Get my British Accent (MODERN RP)

0:00 Today is not a pronunciation lesson.

0:04 It's a pronunciation master class and the focus

0:08 is on one thing and one thing only, the modern RP accent, my accent.

0:16 I will teach you important techniques and useful insights to help

0:22 you speak more clearly and confidently with natural British pronunciation.

0:28 We will cover everything from how to move

0:31 and position your mouth to how to pronounce common endings like e d and e s

0:38 as well as suffixes connected speech and natural rhythm.

0:44 This is a longer video but it will be hugely impactful.

0:47 To help you even further offering you my modern

0:51 RP ebook for free just in this lesson.

0:55 It contains everything we cover today,

0:58 plus lots of extra tips to really help the techniques stick.

1:03 To download the Modern RP ebook for free,

1:07 just click on the link in the description box or scan that QR code there.

1:12 Join my mailing list and I'll send you the ebook straight to your email inbox.

1:17 Let's begin with your Modern RP pronunciation masterass.

1:21 Okay, let's get started with technique number one.

1:25 Flex those facial muscles.

1:28 Speaking is a physical activity.

1:30 So, if we want to speak clearly and accurately,

1:34 we should warm up our muscles just like we would before doing exercise.

1:38 The jaw, the lips, and the tongue all work together

1:43 to make the vowel and consonant sounds that form words.

1:47 English has many sounds that require us to drop

1:50 the jaw and open our mouths up wide.

1:54 So, here are some exercises to get

1:56 those muscles moving and to keep them in shape.

1:59 Begin by simply massaging your jaw and cheeks.

2:03 Try to loosen your jaw.

2:04 Once your facial muscles feel relaxed and you can't feel any tension,

2:09 it's time to start moving.

2:10 Imagine that you have something like bubble gum in your mouth and start chewing.

2:15 Begin with small movements and then gradually

2:17 open your jaw wider and wider like.

2:22 Then scrunch up your face as tightly as you can like this.

2:27 Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, and then release.

2:31 Repeat that as many times as you need.

2:33 Then we do the opposite.

2:34 Stretch out those muscles as wide as you can.

2:37 You'll be amazed at how wide I can open my mouth.

2:40 I like to do this before I record these videos or if I'm giving a presentation.

2:45 It really helps me to speak more clearly.

2:47 Let's train our mouths to open up with some tongue twisters.

2:50 We'll begin with a simple R sound.

2:53 Repeat after me.

2:54 Arthur's father's aunt is calmer after an afternoon at the spa.

3:05 Good.

3:06 Now, let's add in two more vowel sounds that also need an open jaw position.

3:12 O and a.

3:15 Listen and then repeat.

3:16 I'm glad I got Matt's hat back after it got robbed.

3:22 Your turn.

3:29 Okay, feeling flexible.

3:31 Let's move things up a notch and practice

3:33 some sounds which blend two vowel sounds together.

3:37 O as in go and as in now.

3:42 My jaw moves as I blend the two vowel sounds together.

3:45 So this is a double workout for your muscles.

3:48 Repeat after me.

3:50 How about Joe goes down to the house without rose.

4:00 Great.

4:01 Now we've worked on our jaws.

4:02 It's time to move on to technique number two.

4:06 Train that tongue.

4:08 Our tongues play such an important role in forming sounds.

4:12 For example, to make the sound, we need to push the front part of the tongue

4:19 against the top of the mouth just behind the teeth.

4:23 Other sounds such as T, D, and N also require this movement.

4:29 The tongue also works hard to make the sound

4:33 as we need to curl the tongue back in the mouth.

4:36 So it's really important that the tongue is

4:38 strong so we can switch effortlessly between phone names.

4:42 How can we keep our tongues in shape?

4:44 Here are just a few ideas.

4:46 One, pretend your tongue is your toothbrush.

4:49 Make sure you use your own tongue and not somebody else's.

4:53 Rub the tip of your tongue alongside the outside

4:57 and inside of your top and bottom teeth like this.

5:04 After a few laps, switch direction.

5:06 Number two, try to touch your nose with the tip of your tongue.

5:11 I can't really get anywhere near with this.

5:12 My mom and my husband can do this.

5:14 I cannot.

5:16 No, no, it's not going to work.

5:17 I can, however, fold my tongue in three.

5:21 That's one of just many party tricks.

5:23 Then imagine that you want to touch your left ear and then your right ear.

5:28 Really stretch it out.

5:29 Three.

5:30 Can you roll your tongue?

5:31 If you can roll it and stick it out as far as you can,

5:35 hold it for a few seconds and then relax.

5:40 Now, let's practice some of the sounds

5:41 that are a great exercise for our tongues.

5:44 Repeat after me and really exaggerate

5:46 the movement to give that tongue a workout.

5:49 Lily loves to take David and Daniel dancing noon and night.

6:00 Fabulous.

6:00 We'll do one more with the sounds ch and j.

6:04 George and Jane chose a giant chunk of cheese for a budget lunch.

6:17 Okay.

6:17 Can you guess what's coming next?

6:19 That's right.

6:19 It's time to loosen your lips.

6:22 Our lips play a vital role in forming sounds accurately.

6:26 In fact, we need one of these six lip positions to articulate different sounds.

6:31 If your lips are tight and can't move into the correct position,

6:35 this can have a negative effect on the quality of your speech.

6:38 Let's do some drills to help get your lips used to all of these positions.

6:43 Watch my mouth and exaggerate the lip positions.

6:47 No one's watching you.

6:48 I hope.

6:49 Ready?

6:50 Ooh.

6:52 Ooh.

6:53 Round the lips and push them forward.

6:56 Repeat after me.

6:58 Who do you usually include?

7:06 Now, let's switch between e and ooh.

7:10 Smile and tense those facial muscles to make the e sound.

7:14 He needs deep sleep and you do too.

7:24 Now moving from relaxed to rounded.

7:28 ED Ned and Fred bought four more forks.

7:44 Now bring the lips together tightly for BP and M.

7:51 Bill picked me but Peter picked Mary.

8:02 Right, your muscles and articuls should be nice and warm by now.

8:07 Now let's work on fine-tuning some of those phonemes.

8:10 Are there some words or maybe even individual

8:13 sounds that you still find challenging to pronounce?

8:16 Well, here's the secret.

8:18 It's all about repetition, repetition, repetition.

8:22 If you want speaking English to feel automatic and effortless,

8:26 then you need to repeat those sounds and words so

8:29 often that you can make them without even having to concentrate.

8:33 One of the best ways to do this is with tongue twisters,

8:35 which focus on the sounds you find challenging.

8:38 Okay, I'm going to need you to show me your tongue.

