Learn with Poem

When you read the following poem, read it with rhythm,
and it is very important that you pause for breath only at
punctuation points.
This is the house that Jack built.
This is the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that
Jack built.
This is the cat that killed the rat that ate the malt that lay in
the house that Jack built.
This is the dog that chased the cat that killed the rat that

ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built. This is the cow with the crumpled horn that tossed the dog that chased the cat that killed the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built. This is the maiden all forlorn who milked the cow with the crumpled horn that tossed the dog that chased the cat that killed the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack quilt.

 This is the man all tattered and torn who kissed the maiden all forlorn who milked the cow with the crumpled horn that tossed the dog that chased the cat that killed the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.

 This is the priest all shaven and shorn who married the man all tattered and tornwho kissed the maiden all forlorn who milked the cow with the crumpled horn that tossed the dog that chased the cat that killed the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.

  Phonation 
Inside your larynx (voice box) are vocal chords in the shape of tiny white lips that produce sound when they vibrate. In size they are about three-fourth of an inch long in .nen, while in women, they are about one-half.of an inch in length.

When you breathe silently, they open wide and let the air in and out without obstruction. When you whisper, they open just a wee bit to let out large amounts of air. The large amounts of air which escape through the tiny slits cause them to vibrate rapidly producing a friction-made sound.

When you speak, the vocal chords come together under tension and the air pressure from the lungs vibrates them forcefully and rapidly. When you come down with a bout of cold and cough, your voice gets hoarse and is reducedfo a painful whisper - that is because your vocal chords (lips) are inflamed (swollen) and unable to function.

 There are times when the cold bout is so severe that you're unable to utter any sound - that is because the vocal chords are so severely inflamed that no air is able to escape through the vocal chords, let alone cause them to vibrate.

The doctors recommend 'voice rest' because every time you attempt to speak a volley of air hits the inflamed vocal chords like a battering ram further damaging the soft tissue. Whether you're sick, or you're in good health, never strain your vocal chords. The quality of tone produced by phonation is weak and poor in quality.

The sound quality of your voice is thin and feeble because tiny vocal chords in a tiny voice box produce it. Your voice grows strong and rich only after it is amplified through your resonators. Resonation Try to strum a flat-bodied electric guitar without plugging it into an electric socket. Without electricity, it will sound flat, producing weak, discordant notes. Now strum the strings of a box guitar and immediately the sound of each note will be heard loud and clear (without the help of electricity). This is due to resonance. Resonance does two things to sound.

 It amplifies and enriches sound by reflection and sympathetic vibration. -When you strum the guitar strings, the strings by themselves produce a feeble sound: but the guitar box amplifies and enriches the sound.

The thin and feeble sounds produced by the larynx during phonation are amplified and enriched into magnificent tones by your resonators. You have two types of resonators: fixed resonators and flexible resonators. Fixed Resonators are those which cannot be changed in size or shape.

 They are the skull bones, nose, nasal sinuses, windpipe, chest bones and ribs. All of them, from the skull bones to the ribs, will vibrate to certain sounds - if you know how to use them to your advantage. When they function, you can feel a resonating sensation in that part of the body. To do this exercise, sit on a chair and place your feet squarely on the floor about twelve inches apart.
Place an open book on the floor, between your heels. Now, as you sit on the chair, bend over from your waist towards the book, your head dangling, your arms hanging loose, while your finger-tips should be like limp tassels touching the floor. Relax completely in this position and breathe deeply, slowly. Now, begin reading aloud - as loud as you can without straining your throat muscles. Your speech will automatically resonate in your fixed resonators.

Your pitch will be lower. As you read, listen to the amplified and enriched quality of voice projected by your resonators. Listen to this super voice quality lodged inside you - this is the rich voice quality you want. Make a mental note of the resonant voice that resounds inside you. Now, stand up and continue reading aloud without interruption - trying to retain the same voice quality you had in the dangling position. This is an on-going exercise.
No matter how good your voice is, the more often you commit yourself to doing this exercise the better will be your voice quality. Flexible Resonators are those, which can be changed in
 (a) size, (b) shape, (c) tenseness.
They are the mouth, the pharynx (back of the mouth), and the larynx. The functions of the flexible resonators are:
 (i) They change .. the pitch of your voice.
 (ii) They give it a rising and falling inflection.
 (ill) They give it 'tone colour' that tells you how you feel. They distinguish each vowel sound from every other vowel sound. Through your flexible resonators you are able to pronounce different vowel sounds which require different shape, size and tension.
If you are able to say with clarity ee, and then oh, and after that ah, it's because you are using your flexible resonators to full capacity.

