The different ways to pronounce O in English: Masterclass

Hello, hello, hello, everyone. Welcome to our live lesson. How are you doing? I am live on YouTube and on Facebook, and I'm gonna wait for everyone to join. And in the meantime, let me just do this. Can you all see me? Let me know in the comments. For some reason, I can't see you guys. There we go. Okay. I'm very excited. I haven't. I haven't taught a lesson live in a while, and I have to say I'm a little nervous, and I think I'm gonna make it. I think I'm gonna do well because this is one of my favorite sessions to teach. And today we are going to talk about. Let me open it up. The different pronunciations of the letter. So let me know in the chat that you're here, that you're excited as I am to learn about this lesson. Now, here's why I think it's important to know this, because as you know, English is not a phonetic language. That means that what you read, what's on the paper, is not exactly what we say or how it sounds. And specifically with the O, I see that a lot of my students struggle with. With this particular representation of different sounds because the letter O can represent a bunch of different vowel sounds. So today, we're going to organize all those speech sounds in your head and on the paper so you have the right tools to know how to pronounce words with the letter O. Okay, good. I'm here and excited. Vanya is here, Noor is here. Christina is here, Alma is here, Rocio is here. So I'm glad to see you all. And let's get started. So, like I said, the letter O can represent several different sounds. So let's walk through those different sounds that you might hear when you see the letter o. So first of all, there is the O as in go, where it's. It actually sounds like you would pronounce the letter O like in the word go. There is the ah, as in father, as in the word cop. And don't worry, we're going to dive deep into each of those vowel sounds. Then we have the or, as in core or another pronunciation. And then we have the er, as in stir, represented with the o in addition to a few other vowel letters. So here it's pronounced work. Then we also have the sound the cup sound, as in love, and the reduced version of the sound, which is the schwa sound. Reason, we also see the letter o representing the tense oo, as in do, and the lax, as in woman or wolf. So as you can See, we have a bunch of different vowel sounds. All of them are very different. Let's play them. O, ah, or. Oo. These are the different vowel sounds that the letter o represents. But today we will focus on cases where you are likely to pronounce the letter O as a pure O sound. In a lot of languages, there are only five or six or seven different vowel sounds, and usually they are around the five neutral vowel sounds in human speech. So in many cases, non native speakers may pronounce most of these vowels or most of these, these words with a pure o sound. Let me give you an example. Go, cop, cor, work, love, reason. And except for the last two, that you're likely to pronounce them as oo, like a neutral o, du, and woman. So this is why I said today we will focus on all of those areas, all of those cases where you are likely to pronounce those different vowel sounds as a pure O sound, because that's probably what exists in your language or the closest sound to the sound that exists in your language. And as you can see, there's actually not a pure O sound in English. The caveat? Only when it's attached to the R sound. So this is why it's important to organize those different sounds so you are more aware and you are. You feel more confident pronouncing those words easily. So let me take a minute because I think a bunch of people joined, and I'm going to take a look at the comments, see if you have any questions. Okay, good. So the first vowel sound that the letter o represents is the O, as in go. Now, here it sounds just like the letter O, O, o. It's a diphthong. So that means it's a changing vowel from an to an ooh. It's not a pure ooh sound. It's a bit more open. But for our purposes, imagine like you're adding a W at the end O. Let's look at a few examples here. Pro. I'm a pro. Won't. Right. I'm not pronouncing it as want. It's whoa, whoa, whoa. So imagine like there is a W at the end note, not note, coma, photo, stereo O, O. So practice it with me. If it's hard for you to get to the ooh sound, just make it a little longer. It is a longer vowel sound. It's not pro, but pro. It has to be long because you have to get through the entire sound. You have to transition from to ooh, O, o, O. Another vowel sound that is often Represented with the letter O is the ah, as in father. Now here's the funny part. While a lot of you might see the word and pronounce it as a pure ole cops, here it's actually closer to an open ah sound, as in the word father or. Or spa. Ah. So the lips are not rounded. You drop your jaw, pull the lips back a bit. Ah. Ah. Try it with me. Ah. Now, it's easy for you to think about it in the word father because it's spelled with an A. But for some reason, especially if you first learned how to read and write