RP English Consonants - Practice Sentences
Here is a free practice sentence for every one of
the consonant sounds in RP English. There are 24 of them.
A consonant is a sound made with a blockage of some kind to
the flow of air or voice in the mouth.
The exact position of the tongue, or other organs of speech
may vary from your own language - even if the sound seems
similar. And these different movements can have an effect
on the whole accent. Particularly pay attention to pronouncing
the consonants at the ends of words, and linking them if possible
to the next word along. This is often a problem area for many
non-native speakers of English.
For some of the consonants the spelling is very simple, it's
always the same letter. But for some sounds we have to 'borrow'
spellings from other sounds, and there may be several spellings
that overlap with other consonants. The sentences below contain
all of the major spellings for each sound, so look out for
the consonants in places you may not expect.
All of these free materials are strictly copyright to Morwenna
Rowe and Speak Easily and are offered as a resource to our clients
and website visitors. They may not be reproduced in any way.
They may not be used for any purpose other than individual personal
practice and information. The 3D Vowel System (Vertical/Sagittal/Horizontal
etc) is a Speak Easily innovation and may not be quoted or used
without permission.
PLOSIVES - TOTAL BLOCK/RELEASE
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1.
TONGUE TIP/RIDGE - air / t/
I was last to the breakfast table and rushed to the
buffet, but the rest of the buttered toast was already
eaten.
2. TONGUE
TIP/RIDGE - voice / d/
The day dawned with a dramatic red sky and all of
a sudden I wondered if I should dare to go riding
in the downs.
3. BACK
OF TONGUE - air / k/
The baker was kind but his income was wrecked by the
credit crunch and he quietly cried in the dark at
the cost.
4. BACK
OF TONGUE - voice / g/
The figure of my guardian jogging in the grounds of
the great house was ghostly in the grey August fog.
5. LIPS
- air / p/
Plum preserve rapidly appears to take shape in the
pan when the proper point of preparedness is present.
6. LIPS
- voice / b/
The baby burbled as her big brother blew bubbles at
her and brought her a rubber ball with blue ribbons.
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FRICTIONS - BUZZ OF AIR/VOICE AT POINT OF SOFT BLOCK
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7.
TOP TEETH/LIPS - air / f /
My nephew offered to photograph the fête, but
we laughed as he often frames figures without faces
or feet.
8. TOP
TEETH/LIPS - voice / v /
If I Ieave that lovely vase of violets over there, we
can view them whenever we have evenings in the living
room.
9. TONGUE
TIP/TEETH - air 'th'
Through the death of my ruthless, wealthy fourth wife,
I will thankfully marry a faithful, thoughtful fifth
wife.
10. TONGUE
TIP/TEETH - voice / ð /
Within and without my brother is rather smooth with
his leather clothes and that with-it sense of rhythm.
11. TONGUE
TIP/RIDGE - air / s /
Basically you can’t sail a bus across the sea
so cease sobbing and save up for a sloop or a simple
sailboat.
12. TONGUE
TIP/RIDGE - voice / z /
The tigers were the laziest animals in the zoo, their
easy days grazing on legs of lamb a pleasant bed of
roses.
13. TONGUE
BLADE/PALATE - air 'sh'
Brush those machines, shake the special cushion and
ensure the shop is completely ship-shape before we shut.
14. TONGUE
BLADE/PAL – voice 'sh' - measure
If you measure the leisure time pleasures of my husband
there is usually a division of television and garage.
15. VOCAL
FOLDS – air / h /
How horrible and hateful of Harry to hog the whole house,
perhaps you now have an idea how unhelpful he is.
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NASALS - SOUND COMES DOWN THE NOSE - ALL VOICED
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16.
LIPS / m /
My mum made all our summer meals much more magical by
making mini picnics among the meadow elms.
17. TONGUE
TIP/RIDGE / n /
Now any ninny can learn to knit but only those in
the know have knowledge of the newest designs in tunics.
18. BACK
OF TONGUE - 'ng' sound
The angry banker enquired how long the singing monkey
was going to be performing alongside his bank.
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VOWEL-LIKE - LIKE A SQUEEZED VOWEL - ALL VOICED
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19.
TONGUE TIP/RIDGE /l /
Leave the lid on you Silly Billy, it’ll all spoil
and smell really old if you allow the liquid to leak
all over the place.
20.
LIPS / w/
We went away to the west to view wild whales on the
wonderful old ship the Queen of Wales.
21. TONGUE
BLADE/PALATE / j /
You used to use yoghurt as a beauty mask to keep you
young and alluring? Yuck, how stupid and futile!
22. TONGUE
BLADE CUPPED AND NARROWED INTO DOME / r /
The rain thoroughly ruined my red robe as I hurried
and rushed in every wrong direction to try to reach
shelter.
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AFFRICATES - MIX OF FRICTION AND PLOSIVE
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23.
TONGUE BLADE/PALATE – air 'ch'
Chin up Cheryl, a cheery nature is a cherished feature
of all the chicks of choice for the richer chaps.
24. TONGUE
BLADE/PAL – voice 'dg'
Judge John jogs by the bridge all January to try and
budge his major belly and ginger up his joyless gym
trips.
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If you find this useful - you might wish to take more of
our Accent Reduction training.
Try the other free resources on this page,
look out for our soon to be available downloadable Ebook,
and Book and CDs. Or come and be taught in person by our fabulous
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Happy practising!
The Speak Easily Team
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