Klryz
Pronunciation guide: IPA symbols, stress and word endings

Vowels

iːseeɪsite / ɛbedæcat
ɑːfatherɒhot (UK)ɔːlawʊput
uːtooʌcupɜːbirdəabout
eɪdayaɪmyɔɪboyaʊnow
əʊ / oʊgo (UK / US)ɪəneareəhairʊətour

Consonants that look unusual

θthinðthisʃsheʒmeasure
tʃchurchdʒjudgeŋsingjyes

p b t d k g f v s z h m n l r w sound as in ordinary English spelling.

Marks

  • ˈ main stress, before the stressed syllable: /ˈwɔːtə/ water · ˌ lighter (secondary) stress: /ˌʌndəˈstænd/ understand
  • ː a long vowel · (r) an r said only in accents that pronounce it (most American, Scottish, Irish)

Common word endings

  • -s / -es (plurals; he/she form of verbs): /s/ after voiceless sounds (cats), /z/ after voiced (dogs), /ɪz/ after s, z, sh, ch, j sounds (buses, watches). Spelling: -es after s, x, z, ch, sh; consonant + y → -ies (city → cities).
  • -ed (past): /t/ after voiceless sounds (walked), /d/ after voiced (played), /ɪd/ after t or d (wanted). Spelling: love → loved, stop → stopped, carry → carried.
  • -ing: make → making, run → running, see → seeing.
  • Irregular: go, went, gone · be, was, been · see, saw, seen · man → men · child → children · mouse → mice.
  • Older (King James) forms: -eth = -s (he loveth = he loves) · -est with “thou” (thou lovest) · spake = spoke.

English Dictionary · 107,383 entries · Sources & licences

catch up

verb

Forms catches up catching up caught up catch ups catch-up

  1. verb (transitive) To pick up suddenly.
  2. verb (transitive, chiefly passive voice) To entangle (something). “The speaker wires have got caught up with the wires from the lights.”
  3. verb (transitive, chiefly passive voice, by extension) To involve in (something); to embroil. “That's why she got caught up in addiction.”
  4. verb (intransitive) To be brought up to date with news. “I hadn't seen her for so long. It was great to catch up.”
  5. verb (transitive) To bring (someone) up to date with the news. “After Alice's vacation, her boss caught her up on policy changes.”
  6. verb (ambitransitive) To reach something that had been ahead. “Rose was three seconds behind, but managed to catch up with the race leader and eventually won.”
  7. verb (intransitive) To compensate for or make up a deficiency. “After a slow start, they've been catching up lately.”
  8. verb (intransitive, of some inevitable phenomenon, with with) To finally overtake (someone or something) after a long period of approaching (them or it). “His years of drinking were catching up with him.”

Sources: Wiktionary — from the Wiktionary entry “catch up”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details