The Pronunciation and Meaning of: Though, Thought, Tough, Thorough, Through, and Throughout

In this English lesson I'll help you with the pronunciation and meaning of the following words: Though, Thought, Tough, Thorough, Through, and Throughout. They all look similar, but have different pronunciations and different meanings. As an English learner this can be very confusing. In this lesson I'll try to explain things as clearly as possible.

Throughout the lesson I'll be sure to go to different locations so that you have something fun to look at as I teach. That way, if the English lesson gets boring, you'll at least have an exciting background to look at!

I hope you enjoy this English lesson about: Though, Thought, Tough, Thorough, Through, and Throughout!

Note: This is the audio portion of a Youtube English lesson which you can watch right  here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Bjk92yDWEM or by searching Youtube for, "Bob the Canadian Though Thought"

Transcript

So I thought in this English lesson I would talk about something that's a little bit tough. But even though it might be hard to understand, I think if I do a thorough job as I go through the lesson, you'll be able to understand what I'm talking about. And throughout the lesson, I'll try to find interesting places to stand so that if I'm boring and the lessons boring, you'll at least have something fun to look at.

So if you haven't figured it out yet, this lesson is about the following words. Let me get out my notes here so I say them properly. The words through, tough, thorough, though, thought and throughout. These words look kind of similar, but they're obviously pronounced differently and have different meanings, and in this English lesson, we'll take a look at all of them.

Let's talk about the word through. Let me say it a few more times so you can hear how it sounds: through, through. I'm actually putting my tongue between my teeth when I say it, through, the word through means when something goes into something else and then sometimes comes out the other side. Let me show you by example. If I take my wedding ring off, I can put my finger through the wedding ring. If this button was undone, I can put this button through the button hole. But it also doesn't have to mean that something comes out the other side. We can also do this. I can pick up my tripod and we can then walk through this vineyard. It doesn't necessarily mean that I'm coming out the other side. So sometimes it does mean that and sometimes it doesn't. So once again, my finger went through my wedding ring, this button went through the buttonhole, and I'm walking through this vineyard.

When I'm out walking, and if I have to go through things like that ditch, I like to wear blue jeans. Did you see that I'm wearing blue jeans? I'm wearing blue jeans. I like to wear them because they are tough. It's a very tough fabric. Let me say that a few more times so you can hear how it sounds. Tough. Tough. My tongue is actually on the roof of my mouth when I say that word tough and it makes a “fff” an F sound at the end. Tough. Jeans are tough. They are a tough material. This means that they are durable, that they protect my legs when I'm walking through this ditch. If there were thistles here I'm glad that I'm wearing jeans because they are tough. They don't tear easily. They are very, very strong. So tough, once again, tough. That's how it sounds. And it means something that's very durable and very strong.

So you can see behind me there is a construction sign. They are going to be filling the potholes in on this road and they will want to do a thorough job. Let me say that a few more times so you can hear how it sounds. Thorough. Thorough. When I say thorough, my tongue is between my teeth, thorough. When you are thorough, it means you do a good job. It means you don't forget to do part of the job. When they fill in the potholes, they'll want to find all the potholes and fill all the potholes in. They will want to be thorough. When I make my English lessons, I want to be thorough. I don't want to teach a lesson on a certain topic and forget to teach you part of that lesson. I try to be as thorough as possible. So once more thorough, that's how it sounds. And it means to do a really, really good job.

So I thought since I started this English lesson in front of a vineyard, I should probably shoot one of these clips in front of an orchard. Thought. Thought. Let me say it a couple more times. Thought. My tongue is between my teeth when I say thought, thought. A thought is something that you have in your mind. You have a thought. So it can be a noun. It can also act as a verb. You thought of something. So I thought it would be a good idea to come here and have a little English lesson in front of an orchard. Unfortunately, though, I can't go in the orchard because if we walk over here, we'll see that there is a no trespassing sign. So even though I thought this would be a good idea, I have to just shoot this little clip from the road. So thought. Thought. A thought in your mind or the act of thinking.

Let's talk about the word, though, though. Let me say it a couple more times, though. My tongue is between my teeth when I say, though. Now, this has a number of usages in English. In this lesson I want to focus on when it's paired with the word even: even though. This is a phrase we use to introduce kind of an opposite statement or a statement that adds more facts or even disagrees a little bit with the first statement. Here's a good example. There are radio towers behind me, but I have just shown you vineyards and orchards. So even though this is a great area to grow grapes or peaches or apples, they decided to build radio towers. So even though this is good land for growing fruit, they decided to build radio towers. So I'm using it to introduce kind of a different concept, kind of, you know, two ideas that are maybe slightly opposed to each other. So though, though, tongue between your teeth, when you say it, though. And when you use it with the word even, it's used to introduce a slightly different idea.

So as I said, I would stand in front of interesting backgrounds throughout this video. Throughout. Throughout. My tongue is between my teeth when I say throughout. The word throughout means to be spaced out inside of something else. There were interesting things to look at throughout this video. There are lakes throughout the province of Ontario. That means if you drive in this province, if you drive for a little bit, eventually you'll get to a lake. And if you drive more, you'll get to another lake. There are a lot of lakes and they are throughout the province. In any direction, you will find another lake. There's a lake to the south of here. There's a lake to the east, west of here. There's a lake to the east of here. I don't know my directions. And there's even more lakes if you go to the north. There are lakes throughout the province. So throughout. That's how it sounds. And it means for something or many things to kind of be inside of something else.

Well, thank you for watching this English lesson. I hope that you learn some things that will help you in your next English conversation. Remember, if this is your first time here, don't forget to click that red subscribe button. Give me a thumbs up. Leave a comment below. And as always, if you don't know what to do next, you could always watch another English lesson. Bye.