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This is from a British speaker who teaches speaking skills to millions of students. In one of his videos, he mentions the word "gerund" but he pronounces it "/gerUND/". Speaking and IELTS (see:15:36-15:46)

Saying "gerUND" is just wrong, isn't it?. And I listened to him again and again. He is eloquent and seems to speak with an RP accent, but he said "gerUND" two times, so it can't be a slip of tongue.

So, I got surprised, and even had to look it up again. And the dictionaries (Cambridge, collins, Merriam) say it /dʒɛrənd/, as expected.

I would not ask this question if he was not an IELTS teacher, too. I can't help wondering,why would a British eloquent speaker, who seems to speaks with an RP accent, pronounce the word "gerund" so wrong?

Could I be hearing it wrong?

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    Pronunciations /ˈdʒɛrənd/, and /ˈdʒɛrʌnd/ are both acceptable, but I found his pronunciation of gerund erm... unusual, too. I wonder if his regionality or age influences the pronunciation.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Aug 27, 2023 at 10:48
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    @Mari-LouA, but all of the dictionaries I looked up and other web sites that pronunces words out loud including Collins, Cambridge and Merriam pronounce it as /ˈdʒɛrənd/. So, if the pronounciation /ˈdʒɛrʌnd/ is also acceptable, why no dictionary covers it? Isn't it interesting?
    – Yunus
    Commented Aug 27, 2023 at 10:54
  • 3
    I'm British, and his pronunciation is unusual, certainly not typically British. The problem I think is that he is putting the stress on the second syllable like jeRUND instead of the standard JErund. I would consider this a mistake.
    – Billy Kerr
    Commented Aug 27, 2023 at 11:10
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    His accent is absolutely not RP. It's northern, possibly Manchester. And I don't hear him saying gerAND, he is saying gerUND; the odd part is the stress, not the vowel sound.
    – Daniel Roseman
    Commented Aug 27, 2023 at 11:41
  • 3
    I’m voting to close this question because it turns on a mis-hearing (and/or a distinction not recognised by native Anglophones).
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Aug 27, 2023 at 16:39

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