S rules

Question 1

RULES of American English:
Pronunciation of -S Endings

Answer 1

• Pronunciation Issue: Non-native speakers may not pronounce final consonants clearly, especially the “s” sound at the end of words.
  
  • ”S” Sound Variation: The pronunciation of the “s” sound at the end of words varies depending on the preceding sound.
  • Rule for “S” Sound: If the sound before the “s” ending is voiceless (p, t, k, f, or voiceless th), the “s” ending is pronounced as an “s” sound.
  • Voiced Sound Rule: If the sound before the “-s” ending is voiced, the “-s” ending is pronounced as a “z” sound.
  • Unvoiced Sound Rule: If the sound before the “-s” ending is a “s,” “z,” “sh,” “ch,” “zh,” or “j”, the “-s” ending is pronounced as the suffix “ez”, and this suffix becomes a separate syllable.

Question 2

“Knees” and “niece”: A pronunciation comparison

https://youtu.be/hde9Sg75Nn4

Answer 2

knees: /niz/
niece: /nis/

• The words “knees” and “niece” are not homophones.
  • The letter ‘K’ in the ‘KN’ combination is always silent at the beginning of words.
  • The ‘EE’ and ‘IE’ combinations are both digraphs because they both represent just one sound.
  • The ‘EE’ digraph typically represents the tense /i/ sound, while the ‘IE’ digraph typically represents the same tense /i/ sound.
  • The letter ’S’ in “knees” makes a plural noun and is always pronounced as the voiced /z/ sound.
  • The letter ‘C’ in “niece” occurs before the letter ‘E’ and is always pronounced as /s/.
  • The letter ‘E’ at the end of “niece” is typically silent.

In knees, the letter ‘S’ makes a plural noun. When the ‘-S’ ending follows a vowel, it’s always pronounced as the voiced /z/ sound: days, boys, eyes.

In niece, the letter ‘C’ occurs before the letter ‘E’. By the book, in this position, ‘C’ is always pronounced as /s/: cent, cell, place.

*	The words “knees” and “niece” are not homophones because they differ by their final consonants: the voiced /z/ at the end of “knees,” and the voiceless /s/ at the end of “niece.”

Question 3

How Americans pronounce “internet,” “plenty,” “dentist,” and other words with ‘NT’

https://soundsamerican.net/article/how_americans_pronounce_internet_plenty_dentist_and_other_words_with_nt

Answer 3

People simplify their pronunciation in casual speech, making it hard to understand native speakers when they talk fast. Even common words can sound different.

By the way, our audio tracks are recorded in advance and in large batches, so our speaker can’t intentionally emphasize or reduce any pronunciation patterns. This way, example words sound as natural as possible. Here are the answers:

plenty
mental
painter
fantasy

Listen carefully to the words above. You’ll notice that the ’T’s aren’t pronounced. This is a pattern! Each word has the ‘NT’ letter combination followed by an unstressed syllable.

Americans often simplify words with ‘NT’ by dropping the ’T’ because it’s easier to pronounce without it. However, there’s a catch: this only works for American pronunciation. Here are the conditions:

• The syllable ending with ‘NT’ should be stressed.
• There should be an unstressed syllable after it.
• The ’T’ is dropped only when the stress comes right before it.

For example, ‘inter·net’ is pronounced /ˈɪn·ɚˌnɛt/ nowadays.

Note that this is a conversational way of speaking, and both pronunciations are correct. The latter sounds more American.

Practice pronouncing the top 30 most common words with the ‘NT’ combination. Click on a word, listen to how it’s pronounced, and repeat after the speaker.

wanted
pointed
interested
gentlemen
painted
center
hunted
planted
interview
plenty
rented
winter
advantage
interrupt
hunter
twenty
internet
county
identity
international
mental
fantasy
interfere
entertain
counter
painter
accidentally
dentist
importantly
documentary

Question 4

Consonant sound /θ/ (voiceless ‘th’) as in “think”

https://soundsamerican.net/article/consonant_sound_voiceless_th_as_in_think

Answer 4

“th” sounds as /θ/ at the beginning or at the end of the stem of content words. For example, “theater,” or “health.”
“th” sounds as /ð/ at the beginning of function words. For example, “this.” Or between vowels in content words, for example, “breathe.”

[Pronunciation exercise]
* birth
* both
* cloth
* death
* depth
* earth
* faith
* fifth
* forth
* math
* moth
* mouth
* ninth
* north
* teeth

[Pronunciation exercise]
* tenth
* thank
* theft
* theme
* thick
* thief
* thin
* thing
* think
* third
* thorn
* three
* threw
* throw

Question 5

American consonant sound /ð/, as in the word “this.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZb_EWVCUoE

Answer 5

“th” sounds as /θ/ at the beginning or at the end of the stem of content words. For example, “theater,” or “health.”
“th” sounds as /ð/ at the beginning of function words. For example, “this.” Or between vowels in content words, for example, “breathe.”

You can also hear this sound in words like “than”, “there”, “other” or “mother.”
We’ll be using a special phonetic symbol - /ð/ - for this sound.

This sound is the voiced counterpart of the voiceless /θ/. This means that it’s made the same way, but with adding a voice.

• than
• that
• the
• their
• them
• then
• there
• these
• they
• this
• those
• though
• thus
• another
• bathe
• bother
• breathe
• brother
• either
• father
• further
• gather
• leather
• mother
• northern
• other
• rather
• smooth
• together
• weather

most of them are function words; and function words are the most frequently used ones in American English. So the consonant sound /ð/ is present in practically every sentence.