The Most Commonly Mispronounced VOWEL Sound

There are 5 vowels in the English language, yet there are 14 vowel sounds, 13 of which can be found in American English. Without a doubt, the most commonly mispronounced vowel sound is 'ɪ' (as in ship), and students usually replace it with 'i:' (as in sheep), which results in miscommunication such as the following:

• Where do you live?
• I leave next weekend.
• No, WHERE do you LIVE...?
• Oh!  I live in a student apartment downtown.

In order to avoid exchanges like this, check out my tips below for pronouncing the tricky 'ɪ' sound.  Remember that the pronunciation learning process is not just speaking--it is also listening.  Being able to hear and recognize each distinct sound is the first step.  Once your ear can distinguish 'ɪ' from 'i:', then you can learn how to articulate each sound properly by imitating or mimicking the sound. 


PRONUNCIATION TIPS: 'ɪ' vs. 'i:'

i: (as in sheep)

• This is a LONG sound. 
• This sound is articulated in the FRONT of the mouth.
• The mouth is ALMOST CLOSED.
• The tongue touches the top of the mouth.

ɪ (as in ship)

• This is a SHORT sound.
• The sound is articulated in the MIDDLE of the mouth.
• The mouth is SLIGHTLY OPEN.
• The tongue pushes downward slightly.

Okay, enough of the descriptions!  Try these pronunciation pairs for practice:

eat/it
he's/his
seat/sit
leap/lip
feet/fit
feel/fill
heel/hill
leave/live
wheel/will
steal/still

12 Essential (American) Business Idioms in CONTEXT

1. across the board: everywhere, everyone
“Yahoo layoffs will be "across the board," a source briefed on new Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson's cost-cutting plans tells us.”



2. ball park figure: rough estimate
“Going on the available evidence from our own solar system - and there's no obvious reason to assume it is unusual - you might plump for a ratio of 1:8. That would give you a ballpark figure of some 800 billion planets in the Milky Way, and something like 100 billion times that for the entire Universe.”
*ball park=baseball stadium (American idiom)



3. best bang for the buck: best value for the money
“But its affordability and convenience (it ranks No. 7 on the home price index, and No. 10 for travel time to work) and the fact that it's set to bounce back in three years, according to Moody's, gets you more bang for the buck than you might expect from a Florida metro.”
buck=$1 (American idiom)

4. budget squeeze/crunch: budget cuts
“We are experiencing a severe budget squeeze, and there’s really no way for us to continue,” Irvine said.  Two classes already have been cut from the upcoming fall schedule, and officials are considering five other courses for elimination in spring 2013, Irvine said.”

5. bean counter: accountant (somewhat pejorative…be careful!)
“Ghanaian goes from bean counter to money magician Keli Gadzekpo--Ghana's Keli Gadzekpo was part of the duo that set up Databank, one of West Africa's most successful financial enterprises, in 1990.”

6. crunch numbers/run the numbers: calculate
“When she crunched the numbers, she found that the business's profits were actually much lower than the company had said.”

7. face value: actual value
“Going through the StubHub marketplace with the seller, the IBTimes learned that the average ticket price for a sold ticket is $3,450, which is about triple the face value of $800 -- $1,200 per ticket.”

8. in the long run: in the long-term future
“INVESTMENT VIEW: IN THE LONG RUN, STOCK-PICKERS ARE NOT ALL THAT GOOD.”

9. kickback: bribe
“The state attorney general has charged him with setting up a system of kickbacks to gain influence with pension fund executives.”

10. take a nosedive: sharply decrease, suddenly drop
“Sales of celebrity memoirs take a nosedive.”

11. sweetheart deal: mutually beneficial agreement between friends at expense of others, sometimes illegal
“'SWEETHEART DEALS' COULD COST U.S. COMPANIES $80 BILLION A YEAR. "SWEETHEARTING," LIKE "FORGETTING" TO CHARGE A PAL OR COMPING DRINKS, HURTS BIG TIME, STUDY FINDS.”
*comping=comes from the word complimentary, meaning free or “on the house”

12. write-off: expenses related to business that reduce taxable income, decreased value of an asset
“A home business offers plenty of tax write-offs that you wouldn't get in any other location.”

