It's no secret that English spelling is pretty unphonetic, and as such some words which are pronounced similarly are spelled very differently e.g. the only difference in pronunciation between "good" and "could" is the first sound - the "ould/ood" part is pronounced exactly the same way.
I've noticed that when I type quickly, I sometimes type a different word than what I meant.
For example, this afternoon I was typing a paragraph that included the sentence "It would be good...". When I reread what I wrote, I noticed that I wrote "It would be could..." instead. I couldn't have just hit the wrong keys, as they're nowhere near each other! I can understand making a typo like "goud" or "cood", but I don't understand how I could make a typo in such a way that I spell a different word correctly! I'm a native speaker, so I definitely wouldn't have said "could" in my head when I typed out the sentence, and I of course know how "good" and "could" are spelled Why then did my subconscious mind choose to type "could" instead of "good"? It's not like with "there" and "their", where they have the same pronunciation but different spelling.I don't have auto-correct, so that can't be it.
This isn't the first time this has happened - it happens to me fairly regularly. Sometimes I reread what I wrote I wonder why I wrote "door" instead of "dare", or "while" instead of "wall". I just don't know how I make a typo in such a way that I end up spelling a word spelled completely differently correctly. It seems bizarre to me that if I accidentally type "wh" when typing "wall", I finish that off by correctly spelling a different word.
Does this happen to anyone else, or is it just me?
There have been a lot of discussions about pronunciation on this recently. There's another discussion going on right now (which for some reason I can't find) where both English native speakers and learners have been uploading recordings. The idea is so that people can compare different English accents, and so English learners can upload their own recordings and get feedback.
I'm doing something similar - I've written out a bunch of words that have similar pronunciations, have the same pronunciation only in some accents, or word pairs that are commonly mixed up by English learners.
http://vocaroo.com is a useful website where you can upload recordings without any registration.
I've uploaded my recordings onto Soundcloud instead of Vocaroo because it is much quicker to upload multiple files and allows me to share all my recordings with a single link.
All of my recordings can be found here: https://soundcloud.com/user-680684195/sets/english-pronunciation
For each recording, feel free to upload your own recordings, whether . It would also be helpful if you wrote out how many words in the recording you pronounce the same way (or if they rhyme).
Marry - Merry - Mary:
All three are different for me.
Can (as in "to be able to") - Can (as in a can of soft drink):
I pronounce these differently.
Do - Day - Die - Dee (the letter) - Doe - Dare - Door
Hid - Had - Head - Hired - Hoard - Whored - Herd - Heard
I pronounce "whored" and "hoard" the same way. The same goes for "herd" and "heard".
Planet - Plan it:
I pronounce these differently.
Buy - Pie - Vye - Why:
This one's mainly aimed at English learners who struggle to distinguish "b", "p", "v" and/or "w".
Man - Main - Mine - Moan - Mean - Mourne
Cut - Cot - Caught - Cart - Kit - Kite - Kate - Coat:
I pronounce all these differently. In different accents, "u", "o", "aw" and "ah" have merged together in different combinations - that's what I want to hear.
Flower - Flour - Flyer
I pronounce "flower" and "flour" the same way.
Bath - Ask - Laugh - Aunt - Graph - Glass - Can't - Ant - Can - Dance - Branch - Chant - Chance
This tests for the trap-bath split. I pronounce everything up til "can't" with an "ah" sound, and after that I pronounce everything with an "a" sound.
Salary - Celery:
I pronounce these differently, although apparently people in Melbourne say them the same way.
Pan - Pin - Pen - Pan - Pine - Pain - Pawn - Porn:
I pronounce "pawn" and "porn" the same way. Otherwise I pronounce everything else differently. Apparently "pin" and "pen" sound the same in some accents.
Bin - Bean - Been - Bun - Barn - Ban:
I pronounce "been" and "bean" the same way. Americans would pronounce "been" and "bin" the same way I believe.
Hiss - House - Horse - Hoarse
I pronounce "horse" and "hoarse" the same way.
Mandarin (language) - Mandarin (fruit):
I pronounce these the same way. I've heard a lot of Americans put emphasis in a different spot for one/both of these.
Nectarine:
I've uploaded two pronunciations. The second one is how most older Australians pronounce it, although not many people my age say it that way. As far as I'm aware the second pronunciation is exclusive to Australia.
