Saturday 10 October 2009

Pronunciation of regular past simple verbs /id/, /d/ and /t/ (Elementary +) Fun activity!

Most learners of English have problems pronouncing past tenses correctly. Fortunately, there are only three different ways of pronouncing the ending of regular verbs, which can be expressed by the phonetic symbols of /id/, /d/ and /t/.

Even more fortunately is that of the three, the sound of /id/ is the most obvious, and also the easiest to identify. The past simple of regular verbs ending with the sound of /d/ or /t/ is pronounced with the ending of /id/. Please note that it's the sound and not the letter which you have to pay attention to. For example, depend /dɪˈpend/ --> depended /dɪˈpendid/, want /wɒnt/ --> wanted /'wɒntid/.

If in doubt of the ending sound, consult the dictionary.

To identify when to pronounce the past with a /d/ or a /t/ is somewhat trickier. The rule is that if the ending sound is voiced, it is pronounced with a /d/ and if it is voiceless, it is pronounced with a /t/.

All vowels are voiced, so you 'only' have to worry about the consonants. When you make a voiced sound, your throat vibrates whereas when you make a voiceless sound, it is just air coming out of your mouth. You can hear the difference by trying this test: cover your ears and say 'save' /seɪv/ and 'cough' /kɒf/. You will find that you can feel a vibration at the end of 'save' and not 'cough', which means 'saved' will be pronounced /seɪvd/, while 'cough' will be pronounced /kɒft/.

Try practising the pronunciation of some words using the method mentioned above before attempting this game. The idea is to drag-and-drop each item in the correct bin as fast as you can. If your answer is wrong, you won't be allowed to put the word in that bin, and you'll have to try again.

Have fun!

Note to teachers: you are welcome to use any of the activities found here in this blog. You can have the students do them in the computer lab, or set them as homework and asking them to state their scores in the comments section. If you do the latter, please ask your students to give some information which will allow you to identify them. They don't have to give their surname if they don't want to, but information like their first name, the name of the school, the class, and the teacher's name are all useful identifiers, e.g. Jesús V./4ºA/Rincón/Chiew.

69 comments:

  1. thanks chiew,i have left the badge in my blog. 

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  2. <span style="color: #808080;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Chew I have got a 51 puntuecion is very nice</span></span>

    Thanks for you copereicion (R) :-D Laughing

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  3. <span>hello chiew !</span> :-[
    How are you ? I find and you ?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Isaac Dimas Alejandro14 January 2010 at 12:43

    My score is 150 or 200 i donT remember xD LOL

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  5. <span>Our score was
    200</span>

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  6. pauLa anD SamueL14 January 2010 at 12:53

        WE SCORE IS 183...
    II LOOOVE CHIEW !

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  7. <span>My score is 300. See you ;) </span>

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  8. <span>My score is 300. See you ;) Nos vemos </span>

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  9. <span>My score is 220. I know that I´m the best. ;) 8-) </span>

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  10. Keep on practising, you two: try to get the timing down.

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  11. my escore is 205.I am the best. :-D :)

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  12. jose maria harven20 January 2010 at 22:10

    <span>my score is 240</span>

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  13. Ok, don't forget that with the dustbin game, the score is the time you take to finish the activity correctly, meaning that the lower your score the better you are. I hope that with this game, your pronunciation will improve! 8-)

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  14. <span>Mi puntuación es de 250 guay ... :-D </span>

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  15. MY SCORE IS 223
    :'(

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  16. alba dominguez 2ª A IES.LOS TARAHALES26 January 2010 at 10:39

    <span>MY SCORE IS 280 </span> :-D

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  17. alba 2ª A IES.LOS TARAHALES26 January 2010 at 10:41

    <span>MY SCORE IS 280</span> :-D

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  18. I hope it has been of use to you, Alba. It's a pity only you have tried it.