8:40 I want you to stick it out because we're going to practice.

8:44 F and VV.

8:47 The F sound is unvoiced,

8:49 which means you shouldn't feel any vibration when you put your hand here.

8:54 When we add vibration at the vocal cords,

8:57 F becomes VV and you should feel vibration here.

9:02 Watch my mouth.

9:03 Repeat after me.

9:04 This mother thought her thistle was thirsty,

9:08 but thankfully it thrives in the earth.

9:11 That was tricky.

9:12 Now you try.

9:21 You can repeat that one a couple of times.

9:23 Start slowly and gradually build up speed as you gain confidence.

9:27 Let's try another two tricky phone names and to make the sound,

9:35 curl the tip of your tongue back, but don't let it touch the top of your mouth.

9:39 To make the sound, push the blade of the tongue

9:44 against your gum ridge just behind your front teeth.

9:48 Are you ready?

9:49 Let's go.

9:50 Lauren loves riding llamas through rolling hills and little remote valleys.

10:05 How did you do with that one?

10:06 Let me know what your favorite technique was in the comments below.

10:09 And I'd also like to hear about what you found most challenging.

10:13 Okay, first let's look at all of the vowels.

10:17 how all of the vowels are pronounced in modern received pronunciation.

10:21 Then I will pick out some of those problem vowel sounds

10:25 that often prevent students from sounding authentically British when they speak.

10:30 Let's start with the monothongs over there.

10:32 These are vowel sounds with a single audiary quality in articulation.

10:37 Some are short, some are long.

10:40 The colon mark indicates that they are long.

10:43 We have e as in meet.

10:47 I in lip.

10:50 Uh in foot.

10:53 U in boot.

10:56 E in met.

11:00 Uh in better.

11:02 The last syllable of better.

11:06 In word.

11:09 O in more.

11:12 A in map.

11:16 A in love, R in bar, and O in hot.

11:26 Let's move on to the diff thongs.

11:28 These are vowel sounds which include

11:30 a change in auditory quality and articulation.

11:34 These are the vowel sounds that my students really seem to struggle

11:37 with as many of them are very different to the sounds in their own language.

11:42 We have ear in here.

11:47 A in face.

11:51 U in jury.

11:55 Oi in toy.

11:59 O as in no not no.

12:07 E in hair.

12:11 I in my and in now.

12:19 Okay, so that's all of the vowels.

12:21 We'll look at the consonants later.

12:23 I want to start with the schwa sound.

12:27 This sound once mastered will really make you sound like a Brit.

12:32 Look at these words.

12:33 We have behind, amaze, control, financial, suppose.

12:42 They all feature that schwa sound and any of the vowel letters can spell it out.

12:47 A, e, i, o, u, and sometimes even y.

12:50 So, how do we make this sound?

12:52 The lips are relaxed.

12:54 The tongue is relaxed in the middle of the mouth.

12:57 Uh, uh, it's the most relaxed sound you'll ever make.

13:02 attend fluent dialect.

13:07 Now, here's a really important part of British English pronunciation.

13:12 Some words that have the schwa sound at the end end with the letter R.

13:18 This R is not pronounced better.

13:23 Pleasure.

13:25 Factor.

13:26 I know it's tempting to say better.

13:29 Pleasure.

13:30 Factor.

13:32 No better pleasure factor in modern RP in American English and other dialects.

13:40 Yes, the R is pronounced.

13:42 A huge mistake that students make is pronouncing

13:44 the letters that they see in a written word.

13:47 Okay.

13:47 Next, I want to look at two diff thongs.

13:50 Do you remember those are vowel sounds with a change in audiary quality?

13:56 Like two vowel sounds squished together.

13:58 The two I want to focus on are as in here and e as in hair.

14:06 Here hair.

14:08 Let's start with the air sound.

14:10 This sound is a diff thong.

14:12 But nowadays it's usually pronounced as a monothong.

14:17 Originally we would pronounce it with the e sound and then the h sound.

14:23 E.

14:25 One movement.

14:27 E E Nowadays we have a trick.

14:33 We usually pronounce it as a long E sound.

14:37 E.

14:38 You won't see it written like that, but that could

14:40 help you to understand how to form the sound.

14:43 Try practicing it in this sentence.

14:48 The millionaire had an affair with the air over there.

14:52 You try.

14:58 Now let's try ear.

15:02 We start with the I sound and move to thewire again.

15:06 U I I I ear.

15:14 It's almost almost not quite like we insert a little Y sound.

15:22 But very very soft ear.

15:24 Ear.

15:25 The important thing is that your tongue moves down.

15:29 Here near.

15:30 Try this sentence.

15:31 I fear that it appears you have some beer on your beard.

15:38 Now you might hear some native speakers saying fear appear beard.

15:45 This is very normal.

15:46 And if you find it easier to pronounce it that way, then please do.

15:51 But for me it's fear appear beer.

15:56 Beard.

15:56 Now a super difficult sound for so many students.

16:01 H the sound.

16:06 It's like an extended long schwa sound.

16:10 The lips, tongue, and jaw are relaxed.

16:16 H.

16:16 This sound is found in words like word.

16:20 world.

16:22 Notice that the R is not pronounced there.

16:25 World.

16:26 Word.

16:28 Try it in this sentence.

16:30 It's certainly a learning journey.

16:34 It's certainly a learning journey.

16:37 Okay, let's move on to consonants.

16:40 Let's bring this chart up again and go through all of them.

16:44 We have P as in pen and B as in bit.

16:52 F as in fig and VV as in vase.

16:56 T as in tip and D as in done.

17:01 F as in thought and VV as in those.

17:08 Ch as in chip.

17:10 J as in jam.

17:13 S as in save.

17:16 Z as in zoo.

17:18 Sh as in shaw.

17:22 As in vision.

17:24 C as in cat.

17:27 G as in goat.

17:29 Did you notice in those two lines there, the top line is unvoiced and the second

17:35 line is the voiced version of the one above.

17:39 It's exactly the same movement, but when you pronounce the top one,

17:43 P or T, there is no vibration.

17:46 And when you pronounce the second line,

17:49 B duh, same mouth movement, vibration here.

17:53 Isn't that cool?

17:54 Let's go across the bottom line now.

17:56 H as in him.

17:59 M as in may as in no.

18:05 Right back there.

18:07 as in sing.

18:09 As in reach, as in lie, W as in will, and Y as in yet.

18:19 Okay.

18:20 Two sounds that I always hear students mispronounce.

18:26 The F sound and the VV sound.

18:30 Now, look at their placement in that chart again.

18:34 F is the unvoiced version of VV.

18:38 Let's start with making the F sound.

