2 Minimal pairs
Sound 1	Sound 2
fa/	/ea/
ear	air
The ear isn't good.	The air isn't good.
beer	bear
It's a sweet beer.	Ifs a sweet bear.
f pier	pear
That's an old pier.	That's an old pear.
hear	hair
How do you spell 'hear?	How do you spell 'hair?
tear	tear
Thaf s a tear.	Thaf s a tear.
Cheers!	chairs
' Three cheers!' he said.	Three chairs!' he said.
6
Minimal pair words
B7i« a Listen and repeat the words. 8-t    B7ib b You will hear five words from each minimal pair. For each word, write 1 for lis/ (sound 1) or 2 for /ea/ (sound 2).
EXAMPLE Pair 1:   2,2,1,1, 2
Minimal pair sentences
B72« c Listen to the minimal pair sentences.
B72b d Listen to six of the sentences and write 1 for /ia/ (sound 1) or 2 for /ea/ (sound 2).
►nif
B73 f Tick the words a) or b) that you hear in the sentences.
1 a) cheers	□	b) chairs	□
2 a) beer	□	b) bear	□
3 a) pier	□	b) pear	□
4 a) here	□	b) hair	□
5 a) dear	□	b) Dare	□
6 a) clear	□	b) Claire	□
l
4 The letter Y - pronounced or silent?
When there is no vowel following it, hi is silent This 'rule' only applies to some speakers of English, e.g. in south-east England, South Africa, Australia. But many native speakers always pronounce hi, e.g. in southwest England, Scotland, America. So you may choose to omit this exercise if you are learning a variety of English where hi is always pronounced.
b75 a Listen and repeat.
V not pronounced V pronounced (before a vowel)
Claire Claire_and Mary
a pair a pair^of shoes
a square chair a squarewenvelope
§—v     iB76' b Read these sentences and decide which words have 'r' pronounced. Then listen and check.
It's there. There it is.
They're here. They're under a table.
I've looked everywhere for them.    I've looked everywhere in the house.
5 Spelling
8-t Look back over this unit at words with the target sound, and write what
you noticed about how to spell the sound /ea/.