English is not always pronounced the same way that it’s written and that is the cause of many pronunciation problems. One sound that American English speakers frequently drop is the /t/ sound.
The /t/ sound is often dropped after the /n/ sound in spoken American English. This is very natural and it helps speakers to pronounce clusters of consonants more easily.
Here are some examples of words in which many Americans drop the /t/ sound.
1. winter = winner It’s too cold here in the winner!
2. twenty = tweny Thomas is paid tweny dollars an hour.
3. plenty = pleny Sally has pleny of money in the bank.
4. gigantic = giganic That mountain is giganic!
5. Toronto=Torono Torono is an interesting city.
Sometimes the students in my pronunciation classes prefer not to drop the /t/ sound and that’s OK. Americans will understand you if you say the /t/. However, if you want to reduce your accent and sound more natural you may want to drop the /t/ sound in the words above.
The /t/ sounds and the /th/ sounds are often a challenge for people who are trying to improve their spoken English. I teach more about these sounds in my Accent Reduction Classes.
Tags: american accent, american english consonants, american pronunciation, learn american english pronunciation, online accent reduction classes, t sound