18:41 Lift your tongue so that the tip makes

18:44 gentle contact with underneath your upper front teeth.

18:48 Relax your tongue so that the sides touch the sides of your upper teeth.

18:53 F.

18:54 And breathe out.

18:55 F.

18:58 The VV sound is formed in exactly the same way but with voice.

19:04 V.

19:07 Try saying both and feel the difference.

19:10 F V F V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V.

19:14 Let's try some sentences.

19:16 We'll start with Try this one.

19:21 I think Bertha is going to turn 33 on Thursday.

19:27 Okay.

19:27 What about this with the vv sound?

19:32 Their mother was from the Netherlands where the weather is rather rainy.

19:38 Excellent job.

19:39 You're sounding British already.

19:41 One last point.

19:42 We're going to move on to connected speech.

19:45 And in particular, we're going to talk about when two

19:48 sounds come together and mix to make a new sound.

19:51 And this is called assimilation.

19:53 And for me, it's magical.

19:56 I love teaching it.

19:58 So, assimilation.

19:59 When a word ending in T is followed by a word beginning with Y,

20:06 we usually combine the two consonant sounds to make.

20:09 Can you guess?

20:12 Cha.

20:15 Don't you becomes don't you.

20:19 Won't yet becomes won't yet.

20:22 So that's unvoiced.

20:24 Ch.

20:24 T and Y make ch.

20:27 What about voiced?

20:28 What about a voiced consonant like duh?

20:30 When a word ending in du is followed by a word beginning with y,

20:36 we usually combine the two consonant sounds together to make can you guess?

20:42 J.

20:45 Did you Did you send Yasmin?

20:50 Send Jasmine.

20:51 Don't you think that's fascinating?

20:53 How would you pronounce this university?

20:59 Harvard University.

21:01 Not Harvard University.

21:03 Although that's fine, but we would say speaking quickly, Harvard University.

21:08 Harvard University.

21:11 What about this sentence?

21:15 We would say nice to meet you.

21:18 Nice to meet you.

21:20 Right, let's get started.

21:21 The United Kingdom is packed full of an amazing variety

21:25 of accents and I love how diverse our speech is.

21:29 But as many of you already know, I speak with modern RP.

21:33 And so that's what I'm going to teach you how to recognize in just 10 words.

21:37 You're going to see how different modern RP is

21:40 from other UK accents and from a general American accent.

21:45 Ready?

21:46 Here's the first part of my story.

21:48 By the way, this would be a great opportunity to practice shadowing with me.

21:53 So, pause and rewind as you need if you want to speak along with me.

21:58 One slow Tuesday afternoon, I was feeling a bit bored.

22:03 So, I decided to go online to make the time pass a bit faster.

22:07 I opened my computer thinking of doing some shopping.

22:11 Okay, we've all been there, haven't we?

22:13 Boredom shopping.

22:14 I do it a lot.

22:15 Anyway, there are four words in that story

22:18 that I think really showcase the modern RP accent.

22:22 First, Tuesday.

22:25 Tuesday.

22:26 I pronounce this like I'm saying the words choose and day.

22:33 Tuesday.

22:34 In more traditional RP, Tuesday is pronounced Tuesday.

22:41 Tuesday with the U sound.

22:44 Tuesday.

22:45 You'll still find this pronunciation in many dictionaries,

22:49 but in modern RP, we tend to say Tuesday.

22:54 T and Y come together to form CH.

22:58 Can you hear the difference?

23:00 Ch.

23:03 Chew.

23:04 T.

23:05 In American English, the pronunciation is different.

23:08 Again, you'll hear many Americans say Tuesday to Tuesday.

23:16 They drop the Y sound.

23:19 I'll speak a little bit more about this later.

23:22 First, here are some more words with the ch

23:25 sound in modern RP compared with a general American accent.

23:30 Listen and repeat if you'd like.

23:32 Tube.

23:33 Tube.

23:35 Tuna.

23:36 Tuna.

23:38 Tutor tutor.

23:41 I apologize for my attempt at an American accent.

23:44 It is not my forte.

23:45 I take inspiration from the Siri on my phone.

23:50 Tutor.

23:51 Can I help you with that?

23:52 Here is a recipe for tomato pasta.

23:55 The second word I want to focus on is afternoon.

24:00 Afternoon.

24:01 Now, one key feature of modern receive pronunciation

24:04 is the use of a long a sound here.

24:08 Afternoon.

24:10 It's that sound you make when you go to the dentist.

24:12 A a hopefully you say ah and not talk about that another time.

24:19 Now, many people in the north of England and in North

24:23 America use a short a sound here like the a in apple.

24:29 Afternoon.

24:31 Afternoon.

24:32 Listen to them together.

24:34 Afternoon.

24:36 Afternoon in northern English.

24:38 Afternoon in American English.

24:41 There were two other words in the text

24:43 that are pronounced with the long R in modern RP.

24:48 And a short a in many other accents.

24:51 I say pass and faster, not pass and faster.

24:57 That sounds very very northern now.

25:00 Pass faster in American English.

25:03 Pass faster in northern English.

25:07 Pass faster received pronunciation or modern received pronunciation in my case.

25:12 The third one is a very common one.

25:14 Listen to my pronunciation.

25:16 Online.

25:18 Online.

25:19 Notice how I use a short vowel sound.

25:22 O.

25:23 O.

25:23 Now, this sound is really common in British English,

25:27 but you won't find it as much in North America.

25:31 Most people from the US lengthen the vowel sound to more of an a sound.

25:37 Online online Can you hear the difference?

25:43 It's subtle, but it's there.

25:44 You also heard this short vowel sound in the word shopping.

25:48 shopping, which in a general American accent sounds like this.

25:53 Shopping.

25:54 Shopping.

25:56 Shopping.

25:57 Shopping.

25:58 Our final word from this section is computer.

26:02 Computer.

26:03 Listen to the sound at the end.

26:06 Computer.

26:07 I don't pronounce the letter R at the end of the word.

26:11 Instead, I use awah.

26:13 That's this funny looking upside down E symbol.

26:17 This symbol means that my mouth stays open and relaxed

26:21 at the end of the word uh uh computer.

26:25 In modern RP and in most British accents,

26:28 we don't pronounce the letter R unless it's followed by a vowel sound.

26:33 In North America, on the other hand,

26:35 most speakers usually pronounce the letter R.

26:39 So computer sounds more like computer.

26:43 Computer with the at the end.

26:45 They do sound quite different, don't they?

26:47 Here are some more words that end in e r that you can hear this sound in.

26:52 Another another.

26:56 Discover.

26:58 Discover.

26:59 Summer.

27:01 Summer.

27:02 Tell you what, I do find it really hard to force that R at the end.

