One sound apart: choosing the word the sentence needs
I think the boat will sink.
Three of them were free by then.Each sentence below is missing one word. In every case another English word sits one consonant away from the answer, and in one of the five that rival would fill the slot without breaking the sentence at all, so meaning has to decide it. Read the whole line, work out what it must say, and write the word that says it. Afterwards read both candidates aloud. This exercise is really about the mouth rather than the page: if the two come out sounding identical, the gap is not yet solved.
1. The ice looked far too ___ to walk on, so we went round the lake.
2. I ___ the shop closes at six, but you should check the sign.
3. There were only ___ people waiting at the bus stop.
4. It was hard to ___ in the hot, smoky room.
5. We finished the washing-up, and ___ we sat down.Show the answers
1. thin
2. think
3. three
4. breathe
5. thenThe first three answers are voiceless: the vocal cords stay still, and a listener should hear nothing but air escaping between tongue and teeth. The last two are voiced, and a finger on the throat will feel it buzz. Each answer has a near-twin one consonant away. The twin of the first names a metal, the twin of the second is a verb about going under water, the third has two twins, one meaning at no cost and one naming a tall plant, the fourth's twin is a light wind, and the fifth's twin is where a fox sleeps. Only one of those twins could take the slot beside it and still leave a working sentence; on the page the others betray themselves. Aloud there is no such protection, so a substitution costs you the word, not merely the accent.