3. Life going to waste

Icono de iDevice Solved exercise: diphthongs

We are going to study three English diphthongs in this topic:


All of them are diphthongs ending in /I/. As you know, you have to learn words and their pronunciation together in English since the spelling often contradicts the pronunciation. For example, let's have a look at the words:

wait / weight

They have different spellings but both are pronounced exactly the same!: /wɛɪt/


Icono IDevice Pronunciation Activity

Do you remember the song Feel by Robbie Williams we heard in the introduction of this topic?

Here are the lyrics again!

Go back to the song and listen to it in order to focus in the pronunciation of isolated words. Find words in the song with the diphthongs we are studying in this section.

Feel

Come and hold my hand
I wanna contact the living
Not sure I understand
This role I've been given
I sit and talk to God
And he just laughs at my plans
My head speaks a language
I don't understand

I just wanna feel
Real love feel the home that I live in
Cos I got too much life
Running through my veins
Going to waste
I don't wanna die
But I ain't keen on living either
Before I fall in love
I'm preparing to leave her

Scare myself to death
That's why I keep on running
Before I've arrived
I can see myself coming

I just wanna feel
Real love feel the home that I live in
Cos I got too much life
Running through my veins
Going to waste
And I need to feel
Real love and the love ever after
I can not get enough

I just wanna feel
Real love feel the home that I live in
I got too much love
Running through my veins
To go to waste



I just wanna feel
Real love and the love ever after
There's a hole in my soul
You can see it in my face
It's a real big place

Come and hold my hand
I wanna contact the living
Not sure I understand
This role I've been given
Not sure I understand
Not sure I understand
Not sure I understand
Not sure I understand


/aɪ/
/ɛɪ/
/ɔɪ/
     


Pregunta de Selección Múltiple

Choose the correct diphthong according to each word's pronunciation:

By Arno & Louise, C. Commons

 

By Denver Pam, C. Commons

 

1. enjoy

a. /aɪ/
b. /ɛɪ/
c. /ɔɪ/
d. other



2. guide
a. /aɪ/
b. /ɛɪ/
c. /ɔɪ/
d. other



3. straight
a. /aɪ/
b. /ɛɪ/
c. /ɔɪ/
d. other



Icono IDevice Further knowledge
There is a really useful website to learn about different dipthongs in English and their pronunciation. Click here to visit the site! Don't miss it!

Icono IDevice Writing Activity

Time to write! In this unit you can see plenty of news articles and you have learned a lot about the passive voice. Now it's your turn to write!


By Olivander, C. Commons


Write a short article (about 80-100 words) beginning by "A man was arrested yesterday by mistake".


Well done! Now go on with the section 'Practice your English' and do the rest of the tasks.