I’ve taught English for over 15 years in India and abroad. Almost every day I come in contact with college students who struggle to communicate in English though they have learnt English for over a decade and studied in schools where the medium of instruction is English. One of the major problems such students have is their lack of pronunciation skills.
Effective communication is characterised by clarity of thought and clarity of expression. Some words in English have more than one part of speech and the words have more than one pronunciation. Here are some examples of such words: invalid, sow, wind, tear, intimate.Look at the sentences below:
invalid (noun and adj)
* My grandma has been an invalid (noun: sickly person) since 2006.
* You have an invalid (adj: not valid) driving licence
In the first example, the word ‘invalid’ is a noun and the second syllable is stressed. In the second example, the word ‘invalid’ is an adjective and the first syllable is stressed.
sow (verb and noun)
* We reap what we sow (verb: to plant seeds or implant)
*I saw a sow (noun: an adult female swine) on the street.
In the first example, the word ‘sow’ is a verb and is pronounced like ‘throw’ and ‘grow’. In the second example, the word ‘sow’ is a noun and is pronounced like ‘cow’, ‘how’ and ‘now’.
tear (verb and noun)
* Don’t give the book to Aaron. He will tear (verb: to pull apart) it.
* John was in tears (noun: water-like substance from eyes) over the death of his dog
In the first example, the verb ‘tear’ is pronounced like ‘care’, ‘bear’ and ‘wear’. In the second example, the noun ‘tear’ is pronounced like ‘hear’, ‘mere’ and ‘cheer’.
intimate (adjective and verb)
* Isn’t Sheela your intimate (adj: close, personal) friend?
* I intimated(verb: to make known) my unwillingness to accept the proposal.
In both the examples, the stress is on the first syllable. The third syllable ‘mate’ in the first example (adjective: intimate) is pronounced like ‘mate’ in ‘decimate’ and the third syllable ‘mate’ in the second example (verb ‘intimate’) is pronounced like ‘mit’ in ‘limit’.
— rayanal@yahoo.co.uk