T there. Shot-gun. Say that with me. Shotgun. Shotgun.  

Now if you’re going to be riding in the car and you want to make sure you get this seat, you’ll want to yell, “shotgun!”  

Here’s the floor mat. 

Floormat. Floor. Phonetically, this would be written with the ah as in law vowel but before R this vowel is much more closed. The lips round more and the back of the tongue pulls back more. Floo-or, floor, floor floormat. Say that with me. Floor mat. Floor mat.  

Here’s the floor mat.  And we have the gas pedal and the brake. Gas pedal. Gas. We have the ah vowel. Gas, gas pedal. Try that with me. Gas pedal. Gas pedal. And we have the gas pedal and the brake.  

Brake. This is a homophone and it’s pronounced just like this other word: break. Say that with me. Brake. Brake.  

And we have the gas pedal and the brake.  

Side mirror. 

Side mirror. Okay we already went over the tricky word mirror, here it is again. The word before it side ends in a d just make a little sound with the vocal cords, side, before the next word. You don’t need to release the d. Side. Side. Side mirror. Say that with me. Side mirror. Side mirror.  

Side mirror.  

And here is the car seat.  

Car seat. Just like park you need to drop your jaw to get a good ah vowel before the r. Caaar. Car. Car seat. Say that with me. Car seat. Car seat.  

And here is the car seat.  

Trunk  

Trunk. Remember the tr cluster can be pronounced chr. Trunk or trunk. Try that with me. Trunk. Trunk. This is the same word that’s used for the trunk of a tree. 

Trunk.  

License plate. 

License plate. Both the letter C and the letter S make the s sound here. Lic-ense. License plate. Say that with me. License plate. License plate.  

License plate and tires.  

Tires. Remember for the r, the tip of the tongue is pulled back and up.  

Tiiire. Tire. Tires. Try that with me. Tires. Tires.  

Tires.  

Here’s the antenna.  

Antenna. Stress on the middle syllable. Antenna. Try that with me. Antenna. Antenna.  

Here’s the antenna and this is where you can get to the gas tank.   

Gas tank. Both of these words are written phonetically with the ah vowel. But this vowel is followed by the ng sound here and it’s not really an ah vowel anymore. Ah. Gas. But tank, aenk. Hmm. It’s more like the a diphthong gas. Ah. Tank, aenk. Try that with me. Gas tank. Gas tank.   

And this is where you can get to the gas tank.  

Windshield wiper. Windshield wiper. It’s common to drop the d between two other consonants and we definitely do that here. Windshield. Wind-shield. No d. 

 Windshield wiper  

Try that with me. Windshield wiper. Windshield wiper.  

Windshield wiper and the hood. I actually have no idea how to open this thing. Hood. Double O making the uh sound like in look, cook, and foot. Hood. say that with me. Hood. Hood.  

And the hood. I actually have no idea how to open this thing.  

Headlights.  

Headlights. compound word stress on the first word head lights. Say that with me. Headlights. Headlights.  

Headlights. And in here you would find the engine and all that other good stuff that I don’t know anything about.  

Engine. Stress on the first syllable the second syllable should be said very quickly. Gin, gin, gin. Engine. Say that with me. Engine. Engine.  

Headlights. And in here you would find the engine and all that other good stuff that I don’t know anything about.  

Had to come over to our trusty VW for this one where we have a manual transmission. That’s different from the automatic transmission in the other car. Manual versus automatic. Look both of these words have that stressed ah vowel in the stressed syllable. But the vowel isn’t pure before a nasal consonant. Here is before the N so it relaxes into ah. Maen.  

Manual 

Try that with me. Manual. Manual. Automatic has a pure ah. Automatic. 

Notice both of those t’s are flap t’s, not true Ts.  Automatic.  Automatic. Say that with me. Automatic. Automatic.   

Had to come over to our trusty VW for this one where we have a manual transmission. That’s different from the automatic transmission in the other car.   

Another common word for manual in the US is stick shift. Try that with me. Stick shift. Stick shift.  

Now we have a third petal, the clutch.  

Clutch. Try that with me. Clutch. Clutch.  

Now we have a third pedal, the clutch.  

Don’t forget the horn. 

Horn. Just like floor in floor mat, we have the O vowel followed by R. The O vowel is a little bit more closed. Ho-o, horn. Horn. try that with me. Horn. Horn. 

Don’t forget the horn. Airbag. We have an airbag in the steering wheel here.  

Airbag. Another compound word so stress is on the first word. Airbag. Airbag. Drop your jaw before that r. Air. Airbag. Try that with me. Airbag. Airbag.   

Airbag. We have an air bag in the steering wheel here.  

On the manual we have reverse, and then five different gears: first, second, third, fourth and fifth. first second third fourth fifth gears. These are all ordinal numbers. Different from one, two, three, four. I know they can be tricky to pronounce. Practice them with me.  

First  

Second  

Third  

Fourth  

Fifth 

On the manual we have reverse and then five different gears: first, second, third, fourth, and fifth.  

Here we have vents.  

Air vents. Compound word even though there’s a space stress on the first word. Air vents. Try that with me. Air vents. Air vents.  

Here we have vents,  

climate control.  

Climate control. Even though this second syllable looks like it might be what some people call a long a, mate, climate, It’s not. It’s really short, mit, mit. Climate. Climate control. Try that with me. Climate control. Climate control.  

Climate control.  

The radio. 

Radio. Three syllables, stress on the first one. Ra-dio. Radio. Try that with me. Radio. Radio.  

The radio. 

Odometer. Speedometer.  

Odometer. Speedometer. For both of these, the stress is on the syllable just before the suffix, meter, odometer. Speedometer. Notice the t’s here are flaps. Try these words with me. Odometer. Speedometer.  

Odometer. Speedometer.  

This is called the grill of the car.  

Grill. Dark L, grill. Keep the tongue tip down and pull the back part of the tongue back a little bit. Uhl, uhl. Grill. Grill. I don’t mention it but the part under the grill is the bumper. My bumper really helps me when I’m parallel parking. Bumper. Say that with me. Bumper. Bumper.  

Gas gauge.  

Gas gauge. The word gauge is funny because the first G is pronounced gg and the second g is pronounced juh. Gas gauge. Try that with me. Gas gauge. Gas gauge. 

Gas gauge. Here we have the cruise control.  

Cruise control. You know when we went over climate control, I didn’t really talk about control, did I? Keep the first syllable really short. Don’t even try to put a vowel in there. Con, con, control. Control. Cruise control. Try that with me. Cruise control. Cruise control.  

Here we have the cruise control. Here we have the glove compartment. What kinds of interesting things do you have in yours?  

Glove compartment. Two stop Ts in compart-ment. Glove compartment. Try that with me. Glove compartment. Glove compartment.  