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  19. Elenita=)2ºA IES Los Tarahales.28 January 2010 at 19:06

    <span>Voy Mejorando k guay Chiew... :-D 210 de antes 250.</span>

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  20. Elenita=)2ºA IES Los Tarahales.28 January 2010 at 19:09

    <span>Voy mejorando Chiew que guay :-D </span>

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  21. I'm happy to hear that, Elena. :) :-D :)

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  22. I did 132... :)

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  23. Well done, but I sure would have liked to know who you are and where you are from! *DONT_KNOW*

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  24. <span>este es mas aburrido tio ¬¬
    </span>

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  25. my score is 245 :$

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  26. <span>ajjaajaj esta chachi dise la lauura ih (L)
    </span>

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  27. <span>my score its 236 an d the time its 236
    </span>

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  28. yleeniia! 2º B8 April 2010 at 12:45

    <span>My score is 265
    </span>

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  29. My score is 208 ;)

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  30. Sariiss 2ºB!!8 April 2010 at 12:47

    <span>mysocre is 318 hahahahaha</span> :-P

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  31. josé daniel 4º.A29 April 2010 at 13:37

    <span>my time is 173.
    </span>

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  32. ELIZABETH PADRÓN 4º A29 April 2010 at 13:39

    MY SCORE WAS 300

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  33. David 4ºA Tarahales29 April 2010 at 13:39

    <span>My score is 287. Game over ooooooooh</span> :'(

    ReplyDelete
  34. Attay Socas 4ºA29 April 2010 at 13:40

    <span>My score was 316
    </span>

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  35. Coraima 4ºA IES lOS Tarahales29 April 2010 at 13:40

    <span>my score is 261..</span> :-D

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  36. Anjor IES Los Tarahales !! 4ºA29 April 2010 at 13:40

    <span>Our score is 171</span> =-X !!

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  37. Sulema Los Tarahales 4ºA29 April 2010 at 13:45

    <span>My score was 331
    </span>

    ReplyDelete
  38. Ana and Dacil 4ºA IES Los Tarahales29 April 2010 at 13:45

    <span>Our score was 331.
    </span>

    ReplyDelete
  39. Kirilo el creisi18 May 2010 at 11:40

    <span>My puntuation is 250 ( soy el mas creisi del mundoooo )
    </span>

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  40. Kirilo el creisi18 May 2010 at 11:42

    <span>My puntuation is 161 ( Soy el mas creisi del mundo creisie ^^ )
    </span>

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  41. <span>my score is 89.. :D!
    </span>

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  42. My score is 182 :'( ..

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  43. My time was 187 !! muajjajajajaja

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  44. <span>My score is 190 !!
    </span>

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  45. Well done, you all!

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  46. Hey - I am certainly happy to discover this. cool job!

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  47. <span style="color: #808080;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Chew I have got a 51 puntuecion is very nice</span></span>

    Thanks for you copereicion (R) :-D Laughing

    ReplyDelete
  48. <span>hello chiew !</span> :-[
    How are you ? I find and you ?

    ReplyDelete
  49. Isaac Dimas Alejandro7 July 2011 at 09:04

    My score is 150 or 200 i donT remember xD LOL

    ReplyDelete
  50. <span>My score is 300. See you ;) Nos vemos </span>

    ReplyDelete
  51. Ana and Dacil 4ºA IES Los Tara7 July 2011 at 09:04

    <span>Our score was 331.
    </span>

    ReplyDelete
  52. <span>My score is 190 !!
    </span>

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  53. My score is 182 :'( ..

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  54. My score is 184 , 1D EOI

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    Replies
    1. Well done! I hope it's helped you learn the correct pronunciation.

      Delete
  55. My score is 114, I´m Silvia Pérez, EOI II, Básico I, ID, con Pilar

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Congratulations!! That's a really good score!!
      Keep on working hard!!

      Pilar Blanco

      Delete
  56. my score is 335, I´m Dolores Barreto ,EOI II, Básico 1 D con Pilar

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi!! I'm glad you have done the game and I hope it has helped you pronounce simple past endings a bit better. Thank you for trying!!

      Keep on working hard! Pilar Blanco

      Delete
  57. I´m iñaki. My score es 108. EOI II, Básico I, 1ºI.. con Macu

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  58. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  59. My score is 116, I´m Jose Yeray Socorro, EOI II, Básico 1D, with Pilar

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  60. My score is 188, I´m Saray Quintana, EOI II, Básico I, ID, con Pilar

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  61. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  62. Hi!! Pilar Blanco. I'm Carlos Camacho (EOI Las Palmas II, "NB1D") I tried to play well, but my score is 364. It's more difficult for me. I will continue practicing...
    I lovely this blog!!

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  63. Pino Esther Santana (EOI Las Palmas II, NBID)
    Past simple, I need to learn more.
    But I like me this exercise.

    ReplyDelete

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