WAEC 2024 English Language · Question 5

/ə/ — From the words lettered A-D, choose the word that contains the sound represented by the given phonetic…

Question

From the words lettered A-D, choose the word that contains the sound represented by the given phonetic symbol. /ə/

A.age
B.argue
C.about
D.active

Answer: C. about

Explanation written with AI and checked against the answer key

Analyze the question: You're asked to find the word that contains the schwa sound /ə/, the most common vowel sound in English. It is a weak, unstressed "uh" sound.

Explain the concept: The schwa /ə/ appears in unstressed syllables. Examples are the "a" in banana /bəˈnɑːnə/ and the "er" in teacher /ˈtiːtʃə/. Stressed vowels are usually full sounds, not schwa.

Solution: check each word's transcription

A. age is /eɪdʒ/. It has the diphthong /eɪ/ and no schwa.
B. argue is /ˈɑːɡjuː/. It has /ɑː/ and /uː/, with no schwa.
C. about is /əˈbaʊt/. The first syllable "a" is unstressed and is pronounced /ə/. This contains the schwa.
D. active is /ˈæktɪv/. It has /æ/ and /ɪ/, with no schwa.

Answer: The word with /ə/ is C. about.

Tip: Look for an unstressed syllable, especially at the start of a word (about, around, above, another). In these words the first letter "a" is almost always the schwa.

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