Pronunciation

Schwa
Schwa is the most common sound in the English language. It occurs only in unstressed syllables and getting it correct helps spoken English to sound more natural and fluent.

Any vowel letter can be pronounced as schwa and the pronunciation of a vowel letter can change depending on whether the syllable in which it occurs is stressed or not.

The phonemic symbol for schwa is:

/e/
Following are two exercises to help students develop their awareness of schwa. The audio examples from the exercises can be downloaded from www.bbclearninglish.com

Pronunciation Schwa

Exercise 1 Look at the words below and decide where in the word the schwa sound occurs. Underline and/or write the schwa symbol over the correct part of the word. The first one has been done for you. Hint: One word has two examples of schwa. All the others have only one.

docto r

banana difficult

to mo rro w

s u mme r

le ve l

prote ct

survive

pupil

the atre

me a s u re

w izard

Pronunciation Schwa

BBC Learning English bbclearningenglish.com

Pronunciation Schwa

Exercise 2 In this exercise, look at these sentences and decide where the schwa sound occurs. It may occur more than once in each sentence. The minimum number of schwas in a sentence is 1, the maximum 7.

1.

Its for y ou

/e/

2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

It tak es a lot of time How about a cup of tea? What are y ou doing tonight? What time will y ou arriv e at V ictoria? I was going to tell y ou The leisure centre is closed for a priv ate function

8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

The airport is not far from the capital city The book is about pronunciation We need more financial support You need to pay attention all the time It is a v ery thorough report

Pronunciation Schwa

BBC Learning English bbclearningenglish.com

Pronunciation Schwa
ANSWERS

Exercise 1

docto r

banana

tomo rro w

d ifficult

s u mmer

le vel (no un)

prote ct

s urvive

pupil

the atre

me a s ure

w izard

Pronunciation Schwa

BBC Learning English bbclearningenglish.com

Pronunciation Schwa
ANSWERS

Exercise 2
1. Its for y ou

2.

It tak es a lot of time

3.

How a bout a cup of tea?

4.

What a r e y ou doing tonight?

5.

W h a t t i m e w i l l y o u a r r i v e a t V i c t o r i a?

6.

I wa s going to tell y ou

7.

The leisur e centr e is closed for a priv a te function

8.

The airport is not far from the capita l city

9.

The book is a bout pronunciation

10.

We need more financial support

11.

Y o u n e e d t o p a y a t t e n t i on a l l t h e t i m e

12.

It is a v e ry thorough report

Pronunciation Schwa

BBC Learning English bbclearningenglish.com