and you first learned the spelling of words, you might be thinking about the sound as a more rounded O. Now listen, this is for American English. In British English, this sound is indeed a bit more rounded. Let's look at a few examples. And just like I said, it sounds just like an open ah sound in American English. Hot, hot, hot. So yes, in British English, it would be closer to o, hot, hot, hot in American English. So there is no rounding of the lips, no roundness here. Shock. I'm so shocked. What a shock. Body. Ba. Ba. And yes, it is different than buddy. He's my buddy and that's my body. Ba. So the tongue pulls back. It is. It feels like a rounded sound because the sound resonates in the back, but the lips are not rounded. Ah. Ah. Body Office model possible. Okay, so it's not office. Again, it's not a mistake. And if you were to pronounce the word office with a rounded O, probably everyone would understand you. But right now, the purpose of this session is to organize the sounds there. It's not a mistake to mispronounce words if it's not your first language. But as a speaker of a second language, you want to be in control. You want to be aware. And especially if you're not understood, you want to know what to do to change that. So again, you can communicate your message clearly. Making mistakes, making pronunciation mistakes is not incorrect. It's not a mistake. Especially if you speak a second language or a first language. Okay, so are we good with this? Hot Chalk. Body Office model possible. Now, if you're watching this, I highly recommend that you actually practice it with me out loud, okay? Otherwise, it's really hard to understand how it's different from the other sound. Okay, good. We have a few more words here. Content. Project. Project. And I have some notes about this one. Object. Conflict. Contract. Oz and father. Contract. And progress. Progress. In American English, it's pronounced with the open ah, as in father. Good. The Next sound that we will discover when the the letter O is in the spelling is the or, as in for. This one is the closest sound to a neutral O sound. So here we don't need to change a lot. But this sound is always associated with an R sound. It's the or diphthong. It sounds just like a pure O with an R. Or. Or. Or. Try it with me. Or. Now, the secret about getting this sound right is to keep the tongue down before you get to the R O, R. Why? Because if you prepare for the R too quickly, what might happen is that you might pronounce it as er, Er fur instead of for. And that's already a different sound, which we will talk about. Okay, so. Or. Or. Or. Let's practice some words. Sure. Core. Corn. Store. Forum. Can you hear it? Drop your jaw. If you tend to pronounce the sound without dropping your jaw for O, O, O. Practice dropping the jaw a little bit. You can stick a wine cork between your teeth to create more space. Because this sound in English requires space, so it resonates well. Forum. Abort. Organic. Organic. Okay, so let's do this one again. Shore. Corn. Store. Forum. Abort. Organic. Good. Another sound that you will discover that is represented with a letter O is the stir sound. When there is an R sound. Or, but it's another version of an R vowel. So before we had the pure O and then an R. Or. But when there is a W O, R in the spelling, just like in the word word, you are likely to drop the O completely. So it sounds like you skip the O. That's the stir sound. It sounds like you're going from the W to the R directly. Work. Worm. Right. It's not warm. Warm. Oh, I'm warm. Let's take my jacket off. Is spelled with a warm. And then it's the other sound. Okay. The or as in for when it's W, R, you're likely to pronounce it as were. Were. Worm. World. Worth. We have worth twice. Work. World. Right. All of these W, R words and worship. Were. Were. Were. Okay, so practice it with me. Now, another sound that is represented with the letter O. I hope I'm not making you exhausted and tired from, like, trying to figure out all those sounds. Don't worry, we'll practice it. Is the as in cup. Now, this actually sounds like a neutral sound that exists in a lot of languages. Here the jaw drops just a bit. The tongue goes up a little bit. The arch of the tongue and. And you just. You just pronounce the sound Unlike the ah sound, as in cop, here it's more direct, straightforward, like a punch. Love. Love. That's the cup sound. Let's look at a few words. So it sounds just like a short neutral sound. Month. Not month. Can you hear the difference? Month. Money. Above. Above. Not above. Right. Even though there is an O here, that's a cup sound. Company. Country. Another right. I hear a lot of people saying company, company. Not a mistake. Everyone will understand you. But now you can see that the O actually doesn't represent the sound, but company. Company, Company. Okay, now the final one is one of my favorite ones, and that's the schwa. The schwa is a neutral vowel sounds that reduces vowels in unstressed positions. So the schwa can be represented with any vowel letters. A, o, U, I, e, or any combination of the five. But