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Slide 1: ==== ==== Do you sometimes remain quiet because you are afraid to speak English and not be understood, or worse, laughed at? Learn to sound better in English! Make more money! 60 day money back guarantee! http://weblifenow.com/englishpronunciation ==== ==== Do you have problems communicating when you speak English in work and social situations? Here are three ways that you can improve your American English pronunciation and communicate with confidence. Learn to Pronounce the Past Tense "ed" Correctly In American English the past tense "ed" has three different sounds. These sounds are; /d/ as in the word loved, /ed/ as in the word wanted, and /t/ as in the word stopped. If you pronounce the "ed" incorrectly your speech will have an accent and it may even mark you as uneducated. Most English pronunciation books will teach you the rules for the correct pronunciation of "ed". Correct pronunciation of these grammatical endings is extremely important if you want to reduce your accent and sound more American. Learn to Pronounce Plural and Possessive "s" Correctly Like the past tense "ed", the plural and possessive "s" has three sounds in American English. These sounds are; /es/ as in the word churches, /s/ as in the word cats and /z/ as in the word loves. In order to reduce your accent you must learn the rules for pronouncing these word endings correctly. English learners often fail to pronounce word final "s" at all. This is both a grammatical and pronunciation mistake and it will contribute to your foreign accent. Learn to Use Sentence Stress Correctly Unlike many other languages, English is a stress timed language. That means that the content and focus words in a sentence are pronounced with strong stress and the function words are reduced. Let's look at an example with this sentence. SUSan is coming to DINner. SUSan is a content word so it receives a lot of stress. DINner is the focus word so it receives the most stress. The other words in the sentence are function words so they are reduced in spoken English.
Slide 2: Understanding which types of words in a sentence receive stress is of crucial importance to the rhythm of spoken English. Your American accent will greatly improve if you use sentence stress correctly! Word endings and sentence stress are some of the most common mistakes that non-native speakers make when they are pronouncing English words and sentences. If you can learn to pronounce word endings and use sentence stress correctly you will be able to make big changes in your accent. Susan Ryan is an American English pronunciation and accent reduction coach. Visit her blog to find lots of American English pronunciation and accent reduction techniques. These tips are absolutely free. Are you serious and ready to start reducing your accent today? If you are, take a minute to learn the benefits of accent reduction coaching by visiting Susan's website at LearnAmericanAccentOnline. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Susan_M_Ryan ==== ==== Do you sometimes remain quiet because you are afraid to speak English and not be understood, or worse, laughed at? Learn to sound better in English! Make more money! 60 day money back guarantee! http://weblifenow.com/englishpronunciation ==== ====