Garage:
Schedule:
I pronounce this with a "k" sound, although older generations pronounce it the British way (with a "sh" sound) here.
Water:
How you pronounce "water" can tell a lot about your accent - different accents pronounce the "a", "t", and "er" in different ways.
Live - Leave:
A lot of English learners mix these up.
Data:
I pronounce this the British way.
Where - Wear - We're:
I pronounce all three of these the same way.
Nut - Not - Knot - Nought - Knit - Night - Knight:
I pronounce "not" and "knot" the same way, as well as "night" and "knight". I don't pronounce any of the other words the same way. I understand some American accents pronounce "nut" and "not" the same way, and others pronounce "not" and "nought" the same way.
Fewer - Newer - Cure - Tour:
All of these rhyme with each other for me. I believe "tour" is pronounced differently outside of Australia, and I think "cure" is pronounced differently in northern England.
Band - Banned:
I read online that the bad-lad split exists in some British accents, where they pronounce these two words differently. My accent has the bad-lad split, but I pronounce these two words the same way!
Her - Sur - Fur - Were:
These all rhyme to me.
In an answer to a question I mentioned that "the pronunciation of "have" is different in "to have to" than in "to have". The "v" in "to have to" is pronounced with an "f" sound." i.e. When you say something like "I have a cat" or "I have done it", "have" has a "v" sound; but it has a "f" sound in "I have to do this.
Another member replied, "In my region*, the pronunciation of "to have to" and "to have" is identical. "Have" pronounced as "half" is considered careless or sub-standard."
*The user was from Ohio, in the US.
I was surprised by this, since it's something I hadn't heard of before. It sounds like something that could be true, so I googled it and got conflicting information.
The Cambridge dictionary lists both pronunciations as possible for "have to", with the one with "f" as the primary pronunciation. For some reason it only lists the American pronunciation, despite primarily being a British dictionary: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/pronunciation/english/have-to
The Oxford Dictionary lists both pronuncations for American and British English, with the "v" pronunciation listed as the primary pronunciation for both American and British English: http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/pronunciation/english/have-to
The Meriam-Webster Dictionary says that "in “have to” meaning “must” [it is] usually ˈhaf\": http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/have
Wiktionary says that the "v" pronunciation is formal and the "f" pronunciation is informal in the UK, while the "f" pronunciation is both formal and informal in the US: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/have_to
I can't find anything in the Macquarie Dictionary (the "official" dictionary of Australian English that Australian schools have to use, although most adults use the Oxford Dictionary instead) about "to have to", except for "to have to" being listed as the 45th definition of "to have", for which it only ists /hæv/ : https://www.macquariedictionary.com.au/features/word/search/?word=have&search_word_type=Dictionary
I just sent them an email about it, so hopefully they'll reply soon.
What does everyone here think? Would you use one or both pronunciations of "have to"? Is the "f" pronunciation more sub-standard than the "v" pronunciation? While I'm on the topic, is there anyone here who doesn't pronounce "used" in sentences like "I used to..." or "I am used to..." differently than when it's the past tense of "to use? What about "supposed" in "I am supposed to..." versus when "supposed" it's the past tense of "to suppose"?
I meant to make this a question, but I apparently can't ask more than two questions per day...
Anyway, here's what I wrote:
This is a quote from the book "Beyond the Dictionary in Dutch":
"An appointment to a job is an 'aanstelling' (verb 'aanstellen') 'or a 'benoeming' (verb 'benoemen'), e.g. 'Wie is door de minister aangesteld/benoemd?' - Who was appointed by the minister?, 'Hij is benoemd tot officier in de Order van Oranje Nassau' - He was appointed an officer in the Order of Orange Nassau. 'Aanstellen' has connotations of 'to employ', which is not the case with 'benoemen', e.g. 'een vaste aanstelling' - a tenured job, 'Daar is hij voor aangesteld' - That is what he's employed/paid for."
It seems to me that one of the examples contradicts the explanation. It says "'Aanstellen' has connotations of 'to employ', which is not the case with 'benoemen'", but if that's the case, wouldn't "aanstellen" be more appropriate (instead of "benoemen) in "Hij is benoemd tot officier in de Order van Oranje Nassau"?
Dank je wel.
