The 100 MOST COMMON WORDS in ENGLISH
Rachel's English
0:00 You’re probably over-pronouncing all of the first
0:03 27 most common words in American English.
0:07 So today we’re going to study the American
0:11 pronunciation of the 100 most common words in English.
0:14 In these 100 simple words,
0:16 you are going to learn so much about the American accent, rhythm, and melody.
0:23 I’m Rachel and I’ve been teaching the American accent
0:26 and English listening skills to non-native speakers for over 15 years.
0:32 Check out Rachelsenglish.com to learn more about improving your spoken English.
0:37 To start, let’s look at 1-10, the most common,
0:41 most important, most used words in the English language.
0:46 We’ll learn what exactly a reduction is, and how it will help you understand
0:52 fast English and speak more natural American English.
0:55 The number one most common word in American English is THE.
1:01 In a sentence it will become the, the.
1:05 Very fast with a schwa.
1:07 This is when the next word begins with a consonant.
1:11 For example, “the most”, the, the most.
1:16 It's usually pronounced with the EE vowel, the, the, the.
1:21 If the next word begins with a vowel or diphthong,
1:25 for example, “the other”, the, the, the.
1:28 The most important thing about the pronunciation of this word
1:32 is that it should be said very quickly.
1:35 The cat.
1:36 It should never be THE CAT, THE CAT.
1:40 Always ‘the cat’.
1:42 The, the, the very fast.
1:46 The next word is ‘be’, and I assume this means the verb TO BE, conjugated.
1:52 I am, you are, he is, she is, it is, we are, they are.
1:59 The important thing to know about these pronunciations is
2:02 that they will almost always be said in a contraction,
2:07 ‘I am’ becomes I’m, I'm, I'm.
2:10 Said very quickly, I’m.
2:13 Sometimes you’ll even hear as just the M sound: M’sorry.
2:16 M’sorry, mm, mm, mm.
2:19 This is a natural pronunciation.
2:23 YOU ARE, you’re, reduces to ‘you’re’.
2:28 Super fast.
2:30 basically no vowel.
2:32 You're, you're.
2:34 You’re gonna be okay.
2:37 You’re, you're.
2:39 Very fast.
2:40 HE IS becomes ‘he’s’.He's.
2:44 SHE IS is she’s.
2:48 She's.
2:48 IT IS, it’s, it’s, it’s.
2:53 Sometimes we reduce this even further we change a sound, we dropped the vowel.
2:58 We say just ‘ts’.
3:02 Ts, ts.
3:03 ‘ts cool!
3:05 ‘ts awesome!
3:07 Ts.
3:07 Have you ever heard that?
3:10 ‘Ts cool.
3:11 ‘Ts raining.
3:12 It's a common reduction.
3:15 WE ARE, we’re, becomes ‘we’re’.
3:18 We’re running late.
3:21 ‘we’re’, ‘we’re’.
3:22 Very fast.
3:24 THEY ARE, they’re becomes ‘they’re’.
3:30 Very fast, the vowel changes, they’re.
3:34 They’re okay.
3:35 They’re, they’re.
3:37 Word number three: to.
3:39 Almost never pronounced this way, to.
3:43 We use a reduction: the vowel changes to the schwa.
3:48 To, to, said very quickly.
3:50 And sometimes, the true T at the beginning changes
3:53 to more of a D sound, or a Flap T.
3:57 “Let’s go to the beach.” Go to the.
4:00 Go to.
4:01 Go to.
4:02 How is ‘to’ being pronounce there?
4:05 To, to, go to.
4:06 A flap of the tongue, and the schwa.
4:10 Said very quickly.
4:11 Go to.
4:12 Go to the beach.
4:14 It’s nothing like TO, is it?
4:18 OF.
4:19 Again, we don’t fully pronounce this word.
4:23 It’s not OF, it’s of.
4:26 Schwa, very light V, said very quickly.
4:29 And actually, you’ll often hear this word without the ‘v’.
4:33 Then it’s just the schwa,
4:35 and we pronounce it this way in phrases ‘kind of’ and ‘sort of’.
4:40 kinda, sorta.
4:42 For example, I’m kinda tired.
4:45 Kinda.
4:46 Kinda, uh, uh, uh.
4:49 Schwa, very fast.
4:51 Kinda.
4:52 Ok, we’re only four words in, but let’s review.
4:56 I’m going to put up a sentence.
4:59 Look at it, find the reduction, and then say the sentence with the reduction.
5:04 Say the reduction very quickly.
5:06 Here's one sentence: I am remember becomes I'm.
