LISTEN

/ʊ/…/ʊ/…/ʊ/…/ʊ/

good…put…full…pudding

WHAT IS IT?

Pronunciation:
The sound /ʊ/ is a back, high, lax, rounded vowel.

• Make a circle with your lips
• Raise your tongue slightly and pull it backwards
• Relax your tongue
• Breathe out to pronounce the vowel

Spelling:

• “oo” – took, good
• “u” – put, bush
• “o” – wolf, woman
• “oul” – would, should

Grammar Tip:
The sound /ʊ/ is in several important modal verbs: could, should, would. These modal verbs are special auxiliary verbs that affect the meaning of the verb following the modal. 

COMPARE

Compare /ʊ/ with /uw/:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7fwFTIcEpc&t=12s

/ʊ/…/uw/…/ʊ/…/uw/…/ʊ/…/u

These are both high, back, rounded vowels. However, /ʊ/ is a lax vowel and /uw/ is a tense vowel. In order to pronounce /ʊ/, your tongue must be relaxed.

You can hear the difference between /ʊ/ and /uw/ in these words.

1. A. could, B. cooed
2. A. look, B. Luke
3. A. full, B. fool
4. A. hood, B. who’d
5. A. soot, B. suit
​6. A. pulls, B. pools

​

Practice recognizing words with /ʊ/ and /uw/ by taking the quiz here (external site).

Now compare /ʊ/ with /ʌ/:

/ʊ/…/ʌ/…/ʊ/…/ʌ/…/ʊ/…/ʌ/

These vowels often have the same spelling in English, and they are both lax vowels. However, /ʊ/ is a high, back, rounded vowel and /ʌ/ is a mid, central, ​unrounded vowel. When you pronounce /ʊ/, your lips must be rounded.

You can hear the difference between /ʊ/ and /ʌ/ in these words.

1. ​A. look, B. luck
2. A. stood, B. stud
3. A. put, B. putt
4. A. roof, B. rough
5. A. shook, B. shuck
6. A. hoofed, B. huffed

​Practice recognizing words with /ʊ/ and /ʌ/ by taking the quiz here (external site).

PRACTICE

Listen and repeat these words:

Now, practice /ʊ/ in sentences. Say the words first, then the sentences.

1. good – books
Have you read any good books lately?
2. put – sugar – pudding
Where did you put the sugar for the pudding?
3. pushed – bushes
The kids pushed the wagon behind the bushes.
4. should – look – textbook
You should look at the review section of the textbook.
5. sure – understood
I’m not sure I understood you correctly.
6. childhood – full  – good
​My childhood was full of good experiences.

To practice with different varieties of English, choose another native English speaker by clicking one of the links below:

Male – US Midwest (St. Louis)

Male – US Midwest (Iowa)

Male – US Midwest

Female – US Northeast

Female – US Southeast

Prepare:
Look at these situations. Think about what advice you would give each person.

• Joe: “I want to cook for myself instead of eating at restaurants, but I never have enough time.”
• Andy: “I’m in college, but I can’t afford to buy all my textbooks.”
• Lin: “My niece is bullied whenever she goes to school.”
• Ana: “I usually don’t wear makeup or nice clothes, but I want to look good for a date this weekend.”
• Don: “My girlfriend misunderstood something I said, and now she’s mad at me.”
• Marta: “I started making a pudding, but then I realized I don’t have enough sugar for it.”

Record​:
​Choose 2 of the situations. In your recording, give advice about each situation. (Remember, when you give advice or suggestions, you can use the modals should and could.)

©2024, Christine Wingate

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.