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En Callan School Barcelona estamos convencidos de que tus oídos se pueden entrenar y podrás acabar diferenciando cada palabra que digas y escuches, así que ¡adelante porque no habrá “homógrafo” que se te resista!.
In English, as with every language, pronunciation is key. There are certain words in English that are spelt the same but have two different pronunciations and often two completely different meanings. These words are called Homographs.
Sometimes the difference is as simple as present versus past, as in the case of the word “read”. The present tense of the word is pronounced like the word “seed” whereas the past tense is pronounced like the word “said”.
There are however certain words that have completely different pronunciations and very different meanings. An example of this is the word “minute”. When the word is pronounced as “min it”, it means a unit of time. However when it is pronounced as “my newt” it means very small or tiny.
Another example would be the word “desert”. When the stress is on the first syllable as in “DEh- sert” then we have a large body of inland sand. But, if we put the stress on the second syllable like “de-SERT” and pronounce the “sert” like “hurt”, then we have the idea of abandoning your post, such as a soldier deserting the army.
A word that is often confused is the word “live”. As a verb, it is pronounced like the word “give”. But as an adjective it is pronounced like the word “dive”.
Another word where the stress is very important is “object”. If the stress is on the first syllable, as in “OB-ject”, then it is a thing or an item. However, if the stress is on the second syllable, such as “ob-JECT”, then the word means to disagree with something.
As you can see, pronunciation is very important, especially with words that are spelt the same as the wrong pronunciation can leave the listener very confused as to the true meaning of the sentence you are trying to say. If you are unsure of the different pronunciations of words, the dictionary always has a phonetic spelling of all the differences in the uses of words, so it would be a good start to have a look at that. Good luck.
K. Charles
Mamen has a degree in History from the University of Valladolid. Her passions include literature, cinema and opera. Mamen has worked as a Culture Technician, a Performing Arts programmer, in the field of archaeology, and she has also been involved in local development since she was very young.
She decided to change course a few years ago, when she settled in Barcelona to begin a new chapter of her professional life.
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