Whoo! That’s a lot of terms. if some of these words are tricky for you slow them down and practice them lots of times in a row they will get more comfortable.  

Let’s go over some clothing vocabulary. Is there anything you need to buy for yourself or your family?  

First of all, I’m wearing a button down. This is what we call a shirt like this with buttons down the front and a collar. Sometimes it has a pocket.  

Wow, I chose a hard first word! Most Americans will pronounce ‘button’ with a stop T. This is because of the sound pattern T-schwa-N. Most Americans make that a Stop T. But, n, button. Put your tongue up to the T, but, stop the air, and then make the N sound. Button. Button down. Try those with me. Button. Button down. 

First of all, I’m wearing a button down. This is what we call a shirt like this with buttons down the front and a collar. Sometimes it has a pocket. This can also be called a dress shirt. 

Dress shirt. 

Okay, what’s interesting here is that you can say the ‘S’ dress shirt. Or you can drop it, connect the two words and just say the SH: dresh-shirt. Dresh-shirt. You can definitely do that and it will still sound normal. Dresh-shirt. 

Try that with me. Dresh-shirt. This is also a ittle tricky because it has two R’s, and 

those can be a challenge. If they’re hard for you, practice holding out the R: drrrrrrrrrrrress shirrrrrrrt. shirrrrrrrt. Notice in the second word there is no vowel, it’s the R vowel, sh—rrrr—t. Shirt. Shirt. Dress shirt. Dress shirt. Say that with me now out loud: dress shirt. 

This can also be called ‘dress shirt’ 

First of all, let’s start with the first layer. Now I’m not going to show you my underwear because that would just be weird. But we have underwear.. 

Underwear. Another tricky one with two R’s in it. Again, hold out the R’s to practice: underrrrrr wear. Make sure you have jaw drop for that EH vowel before the second R consonant. Weaaaaaar. Weaaaaaar. Underwear. Underwear. Say it with me: underwear. 

But we have underwear. Another term for this: panties, some people hate that term.  

Panties. Oh boy. This word. I don’t actually use it, I use ‘underwear’. Something to note about the pronunciation: It’s not uncommon to drop the T after an N sound. So you can either pronounce this word with a True T, panties. Or with no T at all. ‘pannies’. Try that with me: panties, ‘pannies’. 

Another term for this: panties, some people hate that term. Undergarments, that’s not as common.. 

Undergarments. You may see this word on a sign, like, “Keep your undergarments on while trying on swimwear”, but we really don’t say it. We don’t use it very much. It’s tough to pronounce, so let’s just not worry about it. 

Undergarments, that’s not as common. Women wear a bra. The full word is brassiere but almost no one says that. 

Bra, brassiere. We usually use the word ‘bra’, with the AH vowel. Bra. But in the word, brassiere, we don’t have the AH vowel. It’s the schwa in the first syllable, bra-, bra-. Brassiere. Bra. Say those with me. Brassiere, bra. 

Women wear a bra. The full word is brassiere but almost no one says that. And then men can wear boxers.. 

Boxers. Did you know that there’s no X sound in American English? The letter X is either the KS sounds together, like in extra, ks or the gz sounds together, like in exactly. Gz. In boxers, it’s the KS sounds. Boxers. Boxers. Say that with me. Boxers. 

And then men can wear boxers or briefs.  

Briefs. We have two vowel letters here, but they’re just making one vowel sound, the E vowel. Briefs. If R gives you problems in a cluster, remember to hold it out: brrrrrriefs. Briefs. Try it with me, briefs. Briefs. 

Socks. 

Socks. Letter O here making the AH as in FATHER vowel. So-. Lots of jaw drop. Socks. Say it out loud: socks. 

Socks. You can have just little athletic socks for running, you can have dress socks to wear with your suit or more dressy outfit. You can have boot socks or knee high socks that you should wear with a boot that came up your leg. 

Dress socks, boot socks, knee-high socks. Notice how the S at the end of dress leads you right into the S of socks, with no break. Dress socks. Dress socks. And no, you don’t have to try to make it an extra-long S, just one S sound. Try that with me, dress socks. 

Boot socks, the T here is a Stop T because the next word begins with a consonant. Boot—stop the air—boot—socks. Boot socks. Try that now. Boot socks. 

Knee-high socks. We have three words here, but they should all flow together. We don’t want separation. Knee-high socks. It’s like one word with three syllables. Knee-high socks. Notice the K is silent. Knee-high socks. Try that with me. Knee-high socks. 

You can have dress socks to wear with your suit or more dressy outfit. You can have boot socks or knee-high socks that you would wear with a boot that came up your leg. 

This is an undershirt and it’s a common thing for men to wear an under a dress shirt.  

Undershirt. It’s the ‘under’ part from ‘underwear’ and the ‘shirt’ part from  

‘dress shirt’! Remember, the R is the vowel in ‘shirt’: sh—rr—t. Shirt. Undershirt. Say that with me, undershirt. 

This is an undershirt and it’s a common thing for men to wear an under a dress shirt. 

Your basic T-shirt. 

T-shirt. Once you’ve got ‘shirt’ down, this one’s pretty easy. T-shirt. Say that with me. T-shirt. 

Your basic T-shirt. 

Long sleeve T–shirt of course has long sleeves. 

Long-sleeved T-shirt. You don’t have to pronounce the D in ‘long-sleeved’. It comes between two other consonants, and sometimes we drop T’s and D’s when that happens. Long-sleeved t-shirt. Long-sleeved T-shirt. Say that with me. Long-sleeved T-shirt. 

Long sleeve T–shirt of course has long sleeves. 

You know what I realized I forgot? The neck line with a T-shirt. When it’s shaped like this, we call it a V-neck T-shirt. V-neck. Say that with me. V-neck. 

This is a tank top. 

Tank top. We don’t fully pronounce the K here. Kk. We just do a quick stop of air like we do with the Stop T. Tank top. Tank top. Tank top. And that vowel in tank: It’s the A vowel followed by an NG sound. That NG sound really changes the vowel. It ends up sounding much more like the AY diphthong, tay-, tank. Tank top. Try that with me. Tank top. 

This is a tank top. 

Then you could also have a shirt that didn’t have any straps. It is just tight here and came down. That would be called a strapless shirt. 

Strapless. It has the word ‘less’ in it, but we don’t pronounce it like that. We 

pronounce it ‘liss’. Quickly. It’s unstressed. Strapless. Say it out loud with me: strapless. 

If it’s strapless and it’s tight all the way down, then we call it a tube top. Tube 

top. Don’t release the B, just close the lips, tub–top, then open right into the T 

sound. Tube top. Try that with me, tube top. 

This is a nice old comfy sweatshirt. So it’s made out of this thick material, really cozy. This one has a hood. They don’t have to. 

