What You Should Have Said (part 3)

COMMONLY MISPRONOUNCED WORDS

Antarctic - pronunciation could be either
ant-ˈärk-tik listen
or
ant-ˈär-tik listen


athlete - it's 'ath-leet' not 'ath-let' nor 'athee-leet'. This word is composed of two syllables only, not three.
listen


duct tape - the word 'duct' is not silent 't' so it shouldn't sound as  'duCK' tape. 
listen


February - the second 'r' is silent, so it's 'fe-byu-wa-ri' not 'fe-bru-wa-ri'.
listen


herb - silent 'h'. So it's pronounced as 'erb' not 'herb'.
listen


often - spelling shouldn't always affect the pronunciation. This word is not pronounced with a 't' so it's 'of-en' not 'of-Ten'
listen


whole - it's not 'hool', it's 'howl'
listen


scion - 'say-yun' not 'say-yon'
listen


beau - again, don't be confused with the spelling, it's pronounced as 'bow' not 'biew'
listen


Potassium - the second syllable is not pronounced with an 'sh'. It's pronounced as 'po-ta-see-yum' not 'po-ta-shum'. The same principle for the word 'Calcium'; it's not 'cal-shum', it's 'cal'see-yum'.
listen


news - most people pronounced it with a 'y'... there isn't one in it right? The correct pronunciation for this is 'nuz' and not 'nyuz'
listen 


sauce - it's not 'sows' it's 'sos'... ay sows!
listen


pizza - it's 'peet-sa' not 'pee-cha'
listen


flammable - the root word is 'flame' but that doesn't mean we should pronounce the first syllable of  'flammable' like that. It's 'fla-ma-bul'.
listen


exhaust - silent 'h'. - 'ig-zost'
listen


produce - 'pro-doos' not 'pro'joos'
listen


secretary - pronounce all vowels in short 'e' sound - 'se-kre-te-ri'
listen




length - there's no 'k' right? But it's proper to pronounce it with one - 'lengkth'
listen


Tuesday - pronounce the 't' and don't substitute it with a 'ch'. It's 'toos-dey' not 'choos-dey'
listen


expectant - not all words beginning with 'ex' should sound as 'egz'. This word must be pronounced as 'ik-spek-tunt' not 'egz-pek-tunt'
listen


plaid - it's 'plad' not 'pleyd'
listen


bury - let's bury the pronunciation 'bu-ree'. The first syllable must be pronounce as 'ber' as in the animal 'bear'.
listen 


menu - another pronunciation that has to be buried is this - 'me-noo' or 'mey-nyu'. The correct way to say it is 'men-nyu'
listen


of - 'ov' not 'of'
listen


rise - 'rayz' not 'rays'
listen


jeopardy - although there are other vowels on this word, they shouldn't be pronounced. It's not 'jeyo-par-dee' it's 'je-per-dee'
listen


radiant - this word must be pronounced with 3 syllables - 'rey-di-yant' and not with 2 syllables - 'rey-dyant'
listen


oven - the 'o' in this word is not a long 'o', so it's not 'ow-ven'. It's 'o-ven'.
listen


any - it's not long 'a', so don't say 'ey-nee', say 'e-nee'.
listen


southern - not because the root word 'south' is pronounced as 'sawth', we are going to apply it with the word 'southern'. This word should be pronounced as 'sa-thern'
listen


hamburger - it's not 'ham-bur-ger', it should be pronounced as 'hem-ber-ger'.
listen


camera - although there are 3 syllables, it shouldn't be pronounced like that. It's not 'ka-me-ra', it's 'kam-ra'.
listen


Arkansas - silent 's'. So it's 'ar-kan-sa' not 'ar-kan-sas'
listen


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Part 1
http://englishrefresher.blogspot.com/2011/06/so-this-is-how-its-pronounced-part-1.html

Part 2 
http://englishrefresher.blogspot.com/2011/11/what-you-should-have-said-part-2.html

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Third Conditional

THIRD CONDITIONAL - Without possibility. Meaning, we are talking about impossible situations because they are in the past and we cannot change what has happened.


These kinds of sentences consist of an 'IF' clause (e.g. If I had gone there...) and the main clause (e.g. he would have seen me).


Here are other examples:
If I had studied harder, I would have got better grades.
If I had had time, I would have gone to the mall with him. 
If we had caught the earlier bus, we would have got there on time.


Notice that the main clause contains 'would', 'could' or 'might.


If I had seen him at the meeting, I would have asked him. (But he wasn't there so I didn't.)
If I had seen him at the meeting, I could have asked him. (But he wasn't there so it wasn't possible.)
If I had seen him at the meeting, I might have asked him. (But I'm not sure. Perhaps if the opportunity had arisen.)




COMMON MISTAKES


1. If I would have known about the practice, I would have gone to it.
Although commonly used in American English, this phrase is grammatically INCORRECT.


