Linking Sounds Examples

Useful Linking Sounds Examples

When teaching pronunciation, it is important to teach English linking sounds to help your students speak naturally and fluently in English. Below, you’ll find many linking sounds examples and the linking sound rules to help you explain linking sounds to your students. The linking sounds examples below include similar consonants linking, consonant to consonant linking sounds, consonant to vowel linking sounds, and vowel to vowel linking sounds. But first, let’s explain what linking sounds are.

Linking is a pronunciation technique that allows the speaker to smoothly say two or more words together. When linked together the words sound like one continuous word. Using linking sounds when speaking English can make your speech sound much more fluent and natural.

Linking Sounds Examples

Consonant To Consonant Linking

When a word ends in a consonant sound and then the following word begins with the same consonant sound, the sounds are linked. So, rather than saying the consonant sound twice, it is only pronounced once.

Here are some consonant to consonant linking sound examples:

  • red dress [redress]
  • big gorilla [bigorilla]
  • hot tomato [hotomato]
  • feel lucky [feelucky]
  • quiet town [quietown]
  • *pink car [pinkar]
  • *nice scarf [niscarf]

*For linking to occur, it doesn’t have to be the same consonant, just the same consonant sound.

Similar Consonant Sound Linking

Linking also occurs if the first word ends with a consonant sound and the following word starts with a similar consonant sound. Again, when words like this are linked together, only one sound is pronounced.

Here are some linking sound examples with similar consonant sounds:

  • need to [neeto]
  • sleep better [sleebetter]
  • dark gray = [dargray]
  • cheese sandwich = [cheesandwich]
  • breath through = [breathrough]

As you can see, each of these linking sound examples do not have exactly the same consonant sound, but they have a similar consonant sound.

Consonant To Vowel Linking Examples

When one word ends with a consonant sound, and the following word starts with a vowel sound, the sounds are often linked together. When linking occurs, the two words flow together and sound like one single word.

Here are some consonant to vowel linking sound examples:

  • an elephant [anelephant]
  • an apple [anapple]
  • these are [theezare]
  • Craig bought an apple. [Craig bough-ta–napple.]

Vowel To Vowel Linking Examples

Linking also occurs when a word ends in a vowel sound and the next word starts with a vowel sound. When this happens, either a /w/ sound (‘w‘ as in ‘wall’) is used to connect the two words, or a /j/ sound (‘y‘ as in ‘yell’).

Here are some vowel to vowel linking sound examples:

  • two apples [twowapples]
  • she asked [sheyasked]
  • go out [gowout]
  • see Anna [seeyAnna]

Example Sentences With Linking Sounds

Here are some example sentences with linking sounds. Read each sentence aloud and try to identify the linking sounds. Then click on the ‘show linking sounds’ tab to see the answers.

  • There’s an apple in the tree.
  • I ate an apple and a banana, too.
  • There’s a big gorilla looking right at me.
  • She asked for a glass of water.
  • When Anna met Andrew she asked him to go on a date.
  • I always sleep better when it’s dark.
  • I need to see you right away.
  • The sky was dark gray all day.
  • I fell in the swimming pool and Amy fell in, too.
  • These are delicious strawberries.
  • There’s_an_apple in the tree.
  • I ate_an_apple and_a banana, too.
  • There’s_a big_gorilla looking right_at me.
  • She_asked for a glass_of water.
  • When_Anna met_Andrew she_asked him to go on_a date.
  • I always_sleep_better when_it’s dark.
  • I need_to see you right_away.
  • The sky was dark_gray all day.
  • I fell_in the swimming pool and_Amy fell_in, too.
  • These_are delicious_strawberries.

Thanks for reading. I hope you found these linking sounds examples useful. Before you go, don’t forget to check out our free English teaching resources including English grammar exercises, Worksheets, PowerPoint Lessons, Activity Videos, and much more.