Hey there! Do you feel you are very fluent in spoken English or very comfortable while
in speaking in English but are not sure when it comes to writing or reading something in
English, especially,if the words contain the letter E in them?
Hi, my name is Emmelda and today we will explore how to use the letter E in various English
words. Before we get started on this, we have to explore the sounds the E makes. Notice
my name on board; Emmelda. Some people call me imilda. I am not Im, I am Emmelda. Some
people Call me em-ilda. I am not…I am not Imilda, I am Emmelda. So the first sound we
have is, the sound of ae. Echo ae-cho. Engine, it’s ae and not in-gin. it’s not ingine.
You are not aningineer but you are an engineer, engine. Bed,led, shed. So we have echo, engine,
bed or shed. So, its takes the ae sound. Usually, if you have the letter E in the beginning
of the word,it will take the ae sound. However, if you have E at the middle, right in the
in the middle of word, it will take the ae sound provided, it is the only vowel and it
comes right in between. For example if you use the word…er..sorry! Disposed. Here it’s
not dispo-zed, or dispo-sed it is disposed. However, here it is led, led. Okay?So ae takes…
sorry E takes the ae sound either if it is right in the beginning of the word or the
middle of the word but provided it is the only vowel in the word. Echo, engine, etcetera,
eggs. So the ae sound is clear, now let’s move on to the EE sound. This is probably
the sound why the letter E was actually invented. Its ee..like ee..yeah it is ee sound… it’s
seed, read, re-cei-ve. It is seed, read, receive. But do you notice something special about
this? The Ee actually comes if it has another vowel; EE EA EI. So, more often than not if
you have two vowels and one of them is E, usually, it will take the ee sound.Its ee.
Like “ee I don’t like this but you need to like it”. Its EE sound. A lot of Europeans
mispronounce this words as Mey. It’s not Mey. Yes the usage of the word‘me’ or
Mey in European language means pretty much the same. “Give it to me!” You know that’s
how the usage is, but its not mey it's me… “give it to me!” It’s not “give it
tomey!”okay it’s me. So let’s start again, seed, read receive or me or we or she,
he; so it has the EE sound.He, she, we me are few exceptions where there is no extra
vowel. It’s just one E. Me! The next sound is the most confusing sound but it is the
aw sound. Notice my mouth, aw. Wondering how do we associate E with aw? Yeah, quiet confusing
but let’s get there. Its Entre, its on-tray, ohn-tray and not entry. It’s not entry. It’s entre.
Entre is the part of meal through which you start having your meal. It’s at the beginning.
The British call it as astarter and Americans call this as an appetizer. Basically, it will
increase your appetite, you want to eat more. Entre! Entry is something different. It’s
a passage or doorway through which you enter. For example, you say “I have to give an
entrance exam or this is how you need to enter the room.” Entry is wrong; Entre aw awn-tray
entre. The next word is Envelop. Yes, its Envelope and not in-velop or aen-velop.When
I was a small child I used to read this word as aen-velop. wrong. Just because it is right
in the beginning, doesn’t mean it’s ‘ae’. It is still considered as ohn-velop. “Give
me the envelop!” The next word is entrepreneur. Awn tray pre nyor, entrepreneur. It’s a
fancy word for people who own/ who have their own business. Entrepreneur. An entrepreneur
had an entre` at a French restaurant. Entrepreneur, entre, envelop. Moving on to the last but
not the least sound is the uh or actually the ‘no’ sound. Basically you don’t
hear the letter E or anything in the word. For example, Simple, people! do you really
hear the alphabet E in this?It’s not Simpl-ey or notpossibl-ey. It’s not possibley. Yes
that’s the right word it’s not ‘possibley’ but possible.Europeans tend to pronounce this
word as ‘possibley’ as they have this word ‘possibley’ but it’s possible in
English. Possible simple people. It is possible for simple people to thrive and live better.
Live! Again you don’t hear the e sound, you hear only this portion. Live! Let’s
look let’s look at this word farmer. Do you hear the E? Not really! Fah-muh. Its far-muh, farmer.
Govern:Gov-urn. Govern! Possible, simple, live, famer, govern. So these are words where
E is actually consumed by other words. You don’t really pronounce them. So this brings
us to the end of the lesson. Let me do a quick recap. E take four sound Ae-, ee, aw, or uh
or no sound. If E comes in the beginning of the word it takes the ae sound or if comes
in the middle of word and but no other vowel, it still takes the ae sound. I hope you really
enjoyed learning this lesson with me. Keep practising as this will be very confusing
in the beginning. It happens to everyone. But as you practice or if you are able to
spell or read the E correctly you will get your pronunciation and accent straight. But
the key is you need to practice. Read or probably watch some English videos. Until I come with
my next video on some really cool lesson, keep staying healthy and have fun learning
English with us. See you! bu-bye!