My Pronunciation Cheat Sheet

January 17, 2014 • written by

I’m going to share you one of my biggest secrets why I can get to improve people’s skills faster.

Ready?

Here goes.

I teach them how to focus on…

wait for it…

few!

I teach them to focus on a few things that are important.

Back in school I’m notorious for asking the teacher why a boring lesson is important to learn and I still do.

I don’t do it out loud but sometimes extra lessons are not really useful.

If something is not worth learning then it is important to not learn the lesson.

That’s just how I think personally.

If you need to improve your English skills you don’t need to go through every word in the dictionary.

You only need a few.

Where then do we start?

How about the top 100 most used words in the English language?

It is the most used after all, so it makes sense that we get this right now.

Do you agree?

I didn’t invent this but I found this very useful.

Here’s the list.

I copied it from Wikipedia.

Why?

Because it works.

Here’s how you use it.

Can I pronounce each word correctly?

Can I say it right?

Do I know what each word means?

Can I come up with a short definition?

Can I use each word in a sentence?

Here’s an exercise:

  1. Write each word on a piece of paper. Add enough space to write two short sentences.
  2. Read the words out loud. In your own words, define the word. For fun translate into Filipino. Use the word in a sentence.
  3. Record what you wrote on your phone. Listen to it and ask your self if it sounds right.

Source for the words: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Most_common_words_in_English

Rank Word
1 the
2 be
3 to
4 of
5 and
6 a
7 in
8 that
9 have
10 I
11 it
12 for
13 not
14 on
15 with
16 he
17 as
18 you
19 do
20 at
Rank Word
21 this
22 but
23 his
24 by
25 from
26 they
27 we
28 say
29 her
30 she
31 or
32 an
33 will
34 my
35 one
36 all
37 would
38 there
39 their
40 what
Rank Word
41 so
42 up
43 out
44 if
45 about
46 who
47 get
48 which
49 go
50 me
51 when
52 make
53 can
54 like
55 time
56 no
57 just
58 him
59 know
60 take
Rank Word
61 people
62 into
63 year
64 your
65 good
66 some
67 could
68 them
69 see
70 other
71 than
72 then
73 now
74 look
75 only
76 come
77 its
78 over
79 think
80 also
Rank Word
81 back
82 after
83 use
84 two
85 how
86 our
87 work
88 first
89 well
90 way
91 even
92 new
93 want
94 because
95 any
96 these
97 give
98 day
99 most
100 us

Here’s more.

Parts of Speech

Nouns (names of persons, places, things, events)

- time
- person
- year
- way
- day
- thing
- man
- world
- life
- hand
- part
- child
- eye
- woman
- place
- work
- week
- case
- point
- government
- company
- number
- group
- problem
- fact

Verbs (action words)

- be
- have
- do
- say
- get
- make
- go
- know
- take
- see
- come
- think
- look
- want
- give
- use
- find
- tell
- ask
- work
- seem
- feel
- try
- leave
- call

Adjectives (describing words)

- good
- new
- first
- last
- long
- great
- little
- own
- other
- old
- right
- big
- high
- different
- small
- large
- next
- early
- young
- important
- few
- public
- bad
- same
- able
- to
- of
- in
- for
- on
- with
- at
- by
- from
- up
- about
- into
- over
- after
- beneath
- under
- above

Others

- the
- and
- a
- that
- I
- it
- not
- he
- as
- you
- this
- but
- his
- they
- her
- she
- or
- an
- will
- my
- one
- all
- would
- there

updated: 10/19/2016

Thank you for reading this far and thanks for your attention.

I am praying for your success. God bless!

If you made it this far, you should introduce yourself.

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