Sweatshirt. You don’t need to fully pronounce either one of those T’s. You can make them both stops. Sweat shirt. Sweat shirt. abrupt stops give us the idea that it’s a T. sweatshirt. Say that with me. Sweatshirt. 

This is a nice old comfy sweatshirt. So it’s made out of this thick material, really cozy. This one has a hood. They don’t have to. And this is not quite the same thing as a hoodie. 

A hoodie has a hood and then it zips up the front. So this is David’s big ol’ hoodie. 

Hoodie. Careful the double O here is not the OO vowel, like in proof, oo, it’s the UH vowel like in ‘book’. UH. UH not OO. Hoo-, Hoo- hoodie. Hoodie. Say that with me. Hoodie. 

A hoodie has a hood and then it zips up the front. So this is David’s big ol’ hoodie. 

This would be a sleeveless shirt. So it’s not a tank top but it doesn’t have sleeves. 

Sleeveless shirt. Just like ‘strapless’, the second syllable is unstressed, “liss”, and should be said quickly. Sleeveless. Say it with me. Sleeveless. 

This would be a sleeveless shirt. So it’s not a tank top but it doesn’t have sleeves. 

Dress. 

Dress. The thing that’s interesting about the DR cluster is that it can sound like JR, 

and that’s right. So it can be DD, dress, or JJ, dress. If you’re not sure about your 

R, hold it out. Drrrrrress. Dress, dress. I’m making it with a J sound, I think that’s 

more common. Dress. Say it with me. Dress. 

Dress. 

This is a jumper. I think there are a couple of different terms for it but basically, it’s one piece. It’s not separate top and bottom but it’s also not a dress. It’s like pants or shorts. 

Jumper or one-piece. I’ve also seen this called a ‘romper’. The trick with –er ending sounds is to make an R sound but make it really quickly since it’s an unstressed syllable. Jumper, -er, -er. Jumper. Romper er, -er. Romper. Try those with me. Jumper. Romper. 

This is a jumper. I think there are a couple of different terms for it but basically it’s one piece. It’s not separate top and bottom but it’s also not a dress. It’s like pants or shorts. 

One piece. Right from the N to the P with no break, we don’t want this to be choppy. Onnnnnnepiece. One–piece. Try that with me. one-piece.  

But basically, it’s one piece. 

This is a sweater. 

Sweater. we have a Flap T here because the T comes between two vowels. So it’s not sweater, with a True T, but sweater, D D D, flap, with a Flap T. Try that with me. Sweater. 

This is a sweater. 

And this is also a sweater but you would probably call it a wrap. It’s one of these things which you put on and it doesn’t close up in the front but you kind of wrap it like that. 

Wrap. The W in the WR cluster is silent. Just begin with an R sound. Wrap. wrap. Say it out loud with me. Wrap. 

And this is also a sweater but you would probably call it a wrap. It’s one of these things which you put on and it doesn’t close up in the front but you kind of wrap it like that. 

Jeans. 

Jeans. Do you love them as much as I do? Jeans, with the EE vowel, jee, jeans. Hear the plural is a Z sound, but it’s light, it’s weak. Don’t give it much energy. Jeans. 

Jeans. 

Now these jeans are a little different. They are maternity. So maternity refers to anything that is specially made for pregnant women. These are left over from my Stoney days. 

  

Maternity. First T is a True T, second T is a flap T. Why? They both come between vowels. Yes, but a T is always a True T if it starts a stressed syllable. Maternity, maternity. Say that with me. Maternity.  

Now these jeans are a little different. They are maternity. So maternity refers to anything that is specially made for pregnant women. These are leftover from my Stoney days. 

Sweatpants. 

Sweatpants. Just like ‘sweatshirt’, the T in ‘sweat’ is a Stop T because the next sound is a consonant. Sweat pants. Sweatpants. Say that with me. Sweatpants. 

Sweatpants. 

Shorts. 

So these could be called running shorts, athletic shorts, soccer shorts. Whatever you use them for. Workout clothes.. 

Shorts. All kinds of shorts. The vowel in ‘shorts’ is the AW as in LAW vowel. But when this vowel is followed by R, it’s pretty different. The lips round more and the tongue pulls back a little more. O, OR instead of AW, oooor. O, OR. Shooooorts, shorts. Shorts. Say it with me. Shorts. I also said “workout clothes”. The word ‘clothes’ has a voiced TH, clothes. But you know what? Drop it! Americans almost always drop the TH in this word, clothes. So now it sounds just like this word, close. Yes. They will sound the same. That’s okay. Say it with me. Clothes. 

So these could be called running shorts, athletic shorts, soccer shorts. Whatever you use them for. Workout clothes..  

Pants. You can also call them dress pants.. 

Pants. dress pants. We have the AA vowel followed by the N consonant. All nasal consonants change the A vowel. Rather than A it’s aa-e, aa-e. The tongue relaxes in the back before the N. Paaa, paaa, pants. Pants. Pants. Try that with me. Pants. 

Pants. You can also call them dress pants. 

These are khakis.. 

Khakis. The H is silent. Kaa-kis. Say that with me. Khakis. 

These are khakis. 

These are swim trunks for men You could also call them just a swim suit. 

Swim trunks. The TR cluster can be pronounced 

CHR. That’s common. So you can say t, trunks, or you can say ch, chruncks. Swim trunks. Swim. Note this is the IH vowel, swim, not the EE vowel sweem. Ih, ih. More relaxed. Swim trunks. Say that with me, swim trunks. 

Swim suit. If an ending T like this is at the end of your thought group, it sounds nice to make that a Stop T. Swim suit. Swim suit. Try that with me. Swim suit. You could also say bathing suit. This word is tricky because it has a TH sound. This TH sound is voiced and just the very tip of your tongue comes through the teeth. Bathing suit. Bathing suit. 

Try that with me. Bathing suit. 

These are swim trunks for men. You could also call it just a swimsuit. For women we have one-piece. This is a one-piece suit. It’s strapless one-piece and strapless. 

One-piece and strapless. We already went over these. One-piece, when we were talking about jumper and strapless, when we were talking about shirts. And then you can also have a bikini. That’s two-piece. You will never catch me in one of these in one of my videos. 

Bikini, two-piece. In bikini, we have three letter I’s, but the first one is a schwa: Buh, Bikini. Say that with me, bikini. Two-piece. Two with the T consonant and the U vowel. Let your lips be more relaxed and then round into the position U. Twoo. The movement of the rounding N is a very nice relaxed sound rather than tu-tu where your lips are tight in the position the whole time. Relaxed then round. Two. Two-piece. 

And then you can also have bikini. That’s two-piece. You will never catch me in one of these in one of my videos. 

