The letter O in English can say many sounds. The video below gives examples of letter O as vowel /oʊ/ as in no snow, /ɑ/ as in not hot, /ɔ/ as in long dog, and /ʌ/ as in some money.
The "SH" /ʃ/ and "CH" /tʃ/ sounds in English can have accent error patterns because they have some similarities. An important distinction is that the "SH" sound is a continuant (we can hold the sound), and the "CH" sound cannot be held. Use the video below to help you learn these 2 sounds and practice saying them correctly.
Need more help with these sounds? Get help for all of the letters and sounds of English in our Sounds of English Course!
Squirrel has similar sound patterns to some other difficult words in American English like rural, world and girl. Here's help for those words, too:
Even though the correct pronunciation of "clothes" has the voiced TH and the z sounds, many native speakers make this word easier by leaving out the TH. They pronounce it as "cloze" just like the verb "close."
Voiced TH /ð/ is less common at the ends of words, but there are some words that have it. For example, the verbs bathe, clothe, teeth, seethe and breathe all have /ð/. The words with and without can be pronounced with either voiceless or voiced TH.
Need help with other words which end in -ths? Check out the video below.
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