5:13 How quickly did you make that first word?
5:15 I'm running late.
5:17 I'm running late.Try it as just the M sound.
5:21 Mmm, mmm.
5:23 M'running, M'running.
5:25 M’running late.
5:27 Sorry guys, I’m running late.
5:30 So natural.
5:31 When you learn the reductions in American English,
5:34 and you start to really use them in your speech, you gain a native feeling.
5:39 Also, understanding Americans becomes easier because
5:42 you can start to identify the reductions.
5:45 One more for you to try out loud now: I want you to try reducing the word ‘to’.
5:52 Look at it, think about it, now try it out loud.
5:57 “I know how to do it.” How to, how to, how to.
6:02 I’m making that the Flap T and the schwa.
6:06 Are you?
6:07 Try it again.
6:08 How to, I know how to do it.
6:12 Alright, we’ll keep going with number 5: AND.
6:16 And.
6:17 Another word that we rarely fully pronounce.
6:19 There are a couple of different ways to reduce this.
6:22 We’ll start with the full pronunciation, and we’ll reduce from there.
6:26 AA vowel followed by N consonant: the tongue is lifted in the back for AA, Aaaa.
6:34 Then relaxes before the N.
6:38 Aa-uh, aa-uh, aa-uh.
6:40 So it’s not a pure AA sound.
6:46 Aa-uh, aa-uh.
6:48 And, and, and, and, and.
6:52 First reduction is just dropping the D.
6:55 “An’, An’and I think it will be okay.” An, An' I, An’ I.
7:02 No D, just the N into the next word.
7:05 An' I think it will be okay.
7:08 Another reduction, more common, is to just say the N sound, “N’.
7:13 N' I think it will be okay.” N’, N',
7:17 just straight from the N into the next word.
7:20 N' I, N' I think it will be okay.
7:23 Cookies and cream, salt and pepper,
7:25 black and white, up and down, left and right.
7:29 All of these, I’m just making a quick N sound, linking the two other words.
7:34 Up and down.
7:36 Number 6.
7:37 Okay, we’re actually going to do 6 and 32 together, because they’re related.
7:42 They're the articles A and AN.
7:46 Now, we don’t say A and AN.
7:48 We say ‘a’ and ‘an’.
7:51 Schwa.
7:52 Very fast, very little movement for the mouth.
7:56 A, a, a coffee.
8:00 A, a or An, an example.
8:05 An, an.
8:07 A, an.
8:08 Number 7.
8:10 IN.
8:11 We don’t drop or change a sound here.
8:14 We don’t reduce.
8:15 But it is still unstressed.
8:17 This mean it should be really short, less clear.
8:21 Instead of saying ‘IN’, we would say ‘in’.
8:26 “He’s in love.” In, in.
8:28 “She’s in a hurry”.
8:30 In, in, in.
8:31 So be careful.
8:33 It’s not IN.
8:35 That sounds stressed.
8:38 It’s ‘in’.
8:39 Number 8: THAT.
8:42 You know what I realize?
8:43 I already have a video for a lot of these reductions.
8:46 I have a video on the pronunciation
8:48 of THAT and how we really pronounce it in a sentence.
8:52 So I’ll give a brief description here, but I’ll also link to that and other
8:58 related reduction videos in the video description.
9:01 THAT is a word that can be used lots of different ways in American English.
9:05 And in some cases, in many cases,
9:09 we reduce the vowel from AA to the schwa so THAT becomes ‘that’.
9:16 Now the ending T: the pronunciation of that sound
9:20 depends on the beginning of the next word.
9:23 If the next word begins with a vowel or diphthong,
9:26 it’s a Flap T: That I, d d, d that I.
9:31 If the next word begins with a consonant, then it’s a Stop T.
9:36 That she.
9:37 That, that That she.
9:39 I know, it’s a little confusing.
9:42 Check out my video on the word THAT for a longer explanation and more examples.
9:47 But just note that we often don't pronounce this word, that.
9:52 We often reduce it so it has the schwa that.
9:57 Number 9: the verb HAVE.
10:01 Just like the verb ‘be’,
10:02 this will often be used as a contraction in spoken English,
10:06 which is already a reduction.
10:09 We’re already changing sounds for that: I HAVE becomes I’ve,
10:14 I’ve I’ve I’ve I’ve.
10:16 “I’ve been wanting to see that.” I’ve I’ve.
10:20 YOU HAVE becomes ‘you’ve.’ HE HAS becomes ‘he’s’.
10:26 He's he's.
10:27 You’ve you’ve.
10:28 He’s been waiting.
