Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is lesson 24. Today we're going to cover
the differences between Island, isle and islet. Yeah this is one where students will
sometimes ask what's the difference between these three? Because they are all are related
to an island. So let's look at the first one. And the first one is of course
island. This is the most common one. This is the one that you'll be using the far
majority of the time. This is the general one. An area of land totally surrounded
by water. Right that's basically what it means. Most of you should know this already.
Let's just cover a quick few examples. Tahiti is an island in the South Pacific.
Good. Aristotle Onassis married Jackie Kennedy on a Greek island that he owned.
Yes, very famous a long time ago. Remember Jackie Kennedy used to be original wife
of John F Kennedy when he died. All right so all right. That's probably most of our
concentration for this article should be on isle. Because if you know isle then you'll
probably know the difference between all three pretty easily. Isle, now the
meaning is an island. It's exactly the same as island. As far as meaning is concerned. But usage is a
completely different story. But first before we even cover that let's take a
quick look at pronunciation. The pronunciation of isle is the same as the
words I'll and aisle. Yeah a lot of times when the students are reading this
if they come across it for the first time, they are a little unsure how to
pronounce it. It looks a little like a isel or isley. Yeah or something like that
and be honest it is kind of surprising that it is pronounced isle. And often
to try to help them remember how to pronounce it it I will point this out
because this is unusual that we have three different words that are all
pretty common. With three different spellings three completely different
meanings, but the same pronunciation. So I often
tell them in order to help you remember isle is pronounced the same way as I'll like I will.. I'll the contraction between I and will. And aisle like
the aisle in a supermarket. or the aisle in a movie theater. That sort of aisle. Okay now
that we got that out of the way. Let's look at the usage of this word. The word
isle simply means an island but its usage is very limited. We don't use it
a lot. It is mainly used in the names of
some islands and in poetry. That covers most of it. The word Isle is almost
never used in informal everyday speech. Yeah I never hear anyone say I want a
vacation on a tropical isle. They don't say that. Or uh yes I visited that isle.
No. They don't say that. That doesn't come up at all. Nobody ever talks about wanting
to go to an aisle or that they've been an isle. This would always be island,
island, island. Okay so again when do we use it ? Here are
some common examples of isle in names. All right these are some of the most common ones
that come up. The Greek Isles probably you heard of that before. The Isle of
Wight, The Isle of Mann you know both of them are in the UK. The British Isle, s the Isle of Cozumel.
These are just some of the most common ones. that you can hear
with the word Isle in the name. Okay uh let's say. All right so the word Isle is
especially used in poetry because it is much easier to rhyme than the word Island. Yeah
you could try to imagine if you're a poet and writing a poem you you want to
say island but I'll it is kind of hard to to to rhyme with it. So Isle would be a
perfect substitute. uh and I don't know I've heard some people say it might be used in
formal literature, but I don't I haven't come across it that much. So the two main
uses to really concentrate on is in the name of some islands and you definitely
use them in poetry. And the last one that we should look at is islet.
Remember any time you have words that end in lette t or ette or ETTE, it
usually has something to do with something being small. And that's the case here. So
an Islet is a small island. Oh we don't see it as as as much an island. I
just once in a while we come across this word islet and here I gave you an
example. That islet is rocky and uninhabited. Yeah maybe it's just a
small area of several hundred feet out that sticks out of a river. It might not have much
usage. on some sort of islets you know could have some use. But basically they are all
very small. That's what we mean by it. All right so again just to quickly
review. Island is your most common use this is what you're using all the time. Isle
all of course it is it is more formal. remember how to pronounce it. It's
pronounced like I'll and aisle. And again its usage is mostly in the names of Isles
and in poetry. And I would simply mean a small island. Well I hope that clarifies
it for you. Thank you.