Phonetic Quizzes


I love phonetics - it is almost like another language inside English!  Learners who understand phonetics have an easier time listening, speaking and spelling.  So here are a collection of my phonetic quizzes, the answers to the quizzes are at the bottom of this page.

The Film Quizzes

Phonetic Film Quiz #1 (answers)

Phonetic Film Quiz #2 (answers)

Phonetic Film Quiz #3 (answers)

Phonetic Film Quiz #4 (answers)

Phonetic Film Quiz #5 (answers)

Phonetic Film Quiz #6 (answers)

Phonetic Film Quiz #7 (answers)

Phonetic Film Quiz #8 (answers)

Phonetic Film Quiz #9 (answers)

Phonetic Film Quiz #10 (answers)

Phonetic Film Quiz #11 (answers)

Phonetic Film Quiz #12 (answers)

Phonetic Film Quiz #13 (answers)

Phonetic Film Quiz #14 (answers)

Scroll Down to See the Answers

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The Answers

Quiz #1: The Dark Knight


So the answer to the first quiz was... The Dark Knight! Great movie in my opinion!

/'beɪl/ - Christian Bale

/'keɪn/ - Michael Caine

/'ledʒə/ - Heath Ledger

/'əʊldmɪn/ - Gary Oldman

/'ekɑ:t/ - Aaron Eckhart

/'dʒɪlənhɔːl/ - Maggie Gyllenhaal

/'fri:mɪn/ - Morgan Freeman


Quiz #2: Inside Man


Okay, this was the cast of a great Spike Lee movie from 2006, Inside Man.

/'denzel 'wɒʃɪŋtɪn/ - Denzel Washington

/klɑɪv 'əʊwɪn/ - Clive Owen

/dʒəʊdi: 'fɒstə/ - Jodie Foster

/wɪləm də'fəʊ/ - Willem Defoe

/'krɪstəfə 'plʌmə/ - Christopher Plummer


Quiz #3: Ocean's Eleven


/’dʒɔ:dʒ ‘klu:ni:/ - George Clooney

/bræd pɪt/ - Brad Pitt

/mæt ‘deɪmən/ - Matt Damon

/’dʒu:lɪj ‘rɒbɜ:ts/ - Julia Roberts

/’ændɪ ga:si:ə/ - Andy Garcia


Quiz #4: Inception


It was one of my favourite movies from 2010, Inception. The director, Christopher Nolan, also directed Memento, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.

/ˈkrɪstəfə ˈnəʊlʌn/ - Christopher Nolan

/li:ʌˈnɑ:dəʊ dɪˈkæpri:əʊ/ - Leonardo DiCaprio

/ken wætɪ'næbi:/ - Ken Watanabe

/'dʒəʊsɪf 'gɔ:dɪn 'levɪt/ - Joseph Gordon-Levitt

/'elɪn peɪdʒ/ - Ellen Page

/tɒm 'ha:di:/ - Tom Hardy

/'sɪli:yn 'mɜ:fi:/ - Cillian Murphy

/'mɑɪkəl keɪn/ - Michael Caine

/maʁjɔ̃ kɔtijaʁ/ (Phonetics for French) - Marion Cotillard


Quiz #5: Toy Story


It was Toy Story. I chose the characters from the first movie, which was all the way back in 1995!

/ˈwʊdɪ/ - Woody

/bʌz ˈlaɪtjɪə/ - Buzz Lightyear

/ˈmɪstə pəˈteɪtəʊ hed/ - Mr Potato Head

/slɪŋki: dɒg/ - Slinky Dog

/reks/ - Rex

/hæm/ - Ham

/bəʊ pi:p/ - Bo Peep


Quiz #6: Harry Potter


/hə'mɑɪəni: 'greɪndʒə/ - Hermione Granger

/'ælbʌs 'dʌmbʌldɔ:/ - Albus Dumbledore

/'ru:bi:əs 'hægrɪd/ - Rubeus Hagrid

/rɒn ‘wi:sli:/ - Ron Weasley

/’sevərəs sneɪp/ - Severus Snape

/'dreɪkəʊ 'mælfɔɪ/ - Draco Malfoy

/'sɪri:əs 'blæk/ - Sirius Black

/hæri: pɒtə/ - Harry Potter

/lɔ:d 'vɒldəmɔ:t/ - Lord Voldemort


Quiz #7: James Bond



/ˈdɒktə nəʊ/ - Dr. No

/frɒm ˈrʌʃə wɪð lʌv/ - From Russia with Love

/ˈgəʊldfɪŋgə/ - Goldfinger

/ˈθʌndəbɔːl/ - Thunderball

/jʊ ˈəʊnlɪ lɪv twaɪs/ - You Only Live Twice

/ˈdaɪəməndz ə fəˈrevə/ - Diamonds Are Forever

/ɒn hɜː ˈmæʤɪstɪz ˈsiːkrɪt ˈsɜːvɪs/ - On Her Majesty's Secret Service

/lɪv ənd let daɪ/ - Live and Let Die

/ðə mæn wɪð ðə ˈgəʊldən gʌn/ - The Man with the Golden Gun

/ðə spaɪ huː lʌvd miː/ - The Spy Who Loved Me

/muːnˈreɪkə/ - Moonraker

/fə jɔː ˈaɪz ˈəʊnlɪ/ - For Your Eyes Only

/ˈɒktəpʊsɪ/ - Octopussy

/ə vjuː tʊ ə kɪl/ - A View to a Kill

/ðə ˈlɪvɪŋ ˈdeɪlaɪts/ - The Living Daylights

/ˈlaɪsəns tə kɪl/ - Licence to Kill

/ˈgəʊldənaɪ/ - Goldeneye

/təˈmɒrəʊ ˈnevə ˈdaɪz/ - Tomorrow Never Dies

/ðə wɜːld ɪz nɒt ɪˈnʌf/ - The World is Not Enough

/daɪ əˈnʌðə deɪ/ - Die Another Day

/kəˈsiːnəʊ rɔɪˈæl/ - Casino Royale

/ˈkwɒntəm ɒv ˈsɒləs/ - Quantum of Solace

/ˈskaɪfɔːl/ - Skyfall


Quiz #8Star Trek

1960s Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and 2009 Spock (Zachary Quinto) (Picture from LA Weekly Blog)
/spɒk/ - Spock


