This week we’re continuing from last week, looking at /w/ and /v/ in the middle or at the end of words. I explained how to make the sounds last week, and we practised them at the beginning of words, so if you haven’t checked that out yet, please start there.
If you’re ready to move on, let’s start with some common words with /w/ in the middle of the word.
1. afterwards
2. always
3. away
4. anyway
5. between
6. forward
7. meanwhile
8. network
9. nowhere
10. quality
11. quantity
12. question
13. quick
14. quiet
15. quite
16. railway
17. reward
18. sequence
19. sweep
20. swim
21. switch
22. towards
23. twenty
24. worldwide
While you’ll notice that all of these are represented by the letter ‘w’ or a ‘qu’ combination, remember that a ‘w’ in the middle of a word doesn’t always mean it’s pronounced, like in ‘owner’ , ‘power’, ‘newspaper’. You’ll notice there aren’t any words with /w/ at the end, although this is a common spelling pattern. Where we see a ‘w’ at the end of the word, it is typically silent, as in ‘slow’ or ‘few’. However, that ‘w’ does sometimes become half pronounced in connected speech, where followed by a vowel sound, for example in “He’s a slow old dog” or “Can I have a few of those books?” In fact, a /w/ sound can even sneak in where there is no written ‘w’, like in the phrase “please go on”. Learning these features of connected speech is a great way to unlock higher levels of listening, as well as a great feeling of spoken fluency, and we’ll talk about all of this more in future episodes.
And now let’s look at some common words with a /v/ sound in the middle or at the end of the word.
1. above
2. advice
3. average
4. behaviour
5. convenient
6. conversation
7. develop
8. device
9. drive
10. eleven
11. environment
12. every
13. favourite
14. give
15. government
16. have
17. involve
18. leave
19. love
20. move
21. never
22. over
23. save
24. several
And now some words with /w/ and /v/.
1. everywhere
2. giveaway
3. heavyweight
4. housewives
5. overweight
6. overwhelmed
7. quiver
8. reviewer
9. swerve
10. twelve
11. wave
12. whatever