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English Book Pronunciation for Hotels and Resorts in the Tropics

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Below is a list of the topics that are covered in this site. Just click on the link and go to that page. Each page will have examples of correct pronunciation of the topic chosen.




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Sound Changes with Consonants

The sounds of some words change, depending on the combination of letters used to form the word. This page examines the difference in pronunciation of can and can't.

Can and Can't In an affirmative 'can', the can is pronounced as 'kn'. The modal verb 'can' in the sentence is unstressed; the main verb is stressed.

	Listen to these sound changes. The first phrase is with proper enunciation, the second phrase is with the sound changes. Then the word is used in a sentence.

	'We can swim' becomes we kn swim	We can swim in the lake.
	'I can cook' becomes I kn cook.	I can cook pizza.
	'She can read' becomes she kn read	She can read Italian and Russian.
	'They can ride' becomes they kn ride.	They can ride on the roller coaster.

In the negative, both the modal (can't) and the main verb are stressed. However the 't' in can't is dropped and replaced with a glottal stop if the next sound is a consonant.

	Listen to these sound changes. The first sentence is with can, the second with can't. Note that both the modal and main verbs are stressed in the negative sentence.

	'We can't go' becomes We KAN' GO.	We can go to the movies. We can't go to the movies.
	'Larry can't speak' becomes Larry KAN' SPEAK.	Larry can speak French. Larry can't speak French.
	'She can't do it' becomes She KAN' DO it	She can do it. She can't do it.
	'Some people can't sing' becomes Some people KAN' SING	Some people can sing. Some people can't sing.

If the next sound after 'can't' is a vowel, a flap occurs as in 'She can't ignore it'. (... can't tig-nore...)

	Listen to these sound changes. The first phrase is with proper enunciation, the second phrase is with the sound changes. Then the word is used in a sentence.

	'can't attend' becomes can't attend. (... cand da-ttend)
	We can't attend the concert.
	'can't invite' becomes can't invite (... cand din-vite...)
	Wally can't invite her to the party.
	'can't answer' becomes can't answer (.. .cand dan-swer)
	He can't answer the question.
	'can't understand' becomes can't understand (... cand dun-der-stand.. )
	I can't understand what you are saying.

Other Consonant Sound Change Pages

Page 1 The flap

Page 2 The Glottal Stop

Page 4 Negative Contractions

Page 5 The phrase 'What are you..."

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