Pronunciation exercises: /eə/ vs /e/

In Received Pronunciation scary and cherry have a different first vowel. This means that Mary and merry  are clearly distinguished.

In General American there is no phoneme //, because the difference between [] and [] is predictable: between vowels the sound is [], as in Mary [ˈmriː], in all other cases it's [] as in square [skwr]. This means that Mary and merry are homophones. In the United States and Canada approximately 34% of people distinguish between Mary and merry. See Mary-marry-merry merger.

//

 * With "ar": apparently, area, hilarious, Mary, parent, scary, variable, variation, various, vary
 * Ending in "aring": caring, comparing, daring, declaring, preparing, scaring, sharing, staring


 * With "air": dairy, hairy, fairy
 * Ending in "airing": pairing, repairing


 * With "ear": unbearable
 * Ending in "earing": bearing, swearing, tearing, wearing


 * With "aer": aerobics - aeroplane

//

 * With "er": American, austerity, ceremony, cherish, clerical, derelict, derivation, dexterity, experiment, herald, heresy, heritage, heroism, heron, hysterical, imperative, inherit, merit, numeric, peril, perilous, perish, posterity, prosperity, severity, sheriff, sincerity, sterile, therapy, verify, verification, very
 * With "err": berry, cherry, errand, error, ferret, ferry, herring, interrogate, merry, sherry, terrible, terrorist
 * Spelling anomaly: bury

// vs //
fairy - ferry; Mary - merry; vary - very;