Practice exercises: Consonant identification, minimal pair drills

Practice Exercises: Consonant Identification and Minimal Pair Drills

Consonant Identification

Exercise 1: Listen and identify

Listen to the following words and identify the consonant sound at the beginning of each word:

  • Labial plosives: pen, bat, pop, bib
  • Dental/alveolar plosives: ten, dog, top, dad
  • Velar plosives: can, go, kick, gag
  • Labio-dental fricatives: fan, van, fish, vine
  • Interdental fricatives: think, then, bath, the
  • Alveolar fricatives: sun, zoo, sit, zip
  • Palatal-alveolar fricatives: ship, measure, shoe, vision
  • Affricates: cheap, jeep, chip, edge
  • Nasals: man, nan, sang, sing, bang
  • Liquids: late, light, love, red, ride, row
  • Glides: wet, win, want, yet, you, yellow

Exercise 2: Say the words aloud

Say each word aloud and try to pronounce the consonant sound correctly. Pay attention to the placement of your tongue and lips.

Minimal Pair Drills

Exercise 1: Identify the difference

Listen to the following pairs of words and identify the consonant sound that is different:

  • pin – bin
  • sit – zit
  • ship – zip
  • cheap – jeep
  • man – van
  • thin – then
  • sun – zun
  • late – late
  • wet – yet

Exercise 2: Say the pairs aloud

Say each pair of words aloud, focusing on the difference in pronunciation. Try to produce the correct consonant sound for each word.

Additional tips:

  • Record yourself: Record yourself saying the words and listen to the differences in pronunciation.
  • Find a language partner: Practice with a language partner to get feedback on your pronunciation.
  • Use online resources: There are many online resources available to help you practice your pronunciation.
See also  The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA): An overview and its use in representing sounds

By practicing these exercises regularly, you can improve your ability to identify and produce English consonants accurately.

Syllabus for Pronunciation of English Language

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