E P Tips

English Pronunciation Tips

  • About
  • Acknowledgments
  • Ear-training
    • Ear-training 1
    • Ear-training 2
    • Ear-training 3
    • Ear-training 4
    • Ear-training 5
    • Ear-training 6
    • Ear-training 7
  • Intonation
    • How to sound re-assuring
    • Reflexives and the tonic
    • Tonic
    • Wh-questions
  • Mini dictionaries
    • Animals
    • Archaeology
    • Architecture
    • Astronomy
    • Birds
    • Chemical elements A – E
    • Chemical elements F – N
    • Chemical elements O – S
    • Chemical elements T – Z
    • Finance
    • Geography
    • Geological periods
    • Grammatical terms
    • Greek letters
    • Herbs and spices
    • Literary terms
    • Meteorology
    • Music
  • Miscellaneous
    • Affricate sequences
    • Because
    • Berry
    • Change of voicing
    • Close
    • Garage
    • Graph
    • Hello, sailor!
    • Hello, soldier!
    • house
    • Kilometre
    • Months
    • No syllabic n, thank you!
    • Perhaps
    • Regular noun plurals
    • Shrinking words
    • Some flowers
    • Some irregular plurals
    • Stranding
    • Stranding 2
    • That
    • Tricky pairs
    • Use
    • Usual
    • ðz and zð (how to cheat)
  • Names
    • -bo(u)rne
    • -borough -burgh
    • -bury
    • -cester
    • -chester
    • -ese
    • -folk
    • -ford
    • -ham
    • -mouth
    • -ness
    • -port
    • -sex
    • -son
    • -stone & -ston
    • -wich
    • Beautiful places
    • Canada
    • Caribbean
    • Dorset, Somerset
    • Glamis and Wemyss
    • holm, hulme
    • Ireland
    • Keighley
    • Mainwaring
    • More troublesome place-names
    • New places
    • New Zealand
    • Scotland
    • Some given names
    • Some troublesome place-names
    • Two-part place-names
    • USA
    • Wales
  • Oddities
    • Bass
    • Blancmange
    • Broad
    • Brooch
    • Chamber
    • cheese and geese
    • Choir
    • Christ
    • Courtesy
    • Cushion
    • Equation
    • Fever and lever
    • Funny business
    • Gaol and margarine
    • Gross
    • Iron
    • Leisure, seizure
    • Mauve
    • Mayor
    • Meringue
    • Mortgage
    • Quay
    • Scone
    • Shoe
    • Sponge
    • Subpoena
    • Vineyard
    • Wrath
    • Yacht
  • Prefixes
    • Aero
    • bio-
    • By(e)-
    • Cata-
    • Circum-
    • Com-, con-
    • Hyper-
    • Hypo-
    • Mis-
    • Para-
    • Peri-
    • Poly-
    • Tele-
    • Un-
  • Sitemap
  • Sounds
  • Spelling to sound
    • <-se> Episode 1
    • <-se> Episode 2
    • <-se> Episode 3
    • <a> is not ʌ
    • <ai>
    • <al>
    • <au>
    • <bt>
    • <cc>
    • <ch> = k
    • <ch> = ʃ
    • <ea> = e
    • <eak>
    • <ear> = ɜː
    • <ease>
    • <ei> = eɪ
    • <eigh>
    • <eo>
    • <g> = ʒ
    • <gain>
    • <ge> and <gi>
    • <gn>
    • <i> = iː
    • <mb>
    • <ng>
    • <ng> again
    • <o> = uː
    • <on> = ʌn
    • <ood>
    • <ose>
    • <ost>
    • <ou> = uː
    • <ou> = ʌ
    • <ough>
    • <ound>
    • <oup>
    • <our> = ɜː
    • <ove> = ʌv
    • <ove> does not = ʌv
    • <qu> = k
    • <s> = ʒ
    • <ss>
    • <th> = t
    • <ui>
    • <w(h)a> and <qua(w)>
    • <wor> = wɜː
    • Initial <th> = ð
    • Silent <h>
    • Silent <s>
    • Silent <w>
  • Stress
    • -aire
    • -eer
    • -esque
    • -ette
    • -ic and -ical
    • -ity
    • -ocracy
    • -oo
    • -oon
    • -proof
    • -worthy
    • Abbreviations
    • Blue, green, red
    • Roads and Streets
    • Stress variation
    • Stressful Christmas?
  • Symbols
  • Transcriptions
    • Transcription 1
  • Vowels
    • No schwa!
    • Vowel alternation: aɪ ~ ɪ
    • Vowel alternation: eɪ ~ æ
    • Vowel alternation: iː ~ e
    • Vowel alternation: əʊ ~ ɒ
    • ə elision in the first syllable
  • Word endings
    • -(m)ony = (m)əni
    • -(n)gue
    • -ac
    • -ade
    • -age = ɑːʒ
    • -ance
    • -ane
    • -ary and -ory
    • -ate
    • -chief
    • -cious
    • -eous
    • -et
    • -ex(e)
    • -ful(ly)
    • -gm
    • -i = aɪ
    • -ice
    • -ine
    • -ious
    • -ique
    • -ite = ɪt
    • -less
    • -ment
    • -mn
    • -ngle
    • -nomy & -tomy
    • -olic
    • -on
    • -oose
    • -oric(al)
    • -our
    • -our = aʊə
    • -path
    • -pathy
    • -re
    • -sis
    • -sten & -stle
    • -ture
    • -ward(s)
    • Non-silent <e>

-ance

There are many words where the ending <ance> is unstressed and is pronounced əns.  Here is a list of examples:

acceptance balance compliance deliverance distance importance instance nuisance performance resistance substance temperance tolerance vengeance

If the word has only a single syllable or if the final syllable is stressed, then the most common pronunciation of the ending is ɑːns, as in

advance chance dance France enhance glance lance perchance prance stance trance

However, things are not always that simple, are they? Here are some words which fit in neither of the two lists above.

  • askance can be pronounced either əˈskæns or əˈskɑːns
  • entrance as a noun is ˈentrəns, but as a verb it is ɪnˈtrɑːns or enˈtrɑːns
  • finance can be fɪˈnæns or faɪˈnæns or ˈfaɪnæns
  • freelance is ˈfriːlɑːns
  • happenstance can be ˈhæpənstæns or ˈhæpənstɑːns or ˈhæpənstəns
  • nuance is ˈnjuːɑːns or ˈnjuːɒns or ˈnjuːɑ̃ːs (with a nasalised vowel)
  • romance is ˈrəʊmæns or rəʊˈmæns
  • séance is ˈseɪɒns or ˈseɪɑːns or ˈseɪɑ̃ːs (with a nasalised vowel)

2013_09_27

  • Search

  • News

    Latest update: 2015_04_18
    Number of tips: 246
    Number of tips with sound: 42

    Latest changes:

    Updated and added sound to -ese

    Added sound to Funny business

    Added sound to Graph

    Added sound to That

    Added sound to Tricky pairs

  • Flag counter

    Flag Counter
Proudly powered by WordPress Theme: Parament by Automattic.
Scroll