When I’m at the beach, I also like to wear one of these. It’s called a rash guard and it’s a shirt made out of bathing suit material that can protect you from the sun. 

Rash guard. Remember to hold out the R’s if they’re tricky for you. Rrrrrrrrash guarrrrrrrrrrrd. ‘Guard’ is like ‘car’ or ‘far’. you need to drop the jaw for the vowel, and leave the tongue tip forward, then pull it back and up for the R. Gaah-r. Guard. Say it out loud. Rash guard. 

When I’m at the beach, I also like to wear one of these. It’s called a rash guard and it’s a shirt made out of bathing suit material that can protect you from the sun. 

This is a suit. So it’s a jacket or suit coat and pants. 

Suit. Pants. Jacket. Suit coat.  

Suit. If the next word begins with a consonant, remember this ending T will be a Stop T: suit pants, suit jacket, suit coat. Say those with me. Suit pants, suit jacket, suit coat.  

I forgot to show one of David’s ties. This is a tie. True T, AI diphthong. Tie. Tie. Say that with me. Tie.  

This is a suit. So it’s a jacket or suit coat and pants. Now there’s also something called a blazer and it’s cut like a suit jacket but it’s a little bit more casual and it’s not part of a set. Both men and women can wear suits or blazers and women suits can come with pants or skirts. 

Blazer. The letter A makes the AY diphthong. Diphthong means two positions: jaw drop, then tongue arching toward the roof of the mouth. AY, ay. Bla-, blazer. Say that out loud with me. Blazer. 

Now there’s also something called a blazer and it’s cut like a suit jacket but it’s a 

little bit more casual and it’s not part of a set. 

And when women are getting more dressy, sometimes they wear hose or panty hose. 

Hose or panty hose. ‘Panty’, when said with ‘hose’, pretty much always has a 

dropped T. Panty hose. ‘Hose’ has the OH diphthong. Two positions: jaw drop, then lip rounding. Oh, oh, hose. Say that with me. Hose. Panty hose. 

And when women are getting more dressy, sometimes they wear hose or panty hose.  

Now we’ll use some of Stoney’s clothes. These are overalls. Believe it or not, I don’t own any overalls so I have to use Stoney’s as an example of what are overalls. 

Overalls. Two tricky sounds: the OH diphthong. Make sure you have jaw drop and lip rounding. Oh, Overalls. And the Dark L at the end. Alls. Not ‘all’, ‘alls’ with the tongue tip moving up. Actually, the tongue tip should stay down the whole time. Over uhl, uhl uhl. It’s the back of the tongue that presses down and back a little bit to make that dark sound. Overalls. uhls uhls. Say it with me. Overalls. 

These are overalls. Believe it or not, I don’t own any overalls so I have to use Stoney’s as an example of what are overalls. 

A onesie is a piece of baby’s clothing where it snaps at the bottom. So you unsnap it to change the diaper quickly but it’s attached there to keep the shirt from riding up. Because if you’ve ever spent any time with a baby. You know if they’re in just a shirt. It ends up around their neck or armpits. So this is a onesie. 

Onesie. Spelled with an S, but pronounced with a Z sound. Onesie. Onesie. Say that with me. Onesie. 

So this is a onesie.  

Stoney has the cutest little pair of jean shorts. 

Jean shorts. So here, rather than saying ‘jeans shorts’, you drop the S in ‘jeans’. 

It’s just ‘jean shorts’. Say that with me. Jean shorts. 

Stoney has the cutest little pair of jean shorts. 

Stoney has a pair of jeans that came with suspenders. So these things that you can put on pants to help them stay up are called suspenders. 

Suspenders. A three-syllable word with stress on the middle syllable. Make the first and third syllables as short as you can: sus-, -ders. Suspenders. Suspenders. Try that with me. Suspenders. 

Stoney has a pair of jeans that came with suspenders. So these things that you can put on pants to help them stay up are called suspenders. 

So Stoney has a vest. Vest can be 2 different things. First of all, they can be like this, something that’s casual that’s meant as another layer to add warmth. But, you can also have a dressy one that would be part of a dress outfit for men and if it came with a pants and a jacket as a set then those 3 things would be called a 3 piece suit. So a 3 piece suit is a suit that includes a vest. 

Vest. Some language groups mix up V and W. This letter should definitely be pronounced with a V. Bottom lip to top teeth. Vvv. No lip rounding, ww. That’s a W sound. Vvvvv. Vest. Say that with me. Vest.  

That would be part of a dress outfit for men and if it came with a pants and a jacket as a set then those 3 things would be called 

a 3-piece suit. So a 3-piece suit a suit that includes a vest. 

3-piece suit. Three. Ok, this word is tricky. You have an unvoiced TH, and the tongue tip must come through the teeth, th, thr, hr the the R where your tip comes back and up a little bit thrr hrr. Thrr three. Three-piece. Three-piece suit. Try that with me. Three-piece suit.   

So a 3-piece suit a suit that includes a vest.  

Let’s talk outerwear.  

Outerwear. We have a Flap T here because the T comes between two vowels. When I say vowels in these rules, I mean vowels or diphthongs. Because the beginning sound is the OW diphthong. Ow Outerwear. Wear. Tricky sound combination. Jaw drop for EH before your R. Wear. weh-r, wear Outerwear. Outerwear. Say that that with me. Outerwear. 

Let’s talk outerwear. 

This is a down coat. It’s a heavy, really warm winter coat. 

Down coat. I’ve noticed something that several different language groups to this combination OW + N. They drop the N and make the OW dipthong sound nasaly. It sort of sounds like this. Down. There is no nasal quality to this diphthong. 

Let’s break it up. Dow-nn. Dow-nn. Dow-nn. Down. Down. Down. Try that with me. Down.  

‘Coat’ with the OH diphthong: jaw drop then lip rounding. Down coat. Down coat.Try that with me. Down coat. 

This is a down coat. It’s a heavy, really warm winter coat.  

This jacket is a little more lightweight so you’ll probably wear it in the fall or spring, but you could still just call it a jacket. 

Lightweight jacket. Notice all three of these T’s can be Stop T’s: they’re either followed by a consonant, or at the end of a though group. Light-weight-jacket. Lightweight jacket. Try that with me. Lightweight jacket.  

This jacket is a little more lightweight so you’ll probably wear it in the fall or spring, but you could still just call it a jacket. 

This is something a little bit different, a little bit strange, a little old—fashioned. I got this from my sister-in-law. So this doesn’t really have arms. It’s just a poncho. 

Poncho. We have two different pronunciations for the letter O here. The first one is the AH as in FATHER vowel. Po-, pon-. The second is the OH diphthong. Oh cho. Poncho. Try that with me. Poncho. 

I got this from my sister-in-law. So this doesn’t really have arms. It’s just a poncho. 

Fur coat. 

