B jonas

English Wikipedia has an article on:

User:B jonas

Wikipedia

Welcome!

You might get a tad bit more info about me on my en.Wikipedia user page.

I've contributed a few Hungarian translations and Hungarian words here.

Subpages edit

User:B jonas/French pronunciation

Some useful links edit

B jonas 13:57, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

Some notes on English usage edit

Do not confuse these pairs of English words edit

draught or draft: /drɑ:ft/ current of air
drought: /draʊt/ period of dryness

appeal: attract; urge
appal or appall: frighten or horrify

coach: /kəʊtʃ/ a bus, train wagon, or closed horse carriage; or a sports trainer
couch: /kaʊtʃ/ sofa

stenography: shorthand, fast form of handwriting
steganography: hiding messages

deprecate: /ˈdɛprɪkeɪt/ talk disapprovingly; also used instead of depreciate sometimes
depreciate: /dɪˈpriːʃɪeɪt/ become less valuable

dilate: /daɪˈleɪt, dɪˈleɪt/ expand or widen (esp. a gap)
dilute: /daɪˈluːt, dɪˈluːt/ make (a solution) less dense
delate: /dɪˈleɪt/ report a person for their rule breaking
delayed: /dɪˈleɪd/ past of delay, push to later time
delete: /dɪˈliːt/ remove
delight: /dɪˈlaɪt/ happyness
delude: /dɪˈluːd/ convince about falsehoods

continuous: /kənˈtɪnjʊəs/ without interruption
contiguous: /kənˈtɪgjʊəs/ sharing a border, or without gaps

discrete: made of separate parts, not continuous
discreet: respecting privacy

specter or spectre: ghost
scepter or sceptre: symbolic staff that rulers hold

Pairs of apparently related English words with surpisingly different pronunciation edit

sign /saɪn/ – signal /ˈsɪgnəl/
finite /ˈfaɪnaɪt/ – infinite /ˈɪnfɪnɪt/
cycle /ˈsaɪkəl/ – bicycle /ˈbaɪsɪkəl/
number /'nʌmbər/ – numerous /ˈnjuːmərəs/, numeral /ˈnjuːmərəl/, numeric /njuːˈmɛrɪk/ etc
design /dɪˈzaɪn/ – designate /ˈdɛzɪgneɪt/

Some words of which I need to learn the spelling edit

(There are too many words of which I need to learn the pronunciation that I don't even bother to start to list them.)

weird (as a workaround, learn to just use curious or strange in most cases)
hygiene, etymology, mysterious, Odyssey, myopia, hibernate
carbohydrate
appearance, maintenance, existence
appropriate, privilege, obsolete
heard
homogeneous, jealous
autumn

Links on particular points of English usage edit

Usage of trace, track, trail.

Silent initial consonants edit

If a word starts with any of the following combination of consonants, the first consonant is almost always silent in English.

wr: write, wrong, wrist, wrap, wreck, wrest, wrestle, wriggle, wrinkle, wrath, wraith, wreath, wrangle, wren, wright, wrought, wring, writ, writhe, wry.
kn: know, knife, knock, knee, knight, knob, knot, knit, knack, knout, knuckle, knave.
ps: psychology (and lots of related words), psalm, pseudo, psychic, psionics.
pt: pterodactyl.
gn: gnaw, gnash, gnome, gnu, gnat.
pn: pneumatic.
mn: mnemonic.
chth: chthonic.
phth: phthisis
bd: bdellium.

Pronounciation of -ough in English edit

List of such words: although borough bough breakthrough cough dough enough furlough hough Marlborough McCullough rough Scarborough slough sough sourdough thorough though through tough trough. – b_jonas 11:42, 7 September 2008 (UTC)

All from wiktionary as of 2008-06-13: -borough alpine-chough although borough bough chough cough dough eavestrough enough furlough Hiccough hiccough Hillsborough hough Loughborough lough Marlborough Middlesbrough Myerscough Peterborough Plough plough Rough rough Scarborough Slough slough snowplough sough sourdough thirdborough Thorough thorough though tough trough turlough Conrad.Irwin 11:39, 7 September 2008 (UTC) Sorted list inplace for easier use of paper dict. – b_jonas 11:45, 7 September 2008 (UTC)

Pron source below: Paul Procter (editor), Dictionary of Contemporary English, A Langenscheidt-Longman Dictionary. Longman Group Ltd., 1985, 7th printing.

/-oʊ/
- although /ɔːlˈðəʊ/
- dough /dəʊ/
- furlough (BrE) /ˈfɜːləʊ/, (AmE) /ˈfɜrləʊ/
- sourdough (BrE) /ˈsaʊədəʊ/ or (AE) /ˈsaʊərdəʊ/
- though /ðəʊ/

/-oʊ/ or /-ə/
- borough (BrE) /ˈbʌrə/, (AmE) /ˈbʌrəʊ/
- thorough (BrE) /ˈθʌrə/ or (BrE or AmE) /ˈθʌrəʊ/

/-aʊ/
- bough /baʊ/
- plough /plaʊ/, also (US) plow
- slough¹ (BrE or AmE) /slaʊ/ or (AmE) /sluː/ marshy area
- snowplough /ˈsnəʊplaʊ/

/-uː/
- breakthrough /ˈbreɪkθruː/
- through /θruː/

/-ʌf/
- chough /tʃʌf/
- enough /ɪˈnʌf/
- rough /rʌf/
- slough² /slʌf/ skin thrown off from a reptile
- sough /sʌf/ or /saʊ/
- tough /tʌf/

/-ɒf/
- cough (BrE) /kɒf/, (AmE) /kɔf/
- trough (BrE) /trɒf/ or (AmE) /trɔf/

/-ʌp/
- hiccough /ˈhɪkʌp/ or /ˈhɪkəp/, more commonly hiccup, also hickup

/-ɒk/
- hough /hɒk/
- lough /lɒk/ or /lɒx/

/-əʊx/
- turlough /ˈtʊələʊx/

English words ending in é edit

These are usually confusing when written with "e" instead of "é".

cliché, clichéd, melee (close combat), resumé, epee, maté, saké, rothé, café, exposé, animé

– b_jonas

An old project of mine on Wiktionary edit

My current project (stalled for a long time now) here is to add most two-letter Hungarian words to wiktionary. I exclude some interjections, word parts that are not a complete word, interjections and other meaningless words, and words I forget. I've done the words starting with a–í, so I now have to continue from j. About half of the words already had a suitable entry which makes the project much easier.