The linking R: why British speakers say "law-r-and order"
British speakers drop the R in “far”, but they say it again in “far away”, because the next word starts with a vowel. This is the linking R. Many British speakers also add an R where the spelling has none, as in “law-r-and order”. This is the intrusive R. American English keeps every written R, so it needs neither rule.
All audio on this page is an AI voice (neural text-to-speech), one American and one British.
When does the British R come back?
Standard British English (Received Pronunciation) is non-rhotic: an R after a vowel is silent before a consonant or a pause. There are two cases where an R sound appears between words.
- Linking R: the word is spelled with a final R, and the next word starts with a vowel. “Far” is /fɑː/, but “far away” is /fɑːr əˈweɪ/.
- Intrusive R: the word ends in the vowel /ə/, /ɑː/ or /ɔː/ with no R in the spelling, and the next word starts with a vowel. “Law” is /lɔː/, but “law and order” is often /ˌlɔːr ən ˈɔːdə/.
| Phrase | American | British |
|---|---|---|
| far away | /ˌfɑɹ əˈweɪ/ | /ˌfɑːr əˈweɪ/ (linking R) |
| more ice | /ˌmɔɹ ˈaɪs/ | /ˌmɔːr ˈaɪs/ (linking R) |
| law and order | /ˌlɔ ən ˈɔɹdɚ/ | /ˌlɔːr ən ˈɔːdə/ (intrusive R) |
| the idea of it | /ði aɪˈdiə əv ɪt/ | /ði aɪˈdɪər əv ɪt/ (intrusive R) |
far away American: British:
more ice American: British:
law and order American: British:
the idea of it American: British:
Listen to the join between the two words. In “far away”, both voices have an R there: the American voice because R is always said, the British voice because a vowel follows. In “law and order” and “the idea of it”, listen for whether the British voice adds an R. AI voices do not always use the intrusive R, even when many British speakers do.
The intrusive R is common in natural British speech, including on national radio and TV. Some people still call it careless, so speakers sometimes avoid it in formal reading. Both choices are standard.
Hear it in a sentence
“The idea of law and order is far away.” has one possible linking R (far away) and two possible intrusive Rs (idea of, law and).
American: British:
The American voice says the written Rs in “order” and “far” and adds none. In the British version, “order” and “far” link into the next word.
What a scorer hears
We scored both AI voices against the American English scoring accent. We used the same scoring engine and settings that AnyAccent uses in the app. For American English, the scorer grades each sound, including the R-colored vowel.
Example result: “The idea of law and order is far away.”, scored as American English
| Voice | /ɑɹ/ in “far” | /ɔɹ/ in “order” |
|---|---|---|
| American AI voice | 100 | 92 |
| British AI voice | 100 | 100 |
How to read this:
- Before a vowel, the British voice got full marks for the R in “far” and “order”. The American scorer heard an R there. This is the linking R at work.
- Compare this with British words that end before a consonant or a pause, where the R is silent. In the R in “car”, the same scorer marked the missing R.
- The scorer grades only the sounds of the written words. It cannot tell you whether an intrusive R appeared between “law” and “and”. Use your ears for that.
- Both voices scored over 95 on the full sentence against American English, and 100 against British English.
The scores above are from single runs on AI voices. Your own scores will depend on your recording.
How to practise it
For British English
- Find the words that end in a written R: far, more, here, there, after, never.
- Before a consonant or a pause, drop the R: “far gone” is /fɑː ɡɒn/.
- Before a vowel, say the R and join it to the next word: “far away” sounds like “fa-raway”.
- If you use the intrusive R, put it only after /ə/, /ɑː/ and /ɔː/: “idea-r-of”, “law-r-and”, “saw-r-it”.
For American English
- Say every written R, before vowels and before consonants: “far gone”, “far away”.
- Do not add an R where the spelling has none: “law and order” has no R after “law”.
- Join the words smoothly anyway: “the idea of it” flows as one phrase, with no stop between “idea” and “of”.
Common questions
Why do British people put an R in “law and order”?
Because British English links words that end in /ə/, /ɑː/ or /ɔː/ to a following vowel with an R sound. The R makes the join smoother. It is called the intrusive R because the spelling has no R.
Is the intrusive R correct?
It is a normal part of standard British speech, and many careful speakers use it. Some people dislike it in formal reading. Use it or avoid it, but be consistent.
Do Americans use the linking R?
Americans say every written R anyway, so “far away” already has an R. Most American accents do not use the intrusive R.
Practise with a scorer
AnyAccent lets you pick the accent you practise against. For American English, you get sound-level diagnosis: the app names the sound you missed. For British English, you get word and sentence scores.
See the full sound guides for British English and American English.