Fur coat. Fur can be tricky because it has the R vowel in it. Don’t drop your jaw or try to make some sort of vowel sound before the R. It’s just two  sounds, f and r. Fur, fur Fur coat. Try that with me. Fur coat. 

And we’ll go back to food with fruits.  

We’re heading into the grocery store to go shopping for some fruits. 

Delicious-looking watermelon. There’s a good one. 

Okay, so I didn’t get too much footage in the store but did you hear what that melon was called? 

It’s called watermelon. Probably my favorite melon. Watermelon is a compound word and with compound words, we put stress on the first word. In this case, it’s the word water. We have a Flap T in ‘water’, There is a secondary stress on ‘mel’. then the word ‘melon’. So the main stress is on wa—. Watermelon. Don’t let that ON ending fool you. It’s a schwa. Un, un, un. Said very quickly. Watermelon. Watermelon. Try that with me. Watermelon. 

Delicious-looking watermelon. 

There’s a good one. 

We actually bought a bunch of fruits and took them home so let’s go back to my Kitchen. But first, let’s take a look at the word ‘fruit’. It has the FR consonant Cluster:  frr, frr, then the OO vowel: froo— and the T. The ending T will be a Stop T if it’s at the end of a thought group or followed by a consonant. Fruit. Fruit. It will be a Flap T if it links into a vowel or diphthong. Fruit in— fruit in— rarara—fruit in— fruit in the salad. 

Apple. 

Apple. For the stressed vowel AH, you may find you pronounce it better if you lift your upper lip just a little Bit. Ah. Back of the tongue should be lifted. Apple. Say it with me. Apple. 

Apple. 

David ate our last banana so here’s a photo of a banana. 

Banana. This word is filled with 3 A’s but we don’t pronounce them all the same  

way because of syllable stress. The stressed syllable in this word is the second one. Naaaa. Which has the AH as in bat vowel sound. Banana. Because the AH vowel comes before the nasal consonant N, it’s not a pure AH vowel. We’ll relax it into the vowel before N: banaaa— banaaa— banaaan— banana. The other two syllables are unstressed and use the schwa. 

Ba— na— ba— nan— na— Banana. Say that with me. Banana. 

David ate our last banana. So here’s a photo of a Banana. 

Blackberry, strawberry, blueberry. Not pictured, raspberry. 

So here, we have three berries. Berry is a two-syllable word with stress on  

the first syllable. It has the EH vowel followed by R. This sound combination is tricky because the R changes EH a little bit. We don’t have as much jaw drop as we would for a pure EH vowel. Eh— Air. Bear. Bea— Eh. You can see I’m dropping my jaw more for the pure Vowel. Berry. Berry. I mentioned four kinds of berries. 

Blackberry, strawberry, blueberry. Not pictured, raspberry. 

Blackberry, Strawberry, Blueberry, and Raspberry. These are all four compound Words. With compound words, stress is always on the first word. Black, blue, straw, rasp. Blackberry. Blueberry. In all four of these three syllable words, the first syllable is stressed. 

Blackberry. 

Strawberry. 

Blueberry. 

Raspberry. 

Notice the P in raspberry is silent. We don’t say it at all. Say these with me: blackberry, strawberry,  Blueberry, raspberry. 

Blackberry, Strawberry, blueberry. Not pictured, Raspberry.  

A similar word to ‘berry’ is ‘pear’.Bear. Pear. I didn’t get a video clip of a pear but this is a picture of a pear. Sometimes we use the term pear-shaped to describe a body. Bigger through the thighs and hips and more tapered up top. Pear. Pear is just like bear except the first sound is unvoiced. Instead of voiced. Bbb—pear. Pear. Less jaw drop than we would have for a pure EH. Pear. 

Cantaloupe. 

We took video of in the Store, pictures of. 

I couldn’t find that video of the cantaloupe so here’s an Image. It has that rough skin and that sweet soft orange meat inside. Cantaloupe. This is a word that will teach you not to trust English spelling. The first syllable is stressed. It uses the AH as in bat vowel. Just like with banana, it’s not a pure AH because it’s followed by N. Caa— ah, ah. Relax the back of the tongue, we get that AH sound. Caa— ah. Can— Cantaloupe. You probably noticed I’m not pronouncing the T. Like in the words ‘interview’ and ‘intermission’, the T is often dropped after N. You just pronounce the N. Cantaloupe. Cantaloupe. 

You can make the True T: cantaloupe, cantaloupe, but listen to how I said it in the kitchen when I wasn’t thinking about pronunciation.  

Cantaloupe.  

We took video of in the store, pictures of. 

Cantaloupe. I dropped the T. The spelling of the last syllable can also cause confusion. This is the OH as in No diphthong and the final E is silent. Lope. Lope. Cantaloupe. Try that with me. Cantaloupe. 

Cantaloupe. We took video of in the store, pictures of. 

Cherries. 

Not to be confused with a cherry tomato. Cherries. 

Cherry this is just like berry except it starts with the CH consonant,ch— cherry. 

Two syllables with stress on the first syllable. Cher— The first syllable sounds just like a chair you sit in. Cher— cher— cherry. Say that with me. Cherry. 

Cherries. Not to be confused with a cherry tomato. 

Cherries. 

You know, I didn’t get a good video of grapes. We have green grapes, and red grapes, and also concord grapes. Grapes can have seeds or not. Grapes has the GR cluster. Lip position doesn’t matter for the G, so your lips will already be rounding for the R. Grr, grr, gra— AI diphthong, PS cluster. Grapes. Grapes. Red, green, both of these begin with the R or an R cluster so again, lip rounding. Red, green, grapes. Red grapes. Green grapes. 

Concord grapes make great juice, great jams, and I even have a great pie recipe for concord grapes. Stress is on the first syllable. K consonant, AW vowel, then the NG sound. Concord. The letter N is usually pronounced as NG when it’s followed by G or K. So the back of the tongue lifts to touch  the soft palate to make the NG sound. Concord. Then a quick unstressed syllable, K sound, schwa R. Cord, cord, cord. Concord. Concord grape. 

Red grapes. Green grapes. Concord grapes. Say these with me. 

Red grapes. Green grapes. Concord grapes. 

I have an orange and a grapefruit. Let’s slice them open. Not pictured, tangerine. 

There are actually lots of different citrus fruits, aren’t there? 

Oops. 

Too many to put in one video about fruits. Okay, so here you can really see the difference. First of all size, but the grapefruit is that beautiful pink color inside and then orange is more orange. 

Orange, grapefruit, tangerine, citrus.  

Orange. This word is known for having nothing that rhymes with it. It’s pronounced with the AW as in law vowel. And when that’s followed by R, it’s not pure. We round the lips more, we pull the tongue back more. Or, orrrr. The second syllable is unstressed and said quickly. Orrr, ange, ange, ange, ange, ange, ange. Super fast IH vowel, N, and then a J sound. Orrrr, ihnj. Orange. Say that with me. Orange. 

