The two forms of “was” and “were” and the pronunciation of "must be", "can’t be" and "shouldn’t be"
the dialogue below and pay special attention to the different positions of “was” and “were” and their pronunciation:
A: Was the last UN climate change conference held in Madrid?
/wəz/
B: No, it wasn’t held in Madrid, but it was in Paris.
/ˈwɒz.ənt/ /wəz/
A: Were there any agreements?
/wər/
B:Yes, there were.
wɜːr/
- The strong and weak forms of “was” and “were”:
|
Spelling |
Strong form |
Weak form |
|
was |
/wɒz/ |
/wəz/ |
|
Wasn’t |
/ˈwɒz.ənt/ |
XXXXXX |
|
were |
/wɜːr/ |
/wər/ |
|
weren’t |
/wɜːnt/ |
XXXXXX |
The weak forms of“was” and “were”are used when the auxiliaries are used at the beginning or in the middle of the sentence.
The strong forms are used at the end of the sentence.
“wasn’t” and “weren’t’’ do not have a weak form.They are always pronounced in their strong form at the beginning, in the middle or at the end 4of the sentence.
When we speak English naturally, we do not pronounce a word, stop, then say the next word in the sentence. Fluent speech flows with a rhythm and the words hit each other, while some consonant sounds disappear.
- I'm going nex(t)week.
- That was the wors(t)job I ever had!
- Jus(t)one person came to the party!
- I can'(t)swim.
- I saw my gran(d)ma.
- Han(d)me the book.
Notice how “must”, ”can’t “and “shouldn’t” are pronounced in the following passive sentences:
- Animals must be protected./məsbi:/
- They can’t be replaced./ka:mbi:/
- They shouldn’t be cut down. / ⌡ūmbi:/
When the sounds /t/ or /d/occur between two consonant sounds, they will often disappear completely from the pronunciation.
- إختبارات
- 12
- الأجوبة الصحيحة
- False
- الأجوبة الخاطئة
- False
- مجموع النقاط
- False
المراتب الخمس الأولى في Quiz
- ikram GH
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