False. 

The word "the" is the most commonly used word in English. It is usually pronounced /ðə/ ("thuh"). Many people pronounce it /ði/ ("thee"), which is only correct if the next word begins with a vowel (the apple, the office) or if you are stressing the word the (as in, "it was the best class I ever took").

In addition, many people have an accent error pattern on the th sound in English, and pronounce a sound closer to "d" or "z" instead of "th."

You can get more help for pronouncing "the" in our free eBook. Download yours here. 

 

True. 

The word "a" is the 5th most commonly used word in English.  And one of the most commonly mispronounced!

The word "a" is pronounced /ə/ ("uh").  Many people mispronounce this word as "ay" because we spell it with letter a. This is incorrect.  It should always sound like "uh," not "ay."

You can see a video for pronouncing "a" correctly here: https://youtu.be/uxkWV77PERI

You can get more help for the sound of "a" /ə/ in this video: https://youtu.be/RsumYs0z6RY

 

True. 

Even though the word "says" looks like it should have the vowel "ay" /eɪ/ like "say," the vowel in this word is vowel /ɛ/ as in "red."  

In addition, the last "s" in the word "says" should be a z sound /sɛz/.

You can get more help for this word and other commonly mispronounced words in our "Say This, Not That" series. 

 

False. 

In the word "to," to vowel sounds like "oo" /u/, but in the word "today," the vowel sounds like "uh" /ə/. This is because the "to" in "today" is an unstressed syllable, and we use a reduced vowel sound.  The same thing is true for the words tonight, tomorrow and together. 

You can learn about clear and reduced vowel sounds and syllable stress in our Online Courses. 

See a video about these words on our YouTube Channel. 

 

True. 

Americans use different types of /t/ sounds in the beginning, middle and ends of words and in connected speech. So the "T" sound in the word tech does not sound the same as the "T" sound in Seattle.

The "T" in Seattle is what is called a "flap T." It sounds like a light "d" sound - making "Seattle" sound like sea-a-dull.  Americans use "flap" T in many words like "water, better, little, city" and "Saturday."

You can learn more about the different "T" sounds in American English in our videos and lessons.