Today, we’re following on from last week’s episode on /Ʌ/ and /ʊ/, looking at the short vowel /ʊ/ and adding on the long vowel /u:/.

Let’s start with some common words with the sounds separately. We’ll start by repeating just a few of the /ʊ/ sounds from last week.

1.       bullet

2.       butcher

3.       cook

4.       cushion

5.       foot

6.       good

7.       hook

8.       push

9.       stood

10.   sugar

11.   took

12.   woman

And now some common words with /u:/

1.       afternoon

2.       bedroom

3.       boot

4.       choose

5.       do

6.       food

7.       fruit

8.       future

9.       improve

10.   lose

11.   movie

12.   music

13.   news

14.   pool

15.   routine

16.   rule

17.   shoe

18.   soon

19.   student

20.   supermarket

21.   through

22.   to

23.   tooth

24.   true

25.   use

26.   view

27.   who

28.   you

There are very few minimal pairs with /ʊ/ and /u:/, and as last week some of them venture into some strange vocabulary!  There are so few today that we’ll read all the words both ways. First, listen to and repeat both. 

1.       full                       fool

2.       look                     Luke 

3.       pull                      pool

4.       soot                     suit

 We could also consider two more, but only where the modal verbs take their stressed rather than unstressed form (where the vowel is reduced to schwa).

5.       could                   cooed

6.       should                shooed               

 Now I’ll read the /ʊ/ form. Can you add the /u:/?          

1.       full                       

2.       look                     

3.       pull                      

4.       soot                     

5.       could                   

6.       should                

Listen and check.

1.       full                       fool

2.       look                     Luke 

3.       pull                      pool

4.       soot                     suit

5.       could                   cooed

6.       should                shoed

And now I’ll read the /u:/ form. Can you add the /ʊ/?                     

1.                                    fool

2.                                    Luke 

3.                                    pool

4.                                    suit

5.                                    cooed

6.                                    shoed

Listen and check.

1.       full                       fool

2.       look                     Luke 

3.       pull                      pool

4.       soot                     suit

5.       could                   cooed

6.       should                shoed

Let’s now try some sentences with a combination of the words we’ve looked at.

-          Luke looks cool at the pool.

-          His suit looks full of soot.  

-          The butcher soon cooked good food.

-          You stood on the bedroom cushion in shoes! 

-          As a rule, the woman took to the pool in the afternoon.

And as always, it would be brilliant practice for you to choose your own words from the list and make your own sentences.