Pronunciation Lessons

Center for Language Education HKUST

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Lesson 19 - Synthesizing all the pronunciation skills studied so far

Preparing to read aloud

Before you read anything aloud, (or when you are preparing to speak in public) it is advisable to prepare by following the steps below:

	Read the text silently and decide which words are the most important content words likely to carry the sentence stress.
	Check the pronunciation of any unknown words in the dictionary.
	Is any of the vocabulary difficult to pronounce (clusters, difficult sounds)?
	Think about the intonation - where will your voice rise or fall?
	Mark the words which will be linked.
	Cross through the weak syllables.

Practice

Now read the short text below aloud. Then compare your reading to the recording and the key.

The health alert was over the next day,
but many in the territory remain alarmed.
Weeks of dry weather and unfavourable winds
caused air pollution to accumulate.
The main culprit,
according to a three-year study by the Environmental Protection Department,
is the car.
It found that vehicle emissions
accounted for 98% of Hong Kong's air pollution
and that the worst offenders
are taxis, mini-buses and trucks that run on diesel fuel.
Only four years ago, the transport lobby persuaded legislators
to reject a government proposal
that would require commercial operators
to switch from diesel fuel to cleaner-burning gasoline.
Fortunately things are now changing.

Review of clusters

Look at the examples below of consonant clusters occurring in words in the above two paragraphs on Air Pollution.

Clusters initially

protection	trucks	transport	proposal	dry
three	study	switch	cleaner

Clusters in the middle of words

environmental	protection	department
transport	legislators	culprit

Clusters at the ends of words (finally)

health	next	alarmed	weeks	winds
caused	worst	trucks	reject	switch