27:05 It just doesn't come naturally to me.

27:07 Summer.

27:09 Summer.

27:11 I love the way it sounds though.

27:12 And I've got to give it to the Americans.

27:15 It does make more sense to pronounce it if it's

27:17 there and it does make it easier for learners of English.

27:20 Okay, here's the next part of my story.

27:22 First, I decided to scan some of the news sites and one item caught my eye.

27:28 A major airline was giving away tickets to Japan.

27:32 You just had to go on their website and answer a couple of questions.

27:36 I had to take a look and try my luck.

27:39 Okay, I love traveling so much and free plane tickets are my dream.

27:44 But before I tell you what happened next,

27:46 there are three words that I want to pick

27:48 out of that passage to demonstrate modern RP.

27:52 Number five, news.

27:55 News.

27:55 I pronounce the word news with a Y before the U.

28:01 News.

28:02 As we saw earlier, in many American accents, this Y sound isn't pronounced.

28:08 And this is called yoddropping.

28:11 And it can occur after several consonant sounds.

28:14 The difference is most obvious when u follows n as in news and after t and du.

28:24 Here are some more examples with n.

28:27 numerous numerous nutritious nutritious.

28:33 Let's move on to number six.

28:35 Giving.

28:37 giving.

28:38 That strange looking N symbol at the end of the word is for the sound.

28:44 This is the last sound of words that end in ing like walking, sleeping, running.

28:52 That sound, it's nasal.

28:55 You block the air off so it comes out of your nose.

28:59 I usually keep this sound when I pronounce words ending in ing.

29:04 But in many other British accents and some accents in North America,

29:08 this sound is often dropped and replaced with N like the N.

29:18 The sound is produced further back in your mouth.

29:21 When you say GG-g, hold it there.

29:25 That's the sound.

29:27 N is produced just behind your teeth.

29:30 This process is called Gdropping.

29:32 So instead of giving, you will hear people say given.

29:37 Walking, walking, sleeping, sleeping, running, running.

29:44 This especially happens in fast informal speech.

29:47 And I must say, I sometimes do it too,

29:50 especially if I'm trying to be funny or dramatic.

29:52 I want to emphasize something.

29:54 That meal was banging.

29:56 Banging.

29:57 Banging means really good or really attractive.

30:00 if someone is banging.

30:02 You will also hear this a lot in pop music lyrics like in Dolly

30:06 Parton's 9 to5 working 9 to what a way to make a living.

30:14 Bet you've never heard that song in a British accent before.

30:17 And in song titles like Rolling by Calvin Harris.

30:22 I've never felt less cool than I do right now.

30:24 Working 9 to5 rolling by Calvin Harris.

30:29 I'm not here to be cool.

30:30 I'm here to teach.

30:30 This is a completely accurate way of pronouncing ing words.

30:34 The final sentence in the passage contained the words look and luck.

30:40 I had to take a look and try my luck.

30:44 Look.

30:45 Luck.

30:46 The first word look is made with the short vowel uh.

30:50 It's the same sound we find in words like book, good, and foot.

30:55 You can make this sound with the lips relaxed or rounded.

30:59 and pushed forward just a little.

31:01 Book.

31:02 Good.

31:03 Uh uh.

31:05 I pronounce the word luck with a different sound.

31:09 Uh uh.

31:10 We make this sound with the lips relaxed, not rounded.

31:14 And my mouth opens wider.

31:16 My jaw opens wider.

31:18 H.

31:19 A.

31:20 Look.

31:21 Luck.

31:22 Look.

31:23 Luck.

31:24 In my accent, there is a clear difference between these two words.

31:28 But many people from the north of England don't use the H sound much, if at all.

31:35 And these two words often sound exactly the same.

31:38 Look.

31:39 Look.

31:40 My wonderful pronunciation teacher Jane has a northern accent.

31:43 I wonder if she will give me a little

31:45 recording of her version of these two words.

31:49 Look.

31:50 Look.

31:51 See, fairly similar.

31:53 For some people, they are exactly the same.

31:55 Here are some more words that I pronounce with the h sound

31:58 that some people from the north of England pronounce with the h sound.

32:03 I'll get Jane to join in on this one.

32:05 Up

32:08 up country.

32:11 Country become become.

32:14 Right.

32:14 Are you ready to find out whether I got free tickets to Japan or not?

32:18 Here's the final part of my story.

32:20 I got on their site and what do you know?

32:23 I was number 3,576 in the queue and the waiting

32:30 time seemed to be going up, not down.

32:33 I was bored, but not that bored.

32:36 Better luck next time, I guess.

32:37 It inspired me to pick up some travel brochures

32:40 about Japan the next time I was in town, though.

32:43 I'll make it there one day.

32:44 Yep.

32:45 So, I didn't get any free tickets,

32:46 but I do have three more words to demonstrate my modern RP accent.

32:52 The first one is no.

32:55 No.

32:55 I said I got on their site and what do you know?

32:59 No.

33:00 The key sound to focus on here is the O.

33:04 O.

33:05 It's a diff thong.

33:06 You heard it in the word going in the text

33:09 and it appears in other words like show and home.

33:14 The sound in these words varies significantly across the UK.

33:18 If we take the phrase, I know I should go home,

33:22 the O can sound more like a long monothong in parts of Yorkshire.

33:27 I know should go home.

33:29 Did you hear the difference?

33:31 I know I should go home.

33:33 I should go home.

33:35 My next word is better.

33:37 Better.

33:38 Listen to how I pronounce it, focusing on the t sound.

33:43 Better.

33:44 Now listen to how it's pronounced in a general American accent.

33:50 Better.

33:49 I say better with a clear t sound.

33:52 In fast speech in American English,

33:55 the t is often closer to a really fast d sound.

34:01 Better.

34:02 Better.

34:03 This is called a t flap or a flap t.

34:06 Here are some other words that you can hear this sound in.

34:09 Water.

34:10 Water.

34:11 Little.

34:12 Little.

34:13 Bottle.

34:13 bottle.

34:14 Notice the difference in vowel sound there.

34:16 My final word to help you recognize the RP accent is brocher.

34:22 Brocher.

34:23 How you pronounce this word can indicate if

34:25 you're speaking with a British or American accent.

34:28 I say brocher.

34:30 Brocher with the main stress on the first syllable.

34:34 I pronounce bro more loudly.

34:36 In an American accent, the stress is usually placed on the second syllable.

34:42 Brochure.

34:43 Brochure.

34:44 Here are a few more words that can

34:46 be stressed differently in modern RP versus general American.

34:50 Let's get Joel in to help with this one.

34:52 Again, I say an address.

34:55 Joel says an address.

34:57 An address.

