This time we have the opportunity to show you something different from what we know the grammar is very important when speaking the English language, even is what we are taught primarily aside one of the most important points is the pronunciation.



Why is it important the pronunciation?

Voiced consonants (voiced consonants)

Voiced consonants used voice. To better understand what this means we can do a simple test, put your finger on the throat and if a consonant sound, feel a vibration in the vocal cords.

Voiceless Consonants (The voiceless consonants)

Voiceless consonants are, therefore, consonants that do not use the voice. Using the same test, we see that when we say a hard consonant vocal cords do not vibrate. These consonants usually only produce a short burst of air.

Note: The sound quality of a consonant or deaf can change when grouped with other letters. Two excellent examples of this are: 1) the pronunciation of regular verbs in the past and 2) the plural form of some nouns.


regular verbs in the past
As we have seen in the lesson on the simple past, the ending "-ed" used to form the simple past tense of regular verbs actually never pronounced as such. The consonant sound at the end of the verb determines whether the termination is pronounced with a "t" deaf, a "d" sound or if pronounced with a "id" sound. See the examples below, as well as the past simple lesson to learn more about the pronunciation of regular verbs in the past.
Examples:

"D" sound

 clean / kli: n /
 cleaned / kli: nd /
 live / lɪv /
 lived / lɪvd /
"T" deaf

 stop / stɑ: p /
 stopped / stɑ: pt /
 watch / wɑ: tʃ /
 watched / wɑ: tʃt /
"Id" sound

 end / end /
 ended / endɪd /
 wait / weɪt /
 Waited / weɪtɪd /
plurals
As in the past tense, the consonant at the end of a noun determine whether the plural ending is voiced or unvoiced. If, for example, the consonant at the end of the noun is sound, the plural ending "-s" is pronounced as a "z" sound. On the other hand, if the final consonant is deaf, the ending "-s" is pronounced as an "s" deaf.

Examples:

"Z" sound

 bar / bɑ: r /
 bars / bɑ: rz /
 meal / mi: l /
 meals / mi: lz /
"S" deaf

 desk / desk /
 desks / desks /
 seat / if: t /
 seats / if: ts /
Some Websites that can check for details:
1. Raquel"s English
2. BBC learning english
3. spoken skills
4. cambrigde English Online
5. forvo
Bibliography:http://www.curso-ingles.com/aprender/cursos/nivel-avanzado/pronunciation/consonants