Debate I
Enunciation and Tongue Twisters
Name__________________________________
Enunciation Exercise: For listeners, one of the most irritating speech habits is a speaker that doesn’t enunciate clearly.
When you don’t bother to pronounce each syllable of each word properly and words get slurred together, you sound
uneducated. Worse, your listener has a hard time hearing you – especially if there’s other noise around you or when you’re
speaking on the phone. Practice sounding each set of words clearly enough so that a listener can identify which one is being
said.
1. a nice house
2. ice cream
3. night rate
4. an aim
5. lighthouse keeper
6. maiden aim
7. comic’s trip
8. icy
9. eye strain
10. summer school
11. a narrow box
12. Nick’s car
13. a nice pick
14. clock stop
15. heart throbbing
16. green Nile
17. homemade
18. go for
an ice house
I scream
nitrate
a name
light housekeeper
maiden name
comic strip
I see
iced rain ice train
summer’s cool
an arrow box
Nick’s scar
an ice pick
clock’s top
hearth robbing
green isle
home aid
gopher
Now you think of two pairs!
Debate I
Enunciation and Tongue Twisters
Name__________________________________
Enunciation Exercise: For listeners, one of the most irritating speech habits is a speaker that doesn’t enunciate clearly.
When you don’t bother to pronounce each syllable of each word properly and words get slurred together, you sound
uneducated. Worse, your listener has a hard time hearing you – especially if there’s other noise around you or when you’re
speaking on the phone. Practice sounding each set of words clearly enough so that a listener can identify which one is being
said.
1. a nice house
2. ice cream
3. night rate
4. an aim
5. lighthouse keeper
6. maiden aim
7. comic’s trip
8. icy
9. eye strain
10. summer school
11. a narrow box
12. Nick’s car
13. a nice pick
14. clock stop
15. heart throbbing
16. green Nile
17. homemade
18. go for
Now you think of two pairs!
an ice house
I scream
nitrate
a name
light housekeeper
maiden name
comic strip
I see
iced rain ice train
summer’s cool
an arrow box
Nick’s scar
an ice pick
clock’s top
hearth robbing
green isle
home aid
gopher
Now try these tongue twisters. Say each of the following sentences out loud three times each, as quickly as you can while
fully enunciating each word.
1. He sawed six slick, slender, slippery, silver saplings.
2. A swan swam over the swell; swim, swan, swim. A swan swam back through the
swell; well swum, swan!
3. Theophilus Thistle, the successful thistle sifter, in sifting a sieve full of unsifted
thistles, thrust three thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb. See that
thou in sifting a sieve full of unsifted thistles, thrust not three thousand thistles
through through the thick of thy thumb.
What is the importance of proper pronunciations for vowels, consonants and words?
What are common elements of outstanding speakers?
What are strategies one can use to efficiently and effectively prepare and practice for a public speaking occasion?
Now try these tongue twisters. Say each of the following sentences out loud three times each, as quickly as you can while
fully enunciating each word.
1. He sawed six slick, slender, slippery, silver saplings.
2. A swan swam over the swell; swim, swan, swim. A swan swam back through the
swell; well swum, swan!
3. Theophilus Thistle, the successful thistle sifter, in sifting a sieve full of unsifted
thistles, thrust three thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb. See that
thou in sifting a sieve full of unsifted thistles, thrust not three thousand thistles
through through the thick of thy thumb.
What is the importance of proper pronunciations for vowels, consonants and words?
What are common elements of outstanding speakers?
What are strategies one can use to efficiently and effectively prepare and practice for a public speaking occasion?