Podcast 5 Pronunciation 2: stuff - staff, hair - her, cut - caught

Hello and welcome to Blabbinit.com. This is Missy from southern California. Thank you for joining us today. Today we will have our second podcast on pronunciation.

I have chosen 3 pairs of words that sound very similar and are often hard for people who are learning English to pronounce. You can repeat the words after me to practice your pronunciation.

The first set of words are:

stuff s-t-u-f-f and staff s-t-a-f-f

stuff u-u-u stuff and staff a-a-a staff

stuff and staff

Stuff is a synonym for the word “things”.
The stuff is on the table. Stuff.

Staff is a group of people who are employed in a company.
For example: We have a very good staff where I work.

stuff and staff

The second group of words are:

hair h-a-i-r and her h-e-r

hair air-air-air hair and her er-er-er her

hair and her

Hair is what we have on the top of our head.
For example: My hair takes an hour to dry after I take a shower.

Her is a personal pronoun.
For example: Her dog ran to the park.

hair and her

The third set of words are:
cut and caught
cut c-u-t and caught c-a-u-g-h-t

cut u-u-u cut and caught augh-augh-augh caught
cut and caught

Cut is to penetrate something with a sharp instrument.
For example: Will you cut the meat for me?

And caught is the past tense of catch, which means to capture.
For example: The policeman caught the robber.

Well, we hope you have enjoyed our lesson for today. Don’t forget to visit our site for many more ways to practice your English at www.blabbinit.com . Thanks for listening in today. This is Missy from Blabbinit, the chattering world of English! Bye bye!