Pronunciation insight 4

 Stress in two-syllable nouns

We usually pronounce two-syllable nouns with the stress on the first part of the word.
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insect raven

1Say the two-syllable words below. Underline the stressed syllable. Then play the recording and listen to the words. Check your answers and repeat. 

Vowel sounds: /i:/ /ɪ/ /æ/ /ɑ:/ /ɒ/ /ə/

2Play the recording and listen to the six vowel sounds. Then listen and repeat. 

• 1/i:/ me, see, three

• 2/ɪ/ big, dig, hit

• 3/æ/ rabbit, man, bank

• 4/ɑ:/ garden, dance, can't

• 5/ɒ/ clock, dog, shop

• 6/ə/ colour, never, centre

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3Play the recording and listen to the words. Choose the correct vowel sounds. 

• 1chicken

   

  /i://ɪ//æ//ɑ://ɒ//ə/

• 2giraffe

   

  /i://ɪ//æ//ɑ://ɒ//ə/

• 3rat

   

  /i://ɪ//æ//ɑ://ɒ//ə/

• 4budgie

   

  /i://ɪ//æ//ɑ://ɒ//ə/

• 5plant

   

  /i://ɪ//æ//ɑ://ɒ//ə/

• 6cactus

   

  /i://ɪ//æ//ɑ://ɒ//ə/

• 7rock

   

  /i://ɪ//æ//ɑ://ɒ//ə/

• 8lizard

   

  /i://ɪ//æ//ɑ://ɒ//ə/

• 9dog

   

  /i://ɪ//æ//ɑ://ɒ//ə/

• 10spider

   

  /i://ɪ//æ//ɑ://ɒ//ə/

4Play the recording and listen. Check your answers to exercise 3. 

/ə/ is a very important vowel sound in English. It’s the vowel sound that we use the most. We use it in weak or unstressed syllables.
spidertiger

5Play the recording and listen to the words. Underline the syllable where you hear /ə/. 

6Say the words below and mark the stress. Then play the recording, listen and check. 

• 1flower

• 2cactus

• 3butterfly

• 4water

• 5tortoise

• 6lizard

• 7desert

• 8hamster

• 9polar bear

• 10kangaroo