Pronunciation

Like the word February, there is a tendency for some speakers to leave out the r sound after the b in library, resulting in libary as the pronunciation. The r is not silent, though, so the standard pronunciation calls for leaving the br sound in place.

I think most people understand the difference in meaning between moot and mute, but they don’t necessarily realize that the two words have different pronunciations as well. Moot rhymes with boot, not cute.

Don’t let George W. Bush’s example lead you astray! The word is pronounced as it is spelled: nuclear, not “nucular.”

It is common to hear the possessive pronoun our incorrectly pronounced like the verb are or the letter r. The correct pronunciation is the same as hour. Our and hour are what are called homophones, words that are pronounced identically but have different spellings and meanings. However, our and are are not homophones. They not only have different spellings and meanings, but different pronunciations as well. Remember never to confuse the pronunciation of our with are. As a reminder, think of our as being the same as hour, but without the h.

The word pamphlet is often mispronounced pamplet, with a pl instead of a phl sound in the second syllable. The proper pronunciation is pamphlet, with a phl sound as in the word phlegm.

How do you say pronunciation?

The verb is pronounce, but the noun is proNUNciation (like enunciation), not proNOUNciation.

Remember: There is no noun in pronunciation.