This week we’re continuing from last week, looking at /w/ and /v/ in the middle or at the end of words. I explained how to make the sounds last week, and we practised them at the beginning of words, so if you haven’t checked that out yet, please start there.

If you’re ready to move on, let’s start with some common words with /w/ in the middle of the word. 

1.       afterwards

2.       always

3.       away

4.       anyway

5.       between

6.       forward

7.       meanwhile

8.       network

9.       nowhere

10.   quality

11.   quantity

12.   question

13.   quick

14.   quiet

15.   quite

16.   railway

17.   reward

18.   sequence

19.   sweep

20.   swim

21.   switch

22.   towards

23.   twenty

24.   worldwide

While you’ll notice that all of these are represented by the letter ‘w’ or a ‘qu’ combination, remember that a ‘w’ in the middle of a word doesn’t always mean it’s pronounced, like in ‘owner’ , ‘power’, ‘newspaper’. You’ll notice there aren’t any words with /w/ at the end, although this is a common spelling pattern. Where we see a ‘w’ at the end of the word, it is typically silent, as in ‘slow’ or ‘few’. However, that ‘w’ does sometimes become half pronounced in connected speech, where followed by a vowel sound, for example in “He’s a slow old dog” or “Can I have a few of those books?” In fact, a /w/ sound can even sneak in where there is no written ‘w’, like in the phrase “please go on”. Learning these features of connected speech is a great way to unlock higher levels of listening, as well as a great feeling of spoken fluency, and we’ll talk about all of this more in future episodes.

And now let’s look at some common words with a /v/ sound in the middle or at the end of the word.

1.       above

2.       advice

3.       average

4.       behaviour

5.       convenient

6.       conversation

7.       develop

8.       device

9.       drive

10.   eleven

11.   environment

12.   every

13.   favourite

14.   give

15.   government

16.   have

17.   involve

18.   leave

19.   love

20.   move

21.   never

22.   over

23.   save

24.   several

And now some words with /w/ and /v/.

1.       everywhere

2.       giveaway

3.       heavyweight

4.       housewives

5.       overweight

6.       overwhelmed

7.       quiver

8.       reviewer

9.       swerve

10.   twelve

11.   wave

12.   whatever