1960s Sulu (George Takei) and 2009 Sulu (John Cho) (Picture from LA Weekly Blog)
/suːluː/ - Sulu


1960s Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) and 2009 Uhura (Zoë Saldana) (Picture from LA Weekly Blog)
/ʊhuːrə/ - Uhura


1960s Chekov (Walter Koenig) and 2009 Chekov (Anton Yelchin) (Picture from LA Weekly Blog)
/ʧekɒf/ - Chekov


2009 Kirk (Chris Pine) and 1960s Kirk (William Shatner) (Picture from The Geekling)
/kɜːk/ - Kirk


1960s Scotty (James Doohan) and 2009 Scotty (Simon Pegg) (Picture from Hollywood.com)
/skɒtɪ/ - Scotty

2009 McCoy (Karl Urban) and 1960s McCoy (DeForest Kelley) (Picture from LA Weekly Blog)  
/məkɔɪ/ - McCoy


Quiz #9The Expendables 2



/sɪlvestə stələʊn/ - Sylvester Stallone

/ʤeɪsʌn steɪθʌm/ - Jason Statham

/ʤet liː/ - Jet Li

/bruːs wɪlɪs/ - Bruce Willis

/dɒlf ləngrən/ - Dolph Lundgren

/ɑːnəld ʃwɔːtsɪnegə/ - Arnold Schwartzenegger

/ʒɒn klɔːd væn dæm/ - Jean-Claude Van Damme

/ʧʌk nɒrɪs/ - Chuck Norris


Quiz #10Star Wars


Chewbacca, Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Han Solo (Photo from omarsfilmblog.blogspot.com)
'əʊbɪːwɒn kə'nəʊbiː - Obi-Wan Kenobi

lʊːk 'skɑɪwɔːkə - Luke Skywalker

hæn 'səʊləʊ - Han Solo

'tʃʊːbækə - Chewbacca


C-3PO and R2-D2 (Photo from www.jeffbots.com)
sɪː'θrɪːpɪːəʊ - C-3PO

ɑːtʊː'dɪːtʊː - R2-D2


Darth Vader and Princess Leia (Photo from wildsoundmovies.com)
dɑːθ 'veɪdə - Darth Vader

'prɪnses 'leɪə - Princess Leia


Quiz #11Gladiator


This was a great movie and made Russell Crowe world famous.  Here was his speech to the Emperor Commodus.

/maɪ neɪm ɪz 'mæksɪmɪs 'desɪməz me'rɪdɪjs/ 
My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius.

/kə'mɑːndə əv ðiː 'ɑːmɪz əv ðə nɔːθ/
Commander of the Armies of the North

/ˈʤenərəl əv ðiː fiːləks ˈliːʤənz/
General of the Felix Legions

/'lɔɪəl 'sɜːvənt tə ðə truː 'empərə 'mɑːkəs ɒ'reɪlɪjs/
Loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius.

/'fɑːðə tʊ ə 'mɜːdəd sʌn 'hʌzbənd tʊ ə 'mɜːdəd waɪf ən aɪ wɪl hæv maɪ 'venʤəns ɪn ðɪs laɪf ɔ: ðə nekst/
Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife... and I will have my vengeance in this life or the next.

Here is the clip.




Quiz #12The Silence of the Lambs

So the answer was, of course, the 'infamous' (meaning well-known and bad) Hannibal Lecter, played by Anthony Hopkins.

Here is the line from the movie:

/ə ˈsensəs ˈteɪkər wʌns traɪd tə test ˈmiː/

"A census taker once tried to test me..."

/aɪ eɪt hɪz ˈlɪvər wɪð sʌm fɑːvə biːnz əndə naɪs kiːjænt/

"...I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti."



Quiz #13Star Wars

This was a nice, simple quote.  Possibly the most famous quote from Star Wars:

/meɪ ðə fɔːs biː wɪð jʊ/
May the Force be with you.


Quiz #14Apollo 13

This quote was from a brilliant film about a real event.  If you haven't seen the movie then I highly recommend it.  It's definitely one of Ron Howard's (the director) best movies.

The film was based on a real even that happened in April 1970.  However, the film did make one or two small changes to the story, including changing the famous quote.  In the film it was:


/hjʊstən wiː həv ə ˈprɑːbləm/
"Houston, we have a problem."

However, in the real situation the communication between Apollo 13 and NASA was:

"Houston, we've had a problem."

So why was there a difference?

Well, the difference is present simple tense (the film) and present perfect tense (the real situation).  They are slightly different but they give more or less the same information.
  1. "We have a problem." = There is a problem and it exists now.
  2. "We've had a problem." = We experienced a problem in the past but the result of that problem still exists now.
I'll try to explain this grammar point in more detail in a blog post in the future.  Also, take a look at this slideshow on the structure and use of the Present Perfect.

Anyway, here original transmission between the astronauts on Apollo 13 and NASA Mission Control.

... and here is the clip from the film.  Enjoy.

1 comment:

  1. I really enjoyed these quizzes. A great tool for learning (or in my case, revising!) the phonetic alphabet.

    ReplyDelete

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