English Pronunciation Tip of the Day
Tip 47
Category:
Spelling-to-sound
Author: JAM
<ough>
First, the "easy" bit...
When <ough> is followed by <t> the <gh> is always silent and the vowel is nearly always /O:/. The exceptions are: doughty (meaning "brave, fearless") = /"daUti/ and drought = /draUt/. Here are all the other ought words:
bought brought dreadnought fought nought ought sought thought wrought
Next we have various groups of words where the sequence is final and the <gh > is silent:
/aU/ in bough plough slough (= a ditch, a muddy place) Slough sough
/u:/ in through
/@/ in borough thorough
/@U/ in although dough furlough though
Then a couple of groups of words where the sequence is final, the< gh> = /f/ and the vowel is
/V/ in Brough chough Clough enough Hough rough slough (=to shed skin) tough
/Q/ in Bough cough Gough trough
Finally, two really odd words: hiccough (also spelt hiccup) = /"hIkVp/ and lough = /lQk/