How do you pronounce “s” in these cases? “s” sound or “z” sound?
she’s
how’s
one’s
ones
Favorite Answer
But I’m guessing you don’t want simply to know about these five words. You want to know WHY that is so, and how you can tell in other cases.
There is one basic rule:
When an “s” is added to make a noun plural (ones) or possessive (one’s), or to create a singular verb form OR when it results from a contraction (“he’s” “she’s” “how’s” for “he is” “she is”, “how is”)
a) it is pronounced with the /s/ sound — that is, WITHOUT using the voice– IF the SOUND (not the letter) immediately before it does not use the voice.
Examples: after f, k, p, t
*its, it’s, bites, lacks, caps
b) it is pronounced with the /z/ sound — that is, the same as /s/ but WITH the voice– when the SOUND immediately before it is “voiced” (that is, uses the voice)
Note that the voiced sound may be a VOWEL sound (ALL vowel sounds in English use the voice), or a voiced consonant — b, d, g, l, m, n, r, v
Examples:
*all the cases you list! the first three are after vowel sounds, the last two after /n/, which uses the voice
(Note again, that it is the SOUND made before the “s” that makes the difference — thus the SILENT vowel of “bites” doesn’t have any effect, while the pronunciation of a vowel sound in the possessive form “dress’s” [pronounced /dressiz/] causes the following “s” to be voiced… /z/)
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Actually, there is a more general rule like the one above —
For ANY word with just one “s” at the end, it will be pronounced as /z/ if the preceding sound is voiced, as /s/ if the preceding sound is not voiced. (That’s because, words with final /s/ sound following a voiced sound spell it other ways
a) with DOUBLE s (after a vowel), e.g., dress, miss, fuss, boss
b) with final -se or -ce (after a vowel or consonant), e.g.. base, house, nice, sense, horse, fence, since, glance (though SOME words with these endings sound like /z/ – house (verb), ease, please, disease, noise, poise)
they do pronounce it right
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