also, when it comes to the o sound, like in this word, carrot, there is no O. It's not carrot. There is no o. It's a. So it sounds just like the O is reduced to or like you are skipping the vowel altogether. Let's practice it. Le. Men. Not lemon. There is no O. Again, not a huge mistake. But listen closely and as you improve your listening skills, you will also improve your pronunciation skills. Okay? Lemon. Men. So I. You know, instead of thinking of pronouncing it like a different sound, just think of reducing the O altogether. Lemon. Lemon. Adam. So the T is a flap T because it's between two vowels in unstressed syllables. An unstressed syllable, and then the O is reduced because the syllable is unstressed Atom. So the schwa is what happens to all vowels in unstressed syllables. Words with 2, 3, 4 syllables would are very likely to have at least one schwa, and if not more so, the schwa is a neutral sound. Sounds something like this. Adam. Atom. Cum. Cum. The next word is computer. Computer. Not come, even though it's quick Computer. So practice. Try something new. Contain kin. Kin. Kin. Container. Dinosaur. Dina. Nuh. Nuh. Can you hear it spelled with o pronounced as dinosaur? And finally, all the ion suffixes are pronounced as un. Or in this case, shin. Shin. Shin. Action. Situation. Graduation. And yes, Adam is pronounced as Adam. A D, A M pronounced exactly the same because the flap T actually sounds like a D. That is a flat D. It's not D. Anyway, both of them are pronounced as Adam. Adam. Adam. All right, good. Let's continue. Let's see. Now let's practice. And I'm going to switch to this so I can actually use my. My pen and show you the examples. So let's do a little quiz here. I'm going to show you a word and you are going to tell me. But you know what? Let's go back. Let me go back. If you have any questions, let me know in the chat before we start practicing. And I want to go back to the different pronunciations, just as a quick reminder. So we said that the letter o can be O as in go or o as in cop. Now, remember that these two are the most common pronunciations of the letter o when it's in stressed positions, o or ah. Right? They're the most frequent vowel sounds that are represented with the letter o when the syllable is stressed. Otherwise it would be a schwa. Okay? And when there is an R right after, it is probably going to pronounce as the or as in core. Right? So if there isn't an R right after the O, it's probably either O as in go or as in father. If there is an R, it's probably the or as in core. If there is a w before that, it's probably the er, as in st, as in work. Okay? Now, there are some cases where the o represents the cup sound. In this case, I would just recommend to memorize those words because it's not a big list of words where the o represents the cup, the neutral sound. And then we have the o that represents the schwa here. You would need to go a little deeper into learning about the schwa, because I have a bunch of lessons about the schwa. I highly recommend for you to dive deep because it's the secret to English pronunciation, really. And then it would solve you the issue with the letter o, but also other situations where it's hard for you to pronounce longer words. The schwa really is the secret. It's the secret for getting the right rhythm and also the right pronunciation of specific syllables in words. Okay, now we will ignore the do and woman, because like I said, you are likely to pronounce those words as a neutral ooh and not as an o. I haven't heard someone saying, what do you do? Because the spelling has o in it, right? So when it comes to perception, when it comes, you can see how spelling affects your perception of how to pronounce a word, right? It's not enough to be exposed to a sound because all of you have been exposed to people saying month, and yet you might still say month, right? All of you, if you've listened to English on tv, you've heard the word cop, right? And yet you Are you might still say cop because the. It has to do with how you categorize the sound. What is the closest sound in your language that this sound sounds like? All right, I know it's a little confusing, but. But when you hear sounds, it's not enough for you to hear the right pronunciation. It also depends on your first language and where you categorize the sound. Right. Is it O? Is it oo? But also the spelling. So there are a lot of components that affect how you would end up pronouncing a certain sound or a certain word. Right. This is why you would still say do. But you may say cup. Right? Because the do does sound like an oo sound, and that's stronger than the spelling. I hope that makes sense. So we're going to talk about now. I'm going to show you some words and we're going to try to analyze and understand which. Which word has what sound. Okay, good. So let me add this. Okay, good. Let me see. So Alma is asking which O is the most common in English. So like I said, I think the. The O as in go and oz and father are probably the most common ones. But also you'll see it a lot with. Maybe not that much when. When it's