34:59 Vaccine.

35:01 Vaccine.

35:01 And garage.

35:02 Garage.

35:03 Garage.

35:04 Note that in British English there are several ways to pronounce garage.

35:08 I say garage.

35:09 You can also say garage.

35:12 Garage.

35:12 No matter the pronunciation,

35:14 the stress is usually on the first syllable in British English.

35:18 All right, those were our 10 words.

35:19 Something I want to bring up is that one of the best ways to get

35:22 the accent that you want is to copy or mimic speakers you want to sound like.

35:28 To help guide you through the key features of my accent,

35:32 we are going to prepare a simple pizza.

35:36 Let's begin with our base ingredient, the schwa.

35:40 Now, this sound is very relaxed and requires very little effort to make.

35:45 Here are some common foods that all have the schwa sound.

35:50 Listen and repeat.

35:53 Butter, pepper, vinegar, pasta.

36:05 onion, carrot, yogurt, and lemon.

36:17 Did you identify the sound?

36:19 Okay, here are the pizza base instructions.

36:23 Pause the video now and read it out loud.

36:26 How many schwas do you use?

36:30 Uh uh is the schwa sound.

36:39 Okay, now read out loud along with me.

36:43 I will mark the schwars to help.

36:45 Combine lukewarm water,

36:48 a pinch of sugar and yeast and leave for about 5 minutes.

36:54 Add the mixture to the flour along with a pinch of salt and olive oil.

37:01 Knead thoroughly until a smooth elastic dough forms.

37:07 Now, can you believe that I used 21 schwas in such a short text?

37:14 Did you notice that I pronounced the article a with awah uh instead of a.

37:21 I also used the weak forms and of and to instead of and of and to.

37:30 Using these pronunciations here can help you maintain a good rhythm in English.

37:35 Let's move on to our next key ingredient, the O vowel as in do.

37:42 This vowel sound can sound very different depending on where you're from.

37:48 In my modern RP accent, I begin with the schwa and then glide to the uh u o.

37:59 This is also the sound I make when I'm surprised or confused.

38:04 O.

38:05 Let's practice with some common food words.

38:07 Listen and repeat.

38:09 Oats.

38:13 Toast.

38:16 Cocoa.

38:19 Roast potatoes.

38:22 Are you gliding smoothly between the two vowel sounds?

38:25 We generally give more energy to the first sound.

38:30 And make sure you only round the lips

38:32 at the end of the sound, not the beginning.

38:35 O.

38:38 So, let's look at the next part of the recipe.

38:41 Try it yourself first and then you can compare it with my version.

38:46 Pause the video now.

38:54 Now speak along with me.

38:56 Take the dough from the bowl and roll it on a lightly fled pizza stone.

39:03 Open a jar of homemade tomato sauce and mix

39:08 in some oregano or pesto if that floats your boat.

39:15 Okay, now it's time for our third key ingredient,

39:19 the O vowel sound as in topping.

39:24 Now, in my accent, modern RP,

39:27 this vowel sound is short and is made with an open mouth and rounded lips.

39:34 O Let's practice.

39:37 Listen and repeat.

39:40 Olive.

39:43 Orange stock chocolate sausage popcorn.

39:59 Okay, ready for the next stage of the recipe?

40:02 Speak along with me now.

40:04 I like a lot of toppings on my pizza.

40:08 Obviously, cheese is a must.

40:12 You can opt for mozzarella, ricotta, provalone,

40:18 or whatever you've got in the fridge.

40:21 Our final vowel sound is the long a sound.

40:26 Why is this sound important?

40:28 Well, in my British English accent, I use it a lot.

40:32 But in many North American accents and some other British accents,

40:37 it's sometimes shortened to an A.

40:40 With the R sound, open your mouth nice and wide.

40:45 A a R a.

40:48 Listen and repeat.

40:51 Almond.

40:53 Artichoke.

40:57 Garlic, marmalade, banana, avocado.

41:10 Is your jaw open and your mouth wide?

41:14 Try pulling the tongue a little back in the mouth, too.

41:19 A a Let's read the next part of the recipe.

41:23 Shadow me again.

41:25 Speak along with me.

41:26 After you've artfully arranged your chosen toppings,

41:31 garnish the pizza crust with a little grated

41:34 parmesan and marvel at the masterpiece you've crafted.

41:39 Here the words with the R sound that are

41:43 not spelled a R after masterpiece and crafted.

41:51 They can all be pronounced with the short a sound

41:55 in many North American accents and some British accents.

41:59 Would you say after masterpiece and crafted like me or after

42:07 masterpiece and crafted with the short a whatever feels best for you?

42:13 Let's move on now to consonant sounds.

42:16 One of the most noticeable features of my accent is how I pronounce t.

42:22 I usually annunciate this sound very clearly and expel quite a lot of air.

42:29 T.

42:31 Let's practice.

42:32 Listen and repeat.

42:34 Tofu.

42:38 Butter.

42:41 Risotto.

42:45 Latte.

42:48 coconut.

42:50 In North American English,

42:52 this t sound sometimes becomes a very soft d sound called the flap t.

43:00 So, a word like lettuce can sound more like lettuce.

43:05 Are you ready to practice those lovely crisp te's with me?

43:09 Now, speak along with me.

43:11 Shadow me.

43:12 Put the pizza in a preheated oven at a temperature of around 210°.

43:21 Set a timer for 10 minutes.

43:24 Wait until the crust turns crispy.

43:28 Take it out of the oven and let it sit to cool slightly.

43:32 Now, I have a couple of top tips for you here.

43:36 One, when you have a t- sound at the end

43:39 of a word and the next word begins with a vowel sound,

43:44 move the t to the beginning of the following word.

43:48 For example, at a temperature, set a timer.

43:53 Wait until.

43:55 Now, top tip number two.

43:57 That's a mini tongue twister for you there.

44:00 When you have two T sounds together, twin the T's.

44:05 There is no need to pronounce both.

44:08 Just one is enough.

44:10 For example, cross turns.

44:14 Sit to.

44:16 Okay.

44:16 Now for our last consonant sound, the sound.

44:20 Now, this is a bit of a trick really because one of the key features

44:24 of my accent is that we don't pronounce

44:27 the letter R unless it's followed by a vowel sound.

44:31 Listen and repeat.

44:33 I've marked the silent Rs in red.

44:37 rice, curry, red pepper, strawberry, mustard.

44:50 Okay, speak along with me again.

44:53 Transfer your pizza onto a cutting board and slice it into eight portions.

44:59 Add salt and pepper to taste.

45:02 Will likes to open a jar of strong mustard

45:05 to dip his crusts in, but I prefer some garlic mayonnaise.

