Hello, I'm Gill at engVid, and today's lesson
is on the pronunciation of some words which contain either S or Z sounds. They look the same quite often, or very similar,
but the pronunciation is different, depending on various factors. So, let's have a look at some examples. This - a rule you that you can follow that
if it's a verb, an action word, the sound is a Z sound, "zuh zuh", as with the word
"close", okay. So if you ask someone to close the window,
it's a Z sound, but if you have an S sound, it will probably be either an adjective, a
noun, or an adverb, so that if you have "I like to sit close - close to the window",
that's an adverb. Close to the window, then it's an S sound. And also, the window looks out onto the close. A close is like a little street or maybe a
little enclosed area. A close, you sometimes hear street names,
something Close, like "Clifton Close", something like that, with capital "C", Close, so it's
a sort of small street outside where people live in a residential area usually. Okay, so, you can see that the word "close"
is spelled the same for all of these, but the pronunciation for the verb is "cloze"
with a Z sound, and for the other two, for the noun and the adverb, it's "close" with
an S sound, okay. So, this is a little rule that you can follow
for a few other words as well. So, let's have a look at those words and I'll
explain each one. So, here's the word we've just used here,
close, for the verb, to close, to "cloze" your eyes, "cloze". "Cloze" the window, "cloze" the door, okay? But if you're using this word as an adjective
or an adverb, you say "close". Sitting close to the window, okay? And also, as a noun, the Close, the little
street outside. Close, with an S. Okay, so, another verb and
noun which the same thing happens to is "use", to use, which is the Z sound, what kind of
pen do you "uze". I don't think there's an adjective or an adverb
for that word, but we have a noun "use". What "use" is a pen when the ink has run out? What use is that pen, and what use is a noun
-- "use" with an S sound, okay? And similar to "use" we have "excuse", or
"excuze" "excuze me", to excuse somebody is the verb, but if you use it as a noun, if
I make an excuse why I can't go to somebody's party, I gave them a good excuse, and that's
a noun. Excuse with S. "Excuze" me, I have an excuse,
so it depends on what part of speech it is, a verb or a noun, okay. Then this one, mostly we think of this word
as a noun, a house, a house, a building where somebody lives, house, so it's an S sound
and it's a noun. But, you can use it as an adjective if you're
describing, for example, somebody who paints and decorates they are a house painter, so
there you're using the word "house" as an adjective to describe what kind of painter,
so it can be used as an adjective. But you can also, as a verb, you can "houze"
people, if you have enough rooms to "houze" 100 people, something like that. So, house to "houze" as a verb has the Z sound
in it, okay. Then we have a couple of examples where the
spelling actually changes, but the Z and the S rule applies to these as well, and also
people often get confused with this one. Loose and lose, so it's useful to see that
and clarify when is it a single "o", when is it a double "o", okay, as well as how to
pronounce it. Okay, so next one, lose, to lose something. I hate it when I "loze" my keys, so that's
a Z sound. If something is "loose" though, this a different
spelling, double "o" instead of one "o", but "loose", I'm wearing a loose scarf, it's not
tight around my neck so it's loose. As an adjective it's an S sound. And then there is a noun, it's not used very
much, but in one context. If some animal, wild animal has escaped from
a zoo, you say "It's on the loose". On the loose, so that's a noun, and it's also
double "o" and with the S sound, okay? And then finally, another one where the spelling
changes and, strangely, the Z sound is spelled with an S and the S sounds are spelled with
a "c" just to make it different! But to advise somebody, I have to "advize"
you about something is a Z sound, that's the verb. If you have an advice session with somebody,
that would be this as an adjective, advice session, so that's an S sound, advice, spelled
with a "c" but an S sound. And to give somebody some advice is a noun. So, again, advice with an S sound but spelled
with a "c". Okay. So, there are not many words that do this. I found as many of them as I could, so there
are not many, but I hope that helps to clarify a little bit and then, in the second part
