MLAT Phonetic Spelling Clues 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A phonetic key states that 'oo' = the vowel in 'moon'. Which spelling correctly represents 'groove'?
- grooov
- groov (Correct answer)
- gruuv
- gruwv
Correct answer: groov
'Groove' has the long 'oo' vowel between 'gr' and 'v', making 'groov' the accurate phonetic form.
Question 2: The phonetic form 'pəˈliːs' uses a stress mark before 'liːs'. What does this word mean?
- palace
- police (Correct answer)
- please
- pulse
Correct answer: police
The schwa in the first syllable and the long 'ee' in the stressed second syllable give 'police'.
Question 3: Which of the following phonetic spellings represents the word 'cheese'?
- chiiz
- tʃiiz (Correct answer)
- siiz
- kheez
Correct answer: tʃiiz
The 'ch' sound is represented by 'tʃ' in IPA-based phonetic keys, followed by the long 'ee' (iː), giving 'tʃiiz'.
Question 4: A test uses the rule: a vowel followed by a silent 'e' is long. Which word does 'kode' represent?
- cod
- code (Correct answer)
- coed
- cord
Correct answer: code
Under the rule that final 'e' makes the preceding vowel long, 'kode' transcribes 'code' (long O).
Question 5: In an MLAT exercise, you see: 'lɪsən'. Which English word does this phonetic string represent?
- lesson
- listen (Correct answer)
- lessen
- loosen
Correct answer: listen
'lɪsən' has a short 'i' (ɪ), an 's', and a schwa (ə) + n, matching 'listen' (the 't' is silent).
Question 6: A phonetic key marks vowel length with a colon (:). 'biːtʃ' represents which word?
- bit
- beach (Correct answer)
- beige
- bench
Correct answer: beach
A long 'ee' (iː) followed by 'tʃ' gives the pronunciation of 'beach'.
Question 7: Which phonetic property do the words 'knight', 'knife', and 'know' share?
- They all begin with a nasal consonant phonetically
- They all have a silent initial 'k' in pronunciation (Correct answer)
- They all contain the vowel sound in 'bite'
- They all end with the same phoneme
Correct answer: They all have a silent initial 'k' in pronunciation
In modern English, the initial 'kn-' cluster is pronounced as just 'n', making the 'k' silent in all three words.
MLAT Phonetic Spelling Clues 3
A phonetic key states that 'oo' = the vowel in 'moon'.
Which spelling correctly represents 'groove'?