Practice 7 to 14 - Vowels

7: /I/ and /i/


1. sheep, ship
2. sleep, slip
3. eat, it
4. feat, fit
5. seat, sit

8: /I/ and /i/


1. You need to proof-read your report carefully before you submit it. Please read it again.
2. Mr. Green was grinning from ear to ear when he knew that his six pretty little sisters living in the city were going to visit him.
3. Sit on this seat and see if these slippers fit your feet.


9: /e/ and /æ/


1. pen, pan
2. men, man
3. lend, land
4. send, sand
5. said, sad


10: /e/ and /æ/


1. Jack said that he was very sad because he had broken his radio set.
2. Send that man who landed on the sand a bag of sand.
3. The man who is cooking with a pan is not one of the men who have bought the pens.


11:


1. port, pot
2. sport, spot
3. short, shot
4. court, cot
5. cork, cock


12:


1. John has bought a lot of sausages because he has sausages as breakfast almost every morning.
2. Doctor Wong, who is pointing to the clock on the wall, is Uncle Tom's daughter.
3. George is drawing four saws, four swords, four walls and four doors on the board.


13:


1. Luke, look
2. food, foot
3. hoot, hood
4. fool, full
5. pool, pull


14:


1. Look! Luke is pulling a fool out of the pool in the wood.
2. June said to Sue, "You should bring along with you some food and wear proper shoes when visiting the zoo next Tuesday with Ruth."
3. Who took away the cookery book?

How to Study Pronuciation

You may wish to listen to the sound clips first, then read the explanations, or you may wish to start with the explanations and proceed to the sound clips. It's a good idea to do both, in any case, since the ear can be deceptive if you don't have an idea of what you're hearing, and since explanations can not give a real idea of what sounds are like. When using the sound clips, listen to each several times, and try to produce pronunciations as much like what you are hearing as possible. Speak out loud if your situation permits this, since this improves auditory memory. The written forms of the words you will hear are provided to help you learn the connection between spelling and pronunciation, but beware of following the spelling of the written word rather than the oral pronunciation in the sound clip, which is often surprisingly different.
If you are unable to access the sound clips for technical or other reasons, you will have to make do with the explanations below. These should guide you to a pronunciation of Old English that will be acceptable in most situations where you are likely to pronounce it, but you should also either try to get hold of a tape-recording to imitate, or telephone me to have me polish your pronunciation over the phone.

Practice 1 to 6 - Consonants

1: /l/ and /n/


1. law, nor
2. lay, nay
3. line, nine
4. let, net
5. light, night


2: /l/ and /n/


1. The laboratory technician forgot to turn off the light last night.
2. Lily locked her belongings in a locker near the language laboratory last night.
3. Nearly nine accidents happened in May last year.


3: /t/ and /d/


1. lent, lend
2. wrote, road
3. bent, bend
4. fate, fade
5. bit, bid


4: /t/ and /d/


1. He had hoped to be successful in his career, but fate decided othewise. His hopes faded.
2. The paintings are a bit too expensive; there is not any bid for them.
3. Juliet couldn't bend her mind to her English studies even though she has a bent for English.


5: /k/ and /g/


1. coat, goat
2. ankle, angle
3. back, bag
4. duck, dug
5. pluck, plug


6: /k/ and /g/


1. Please put the plug in the outlet. I'm going to pluck the duck which has dug a hole in the garden.
2. Put the heavy bag on your back.
3. Professor Kelogg twisted his ankle carelessly while he was suggesting his students look at the affair from a different angle.