How to tackle questions on WAEC Test of Orals: Vowel / e /

/ e / 

To pronounce this vowel, try and pronounce, elephant. The way you pronounced that underlined letter in the elephant is how to pronounce the sound. 

'e' bed, get, set, merry, red, pencil

'ea' bread, ready, measure, weapon, jealous, head

'a' ate, many, any

'ue' guess, guest

'u' bury

Lesson guide: You should pay careful attention to the modules below. 

Module 1: Pronunciation of the words on the special list

i. jeopardy is to be pronounced JEPARDI

ii. leopard is to be pronounced LEPARD

iii. leisure is to be pronounced LESURE

Module 2: / e / is not pronounced in EW-ending in words such as

i. ewe is to be pronounced YOU

(What this means is that 'ewe' and 'you' are homophones.)

ii. sew is to be pronounced SO

(What this means is that 'sew' and 'so' are homophones.)

iii. sewn is to be pronounced SOWN* (first pronounce OWN) and later S[OWN]

iv. few is to be pronounced / fju: / 

v. pew is to be pronounced  / pju: / 

vi. dew is to be pronounced  / dju: / 

vii. new is to be pronounced  / nju: / 

Module 3: Just as it is not possible, for instance, for letter j to end a word in English (when writing), it is also not possible for / e / to end in the pronunciation of a word. So, / e / will not be pronounced in the underlined letter in the words below. It is not sounded at the end of the pronunciation of the following words: 

case

race

leave

same

please 

So, if you are told that / e / is pronounced in the words listed above, what would you say? No, isn't it?! Good! 

Module 4: Master the pronunciation of the following words carefully

i. [E]uro is to be pronounced YOURO

ii. [E]urope is to be pronounced YOUROPE

iii. [E]uropean is to be pronounced YOUROPIAN

iv. [e]uphemism is to be pronounced YOUFEMIZM

v. *[e]unuch is to be pronounced YOUNOCK

vi. [e]uphoria is to be pronounced YOUFORIA

So, never say 

i. ERO…………..Euro

ii. EROPE……….Europe 

iii. EROPIAN……European

iv. EFEMIZM……euphemism 

v. ENOCK………eunuch 

vi. EFORIA………euphoria 

*Please note that Enoch (name of a biblical character) is different from eunuch.  

Module 5: Do not pronounce / e / in the past tense tense of verbs such as WANTED, ADDED, etc. You may wish to refer to the lesson. 

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Practice Exercise

From the words lettered A to D, choose the word that has the same vowel sound as the underlined letter(s). 

1. leg

A. practice

B. sweet

C. bread

D. brake

2. many

A. legal

B. sower

C. people

D. sell

3. jeopardy

A. ameoba

B. veto

C. clerk

D. gentle

From the words lettered A to D, choose the word that corresponds with the given phonetic symbol.

4. / e /

A. the

B. choose

C. given

D. letter

5. / e /

A. managed

B. ruled 

C. helped 

D. practised

6. / e /

A. Europe

B. better

C. below

D. penalty