《Verbal Advantage Level 5》.doc

VERBAL ADVANTAGE Level V By Charles Harrington Elster Verbal Advantage Level Five With Pronunciations, Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Information Listed in Order of Presentation, by Level and Number. The abbreviation N.B. stands for the Latin nota bene and means note well, take good note of. N.B. Level Five begins with an overview of the subject of pronunciation. Following is a summary of some of the main points - three things you can do, starting now, that will improve your speech: (1) pay closer attention to how other people speak; (2) make sure to check the pronunciation of every word you look up in the dictionary; and (3) learn how to interpret diacritical marks-the symbols dictionaries use to indicate pronunciation. (The discussion covers the macron, breve, schwa, dieresis, and circumflex, as well as stress or accent marks.) Watch out for these common mispronunciations: ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? height with kite, not HYTH (like high plus -th). wash Dont insert an R and say wash mischievous MIS-chuh-vus (three syllables), not mis-CHEE-vee-us (four syllables). accurate AK-yuh-rit, not AK-ur-it. drowned One syllable, rhyming with sound, not DROWN-did (two syllables). idea Say eye-DEE-uh, not eye-DEER. irrelevant Say i-REL-uh-vint, not i-REV-uh-lint. jewelry Say JOO-wuul-ree, not JOO-luh-ree. theater Say TREE-uh-tur, not thee-AY-tur. nuclear Say NOO-klee-ur, not NOO-kyuh-lur. admirable Say ADmirable, not adMIRable. formidable Say FORmidable, not forMIDable. comparable Say COMparable, not comPAIRable. impotent Say IM-puh-tent, not im-POH-tent. disparate Say DIS-puh-rit, not dis-PAR-it. gondola Say GON-duh-luh, not gahn-DOH-luh. Verbal Advantage Level Five ? ? influence Say INfluence, not inFLUence. superfluous Say soo-PURF-loo-us, not soo-pur-FLOO-us Take care to eschew (avoid, shun) these two bad habits: (1) Dont invent your own pronunciations or guess how a word is pronounced. (2) Dont blindly imitate other peoples pronunciation. When in doubt, go to