6 Minute Vocab — Spelling and saying words with o-u-g-h

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Hello and welcome to 6 Minute Vocabulary with me, Finn. And me, Catherine. And in this programme we're talking about the letters O-U-G-H. Yes, the letters O-U-G-H are found in lots of English words, including cough, rough, ought and through. But there are lots of different pronunciations. So, let's start with George. He's talking about last winter when he was ill. And think about this question while you listen. What did George do in February? Last winter I had a cough for roughly three months. By February I thought I ought to go to the doctor. He gave me a thorough check and some medicine. I got better in the end, although the cough lasted right through till April. I'm so glad spring's here. Poor George. And we asked, what did George do in February? Well, George thought that he ought to go to the doctor, so that's what he did. Good. Now the words thought, spelt T-H-O-U-G-H-T and ought, spelt O-U-G-H-T, both have the O-U-G-H pattern in them and it's pronounced aw. Thought. Ought. Thought. ought. And there are more OUGH verbs with the same pronunciation like fought – the past of fight – and bought – the past of buy. And brought – B-R-O-U-G-H-T – the past of bring. People sometimes confuse bought and brought. So, Catherine, can you give us an example sentence with both words? I bought a new TV from the hypermarket and I brought it home in a taxi. Now let's have another clip and how many OUGH words are there in this one? Last winter I had a cough for roughly three months. So there were two O-U-G-H words there. Cough, C-O-U-G-H, and roughly, R-O-U-G-H-L-Y. Roughly means about. So George had a cough for about, or roughly, three months. But the pronunciation of these two words is different. The O-U-G-H in cough sounds like off. Off, cough. And the O-U-G-H in roughly sounds like off. Off, roughly. Right, so we're beginning to see that there is no real rule for pronouncing these words, Finn. Sadly not, that's right. You're just going to have to learn to spell and say each word on its own. OK, let's have another clip. He gave me a thorough check. And the O-U-G-H word there was thorough. T-H-O-R-O-U-G-H. It means very careful and exact. And the pronunciation is different again. Listen to this one, thorough. It's an uh sound right at the end of the word. Uh, thorough. Uh, thorough. Here's one more clip. I got better in the end, although the cough lasted right through till April. This time we heard although, spelt A-L-T-H-O-U-G-H and through, spelt T-H-R-O-U-G-H. Now the O-U-G-H in although sounds like O, although. And in through it sounds like O, through. So, you know what? That gives us six different pronunciations for the letters O-U-G-H. That's right, six of them. We had thought, cough, roughly, thorough, although and through. So, in fact, there are more than six pronunciations for O-U-G-H in the English language, but these are the most common ones. And now it's time for the quiz. OK, question number one. How do you spell brought, the past simple of the verb bring? It's b-r-o-u-g-h-t. Very good. Number two. How do you pronounce the word that is spelt t-h-o-u-g-h? That's though. Though. That's the one. Number three. Roughly and enough have similar spelling and pronunciation. How do you spell roughly? It's R-O-U-G-H-L-Y. Well done if you got all those right. Now, before we go, here's our vocabulary tip. If your phone or computer lets you record audio, try recording the spelling and pronunciation of tricky words so you can play them back if you need help to remember them. There's more about this on our website at bbclearningenglish.com. Join us again soon for more 6 Minute Vocabulary. Bye.