April Showers and May Flowers: Vowels, Jokes, and Syllable Stress
We’ve been getting a lot of rain lately where I live in the South, and although it makes for some dreary days, the payoff is outstanding: amazing flowers are blooming and filling our yards and parks!
Americans have a rhyming phrase that helps us get through the wet months:
“April showers bring May flowers.”
This phrase reminds us that all this rain has a purpose! I bring it up because it’s also a timely way of getting you to open your mouth wide for a number of vowel sounds as you practice to reduce your accent.
“April showers bring May flowers” also has the “ing” sound… which you can read more about in this post.
This phrase also has a joke that goes along with it, which leads me to ask you:
Do you know the difference? And how can that little space between “May” and “flower” make any difference? Hear the difference between them, and how Americans use these words for a springtime joke, in this video I made a few years ago:
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