How to pronounce The exhibit was marked and entered into evidence. in American English

Words 8 Difficulty Intermediate Featured sound Silent T after N

dhee the ihg·ZIH·buht exhibit wuhz was MARKT marked and and EHN·terd entered IHN·too into EH·vuh·duhns evidence

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Americans pronounce "The exhibit was marked and entered into evidence" as "dhee ihg-ZIH-buht wuhz MARKT and EHN-terd IHN-too EH-vuh-duhns" in casual speech. Several things bend the textbook pronunciation. The headline is the Silent T after N — the T after N drops out entirely. You'll hear it on entered and again on into — a small move that separates 'classroom' from 'native'. Keep stressed words long, unstressed words short, and link the consonants forward into the vowels.

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Sounds

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Clarity

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Stress

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Intonation

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Fluency

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72% Noticeable accent

Common mistakes

Pronouncing the silent T after N.

In "entered", the "t" right after N is dropped — the tongue skips the T stop and moves directly from the N position to the next sound. /t/ is completely silent — the tongue skips the T stop and moves directly from the N position to the next sound.

Saying a hard "T" in the middle.

In "evidence", the "d" between vowels sounds like a quick "d" — the tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth. /t/ or /d/ becomes a quick tap [ɾ] — sounds like a soft D. The tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth.

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The breakdown

What's happening in this sentence.

Small tricks that turn a textbook sentence into how an American actually says it.

V–V

Vowel-to-Vowel Linking between "the" & "exhibit"Between "the" and "exhibit", a brief "y" glide bridges the two vowels for smooth flow.

→ə

Reduced Words (to, for, of) in "the""the" is a function word — in connected speech, the full vowel reduces to a quick "dhee" sound and consonants may simplify.

Unreleased Stops in "exhibit"In "exhibit", the "t" is not released — the articulators get into position but hold without the burst of air.

C–V

Consonant-to-Vowel Linking between "marked" & "and"The "t" at the end of "marked" flows directly into the vowel starting "and" — the consonant migrates to the next word with no pause between.

t→∅

Silent T after N in "entered"In "entered", the "t" right after N is dropped — the tongue skips the T stop and moves directly from the N position to the next sound.

Flap T Across Words between "entered" & "into"The "d" at the end of "entered" links to the vowel starting "into" — it flaps to sound like a quick "d", with the tongue briefly tapping the ridge behind the upper teeth.

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the dhee exhibit ihg·ZIH·buht was wuhz marked MARKT and and entered EHN·terd into IHN·too evidence EH·vuh·duhns

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Watch out

Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.

The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.

Pronouncing the silent T after N.

EHN-terd→EHN·terd

Saying a hard "T" in the middle.

EH-vuh-tuhns→EH·vuh·duhns

Pronouncing the vowel before M/N too pure.

In "and", the "a" vowel before M or N raises and fronts toward [eə] — the tongue pulls up and forward, breaking the vowel into a tense glide as it anticipates the nasal. The "/æ/" vowel raises and fronts before M or N — tongue pulls up and forward, producing a tense [eə] glide (between /e/ and /ə/). Not a pure /æ/.

and→and

Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.

In "exhibit", the "t" is not released — the articulators get into position but hold without the burst of air. Air stops but there's no release burst — the articulators hold position.

ihg-ZIH-buht→ihg·ZIH·buht

Questions

Questions people ask about this.

Why do the T sounds turn into D-like sounds in this sentence?

That's the flap-T rule: when /t/ sits between two vowels — inside a single word, or across the boundary between two words — Americans replace the crisp T with a quick D-like flap. It's one of the most distinctive sounds of casual American speech and one of the first things to copy if you want to sound less textbook.

Why is "the" said so quickly in this sentence?

Function words — articles, prepositions, auxiliaries, pronouns — reduce to short, unstressed schwa shapes in casual American speech. Pronouncing them fully like the dictionary entry is a dead giveaway of a textbook accent. Native speakers stress only the content words and let everything else collapse.

How are the words connected in casual American speech?

Americans don't pause between words. A consonant at the end of one word links forward into the vowel that starts the next; two vowels in a row get bridged by a tiny W or Y glide; an identical consonant repeated across a word boundary is held just once. The result is a continuous flow rather than a textbook word-by-word delivery.

Is this how the sentence is taught in textbooks?

Textbooks usually teach the citation form — every word pronounced fully, every consonant crisp, every vowel pure. Americans actually flap their Ts, drop function-word H's, link consonants forward into vowels, and reduce unstressed syllables to schwa. The respell on this page shows the casual form you'll hear in real conversations rather than the textbook version.

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Common mistakes

Pronouncing the silent T after N.

Saying a hard "T" in the middle.

What's happening in this sentence.

Tap any word for its full breakdown.

Looking for a different word or sentence?

Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.

Pronouncing the silent T after N.

Saying a hard "T" in the middle.

Pronouncing the vowel before M/N too pure.

Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.

Questions people ask about this.

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