-S and -Ed Endings Practice

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From the course by University of California, Irvine

Tricky American English Pronunciation

226 ratings

University of California, Irvine

Tricky American English Pronunciation

226 ratings

In this course, you’ll practice the sounds of American English that might sometimes be confusing. You'll practice both consonant and vowel sounds. You’ll also learn about the things that give English its special “music,” such as how to stress the right syllable in a word, how to make your voice go up and down in a natural-sounding melody, and how to naturally connect sounds and words. Learning these things will help you speak more clearly and make sure that others can understand what you're saying. This course is useful for English language learners who want to improve pronunciation of American English for better communication. Note that access to all of the lectures and handouts are free to anyone, but the graded assignments and quizzes are only available in the paid version of the course. You will need to submit recordings of your own pronunciation for graded assignments.

From the lesson

Other Tricky Things

In this final week of the course, you'll look at a few more tricky points in American English pronunciation. First, you’ll learn about the different ways to pronounce the –s and –ed word endings, which have important grammatical meanings, and you’ll learn when to use each kind of pronunciation. Next, you’ll practice pronouncing numbers like 14 and 40, 15 and 50, 16 and 60 that can cause misunderstandings. You’ll also learn about the pronunciation of the words “can” and “can’t” –the difference between them might surprise you. Finally, you’ll practice some sound changes that happen when words come together in common spoken expressions like "gonna" for "going to," "wanna" for "want to," and "shoulda" for "should have."

-S and -Ed Endings7:33

-S and -Ed Endings Practice5:24

Meet the Instructors

Tamy Chapman
Instructor, International Programs
University of California Irvine Division of Continuing Education
Marla Yoshida
Academic Coordinator
International Programs
Brad Gilpin

Practice activity, pronunciation of word endings -s and -ed.

Let's practice the pronunciation of some words with -s or -ed endings.

You remember that each one of these can be pronounced in three different ways.

S can be [SOUND] in boxes.

[SOUND] as in cats.

Or [SOUND] as in dogs.

-ed can be [SOUND] as in needed.

[SOUND] as in missed.

And [SOUND] as in played.

First, let's practice the -s ending.

I'll say a word, and you decide how its ending should be pronounced.

Then practice saying the word.

The first word is keep, keep.

Yes, the ending sounds like / s /.

Keeps, keeps.

The next word is build, build.

Yes, the ending sounds like /z/, builds, builds.

The next word is dance, dance.

That's right, the ending sounds like /əz/, dances, dances.

The next word is egg, egg.

Yes, the ending sound like /z/, eggs, eggs.

Next, let's practice the /əd/ ending.

I'll say a word, and you decide how its ending should be pronounced.

Then practice saying the word.

The first word is end, end.

Yes, the ending sounds like /əd/, ended, ended.

The next word is judge, judge.

That's right, the ending sound like /d/.

Judged, judged.

The next word is walk, walk.

Yes, the ending sounds like /t/.

Walked, walked.

The next word is enjoy, enjoy.

Yes, the ending sounds like /d/.

Enjoyed, enjoyed.

Now, let's practice reading a story that has lots of -s and -ed endings.

You'll have a chance to repeat each part.

Mary is a college student.

She knows that she needs to find a job after she graduates,

But she can't decide what she wants to do.

She's always enjoyed singing.

But her parents say that music isn't a practical career.

She's studied math for many years.

And her teachers have remarked that she's very talented.

So that's a possibility.

When she was a child,

she enjoyed pretending to be a teacher with her friends.

As she remembered how much fun she'd had when she played school,

She made a decision.

She decided to become a math teacher and use music in her lessons.

Thank you for practicing with us.

Keep practicing the pronunciation of these word endings, so

that they're easy to say and easy for listeners to understand.

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