Go to /m/ Worksheet /n/ “then” vs /m/ “them” Comparison Remember to do articulation exercises before practising the sounds.
- When practising sounds: 1. FEEL (what can you feel your muscles doing?) 2. SEE (look at yourself in the mirror) 3. HEAR (listen to the audio tracks and use the hand-phone to listen to yourself)
You may come up with different ideas to the ones in the boxes. That’s fine! /n/
Spelling Patterns
FEEL +
SEE HEAR
“n” or “nn”: none, sinner, gin (“nn” does not indicate a longer /n/ sound)
“m” or “mm”: mum, simmer, gym (“mm” does not indicate a longer /m/ sound)
Lips close. Tongue stays down. Feel vibrations on the lips.
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Minimal pairs are words that sound the same apart from one sound. The only difference between then /ðɛn/ and them /ðɛm/ is the consonant sound. Some non-native speakers will replace /m/ at the end of a syllable with /n/. There is usually no problem when /m/ is at the beginning of a syllable.
Words (minimal pairs in the order /n/ - /m/) 1 Ann – am 2 hone – home 6 gun – gum 7 then – them 3 fawn* – form 4 turn – term 5 Tyne* – time 8 rune – room 9 cistern* – system 10 Sunday - someday * fawn /fɔːn/, Tyne /tʌɪn/, cistern /ˈsɪstən/, system /ˈsɪstəm/