English Highway Podcast

Pronunciation: /-ed/ ending (#0288)

Learn how the /-ed/ ending sounds like a /d/, /t/, or /-ed/.

Announcer:

Youre about to listen to an audio lesson from OpenEnglish.com.

Welcome back. My name is Andres Moreno, and Ill be your English coach
for this lesson. Our goal today is to help you improve your listening and
speaking skills by working on a key pronunciation tool.
Were going to be working on differentiating a very similar set vowel
sounds. These vowel sounds are the short u and the long u. So repeat
after me:
love
That uuu sound is the short u. Repeat after me:
love
And again:
love
Good job. Heres the other sound. Its the long u. Repeat after me:
cute
cute
Its that u sound:
cute
love
Do you hear the difference?
cute
love
Very different sounds so lets work on them. First, lets focus on the short
u sound. So repeat after me:
bunch
bunch
bunch

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And heres another one. Repeat after me:

lunch

And again:
lunch
And another, repeat after me:
some
some
Thats it. Now lets practice these words in some sentences. So repeat
after me:
I had steak for lunch.
And again:
I had steak for lunch.
lunch
Good job. Heres another sentence. Repeat after me:
Would you like some coffee?
coffee
some coffee
Way to go. Lets keep at it. Repeat after me:
sun
sun
Please wear some sunscreen.
And again:
Please wear some sunscreen.
Good job. Lets practice one last word with the short u sound. Repeat
after me:
stuff
And again:

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stuff
Good job. Heres a sentence. So repeat after me:
I have a lot of stuff to do.

And again:
I have a lot of stuff to do.
Good job. Now, lets focus on the long u sound. Repeat after me:
u
two
Thats it, again:
two
Heres a sentence:
Please order two pizzas.
And again:
Please order two pizzas.
Good job. Heres another word. Repeat after me:
move
And again:
move
Will you move to San Francisco?
Come on, put some energy into it. Repeat after me:
Will you move to San Francisco?
Okay, good job. Heres another word with the long u sound. Repeat
after me:
news
And again:
news
I watch the news every night.
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And again:
I watch the news every night.
Good job, two more examples. Repeat after me:
blue
And again:
blue
Heres a sentence:
Her dress is blue.
One more time:
Her dress is blue.
Way to go. Heres the next example. Repeat after me:
cool
And again:
cool
Thats right. Heres an example:
Its cool under the tree.
One more time:
Its cool under the tree.
Okay, lets compare three different sets of words. So repeat after me:
but
boot
Theres a clear difference between but and boot. You can really see
the difference between the short u and the long u vowel sounds. So
repeat after me:
but
boot
Very different. Heres another example:

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sun
soon
Come on, repeat after me:
sun
soon

Thats it, last example. Repeat after me:

none
noon
Again:
none
noon
Way to go. Thats the end of this audio lesson. Thank you for your time
and effort. As always, my recommendation is for you to listen to this
lesson as many times as you can because remember, practice makes
perfect!
For additional practice, turn on your computer and go to
OpenEnglish.com. At OpenEnglish, youll find hundreds of interactive
lessons and videos to help you perfect your English. Accelerate your
English today. See you soon.

Additional practice: Short u versus long u vowel sounds

Words:
love
cute
bunch
lunch
some
some coffee
sun
stuff
two
move
news
blue
cool
Words pairs:
but - boot
An original Open English production in association with Cl@se.
Copyright FoxyP2 Inc. and Rainbow Heights International LLC

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sun - soon
none - noon
Sentences:
I had steak for lunch.
Would you like some coffee?
Please wear some sunscreen.
I have a lot of stuff to do.
Please order two pizzas.
Will you move to San Francisco?
I watch the news every night.
Her dress is blue.
Its cool under the tree.

An original Open English production in association with Cl@se.

Copyright FoxyP2 Inc. and Rainbow Heights International LLC

Page 6 of 6