Sharing about English Lesson

This notice, seen in Ikea caf�s in Singapore, encourages customers to clear their trays after eating.  As can be seen, in Singapore English pronunciation, trace and trays are homophones (different words pronounced identically): both are /tre?s/. 

By contrast, in other varieties of English, e.g. British, trace would be /tre?s/ and trays, /tre?z/.  The suffix �s, as a possessive (e.g. Chuck�s), plural (e.g. Chucks) or third-person singular present tense (e.g. chucks) marker, is realized as /s/ after voiceless sounds and as /z/ after voiced ones (vowels and voiced consonants).  This rule applies to trays, whose singular form, tray /tre?/, ends in a vowel (voiced) sound, but not to trace /tre?s/, where the /s/ is not a suffix but part of the root.