10:30 He's.
10:31 Here’s something interesting: the pronunciation of the HAS contraction.
10:36 With ‘he’ and ‘she’, it’s pronounced as a Z.
10:41 Hiz.
10:41 Hiz been, hiz been.
10:42 But with Shes shiz shiz.
10:45 But with it, its, it’s been raining, then it’s an S sound.
10:52 It's.
10:52 He’s, Z it’s, Ss S.
10:57 WE HAVE becomes ‘we’ve’, we’ve’ we’ve’ and THEY HAVE becomes ‘they’ve’
11:04 which sounds like deiv when it's unstressed.
11:09 Number 10: the pronoun I.
11:12 Usually said very quickly, it’s not “I” but “I”.
11:17 I think so.
11:19 I, I, I.
11:21 I think, I.
11:23 If you’re speaking really quickly,
11:25 you can maybe get away with something more like ‘aa’ than ‘I’.
11:30 I think so.
11:31 Aa aa aa.
11:33 I think so.
11:34 When it’s said so quickly,
11:36 you can’t really tell if I’m doing the full diphthong I or not.
11:40 Wow.
11:41 There were a lot of reductions there.
11:43 Maybe you already knew some of these reductions.
11:46 If you did, please let me know which
11:49 ones you already knew in the comments below.
11:51 Let’s look at the next set of 10.
11:54 There will be more reductions,
11:56 more opportunities to smooth out your spoken English.
12:00 One thing that will make it easier for you to hear reductions in fast,
12:05 conversational English is listening practice and training.
12:08 I have a free course where you can do this training.
12:13 Transform the way you hear English and the way you speak English.
12:18 Visit Rachel’s English.com/free to get this, Top
12:22 3 Ways to Master the American Accent.
12:24 I’ll also put the link in the video description.
12:28 We’re starting today with number 11, the word ‘it’.
12:31 This word doesn’t reduce in a sentence,
12:34 we don’t drop or change a sound, but it said very quickly.
12:38 And the pronunciation of the T depends on the next word.
12:43 If it begins with a consonant, this T is a Stop T: it, it, it.
12:49 It won’t be.
12:50 It, it won't.
12:52 Very fast, it.
12:53 If the next word begins with a vowel or diphthong,
12:56 then this T is a Flap T, linking the two words together.
13:01 It always, it always, it it it it, it always, it always.
13:08 Said very quickly.
13:10 It always.
13:11 Nothing too crazy here, just say the word quickly.
13:16 Not IT, but it.
13:19 Number 12, one of my all-time favorite reductions: For.
13:24 We almost never say it this way.
13:26 We say ‘fer’.
13:28 Isn’t that funny?
13:29 I had a student once who lived in America and was married to an American.
13:35 She told her husband how she was learning about this reduction.
13:38 And his response was, “that’s ridiculous".
13:41 We don’t do that, we don't pronounce that fer.
13:46 Then later, he did it, as he was speaking naturally, and she pointed it out.
13:50 Most Americans aren’t even aware of these crazy reductions that we do.
13:55 So, to make this reduction drop the vowel, ff-rr, fer fer.
14:00 Say the word very quickly, low in pitch.
14:05 Fer fer.
14:06 This is for work.
14:08 Fer.
14:08 I made a longer video with more examples on the reduction
14:13 of the word ‘for’, check it out if you want more detail here.
14:17 I got it for my birthday.
14:19 For for.
14:20 What’s for dinner?
14:23 For.
14:23 In conversation, fer not ‘for’.
14:28 Number 13: Not.
14:29 Now, this word, in conversation, will very often be contracted n’t.
14:37 Didn’t, doesn’t, can’t, shouldn’t, won’t, and so on.
14:42 Notice I’m not releasing the T there, didn’t, but didn’t.
14:47 Didn’t.
14:48 It’s an abrupt stop of air in the N to signify the T:
14:56 didn’t, didn’t, shouldn’t, nt nt, nt, shouldn’t couldn’t, couldn’t.
15:01 If we don’t use a contraction, then we’re often stressing it:
15:05 I do NOT want to see her right now.
15:09 In these cases, we’ll probably do a Stop T.
15:13 Not.
15:13 I do NOT want to see her right now.
15:18 Not, stop the air, and then keep going.
15:22 I do Not wanna.
15:24 Not.
15:25 Number 14: on.
15:26 This word doesn’t reduce.
15:28 We don’t change any sounds like we did with ‘for’.
15:32 But, it is unstressed.
15:34 You don’t want to say ON in a sentence, but rather, ‘on’.
