Memorable Schwa Sets:

#5 'Open Season'

This is a multi-part series on 'Selectively Lazy English'. If you're new, you can jump back to the first set of resources ... or start at the very beginning with my intro article.

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lazy schwa words

TIP: It's a good idea listen to the audio without looking at the written examples – at least when you start.

We pronounce the highlighted spelling patterns with a lazy schwa vowel in all of the word examples below, and in all contexts – even if a speaker wants to heavily emphasise the word.

-en seven, open, fallen, given, taken, barren

-on lesson, prison, canyon, salmon, reason, season, person, London, falcon, abandon, bacon, common

lazy schwa sentences:

That’s the reason they’re doing well this season: they’ve learnt their lessons.

A person who does that should go to prison.

People often visit the canyon to go salmon fishing, but in December it’s usually barren.

It’s taken me a long time to open up.

She’s fallen over seven times this year.

exception words:

-on neon, salon, crayon

All examples have the LOT vowel (so ‘on’ rhymes with the word ‘lot’).

exception sentences:

Don’t let the neon lighting put you off: it’s a really family-friendly salon. They’ve got books and crayons for the kids.