How is "breaths" pronunced? If the plural of "mess" is pronounced "messes", is "breaths" pronunced "bresses"? Or is it pronunced simply "bress", being indistinctioned from the singular "breath"?
And I see by your rhyming examples you know it's a short e, not like the one in breathe.
You do know that "breath" is not pronounced "bress", don't you?Or is it pronunced simply "bress", being indistinctioned from the singular "breath"?
Okay, so "breaths" is not pronounced "bress".
Well, are the following words homophones?:
baths - bass
paths - pass
myths - miss
moths - moss
mouths - mouse
Not it does not. The "th" sound is maintained."breaths" rhymes with "threats" doesn't it? That is, "brets".
How is "breaths" pronunced? If the plural of "mess" is pronunced "messes", is "breaths" pronunced "bresses"? Or is it pronunced simply "bress", being indistinctioned from the singular "breath"?
How do you pronounce the word "breathe"? It should be pronounced with the "th" sound. Accordingly, "breath" is pronounced with only the change of the sound of the "ea". The "th" sound remains in "breath" and "breaths".
The "oo" sound in booths is longer than in moose - also there is the different sound "th + s" as opposed to "s"Okay, so "breaths" is not pronunced "bress".no, it's not
Does "booths" rhyme with "moose"?
There are two "th" sounds, which I'll refer to here as
[th] for the terminal consonant in myth.
[th] for the initial consonant in this.
The verb "breathe" has the [th] sound.
The noun breath and its plural breaths have the [th] sound, as do myth and its plural myths and Goth and its plural Goths.
Now, to complicate matters, baths, paths, moths, oaths and mouths can have either the [th] or the [th] sound. According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, the word mouths usually has the [th] sound, more rarely has the sound [z] or [th], and compounds such as blabbermouths and cottonmouths would tend to have the [th] sound.
It seems to me, then, that the plural form of words ending in "th" must simply be committed to memory, with no useful general rule to tell when [th] or [th] is used.
I'm sorry, but I disagree that there are two forms of "th". The "th" sound in the word "this" is said (in terms of the tongue on the teeth) in exactly the same way as the "th" sound in "bath". It is only the vowel sound that changes. In both of your examples, the tongue slightly protrudes out and against the top teeth. The action required to say "breath" and "breathe" is exactly the same.
Are you saying that there is no difference (in the "th" sounds) between breath & breathe ; bath & this ?
To me, there is quite a difference - one I would describe as a softer sound than the other one
(similar to the difference between "f" and "v")
I pronounce the -thes at the end of clothes the same as the -thes at the end of breathes.panja, you mean pronounce 'clothes' with a voiced s? As in 'cloze'?
None of those are homophones for me.Hitch57 said:Now, I wantsto know if the following words are homophones:
thin, tin
three, tree
then, den
breathes, breeds
booth, boot
By taking time and training your tongue and mouth.Okay, well how do I pronounce "then" so that it's distinction from "den" and "booth" so that it's distinction from "boot"?
Okay, well how do I pronounce "then" so that it's distinction from "den" and "booth" so that it's distinction from "boot"?
To make the TH sound you need to stick out your tongue a little bit so that it gets placed between the upper and lower teeth. At that position you can make the two TH sounds, which differ only in that one is voiced and the other isn't just as F is unvoiced and V is voiced.
To make the D and the T sounds you need to block the air flow by sticking your tonge against the soft palate (the ridge of the palate a little behind your teeth). Again, the difference between them is that the D is voiced and the T is unvoiced and plosive(=you let go of some air as you move the tongue).
Okay, I think the problem is is that I am substituting the "t" and "d" sounds for the voiceless and voiced "th" sounds. Thanks you for the explanation on how to make the "th" sounds.