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S or Z
In many
Latin languages, an s between vowels is pronounced like a z. Also, in
French the sound ss is never pronounced like a z. These rules do not apply
in English. Be careful with these homographs:
| S sound for
nouns and adjectives |
|
Z sound for
verbs |
| |
|
|
| He is a victim of drug
abuse. |
|
I don't want to abuse
your hospitality. |
| Is your home close
to your work? |
|
Please close
the window. |
| What is your excuse
today? |
|
Please excuse
me for being late. |
| This is my house
right here. |
|
The Olympic Village
will house athletes |
| I have no use
for this old thing. |
|
How can I use
this old thing? |
These
words are pronounced like S and not like a Z:
analysis, base, baseball,
based, basement, basic,
basilica, bison, case,
comparison, crisis, dinosaur,
dose, embrace, emphasize,
erase, gas, increase,
isolate, isolation, isotype,
Jason, lease, mason,
NASA, nuisance, oasis,
obese, philosophy, precise,
release
These words
beginning with dis--- are also pronounced with an S
sound.
disability, disadvantage, disagree, disappear, disappoint, disapprove,
disguise, dishonest, dislike, disobey, disorganized, disposable
Also, any
word ending in -sis:
cirrhosis, halitosis, osteoporosis,
psoriasis, sclerosis, tuberculosis,
trichinosis
These words
are pronounced like a Z and not S:
deserve, disease, exercise,
possess, possessed, possesses,
possession, resource, scissors
Notice that
the number of letters s is not important.
Any word
ending in -ism
Buddhism, Catholicism, communism, exorcism, fascism, feminism, fundamentalism,
Marxism, mechanism, metabolism, nationalism, optimism, organism, pessimism,
professionalism, socialism, etc.
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