Hi! I’m Amy with Go Places English, and today I want to talk about THOUGHT, THOUGH, THROUGH, THOROUGH & TOUGH in American English.
Many students confuse the pronunciation of these words because they share similar spellings. Let’s spend a little time today practicing the correct pronunciation of these five words.
First let’s look at the word THOUGHT. The TH sound in THOUGHT is unvoiced. TH. TH. To make this sound, place your tongue between your front teeth and breathe out gently. The vowel sound is AH. AH. Thought.
Let’s practice together.
Thought
Thought
Thought
Thought
Thought
Thought
Good. The next word on the list is THOUGH.
The TH sound in this word is voiced. TH. TH. The vowel sound is OH. OH. Though.
Let’s practice.
Though
Though
Though
Though
Though
Though
Nice. Our next word is THROUGH. The TH sound is unvoiced, TH. The vowel sound is EW. EW. Through.
Say it with me.
Through
Through
Through
Through
Through
Through
Great. The next word I want to talk about is THOROUGH. The TH sound is also unvoiced. TH. Notice that THOROUGH is a two syllable word. The first vowel sound is UR. THUR. The second vowel sound is OH. OH. THUR-OH.
Let’s practice.
Thorough
Thorough
Thorough
Thorough
Thorough
Thorough
The final word today is TOUGH. There is no TH sound in this word. So the T is pronounced T. T. The vowel sound in UH. UH. The GH is pronounced as a F sound. Tough. Tough.
Repeat with me.
Tough
Tough
Tough
Tough
Tough
Tough
Nice work. Now, let’s practice a few sentences.
I thought she was very thorough.
Even though the test was tough, we all passed.
Do we need to go through the material again?
No one thought to ask.
Are you through yet?
I thought you were through.
Even though I thought about it, I didn’t do it.
That’s a tough question.
Great. Good job. If this video was helpful, please share it with your friends on social media, give it a thumbs up and subscribe to the Go Places English YouTube channel.
Go Places English.
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