Wednesday, June 8, 2011

ESL Pronunciation Tip: The Three Sounds of the Suffix -ED


I decided it was time to post a series of ESL teaching tips. My next several blog posts will contain teaching tips for reading, spelling, and pronunciation. The following tip is a pronunciation tip for the three sounds of the suffix -ed. This rule may be familiar to the experienced ESL teacher, but it's an interesting rule nonetheless that never fails to turn on a light bulb in the heads of ESL students.

The suffix -ed has three sounds: /t/, /d/, /id/. The sound of the consonant that immediately precedes -ed determines the correct pronunciation of the suffix -ed.

-ed = /t/
• Following the voiceless sounds f, k, p, s, x, ch, th, and sh, the suffix -ed has the sound of voiceless t, /t/. 
     (Examples: huffed, kicked, mapped, dressed, mixed, matched, birthed, wished)

-ed = /d/
• Following the voiced sounds b, g, l, m, n, r, v, z, and th, the suffix -ed has the sound of voiced d, /d/.
(Examples: sobbed, hugged, pulled, filmed, fanned, starred, loved, buzzed, bathed)

-ed = /id/ 
• The suffix -ed cannot use the sound of t and d when it follows a word ending in t or d, so when it does, the sound of -ed is /id/.
(Examples: tested, landed, trusted, tended, lifted, handed)

(Click here to see also my post on the pronunciation of plurals.)

(For more information about how to teach students to recognize voiced and voiceless sounds, click here.) 

For additional ESL teaching tips:
Click here to read about rising and falling intonation in questions.
Click here to read about syllable stress and the schwa.
Click here to read about adding the suffixes -ing, -ed, -er, and -est.
Click here to read about teaching common suffixes. 
Click here to read about teaching common prefixes. 
Click here to read about decoding multi-syllabic words. 
Click here to read about spelling words that end in s, f, and z.
Click here to read about other sounds for c and g.

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