Voiced sounds come from your throat. If you touch your neck when you
make a voiced sound, you can feel your voice box vibrate.
Examples of voiced sounds: “L”, “V”, “N”, “B” and all vowel sounds.
smell smell/d/
Final –ed is pronounced /ed/ after “T”, and “D” sounds.
The sound /ed/ adds a whole syllable to a word
Example: Looked Æ look/t/ = one syllable
Needed Æ need/ed/ = two syllables
decided decide/ed/
needed need/ed/
wanted want/ed
invited invite/ed
Final – ed is pronounced /t/ after all voiceless sounds.
Voiceless sounds are made by pushing air through your mouth; no sound
comes from your throat.
Examples of voiceless sounds : “K”, “P”, “S”, “Ch”, “Sh”, “F”
saved save/d/
cleaned clean/d/
robbed rob/d/
played play/d/
II. Plural Nouns & Present Tense: Use, Pronunciation and Spelling of Final “s, es endings”
A final –s or –es is added to a noun to make the noun plural.
Friend = singular noun, Friends = plural noun
Noun s: Friends are important
Noun es: I like my classes
A final –s or –es is added to a present tense verb when the subject is a
singular noun (e.g., Mary, My father, the machine) or third person
(e.g., she, he, it)
Mary works = Singular
She works = Singular
The students work = plural
They work = plural
Verb ‐S: Mary works at the bank
Verb ‐ES: John watches birds
Pronunciation of –S, ES
Final –s is pronounced /s/ after voiceless sounds, as in “T”, “P”, and “K”
Final –s is pronounced /z/ after voiced sounds, as in “D”, “B”, “G” and “EE”
Final –s and –es are pronounced /ez/ after “SH,” “CH,” “S,” “Z,” and
“GE,”, “DGE”.
The /ez/ ending adds a syllable.
Spelling: Final –S vs. –ES
For most words (whether a verb or noun), a final –s is added
Final –es is added to words ending with –SH, CH, S, Z, and –X.
For words ending in –Y: if –Y is preceded by vowel only –s is added
If –y is preceded by a consonant, the –y is changed to –i and –es is added.
This handout was compiled by Chen Che, ELS Student Facilitator (April 2009)
Source: Azar, B. (1999). Understanding and Using English Grammar (3rd ed.). Longman Press
seats seat/s/
ropes rope/s/
backs back/s/
seeds seed/z/
robes robe/z/
bags bag/z/
sees see/z/
dishes dish/ez/
catches catch/ez/
kisses kiss/ez/
mixes mix/ez/
prizes prize/ez/
edges edge/ez/
sing sings
song songs
wash washes
watch watches
class classes
buzz buzzes
box boxes
toy toys
buy buys
baby babies
cry cries