Extra English Practice (mouse squeak)
Hey guys. Welcome back to Extra English Practice. (EEP!)
Today we're going to focus on pronunciation.
And we're going to look specifically at how to pronounce
the -s ending at the end of plural nouns.
There are three different ways it can be pronounced
because unfortunately in English, letters are pronounced different ways all the time.
It's true. Just to make it confusing.
So the three options are either
it would be pronounced /s/, /z/, or /iz/.
And how do we decide which one of those?
So you need to look at the word and think about the sound that comes
before the S, the plural ending. And think about the sound, not about the letter.
If the sound is a voiceless sound, if there's no vibration in your throat,
sounds like /k/, or /p/, or /t/, then the S sound, the plural sound, will be /s/.
if it's..if the final sound before the S is a voiced sound, so if your vocal chords are moving,
something like /b/, /m/, or /iy/ - any vowel sound, then the S will be pronounced like /z/.
But if the final sound before the S is a sibilant,
so that's something like an S: s, z, ch, j, sh, zh
If the word ends in one of those sounds, then the S sounds like /iz/
and it becomes another syllable. Do you want to explain more about syllables? Yeah.
You can refer to our previous syllable video, but just remember syllables are
the beats in word, right? So like my name Mi-sha has two syllables. Yeah.
The problem is with this S ending, if you add an extra syllable where there shouldn't be one,
it's going to be confusing and people might not understand. Right?
So I would say desks not desk-is. Yeah. Things like that.
And the only time you're adding another syllable with the plural ending
is when the sound before the S is s, z, ch, j, zh and... sh. Thanks.
Here are some examples. Snack ends with a /k/ sound,
so this is a voiceless sound. So the S is pronounced /s/ - snacks.
And hat..hat is also a voiceless sound. Hats.
And bug..bug ends in /g/, which is a voiced sound
so the S sounds like Z. Bugs.
And shoe - oo - all the vowel sounds are voiced
and so shoe plural will be shoeZ.
And the final category, watch..ch..ch is a sibilant
so this one we add a syllable: watch-es.
And the same with piece - a piece of pie.
One piece, two piec-es because piece ends in a sibilant.
Ok, so Larissa I -like normal- are going to give this a little practice.
We're going to go on a picnic. Let's go in a picnic! Who doesn't love a picnic? Exactly.
On a day like today. Yeah. So we're going to decide what we're going to bring along.
So I'm going to say something that I'm bringing, and then Larissa is going to
repeat what I said and add to the list. And we'll just go back and forth like this.
This is a memory game. Yeah. Let's see if we can do it. Ok.
So I'm going to bring to our picnic some oranges. Ok. On our picnic we'll have
oranges and grapes. Okay, we'll have oranges and grapes and carrots. Ok.
Oranges, grapes, carrots, and sandwiches. All right, we're going to bring oranges,
grapes, carrots, sandwiches, and ..um..drinks. I had to think about it.
Ok, on our picnic we will have oranges,... oranges, grapes, carrots,
yeah, sandwiches, unhuh, What'd you just say? Oh, drinks and pickles.
Oh, nice one. I love pickles. (I don't like pickles.) I bring them for you. Thank you, I appreciate it.
Okay, so on our picnic we're going to have oranges, grapes, carrots, uh...
sandwiches, drinks, pickles, and right? PickleZ. And I'm going to bring,
to make it easier for us, some dishes.
Dishes, oh thank you. Yeah, no problem.
Okay, this is getting long. It is getting long.
On our picnic, we will have (What did we start with?) oranges, grapes, carrots,
sandwiches, something.. drinks, pickles,
dishes and cups for the drinks. Well, I mean, it just make sense.
We can use our hands.
Ok, so we're going to bring oranges, grapes, and carrots, sandwiches, drinks,
pickles, dishes, cups and crackers.
Okay. Crackers. Can I do it? You can do it. Come on.
We're going on a picnic and we're bringing
oranges, grapes, carrots, sandwiches, drinks, pickles, pickles and
she's showing me..she's helping me here... dishes, cups, you just had one...I know and
I forgot it, too. Oh yeah, crackers, crackers and.. cookies. Oooo, I love it.
Nice addition. This might be the end but we'll see. So on our lovely picnic in the sun,
we're going to bring oranges, grapes, carrots, sandwiches, and drinks, yeah
pickles, yeah, dishes, yeah, cups, crackers, cookies, and spoons.
Spoons! Yeah, we might need something. Yes. You're good. I don't think I'm going to make it.
That was fast, too. Okay, okay, carrots..nope! Step one wrong. Oranges. There you go. You got it.
Oranges, grapes. I always want to go to pickles. Pickles is my go-to.
Because there so exciting. Oranges, grapes, drinks. No, carrots. Carrots. [talking over each other]
But it was a good try. It was a good try. Well, thank you.
And I practiced my S endings. That's right. So let's see, did we have any that had an
extra syllable? Sandwiches..sandwich, sandwich-es. Right? two syllables, three syllables.
Dish, dishes. mm-hmm. Anything else? Orange, yes that's two syllables; oranges, three syllables.
Maybe that was it. Dishes? Did we say that already? Yeah.
I think that may be it. And the other ones: grapes, grapes; one, one
Cracker, two syllables; crackers, two syllables.
Yes. Cookie, cookies. Mm-hmm.
All the words..all the endings..all the SOUNDS
except those sibilants (the s-kind of sounds) you don't add any syllables.
That's it. So remember that when you're talking about plural nouns and they have an S on the end.
Yep. All right. Play this game with your friends.
Let us know how it goes. Yes, how many things up can you get. We got to what, a dozen..less maybe.
Maybe less. I'm sure you can beat us.
We would have gone further if it weren't for me. I'm holding you back. I just wanna be free!
Anyway have fun guys, and we'll see you next time. See you.
Grapes, grapes; one, one. Crackers..sorry. Crackers, crackers. Same!