Name: Learn English | The IMPOSSIBLE ?consonant cluster: THR | How to Speak English | Rachel’s English
Uploaded: 2020-03-09T05:20:27.000Z
Duration: 8 min 58 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

And it got me thinking about the THR consonant cluster.

The THR cluster combines two of the  hardest sounds in American English.

So in today's video, we're going to break it  down into easy and efficient steps.

I'll show you how to practice to help make the words with these sounds more comfortable.

You'll also learn powerful new vocabulary words that have this THR cluster like,

Stoney still can't do a TH. He says free instead of three.

This became especially clear when he  turned three recently.

I can't think of any words where the TH in  this cluster is voiced.

So if you can think of any words put them  in the comments.

For the unvoiced th, the tongue tip must come through the teeth. Thh--

I've made a couple of videos that go more  in depth on the TH.

And if you haven't seen them yet check out this playlist.

I've seen lots of students put way too much of the tongue out incorrect.

There's no pressure, just a light free flow of air.

The tongue tip is the most forward for TH  out of all of the sounds.

And out of all of the sounds, the tongue tip is the furthest back for the R. Let's look at two photos.

We have the TH on the left and the R on the right.

Tongue tip through the teeth for the TH then pulled slightly back for the R.

I'm going to put the photos one on top of the other now.

I want you to see that even though they are the two extremes for tongue position in English.

The tip is slightly through the front teeth  and then pulled slightly back.

Look at the positions side-by-side again.

They're totally relaxed for the TH but flared for the R.

Let's look at some closed slow-motion footage.

This is from an older video where I'm going over the pronunciation of the word thrifty,

which is used to describe someone who spends money carefully,

does not waste money tries to spend as  little as possible.

Not too much of the tongue, just the tip.

Now, the lips come in a bit, a little flair.

Do you see that tension in the corners of the lips?

That's what we do to make the lips come  in for that small flare.

Compare that with the corners of the lips totally relaxed.

This is for the EE as in she vowel at the end of the word.

Let's look again. This time from the front.

Tongue tip through the teeth, then the lips flare slightly.

Remember, the tongue tip is pulled back a  bit for the sound.

I really recommend practicing holding out the R.

it often helps my students find the correct position.

Let's do some words. Say them out loud with me.

We'll say the word once, then we'll say it holding out the R, then we'll say it again.

I'll also do a sentence for each word, and for each word that I think you might not know, i'll give you the definition.

These are all of the most common words with THR that you might find.

It's a difficult time but we'll get through it.

Throw, threw, thrown, throwing, throws, throwback.

Notice this is an irregular verb. For the past tense, you don't add ED. Throw becomes threw.

That's a homophone, meaning it sounds exactly the same as the word we just did: through.

Don't throw it away, I might need it later.

Threat, threaten, threatened, threatening, threats.

This is when something made of fabric  like clothing or furniture,

maybe a stuffed animal, gets very worn with age.

This word is interesting because the letter H goes with S to make the SH sound, but then it also makes an H.

This is the bottom part of a doorway. You  cross over it to get into a room.

We also use it to mean the point at which  something changes.

You have to keep a GPA of 3.0 to keep your scholarship below that threshold and you lose it.

Subtitles ListPlay Video

Learn English | The IMPOSSIBLE ?consonant cluster: THR | How to Speak English | Rachel’s English

stuff

slightly

thrive

practice