INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Staying hydrated is essential to good health and may be even more important when you are sick. Drinking water may also help to soothe your dry cough by moistening your throat. Aim to drink eight 8-ounce glasses (about 2 liters) of water per day to stay hydrated. Warm fluids can also help you stay hydrated. Drink teas, broths, and clear soups to soothe your cough and keep you hydrated. Getting plenty of rest will also support your body as it heals. Make sure that you are getting at least eight hours of sleep every night. If you have a cold or other contagious illness, then you may want to take a day off from work to rest and recover. Adequate nutrition is also essential to recover from an illness, so make sure that you are eating healthy foods. Steer clear of junk foods. Instead, choose fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy, and lean protein for nourishment. Try eating chicken noodle soup for one of your daily meals. This traditional home remedy has even been shown to reduce inflammation and thin mucus. . Sometimes a dry cough may be due to smoking or made worse by smoking. If you smoke, do what you can to quit. Talk to your doctor about medications and smoking cessations programs that may make it easier for you to quit smoking. After you quit smoking, you may also get a dry cough. This indicates that your body is trying to heal itself and it should improve with time. Sucking on a throat lozenge or even a hard candy may help to soothe your dry cough. The lozenge or hard candy increases saliva production and helps to moisten a dry throat. Other ingredients in medicated cough drops may also help to suppress a cough. In many situations, a dry cough will go away within a week or two. If your cough does not improve or if it gets worse, call your physician. Call your doctor right away if you notice: A thick and/or a greenish-yellow phlegm Wheezing A whistling sound at the beginning or end of your breath Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath A fever of more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) Blood in any phlegm or mucus that you cough up Abdominal swelling Sudden onset of a violent cough

SUMMARY: Drink plenty of water. Get plenty of rest. Eat nutritious foods. Quit smoking Suck on cough drops or hard candies. See a doctor for a persistent or severe cough.

INPUT ARTICLE: Article: The final consonant on a French word is almost always silent. The only final consonants that are ever pronounced are b, c, f, k, l, q, and r, although these are not always pronounced. For example, you would not pronounce the final consonant of words such as "grand" (large), "beaucoup" (a lot, many), or "temps" (time, the weather). The letters b, k, and q are rarely the final consonant of a word. They usually appear in loanwords from other languages. Final consonants that are usually pronounced are silent if they follow a nasal consonant, such as n. For example, you would pronounce the c at the end of the word "avec" (with), but not at the end of the word "blanc" (white). An l is always pronounced at the end of a word, unless it follows an i that follows another vowel, as in the word "travail" (job). As in English, there are exceptions to every rule. If you're not sure, you're usually better off not pronouncing the final consonant. Listen to a native speaker pronounce the word, both by itself and in a sentence, to make sure. Many words in French end in -ent. The ending is usually pronounced ahn. However, when these letters are used as the plural ending for French verbs, they are silent. For example, the verb "mangent" (they eat) is pronounced mahnzhe. An -ent at the end of a noun, adjective, or adverb is pronounced, as in the words "appartement" (apartment, pronounced ah-pahr-teh-mahn) and "vraiment" (truly/really, pronounced vray-mahn). Especially at the end of words, some French syllables sound quite different than they would in English. To avoid slipping up, it's usually best to memorize the French pronunciation of these syllables. er sounds like the ay in "play." This is the infinitive ending for all verbs. It also appears at the end of other words with 2 or more syllables. ez at the end of any word also sounds like the ay in the English word "play." ail at the end of a word sounds like ah-ee. eil or eille also sounds like ah-ee. ill usually sounds like eey. gn sounds like the ni in the English word "onion." The rule here is relatively straightforward. If a word that ends in a consonant is followed by a word that begins in a vowel, the two words are spoken together. The ending consonant of the first word becomes a part of the first syllable of the second word. For example, if you said "nous avons," ("we have"), the s at the end of the word nous would flow into the a at the beginning of the word avons. The resulting phrase is pronounced noo ZAH-vong. Try another: the phrase "un petit enfant" means "a small child." The word petit ends in a consonant, while the word enfant begins with a vowel. This calls for a liaison. Accordingly, the phrase would be pronounced ung p'tee TAHNG-fahng. Basic liaisons are fairly simple to grasp. However, there are 3 consonants that are pronounced differently when they occur at the end of a word that is followed by a word starting with a vowel. You'll find that if you flow the words quickly together, you naturally make these alternate pronunciations. The change makes the words flow together more easily. An s or x sounds like a z. For example, the phrase deux ans (two years) is pronounced der zahng. A d sounds like a t. For example, the phrase un grand arbre (a tall tree) is pronounced ung grahng tahbr. An f sounds like a v. For example, the phrase neuf heures (nine hours) is pronounced ner verr. Figuring out which syllable gets the stress in English can be complicated. However, in French, the last full syllable always gets the stress. A full syllable has at least one consonant and at least one voiced vowel. Because an e at the end of a word is always silent, there are French words for which the last syllable is not a full syllable. With these words, place the stress on the syllable before the last syllable. For example, the French word table is pronounced TAH-bluh. Similarly, sentence stress in French is relatively even. While in English, you would only stress nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs, you stress all words equally in French.

SUMMARY:
Ignore consonants at the end of words. Leave off pronouncing -ent at the end of French verbs. Memorize syllables that vary significantly from English. Flow words together to form liaisons when appropriate. Note consonants that are pronounced differently in liaisons. Place stress on the last full syllable of a word.