of the lesson, I will give you - we've got three example sentences here using "cloze",
close, close, I'll give you some more example sentences using these words in different ways,
so that you can hear the different pronunciations, okay. Okay, so let's look at some example sentences
using these words, and I'll give you the chance to decide how to pronounce each one depending
on whether it's a verb or a noun or an adjective or adverb, okay? So, let's look at the first pair of sentences,
which are both using this word ___ (use), okay? So, you have to decide whether to say "uze"
or "use", so first of all: "This bicycle is broken - it's of no ___ to me." And the other sentence: "If you need to get
home quickly, you can ___ my bicycle", okay? So, one is S, one is Z. So, which one? Which is the verb? If you find the verb, then you know the other
one is the S sound. So, the verb is Z, the other one is the S,
so which one is the verb? Okay, is it the first sentence using the verb,
or the second sentence? Okay, you can "uze", you can "uze" my bicycle,
that's the action word, to use the bicycle, okay? So that's the Z there, and it's of no use
to me, because the "use" the use, that's the clue, it has the definite article if you reword
it, the use of, no use, no use is a noun. So, that's the S sound, okay? Right. So, then we have another pair of sentences,
and this time the word is that one (excuse). So, "He made an _______, as he didn't want
to go to the cinema." And then "Please _______ me, I need to leave
now." So, which one is the verb, which one is the
noun? Okay, so you're asking somebody to "excuze"
you. "Please excuze me", so that's the Z one, "excuze"
me, okay. So, this one, he made an "excuse", that's
a noun, okay? So, with an S sound. He made an excuse. It has "an" with it, the indefinite article,
"an excuse" - noun. So, he made an excuse. Please "excuze" me. Right. Then, we have three sentences together, because
we've got this word (house) with three different parts of speech. So, "We don't have enough rooms to _______
all the students." "Their _____ was designed by a famous architect." And "I have a friend who works as a _____
painter." So, which one is the verb? Okay, you've got a clue here, to "houze",
you've got the infinitive here, to "houze", so that's the verb, to "houze", to find space
for all the students, for one room for each student or two students sharing, we don't
have enough rooms to "houze", to accommodate, okay? Then their - noun - their house is a noun,
their house was designed by a famous architect, and I have a friend who works as a house painter,
so adjective, noun, house painter, so another S sound, okay. Then we have another three sentences for this
word (loose/lose) where the spelling changes as well from one "o" to double "o". So, "An escaped tiger is on the _____ from
the local zoo.", "There's a hole in your pocket, don't ____ your keys.", and "I prefer to wear
_____ clothes - they're more comfortable." So, which is the verb? So, telling somebody not to do something this
time, don't "loze" your keys. So, that's the verb with the Z sound, okay,
and you can tell also from the spelling, because the verb has a single "o" and the other two
have double "o". So, an escaped tiger is on the loose, that's
an unusual expression, I don't know how "the loose" can be used for anything else except
anything -- any wild animal or possibly an escaped prisoner from a prison could be on
the loose. Anybody who is out who shouldn't be out, basically,
the loose, okay? And I prefer to wear loose clothes - they're
more comfortable. Loose as an adjective, loose clothes, S sound,
okay? Right. Then finally, for this word (advice/advise)
which has a change of spelling as well, again. So, her _____ was very helpful. I need someone to ______ me. We had an ______ session at college today. So, which is the verb, first of all? And the spelling will give you a clue. Again, you've got an infinitive here, to advise,
so that gives you a clue. "Advize", Z sound, to "advize", I need someone
to "advize" me. Her advice, S sound, noun, her advice, the
advice was very helpful. And here, it's used as an adjective, an advice
session, so that's an S sound again, but spelled with a "c", so we had an advice session at
college today. Okay, so, that's a bit complicated but I hope
it's helped you to find your way around it and work out how to pronounce these words
that all look the same based on what parts of speech they are. So, thank you for watching, please go to the
website www.engvid.com where there's a quiz to test you on this, and see you again next
time. Bye for now.
