British pronunciation - thirds

Question

Cut it into thirds.British people do not usually pronounce 'r' in words like word, bird, card etc.But I feel not comfortable and end up it sounds weird or hard to recognise when I pronounce 'thirds' without 'r' sound.It's very weird pronouncing 'third' without 'r' sounds OK but 'thirds' with 'r' is very weird. Do you apply a different rule or???

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

The British people I know pronounce the r.

Clive

Moon7296 · Answer

Thank you.

You mean pronouncing 'r' in thirds? or 'r' in words like work, bird etc,?

Clive · Answer

Hi,

All of them.

Clive

Anonymous · Answer

we pronounce the 'r' just not as strongly as if its at the start of the word like 'roads'.

as a side note; you feel 'unconfortable' instead of 'not comfortable' unless you take out the word feel in which case you are correct.

Avangi · Answer

CliveThe British people I know pronounce the r.

It's the native New Englandahs that don't - especially those of us who hail from New Hampshah, and Vuhmont.

Avangi · Answer

Anonymousas a side note; you feel 'unconfortable' instead of 'not comfortable' unless you take out the word feel in which case you are correct.

Personally, I wouldn't hesitate to write it, but I agree it's less common in casual conversation.
I think "I feel not comfortable" has a slightly different emphasis than "I feel uncomfortable."

BillJ · Answer

moon7296Cut it into thirds. British people do not usually pronounce 'r' in words like word, bird, card etc.But I feel not comfortable and end up it sounds weird or hard to recognise when I pronounce 'thirds' without 'r' sound. It's very weird pronouncing 'third' without 'r' sounds OK but 'thirds' with 'r' is very weird. Do you apply a different rule or???

It depends what you mean by 'pronounce'. If you mean do we 'roll' the letter 'r', the answer is that the Scots do, but not the rest of us. That aside, the 'r' does influence the pronunciation of the syllables 'or', 'ir', 'ar' etc. In very simple terms, 'word', for example is pronounced 'werd'. If 'r' had no influence then it would be pronounced 'wod'.

BillJ

Moon7296 · Answer

Thank you for answering even the detail of my post^^.

You mean 'not comfortable' is less common in casual conversation than 'uncomfortable?'

Ah.. I didn't think about the slight different emphasis, not I think I can find it.

I feel not comfortable can mean have some negative feeling toward a concept of something or else..

And uncomfortable is like... your body is uncomfortable because your clothes is too tight..

something like that?

Moon7296 · Answer

Thank you for the answer^^

I don't get the last part of your answer: 'That aside, the 'r' does influence the pronunciation of the syllables 'or', 'ir', 'ar' etc. In very simple terms, 'word', for example is pronounced 'werd'. If 'r' had no influence then it would be pronounced 'wod'.'

You said earlier that rest of you don't roll 'r' sound. Then you said that which confuses me. What's 'the pronunciation of the syllables 'or','ir','ar etc, to do with two different sounds 'werd' and 'wod' in word?

Can you explain it please?

Anonymous · Answer

moon7296 Cut it into thirds.British people do not usually pronounce 'r' in words like word, bird, card etc.But I feel not comfortable and end up it sounds weird or hard to recognise when I pronounce 'thirds' without 'r' sound.It's very weird pronouncing 'third' without 'r' sounds OK but 'thirds' with 'r' is very weird. Do you apply a different rule or???

The r sound is pronounced in British pronunciation, just not strongly. It's a gentle, subtle sound. The confusion about it comes from English language learners hearing the American pronunciation of it, which is very strong. What they don't understand is that American pronunciation is very different from and almost always much louder and more heavily stressed, than British pronunciation.

British pronunciation ->> thirds

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