Summary
Highlights
This sound is like a doctor's 'ah'. Open your mouth, put your tongue low with relaxed, neutral lips. Practice words include Army, Park, father, half, farm, and star. The practice sentence is: "Father parked his car under a star near a bird bath."
This is the first pronunciation of 'A'. To make this sound, open your mouth, keep your tongue low behind your bottom teeth, and spread your lips. Practice with words like Apple, back, track, exactly, and fantastic. A practice sentence is: "Adam's Apple iPhones fantastic."
The letter 'A' can also sound like 'e'. Position your tongue at mid-height at the front of your mouth, with your jaw fairly closed and lips spread. Practice words include any, said, says, and Thames. A practice sentence is: "Any eggs left? said Ken. No, not many, they're floating down the River Thames."
For this sound, pull the back of your tongue to the back of your mouth, keeping the tip low. Open your mouth, round your lips, and bring them slightly forward. Practice words are what, watch, want, squat, wash, and yacht. A practice sentence is: "I want to watch you wash my yacht."
The letter 'A' can make the schwa 'uh' sound, often in unstressed words. Your tongue should be low and central, jaw neutral, and lips relaxed. Practice with words like again, along, Postman, about, banana, and Canada. A practice sentence is: "The postman had a banana." Also applies to words ending in -ian or -an, such as Canadian, politician, librarian, and technician.
For the 'i' sound, position your tongue high and central, with a fairly closed jaw and spread lips. Practice words are Village, message, postage, and pilgrimage. A practice sentence is: "The message to the Village was about the pilgrimage."
This is a diphthong. Start with your tongue at mid-height in the front ('e') and move it to a low position ('uh'). Your jaw and lips close to a relaxed, neutral position. Practice with words like air, share, care, bear, stare, and rare. A practice sentence is: "How dare you stare at my spare tire?" (Note: 'spare tire' is an informal phrase for a fat stomach).
This is another diphthong. Start with your tongue at mid-height in the front ('e') and move it to a low central position ('ee'), finishing with your jaw fairly closed and lips slightly spread. Practice with words like age, page, day, able, table, paper, radio, favorite, taste, flavor, and date. A practice sentence is: "He was late for his favorite date today."
To make the 'or' sound, pull your tongue to the back of your mouth at mid-height, with a neutral jaw and rounded, forward lips. Practice with words like also, saw, warm, water, lawn, and quarter. A practice sentence is: "A quarter of the lawn looks awful."