How to Pronounce: Verbs and nouns with the letter s

Hello! I’m John Russell.
English has a lot of words that are both verbs and nouns. For example:
Use
Use
What’s the difference between the two? Let’s listen to some examples:
What is the use of this thing?
How do I use this thing?
Did you notice that the first word use, has a /s/ sound, while the second word, use, has a /z/ sound?
In the first example, use is a noun. In the second example, use is a verb.
The difference between use and use is one example of how speakers of American English sometimes pronounce nouns and verbs differently – even if they are spelled the same.
Now, there are many words where this is not the case. But it’s important to know the exceptions.
What are some of these exceptions?
House – house
Excuse – excuse
In both cases, the noun form has the /s/ sound, while the verb form has the /z/ sound.
So, you might hear someone say:
I bought a new house.
Or
The museum houses many beautiful pieces of art.
The good news is that if you mix up the /s/ or /z/ sound, your message will still probably be understood.
But if you want to sound more like a native speaker, it’s important to learn the words that are pronounced differently in noun and verb form.
That’s all for today! Keep up the good work.
Originally published at - https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a...