Pronunciation

Speaking. like. this. is. boring, but speaking like this makes you sound more natural and interesting. Find out more about intonation and why it's very important when speaking English.

Pronunciation is often students' lowest score. It's also tough to improve. However, understanding your score more deeply is an important step towards getting better. Let's take a look at the pronunciation section.

Sometimes the reason we say words wrong is because we don't know the right rules. There are actually two ways to pronounce "-ate" words: /-eit/ (as in "eight" or "ate") and /-it/. To know the correct pronunciation, you have to know the function.

There are many different ways to speak well and many different people who do so. Today, let's look at Steve Jobs's speaking style. 

English speakers like to use strong language, and one way they do that is with questions that are not really questions.

Learning a skill on the sports field or in the classroom takes time and effort. Let's look at how pronunciation and learning a sport are similar.

"Uptalk" is when you say everything with a rising tone like it's a question. It makes you sound weak and underconfident. Here's how to solve it. 

Some pronunciation strategies are ineffective. But, by using the right strategy, you can sound much more like a native speaker.

Stressing a word when speaking, by saying it longer, louder or with higher intonation, will show the listener which word is key. 

Do you know what a foreign accent is? It's a sign of bravery. —Amy Chua

There is no such thing as a "native English accent". English speakers from Boston sound much different than those from South London, Sydney or Delhi. Sometimes the differences in accents between native speakers can be so great, we can't understand each other!