But if you are unable to change the size, shape and tension of these resonators, your vowels will sound much the same without any difference. If you have a good, mellowed arid modulated voice, it means you use your resonators very efficiently. But, if your voice sounds garbled, weak or monotonous, then there is a lot of work ahead of you to improve your voice resonation.

The following lesson deals with the 'stop' or 'explosive'
sounds of English. It is called so, because the air stream is
completely stopped for a moment and then allowed to rush
out of the mouth with an explosive sound.
B.: as in ball
This is a voiced stop. The lips are closed and then blown
apart by the stream of air. If the lips are not completely
dosed the b sounds like v.

Drill

back	bean	been	bed	babble
block	bend	bird	bath	feeble
able	about	rubber	rubbing	double
nib	grab	job	jibe	enable
bit	bee	rub	describe	jumble

Every boy plays volleyball and baseball.
Those berries grow on bushes, not vines.
The babbling baby bit the bumble bee.

E: as in pet
This is a voiceless stop made with a strong breath force. It
is formed by the lips being lightly pressed together and then
drawn apart with a slight explosion of breath. If you use
your teeth on this sound, you'll get f·

Drill

keep	pump	help	proper	privilege
property	topple	people	prepare	pamper
paper	pepper	pumpkin	popular	principal
puppy	happy	pompous	pep	principle
pomposity	prompt	preposition	praise	shepherd
sample	example	empire	reap	keep
purse	loop	pen	put	part
pound	soup	prim	keep	lip

Paul purchased pickles, peppers, peas and peaches.
Patsy and Polly pressed pretty pink petals.
Peter pranced proudly down the park path.
(a) Peter, Peter pumpkin eater
Had a wife and couldn't keep her;
He put her in a pumpkin shell
And there he kept her very well.

(b) Peas porridge hot, Peas porridge cold,
Peas porridge in the pot, nine days old.

(c) The preyful princess pierced and pricked pretty
pleasing prickets.
Contrast between p and b sounds in the following words.

Drill

pay - bay pen - Ben pie - bye pound - bound pest - best pin - bin pea - bee pan - ban napped- nabbed pill - bill cup - cub cap - cab lap - lab sup - sub lapel - label pear - bear pull - bull park - bark rip - rib pale - bail happy - shabbysimple - symbol supper - rubber pump - bump

Distinguish between p and f sounds in the following words.

Drill fine - pine fin - pin found - pound fort - port leaf - leap laugh - lap lymph -limp fail - pail

He finished five pieces of bread and four pickles.
Ferozepur has a fine fountain in the hotel foyer.
Like a yawn of fire from the grass it carne,
And the fanning wind puffed it to flapping flame.
T.as in time
This is a voiceless stop, made with the tip of the tongue
pressed firmly on the palate behind the teeth (tooth ridge).
Then when the tongue tip is removed the air rushes out
with an explosive puff of breath.

Drill

at	light	attend	content(n)	contrast
tea	little	entire	content(v)	sontract
kept	kettle	acctent	triunph	yesterday
till	notice	subtle(sutl)	country	meditation
wrist	intend	pretend	Saturdy	indentation

Time and time again, tinkering Thomas tackles toadstools.
I intended to indent, but my attention was distracted.
He pretended to be intent in his meditation.
Good night,
Sleep tight.
Wake up bright
In the morning light,
To do what's right
With all your might.
The three little kittens put on their mittens.
Final ED:as in hoped
In verbs, the final e..d. is pronounced t after the following
sounds: p, k, s, sh, x, ch, f (i.e., the voiceless consonants).

Drill hoped--- talked------ mashed--- developed--- fixed walked--- watched---- whipped--- mixed ----tossed matched--- wrapped--- ripped -----kissed -----lurched crossed----- hopped----- missed----- puffed ---pressed banked----- washed -----coughed ----lashed -----laughed

The following selection is a cluster of consonants with t
and d sounds. Pay heed and pronounce with clarity
emphasising all the word-endings. A polished speaker pays
keen attention to word-endings while speaking. Record your
voice while you do this drill; later replay and listen to yow
recording critically.