represented with a schwa. Okay. If you have any questions, let me know in the chat. Let's practice. So now. Yes. So I put all the different sounds up here so you can remember. I see that the gold is not that clear. Let me make it so we have the O as in go. Ah, as in cop, or as in for R, as in work, A as in love, oops and schwa, like in reason. So here we have two O's. Say it out loud. Say this word out loud. Now I want you to tell me what is the first. Okay, let me know in the chat. What is the first O? Which one is it? The O is in go. Is it control? Is it the oz and father control? Is it the or as in core? I can already tell you that it's not because there isn't an R after the O. So if there isn't an R, that's not an option. Let's kill it. Okay. Also, the stir sound has to have an R right after. So it's not that. And then is it love control? Or is it a schwa? The beginning. So I get cup, cor. So we said cor. No, because there is. Because why? Because there is no R here. Okay, now here's a little secret. Something that can help you is to first figure out where the primary stress is. Okay, so now as we practice, we are first going to try to figure out where the primary stress is. Why? Because when we know where the primary stress is, we know that it cannot be a schwa. And then the other syllables should be considered as a schwa because the schwa is always unstressed. Let me show you. In the word control, the primary stress is on the second syllable. Control. Control. Control. We don't say control, but control. Now, if you struggle with the primary stress, I want to tell you that I have a bunch of videos about the primary stress. And you should definitely watch them. And this is not a good line. So the primary stress is here. Okay, so we have two syllables. If this is not the primary stress, I would first. And there is no R right after, I would first ask myself, can I reduce it? Okay, can I reduce it? Can I say control? Control. Can I reduce it? If the answer is yes, if it sounds okay, when I reduce is probably a schwa. Okay? It is not control. It's not a cup. It's not an O sound. Hold on, Just moved it. Okay, and control. I mean, it might be, but to me, when I try out those different options, when I try, I know it's easier, like when I say it to me, because obviously I'm teaching this, but I'm assuming that if I were to say control or control, what would sound better to you? If you've heard this word before, you are likely to say control. Control. Control. So this is a schwa sound. Okay, I'm not used to writing with this pen, so forgive me. What about this? Okay, so now we need to explore all the options. So same thing here. If there isn't an R sound right after, I would say let's eliminate those options. Okay, so now. And also it's the primary stress, so it cannot be a schwa. Let's try. Is it control option one? So now I'm going to quiz you. I'm going to give you option 1, 2, and 3. 1, 2 and 3. And you're going to write in the chat, which one is it? Okay, Control. Always in Go. Control. Oz and father. Control. Cup. I'm going to do it again. Control. Control, Control. One, two or three, Put your votes in. One or two? One. Miriam says control. Yes, Miriam, you're right. But what about that second O? Is it O? Ah, would I pronounce it as oh, as a, or as a control? Control or control? Okay, there is a clear winner here. And you are. All right, it is the long O as in go. So even though there is an L right after, which kind of like swallows the vowel, it is still an O as in go. So it feels like there is a W there. Control. Under control. Control, control. Now, please practice it with me. Otherwise it's not going to be as effective. Let's do the next one. Okay, so first syllable is this. I'm going to say it with a pure O. I'll deliberately mispronounce it mo. Now we need to see if it's o, A, or, or first. Where is the primary stress? Which syllable has the primary stress? What would you emphasize first more? Is it motor? I'm deliberately mispronouncing it or motor mator. The first. Okay, so this is the primary stress. So I can already eliminate this one. It's not going to be a schwa. Also, there is no r right after. So it's not going to be the or as in cor. What happened? And no, and it's not going to be the work. Right, so we're debating between O again. Ah. And right. Is it motor? Is it mater? Is it mutter? Mutter. One, two or three? First syllable. Motor, Mater. Mutter. Good, you guys. So you are saying either one or three. Here's a secret. I know it sounds very like, very close, like the motor or mutter. No, it doesn't sound close, actually. Listen, motor mater number two and three is like mutter. It's like cup. Fun, love. I'm going to say that there aren't a lot of words spelled with O that have the cup sound. So when I ask you these questions, I'm going to give you a hint, and you need to decide between these three. 1, 2 and 3. 