Distinguish pronunciation

Try pronouncing the two-word combination "month sister" when you can say those two words back-to-back without any discernible pause, then stop the word sister after you've said the si. Then work on reducing the length of the short i until you are just pronouncing the s. At that point you will be pronouncing months correctly. The s on the end can be difficult to hear, but both words are usually paired with a determiner: I'll go in a month I'll go in a few months I'll go in one month I'll go in two months The word month always needs to be used with a determiner, such as "a month" or "one month". The word months is different because it doesn't always have to have a determiner: This project is months away from being done. Correct! This project is month away from being done. Wrong! The "th" sound is one of the most difficult phonemes in English for non-native speakers, as many other languages don't have such a sound. It's quite possible that there is nothing wrong with your hearing, but rather your interlocutor isn't able to pronounce "months" correctly. In that case, rely on context cues as @Mark suggests. As with other countable nouns, "months" should be preceded by a determiner such as a, one, two, etc. If there is no article, then it's plural. The month(s) is trickier; you'll have to think. Examples: • I'll be away for a month(s). "A" implies singular. • I'll be away for a few month(s). "Few" implies plural. • It's that time of the month(s) again. Only "month" makes sense. ...

dis•tin•guish /dɪˈstɪŋgwɪʃ/ USA pronunciation v. • to mark off as different; show a difference: [~ +object +from +object ]His height distinguishes him from the other boys. • to recognize as distinct or different: [~ +between +object ] I couldn't distinguish between some of the French vowels. [~ +object +from +object ] Can you distinguish right from wrong? • to perceive or sense clearly by the senses; recognize: [~ +object ]Without my glasses I can't distinguish certain signs on the road. • to set apart as different; characterize: [~ +object ]Her Italian accent distinguishes her. • to make prominent or eminent: [~ +oneself ]He distinguished himself in the arts. dis•tin•guish•a•ble, adj. See -stin-. dis•tin•guish (di sting ′gwish), USA pronunciation v.t. • to mark off as different (often fol. by from or by): He was distinguished from the other boys by his height. • to recognize as distinct or different; recognize the salient or individual features or characteristics of: It is hard to distinguish her from her twin sister. • to perceive clearly by sight or other sense; discern; recognize: He could not distinguish many of the words. • to set apart as different; be a distinctive characteristic of; characterize: It is his Italian accent that distinguishes him. • to make prominent, conspicuous, or eminent: to distinguish oneself in battle. • to divide into classes; classify: Let us distinguish the various types of metaphor. • [Archaic. ]to single out for or honor with special atte...

Still (/stɪl/) and steel (/sti:l/) are distinguishable. The vowel sounds in these two words are different. Steal and Steel (/sti:l/) are homophones and are pronounced exactly the same. However, the words are, in this case, easily identified by grammar. In this sentence, "steal" is a verb and "steel" is a noun. "Steel" as a verb cannot take "steal" (as a noun) as its object. So there is no ambiguity in the sentence. @MattThrower: I disagree with your comment both as a matter of fact and as a matter of logic. U.S. English is my first language (and, FWIW, essentially my only one) and I agree with the three answers, which say that “steal” and “steel” are homophones. I pronounce them exactly the same, so there’s no way anybody could distinguish which one I’m saying. And, if I heard somebody say two words that were distinguishable from each other (but different from “still”), without context, I wouldn’t know which was which. Context is the key to understanding. If your reader or conversation partner understands you are talking about someone or something with a habit of misappropriating steel, then it is perfectly reasonable to say they still steal steel or steal steel still. If they do not have that context, they you may need to explain it. Most native speakers of English will pronounce steal and steel identically, but differently from still. Some people in Yorkshire might pronounce all three differently, and some people in Tennessee might pronounce all three the same. In all th...

As a non-native speaker, I feel that it is ridiculous that can and can't could sound so similar in American accent. Just now, I was just listening to a video in which the speaker with an American accent says Fat cells can't reproduce themselves. The speaker dragged the word "can't" longer for emphasis, but perhaps as a result, what I heard at first was Fat cells can reproduce themselves. Of course from the context I later figured out what he was really saying, but I felt extremely surprised by how these two words which literally mean the opposite could sound so similar in American accent. How is that not affecting American people's daily conversations? As a non-native speaker, is there a way for me to further clarify them when my listeners are confused? (Like when you say "one-eight" to clarify that you were trying to say "eighteen" as opposed to "eighty".) I'm a native speaker of American English with Chicago/Ohio influences from my parents and have grown up mostly in the South. Here's how I do it: I "kin" [can] go tomorrow, or, I "kən" [can] go tomorrow. These two vowel options are not necessary perceived as a binary choice, in other words, they easily blend into a hybrid vowel which is mostly subsumed by the nasal n sound. There is a moderately audible exhalation of air on the K, and once the jaws pulls up from the aɪ of the preceding word, the jaw stays in place. There is practically no vowel sound other than the humming of the n. It's really "kn". Remember, in English...

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Noun Hill now has the opportunity to be the same kind of difference maker after making the save at the same end of the ice as Holtby five years earlier. — Stephen Whyno, ajc, 4 June 2023 There may be some differences between the audio and the text. — Taylor Wilson, USA TODAY, 3 June 2023 The group also spoke about the difference in today’s sitcoms — and the lack of the multi-cam. — Emily Longeretta, Variety, 2 June 2023 Although drug resistance has been detected in these worms in some regions of the southern U.S., there are still effective treatments, and the resistance trait does not appear to have spread, probably because of differences in the biology and epidemiology of this parasite compared with hookworms. — Bradley Van Paridon, Scientific American, 1 June 2023 However, there are some important differences in how these problems were solved in these very different species. — Avery Hurt, Discover Magazine, 1 June 2023 More people are now turning to the charitable food system, including pantries like Gather, to make up the difference. — Amanda Gokee, BostonGlobe.com, 1 June 2023 Discerning the differences between these three Ultra models can be tricky. — Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, The Verge, 1 June 2023 Another point of difference is the packaging: epres is a spray-on treatment that applies more like a lightweight detangling mist than a heavy conditioning cream. — Megan Decker, refinery29.com, 31 May 2023 Verb Special teams difference After a penalty-free first period, the...