In American English, we use a different "L" sound at the beginning of words vs. the end of words.
The L at the beginning is sometimes called "light L," and the L and the end is called "dark L."  Use the videos below to hear the difference and practice words with American L.

For L at the start of words, make sure your tongue is lifted and touching behind your teeth. Don’t seal off the air, it needs to flow and escape over the sides of the tongue.

like, lead, list

When L comes at the end of the word, you still need to lift the front of your tongue behind your teeth, but the back of your tongue stays down.  Use a schwa sound before the L to get this dark L sound.  

call, feel, little

Be careful not to use the light L from the start of words when the L is at the end.

Use the video to listen to these words:  little, seattle, people, example, beautiful, special, possible

In words like these, the letter L is a syllabic L.  A syllable is usually made up of a vowel sound with or without a consonant sound before or after or both.  For syllabic L, the consonant is the whole syllable.  

it sounds like "uh-L".  If you think of it as starting on vowel schwa, uh, and moving quickly to the final L sound, you’ll get it.  uh-L, L  Sometimes this is called a dark L.

Be careful to make this L different from the L at the start of words.  You can learn more about initial and Final L in the first video in this post.

Syllabic /ḷ/ is usually an unstressed syllable after a consonant sound at the end of the word. Let’s try saying a few.

able
animal
people
little
beautiful
possible
bottle
Seattle
simple
special

Check out our free practice exercises for linking.

Americans use pitch as well as vowel length to stress words in sentences.  You can learn more about how word stress works in my intonation playlist.

Let’s look at how we typically use pitch in a sentence, and how you can practice to sound more American.

In a simple sentence, we have 3 pitches.  Let’s call them 1, 2 and 3.  One is low, two is in the middle and three is high.

You might find this hard to do, so start with just the numbers.
1 - 2- 3

Moving your hand can help you move your voice pitch, too, so move from low to high as you say 1 -2- 3.

Now, start on 2, then rise to 3 and fall to 1.
2 -3 - 1

This is the pattern for most simple statements in English.  for example,

I like it.   2 -3 -1
I have one.  2 -3-1
She wants to. 2 -3-1

I start my sentence on a 2, rise to a 3 for the stressed word, and fall to a one to show the end of the thought.

I did it!  2 -3- 1

If the stressed word is at the end, the 3-1 happens all on one word, so I have to make sure I hold that word longer.

Don’t go- o - o.  2 31
I ca-a-a-n. 2 31
We need to ta-a-a-lk,. 222 31

Notice how when the sentence is longer, I simply stay on the 2 until the stressed word.

I have to be-e-e there.  222 3 1

It’s a good idea to record yourself and listen to hear if you are changing your pitch.  You don’t need a big pitch change, but you can exaggerate a little at first to make sure you are going up and down.
Use the video above and the recordings below to compare your speech to the model.  Turn on the recording tool, play the model, then imitate what you hear.  You can then play it back to see if you used the same pitch patterns as the model.

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One of the most frequently occurring accent error patterns is using and "s" sound at the end of a word when you should be saying a "z" sound.   Use the videos below to learn how to correct this error pattern, and how to know when letter s says "s" and when it says "z."

Guidelines for pronouncing letter "s" at the ends of words:
If you see an s or se at the end of the word, it is usually pronounce /z/.  Check the dictionary to be sure.

Spelled letters -ss, say /s/
examples:  glass, grass, less, guess

Spelled letters -ce, say /s/
examples:  ice, place, space, face

Spelled letter -s, Usually /z/
examples:  was, is, goes, his, as, eyes  (say "waz, iz, goez, hiz, az, eyez")

Spelled letter -s, (sometimes s)
examples:  yes, us

Spelled letters -se, Usually /z/
examples:  those, use, these, please  (say "thoz, uz, thez, pleaaz")

Spelled letters -se, (sometimes s)
examples:  house, goose, lease