Friday, October 11th

How to Pronounce -ed in English

The past simple tense and past participle of all regular verbs end in -ed. For example:

base verb (v1)	past simple (v2)	past participle (v3)
work	worked	worked

In addition, many adjectives are made from the past participle and so end in -ed. For example:

• I like painted furniture.

The question is: How do we pronounce the -ed?

The answer is: In 3 ways - / Id/ or / t/ or / d/

If the base verb ends in one of these sounds:		example base verb*:	example with -ed:	pronounce the -ed:	extra syllable?
unvoiced	/t/	want	wanted	/ Id/	yes
voiced	/d/	end	ended
unvoiced	/p/	hope	hoped	/ t/	no
	/f/	laugh	laughed
	/s/	fax	faxed
	/S/	wash	washed
	/tS/	watch	watched
	/k/	like	liked
voiced	all other sounds, for example...	play	played	/ d/
		allow	allowed
		beg	begged

* note that it is the sound that is important, not the letter or spelling. For example, "fax" ends in the letter "x" but the sound /s/; "like" ends in the letter "e" but the sound /k/.

• he aged quickly /d/
• he blessed me /t/
• they dogged him /d/
• he has learned well /d/ or /t/

The pronunciation depends on the sound at the end of the infinitve of the main verb and whether it is voiced or not.

/Id /infinitives that end in the sounds /t/ or /d/	/ d / infinitives that end in a voiced sound	/ t / infinitves that end in an unvoiced sound
needed hated dated seated	lived chilled enjoyed tried	shopped picked wished crunched

Regular Past Tense Verb Pronunciation Practice 

Read the following dialogue. Write the phonetic symbol representing the sound 

of the ed-ending above each past tense verb. Check your answers. Practice the 

dialogue aloud with a partner. Be sure to carefully pronounce all past tense 

endings! 

Kathy: Tom, have you started your diet? I hope you haven’t gained weight. 

Tom: I boiled eggs and sliced celery for lunch. 

Kathy: Have you exercised at all? 

Tom: I walked 5 miles and jogged in the park. 

Kathy: Have you cleaned the house? Calories can be worked off that way. 

Tom: I washed and waxed the floors. I even painted the bathroom. 

Kathy: Who baked this apple pie? Who cooked this ham? 

Tom: When I finished cleaning, I was starved. I prepared this food for dinner. 

Kathy: Oh, no! I’ll take this food home so you won’t be tempted . I really enjoyed being with you. You diet is great! 

Tom: What happened? Somehow, I missed out on all the fun. 


Exercise:

Take this list of words and decide if the final consonants are voiced or voiceless. Once you have made your decision, click on the link to check the answers (or, if you are listening, I will provide the answers in the audio):

washed
traveled
coats
gloves
shells
watched
started
changed
books
wheels
lived
dreams
seats
dropped
exchanged
globes
phones
carts
listened
organized

Now, let's put it to work. Read the following article excerpt paying close attention to the pronunciation of the regular verbs

Enjoy Eating

In a recent exploratory study, Dr. Cunningham asked medical residents to rate the degree to which they found each of their daily activities to be stressful, resource-straining and resource-replenishing. "Eating during work hours was the one activity that was rated only as replenishing, and tremendously valuable to them," he says.

Nutritionists have long asserted that eating small amounts throughout the day helps maintain a level metabolism. And most people have experienced the sluggishness that follows a heavy midday meal.

"It's certainly not advised to have a Thanksgiving feast for lunch," says Dr. Cunningham. "Then again, you should give yourself a chance to be fascinated with the world around you—and enjoying your food can do that."