00:00This is the o sound, as in the words of, on and from.
00:14It's a vowel sound and its technical name is the open back rounded vowel.
00:22Remember that the key to pronunciation is physical.
00:25The name tells us about how the sound is made physically.
00:31In this case your tongue is low and at the back of your mouth.
00:36Rounded here means that your lips make a round shape and in this case the mouth is also open a little bit.
00:46All vowels are made through the mouth and are voiced so you need to vibrate your vocal cords to make the sound.
00:54It's similar to the o sound but it's shorter.
01:01To produce the sound put your tongue low and back in your mouth.
01:07Slightly push your lips together and then make a short voiced sound.
01:13The o sound is normally spelled with the letter o as in the words not and problem.
01:28But it can also be spelled with the letter a or au as in the words what and because.
01:40Like with all vowels in English the spelling can be very inconsistent and you'll always find alternative and unusual spellings of the vowel sounds.
01:49It's one of the most difficult things in English but we just have to learn it.
01:53Here are some more examples of words with the o sound.
02:03Want off off lot job job
02:18The o sound is a little unusual.
02:21It's not so common so there are not so many examples.
02:25And it's not used at all in American English.
02:29In the American form of pronunciation they use the sounds more similar to a or are.
02:37Where in British pronunciation sometimes we use o.
02:41So it's only really important if you specifically want to sound British.
02:46So that's it for the o sound.
