Review of the /ɘr/ Sound

Mastering the American Accent » Review of the /ɘr/ Sound

Review of the /ɘr/ Sound

Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first.
Ernestine Ulmer

The words work, turn, bird, and early are all spelled with a different vowel, yet the vowel sound is the same. This frequently happens when a vowel is followed by the letter r. The sound remains /ɘr/. Non-native speakers are frequently tempted to pronounce the vowels as they are spelled, and they make the common mistakes of saying “wore+k” instead of “were +k” (for work) and “two+rn” instead of turn. Sometimes they will even pronounce bird as “beer +d.”

Words for Practice

Practice saying the following words with the /ɘr/ sound. Make sure the vowel sound doesn’t change even though the spelling does.

	ER	EAR	IR	OR	UR
1.	her	early	circle	work	turn
2.	serve	earth	dirt	worry	curly
3.	verb	earn	first	worse	burn
4.	were	heard	girl	worm	Thursday
5.	nerd	learn	birthday	world	hurt

Sentences for Practice

What were the first words that she learned?
I will learn the German verbs by Thursday.
It’s too early to serve dessert.
The third version is worse than the first.
It’s not worth worrying about another birthday.
I heard some curse words at work.
They weren’t certain that the Earth circles the sun.

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