80% of the words are probably going to be one of those two. Okay? Or even 90% of the words are going to end up having one of those two. So this is the biggest. The big fight between the O as in go and the OS in father. So in this case, most of you said one or two, and you're right, it is O as in go. Again, mo. Now, here we have T O R. So now we need to decide, is it which one is it? Is it motor? It's even hard to say it. Is it as in father, Is it modor or as in cor? Is it motor? Now, I'm going to tell you one more thing. This is always stressed. This has to be the primary stress, the sir sound. So in this case, it's not going to be er, motor or motor schwa. These two are very similar. This is always stressed as well. So the cup sound is not an option. In an unstressed syllable, the stir and the cup are always in the primary stress position. So we know that it's not one of those, and here's why. Because the schwa sound is pretty much the cup sound, but unstressed. Okay, so which one is it? So it's either because we have an R, it's either the or as in core or the schwa sound. Motor or motor. Option one. Motor. Core and motor. Motor. In this case, it is going to be the schwa sound reduced first because it's not the primary stress. And the core likes to be in the primary stress position. Not always, but usually. And usually when you see. Or at the end, not always, but usually it's going to be a schwa sound. Actor. Motor. So we have the long O as in go, and then a schwa sound. Okay, let's continue. Let's take this word. So we have the O sound here. Which one is it? Oven. Number one. Aven ozen. Father. We know that this is not an option because it's the or sound that's the sound. We have to have an R. Oven. Number three. And it cannot be a schwa because it's only. It's the primary stress. Right? This is the primary stress. So it cannot be a schwab. So 1, 2, or 3. I'm going to say it again. Oven. Oven. Oven. Oven. 1. Oven, 2. Oven, 3. Okay, and the winner. Let me just make this a little bigger so you can see it. And the winner. I don't know if you need this bigger. The winner is number three. It's a cup sound. So in this case, it's not going to be oven, even though a lot of you thought it was and a lot of you thought it was oven. This is a tricky word and often mispronounced. So a lot of people do put an O sound. Oven. And this is why oven sounds okay to you. But in fact, it's an open sound. Not open, but like a cup sound. Oven. Oven. Let's put it in a sentence or a phrase. Put it in the oven. It's in the oven. It's in the oven. Okay, we have three O's here. What's the primary stress? Say it out loud and ask yourself, are you pronouncing all those three O's the same? Is it protocol? If yes, then something needs to change. What's the primary stress? First syllable. Is it this, this or this? Change the color for fun. Now we're going to write with blue first. Sharka. Pro. You're right. That's the primary stress. Is it? So we know it's not. There is no R. So we're going to eliminate these options. And we're also going to eliminate the schwa sound because it's the primary stress. Is it pro? Pr, pr. And remember what I said. It's usually between one and two. I'm not telling you the answers. I'm just hinting really clearly. Is it protocol or protocol or PRA? What is it, 1 or 2? O as in go or as in father for the first syllabus. Okay, if you said O, you are right. This is pro, pro, pro. Now we have two more syllables, and I'm going to tell you that when you have three syllables, you are likely to have one schwa sound in it. So in this case, is it proto coal? Is it prota? Cole. What is it? Lucy says pro and then a schwa sound. And you're absolutely right. It's prota. And yes, we have a flap T here. Prota, prota, prota, prota, prota. And then finally, which sound is it? Is it protocol? Protocol, protocol. This is not an option. Is it protocol? Schwa. Protocol, Protocol, protocol, Protocol, Protocol, protocol, protocol. What are you saying? One or two, the last syllable. Protocol, protocol, protocol, schwa. This would be the Ozenfather. Protocol, Protocol, protocol. Very good. Say it out loud. I'm starting to, like, hear all the sounds and everything doesn't make sense. Do you know this thing where you say a sound over and over and over again and then it just sounds weird? This is where I'm at now. All the sounds sound weird and I don't know how to pronounce this anymore. I'm kidding. Slightly. So this is. This has an R right? After. Okay, so while we might see other vowel sounds before, I would say or, or, or this is the primary stressor. You're likely to hear the or. Or. Or. Now, what's happening here? Is it oreo? Right. We said that there is no pure O sound. Is it oreo or ya? No R. Schwa. What do you think? Oreo. Oreo. Oreo. The reason why this is not an O sound, first of all, because it's a diphthong. It's an R vowel. Oreo. Oreo. That would be how you would pronounce it, with the O as in go. Now, it's not very different. Right? Only that you have that additional oo sound. So in this case, we can just settle for the or. Or, or which is the vowel sound. Oreo. Three O'S what's the primary stress? Do you know this word? I don't want to say it because then you'll hear the sounds. Primary stress is the first syllable. Okay, so it's not a schwa. Is it monotone? Is it monotone? It's