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4 Basic American T Rules

The document outlines 4 rules for pronouncing the letter T in American English. Rule 1 discusses when T makes a clear T sound at the beginning of words. Rule 2 notes that T sounds like D in the middle of words or between vowel sounds. Rule 3 states that T is silent after N. And Rule 4 explains that T is "held" and sounds more like H in words with suffixes like -tain, -tten, and some TN combinations.

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196 views13 pages

4 Basic American T Rules

The document outlines 4 rules for pronouncing the letter T in American English. Rule 1 discusses when T makes a clear T sound at the beginning of words. Rule 2 notes that T sounds like D in the middle of words or between vowel sounds. Rule 3 states that T is silent after N. And Rule 4 explains that T is "held" and sounds more like H in words with suffixes like -tain, -tten, and some TN combinations.

Uploaded by

Omegle Guy
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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4 BASIC AMERICAN “T”

RULES
1 2
3 4
RULE #1
TOP OF THE STAIRCASE
(T is T)
- if the T is at the beginning of a
word (or the top of the staircase),
it is a strong and clear T sound.
tableten tornado
tonight turn top
take tip
tomorrow tango
teach teeth
In the past tense, D sounds like T, after
an unvoiced consonant sound.
(f, k, p, s, ch, sh, soft th)

packed – paktwashed - washt


hoped – houptraced - rasht
watched – wacht puffed - puft
pushed – pusht passed - past
flashed – flasht punched - puncht
RULE #2
MIDDLE OF THE STAIRCASE
(T is D)
- if the T is in the middle of the
word or in between two vowel
sounds (a, e, i, o, u, /y/), intonation
changes the sound to a soft D.
water - wader computer twitter
– twirer later
daughter – doder university
bought a What is it?
caught a (whadizit)
lot of What are you doing?
got to (whararyudoing)
T is D when T is in between a vowel
and L or R.

bottle turtle better visitor


forty cattle matterparty
dirty tittle city brittle
thirty title creator ability
little subtle sweeter butter
RULE #3

If T COMES AFTER N,
T IS SILENT
interview interrupt wanted
international interfacetwenty
advantage interfere don’t know
enter interactive printer
percentage internet pentagon
T is N are so close in the mouth that
the T can disappear.

went in T is at the end of the word


becomes disappeared.
wasn’t
plenty sit down
hot
sentences what?
print out
RULE #4
BOTTOM OF THE STAIRCASE
(T is HELD)
 with –tain, -tten, and some TN
combinations, the T is held.
The “held T” is strictly speaking,
not really a ‘T’ at all.
forgotten (forgo’n) mitten (mi’n)
button (bu’n) certain (cer’n)
Britain (Bri’n) bitten (bi’n)
cotton written (wri’n)
Latin mountain (moun’n)
curtain fountain (foun’n)
kitten satin
frighten brighten beaten

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