Speaking practice

Practice 1 (/ɑː/ and /ɔː/)

1. I thought I'd brought enough money with me.

2. My daughter's caught a bad cold.

3. I bought it althought it was very expensive.
4. We've been through some tough times.
5. I didn't laugh! It was a cought.

Practice 2 (linking)

1. He keeps arguing with the referee.   c

2. He's still asleep.                          f

3. I can't finish this steak.                a

4. This chicken's past its sell-by date.   b

5. The rubbish is beginning to smell.    d

6. It's probably in Wikipedia.              e

a. Take_it_out

b. Throw_it_away

c. Send him_off

d. Take_it_away

e. Look_it_up

f. Wake him_up

Practice 3 (/ɔː/, /ɜ:/ and /ə/)

A:

/ɔː/ 1. audience   stalls   arena

/ɜ:/ 2. interval   circle   curtain

/ə/ 3. score   spectator   performance

B:

 Words with the same spelling but different pronunciations

A few words in English are spelled exactly the same but pronounced differently, and have different meanings, e.g. bow /baʊ/ = to put your head down, e.g. at the end of a concert or play when people are clapping, but bow /bəʊ/ = a weapon that you use to shoot an arrow.

1. We went to live concert last weekend.

2. We live next to the concert hall.

3. We sat in the front row.

4. After the concert we had a row.