Pronunciation Lesson

1. CONSONANTS:
“TH” AND
/V/ VS. /W/
MS. QUINONES

2. “TH”
SOUNDS

3. CONSONANT SOUNDS: “TH”
•/θ/ as in “think”, “nothing”, and “teeth”
•/ð/ as in “the”, “weather”, and “bathe”

4. COMMONLY CONFUSED
CONSONANTS
•/θ/ is commonly confused with /s/ or /t/.
• /s/ - people say “sink” for “think”
• /t/ - people say “tank” for “thank”
•/ð/ is commonly confused with /z/ or /d/.
• /z/ - people say “zen” for “then”
• /d/ - people say “day” for “they”

5. PRODUCTION
•Both /θ/ and /ð/ are pronounced with the tongue
between the teeth.
•The difference is in the voicing.
• /ð/ is produced by vibrating the vocal
cords
• /θ/ is produced with out the vocal cords
vibrating

6. INDIVIDUAL SOUND
PRACTICE
•/θ/
• The three threatening thimble thieves thought
the thrifty thinker had nothing in his sword’s
sheath.
•/ð/
• Though they were wearing clothes, the
weather was so hot that my
mother, father, and brother bathed in the
cool, soothing water of the pool.

7. NOW PRACTICE THE
SOUNDS TOGETHER
There once were thirty thirsty thieves that thought
they could steal their own teeth.
These loathesome, blathering thugs thundered
threatening oaths with thumping and thrashing as
they were thwarted by their throbbing thumbs.

8. ADDITIONAL
PRACTICE
1. Three thin thieves thought a thousand thoughts.
Now if three thin thieves thought a thousand
thoughts how many thoughts did each thief think?
2. Thelma thanked Theo until she was out of breath.
3. They can sail north or south, but say they sail
south, the southern seas may be worse than these.
4. Both boats taught the thin, sick math majors that
nothing they thought then was true.

9. /V/ VS /W/

10. CONSONANTS: /V/ & /W/
• /v/ as in “very,” “fever,” or “live”
• /w/ as in “wet,” “flower,” or “stew”

11. COMMONLY CONFUSED
SOUNDS
• These sounds are commonly confused with
each other.
• /v/ for /w/ = “veal” for “wheel”
• /w/ for /v/ = “whim” for “vim”
• Additionally, /f/ is sometimes substituted for /v/
or vice versa.
• “ferry” for “very”
• “leaf” for “leave”

12. PRODUCTION: /V/ & /W/
/v/
Pronounced by touching your top teeth to your lower
lip and letting your vocal cords vibrate as the air
escapes.
/w/
Pronounced by tensing and rounding your lips and
then relaxing them while your vocal cords vibrate as air
escapes.
Ms. Candice Quiñones, Lehigh University ESL
Department

13. INDIVIDUAL SOUND
PRACTICE
/v/
• Victoria has a very voracious vim and vigor for
everything she believes in.
/w/
• Walter always awaits Wanda when she wants to
wipe her wet hands.
Ms. Candice Quiñones, Lehigh University ESL
Department

14. PUT IT ALL
TOGETHER
1. The weatherman is warning us that we will have
very vicious winter weather this weekend.
2. They advised us to veer away from snow and keep
warm.
3. Driving was also not advised.
Ms. Candice Quiñones, Lehigh University ESL
Department

15. ADDITIONAL
PRACTICE
1. We waved very vigorously when Steven went away.
2. The victorious viceroys wanted to wear their
weapons of war in the victory parade and shout “we
won!”
3. Kevin was weaving wearily as he drove.
4. Vera is an avid Marvel Comics devotee and works
at “Wacky Walter’s Wonderful World of Comics.”