The Commonly Confused Words Flew, Flu, and Flue

The Commonly Confused Words Flew, Flu, and Flue The words flew, flu, and flue are homophones: they sound the same but their meanings are different. Definitions Flew is the simple past form of the verb fly, which means to move through the air, to travel by aircraft, or to move quickly or suddenly.The noun flu (a shortened form of influenza) refers to a contagious viral infection.The noun flue refers to a duct or channel in a chimney or in any enclosed passageway. Examples Wire, briar, limber, lockThree geese in a flock.One flew east, one flew west,One flew over the cuckoos nest.(Childrens nursery rhyme, the source of the title for Ken Keseys novel One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, 1962)The greatest aerialist of all time was a Mexican, Alfredo Cordona. In 1930, after years of practice, Cordona achieved what to the circus world had been an impossibilityno less than a triple somersault! It is estimated that to achieve that feat, he flew through the air at sixty miles per hour.(Richard Lederer,  The Word Circus: A Letter-Perfect Book. Merriam-Webster, 1998)Millions are at risk of going without the flu vaccine this year.Although the media called the 1918 pandemic the Spanish Flu- because about 80 percent of the Spanish population  caught the flu, and it was widely reported in the Spanish press- the actual source of the pandemic is unknown.(Joan R. Callahan,  Emerging Biological Threats. ABC-CLIO, 2010)  Customers have been told that expensive flue wo rk is required to bring their homes up to modern standards. The stove was plugged into the flue of the marble fireplace, and there were parquet floors and Axminster carpets and cranberry-colored tufted Victorian upholstery, and a kind of Chinese  Ãƒ ©tagà ¨re, inside a cabinet, lined with mirrors and containing silver pitchers, trophies won by Skoglund cows, fancy sugar tongs and cut-glass pitchers and goblets.(Saul Bellow, A Silver Dish. The New Yorker, 1979) Flew Out vs Flied Out [In the game of baseball,] when a batter has hit a fly ball which is then caught, the past tense of his action is flied out. The only time flew out would be correct is if the batter dropped his bat, flapped his arms, and soared out of the stadium, thereby earning himself the frothiest head in the Guinness Book of World Records.(William Safire, On Language. Avon Books, 1981) Practice (a) He was a big, raw man, with too much strength, whose delight in winter was to hunt the sea ducks that _____ in to feed by the outer ledges, bare at low tide.(Lawrence Sargent Hall, The Ledge. The Hudson Review, 1960)(b) If you have a working chimney, you should have the _____ checked regularly by a professional.(c) About every 30 years, there is a major change in the genetics of the _____ virus. Answers to Practice Exercises (a) He was a big, raw man, with too much strength, whose delight in winter was to hunt the sea ducks that flew in to feed by the outer ledges, bare at low tide.(Lawrence Sargent Hall, The Ledge. The Hudson Review, 1960)(b) If you have a working chimney, you should have the flue checked regularly by a professional.(c) About every 30 years, there is a major change in the genetics of the flu virus.

Pronunciation Practice for Stress and Intonation

Pronunciation Practice for Stress and Intonation The first step in learning correct English pronunciation is to focus on individual sounds. These sounds are named phonemes. Every word is made up of a number of phonemes or sounds. A good way to isolate these individual sounds is to use minimal pair exercises. To take your pronunciation to the next level, focus on stress on intonation. The following resources will help you improve your pronunciation by learning the music of English. Practice with Pronunciation Using English is a stress-timed language and, as such, good pronunciation depends a lot on the ability to accent the correct words and successfully use intonation to make sure you are understood. Simply put, spoken English stress the principal elements in a sentence - content words - and quickly glides over the less important words - function words. Nouns, principal verbs, adjectives and adverbs are all content words. Pronouns, articles, auxiliary verbs, prepositions, conjunctions are function words and are pronounced quickly moving towards the more important words. This quality of quickly gliding over less important words is also known as connected speech. For more information on the basics of the stress-timed nature of English, please refer to: Intonation and Stress: Key to UnderstandingThis feature takes a look at how intonation and stress influence the way English is spoken. How to Improve Your PronunciationThis how to focuses on improving your pronunciation through the recognition of the time-stressed character of English. I am continually surprised to see how much my students pronunciation improves when they focus reading sentences focusing on only pronouncing the stressed words well! This feature includes practical exercises to improve your pronunciation skills by improving the stress-timed character of your pronunciation when speaking in full sentences. Take a look at the following sentences and then click on the audio symbol to listen to the examples showing the difference between the sentences spoken: In a plain manner, focusing on the correct pronunciation of each word - much as some students do when trying to pronounce well. In the natural, manner with content words being stressed and function words receiving little stress. Example Sentences Alice was writing a letter when her friend came through the door and told her she was going to leave on holiday. I had studying for about an hour when the telephone rang. Fast automobiles make dangerous friends. If you can wait for a moment, the doctor will be with you shortly. Id like a steak, please. Pronunciation Exercises 1 Pronunciation Exercises 2 For Teachers Lesson Plans based on these Pronunciation Exercises for Teachers English: Stress - Timed Language IPre-intermediate to upper intermediate level lesson focusing on improving pronunciation by awareness raising and practice of stress-timing in spoken English. English: Stress - Timed Language IIAwareness raising followed by practical application exercises including: function or content word recognition exercise, sentence stress analysis for spoken practice. Comparison of unnaturally and naturally spoken English by looking at the tendency of some students to pronounce every word correctly. Listening and Oral repetition exercise developing student ears sensitivity to the rhythmic quality of English.