I have an orange and a grapefruit. 

Grapefruit. A compound word of two words we’ve already studied. Grape and fruit. Do you remember what we said about stress in compound words? It’s the first word that’s stressed. So, grape. Grapefruit. 

P is a stop consonant and we usually don’t release stop consonants when followed by another consonant. Grape-fruit. Notice my Lips came together for the P but I didn’t ppp—release the air before going to the F. Grapefruit. Grapefruit. Say that with me. Grapefruit. 

I have an orange and a grapefruit. Let’s slice them open. 

Not pictured, tangerine. 

Tangerine. A three-syllable word with stress on the last syllable. Tangerine. So the first two syllables are said a little more simply. Tanger. Tanger. Tanger. Tangerine. Tanger. When the a vowel is followed by N like in this first syllable, remember it’s not pure, taah, taah, taaan, tanger, tanger, tanger, tangerine. Tangerine. 

Tanger— ine. Tangerine. Say that with me. Tangerine. Tangerine. 

Let’s slice them open. 

Not Pictured, tangerine. There are actually lots of different citrus fruits. 

Citrus. The S sound is in there twice, at the beginning, and the end. Once it’s made with the letter C, and once with a letter S. In the middle, we have the TR cluster. It’s pretty common to turn the T into a CH in the TR cluster. Do you hear a CH? Citrus. Ch— Citch— citch— Citrus. Citrus. First syllable stress. Say that with me. Citrus. 

I have an orange and a grapefruit let’s slice them open. 

Not Pictured, tangerine. There are actually lots of different citrus fruits. 

Aren’t There? Oops. Too many to put in one video about fruits. 

Another word that I didn’t get video for is Kiwi. Unlike many words in English, this word is pronounced just like it looks like it should be pronounced. 

EE vowel in both syllables. First syllable is stressed. Kiwi. Kiwi. Say that with me. Kiwi. 

Lemon. 

We also have Limes. 

Lemon and lime. 

Lemon. A two-syllable word with stress on the first syllable. The L is a light L because it begins the word. Then we have the EH as in bed vowel. Le— lemon. The last syllable uses the schwa though you don’t really need to think about it, you can just move from M into N. Mnn, mnn, mnn, mnn. The schwa will happen automatically. Lemon. Lemon. Say that with me. Lemon. 

Lemon. 

We also have limes. 

Lemon and lime. 

Lime. One syllable using the AI as in buy diphthong. This is another light L because L is at the beginning of the word. Lai, lai, then the M consonant. Lime. Lips come together. Lime. Try that with me. Lime. 

Lemon. 

We also have Limes. 

Lemon and lime. 

Mango. Let’s cut this one open. 

Mangoes are really hard to cut because they have that huge pit in the middle. 

They’re really sweet. This one’s organic. 

Mango. Pit. Organic. 

When we learned the word ‘banana’, I said how the AH vowel is not pure before an N sound. Naaan. The AH vowel is also not pure before an NG consonant. A pure vowel would sound like this:  ah, mah, mango, mango. But we say: mango, mango. So before NG, the AH vowel changes to a sound that’s more like the AY diphthong. Mango. Maay— maay, aay. Mango. So we have the NG sound then a hard G. Maaango. Mango. Stress is on the first syllable. Mango. Try that with me. Mango. 

Mango. Let’s cut this one open. 

Mangoes are really hard to cut because they have that huge pit in the middle. 

I said pit here and earlier I said seed when I was talking about grapes. Pit and seed. With pit, we have the P consonant, IH as in sit vowel, and the T.Ending T’s are Stop T’s if they’re at the end of a thought group or followed by a consonant. 

Pit. 

Seed. 

S consonant, EE vowel, and the D Consonant. Seed sounds longer than pit, doesn’t it? That’s because of the voiced ending versus unvoiced ending. The unvoiced sound, T, makes the word a little shorter. Pit. The voiced ending D makes the vowel a little longer. Seed. Pit. Seed. Say those with me. Pit. Seed. 

Mangoes are really hard to cut because they have that huge pit in the middle. They’re really sweet. This one’s organic. 

 Organic. Not using artificial chemicals when growing the fruit. A three-syllable word with middle syllable stress, just like with orange. The first syllable has a modified AW vowel where the lips round more than normal: or, or, organic. The stressed syllable is just like banana, nan, where the AH vowel is more like: aayyaa— aayyaa— Organic. Because it’s followed by an N. Organic. Try that with me. Organic. 

They’re really sweet. This one’s organic. 

Peach. It’s like a nectarine but it’s fuzzy. 

Peach. 

Peach and nectarine. Peach is one syllable with the EE as in She vowel, P peach, the final consonant is the CH sound. Peach. Say that with me. Peach.Nectarine. Just like tangerine, it’s a three-syllable word with stress on the last syllable. Nectarine. Notice the middle syllable is really short, there’s really no vowel sound there. Nectar, rr, rr, rr, rr. The schwa gets absorbed by the R. Nectar, rr, nectarine. Say that with me. Nectarine. 

Peach. It’s like a nectarine but it’s fuzzy. 

Peach. 

I didn’t get a video clip of a ‘Pineapple’ but that’s another compound word. We’re getting lots of compound words with the fruits. Stress on the first word here, pine, pineapple. Pine using the AI as in Buy diphthong. Some students have trouble pronouncing this diphthong before the N consonant make sure you finish the movement of the diphthong before lifting the front of the tongue for the N. Paiii, nn. Pine, pine. Then the word ‘Apple’ unstressed. Pineapple. Say that with me. Pineapple. 

Plum. Here, I have four plums. 

Plum. 

Plum. One-syllable word with the UH as in butter vowel. PL cluster: plum, plum, a light escape affair with the lips while the tongue tip is at the roof of the mouth for the L. Pll, plh, plum. This word is a homophone with a different word ‘plum’ spelled with a B, but pronounced exactly the same way. The B is silent. Plum. Say that with me. Plum. 

Plum. Here, I have four plums. 

Plum. 

Did I miss your favorite fruit? That was a lot but I know I certainly couldn’t do all fruits, there are just so many of them! 

Laundry is probably my favorite household chore. Let’s go over laundry vocabulary.   

My laundry room is in my basement so we’re going to head down there. It would be awesome to have a laundry room where you didn’t have to go down into the dark scary part of your house, but I don’t. So laundry room. 

Laundry room. The word ‘laundry’ is interestingbecause it has a DR cluster. And often, Americans pronounce the DR cluster so it sounds like JR. jjj Laundry, jjj, -dry. You can make aDR cluster, dd, -dry. But you don’t have to. You may find it easier to make a JR cluster, that’s fine. That’s what most Americans do.Laundry. Laundry. Try that with me. Laundry. Laundry room. 

