how are you I have three questions， which have puzzled me for quite a long time， to consult you. Would it be convenient for you？Thanks for your post. Please see my comments in red in answering your questions.
Firstly,are the sound i in “bit” and the sound i in “difficult”the same sound or not ？the answer is “yes” for many people, but i don't know why i feel they sound different. OR, are they actually different because of the influence of their respective neighboring sounds? The sound "i" in both cases sound the same, which is short and soft. You said it right, as it is a vowel, it is used to help pronounce a word, so it is influenced by the letter preceding it. The "i" in "bit" is pronounced as "bi" with the upper and lower lips touching each other to produce the sound and in the case of "difficult", it is the tongue slightly touching the upper teeth and with the lips slightly opening to push the sound out. The "bi" and "di" should pronounced the same as in their respective pinyin counterparts.
Secondly, English structure is said to be tightly-knitted. Will it be possible to identify the relations between the constituents without considering the meaning of the sentences? For example,the sentence "Industrial production jumped by 18.5% in the year to December, while retail sales increased by 17.5%, boosted by government subsidies and tax cuts on purchases of cars and appliances". Without considering the meaning, i think "boosted by government ....." can also modify "Industrial production", if we recognize the content between two commas as a parenthesis. In order to say whether it is acceptable or not you need to ask a person of ordinary standard of English to read it and see whether it gives the intended meaning. Looking at your example, I think "boosted by government....." only modifies the latter part of the sentence. In this case, it would be better if the second comma is to be deleted, i.e. .....increased by 17.5% boosted by government.........
Thirdly, i often make mistakes in writing these words, like oppose and optimistic， as opose and opptimistic. Is there a easy way to avoid this? I mean the conditions when the letter need to be doubled. Are they regularly associated with the pronounciation of the words？Frankly, there is no hard and fast rule as to when it is single p and when double p. As you rightly point out "opose" can sound the same as "oppose". However, you can safely tell that "opptimistic" is wrong. Personally, I cannot think of an English word with three consecutive non-vowel letters ("y" excepted as it is considered a quasi-vowel").
Firstly,are the sound i in “bit” and the sound i in “difficult”the same sound or not ？the answer is “yes” for many people, but i don't know why i feel they sound different. OR, are they actually different because of the influence of their respective neighboring sounds? The sound "i" in both cases sound the same, which is short and soft. You said it right, as it is a vowel, it is used to help pronounce a word, so it is influenced by the letter preceding it. The "i" in "bit" is pronounced as "bi" with the upper and lower lips touching each other to produce the sound and in the case of "difficult", it is the tongue slightly touching the upper teeth and with the lips slightly opening to push the sound out. The "bi" and "di" should pronounced the same as in their respective pinyin counterparts.
Secondly, English structure is said to be tightly-knitted. Will it be possible to identify the relations between the constituents without considering the meaning of the sentences? For example,the sentence "Industrial production jumped by 18.5% in the year to December, while retail sales increased by 17.5%, boosted by government subsidies and tax cuts on purchases of cars and appliances". Without considering the meaning, i think "boosted by government ....." can also modify "Industrial production", if we recognize the content between two commas as a parenthesis. In order to say whether it is acceptable or not you need to ask a person of ordinary standard of English to read it and see whether it gives the intended meaning. Looking at your example, I think "boosted by government....." only modifies the latter part of the sentence. In this case, it would be better if the second comma is to be deleted, i.e. .....increased by 17.5% boosted by government.........
Thirdly, i often make mistakes in writing these words, like oppose and optimistic， as opose and opptimistic. Is there a easy way to avoid this? I mean the conditions when the letter need to be doubled. Are they regularly associated with the pronounciation of the words？Frankly, there is no hard and fast rule as to when it is single p and when double p. As you rightly point out "opose" can sound the same as "oppose". However, you can safely tell that "opptimistic" is wrong. Personally, I cannot think of an English word with three consecutive non-vowel letters ("y" excepted as it is considered a quasi-vowel").
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