How to Pronounce Word vs. World

What is the difference between WORD and WORLD? Just the Dark L. Many student have a hard time with the UR vowel, the R consonant, and the Dark L. But after watching this video, you’ll feel much more confident saying these two words.

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Actually I was just about to finish up this blog entry when I was reminded of an example that I wanted to use. And that is, the difference between the word ‘word’, and the word ‘world’. I have noticed in my teaching that that is a very difficult distinction for some people to make And, since world contains this dark L, I wanted to talk about it. Watch closely as I say both words slowly. Word, word, world, world. Now, I always say that word is really one syllable, and world is really two syllables, although in actuality, world, it is one syllable. But you need to say this distinct uuh vowel that comes before the L to make the dark L. So let’s talk about world. Wor-rr-uuhh-uuhh, now that is that sound that comes before the tongue moves up in the dark L. And as I said, in the dark L, you don’t actually necessarily need to finish off the sound with the tongue moving all the way up.Wor-uuhh-ll-ld. Lld. World. Word, world, word, world.

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