In this video, we're going to talk about two sounds that are easily confused:
AW and UH
Extra English Practice
So these two sounds we can call the short O, which is AW,
and the short U, which is UH.
Or we could also call the short O, olive,
and the short U, mustard.
So that's what we'll do in this video. We like colors.
So we'll start by talking about the Olive sound or the short O.
It says AW. This is the sound you make
when you see something really cute like a puppy dog. Awwww!
Your jaw drops a little bit for this sound
and it's a little bit long in terms of duration.
This is the sound that is in the word DOG or COT or STOP.
The most common way that the AW sound is spelled
is with an O, so like in STOP,
but it can also be spelled with an A like in FATHER or WANT,
or with an AU, like in the past tense of teach -- TAUGHT,
or the past of catch -- CAUGHT,
or the modal OUGHT ... that's an OU!
The next sound, mustard, is a shorter sound, and it's a lot more relaxed.
It's one of the most relaxed sounds in English.
So it sounds like this: UH.
It's short, and your mouth is just soft, just relaxed.
So some examples of words with this sound are CUP
or BUN or FUNNY.
Those are all that UH or mustard sound.
The mustard sound, UH, is usually spelled with a U
like in SUN or HUNGRY,
but sometimes you see it spelled with an OU,
like in YOUNG, COUNTRY or ENOUGH.
And on rare occasions, it's spelled with just an O, like MONEY.
Okay just to have a little bit more practice, we're gonna give you some sentences
that have minimal pairs and see if you can hear the difference.
The first one is: That's a nice poppy.
So, a poppy is a flower that we wear on our shirts or jackets at Remembrance Day,
in Canada at least and other places, too. Yeah.
So that's a nice poppy OR that's a nice uppy.
A puppy is a little dog. A baby one.
So, that's a nice poppy -- That's a nice puppy.
If you can hear the second one is a little bit shorter
and my my mouth is more relaxed.
That's a nice poppy -- olive. That's a nice puppy -- mustard.
Another example sentence.. we could say: He caught it --
like if you catch a fish or you catch a ball -- he caught it.
Or he cut it. Maybe he cut his hair. He cut it.
Or he cut his finger.. no, no, a paper. Yeah.
Another sentence: That's my boss. That's my boss. He is really kind.
You didn't think I was gonna say "kind". He doesn't look kind.
And that's my bus. That's my bus.
Another example, I need a hog. A hog is another word for pig.
Why do you need one? Maybe, you know, I'm hungry?
I need someone to eat up this garbage. I don't know!
OR: I need a hug. I need a hug. Like this.
We're gonna give you a couple other words but these ones we can't make into a sentence. They don't work.
So we have DOG and DUG.
DUG is the past tense of DIG, like dig a hole. Mm-hmm.
DOG, DOG, DUG, DUG.
And the last pair is SOCCER, which is what we call
in America, what we call football. We call it soccer.
So the game, or SUCKER. A sucker is the thing
kids like to eat, a sugary hard candy on a stick.
Okay, it's time for... guess what?! A game!
This game is called memory, and how it works is we
have behind us all of these words we were just talking about.
On one card is written the word, and on another card is a picture of that word.
And if it's my turn, I want to flip up two and find a matching pair,
so the word and the picture that go together.
It's called memory because you try to remember,
even if you didn't get a pair, where were those cards...
Okay, here we go. Here we go!
You want to go first? Oh, thank you. You're welcome.
Alright, I'm gonna start with this one way up here.
This is SUCKER, SUCKER. Mustard colour.
Oh! Wow! That is good luck. I found the sucker!
One point for Larissa! For my sucker, sucker.
I hope I'm so lucky.
Okay, cut..... and.....dog. Not a match.
Okay, poppy.. here's a poppy. Poppy, poppy...
Oh, you already did this! I just did that one. I'm not paying attention. Poppy, cut, got it.
Okay, cut! Scissors for cut, cut.
That was a good one. Well done. Thank you.