45:11 Controversial, I know.

45:13 The hard work is over.

45:15 It's time to settle on the sofa and tuck in.

45:18 Now, did you notice an extra couple of R sounds appeared in there?

45:24 I added an R sound between pizza and soferand.

45:32 Amazing job if you spotted that intrusive R.

45:36 Many speakers of modern RP do this when a word ends

45:40 with a schwah and the next word starts with a vowel sound.

45:44 As I've shown you, we sometimes do it even when the word doesn't end in an R.

45:49 It's just awah.

45:50 Okay, the pizzeria is nearly closed.

45:53 I just wanted to share one final tip for speaking English

45:57 with a modern RP accent and it has nothing to do with pronunciation.

46:02 You don't have to use the intrusive R,

46:04 but I think it's cool that you know about it.

46:07 The final key ingredient is to make sure you're using the British English word,

46:12 not the North American equivalent.

46:15 So many different words and phrases are used on both sides of the Atlantic.

46:20 I wanted to end with a little vocabulary quiz.

46:24 Can you identify the British English words in these pairs of food words?

46:31 Pause the lesson now and have a think.

46:42 Ready for the answers?

46:43 So I'd use corette, oergene, rocket, porridge, and minced beef.

46:52 In North American English, they tend to use zucchini,

46:56 eggplant, arugula, oatmeal, and ground beef.

47:02 I really hope you enjoyed it.

47:04 Why not repeat this video and record

47:06 yourself reading the words and recipe instructions?

47:10 Listening to yourself can help you notice

47:12 things you don't always hear as you're speaking.

47:14 Okay, let's get started.

47:16 First mini lesson we're going to focus on ed endings.

47:21 I like to teach through stories.

47:23 So, I'm going to tell you about a trip I took to Bangkok last year.

47:28 Listen and shadow me to practice if you like doing that.

47:32 Pay special attention to words ending in ed.

47:36 Last year, I visited Bangkok for the first time.

47:40 I'd always wanted to visit Thailand

47:43 and was delighted when the opportunity finally occurred.

47:47 I asked friends who'd traveled there what I needed to take.

47:52 I went totally over the top,

47:55 and Will watched in horror as I packed half my wardrobe.

48:00 We laughed out loud when Diego jumped in my suitcase, too, adding to the chaos.

48:06 I continued getting ready and then we carried our cases downstairs,

48:12 ready for the morning.

48:13 If you were shadowing with me there, feel free to replay and try again.

48:17 Let's take a closer look at those ed endings.

48:20 One of the most common pronunciation mistakes

48:22 I hear is when students try to pronounce

48:25 the e at the end of the word and end up saying asked or traveled.

48:30 They should be asked, traveled.

48:33 We only add on an extra syllable when the infinitive

48:37 of the word ends in a t or d.

48:41 So words which end in the letters D, D, D, D, E,

48:46 T, T, or T, add an extra syllable with the sound it.

48:52 Here are the examples from the text.

48:55 Visit, want, and delight all end in the consonant sound T.

49:00 Notice how the letters e d add that extra syllable.

49:04 Visit has two syllables.

49:06 Visited has three.

49:08 Want has just one syllable in the present but two in the past.

49:13 Wanted.

49:14 Delight similarly becomes delighted.

49:17 Verbs ending in duh behave in the same way.

49:21 Need, needed.

49:22 But, and this is a big butt and we like big butts and we cannot lie.

49:27 Most ed endings aren't pronounced this way.

49:30 In most ed words, the e is silent and the letter

49:34 d is pronounced with a t or d sound.

49:38 How do you know which?

49:40 Well, it depends on whether the word ends in a voiced or an unvoiced sound.

49:44 If it's easier to think about it in this way,

49:47 it's like the letters e d are just represented by either t or d.

49:52 One of the easiest ways to find out if a sound is voiced or unvoiced is

49:56 to place your fingers on your throat

49:59 and check for any vibration when you say it.

50:03 If you can feel a vibration, the sound is voiced.

50:05 If there's no vibration, it's unvoiced.

50:08 Let's give it a go.

50:10 T D T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D

50:14 D D D I can feel the vibration with D, but nothing for T.

50:18 What about vowel sounds?

50:20 All vowel sounds are voiced.

50:22 Let's put the rest of the ed words from my story on screen.

50:26 In most British English accents, the word occur ends in a vowel sound.

50:32 Uh occur.

50:34 The letter R isn't pronounced.

50:36 We match voiced with voiced,

50:38 so we add the voiced consonant D to the end and occur becomes occurred.

50:45 Ask ends in the unvoiced consonant C.

50:50 We match unvoiced with unvoiced.

50:52 So we add the unvoiced T.

50:55 Asked.

50:56 That's quite a hard consonant cluster there.

50:59 asked.

51:00 In fast spoken English, we often get rid of the C sound and say asked.

51:07 I asked him a question.

51:08 Remember, we don't pronounce the letter E.

51:10 We don't add an extra syllable.

51:12 Let's practice blending those sounds together.

51:15 Repeat after me to practice.

51:18 Occur.

51:18 Occurred.

51:21 Carry.

51:23 Carried.

51:25 Some unvoiced ones.

51:27 Let's try and pronounce all of the consonants together.

51:30 Ask asked.

51:34 Watch.

51:36 Watched.

51:39 Pack.

51:40 Packed.

51:43 Laugh.

51:44 laughed and jump jumped.

51:51 Okay, first mini lesson done.

51:54 Let's move on to words ending in s or e s.

51:58 We add s e s or apostrophe s to a noun to form the plural

52:03 or possessive or to a verb to form

52:07 the third person singular in the present simple.

52:10 As you listen to the next part of the story,

52:12 try and notice the different ways I pronounce

52:14 the S at the end of the words in bold.

52:17 Again, this is another shadowing opportunity.

52:20 Let's begin.

52:21 We spent our first few days in Bangkok going for walks along busy streets,

52:28 immersing ourselves in new sights and noises.

52:33 We spent ages admiring the styles of clothes

52:37 in the shops and devoured delicious dishes for our lunches.

52:43 Will took hundreds of photographs.

52:45 It's one of his strengths of the incredible places,

52:50 flower markets, and rows of colorful spices.

52:55 He wishes we could go back tomorrow.

52:58 I have to admit that was a tongue twister for me.

53:02 You might not know this about me,

53:04 but growing up I was unable to properly make the S sound.

53:09 I had what we call a lisp,

53:11 which is when your tongue sticks out a little bit too far.

53:15 I would call myself luthy instead of Lucy.

53:18 It was only as I matured that it it sort of went away.

53:21 Unless I'm cold, then it comes out.

53:22 Back to the pronunciation lesson.

