Hi everyone. Welcome back to English with Max.
Before I start, Frank has something he would like to say.
English is hard.
It can be understood through tough, thorough thought, though.
Thank you, Frank. And yes, that sentence makes complete
sense in English. In this video we're going to look at six words which look
similar, but sound very different. For each word I'll first give you the
British pronunciation and then I'll give you the American pronunciation.
Okay the first word in British English is thought. Thought. It has the unvoiced th sound.
If I put my hands on my throat, there's no vibration when I do the th.
Thought. Thought.
In American English the vowel sound changes. It's thought. Thought.
The second word is thorough. Thorough.
It also has the unvoiced th sound. Thorough.
Thorough. In American English you have a choice. You can either say "thorough".
Thorough. Or: thorough. Thorough.
The third word is basically the same in British
and American English. It's through. Through. It also has the unvoiced th.
Through. It's actually pronounced exactly the same way as this word,
which is the past simple of "throw". Again, this word is through. The next word is
throughout. The first part is the same as the last word: through. You just need to
add an "out" to it. Through-out. Throughout. Just remember that the stress is on the
second syllable. So it's not THROUGHout, it's throughOUT. Throughout.
Now we have a word that starts with the voiced th sound.
It starts with "th". If I put my hand on my throat,
I can feel a vibration.
In British English it's though. Though. In American
English the vowel sound changes. It's though. Though. And finally a word that
starts with a completely different sound. In British and American English this
word is tough. Tough.
It's not "tau" or "too". The first sound is a "t", the next sound is
an "uh", and the last sound is a "f".
Tough. Tough.
I hope you found that helpful.
I know it's a bit confusing, but the more you read and listen to English,
the easier it becomes. Before I go, just a reminder that every two weeks I send out
a free advanced vocabulary email lesson. If you'd like to subscribe to that,
you'll find the link in the description. Remember that you can also follow me on
social media... and yup. That's it. See you next time, guys.
The third word...
... through.
That's my fridge.