English
Pronunciation with Speak Method
500 Words Extra Practice: the OU/OW Sound
This
reading passage has many words with "ou" and "ow." Both of these
spellings can sound like the double vowel in "ouch." This is a big
sound--you need to move your lips and open your jaw. Review the sound
with the 500 words list.
Remember:
"ow" can sound like a double vowel, as in "down," or just a long O, as
in "snow." In this passage, "narrowed" is the only "ow" that has a the
long O sound.
House in the South
My husband and I were looking for a new house in the south part of
town. Our real estate agent found thousands of possibilities. We narrowed it down to about fifteen houses. We found a
beautiful house with round staircases and a view of the mountains. But
the agent said that the power bill was outrageous. We continued to
pound the cement for our dream home. For hours we inspected houses and
grounds until we almost gave up. Then the agent said, "how about living
in the north?" We did not like the sound of that at first, but our
agent took us to a house. We were wowed. We
only worried about the names of the streets in the county, which came
from a Native American language. We had no idea how to stress the words
or how to pronounce the vowels.