English Pronunciation Tip of the Day
Tip 23
Category:
Spelling to sound
Author: JAM
<-ce> and <-se>
The pronunciation of the letter sequence -ce at the end of a word is easy. It's always /s/ and never /z/.
| dance | /dA:ns/ |
| force | /fO:s/ |
| face | /feIs/ |
I'm afraid word-final <-se> is a bit tricky. However, there are a couple of situations when this sequence is always pronounced /s/ (never /z/!) too.
- If the sequence is preceded by a consonant sound (/n/ and /l/are the only two possibilities really).
| tense | /tens/ |
| else | /els/ |
- If the sequence is preceded by a vowel spelt with a silent <r>. This <r> would of course be pronounced as /r/ in some accents of English.
| horse | /hO:s/ |
| verse | /v3:s/ |
We'll leave other possibilities for <-se> for a later tip.