The Short E sound is made with a slightly rectangular position inside the mouth. The three short sounds, e, i, u or Short E, Short I and Schwa are related in that all are made simply and within the mouth (we cannot see how the sounds are made based on lips or facial muscles). However, we do know that Short E is a slight rectangle, Short I is a slight square and the Schwa is completely neutral (no positioning at all).
Practice these 3 sounds together to express the difference here. One common error is to make this sound “too big” and confuse it with Long A. So make sure these pairs are different: met / mate, pen / pain, men / main, let / late, test / taste.
Practice with the video here.
| embassy | helm |
| meddlesome | reckless |
| anyone | energy |
| message | helpful |
| decade | spend |
| sweat | best |
| center | enemy |
| hectic | understatement |
| weather | relevant |
| eligible | special |
| better | gesture |
Words with stress on the 2nd syllable: convention, conventional, credential, intelligence, reception, relentless, against, effectiveness, eliminate, perception, phenomenon, reflection, extent, extend, professional, encouragement, especially, protection, respective, potential, competitive, progressive, intensive, enhance.
Words with stress on the 3rd syllable: independence, independent, entertainment, meditation.
Phrase with stress on the 1st and 3rd syllables: step-by-step
Practice New Words with more videos and lessons or see all English Practice options.
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