Pronunciation: The return of the schwa!

A2, B1, B2

Our post of 29th October 2010 explained that the schwa was the most common sound in the English language. Understanding it is important for your listening comprehension, and it can also help your pronunciation. In this exercise from the BBC Learning English site, you will do some more exercises to practise this sound. Activity time: 15 to 35 minutes.

Task: 1  Read the introduction (3 parts) and listen to the example words and sentences. Repeat what you hear.
2  Open the pdf and do the two exercises on pages 2 and 3.
3  Open the mp3 audio file and listen to the pronunciation of the words and phrases from 2.  Repeat what you hear. Does the pronunciation correspond to your answers in 2?
4  Check your answers on pages 4 and 5 of the pdf.

Go to the introduction here.
Go to the pdf exercises here.
Go to the mp3 audio file here.