not. Or is it ma. Natone. What is it? Remember the word pro. Protocol. Protocol. Right. When you have three syllables, one of them is probably going to be a schwa. Which one do you think it is? Here. So here we have the oz and father. Ma. Ma. Ma. Ma. And then we have a reduced vowel, N. And then what do you think the last syllable is? Mana. Mana. What would it be? The O's and go or the oz and father? Monoton. Monotone. Which one? Or monoton? Schwa. Monoton. Schwa. Monoton. Asen. Father or monotone? O is and go. Yes. O is and go. Monotone. Monotone. Monotone. Let's do the last one. And then I'm going to talk about some tricky, tricky words in this word. I'm just going to say it out loud, and I want you to look for the sounds now that you know the sounds. All right? We have O, Ah, or er. Uh. Uh. Now that you. It's kind of like now that you have the words, you can make sense of it. So I'm going to say the word. Try to see if you can identify it. Photography. We have two O's. Photography. Can you start hearing it? Can you start recognizing which one's which? Photography. Fuh. Schwa. Right. Can you hear it? It's not fa. It's not faux photography, by the way. If I were to just say the word Photograph. Photograph. The first O would be O. Photograph. Photography. Let's go through some more words. I'm going to say it, and you try to identify the words based on the words. On. Identify the sounds based on the sounds that you've learned. Morocco. Morocco. Look at my mouth. Ma. Ra. Co. This one, I'm writing it with a W. But, you know, if we're thinking of ipa, this is the ipa. Forgive my handwriting. I don't know how to write with this pen. Okay, this is a schwa. Morocco. Morocco. Good. Practice it with me. Portfolio. Portfolio. Can you hear the sounds? Is it clearer to you what the sounds are? Because that's the purpose of this entire training. You don't need to guess or you don't need to know in advance what the sounds are, but you need to start making sense of the vowels that you hear, because if you can't hear it, you can't make it. And the first step is for you to hear it. Can you hear it? Put yes or no in the comments. Portfolio. So the first one is the or as in core. Because we have an R, right after port. Port. Port. And then we have fo. O is in. Go, Leo. And then another. Oh, Portfolio. Just listen to the sounds good. Next one. Opinion. What do we have here? Opinion. Can you hear? It's not opinion. Opinion. Pinion. Schwa and schwa. A pinion. Monopoly. Now. Monopoly. Monopoly. M. What is it? M. Which one is it? M, M, M, Na. Which one is it? Obviously it's not the O. You can't. You don't see my lips rounding. It's not Monopoly. Right? You see my jaw dropping? Mana. Nicole. Very good. It's the cop sound. Mana. P. P. You see my jaw is not dropping. P. So it's a schwa sound. A reduced vowel. Monopoly. Corporate. This is a tricky one. Listen. Corporate. Pret. What is this? Corporate. Corporate. This doesn't even exist. There isn't a syllable here. There are two syllables in this word. Cor. Prit. Prit. So it's not even a schwa. It's nothing. Okay. There isn't a corporat. You can say. Okay, let me explain. For the ones who would want to pick on this, you can say corporat. And then it would be oops. And then it would be a schwa. Okay? Cor. P. Ret. We have two schwas. But in many cases where you have three syllables and the middle syllable is a schwa, you may reduce the middle syllable completely. Like memory, Family, restaurant. So same thing here. Corporate. Cor. Pret. And this is how I would say it, Cor, pret. So no O whatsoever. And here that would be the or, as in for cor, Corr, Cor. Okay, what about this? Listen closely. Co. Operate. Cooperate. Here we have two O's that represent two vowel sounds. Listen, Koa. Co. O is in go. And then as in father. Koa. Practice it with me. Cooperate. So it's not cooperate. Co. It's not. Oh, but koa. Koa. Co. Opa rate. Cooperate. I got this question. Can you explain how to use this? So technically, when you use ipa, when you write an IPA and you only represent the phonemes, the sounds of the word. Okay? Which is what you would see in pronunciation dictionaries. You need to use these. Okay? So, for example, if I were to write this word in ipa, I would write it like this, co. And then this represents the end of a syllable. Co. Then I would put this. Ah. And then P. And then rate. Cooperate. Oops. Not this. This would be the ipa. Now, if I want to, I'm gonna. I'm gonna change the color just so you see it. This little apostrophe to the left of the syllable suggests that this is the primary stress. So that's how you would read. Great. Okay. Okay, good. So corporate. Corporate, cooperate. Corporate, cooperate. Good. What about this? Comfort. What are the sounds that I'm making? Someone's being impatient out there. Okay. Comfort. Comfort. I don't know if you can hear this, but this was a loud honk. Comfort. Comfort. I'm gonna give it a minute. Okay. So you can practice it in the meantime. Comfort would be a cup set sound. Come. And then a schwa. Comfort. Comfort. Comfort. In the comfort of his car. Comfort. Comfort. Okay, good. Now