Speak Confident English The Schwa Sound
Speak Confident English The Schwa Sound teaches the most common vowel in English through two rules and eight uses, on a site of weekly lessons for English fluency. The first rule covers the schwa in unstressed syllables, with five patterns; the second covers function words and reductions, with three more. A video lesson runs alongside, and a closing sentence puts them together.
100% Free (unlimited): Open to anyone with no account and no payment. The video lesson, the two rules with their eight uses, the practice items with their answers and the closing challenge sentence are all on the page.
How It Helps Your Business English
Rule one is the schwa in unstressed syllables, shown in five patterns: words ending in a, words beginning with a, the middle of longer words, the endings -ain, -on and -an, and unstressed noun suffixes such as -tion, -ity and -ment. Rule two is the schwa in function words, in one-syllable words such as to, for and as, and in reductions with to and of.
Take one pattern at a time and say each example aloud with the IPA beside it, then do the short practice set and check your answers before moving on. The noun-suffix list is the one worth returning to, because it covers endings you already use every day. Finish with the challenge sentence and mark every schwa you can find in it.
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