Schwa: /Ə/ a special vowel sound

One of the main characteristics of the schwa is:

• It occurs always in stressed positions.

• It is a “neutral vowel” because the mouth position is neutral.

• The schwa sound is “extremely long”.

• It is the least common vowel sound in English.

''Schwa can appear behind any of the 5 vowel letters''

• True

• False

Examples of words with schwa are, except one:

• About

• Miracle

• Heal

• Banana

The correct phonetic transcription of the word STATION is:

• /ˈsteɪ.ʃən/

• /ˈstəɪ.ʃən/

• /ˈsteɪ.ʃen/

• /ˈsteɪ.ʃo:n/

The correct phonetic transcription of the word VEGETABLE is:

• /vedʒ.ti:.'bəl/

• /ˈvedʒ.tə.bəl/

• /ˈvedʒ.tə.bol/

• /ˈvedʒ.ta.bol/

The schwa will never be

Words ending in -tion will contain schwa:

• TRUE

• FALSE

The schwa sound appears in almost all words containing more than two syllables.

• YEAH MARACUYEAH.

• NO WAY.