Why?
The correct form should be like this:
If + had + past participle, would + have + past participle


If I had known about the practice, I would have gone to it. 
This is CORRECT




2. If I would have asked them, they would have helped me. 
INCORRECT


Why?
In the if-clause we use the past perfect (had + past participle).


If I had asked them, they would have helped me
CORRECT




3. If you had spoken to my friend, she would tell you where I was.
INCORRECT


Why?
The main clause has must be like this:
would + have + past participle.


If you had spoken to my friend, she would have told you where I was.
CORRECT

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Long Words

We normally think that long words are only used for medical and/or scientific terms. That's what I used to think, too!
Here are some looooong words that we could also use in our daily conversation... that is if we can remember them and pronounce them properly!


Sesquipedalian: a word for a person who uses long words.

Crytoscopophilia: The urge to look through peoples windows as you pass by their houses


Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia: The fear of long words


Batrachophagous: A person who eats frogs.


Blandiloquence: A flattery or complimentary speech. 




Brachydactylous: Having short and blunt fingers. 


Catapedamania: Having an obsession with jumping from high places.


Deorsumversion: Turning downwards.


Dolichocephalic: Long-headed.



Defenestrate - to throw out of a window.


Discombobulate - To upset or confuse, to disconcert

Ellogofusciouhipoppokunurious: Good.


Electrodynamometer: An instrument for measuring electric current.


Electroencephalogram: A graphical record of electrical activity of the brain. 


Floccinaucinihilipilification: Setting at little or no value.


Fantasticalness: The quality of being fantastic. 


Fibriophobia: Having fear of fever.


Pulchritudinous: Very beautiful


Haussmannize: To open out or to rebuild.


Honorificabilitudinity: Honorableness.


Ichthyophagous: Fish-eating.


Incomprehensibleness: Impossible to know or fathom.


Juglandaceous: Liking or pertaining to walnuts. 


Macrocephalous: Having a large head. 


Maschalephidrosis: Massive sweating of the armpits. 


Nigroglobulate: The act of excluding someone by a negative vote or veto.


Orphanotrophism: Care and support of orphans.

Podobromhydrosis: Smelly feet.


Quomodocunquize: Making money in any possible way. 


Quinquagenarian: Person between the ages of 50 and 59. 


Quasquicentennial: One hundred twenty-fifth anniversary.


Rhinotillexomania: Compulsive nose picking. 


Raillery: Good-humored banter or teasing


Scurryfunge: a hasty tidying of your house between the time you see a neighbour and the time they knock.


Spectroheliokinematograph: Camera for taking pictures of the sun. 


Umbraculiform: Shaped like an umbrella. 

Unconsentaneous: Not in agreement. 


Whereinsoever: In whatsoever respect or place. 


Xenodocheionology: Love of hotels. 


Zalambdodont: Having molar teeth with V-shaped ridges. 


Pseudoantidisestablishmentarianism: The false support of the idea that a government should not support the church. 


Honorificabilitudinitatibus: The state being able to achieve honors.








Trivia:

'Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu' is the longest word in the English language, which is the name of a place.

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What You Should Have Said (part 2)

COMMONLY MISPRONOUNCED WORDS

athlete - 'ath-leet' not 'ath-let'
listen


larvae - 'lar-vee' not 'lar-vey'
listen


mispronunciation - 'mis-pro-NUN-si-yey-shen' not 'mis-pro-NAWN-si-yey-shen'
listen


espresso - there's no 'x' on espresso, so it's not 'ex-pre-so'
listen


escape - be careful not to be confused with the sequence of letters. Just like word 'espresso' there's no 'x' with the word 'escape'
listen


herb - silent 'h'
listen


miniature - should be pronounced as 'mi-ni-a-chur' not 'mi-ni-yey-chur'
listen


prescription - it's 'pre' not 'per'
listen


suite - sounds like 'sweet'
listen


suit - pronounced as 'sut'
listen
definition: an action or process in a court for the recovery of a right or claim


women - the 'o' is pronounced much differently than the 'o' sound in the singular form, woman. The 'o' is pronounced 'i' as in the word 'in'.  The 'e' is also pronounced like an 'i'.
listen

debt - silent 'b'
listen


receipt - silent 'p'
listen


Reuters - 'eu' is pronounced in Dutch as 'oy', so it's not pronounced as 're-yu-ters', it should be 'roy-ters' 
listen 


comrade - should be pronounced as 'kom-rad' not 'kom-reyd'
listen
definition: an intimate friend or associate


species - 'spi-shiz' not 'spi-siz'
listen


laundromat - the first syllable should be pronounced as 'lon' not 'lawn'.
listen


sergeant - the first syllable 'ser' must be pronounced as 'sar' not 'ser'. 
listen


condolence - the common mistake for this word is the proper accent. The accentuated syllable should be the second, so it should sound 'kon-DOW-lens' not 'KON-do-lens'
listen








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Part 1
http://englishrefresher.blogspot.com/2011/06/so-this-is-how-its-pronounced-part-1.html


Part 3
http://englishrefresher.blogspot.com/2011/11/what-you-should-have-said-part-3.html

Read more >>