pronouncation rules for C as c and C as k.

[ESL-lover]

Hello my teachers.

Are there any pronouncation rules For C as c and C as k :?:

Thanks,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, :wink:

 

[RonBee]

Are there any pronouncation rules For C as c and C as k
:?:

Good question! But don't you mean c as s or c as k?

Generally speaking, when e comes after (follows) the c the c is pronounced as s. That is especially true when a vowel precedes the c. Examples: race, space, nice, twice, since, wince.

(Awaiting a post from TDOL. :wink: -)

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[ESL-lover]

What about Anticipate?

 

[RonBee]

What about Anticipate?

A c between two vowels will generally be pronounced as an s.

Examples: anticipate, special, recede, decent, recent, receipt, reception.

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[RonBee]

A c following a consonant and preceding an e will generally be pronounced as an s.

Examples: dance, chance, dancer, cancer, enhance, prance, since, wince

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[RonBee]

A c beginning a word and followed by an a will be pronounced as a k.

Examples: card, cancer, carry, can, cap, cart, cash, cavort, cave, caution

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[RonBee]

A c beginning a word and followed by an e will be pronounced as an s.

Examples: cease, cede, cedar, ceiling, certain

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[RonBee]

A c beginning a word and followed by an i will be pronounced as an s.

Examples: cite, civet, city, civilian, cistern

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[RonBee]

A c beginning a word and followed by either an o or a u is pronounced as a k.

Examples: cod, cot, comb, come, corn, cozy, cut, cute, curry, curve

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[RonBee]

A c will generally be pronounced as a k if it is both preceded and followed by a vowel if neither of those vowels is an e.

Examples: acorn, bacon, beacon, deacon, decor, fecund, recon, taco

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[RonBee]

When a c is followed by a consonant it is pronounced as a k.

Examples: act, actor, arc, back, beckon, becloud, click, clock, deck, diction, duck, dock, doctor, ectopic, eczema, fake, fact, factory, fiction, hack, hock, huck, gecko, jack, keck, kick, lick, luck, macrame, muck, neck, pecan, octad, reckon, sect, section, sector, tactile, traction, tractile, ticket, tecture, unction, vector, wick

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[RonBee]

A c preceding a y is pronounced as an s.

Examples: acyl, fancy, halcyon, lacy, cyan, racy

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[RonBee]

Unless it is followed by an e or an i, a c following a consonant is pronounced as a k.

Examples: incur, arcon, ascot, escort,narcolepsy, oncology, encourage, uncomely

But: ascent, descent, incest, incipient, incite

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[RonBee]

The c in scr is pronounced as k (hard c).

Examples: ascribe, describe, inscription, script, scribble, sculpture

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[RonBee]

The double c. When the doubled c is followed by an e or an i the first c is pronounced as a k and the second is pronounced as an s. Otherwise, the doubled c is pronounced as a k.

Examples: access, accede, accept, occipital

Examples: accord, accumulate, occur

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[RonBee]

A c following an s is pronounced as a k if the following letter is an a, an o or a u. A c following an s is pronounced as an s if the following letter is an e, an i or a y.

Examples: rascal, cascara, escape, rescue, rescuer, scute, escutage, scour, discourage

Examples: ascend, descend, inscise, inscisor, scythe

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[ESL-lover]

Thanks RonBee.................

What about Ch as in Chair and Ch as in chemical :?:

Thanks.................

 

[RonBee]

Ch is a dipthong, and it is a combination of sounds. It's pretty much the same sound whether it is at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of a word.

Examples: chair, chart, cheap, chip, chop, chum, bachelor, matches, teacher, each, catch, match, beach, reach, teach, itch

(I don't know how to represent the sound here.)

In some cases, ch is pronounced as k.

Examples: character, chemical, chorus, ache, achene, achiote, echo, echoic, echolocation, ochre, schedule (AE), scheme, school

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[Tdol]

The ch as \k\ is in words of Greek origin, which is why they tend to be n specialist areas like science and music. ;-)

 

[BobK]

A c between two vowels will generally be pronounced as an s.
Examples: anticipate, special, recede, decent, recent, receipt, reception.
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The C in 'special' is only pronounced /s/ if you're singing Bali Hai (from South Pacific) (and maybe also in Trust in me - from The Jungle Book - I forget). The first singers were foreign, and the second was a snake. ;-)

'Special' is two syllables - /'speʃəl/.

b

PS
Thanks for all the posts Ron - I'll try to piece them all together one of these days!