American English Pronunciation Practice: Short and Long "A" Sounds

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• published: 06 Jun 2017
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Do native speakers have a hard time understanding you? Even if you know grammar and vocabulary, your pronunciation can prevent native speakers from understanding what you're saying. This lesson will help you with the difference between the short and long "a" sounds in American English. You'll have a chance to listen to the difference between these two sounds and to practice your pronunciation with me, using common English words and sentences. If you don't understand the difference between these sounds, it can be confusing to the people you're speaking to. In some cases, it can change the entire meaning of your sentence! Watch and practice with this easy class to master these sounds. https://www.engvid.com/american-english-pronunciation-short-long-a/ TRANSCRIPT Water. Love it. Hey, everyone. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking and welcome to this pronunciation lesson on the short "a" and the long or wide "a" sounds in English. In this lesson, first I'm going to go sound by sound and give you a bunch of words that have the short "a" sound, as well as some sentences that use the short "a" sound. Second, I'm going to give you some words that have the long "a" sound or wide "a" sound, and some sentences that use them. And then finally, we're going to mix them all up and it's going to be a lot of fun. So, when you are doing pronunciation, it can be a little bit ridiculous when you're practicing because you are going to be asked in this video to exaggerate a little bit. And honestly, the exaggeration is necessary if you really, really want to perfect, you know, your English pronunciation, as well as have some fun with it. And also you should know that my English is a Canadian English/Americanish English for this pronunciation lesson. So if you are looking for British pronunciation, this maybe isn't the video. But if you're interested in Canadian/American pronunciation... Yes, I know that there's a difference, don't kill me, to some degree, but here's what we're going to do. So, first we have the short "a" sound. And for this I drew a picture of the mouth. In this sound your tongue is low, in the low position. For both sounds, actually, it's in the low position, and your mouth is only open a little bit. So your mouth makes this sound: "ah", "ah", "ah". Now, let's look at some words. And I just want you guys to repeat the words after me. We'll do it a little quickly. Okay? So, please repeat after me: "cut", "hut", "buddy", "cup", "nut", "shut", "putt", "gut", "cousin", "does", "was", "nothing", "sun". Okay, so you should hear that "ah", "ah", "ah" sound in all of these words. So, just to practice one more time let's go through the list one more time. This is going to help you, I promise. Just follow me for a few minutes here. "Cut", "hut", "buddy", "cup", "nut", "shut", "putt", "gut", "cousin", "does", "was", "nothing", "sun". Okay, good. Now let's look at some sentences with this sound. So here we have three-one, two, three-sentences that use the short "a" sound. So I'm going to say all three first, and after I'm going to go one by one by one, and I want you to try to say them and repeat them after me. So the first one is: "Buffy loves Sundays." The second one is: "My mother won some money." The third one is: "Some of the rugs are dusty." All right, now let's try them one by one. Listen and repeat them after me. We'll go word by word. "Buffy", "loves", "Sundays". One more time, complete sentence: "Buffy loves Sundays." All right, let's try the second one. "My mother", "won", "some", "money". Okay, complete sentence: "My mother won some money." All right? And the third one: "Some", "of", "the rugs", "are dusty". All right, complete sentence: "Some of the rugs are dusty." Did you say it? All right. Good. Now, let's look at the long or wide "a" sound. We're going to do the same routine, so first this sound your mouth is wide open. "Aah". Imagine you are going to the dentist. Okay? And it's a long sound. Your tongue is still low, in the low position, but your mouth is more open. So just try it one more time, like you're at the dentist: "aah". All right, let's do the words now. Repeat after me. "Caught", "hot", "body", "cop", "not/knot", "shot", "pot", "got", "coffee", "doctor", "a lot", "honest", "knowledge". All right, and just like before let's go through them one more time. From the top: "caught", "hot", "body", "cop", "not/knot", "shot", "pot", "got", "coffee", "doctor", "a lot", "honest", "knowledge". Okay, very good. Now, just like before, let's look at three sentences. And I will read all three first. One: "Rob stopped shopping." Two: "John got a job." Three: "It's obviously not!" Okay? So now let's do, like before, one by one. You guys repeat the words after me. "Rob", "stopped", "shopping". All right? Now faster: "Rob stopped shopping." Okay. Second sentence: "John", "got", "a job". O