Tongue Twisters

by Hugh M. Lewis

Tongue twisters are both fun and torture for new students of English. A good way of testing student's aural capabilities of hearing English sounds are to have them write down tongue twister's from dictation. A pre-test and post-test of the same or modified tongue twisters before and after a set period of oral English study, will provide the instructor with a fair idea of how much progress students have made, and of the relative capabilities in aural English of different students in a class. Do not over do tongue twisters, for then they become brain torture for the students. Having students practice tongue twisters, and then gradually increasing the tempo, is a fun exercise.

Another fun project is to have students make up their own tongue twisters and give them to the class.

Mr. Hector Protector detected a signal in the secret signal reflector.

The fat cat in the hat sat on the flat mat.

The crazy stripped zebra zigzagged lazily across the sassy sassafras grass.

A stitch in time saves nine or ten or even eleven sometimes.

The busy bumblebee buzzed busily beneath the bramble bush.

Silly Sally sells seashells by the Irish seashore.

His honorable Henry Higgins has made History by hurriedly hiring a hairy Human.

The rains in Spain fell mainly upon the grain trains of the plains.

The crawling crooked crocodile croaked a creepy cadenza

The cautious castaway caught quite a cough

Professor Peter Piper picked a puny peck of purple spotted pickled peppers.

Merry Mirthy Martha Mary Marples married Mad Mark Mulligan.

The blue plane flew too few gnus to the new zoo.

Twelve teeny twins thricely tweeked their twenty tweezers betwixt the twitter-tweetles

The creepy crawly caterpillar was crowned queen of the orchids by the crowded cocoon congress.

The pretty prim princess presented presents to the poor pauper

The scholarly skeleton was extremely excited about his classes at ski school

The singing swan swung in the hanging swing while the white swan gracefuly in the sweet supple water.

The beautiful baby built a building from the building blocks on the blue blanket.

Thrilly Trilling Trish Tracy triumphantly twirled on her tricycle in the twilight

The teency teen was seen between scenes on Halloween.

The insolent recalcitrant spent an indolent sentence in the penitentiary.

Tweety said to Sylvester "I thought I saw a pretty pussy cat."

Lowly lucky Lilly Linkletter loved to leer lecherously at lewd lovers.

Royal recruit Roy Riggle rattled rancorously the ragged ranks of the retreating regiment.

The wicked witch of the west went wild when wondrous widows whispered whimsical whimsies where the wrinkled willow would bow to the whistling wind.

T'was thought that those things thrown through the thicket t'were twisted twines.

Silly Sally Striggle's sister suffered a singular case of the giggles, so she was severely flittered, fluttered and twittered by Silly Sally.

Lucky Lucy Lovelace always loved to listen to the lyrical lute while licking a lollipop and looking that the lonely landlord.

Ten thin men had then been in London when they had seen the queen.

The weak washer woman wrung her wrinkled wet wash

Please do not pass peas when you sneeze fleas in the breeze.

Buddy the bald butcher beat the beef

Two truckers traveled too fast to the twin towers and turned toward the west too.

A pig in a wig did a jig on a twig

Rubber baby buggy bumpers.

Seven straight sticks stood tall and still.

Shave a single cedar shingle thin.

A baggy bug in a shaggy rug would hug a mug.

The wind whips waves over the wet warf

She shredded six sheep to make seven shirts.

The greedy giant gobbled up gallons of green grasshoppers.