(American) Idioms in BLUE

1.  once in a blue moon:  seldom, not very often

• Once in a blue moon, I drive up Highway 1 until Carmel and take photographs along the way. 

*When there are two full moons in one month, the second full moon is referred to as a blue moon, which occurs only twice a year. 

2. to have the blues, feeling blue: to feel sad, lonely, lovesick, depressed

•  Everyday, everyday I have the blues / Ooh everyday, everyday I have the blues / When you see me worryin' baby, yeah it's you I hate to lose / Whoa nobody loves me, nobody seems to care / Whoa nobody loves me, nobody seems to care / Well worries and trouble darling, babe you know I've had my share  ~B.B.King (Click here for song)

3.  black and blue: bruised

• The poor guy's knees were black and blue after his first day of snowboarding.

4.  blue blood: of royal ancestry

• Once the Brahn family arrived to the United States, they thought changing their surname to vonWaldenburg would make them appear as blue bloods rather than simple immigrants. 

5.  blue-collar: worker who performs manual labor, normally receives hourly pay

• Flint, Michigan is famous for its blue-collar working class that was once employed by General Motors.

6.  out of the blue: unexpectedly, suddenly, (also, out of nowhere)

• Out of the blue, it started pouring rain while we were driving to the beach.

7.  blue in the face: out of breath, lack of oxygen

• You can keep talking until you are blue in the face, but I will never buy a solar powered flashlight. 

8.  out of the blue and into the black: from bad to worse

• My my, hey hey / Rock and roll is here to stay / It's better to burn out / Than to fade away / My my, hey hey. / Out of the blue and into the black / They give you this, but you pay for that / And once you're gone, you can never come back / When you're out of the blue and into the black. / The king is gone but he's not forgotten... ~Neil Young (Click here for song)

10 Examples of how STRESS can change the meaning or part of speech of a word

It is crucial to know where to place the appropriate stress or intonation of many words in English, as the meaning of a word or its part of speech can change.

Pay close attention to which syllables (the first or second) carry the stress and what part of speech each word is (verb or noun).  Do you notice any pattern in these two syllable words?  Well, as you can see in these examples, if the stress is on the first syllable, it is a noun, and if the stress is on the second syllable, it is a verb. 

1.       Conduct

a.       conDUCT (v.):  We will conduct business as usual on Friday despite the federal holiday.

b.      CONduct (n.):  The conduct of the secret service personnel in Columbia was unacceptable.

2.       Conflict

a.       conFLICT (v.):  I am afraid that our meeting will conflict with the arrival of our partners, so we will have to reschedule. 

b.      CONflict (n.):  Peace negotiations have not led to any resolution of the conflict.    

3.       Decrease

a.       deCREASE (v.):  Birth rates around the world have decreased in the last several decaedes.

b.      DEcrease (n.):  The decrease we have seen in sales is a result of the nation's economy slowing down.

4.       Increase

a.       inCREASE: (v.)  As the baby boomer generation grows old, the demand for nurses has increased, along with the demand for health care.

b.      INcrease: (n.)  The dramatic increase in China's exports worries many politicians and business men alike.

5.       Object

a.       obJECT (v.): Surprisingly, the citizens did not object to the increase in taxes.

b.      OBject (n.): We saw dozens of tiny glass objects in the store arranged neatly in a row.

6.       Permit

a.       perMIT (v.): The law permits drivers to make a right turn on a red traffic light.

b.      PERmit (n.): Teenagers who work on family farms in the United States can acquire a special driving permit that allows them to operate vehicles at 13 years of age.

7.       Present

a.       preSENT (v.): We will present our findings to the committee next week.

b.      PREsent (n.): In our family we exchange presents on Christmas Eve. 

8.       Project

a.       proJECT (v.): Economists project that the employment rates will rise by June.

b.      PROject (n.): Our nonprofit organization has recently submitted a proposal to acquire a development project in Angola.

9.       Record

a.       reCORD (v.): The detectives recorded incriminating conversations with a simple wire tap.

b.      REcord (n.): The physician's office has converted all hard copy records to digital files.

10.   Recall

a.       reCALL (v.): I cannot recall the final numbers right now, so I'll call you right back.

b.      REcall (n.): Management has announced a recall of all meat products due to the E.coli outbreak.