Pronunciation Challenge 14 By Gus

Voicing: The past tense of regular verbs

The final “ED” of the past tense of regular verbs is pronounced:

• /d/ as in “phoned” /f@Und/
• /t/ as in “cooked” /kUkt/
• /Id/ as in “landed” /l{ndId/
First, put the words below into the correct column according to the pronunciation of the final -ed sound.
Then, complete the rule.

helped discovered offered looked reached

saved lived missed invited washed
tried jumped needed waited called
mixed robbed panicked laughed asked
managed climbed developed scared started
painted passed added hunted watched

/d/ /t/ /Id/

a. If a verb ends in /t/ or /d/ the final -ed is pronounced ______.

b. If a verb ends in a voiceless* consonant (for example, /s/), the final -ed is pronounced ______.

c. If a verb ends in a vowel or voiced* consonant (for example, /z/), the final -ed is pronounced ______.

* If you have done “Challenge 13”, you now know that the consonant sound /s/, as in “see”, is produced by the speech organs in
exactly the same way of the sound /z/, as in “zebra”, except that there is vibration of the vocal cords in the sound /z/. This
distinction is called “voicing”. The sound /z/ is called “voiced” and the sound /s/ is called “voiceless” (or “unvoice”). Other such
pairs are /f/ and /v/, /p/ and /b/, /k/ and /g/, etc.