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                        AMERICAN ENGLISH SPEECH

                                    VOWEL SOUNDS

                                   

OW                               

 

Make sure you begin with the open mouth A (“ah”) sound and end with the tense U-- with your lips rounded.  If you have trouble pronouncing this sound it is often because you don’t end up with the U.  This is an especially difficult sound for Chinese speakers when it occurs in front of an N sound:  “down, brown, town, around, found.”

 

Canadians make this sound a little differently than Americans.

 

Instructions to make this sound: Do you hear two distinct sounds of AH and U.  The sound moves from A to U.

 

Common problems: Not pronouncing the U at the end so “down” sounds like “Don.”

 

Common spellings: OU as in “out,” OW as in “flower,” OUGH as in “drought”

 

out                                          go out now                          

downtown                            bought it downtown                     

crowd                                    the crowd applauded                   

mouse                                   found a mouse                               

now                                        should we announce it now       

allow                                      the county will allow                     

 

How about going downtown now?                                         

He caught a rebound in an astounding foul play.