Tips	Short U Sound (Sounds like the schwa sound but stressed)	Quick Tour
To practice the words for any of the following patterns, just click the links below. Pattern Sample Word Rule Exceptions

English Sound		Common Error		Solution	Speakers	Video Comparison
ŭ	cup	ă	cap	Tongue more central. Lips relaxed	Arabic, Chinese, Croatian, Japanese, Turkish,
ŭ	bud	ĕ	bed	Tongue lower and more central. Lips relaxed.	Arabic,
ŭ	cup			Tongue low central. Lips relaxed.	Arabic, Chinese, Croatian, Dutch, Farsi, French, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Swedish, Turkish	None
ŭ	hum	ä	harm	Mouth not so large. Lips relaxed.	Croatian, Italian,	None
ŭ	L(o)ndon	ə	Lond(o)n	Drop tongue to make mouth a little deeper.	Dutch,
ŭ	hut	ûr	hurt	Drop tongue. Relax mouth.	French,

Useful Tips
The steps to use Pronunciation Patterns effectively
1. Click the list box. (You can Right Click the list box to select patterns.)
2. Press the Right key to go to the first group of words.
3. Right click on the list box and select the Play words automatically option or press F5.
4. Press the Left key or the Right key to navigate the list.
5. To stop the auto-play, simply right click the on list box and select the Stop playing option or press the Esc key.
You also can set how many times you want to play a word or a sound by increasing or decreasing the number at


In the above example, Pronunciation Patterns is set to play the sound three times and the word three times before moving to the next word, and two seconds for the interval.

Other wonderful features you may want to learn:
1. Do you know that you can just press the Space key to play the sound and press the Enter key to play the word?
2. Do you know that you can just press the Delete key to remove the word from the list? To show all the deleted words, please make sure that you check the Display Hidden Words option in the Settings page. See Tip 33.
3. Do you know that you can press 1, 2, and 3 to switch among the three word lists?
4. Do you know that you can just press F2 to record your voice, F3 to stop, and F4 again to play your voice back?
5. Do you know that you can press F5 to play all the words, F6 to play just the selected word, F7 to play just the sound, and F8 to stop playing.
6. Do you know that you can click on any words in the list box to stop the auto-play function.
7. Do you know that you can add any words to your learning list? Just click the word and click to add the word to your word list.
8. Do you know that you can group the words by patterns or in alphabetic order? Just press the Home key.
9. Do you know that you can test your listening comprehension? Click on on the top of the word list.
10. Do you know that you can change the look of the program in the Settings page? Give it a try.