Posts under ‘Lessons’

One of the best strategies you can use to improve your spoken American English is to learn to use syllable stress correctly.

That’s because when you use syllable stress correctly it creates a speech rhythm that sounds familiar to American listeners.

When non native English speakers stress every syllable in a sentence with the same emphasis it [...]

Intonation is the rise and fall of pitch in spoken language. In spoken English these intonation patterns convey meaning.
In rising falling intonation the speaker’s pitch rises and falls on the focus word in the sentence. Listen to each sentence. The pitch will rise and fall on the focus word.
Statement- He wants to go to the [...]

American English has five letters known as vowels but there are at least 11 simple vowel sounds and 3 diphthongs (although there are some regional differences).
As an example let’s examine the sound of the vowel ‘a’ in two different words.
Say the word ‘apple’. Listen to the sound of the /ae/ The sound of the ‘a’ [...]

When you are speaking American English a letter ‘t’ that occurs in the middle of a word often sounds more like a /d/.
This sound is called a tapped T and it is one of the main differences between an American English accent and a British accent.
To make the tapped T sound, let your tongue lightly [...]

The schwa is the relaxed vowel sound that is frequently used in unstressed syllables. This sound is used in both British and American English.
The schwa is made with your tongue sitting in a relaxed position in the center of your mouth. It sounds like “uh”. The phonetic symbol for the schwa sound is /ə/.
Any vowel [...]