Silent /r/
When there is no vowel following it, /r/ is silent. This ‘rule’ only applies to some speakers of English, e.g. in south-east England, South Africa, Australia. But many native speakers always pronounce /r/, e.g. in southwest England, Scotland, America. So you may choose to omit this exercise if you are learning a variety of English where /r/ is always pronounced. |
Listen to this conversation while reading it silently. Notice that every letter Y is silent. Then practise reading the conversation aloud.
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In the airport
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| ANNOUNCER: |
R.T. Airways flight number four four seven to New York will depart later this afternoon at 16.40 hours. |
| DR DARLING: |
Wonderful! I'm going to the bar to order some more German beer. |
| MR MARTIN: |
Where's the bar? |
| DR DARLING: |
It's upstairs. There's a bookshop too. And a supermarket. This is a marvellous airport! |
| MR MARTIN: |
Oh dear! I wanted to get to New York earlier. Ah! Here's an air hostess. Excuse me. I don't understand. Has there been an emergency? |
| AIR HOSTESS: |
Oh, no, sir. There's just a storm, and the weather forecast says it will get worse. So the plane will leave a little later this afternoon. |
| MR MARTIN: |
Are you sure? |
| AIR HOSTESS: |
Oh, yes, sir. Our departure time is at 4.40 this afternoon. |
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