53:24 We pronounce s and e s endings in three different ways.

53:30 With s, with z, or with is.

53:36 The last sound is adds an extra syllable to the base form of the word.

53:42 But, and this is where it gets a little bit more complicated.

53:46 We only add is when a word ends in s z.

53:54 ch or spice ends in s.

54:01 So in the plural form we add an extra syllable.

54:05 Spice spices.

54:07 Then we have noiseises and dish dishes.

54:12 Remember these rules also apply to the third person singular form of the verb.

54:18 So the base form wish becomes he wishes.

54:22 Words which end with the sounds ch and j also add an extra syllable.

54:28 For example, watch watches and charge charges.

54:33 Very few words end with.

54:35 But there are some like massage massages.

54:39 Okay, so that covers when we add is.

54:42 But how do we choose between the remaining two sounds s or z?

54:47 Well, it's the same rule that we saw with the ed endings.

54:51 We match voiced with voiced and unvoiced with unvoiced.

54:54 Here are the words from my story which end with voiced sounds.

54:59 So need to be matched with Z.

55:01 Remember there is no extra syllable.

55:03 We just blend the sounds together.

55:05 Repeat the plural forms after me now to practice.

55:09 Ready?

55:11 Hundreds.

55:13 ourselves, clothes, styles, days, and rose.

55:26 The remaining unvoiced consonant sounds p- f and f add s.

55:35 What about connected speech for both the s and e s endings and e d endings?

55:40 When we add s, z, t, and d to the end of a word,

55:45 we often end up with many consonant sounds together.

55:49 These consonant clusters can be really tricky to pronounce clearly.

55:52 Let me give you a couple of tips which are pretty

55:55 much guaranteed to help you articulate these sounds like a pro.

56:00 Tip number one, when the word after sz or du begins with a vowel sound,

56:07 try to attach the consonant sound to the vowel sound.

56:10 For example, instead of saying we laughed out loud,

56:15 break up the consonant cluster by saying we laughed out loud.

56:19 Here are some more examples from my stories.

56:22 Listen and repeat.

56:23 Will watched in horror.

56:28 Diego jumped in my suitcase.

56:34 Going for walks along.

56:39 Immersing ourselves in.

56:42 Tip number two.

56:43 When the word is followed by the same consonant sound,

56:47 join the two consonant sounds together.

56:50 Repeat after me.

56:50 They watch television.

56:54 We enjoyed dancing.

56:58 He walks slowly.

57:01 And now time for our final mini lesson.

57:03 Once you manage to articulate this next sound correctly,

57:07 your pronunciation is going to be so much clearer.

57:10 For the final story, focus your attention on the highlighted word endings.

57:15 Again, this is another opportunity for shadowing.

57:18 When we got back home, friends and family quizzed us about our trip.

57:23 Was the hotel in a nice location?

57:26 Was the weather pleasant?

57:29 What was your most memorable moment?

57:32 Well, the delicious food was a highlight.

57:35 It was incredible.

57:37 Learning about the culture was important, too.

57:41 But there were so many special moments.

57:44 I don't think I could pick just one.

57:46 Okay.

57:47 In bold, we can see some common suffixes.

57:51 A suffix is a letter or letters that we add

57:55 to the end of a word to make a new word.

57:58 All of these suffixes have something in common.

58:02 They contain the schwa.

58:04 That's the sound at the beginning of the word

58:06 about and at the end of the word computer.

58:10 We make this schwa sound by relaxing the mouth and the tongue.

58:14 My jaw opens a little, but it's not wide.

58:17 Uh uh.

58:19 It's the most common sound in English and it never appears in stress syllables.

58:25 Why is this sound so important for suffixes?

58:28 Well, most suffixes in English are not stressed.

58:32 Let's take this word from the story as an example.

58:35 Memorable.

58:36 Memorable.

58:38 The main stress is on the first syllable.

58:40 Me.

58:41 The suffix isn't stressed and the letter a is pronounced as awah.

58:46 One of the biggest pronunciation errors I hear learners make is

58:50 when they try to pronounce full strong vowels in unstressed suffixes.

58:55 Knowing that many suffixes are pronounced with the schwah

58:58 can massively improve the accuracy of your pronunciation.

59:01 It's not always the case, but it will help.

59:03 Let's take a look at some more examples from the story.

59:06 I'll pronounce the suffix and then one of the example words.

59:10 Listen and repeat after me.

59:11 Us.

59:13 Delicious.

59:17 Memorable again.

59:21 Incredible.

59:25 Special pleasant shun location.

59:35 Please let me know which pronunciation tip you found the most helpful

59:39 and how you're going to apply it to your English learning journey.

59:43 Okay, let's get started with today's lesson.

59:45 The key to rhythm is the way we

59:48 switch between stressed and unstressed syllables in a sentence.

59:53 And let's just check that you know what a syllable is.

59:57 It's a unit of speech with a single vowel sound usually.

1:00:03 Cat, dog, fish, frog all have one syllable.

1:00:08 And see how we have a vowel sound surrounded by consonant sounds.

1:00:13 Each syllable is like one beat.

1:00:15 Tiger, donkey, hamster, camel all have two syllables or two beats.

1:00:23 But in English, not all syllables are created equally.

1:00:28 Some syllables are given more energy.

1:00:31 They're often pronounced louder and longer.

1:00:35 Did you notice how I emphasized the first syllable in all of these words?

1:00:41 Tiger, donkey, hamster, camel.

1:00:44 The first syllable is the stressed syllable.

1:00:47 And what happens to the second unstressed syllable?

1:00:51 Well, I pronounced it more quickly and quietly.

1:00:56 Many unstressed syllables contain weak vowels.

1:01:00 And the most famous of all is the schwa.

1:01:04 That's the very lazy uh uh sound at the beginning

1:01:09 of about and at the end of tiger and hamster.

1:01:15 I'm going to say some more animals now.

1:01:18 And before I do, try and identify the stressed syllable in each word.

1:01:23 Here we are.

1:01:24 Pause the video if you need a bit more time.

1:01:27 If not, let's check together.

1:01:30 Elephant and crocodile have three syllables

1:01:35 and are both stressed on the first syllable.

1:01:39 Elephant.

1:01:40 Crocodile.

1:01:42 Chimpanzee has three syllables but is stressed on the last syllable.

1:01:49 Chimpanzee.

1:01:50 There are four vowel sounds in alligator.

1:01:54 So that's four syllables and the main stress is on the first syllable.

1:01:59 And finally, we have gorilla with three

1:02:03 syllables stressed on the second syllable.

1:02:07 Got it?

1:02:08 Okay.

1:02:09 So, now we know the difference between stressed and unstressed syllables.

