PTE Pronunciation & Fluency 3 Flashcards
6 cards from real PTE practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 PTE Pronunciation & Fluency 3 flashcards as text
In English, the minimal pair "ship" and "sheep" differ in:
Answer: Vowel sound length and quality
"Ship" (/ɪ/) and "sheep" (/iː/) form a minimal pair differing only in vowel quality and length. The short /ɪ/ vs. long /iː/ distinction is a common source of pronunciation errors tested in PTE Academic speaking tasks.
What does "intonation" refer to in English pronunciation?
Answer: The rise and fall of pitch across a sentence
Intonation is the variation in pitch across a sentence or utterance. It conveys meaning (e.g., rising intonation for yes/no questions, falling for statements) and is part of natural prosody assessed in PTE Academic speaking tasks.
In PTE Academic, what does "oral fluency" NOT include?
Answer: Correct grammatical structures in spoken responses
Oral Fluency in PTE Academic assesses rhythm, pacing, smooth delivery, and natural chunking of speech — not grammatical accuracy. Grammar is a separate enabling skill. Fluency is about flow, not correctness of structure.
Which of the following is an example of "elision" in English connected speech?
Answer: "Next week" pronounced as "neks week" (dropping the /t/)
Elision is the omission of a sound in connected speech. "Next week" → "neks week" drops the /t/ because it is difficult to articulate between two consonants. Understanding elision helps with PTE Academic listening comprehension.
For PTE Academic speaking tasks, which is the best strategy if you make an error mid-sentence?
Answer: Complete the sentence naturally; minor errors do not void the entire response
In PTE Academic speaking, stopping and restarting can disrupt fluency scoring more than a minor error. Completing the sentence naturally is better. Self-correction is acceptable if done smoothly, but unnecessary restarts hurt the oral fluency score.
The pronunciation of "photograph," "photographer," and "photographic" demonstrates which important English stress pattern?
Answer: Stress can shift between syllables when a word changes form (stress shift)
PHOtograph → phoTOgrapher → phoTOgraphic demonstrates stress shift — as words change form (noun to verb to adjective), the stressed syllable changes position. This is a key English pronunciation feature tested in PTE Academic.