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------------------------------------------------ What is the proper way to pronounce the 'ng' sound in words like 'king', 'ring', 'thing', 'sing', and 'song'?

Should the 'g' be pronounced or omitted?

The 'ng' sound in words like 'king' and 'sing' should be pronounced without the 'g' sound, resulting in a velar nasal sound. The 'g' can have a hard or soft pronunciation depending on the word, and 'gh' can vary between representing an [f] sound, being silent, or rarely pronounced as [g].

Explanation:

The proper way to pronounce the 'ng' sound in words such as 'king', 'ring', 'thing', 'sing', and 'song' is by omitting the sound of the letter 'g'. Instead, the 'ng' combination produces a velar nasal sound, which you can practice by trying to pronounce the word 'sing' while holding your nose. This helps to illustrate that the 'g' at the end is not pronounced as a separate sound as it might be in the word 'gag', where the [g] sound is clearly heard at both the beginning and end.

It's also interesting to note that while the 'g' in 'ng' is silent, the letter 'g' can represent different sounds in English, such as the hard [g] as in 'gum' or the soft [j] as in 'gem'. The letters 'gh' also have variable pronunciations; they can represent the sound [f] as in 'enough', be silent as in 'right', or pronounced [g] in very few words.