1:02:13 Let's get back to rhythm.

1:02:15 Rhythm in music is the regular repetition of a pattern over a period of time.

1:02:21 In language, rhythm is the regular repetition of stressed syllables.

1:02:27 What does that sound like?

1:02:28 Repeat after me as I read these sentences.

1:02:32 I want to have a drink.

1:02:38 She went to see her friend.

1:02:43 We need to call our boss.

1:02:49 They liked the gift I bought.

1:02:54 Okay, not too difficult, I hope.

1:02:57 In a sentence, we usually stress the words that carry meaning,

1:03:02 like verbs and nouns.

1:03:05 In the first sentence, want, have, and drink was stressed.

1:03:10 We don't generally stress pronouns like I, she,

1:03:15 we, and they, or other often short grammar words.

1:03:20 In these examples, the stressed syllables occur at regular intervals.

1:03:26 one stressed syllable and one unstressed syllable.

1:03:30 Let's see what that sounds like with some longer words.

1:03:33 Repeat after me again.

1:03:35 The song you heard on Monday made you smile.

1:03:43 That meal you cooked last Friday tasted yummy.

1:03:52 The email sent this morning never reached you.

1:04:02 Don't forget to close the door behind you.

1:04:10 And the last one, can't they fix the problems any faster?

1:04:20 Okay.

1:04:21 So, notice how we have this regular

1:04:24 alternation between stressed and unstressed syllables.

1:04:29 Now, in English, we absolutely love this steady rhythm

1:04:35 we get by switching from stress to unstressed syllables.

1:04:39 But there's a problem which you may have already noticed.

1:04:45 Not many sentences follow this precise pattern

1:04:50 of one stressed syllable and one unstressed syllable.

1:04:54 Take a look at this sentence that I said to my husband Will earlier today.

1:04:59 Well, I say this to Will most days to be honest.

1:05:02 Do you think we should take Diego for a walk before it starts to rain?

1:05:08 It rains a lot in England.

1:05:11 Between each stressed syllable, we have one, two, or three unstressed syllables.

1:05:17 It's all over the place.

1:05:19 So, what do we do to try and keep the rhythm?

1:05:23 Simple.

1:05:24 We just say the unstressed syllables more quickly to squeeze them in.

1:05:29 Listen and repeat.

1:05:31 Do you think we should take Diego for a walk before it starts to rain?

1:05:39 What do you notice about those unstressed syllables?

1:05:42 Do you think we should take Diego for a walk before it starts to rain?

1:05:47 That's right.

1:05:48 Most of them are pronounced with the schwah.

1:05:50 Do you becomes d or j for a becomes fur and to becomes t.

1:06:00 Now, we wouldn't be able to keep the English rhythm if

1:06:03 I pronounce these full strong versions of these short grammar words.

1:06:08 Listen to what happens when I try to do this.

1:06:11 Do you think we should take Diego for a walk before it starts to rain?

1:06:18 It's very hard for me to do this.

1:06:19 It doesn't feel natural.

1:06:21 I naturally want to follow that English rhythm.

1:06:24 And that was in the English rhythm as well.

1:06:26 So, contractions and weak forms with the schwa are key to English rhythm.

1:06:32 Let's practice squeezing those unstressed

1:06:35 syllables in between the stressed ones.

1:06:37 Now, I'll start with the content words, which will be the main beat.

1:06:42 Then, I'll gradually add in more function words.

1:06:46 They'll squeeze in between the content words.

1:06:50 Are you ready?

1:06:51 Make dinner.

1:06:53 Now I'll make dinner.

1:06:57 Now I'll make some dinner.

1:07:00 Now I'll make some for dinner right now.

1:07:04 We followed the beat.

1:07:06 It was the same speed, but we fitted the function or grammar words in.

1:07:11 Let's try another.

1:07:12 Live, house, road.

1:07:15 He lives in a house down the road.

1:07:19 He's living in a house down the road.

1:07:22 He's been living in a house down the road from me.

1:07:26 So here we can see that in English the length of time it takes to say

1:07:30 something often depends on the number of stressed

1:07:33 syllables rather than the total number of syllables.

1:07:38 Isn't that cool?

1:07:39 Should we try a few more?

1:07:40 See if you can shadow me and speak along with me.

1:07:44 Okay.

1:07:45 Send text home.

1:07:49 Send a text when you're home.

1:07:52 Send me a text when you're home.

1:07:55 Can you send me a text when you're home?

1:07:58 Okay, last one.

1:08:00 Let's do it.

1:08:01 Try and shadow me now.

1:08:03 Order pizza go.

1:08:06 Order a pizza to go.

1:08:09 Could you order a pizza to go?

1:08:13 I'll be ordering that pizza to go.

1:08:16 Someone should make a remix out of that.

1:08:18 Uh now obviously we don't always speak like this.

1:08:22 It's not always going to be possible

1:08:24 or particularly comfortable to keep this steady rhythm.

1:08:30 But I encourage you to try and notice the rhythm

1:08:33 of common phrases you hear and copy it to sound more natural.

1:08:38 Let's practice that now.

1:08:39 I've marked the stressed syllables.

1:08:42 Try to speak along with me.

1:08:44 I haven't seen you for ages.

1:08:48 Do you fancy a quick coffee?

1:08:51 Shall we head to that place on the corner?

1:08:54 I went there last week and it was great.

1:08:57 Put your phone away.

1:08:59 It's my turn to pay.

1:09:01 Other great ways to pick up and practice English rhythm are,

1:09:04 of course, through songs and poems.

1:09:08 And in fact, I'd like to end today's lesson with a limmerick.

1:09:12 Limmericks are short, usually funny poems of five lines in total.

1:09:17 Lines 1, 2, and five usually have three stressed syllables.

1:09:23 And lines three, and four usually have two.

1:09:27 Here's an example.

1:09:28 Shadow me if you can.

1:09:30 There once was a teacher named Lucy who taught with a sense of duty.

1:09:36 Her grammar was slick, her accent did click,

1:09:40 and her lessons were simply a beauty.

1:09:43 I would love to see your very own examples of limmericks in the comments.

1:09:48 Bonus points if the last words in lines one, two, and five rhyme.

1:09:54 Have a go.

1:09:55 I really look forward to reading through them.

1:09:57 Okay, that brings us to the end of today's lesson.

1:10:00 I hope you enjoyed it.

1:10:01 And remember, the rhythm of speech is the key to sounding more fluid.

1:10:07 You see, with stress and the schwah, you'll go very far.

1:10:12 Now use it to sound more RP.

1:10:15 I very much enjoyed that lesson.

1:10:17 I hope you did too.

1:10:19 I will see you soon for another one.