Can You Say These 40 English Words Correctly?

Everyone has doubts about pronunciation at one time or another. The question is how to build your overall confidence for daily communication. It helps to gain familiarity with words that have more than one acceptable pronunciation in English. And I'm not talking about British vs. American English. Hi. I'm Jennifer and I teach American English for confident, effective communication. Some words have multiple pronunciations in American English alone. In this video, we'll go over 40-plus words so you'll know which variations you can use and still be understood. Let's focus on patterns. First, there's a high degree of variation with the vowel sounds AH and AW. My pronunciation is mostly Standard American English, but I'm one of those speakers who usually doesn't make a distinction between the words CAUGHT and CAUGHT. I can, but I have to think about it. The first is a central vowel, with the central part of our tongue being high. The second is a back vowel, and the back part of our tongue is high and our jaw is low. See? I have to think about it. This is why you'll hear variations with these four words. I'm going to read them as I normally say them. Now I'll try to make the distinction. I really have to think about that. The same variation exists in similar words like HORRIFIED and HORRIFYING or HORRIFIED and HORRIFYING. For the same reasons, you'll hear variations in this word. I say MAJORITY, but some Americans might say MAJORITY. Next, let's talk about adjectives that end in ILE. There are variations. You can use schwa E plus a dark L, UL, or a long I sound and the dark L, ILE. With the dark L, keep the tip of your tongue near the tooth ridge, that hard bump behind your upper front teeth, okay? The central part goes down. The back part of your tongue is rather high. Let the air and sound pass the sides of your tongue. They end in the same position, as in FRAGILE, FRAGILE, HOSTILE, HOSTILE. Sometimes stress can shift in a word and it doesn't matter too much. Americans usually say ABSOLUTELY with stress on the third syllable, ABSOLUTELY. But it's possible to shift the stress to the first, probably for emphasis, as in ABSOLUTELY NOT. The word APROPOS can mean WITH REGARD TO. We can say APROPOS or APROPOS. Just don't say the S. JUBILEE refers to a special anniversary, and we can say JUBILEE or JUBILEE. Here's a fun word to say with stress at the end, as in MILLIONAIRE. Or at the beginning, MILLIONAIRE. Do you know any millionaires? Would you like to be a millionaire? CONVERSELY means in contrast. We can say CONVERSELY or CONVERSELY. Do you hear how the vowel sounds also change with the shift in stress? CON, CON, CONVERSELY, CON, CON, CONVERSELY. Other times, it's a consonant sound that changes. GRANDURE refers to something impressive, like beauty or power. I use a J sound, GRANDURE. But I've heard some Americans use a D sound, GRANDURE. LUXURY refers to those wonderful pleasures and comforts we'd all like to enjoy, at least on occasion. I say this word with a G sound, G, followed by a ZH sound, ZH, LUXURY. But I've also heard Americans use a K sound, K, followed by an SH sound, SH, as in LUXURY. The same variation exists in similar forms, like LUXURIOUS, LUXURIOUS. REGIME is a word I've heard with both vowel and consonant sound variations. I usually say REGIME, but I've also heard REGIME and with a J sound, REGIME. You've heard how REGIME can have a ZH or J sound, ZH or ZH, REGIME, REGIME. Other words also play around with consonant variations. With this word, I usually say VEHICLE, VEHICLE. But some Americans might insert an H sound and say VEHICLE. What's your dream vehicle? Would you like an SUV, a sports car, or an electric car? Let's talk about words like ELECTRIC. The letter E can be tricky. Is it short or long? In some words, it can be either. DEVELOP, DEVELOP. ELECTRIC, ELECTRIC. ELECTRICITY, ELECTRICITY. Note that I use a flap T in both variations. ELECTRICITY, ELECTRICITY. The same variation exists in similar words, like ELECTRICIAN, ELECTRICIAN. ELECTRIFY, ELECTRIFY. Can you hear the difference? Hey, if you're enjoying this practice with me, how about tapping that like button? The letter I can also have two pronunciations, short or long. IH or I. In some words, it can be either. IDENTIFY, IDENTIFY. And in both those variations, we can drop the T. Americans often do this in everyday English. IDENTIFY, IDENTIFY. Americans also drop the first T in this word. For the second T, we use a flap T, which sounds like a D. Listen. IDENTITY, IDENTITY. How about this word? IDEOLOGY, IDEOLOGY. And the same variation exists in similar words, like IDEOLOGICAL, IDEOLOGICAL. Here are some other words with vowel sound variations. NOSTALGIA, NOSTALGIA. And the adjective, NOSTALGIC, NOSTALGIC. Some speakers might change that first vowel sound to a long O, but I don't hear that variation too often. Here's a common word, SURE, SURE. And the adverb, SURELY, SURELY. Listen to this one. REGENERATIVE, REGENERATIVE. Can you hear the difference? In my other lesson on words with multiple pronunciations, I included this one. ENVELOPE, ENVELOPE. You'll see that same pattern in other words that use the prefix EN, as in ENCLAVE, ENCLAVE. Do you like berries? How about ACAI BERRIES? Most American English speakers say ACAI, but some may choose to use a long I sound, as in ACAI. As for this word, I only learned about it when I lived in Russia. This drink wasn't popular when I was growing up. Now Americans are learning about the health benefits of this drink, and we're learning to say its name. The dictionary shows three variations. KEFIR, KEFIR, KEFIR. I think my pronunciation has been influenced by Russian, so I tend to say KEFIR. Sometimes a whole syllable can disappear from a word. Have you ever noticed that? See if you can hear the difference in the number of syllables in these words. I'll say the longer variation first. AWFULLY, AWFULLY. BEVERAGE, BEVERAGE. FOLIAGE, FOLIAGE. LIBERAL, LIBERAL. MEMORY, MEMORY. MINIATURE, MINIATURE. OFFERING, OFFERING. And you'll hear variations with that O too. OFF, OFF. PORCELAIN, PORCELAIN. PREVALENT, PREVALENT. PROBABLY, PROBABLY. That second variation is very informal. SETTLER, SETTLER. As I mentioned in my other video on words with multiple pronunciations, sometimes our regional accents explain why we have variations. But sometimes other factors are at play, like formality or just personal preference. For more practice, I encourage you to use my AI prompt in your preferred AI tool, like ChatGPT. Here it is. You're an English language teacher, and I'm an English student. Help me create a text for pronunciation practice. Please write a short paragraph of 60 words at the B2 level of English using the following words. So then insert five or six words that you want to practice. You can then ask AI to read the text aloud for you. As a model, be sure to specify what variety of English you want to hear, like American English. Here's a text that ChatGPT came up with when I used that prompt. Many people have liberal ideas about holiday traditions, but others are hostile to any change. You can probably identify which group someone belongs to by how they react to new customs. Conversely, trying different activities can help families develop a shared celebration that feels meaningful to everyone, even when opinions don't always match. Use that prompt to come up with your own text. If you'd like more interaction and feedback, consider joining my English with Jennifer community on Patreon, where we practice all skills for confident, effective communication. The link is in the video description. That's all for now. Please remember to like, subscribe, and turn on those notifications. Thanks for watching and happy studies!