And my laundry room is in my, basement.  

All right, let’s go to the basement. 

All right we made it to the basement. So, first of all this is a laundry basket. I have two different laundry baskets. Now, these should probably be in here.  

Laundry basket. Basket with the AA as in BAT vowel. The unstressed syllable has a very quick IH vowel. –it. Basket. Basket. Say that with me. Basket. Laundry basket. 

All right we made it to the basement. So, first of all, this is a laundry basket. I have two different laundry baskets. Now, these should probably be in here. Hard to tell. Okay, so we have lights or whites and darks. And that’s sort of funny because light, dark, white, those are adjectives but we put an S at the end of them turning them into a noun. So if this was all white, I could call it whites. But since I also have other stuff in here, like Stoney’s cute little gray jeans, I’m going to call this my lights. It’s not all white. And these are darks, you could also call them colors. Usually, we just split our laundry into lights and darks. 

Lights, darks, whites, colors. We have four plurals here. The rule for plurals is, the S is pronounced as an S when the sound before was unvoiced. So that’s an S sound for lights, darks, and whites. If the sound before was voiced, then it’s a Z sound. That’s for ‘colors’. 

Ending Z sounds are weak, and they usually sound like a really weak S: colors, ss, sss, ss, instead of SS like in ‘darks’. TS cluster can confuse people. The tongue tip can actually stay down. Lift a part of the tongue further back to the roof of the mouth and stop the sound. 

Tss, tss. 

When you lower that part of the tongue, the tongue is in position to make the S. 

Whites. 

Lights. 

Whites, lights. 

Try all four of those with me: 

lights, darks, whites, colors. 

Hard to tell. Okay, so we have lights, or whites and darks. 

Washing machine. 

Washing machine. Look, we have the SH sound twice. Once, it’s spelled with a SH and in ‘machine’, with a CH. Same sound, spelled differently. Wassssshhhhing maccccchhhhine. Washing machine. Try that with me. Washing machine. 

Washing machine and dryer. 

Dryer. Another DR cluster. So you can either make it a D, dd– dryer, or a J sound: jj– jryer. The AI diphthong, lots of jaw drop for that. Draiiiii– yer. Then a quick ER at the end. No break. Dryer, dryer. Smooth connection. Dryer. Say that with me. Dryer. 

Washing machine and dryer. 

And for clothes that you’re not going to put on a dryer, we have a drying rack. 

Very useful. 

Drying rack. Now instead of –er, we have an –ing ending. Drying, drying. A smooth transition between syllables, no break. Drying. 

Rack. Tight circle for the beginning R. Ra-ah– then lots of jaw drop. Rack. Drying rack. Try that with me. Drying rack. 

And for clothes that you’re not going to put on a dryer, we have a drying rack. 

Very useful. 

We also have a utility sink, where we can hand wash clothes. 

Utility sink. The T here comes between two vowels, that’s a Flap T, unless it begins a stressed syllable, which is what happens here. So it’s a True T. U-til. Util-ity. 

The second T is between two vowels and doesn’t start a stressed syllable, so it’s a Flap. Utility. Try that with me. Utility.  

Sink. The IH vowel here is followed by the NG consonant. The letter N always makes an NG sound when it’s followed by a K. So it’s made with the back of the tongue, Sing– instead of the front, NN. When IH is followed by the NG, which happens all the time with ING words, the IH vowel is a little tighter, it’s closer to ee. So it’s not ih-si, si-ih-nk. But ee, si-sink. Sink. Say that with me. Utility sink. 

We also have a utility sink, we’re we can hand wash clothes. 

So sometimes, you don’t put it on a washer, you hand wash it. 

Hand wash. This is a case where you can drop the D. 

It’s not uncommon to drop the D between two other consonants, and I think it sounds just fine to say ‘han-wash’. Hann-wash. 

The requirement for dropping the D is you have to link the two words together, no separation. Hand wash, hand wash. Say that with me. Hand wash. 

So sometimes you don’t put it on a washer, you hand wash it. 

Iron. That’s a pretty tough word. 

Iron. 

And then we also have an ironing board. 

Iron and ironing board. Okay, tough words here. It looks like it should be i-ron, but it’s not. Actually, the R comes after the vowel in the second syllable. Since the vowel there is the schwa, you don’t even need to try to make a vowel sound there. When R comes after schwa, it absorbs it. Errrr, just one sound, rrrrrr. I—rr—nn. Iron. It might help you connect these two syllables if you think of a Y sound being in between them. I—yyyrrrn. Iron. Iron. So separate what the word looks like based on the letters, from the pronunciation. If you focus on the how the word looks, it will probably mess up how you say it. I—yyyrn, iron. Say that with me. Iron. 

Try it now with ING ending. I-yr-ning. Ironing, ironing board. Again don’t focus too much on the letters, that might mess you up, just imitate what you’re hearing me say. Ironing. Ironing, ironing board. Try that with me. Ironing board. 

Iron. 

And then we also have an ironing board. 

So you can see we have the load size and the temperature. 

Load size. We have two diphthongs here. First, an OH diphthong, jaw drop, then lip rounding. Load. Load. Then the AI diphthong. Jaw drop then the tongue arching towards the roof of the mouth. Ai, si– size. Load size. Notice what’s happening with the D. I don’t release it, but I don’t drop it. I make a really quick D sound, dd– in my vocal cords before the S. Load—dd-dd size. Load size. Connect the two words. Try that with me. Load size. 

Load size. 

So you can see we have the load size and the temperature. 

Temperature. This is a tricky word. It looks like it should be four syllables: Temp-er-a-ture. But many Americans will make this just three, it’s a simpler pronunciation. TEM-pra-ture. Try it. TEM-pra-ture. Notice the second T here is a CH sound. Tem-pra-ture. Temperature. Try that with me. Temperature. 

So you can see we have the load size and the temperature.  

Temperature. So load size, anywhere from small to super, which means really big. 

Precise fill just means the machine will figure out how much you have in there. For temperature, we have anywhere from cold to hot. Passing thru warm and colors. Tap cold, what does that mean? That just means that the machine doesn’t try to make it cold, it just uses whatever the temperature is as the cold comes out of the tap. 

Then we have several different options here, so these are all dials, and these of course are buttons.  

Dials and buttons: Let’s start with dials. We have AI diphthong, and then a Dark L. Dia-uhl, uhl, uhl. Tongue tip stays down, it does not lift before the S. Dia-uhls. The back of the tongue does the work here for the dark L. Pulls back, presses down a little bit. Uhl, uhl. Dial. Dials. Try that with me. Dials. Is your tongue tip lifting? Don’t let it. Try again. Dia-uhls, Dials.  

