H
This is
one of the sounds that is the hardest for francophones. In French, H
is never pronounced, although sometimes there is a liaison between
a previous consonant and a word beginning with H . The technique
is simple: exhale! If there is no H, don't exhale! Breath must
be controlled, otherwise other words may be understood.
These are the most common confused pairs:
| |
1 |
|
air & hair |
| |
2 |
|
art & heart |
| |
3 |
|
as & has |
| |
4 |
|
ate & hate |
| |
5 |
|
ear & hear or here |
| |
6 |
|
eat & heat |
| |
7 |
|
I / eye & Hi /
high |
| |
8 |
|
is & his |
| |
9 |
|
old & hold |
| |
10 |
|
ought & hot |
Other mistakes:
| |
|
|
| |
add
& had, all & hall, always & hallways, am & ham,
and & hand, arm & harm, armless & harmless, earring
& hearing, Ed & head, edge & hedge, eel & heel,
eighty & Haiti, elm & helm, Evan & heaven, eye brow
& high brow, eye school & high school, I'd & hide, ire
& hire, it & hit, I've & hive, ohm & home, oaks
& hoax, or & whore, ooze & whose, Ow! & how, owl
& howl |
|
| |
|
There are also words which
don't begin with h but are still pronounced as if they
do in Canadian English: who, whom, whole, whore, whose
Some sentences have words
that begin with H and others that begin with vowels.
Practice these:
| |
|
| |
Hit it!
Ed hurt his head.
I am eating ham.
The eel bit my heel.
His heart is in his art.
Did your ear hear that?
He is hungry and angry.
They all entered the hall.
The oven ought to be hot.
I hate it but I ate it anyway.
Eighty people left from Haiti.
He had to add up the figures.
She dried her hair with hot air.
He trims the edge of his hedge.
She waits on him hand and foot.
The ship's helm was made of elm.
He had a hard time at Owl's Head.
Your earring prevents good hearing.
We heat the food before we eat the food.
Hardly anyone has heart attacks in Halifax.
In old England, every Englishman ate an apple happily.
Honey, how long has her husband had his huge house in Hampstead? |
| |
|
Watch out for these:
had, hard, has, have, he, help, her, his, hope, horse, hospital, house,
huge, husband
Don't add H on these words:
answer, not hanswer
ask, not hask
These words come from French
and are exceptions:
heir, heirs, heiress, heirloom
herb (US only)
hommage
honest, honesty, honestly
honour, honourable, honourably
hour, hours, hourly
|