let's practice tricky ones. Okay. Some tricky, tricky sounds that could be confusing. Model. He's a model. Or she's my model. Versus modal. Especially if you learn English, you learn about modal verbs. Mo. Right? It looks the same. The only difference is E versus A. But these are two different words pronounced differently. Model, Modal. Model, modal. What about this? Which sound is this versus this? Say it out loud. Wonder. Wander. Wonder, Wander. So here it's a little confusing because this is a cup sound. Wonder. I wonder what time it is. I wonder what's happening outside. I wonder why they're being so loud. I wonder all these different things and Wander. I wandered around the streets last night. Wander. That's an ah sound. And that's a terrible, terrible IPA symbol. Wander. Wander. Wonder. Wander. So the one spelled with an O is a cup sound. W. W. Like the word I won. Right. W. Cup sound. W, O. If there isn't an R right after, it's likely to be a cup sound. 1. Wonder. I won the lottery once. Wonder. Okay, another one. Which one's which? Try it. Say both out loud. Is there a difference between the two? There is no difference in the spelling, really. This is co. And this is co. Right. Collar. My collar is colorful. Color. Collar. Color. Caw. Oz and father. Color. Cup. Sound. Collar. Color. Collar. Color. This is just for fun. How would you. How would you pronounce this one? I'm going to give you a tip. So this is a schwa. R. R. Schwa. R is R. R. It's kind of like you're just chewing your R. And here you actually have two options. It could be horror, which is how it's likely to be pronounced in the U.S. horror. Horror. Or you can also use the Oz and Father. Horror. Horror. Here, just think of making one long R. Horror or horror. Horror. I know it's a horrible word to say and I think for non native speakers it might be easier to choose this one because the tongue gets in the way. With this horror, you're likely to keep the tongue up for the R and then it might just sound like one long R. Her right? Is that you? Are you making it sound like this? So in that case, just say ha. R. Horror. Horror. That would make this word a little clearer. Okay, now one last thing before we wrap up. Stress can change the pronunciation of the O. So like I said at the beginning, it really depends where the primary stress is. I told you that when I said talked about the word photograph versus photography. So for example, if we take this word, this could be a noun and a verb. When it's a noun, I bought a new record. The primary stress is on the first syllable. And then this is going to be a schwa. Record. Record. Right. When this is a noun, record. I bought a new record. But when it's a verb, I'm going to record a new video. This is going to be. The primary stress. Cannot be a schwa. Then it's the or as in for record. This becomes a schwa, by the way. Record. I need to record something. Record. So the stress shift changes the pronunciation. Okay, when it's a noun, she's a convict. Convict. Then this is going to be the Oz and father primary stress. Convict. Okay. When it's a verb, it's going to be a schwa because the stress is here. Convict. Convict. Schwa. Convict. Convict. Convict. Convict. Convict. Produce. Produce. Pro O, as in go produce versus to produce. And if the primary stress is not there, it's probably a schwa. Produce. Produce. Especially when you have two syllables. When you have two syllables and the letter with the O is not the primary stress, 80% of the chance that it's going to be a schwa. Sound. Produce. Produce. Produce. No O's here. Here. All right, my friends, that is it. Let me know if you have any questions so far. The purpose of this session is to show you the different pronunciations of the letter O and also to help you start organizing the sounds in your brain. You don't need to be able to pronounce them. You don't need to know in advance how to pronounce each word. But the starting point, and this is what we did today, especially if you're just starting out, is to start making sense of it, is to hear the different sounds and Sometimes the only way to hear those different sounds is to break it down, dismantle everything, and start listening to everything bit by bit by bit. Okay, now the next step, if you want to practice the sound is of course to repeat it. You need a list of words with the same sound. You need to repeat it again and again and again until it becomes a habit for you to pronounce it. But we're not there yet. If you want to go deeper, you can go check out my website, hadarshemish.com of course, subscribe to my YouTube channel if you haven't yet, so you can get free lessons every single week. I have a ton of free resources, audio recordings, practice sheets for you to download so you can speak English with clarity, confidence and freedom. And master pronunciation so you can deliver your message clearly and feel confident. Thank you so much for attending. You guys are awesome. Take care and remember, mistakes is nothing to be afraid of. It's the only way to learn. Take care, my friends. Have a beautiful, beautiful day. Bye.