Shit or Sheet? ‘i’ and ‘ee’ sounds – English Pronunciation
Is it Shit or Sheet? Have you ever pronounced the word ‘sheet’ incorrectly? Don’t be embarrassed!
A lot of students have told me that they’ve had embarrassing moments because of these 2 words! So, let’s deal with them once and for all.
As you know, the ‘i’ /ɪ/ is a short vowel and the ‘ee’ /iː/ is a long vowel.
Don’t cut your ‘ee’ short, and an extra tip that really helps, is to lengthen it even more with a bit of a ‘slide’ –
‘ee’ – your pitch or intonation goes up and down at the same time.
Let’s say ‘she’ this way. ‘shee’ shee – ‘shee went out.’ Not ‘shi ‘ went out’
Now, let’s do ‘sheet’ – make sure you slide up and down with your intonation and hold the ‘ee’ long enough.
‘i’ /ɪ/ Vs ‘ee’ /iː/ vowel practise – Let’s say it together:
Shit – it’s short
Sheet – it’s drawn out.
Shit
Sheet
Practise Sentence:
Can I have a sheet of paper?
Even if I’m speaking quickly I still make my pitch go up and down, and stay on the ‘ee’ long enough inside the word.
I hope you have found this helpful.
Also, for more practise material check out this lesson on commonly mispronounced words.
For more in – depth training check out our British, Australian and American online courses.
If you found this video helpful, please share it with someone who would benefit from it 🙂 Have you ever gotten these two vowel sounds mixed up? Comment below with your story!
Bye for now