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Anonymous Posted 17 years ago
Speech & Pronunciation
The word "often"
How does a word change in its pronunciation? This just doesn't seem correct. I hear this word mispronounced so much now I can't believe it. How are teachers in schools today teaching this? Where are they getting their information? All my life I was taught and only heard "offen". As more slang has been introduced and for whatever the reason accepted as word like this seems to have fallen through the cracks as to anyone even caring how it is said. I'm appalled at the many times I hear this word said with the T by television people, especially newscasters that are suppose to know better. What is happening to our language? We have just let all these people from other countries come in and take over everything. Where can we Americans go to start a new America? That seems to be the only thing we have left. Our world as we have always known it is a very sad place. The changes are not for the good.
Top answer
Hi Anon All my life I was taught and only heard " offen ". I 'm appalled at the many times I hear this word said with the T by television people , especially newscasters that are supposed to know better. For your information, the word can be pronounced in both ways.
- Hi Anon All my life I was taught and only heard " offen ".
- I 'm appalled at the many times I hear this word said with the T by television people , especially newscasters that are supposed to know better.
- For your information, the word can be pronounced in both ways.
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3 Answers
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Hi Anon
All my life I was taught and only heard "offen".
I'm appalled at the many times I hear this word said with the T by television people, especially newscasters that are supposed to know better.
For your information, the word can be pronounced in both ways.
All my life I was taught and only heard "offen".
I'm appalled at the many times I hear this word said with the T by television people, especially newscasters that are supposed to know better.
For your information, the word can be pronounced in both ways.
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Language is not static; it changes all the time. In fact, the t-sound used to be correct.
Quote:
"Often was pronounced with a t-sound until the 17th century, when a pronunciation without the /t/ came to predominate in the speech of the educated, in both North America and Great Britain, and the earlier pronunciation fell into disfavor. Common use of a spelling pronunciation has since
Quote:
"Often was pronounced with a t-sound until the 17th century, when a pronunciation without the /t/ came to predominate in the speech of the educated, in both North America and Great Britain, and the earlier pronunciation fell into disfavor. Common use of a spelling pronunciation has since
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I've heard a great many native speakers throughout my life and they seem to have been unanimous in their choice of the pronunciation of the word "often" - that is "ofTen" (the letter T is pronounced distinctly). And I've never heard anyone say "ofn", except my Russian English teachers, but I have no trust in them, they are ignorant of certain aspects of the language.
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