Miss Elise
Pronunciation Coach
Master Pronunciation in Minutes: Free 5-Minute Tutorials
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The Sound of C, Part 2
How to produce soft C: When C is followed by the letters e,i and y it becomes a soft C like in city. Soft C is a whispered sound and not a voiced one. Similar to S, curve your tongue and lightly touch the upper ridge of your mouth. With the tip of your tongue lightly touch the ridge behind your lower teeth. There should be a groove along the middle of your tongue, which will create the S sound as you expel your breath.
Practice the soft C sound by repeating the following, making only the sound:
C, C, C
C, C, C
C, C, C
C, C, C
Repeat the following two times, exaggerating the C sound:
Ce, ci, cy; Ce, ci, cy
Cease, celery, center, sister, cereal
Ceiling, cent, cedar, cider, school
Cinema, sick, cyanide, cycle, Cyrus
Bounce, fence, dance, juice, pencil
Icing, citrus, fancy, mercy, spicy
Repeat the following sentences two times:
1) Sarah bounced the idea of the dancing ice celebration off her science class, but had no success because everyone was sick.
2) The mice drank the juice, ate part of the sliced pizza and then had dessert at the grocery store.
3) The space race advanced at the trice the rate thanks to the great financing.
4) The incident involving the acid mercifully caused no accidents.
5) Cease and desist stated the notice received by those living at the residence.
6) There is zero tolerance for racism at the Pacific agency.
7) Lucy and Tracy cycled the great distance to San Francisco.
8) Nancy, after exercising, ate some spicy food and a Cinnabon.
9) They convinced Stacey to get her license in order to advance at her job.
10)The science center in Cincinnati was exciting stated the police officer.
* Please note, different letters can make the same sound, such as hard C and K, and the same letter can make different sounds depending on context, like cat/cake.