PRONUNCIATION: Pronouncing suffixes ˂-ous˃, ˂-able˃ and ˂-ible˃

Pronouncing ˂-ous˃, ˂-able˃ and ˂-ible˃

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Many personality adjectives end with suffixes ˂-ous˃, ˂-able˃ and ˂ible˃. Take a look at the examples below. Listen and repeat What do you think the suffixes mean?

Ana Losada e José Luis Murado. CC BY-SA

 

Pronunciation

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The Schwa

Ana Losada e José Luis Murado. CC BY-SA

Do you remember how to pronounce the sound represented by the symbol above? In Unit 1.3. and Unit 2.1. we saw that /Ə/ is the most common vowel sound in English because it is often found in syllables that are not stressed. Watch this video to remember how /Ə/ is pronounced.

Pronunciation Tips. Vídeo de BBC Learning English en YouTube. Licenza YouTube estándar

Exercise 1

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Listen to 5 sentences twice. You will hear a total of 10 personality adjectives. Write each adjective in the corresponding column below, either ˂-ous˃ /Əs/ or ˂-able˃ /ƏbƏl/ and ˂ible˃ /ˡbƏl/:

Ana Losada e José Luis Murado. CC BY-SA

 

˂-ous˃ /Əs/ ˂-able˃ /ƏbƏl/ and ˂ible˃ /ˡbƏl/