Listen Up! Advanced - Session 8

Listen Up! Advanced

Session 8

Whatch the following video...

...and answer the question.

Multiple Choice

What is the comedian talking about?

• How irritating the British accent is

• How annoying is the omission or not when pronouncing the 't' sound

• How beautiful British accent is

• How brilliant is the way British people pronounce the 't' sound

The 't' sound

In fast informal speech we sometimes omit the /t/ in a consonant group at the end of a word.

Look at this sentence:

What time tomorrow?

How do you pronounce the first T, the one at the end of the word ‘what’?

What time tomorrow?

The T is at the end of the word, it is not part of a consonant cluster and it does not link to a next word that begins with a vowel or diphthong. Therefore, it must be a stop.

/'wɒt| 'taɪm tə'mɒrəʊ/

What time tomorrow?

Look at this sentence:

I slept well last night.

How do you pronounce the first T, the one at the end of the word ‘slept’?

I slept well last night.

The T on 'slept' finishes the word, but it is part of a consonant cluster, therefore it is pronounced as the actual T.

/'aɪ 'slept 'wel 'lɑ:st 'naɪt/

I slept well last night.

Look at this sentence:

She is a great accountant.

How do you pronounce the first T, the one at the end of the word ‘great’?

She is a great accountant.

The final T is pronounced when it

is followed by a vowel sound (eg. it isn’t).

She is a great accountant.

PRACTICE

Decide if the underlined 't' has a stop sound or an actual /t/ sound.

Multiple Choice

At seven.

• stop

• /t/ sound

Multiple Choice

Biology's at eight.

• stop

• /t/ sound

Multiple Choice

Biology's at eight, Geography at ten.

• stop

• /t/ sound

Multiple Choice

I slept well last night.

• stop

• /t/ sound

Multiple Choice

She was sent home.

• stop

• /t/ sound