In today’s video, we look at that tricky OUGH phonogram that causes us so much trouble in English. There are at least 7 different ways to pronounce it!

My garden doesn’t look very nice at the moment, the grass is a bit dry and dead looking.  Why?  Because here in the UK we had an especially dry and hot summer. Officially we are in a drought.

Drought

That brings us to our first sound – drought has an /aʊ/ sound. The gh is silent. Can you think of any other words with the same sound? I include two other examples in the video, including one used in a nursery rhyme. Make sure to watch the video for them!

Rough & Tough

This garden is looking a bit rough. Some of the poor plants didn’t survive the summer.

Rough – there’s another sound, /ʌf/ (sounds like stuff). The garden looks rough because we haven’t had enough rain and now the ground is hard and tough. I got three in the same sentence! Rough, enough and tough!

Through

Through is the only one of these o-u-g-h words that has a long /u:/ sound.

Bought, Thought, Wrought

Bought, Thought, Wrought are pronounced with an /ɔ:t/ (sounds like port)

Cough & Trough

I take a break to have a snack. Oh no! The cookie is too dry and crumbly and made me cough! Maybe I should eat from a trough instead of a plate!? Do you know what a trough is?  It’s one of those long narrow containers that are used for feeding animals. Did you notice that cough and trough have the same sound? /ɒf/ (sounds like off)

Dough & Although

The next sound is a long /əʊ/. This is used in dough and although.

Thorough & Borough

We end the vide having a look at my lovely pot plants! Despite the drought, I still managed to give my pots a thorough watering each day, to keep them alive. Our local borough council banned people from using hoses, but that’s ok, I had my trusty watering can.

So, our last sound is a short /ə/ sound. Thorough and borough.

Tricky Place Names

I finish with a couple of tricky place names in the UK – Loughborough and Slough. How do we pronounce these? Watch the video and find out!

Thanks for joining me on my tour around the garden. Comments, as always, can be left under the video on YouTube.

Until next time!