[General] doesn’t sound standard

[Silverobama]

Hi.

My student pronounced the word “usually” last night, she didn’t pronounce it wrong. Here we have more than 4 ways of pronouncing this word, she chose one of those ways, but not the most common and often-heard one. I said to her:

It doesn’t sound standard.

I wonder if this sentence is natural to mean “What you pronounced is not wrong but not the most common and often heard one”.

 

[Rover_KE]

My student pronounced the word “usually” last night, she didn’t pronounce it wrong. Here we have more than 4 ways of pronouncing this word, she chose one of those ways, but not the most common and often-heard one.

Only one of those commas is correct. Please rewrite it.

 

[Silverobama]

My student pronounced the word “usually” last night. She didn’t pronounce it wrong. Here we have more than 4 ways of pronouncing this word. She chose one of those ways, but not the most common and often-heard one. I said to her

Please take a look at my new try again.

 

[emsr2d2]

Hi.

My student pronounced the word “usually” last night. She didn’t pronounce it wrong. [STRIKE]Here we have[/STRIKE] There are more than [STRIKE]4[/STRIKE] four ways of pronouncing this word. She chose one of those ways, but not the most common and often-heard one. I said to her:

It doesn’t sound standard. That is grammatically correct but it would be better to say "That is not the standard pronunciation".

I wonder if this sentence is natural to mean “[STRIKE]What[/STRIKE] The way you pronounced it is not wrong but it's not the most common and often heard one”.

See above.

Please take a look at my new [STRIKE]try[/STRIKE] attempt. [STRIKE]again.[/STRIKE]

See above. You asked us to look at your new attempt again. That doesn't work. You are simply asking us to look at your new attempt.

 

[tzfujimino]

[...] Here we have more than 4 ways of pronouncing this word, [...]

I wonder what they sound like.

 

[Silverobama]

I don't know if I can make a mp3 file for you.

 

[tzfujimino]

Please don't bother.

 

[emsr2d2]

Where did you see/read/hear those four pronunciations?

 

[teechar]

https://forvo.com/word/usually/#en

 

[emsr2d2]

OK, there are four example pronunciations on Forvo but I would say that the first two are the same and the second two are the same. Forvo isn't designed to give dozens of different pronunciations - it simply serves to show that some words are pronounced differently by people from different regions within a country, and by people from different countries. There are words on there with multiple recordings but they share the same pronunciation.

Is that the site you used, Silver?

 

[teechar]

Sorry, I should have clarified in post #9 that learners can hear how "usually" is pronounced by following that link. I didn't mean to say that the four variations that Silver had mentioned were to be found there.

 

[Silverobama]

Where did you see/read/hear those four pronunciations?

https://forvo.com/word/usually/#en

No, not this site. I've been studying English for more than 20 years; I started learning this language when I was a 4th grader, it was 1997.

The first time I heard "usually" was when I was in primary school, the teacher pronounced the word "usual". Later I became a middle school student, I was taught another sound of it. Then I went back to my hometown and heard another sound. 10 years ago, I met a native speaker of English, he taught me the another one.

I wish I could make a video to show all of you these 4 sounds, which I think the last one is the most natural and cool one. Of course, the first three ones were taught by non-native speakers, I actually found those sounds in dictionary. I once tried these sounds on a few native speakers when I went to a party; they all understood the word!

And Ems, I do use that site Teechar gave, but I didn't learn the 4 sounds there.:lol:

 

[Tarheel]

I would say they are slight variations on the same pronunciation. (Except for the last one, where the speaker for some unknown reason leaves off the last syllable.)

 

[emsr2d2]

No, not this site. I've been studying English for more than 20 years; I started learning this language when I was a 4th grader; it was 1997.

The first time I heard "usually" was when I was in primary school; the teacher pronounced the word "usual". Later I became a middle school student. I was taught another [STRIKE]sound[/STRIKE] pronunciation of it. Then I went back to my hometown and heard another [STRIKE]sound[/STRIKE] version/pronunciation. 10 years ago, I met a native speaker of English; he taught me [STRIKE]the[/STRIKE] another one.

I wish I could make a video to [STRIKE]show[/STRIKE] demonstrate to all of you these [STRIKE]4[/STRIKE] four sounds, and explain [STRIKE]which[/STRIKE] that I think the last one is the most natural and cool one. Of course, the first three [STRIKE]ones[/STRIKE] were taught by non-native speakers; I actually found those sounds in dictionary. I once tried these [STRIKE]sounds[/STRIKE] pronunciations on a few native speakers when I went to a party; they all understood the word!

And Ems, I do use that site Teechar gave, but I didn't learn the [STRIKE]4[/STRIKE] four sounds there. :lol:

Note my corrections above, particularly to your comma splices, and to the fact that I have changed the word "sounds" every time you used it.

Any teacher who pronounces "usually" as "usual" should not be teaching, so you certainly shouldn't include that one in your list of potential pronunciations. You should bear in mind that we don't include pronunciations by non-native speakers in a list of common, standard pronunciations. If we did, there would be dozens. We include all variations used by native speakers.

You introduced a word into your last post that changes my view of how you're looking at pronunciation. You said you think the last one is "the most natural and cool". Please don't use "cool" as your benchmark. You might think things like "wiv", "nucular", and "would/could/should of" all sound cool but that does not mean you should use or teach any of them.

 

[Silverobama]

Note my corrections above, particularly to your comma splices,

I remember I was taught by teechar that I can use ";", "," and "and" when I think these two sentences are connected. Why did you change all the commas into ";"s?

Please don't use "cool" as your benchmark.

Got it! I appreciate your help, Ems.

 

[Silverobama]

Then I must overlooked something. I'll try my best to fix the comma splices in the future. Please correct me if I make any mistakes.

 

[tedmc]

Then I must overlooked something. I'll try my best to fix the comma splices in the future. Please correct me if I make any mistakes.

must have overlooked

 

[Silverobama]

Sorry. It should be:

Then I must have overloosed something.

 

[Tarheel]

Then I must have overlooked something. I'll do my best to fix the comma splices in the future. Please correct me if I make any mistakes.

It seems like it's going to be hard to break that habit. In some places where you have used a comma you need to use a period (full stop) instead. In other places you can keep the comma, but you need to use a conjunction (usually and) after it.

 

[Silverobama]

Old habits die hard. But I'm doing my best to avoid them.

I spent 8 years or so on WR; I never thought about comma splices. I didn't know this concept at all.