Ending Sounds

 

Sometimes there are sound changes made at the end of words. This page examines the sound changes for ‘ed’ endings, ‘s’ endings and number endings.

 

-ed Endings

The ‘ed’ sound at the end of regular past tense verbs can have three sounds- ‘t’, ‘d’, or ‘uhd’.

 1.After voiceless sounds (see voiced/voiceless section), the ‘ed’ is pronounced /t/      
     (except after /t/)
   

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    Jenny walked all the way home.
   

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    Both the men dressed in black.
   

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    Molly cooked spaghetti for dinner.    
   

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    Mrs. Johnson baked an apple pie for the pot luck.
 2. After voiced sounds  (see voiced/voiceless section) the ‘ed’ is pronounced /d/.
   

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    He filled up the car with gas.  
   

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     Perry settled into a comfortable chair.
   

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    The baby cried all night long.       
   

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    Your sister called after midnight.
  3. In words that end in ‘t’ or ‘d, the ‘ed’ is pronounced as ‘uhd’. Also the ‘ed’ is pronounced
     as a separate syllable, so that the final syllable begins with a consonant d and sounds
     like uhd.
   

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    Tommy wanted ice cream.
   

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    She waited for over an hour.
   

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    I decided to walk home.
   

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    She detested being called a liar.

 

 

-s Endings

An ‘s’ is added to some words form the plural (car-cars) and to ensure the subject-verb agreement rule for the simple present tense (he likes, they like). (see note below for an explanation of the verb-subject rule).

The ‘s’ sound can be pronounced three different ways- ‘uhz’, ‘s’, or ‘z’.

 1. In words ending in ‘es’, the ‘es’ sound is pronounced as ‘uhz’ after the sounds
     ‘s’, ‘z’, ‘sh’, ‘ch’, ‘j’, and /zh/. Be sure to separate the word, adding another syllable,
     so that the final syllable begins with the /uhz/ sound.                 

         sentence    sen-ten-ces                church   church-es

   

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   There are ham sandwiches on the table.
   

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    Slim oozes down the fence post.
   

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    I hate doing dishes.
   

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    Carol cherishes the time with her children. 
   

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   I get terrible wages on my job.
  2. In words ending with voiceless sounds, the ‘s’ is pronounced like ‘s’, except after the
      sounds ‘s’, ‘sh’, ‘ch’. when it is pronounced ‘uhz’- see above)
   

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     It is rude if one slurps their soup.       
   

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    I have read many articles about global warming. 
   

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    Lenny has a number of almanacs.   
   

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    The government bans many things it considers bad.   
 3. In words ending with voiced sounds the ‘s’ is pronounced as ‘z’, except after ‘s’ and ‘z’.
   

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    Harold needs a visa to visit South Africa.
   

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    Teenage gangs are terrorizing the neighborhood. 
   

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     Kangaroos are native to Australia.           
   

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    Mary sings in the church choir every Sunday. 

 

Note: Subject-verb Agreement- when using the simple present tense, if the
              subject of the sentence is singular, he, she, or it, an ‘s’ is required for
              to maintain grammatical correctness. If the subject of the sentence
              is plural, they, you, or I NO ‘s’ ending is required. 

 

Number Endings Sounds 

Sometimes it if difficult to hear and pronounce numbers correctly if they end in ‘teen’ or ‘ty’. In numbers ending with ‘teen’ the stress is on the second part of the word. In numbers ending in ‘ty’, the stress is on the first part of the word. 

      

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     thirteen      thirty
   

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     fourteen     forty 
   

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     fifteen     fifty
   

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      sixteen     sixty
   

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     seventeen     seventy
   

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     eighteen     eighty
   

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     nineteen     ninety
   

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     twenty