PRACTICE IPA

Unit 3: A spoonful of sugar /uː/ and /ʊ/

Posted by Henry Tran
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A. How to make the sound /uː/

/uː/ is a long sound. Look at the diagram. Listen and then say the sound. Make your lips into a tunnel shape.Your tongue is a long way back in your mouth. Target sound /uː/

B. Sound and spelling

/uː/ is often spelled oo, ou, oe, u, ue or ew. Listen and say these words.

  • too: /tuː/
  • group: /ɡruːp/
  • shoe: /ʃuː/
  • blue: /bluː/
  • music: /ˈmjuː.zɪk/
  • new: /njuː/

Listen and say these sentences.

  1. me too: /miː tuː/
  2. work in groups: /wɜːk ɪn ɡruːps/
  3. new shoes: /njuː ʃuːz/
  4. red and blue: /red ənd bluː/
  5. listen to the music: /ˈlɪs.ən tə ðə ˈmjuː.zɪk/
  6. forty-two: /ˌfɔː.ti ˈtuː/
  7. fruit juice: /fruːt dʒuːs/

C. How to make the sound /ʊ/

/ʊ/ is a short sound. Look at the diagram. Listen and then say the sound. Your tongue is not so far back as for /u:/. Target sound: /ʊ/

D. Sound and spelling

/ʊ/ is often spelled u, oo or ou. Listen and say these words.

  • full: /fʊl/
  • sugar: /ˈʃʊɡ.ər/
  • book: /bʊk/
  • foot: /fʊt/
  • would: /wʊd/
  • woman: /ˈwʊm.ən/

Listen and say these phrases and sentences.

  1. My bag’s full.: /maɪ bæɡz fʊl/
  2. Where’s my book?: /weərz maɪ bʊk/
  3. My left foot: /maɪ left fʊt/
  4. A kilo of sugar: /ə ˈkiː.ləʊ əv ˈʃʊɡ.ər/
  5. Who’s that woman?: /huːz ðæt ˈwʊm.ən/