Solving the “ough” pronunciation puzzle in English
Learning English pronunciation can be somewhat daunting, but I’m here to help you grow...
I have been teaching the English language sounds for a number of years, and I’m still in awe of how beautifully crazy it is that there is no cordial relationship between the letters words have and the sounds contained therein.
I have always told my students that teaching English sounds with rules will never suffice and there are lots of exceptions that might render the rules almost useless. Therefore, it is best to learn these sounds in groups or by prescribing some generalizations based on what an English teacher, like me, has observed for almost a decade.
Today, I’m going to solve a puzzle and show you that indeed, the letters in two words do not necessarily mean that the sounds in them there will be the same.Look at the words below:
through, bough, dough, rough, tough, thorough, cough, plough, etc.
The pronunciation in these words differs in an amazing way.
Here is the transcription of them.
through /θruː/, bough /baʊ/, dough /dəʊ/, rough /rʌf/, tough /tʌf/, thorough /ˈθʌrə/, cough /kɒf/, plough /plaʊ/.
Can you pronounce them based on the phonetic transcriptions provided above? Amazing, right? Yeah, it is!
Can you find a word or two that have “ough” but are pronounced differently?
Leave a response in the comment section below.
With love and everything English,
Francis