1. What is the difference between aspiration and unaspiration of consonants?
A. Aspiration is voicing, unaspiration is voicelessness.
B. Aspiration involves a puff of air after the consonant release, unaspiration does not.
C. Aspiration is found in vowels, unaspiration in consonants.
D. Aspiration is in stressed syllables, unaspiration in unstressed syllables.
2. In connected speech, 'did you′ often becomes:
A. ∕dɪd juː∕
B. ∕dɪdʒuː∕
C. ∕dɪdʒə∕
D. ∕dɪdʒər∕
3. What is linking 'r′ in British English?
A. Pronouncing 'r′ after vowels in all positions.
B. Inserting an ∕r∕ sound between two vowels when the first word ends in 'r′.
C. Making the 'r′ sound silent in all positions.
D. Replacing 'r′ with a different consonant sound.
4. What is the difference between a vowel and a consonant in phonetic terms?
A. Vowels are always stressed, consonants are not.
B. Vowels are produced with an open vocal tract, consonants involve obstruction.
C. Vowels are longer sounds, consonants are shorter.
D. Vowels are only in the middle of words, consonants at the beginning and end.
5. What is the phonetic symbol for the vowel sound in 'cat′?
A. ∕æ∕
B. ∕e∕
C. ∕ɑː∕
D. ∕ʌ∕
6. Which of these words has a silent letter?
A. phone
B. know
C. tree
D. bright
7. The 'ed′ ending in 'walked′ is pronounced as:
A. ∕ɪd∕
B. ∕t∕
C. ∕d∕
D. ∕əd∕
8. Identify the word with the vowel sound ∕ʊ∕ (as in 'put′).
A. moon
B. food
C. book
D. blue
9. What is the primary function of intonation in English?
A. To indicate word stress
B. To distinguish between vowels and consonants
C. To convey attitude and emotion
D. To separate words in a sentence
10. What is the phonetic transcription of the word 'thought′?
A. ∕θɔːt∕
B. ∕θɒt∕
C. ∕tɔːt∕
D. ∕ðɔːt∕
11. Identify the word where the 'ea′ is pronounced as ∕e∕ (short e sound):
A. sea
B. steak
C. bread
D. each
12. In connected speech, the 't′ in 'want to′ is often pronounced as:
A. a clearly articulated ∕t∕
B. a glottal stop ∕ʔ∕
C. a flapped 't′ ∕ɾ∕ (like in American English)
D. elided (not pronounced)
13. Which of these words has a falling intonation pattern at the end?
A. Are you coming?
B. What′s your name?
C. Really?
D. Please.
14. Which of the following words contains a diphthong?
A. ship
B. tree
C. coin
D. bed
15. What is the difference between phonetics and phonology?
A. Phonetics studies written language, phonology studies spoken language.
B. Phonetics studies the physical production of sounds, phonology studies sound systems and patterns.
C. Phonetics is about vowels, phonology is about consonants.
D. Phonetics is for native speakers, phonology is for language learners.
16. Which word exemplifies the pronunciation of 'ough′ as ∕ʌf∕?
A. though
B. through
C. enough
D. thought
17. Which of these consonant sounds is voiceless?
A. ∕b∕
B. ∕d∕
C. ∕g∕
D. ∕p∕
18. The 'th′ in 'this′ and the 'th′ in 'thin′ represent:
A. the same phoneme
B. two allophones of the same phoneme
C. two different phonemes
D. silent letters
19. In the word 'comfortable′, which syllable is typically omitted in casual speech (elision)?
A. com-
B. -fort-
C. -tab-
D. -ble
20. Which of the following words has a different vowel sound in British English compared to American English?
A. cat
B. father
C. bed
D. ship
21. Which of the following describes a syllable?
A. The smallest unit of sound in a language
B. A unit of pronunciation having one vowel sound, with or without surrounding consonants
C. A group of words expressing a complete thought
D. A written symbol representing a sound
22. What is the function of weak forms in English?
A. To emphasize content words
B. To make grammatical words shorter and unstressed
C. To make vowels longer
D. To create diphthongs
23. Which of the following words is a minimal pair with 'bit′?
A. beat
B. bat
C. bite
D. but
24. Which of the following is an example of assimilation in connected speech?
A. Saying 'going to′ as 'gonna′
B. Pronouncing 'handbag′ with a ∕m∕ sound at the end of 'hand′
C. The 't′ in 'butter′ becoming a flap in American English
D. Saying 'fish and chips′ as 'fish n chips′
25. The plural ending '-s′ in 'cats′ is pronounced as:
A. ∕s∕
B. ∕z∕
C. ∕ɪz∕
D. ∕θs∕
26. What is sentence stress primarily used for?
A. To emphasize grammatical words
B. To highlight new or important information
C. To make speech faster
D. To make speech quieter
27. Which pair of words demonstrates contrastive stress?
A. 'record′ (noun) and 'record′ (verb)
B. 'permit′ (noun) and 'permit′ (verb)
C. 'import′ (noun) and 'import′ (verb)
D. All of the above
28. Which of the following is a common pronunciation error for non-native English speakers regarding vowels?
A. Difficulty with consonant clusters at the beginning of words.
B. Confusing short and long vowel sounds (e.g., ∕ɪ∕ and ∕iː∕).
C. Mispronouncing the 'th′ sounds.
D. Incorrect word stress placement.
29. What is the purpose of using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)?
A. To write English words correctly.
B. To have a standardized system for transcribing speech sounds.
C. To learn grammar rules of English.
D. To improve reading comprehension.
30. In the word 'photographer′, which syllable is stressed?
A. pho-
B. -tog-
C. -ra-
D. -pher
