TEL-ing
/ˈtɛlɪŋ/
telling is pronounced TEL-ing (/ˈtɛlɪŋ/). Telling is the act of conveying information or a narrative, often implying a salient or revealing piece of evidence. It can describe something that reveals truth through detail, or refer to the delivery of a story or message. In everyday use, it commonly functions as a present participle or gerund, as in 'telling a tale' or 'a telling sign.'.
Telling is the act of conveying information or a narrative, often implying a salient or revealing piece of evidence. It can describe something that reveals truth through detail, or refer to the delivery of a story or message. In everyday use, it commonly functions as a present participle or gerund, as in 'telling a tale' or 'a telling sign.'
"Her telling the story with vivid detail held everyone spellbound."
"The detective cited a telling clue that pointed to the culprit."
"There was a telling absence of gloves at the crime scene."
Pronounce as two syllables with primary stress on the first: /ˈtɛl.ɪŋ/. The initial /t/ is a clear voiceless stop, followed by the vowel /ɛ/ as in 'pen', then a light /l/, and the final syllable /ɪŋ/ with a short lax /ɪ/ and velar nasal /ŋ/. In careful speech, keep the /l/ crisp and the /ŋ/ velar; in rapid speech, the vowels may reduce slightly but aim to maintain the two distinct phonemes. Audio references: you can listen for /ˈtɛl.ɪŋ/ in standard dictionaries or pronunciation resources.
Common errors include: (1) Dropping the /l/ and saying /ˈtɛ.ɪŋ/ or /ˈteɪlɪŋ/ which loses the crisper 'l' sound; (2) Over-lengthening the first vowel to /eɪ/ or misplacing stress to make it /tɛlɪŋ/ with reduced first syllable; (3) Final /ŋ/ misarticulations ranging from a /g/ or /ŋk/ error. The fix: keep a light but clear /l/ around the mid-palate, ensure the first syllable is short and stressed (/ˈtɛl/), and end with a clean velar nasal /ŋ/. Practice with minimal pairs focusing on /t/ vs /d/ onset.”},{
In US English, the first syllable tends to be crisp with /ˈtɛl/ and the second syllable /ɪŋ/ clearly linked; rhotics don’t affect this word much. In UK English, /ˈtel.ɪŋ/ often uses a slightly more clipped /t/ and a shorter /e/ quality; in Australian English, vowel quality can be a touch more centralized, with a similar /ˈtel.ɪŋ/ but less pronounced tension in the /l/ and a potentially brighter /ɪ/ due to vowel shifts. Overall, stress remains on the first syllable across all three.
The difficulty centers on maintaining a clean /l/ transition into a light /ɪ/ and the final nasal cluster /ŋ/. Many speakers subconsciously merge /l/ and /ɪ/ into a schwa, which weakens syllable clarity. Additionally, preserving the onset /t/ without voicing bleed while maintaining a precise /l/ makes the sequence /tɛl/ challenging in rapid speech. Focused practice on the transition from /l/ to /ɪ/ and a crisp /ŋ/ helps.
A unique aspect is the precise timing and air flow through the alveolar ridge to produce the /t/ and /l/ sequence cleanly before the short /ɪ/ vowel, followed by the velar nasal /ŋ/. The combination requires keeping the tongue tip on the alveolar ridge for /t/ and /l/ without interference, then relaxing into the /ɪ/ and final /ŋ/. Mind the boundary between the vowels: don’t let the /ɪ/ bleed into /ŋ/.
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Tell comes from Old English tellsan (to praise, recount, point out); the root is related to the Proto-Germanic taljaną ‘to count, reckon’ and Proto-Indo-European tel- ‘to count, tell, number’. The form telling emerges in Middle English as a gerund or present participle from the verb tell, preserving the sense of performing the act of recounting or revealing. The adjectival or nominal sense of telling—‘revealing’ or ‘indicative’—developed as the participle phrase began to modify nouns (a telling clue, a telling sign). Over centuries, the word broadened from simple narration to include any piece of information or signal that carries meaning beyond its face value. In modern usage, telling frequently pairs with adjectives like ‘telling clue’ or ‘telltale,’ though the latter is a distinct lexeme with its own evolutionary path. First known uses surface in late Old English and early Middle English texts, with the sense of reciting or recounting stories well-established by the 14th century, and the more figurative sense of ‘revealing’ crystallizing in the Early Modern English period as discourse became more nuanced about evidence and implication.
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Words that rhyme with "telling"
-ing sounds
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