Drill st - invest, embraced, disgust, discussed, immersed. ft - oft, left, laughed, loft, coughed. pt - dropped, leaped, helped, hoped, stopped. kt - looked, booked, cooked, walked, talked, locked. sht - mashed, lashed, cashed, washed, fished. nd - found, listened, questioned, learned, turned. md - gleamed, seemed, roamed, combed, timed. ld - cold, gold, walled, polled, told. vd - lived, halved, relieved, survived, deprived. zd - paused, caused, closed, imposed, disclosed. rd - inferred, unheard, prepared, bordered! despaired. Id - ranged, changed, judged, nudged, engaged.

Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest,
I am He Whom thou seekest; I
Thou dravest love from thee; who dravest me.

TH(q): as in thanks
The letter th is sometimes pronounced as th and sometimes
as dh. Th (q) as in thanks is a voiceless fricative and its hissing
sound is made with a strong breath. To make the th (q)
sound, you must place the tip of your tongue, out of your
mouth, close to the top teeth, and then blow. Initially, you
may face a little difficulty in getting this sound right (since
some Indian languages don't have this sound), but with
practice you will get it right.

Drill

think	thought	thanks	thumb	thirty
third	thousand	thing	through	through
thirsty	thin	month	mouth	south
wealth	health	fourth	depth	length
path	tooth	earth	author	ether

think thought thanks
third thousand thing
thirsty thin month
wealth health fourth
path tooth earth
nothing method tenth
Thirty thousand thoughtful boys
Thought they'd make a thundering noise
So with thirty thousand thumbs
They thumped on thirty thousand drums.
Tom thought he had better go south, not north.
Theodore thrives on thrift.
TH (d): as in this (dhis)
Tn (d) is a voiced sound made with the same mouth
position as in Th (q).

Drill these-------- that------- they------- --there------ breathe with--------- smooth ----breathing ---leather--- father the--------- weather------ rather ------another---- though them--------- those-------- bathe------ bather---- northern bother--------- either------- then------ mother----- writhing

This is the fifth toothbrush I've used this month.
That is the thousandth person to visit this theatre.
They have to think this thing through.

Exercises to develop distinction in comparative words.
Contrast the following words using (d) as in this with (q)
as in thumb.
these - thieves them - thumb bathe - faith
breathe - breath breathe - wreathe smooth- tooth
leather - method father - Arthur feather- ether

Contrast the following words with t and th (q) as in thumb.
tin - thin tick - thick taught - thought
team - theme tank - thank true - through

Contrast the following words with f and th (q) as in thumb.
first - thirst fought - thought free - three
after - Arthur forty - thirty fling - thing
fin - thin felt - health font - month

Contrast the following words with d as in den and th (d) as
in then. Many people find it difficult to contrast d and (d)
sounds distinctly. The main difference between the two is
that d is a stop sound, while (d) is a buzzing sound. D is
made with the tip of the tongue placed well behind the
teeth, while (d) has the tongue tip against the teeth
themselves.

doze - those	dare - there	does - thus
breed - breathe	oad - loathe	side - scythe
breeding - breathing	sides - scythes	loading - loathing

G.: as in good
This is a voiced stop. During pronunciation the tongue
touches the velum and the flow of air is completely stoppted
It is made with a weak breath force and it is never aspirated
If you do not voice it, g becomes.

Drill

give	goat	got	gone	gain
sag	plug	vulgar	lagging	logged
pig	crag	piggery	rug	rugged
big	bag	leg	jig	jog

forget bargain(-in)luggage(baggage)(ij)dragging(ij)

K: as in kite
This is a voiceless stop. When forming this sound, the back
part of the tongue touches the velum (the rear of the palate),
SO that the air is held up and subsequently released by
lowering the tongue.


dock ----crook--- cook---- chaos---- twinkle
key------ caught--- cat------- kept -----chasm
could------ come---- coin -----think----- tinkle
striking------ speak--- thick---- dark---- chicken
record------- Arctic--- architect--- doctor-- character
speaker----- kindred----- kerchief--- lucky --compose


Karuna and Kishore's clan keep a clean kitchen.
The kind old king crossed his cronies when he kissed Kris
Kringle.
The kinsfolk of Kerry and Ken killed a kid.