Buttons. The double T here is a Stop T because it comes before schwa-N. So put your tongue into position for the T, stop the air, butt-nns, then make a N sound. Button. Buttons. Say that with me. Buttons.  

So these are all dials, and these of course are buttons. 

This is where you choose your wash cycle. I don’t usually get too crazy here but we have a wash cycle. You can also choose an extra rinse for a rinse or an extra spin for the spin cycle. So cycle is another word that we use with laundry. 

Wash, rinse, spin cycle. Careful with the P not to put too much air in it. 

Some people want to, pph, put a lot of air in, making almost an extra H sound. Spin. Spin. Pph– It’s just spin. Pp, pp, pp. A very light separation of the lips. Not a B, sbbin, but a very light P. Pp–Spin. Wash, rinse, spin cycle. Say those with me. Wash, rinse, spin cycle. 

So cycle is another word that we use with laundry.  

So that’s it for the washer. We have a top-loader, more fancy ones are front loaders. 

Top-loader and front-loader. Both P and T are stop consonants. That means there’s a stop of air, and a release. When stop consonants at the end of a word are followed by another consonant, we usually don’t release them. Pp, tt, we just move on to the next sound. 

So top loader looks like this: top—loader. My lips come together for the P, that stops the sound, top—loader. But then I just to into the L sound. Top loader. Top loader. 

Front loader, front—loader. Stop the air in between. This is not the same as fron-loader, fron-loader, where there is no T at all. I am making a T by making the stop of air. The stop is needed. Front loader. Front loader. Say these two with me: top-loader, front-loader. 

So that’s it for the washer. 

We have a top-loader, more fancy ones are front loaders, and ours has…if you can bring the camera over here, ours has this thing in the middle, which is called an agitator, some washers don’t have an agitator. 

Agitator. We have two T’s between vowels. The first is a True T, and the second is a flap. Why? Because the first one begins a stressed syllable. You might say, wait a second Rachel. Agitator. Stress is on the first syllable. Okay, you’re right. But there’s secondary stress on the third syllable. A-gi-ta-tor. Secondary stress generally doesn’t mean much. It’s really just like an unstressed syllable. 

But when it comes to this True T rule, it does matter. A T is always a True T if it starts a stressed syllable, and that includes secondary stress. 

The second T, between two vowels, starts an unstressed syllable, so  it’s a flap. Rra–Agitator. Agitator. Say that with me. Agitator. 

Ours has this thing in the middle which is called an agitator. 

Some washers don’t have an agitator. 

We have laundry detergent. 

Laundry detergent. Detergent. First T a True T because it begins a stressed syllable. Detergent. Say that with me, detergent. 

This can also be called laundry soap. Soap. A light release of the P. Soap, or not, soap. Say that with me. Soap. 

We have laundry detergent. 

And we have… Oh, this is heavy! Bleach. 

Bleach. BL consonant cluster. As soon as the lips part, the tip of the tongue is right at the roof of the mouth, blll, bllleach. Say that with me: bleach. 

Oh, this is heavy! Bleach. 

We don’t have fabric softener but that’s another thing you can put in a washing machine. 

Fabric softener. Softener – this word is interesting because in the word ‘soft’, we pronounce the T. Soft. But in the word ‘soften’ or ‘softener’, the T is silent. Sof-en-er. Say that with me. Softener. Fabric softener. 

We don’t have fabric softener but that’s another thing you can put in a washing machine. 

We also have stain remover. Of course, with the kid, we need to use it all the time. 

Stain remover. So important to have. I like the word ‘remover’ because it’s a stressed syllable, ‘move’, with a really quick R sound before and after. The quickest R sound you can make: rr, remover, remover. Most non-native speakers make their unstressed syllables too long. How short can you make these unstressed syllables? Rr move rr, Remover. Stain remover. Try that with me. Stain remover. 

We also have stain remover. Of course, with the kid, we need to use it all the time. I think, usually, when I refer to this, I just refer to the brand. Like, “David, I think we need more Zout.” Is this Zout or Z-out? I don’t know. Spray-On Wash. Stain Stick. Oxiclean. Max Force. You got to have a variety. 

So for the dryer, you have a couple different options. Automatic Dry. That’s what I always use. 

Automatic dry. Both T’s are flap Ts. Automatic. I’ll do it with two true T’s: automatic. Wow. Automatic. Flap T’s really help to smooth out and make an American sound: automatic. We love that smooth flow of sound in American English. Automatic. Try it with me. Automatic. 

So for the dryer, you have a couple different options. 

Automatic Dry. That’s what I always use. And of course, these are dials just like on the washing machine. 

And don’t forget to empty… 

the lint screen. 

Lint screen, lint screen. What am I doing with that T? Lint screen. I’m making it a stop. Lint screen. It’s different from ‘lin-screen’, where there’s no break. We need that little break, lint screen. That little stop, to know a T was there. Lint screen. Lint screen. Say that with me. Lint screen.  

And don’t forget to empty… 

the lint screen. 

We don’t have any, but you might put dryer sheets in. 

Dryer sheets. Remember, you can make this word with a D sound, dryer, or a J sound, “jryer”. Dryer sheets. Say that with me now. Dryer sheets.  

We don’t have any, but you might put dryer sheets in to keep your clothes from getting staticky.  

Static, staticky. T’s in beginning clusters are usually True T’s. St. St. The second T, is a Flap. Static. Staticky. Try that with me: static, staticky.  

We don’t have any, but you might put dryer sheets in to keep your clothes from getting staticky. All right I have a load to do. 

Let’s do it. 

This is a big one, this is going to be a super. 

I’m not sure if that sweater should go in, I think it’s okay. 

Some stuff is dry clean only. 

Do you ever put dry clean only stuff in your washing machine? 

I know I do. 

I’m guilty of that. 

Dry clean. It’s a compound word, written with a space, and a compound word has stress on the first word, like ‘eyeball’ or ‘bedroom’. Dry clean. So rather than ‘clean’, it’s ‘clean’. Unstressed. Dry clean. Try that with me: dry clean.  

Some stuff is dry clean only. 

Do you ever put dry clean only stuff in your washing machine? 

I know I do. 

I’m guilty of that. 

Stuff it down around the agitator. 

Wow that’s really full. 

Okay, I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to put this in first but I have never ever done that in my entire life of doing the laundry. And I did have to start doing my own laundry when I was in the fourth grade. About nine years old, that’s when my Mom was like “I’m not doing your laundry anymore.” 

Okay, normal, super, tap cold. 

There we go. 

That was a lot of vocabulary. What words were new for you? Put them in the comments below. 

Please subscribe with notifications on so you never miss a video, and keep your learning going right now with this video. I love being your English teacher. That’s it and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English. 

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