You may find that you add /h/ to syllables that begin with a vowel sound. This worksheet will help you become aware of the difference between pronouncing /h/ and not pronouncing /h/.
The following words are minimal pairs → they are differentiated by only one sound: the /h/. Read the words with the hand-phone and listen to the audio.
No H and H Words
1 air – hair /ɛː - hɛː/
2 I – high /ʌɪ - hʌɪ/
3 arm – harm /ɑːm – hɑːm/
4 eight – hate /eɪt – heɪt/
5 edge – hedge /ɛʤ - hɛʤ/
6 am – ham /am – ham/
7 eat – heat /iːt – hiːt/
8 ear – hear /ɪə - hɪə/
9
ill – hill /ɪl – hɪl/
10 angry – hangry /ˈaŋgri – ˈhaŋgri/
To use the hand-phone, put one hand behind your ear
and the other hand in front of your mouth. If you say a word with /h/ in, then you can feel
air on your hand and you can hear the sound of the air.
For the words without /h/, it may help to start with a glottal stop. This is created by closing the vocal folds for a short period of time. It will sound like the initial vowel is started suddenly. To listen to a glottal stop, go to the consonant chart on my website and click the ʔ symbol.
Here is another method to help you stop adding /h/ to syllables beginning with a vowel: use the consonant sound before to link. It will help to imagine that the final consonant of the previous word is actually at the start of the next word.
Linking Sentences 1 Good evening
2 3 Tim’s older than Ed Give Amy an answer
→ Goo-devening → Tim’-solder tha-nEd → Gi-veAmy a-nanswer 4 Mark’s on holiday in April → Mark’-son holiday i-nApril
