Improve your British English Pronunciation: The Vowel in Train / eɪ /
Pronunciation Activation Pack - 16
Train / eɪ /
In this Pronunciation Activation Pack we will be looking at the fourth of the gliding vowels / eɪ /.
We will look at the letter combinations that give the / eɪ / sound.
We will look at lots of words which have the / eɪ / sound in them.
Finally, we will activate your ability to hear and produce the / eɪ / sound correctly.
Letter Combinations for / eɪ /
This gliding vowel sound has these letter combinations:
A, AI, AY
EI, EIGH, EY, and EA
and rarely
AU, AO, and E
and from French
ER, ET, and EE
Practice
Eight ladies weigh steak and purée on scales in the gaol.
/ eɪt ˈleɪ.dɪz weɪ steɪk ənd ˈpjʊə.reɪ ɒn skeɪlz ɪn ðə dʒeɪl /
Practice
If you were a whale, naked and grey, would you play in the rain or abstain?
/ ɪf ju wər ə weɪl / ˈneɪkɪd ənd ɡreɪ / wʊd ju ˈpleɪ ɪn ðə reɪn ɔːr əb.ˈsteɪn /
Practice
Aides-de-camp display berets every day till they fray, a cliché claims.
/ ˌeɪdz.dəˈk.ɑːmp dɪ.ˈspleɪ ˈbe.reɪz ˈev.ri deɪ tɪl ˈðeɪ freɪ / ə ˈkliː.ʃeɪ kleɪmz /
Practice
No way am I able to gain acclaim in ballet.
/ nəʊ ˈweɪ əm ˈaɪ ˈeɪb.l̩ tə ɡeɪn ə.ˈkleɪm ɪn ˈbæ.leɪ /
Problems for Students
There are two other vowel sounds that cause confusion with the / eɪ / sound.
In this Pronunciation Activation Pack I’ll look at the
/ eɪ / vs / ɪ / minimal pairs
and the
/ eɪ / vs / e / minimal pairs.
Pronunciation Activator
As I said, there are two sets of minimal pairs in English which cause confusion with the / eɪ / sound.
I have created some interesting exercises in the Pronunciation Activator to help you better hear and produce the different vowel sounds.
Each time you do the Pronunciation Activator you will be given some random exercises from a large database of exercises.
The exercises will fully activate your use of the / eɪ / sound for both speaking and listening.
Dictionary
There is a good chance that some of the words used in this Pronunciation Activation Pack will be new to you.
To help you out, I have compiled an extensive dictionary of vocabulary used.
The dictionary gives you the meanings of all 459 words used in this Pronunciation Activation Pack.
You can download the dictionary as a PDF document from the resources link at the top left of the Pronunciation Activation Pack.
Vocabulary Activator
In addition to the Pronunciation Activator, I have included a Vocabulary Activator which will test your knowledge of 459 of the words in the dictionary.
You will be given random definitions of words each time you do the Vocabulary Activator.
This will also give you the opportunity to hear how each word is correctly pronounced in British English.
Add these words to your active vocabulary and make them your own.
Phonetic Transcription
I have also compiled a phonetic transcript of all the 459 words and minimal pairs I included in the Pronunciation Activator.
You can read each word and each minimal pair in Latin script alongside the British English IPA transcription.
With your growing understanding of the British English IPA chart, this will help you to see how different letter combinations can produce different sounds.
You can download the phonetic transcriptions as a PDF document from the resources link at the top left of the Pronunciation Activation Pack.
Use it in combination with the dictionary if you are uncertain of the meaning of any of the words included in the list.
/ fə.ˈne.tɪks ˈæk.tɪ.veɪ.tə /
/ ðə ˈmen.i ˈek.sə.saɪ.zɪz ɪn ðə prə.ˌnʌn.sɪ.ˈeɪʃ.n̩ ˈæk.tɪ.veɪ.tə ər ˈɔːls.əʊ ə.ˈveɪ.ləb.l̩ fə ju ɪn fə.ˈne.tɪk skrɪpt ɪn ðə fə.ˈne.tɪks ˈæk.tɪ.veɪ.tə /
/ ðə fə.ˈne.tɪks ˈæk.tɪ.veɪ.tə wl̩ help ju tə dɪ.ˈve.ləp jər ə.ˈbɪ.lə.ti tə riːd ənd ˌʌn.də.ˈstænd ðə ˈbrɪ.tɪʃ ˈɪŋ.ɡlɪʃ aɪ.pi.ˈeɪ tʃɑːt /
/ baɪ ˈduːɪŋ ðiːz ˈek.sə.saɪ.zɪz / ju wl̩ ˈæk.tɪ.veɪt jə fə.ˈne.tɪk skɪlz ɪn ən ˈiː.zi ənd ɪn.ˈɡeɪdʒ.ɪŋ ˈweɪ ənd wl̩ peɪv ðə ˈweɪ tə.ˈwɔːdz ə ˈbe.tə ˈbrɪ.tɪʃ ˈɪŋ.ɡlɪʃ ˈæks.n̩t /