TT4BS - the m sound

In this edition of TongueTwisting4BetterSpeech, we are practicing the m sound. Click the red speaker icon below when you're ready, and let's practice making this sound.


First, let's repeat the following words:
more, mint, miss, mail, moss 
home, roam, foam, tome, yummy 
mom, memory, ma'am, madam, Memphis


Now, read the tongue twister slowly first, then faster as you get used to it.
Mary in Miami misses Mark in Maui when he moved away in May but Pam in Memphis who married Tommy in Mali misses Emma's homemade meatloaf and rum souffle.


Good luck!

TT4BS - the r & l sounds

In this TongueTwisting4BetterSpeech, we are going to practice two sounds: the r and the l sounds. To practice these sounds separately first go to our May 7, 2011 blog for the r sound and our April 23, 2011 blog for the l sound.

When you're ready to pronounce these two sounds together, try saying the following words first:
Roll, crawl, rail, Braille, trial
Lauren, leery, lard, blurry, flurries
Lawrence, roller, holler, relate, trail

To practice the tongue twister, start slow then gradually say the sentence faster until you can repeat it three times at normal talking speed.

Larry and Lauren reluctantly released their turtle called darling which ate lard while slowly crawling and drooling across the floor.

Good luck!

G2R - the third conditional

In this Grammar2Remember, we're reviewing the third conditional. A couple of things to remember about this conditional: (a) It talks about the past. (b) Like the second conditional, it is unreal. It talks about something that didn't happen.


To make third conditional sentences, we need the past perfect or past perfect continuous in the if clause and a perfect modal (modal + have + past participle; e.g. would have eaten) in the result clause. We usually use this conditional to consider another option in the past (if things had been different).


like this:
1. If he had won more money in Atlantic City, he would have stayed there another week.
(This means he didn't win more money, so he didn't stay another week.)
2. If she'd had some extra time, she could have made dinner for everyone.
(This means she didn't have extra time, so she couldn't make dinner for everyone.)
3. If she hadn't gone to the party, her friend would have gotten angry.
(This means she went to the party, so her friend didn't get angry.)


your turn:
Think about something you've always wondered would have happened if things had been different. Here are some ideas to start you off:
1. If I had not moved to this country, ...
2. If I had gone to that party, ...
3. If the weather had been horrible last weekend, ...


Share your sentences with us here or on our Facebook page. Good luck!
(e.g. is a Latin abbreviation that means "for example".)

TT4BS - the r sound

In this edition of TongueTwisting4BetterSpeech (TT4BS), we're practicing the r sound. Keep in mind that when making this sound, your tongue should not touch anything in your mouth.


Practice these words first:
Rain, rear, rest, roast, rod
Bear, tear, boar, tore, floor
Arrow, borrow, tomorrow, pirate, arrest


To practice the tongue twister, start slow and focus on the sound. Then say the sentence faster 3 times as you get used to it.
Ryan read stories of horses that ran on roads that tore across forests while lions roared and eagles soared.