Verbal Exercises

(It seems that the original contributor of this page had lifted some material from http://www.online-communicator.com/hard2say.html - who’s owner, Rich Wilson, was not pleased to see reproduced. Please ensure that if you are submitting material for inclusion on the site that it is your own work, public domain, used with permission or within fair usage or creative commons attributions. In the meantime check out Rich’s Online Communicator site where you might find some other useful tidbits. What remains is material that predates both Rich and I and anything I’ve had doubts about have been removed or changed)

Gilbert and Sullivan really know how to test your diction.

My eyes are fully open to my awful situation,

I shall go at once to Roderic and make him an oration.

I shall tell him I’ve recovered my forgotten moral senses,

And I don’t care twopence-half-penny for any consequences.

Now I do not want to perish by the sword or by the dagger,

But a martyr may indulge a little pardonable swagger,

And a word or two of compliment my vanity would flatter,

But I’ve got to die tomorrow, so it doesn’t really matter!

Some old favourites

· I need a box of biscuits, a box of mixed biscuits, and a biscuit mixer.

· Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.

If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,

Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

· She sells sea shells by the seashore, so surely the shells she sells are sea shells.

· The sixth Sikh Sheik's sixth sheep's sick.

· Three free thugs set three thugs free.

· Rubber baby buggy bumpers. (I recall Benny Hill using this to great effect!)

Say these over and over until they become clear and fluent.

· Unique New York.

· Toy boat.

· Elemental Liniment

· She slit the sheets, the sheets she slit.

· The Leith police dismisseth us.

· Twixt this and six thick thistle sticks.

· Red leather, yellow leather.

· Eleven benevolent elephants.

· Gay Girl Gargoyle, Gay Guy Gargoyle.