Welcome to
ESL Printables, the website where English Language teachers exchange resources: worksheets, lesson plans,  activities, etc.
Our collection is growing every day with the help of many teachers. If you want to download you have to send your own contributions.

 


 

 

 

ESL Forum:

Techniques and methods in Language Teaching

Games, activities and teaching ideas

Grammar and Linguistics

Teaching material

Concerning worksheets

Concerning powerpoints

Concerning online exercises

Make suggestions, report errors

Ask for help

Message board

 

ESL forum > Ask for help > The Pronunciation of se at the end of words    

The Pronunciation of se at the end of words



miss noor
Palestine

The Pronunciation of se at the end of words
 
Hi,
 
Tommorow I am going to teach my sts these words:
 
decrease
increase
disease
 
decrease and increase have the same sound at the end s
 
but disease has the sound z .
 
 
Why is there difference here however three words end with se ?
 
 
Thanks in advance,
Noor

4 Jan 2010      





maoopa
China

The difference is really simple, if you look carefully, you �ll note that desease is the only word with two consecutive "s"  sounds; that makes the second one sound like a "z".
 
As far as I understand, it is not a rule but a natural phenomenom in phonetics.
 
I hope my answer helps,
 
Best regards,
 
Mauro

4 Jan 2010     



Mar0919
Mexico

Actually, both "s" sound as "z"... like Mauro states, there are some unexplainable phonetic sounds that just "are". For example this prefix "dis" is not always pronounced the same, like in the case of "disease" where the "s" sounds like "z" and in other words like "dislike" the "s" maintains the same "s" sound...
is this too confusing? Confused

4 Jan 2010     



yanogator
United States

Noor,
I �m not sure, but I think it �s because "ease" is pronounced with the "z" sound, like "displease" and "disclose". The noun "disuse" has an "s" sound, because "use" (as a noun) has an "s" sound.
 
Bruce

5 Jan 2010