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• Intonation: The rise and fall of our voice as we speak. For example:
                Used in yes-no questions: "Are you coming?" (The pitch rises at the end of the sentence)
                 • Rhythm: The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. For example:
                "The CAT is ON the MAT." (Stressed syllables: CAT, ON, MAT)


              Phonetics
              Phonetics is the study of the sounds that we make when we speak. We use sounds to speak. Every word is made up
              of one or more sounds. We put these sounds together to pronounce words. Phonetics is essential for understanding
              how languages use sound to convey meaning and for improving pronunciation in language learning. If you engage
              in phonetic exercises and training programs then it will help you enhance your pronunciation skills.
              The English alphabet has 26 letters, from A to Z. But each of these letters can be pronounced in different ways in
              different words. We use 26 letters to write in English. But, we use more than 26 sounds when we speak English. This
              is why, a word's spelling does not always match its pronunciation. Let us see some examples.

              Breakdown of Sounds

                 • Cat (/kæt/): The 'a' in "cat" is pronounced as a short vowel sound, /æ/, which is similar to ",s" in Hindi.
                 • Father (/ˈfɑːðər/): The 'a' in "father" is pronounced as a long vowel sound, /ɑː/, which can be approximated to
                 "vk" in Hindi.
                 • Name (/neɪm/): The 'a' in "name" forms part of a diphthong, /eɪ/, which is a combination of two vowel sounds,
                 similar to ",s" in Hindi.
                 • About (/əˈbaʊt/): The 'a' in "about" is pronounced as a schwa, /ə/, which is an unstressed and neutral sound,
                 often represented as "v" in Hindi.
              Let us take the letter 'a' for example. Read the words below aloud. The letter 'a' is pronounced differently in
              different words as shown in the given table:

                                 Words              Pronunciation of the letter 'a'   Pronuniation in Hindi
                       cat, apple and back                        ,s                       oSQV] ,siy] cSd
                       car, fast and park                        vk                       dkj] iQkLV] ikoZQ

                       call, ball and saw                        vkW                      dkWy] ckWy] lkWo

              Importance of Phonetics
              By understanding and practicing phonetics, you can,
                 • Improve Pronunciation: It helps you learn the correct way to produce the sounds of English, leading to clearer
                 and more accurate speech.

                 • Enhance Listening Skills: It gives you a better platform to recognise and differentiate sounds thus improving
                 comprehension.

                 • Reduce Accent: It helps you gain awareness of how native speakers produce sounds, which helps in reducing
                 accents.
                 • Increase Confidence: It guides you in speaking with correct pronunciation and thus boosts the confidence in
                 communication.

              Types of Sounds
              In the English language the alphabets are not enough to match different types of sounds we make, when we speak.
              Let us take a closer look at the sounds we use. All English words are made of three basic types of sounds.


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