Oh here we go. Puppy. I remember where the poppy is... this is puppy.
We haven't seen the puppy.... no! Hug!
Same sound, but not the same word.
Okay... oh, dug. A shovel.
Hog! Nope, not a match.
I'm not remembering very well... what's this? Boss. Here's the boss.
Hmm, have we seen...have we seen this one?
Oh yeah! We just did this one!
My brain is working the wrong way! Boss and hog.
Okay. Puppy. You did turn over this one. I found the word. But we haven't seen the picture.
Maybe there's no puppy. Hmm, oh!
Caught! He caught a fish. Nope.
Okay, I'm not gonna touch this one.
Dog. Oh, we saw the dog!
We saw the dog. Where did we see the dog? Was this the dog?
Oh! Puppy, that's the puppy! Oh no!
I think you were close though. Dog and puppy.
Where was puppy? Puppy.
Puppy. Good job. Uh oh, help me. Thank you.
Puppy, not to be confused with poppy. Yeah.
Okay, I want to find the poppy!
We did see ... the picture. But not the word.
Bus. That's a new one. We haven't seen a bus yet.
[mumbling] Hug. I saw the hug before.
It's hard to remember. Hug and bus, same sound.
Okay caught. I think I remember.
It was somewhere down here.
Caught. Good. Caught a fish.
AW, AW, caught. Yeah, different from cut cut. Caught.
What's this? Poppy! I remember the poppy is
way up here. Nice. You were looking for it & you found it.
Poppy - different from puppy. Poppy, puppy.
Okay next. Did we already see this? Oh, boss.
My boss! Did we see the word? I don't think so. We saw bus.
Hug. hug.
Can I remember where the hug is? We've seen it.
I think this is the hug. Nice one.
Ok, soccer. Did we see soccer already? I don't
think so. What is this one? Soccer!
Soccer and sucker. Mm-hmm. Soccer, sucker.
[sigh] What's this? There's the dog. We did see it.
Is this the dog? Nice. Dog, compared to... oh, dug. Maybe you can find the dug.
Ok. Wish me luck. What about right next to it?
Oh, boss! I know! I know! Right beside. Yes.
If I know, Misha knows, 'cause I'm not very good at memory.
Maybe I'll find dug. Ok, we saw it. Yeah, we did.
You don't have too many options.
Nope, this makes it worse 'cause I'm going to get it wrong and feel really dumb.
Bus. We haven't seen that bus. That was the first time.
Dog, bus. No. Different sounds, different words...
Completely different. Nothing. Not even close.
Oh, hog. Okay, this is dug. Bus. Different sounds.
So I'm going to get the bus. Yes, good job.
And where is the boss? Here it is. Boss, bus.
Okay I have to be able to get one now. There's so few.
Hog, and hog. There he is.
Cute looking little hug. They're not so cute in real life.
Hug, hog. Hug, hog.
And so I get dug. Yeah. Here it is. Dug, dog.
Ok, we're gonna go through the sounds again
and you can repeat after us. Ok? so I'll
say a word, you say the word . So here we go.
These are a pair. This one is the mustard sound: SUCKER, SUCKER.
And this is olive: SOCCER, SOCCER.
HUG HUG -mustard, the shorter one.
HOG, HOG
Here we have CAUGHT, CAUGHT.
CUT, CUT.
PUPPY, PUPPY.
POPPY, POPPY
DOG, DOG
DUG, DUG
And finally: BOSS, BOSS
BUS, BUS
If you notice, our mouths are opening more widely
when we say the olive sound: BOSS, BUS.
BUS is very relaxed and small. Yeah. We're not doing
hardly anything. It's a nice lazy sound. Yeah.
So thanks for watching our video and playing along,
and remember to subscribe to our channel for more videos,
and please share it with your friends so that they can
practice their AW and UH sounds, too.
Here we go..................... Oh, what's happening?
So I'll do likesucker soccer soccer sucker soccer...