BCECE LE Phonetics & Speech Sounds – Set 1

Step 1: Examine 'Debris' (/ˈdebriː/).
Step 2: As a word of French origin, the final letter 'S' is silent.
Step 3: Option D is the correct answer.

Step 1: The word 'dough' is pronounced /dəʊ/ in British English or /doʊ/ in American English.
Step 2: The final letter combination 'gh' is not pronounced.
Step 3: Therefore, option C, 'GH', is correct. Asking for the whole combination avoids treating only one of the two letters as silent.

Step 1: Break down the word into vowel nucleus beats: Con-grat-u-la-tion.
Step 2: Count the syllables: 1 (con) + 2 (grat) + 3 (u) + 4 (la) + 5 (tion) = 5 syllables.
Step 3: Option D (5) is correct.

Step 1: Divide the word 'Readership' into syllabic units.
Step 2: Syllable breakdown: Read-er-ship = 3 distinct syllables.
Step 3: Option B (3) is correct.

Step 1: Divide the word 'Opportunity' into syllabic parts: Op-por-tu-ni-ty.
Step 2: Count each syllabic beat: 1 (op) + 2 (por) + 3 (tu) + 4 (ni) + 5 (ty) = 5 syllables.
Step 3: Option D (5) is the correct answer.