15:39 On on.
15:40 “Put it on the table.” On.
15:43 When it’s unstressed, that gives good contrast to the longer,
15:48 clearer stressed words ‘put’ and ‘table’,
15:51 and this contrast is very important in American English.
15:55 It's better than each word being longer and clearer.
16:00 What would it sound like if ‘it, on, the’, were also stressed?
16:06 Put it on the table.
16:08 Put it on the table.
16:10 Put it on the table.
16:12 No, that’s not how we speak.
16:15 Put it on the table.
16:17 Put it on the table.
16:19 That’s how we speak.
16:20 Not ON, but on.
16:22 Try that with me now.
16:24 Low in volume, low in pitch, not very clear.
16:29 On, on.
16:30 Put it on the table.
16:32 Number 15, the fifteenth most common word in English: with.
16:38 There are two ways you can pronounce this word:
16:42 with a voiced TH, with, with, with or an unvoiced TH, with, with.
16:48 I don’t use the voiced TH.
16:51 I think it sounds a little old-fashioned.
16:54 I would stick with the unvoiced TH, with, with.
16:58 Just like ‘on’, this word doesn’t reduce.
17:01 None of the sounds change.
17:03 But, it is unstressed.
17:06 It will usually be pronounced like this: with, rather than WITH.
17:11 “It’s with the other one” with the, with the, with the, with the, with the.
17:17 Low in pitch.
17:18 Notice I’m just making one TH to connect these two unstressed words,
17:23 with the, with the, with the.
17:25 It's the unvoiced TH.
17:27 With the, with the other one.
17:30 It’s with the other one.
17:33 Number 16, he.
17:34 Oh yes, this one reduces.
17:36 Can I just say, we are already at 16,
17:41 and we still haven’t seen one word that is stressed, that's a content word.
17:46 Wow.
17:46 When are we going to see it, and what is it going to be?
17:50 I can’t wait to find out.
17:53 But, back to 16, he.
17:55 Fully pronounced, ‘he’, it's the H consonant and EE as in SHE vowel.
18:01 But very often we drop the H, and have just the EE sound.
18:05 What does he want?
18:07 What does ee ee ee ee.
18:09 We drop the H and we connect it to the word before: does he?, does he?
18:15 What does he want?
18:17 What would that sentence sound like if every word stressed?
18:22 What does he want?
18:23 What does he want?
18:25 What does he want?
18:27 No, that’s not natural English.
18:29 What does he want?
18:31 I have a video on dropping the H reductions.
18:34 Click here or in the description below
18:37 to see that video and to get more examples.
18:40 Seventeen.
18:41 As.
18:42 Yep, this word reduces.
18:45 It’s not pronounced AS in a sentence.
18:49 That’s stressed.
18:50 This word is usually not stressed.
18:53 The vowel changes to the schwa and it becomes ‘uhz’.
18:58 AS, uhz.
18:59 He’s as tall as me.
19:02 Uhz—uhztalluhz.
19:03 Uhztalluhz.
19:03 Not AS, uhz, uhz.
19:06 He's as tall as me.
19:09 I have a video that goes over this reduction too.
19:14 Click here or in the description below to see that and more examples.
19:20 Eighteen.
19:20 You.
19:21 Another word that reduces.
19:23 This word can be reduced to ‘yuh’.
19:26 What are you doing?
19:29 What are you.
19:30 Yuh, yuh, yuh.
19:32 You never have to do reductions,
19:34 and you could definitely say “What are you doing?”, you, you, you.
19:38 I’m not reducing that, I’m not changing the vowel,
19:42 but I am still making it unstressed.
19:45 ‘you’ instead of YOU.
19:47 This word will usually be unstressed.
19:51 That means, don’t pronounce it ‘you’, which is stressed.
19:57 Pronounce it you.
19:59 Or reduced you.
20:01 Nineteen.
20:01 Do.
20:02 Our first content word.
20:05 Content words are nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
20:09 They're usually stressed in a sentence.
20:12 Our first stressed word!
20:13 Sort of.
20:14 Actually, this word can reduce.
20:16 It depends on how it’s being used in a sentence.
20:21 In a question, where there’s another verb, we often reduce it.
20:25 For example, what do you think?
20:27 ‘Think’ is another verb.
20:29 Did you notice how I pronounced ‘do’?
20:33 What do you?
20:35 What to, what to, what to do do.
20:39 D plus schwa.
20:41 Reducing DO like this is nice, natural English.
20:45 I do have a video, there I’m stressing it,
20:49 I do have a video because it’s a statement,
20:53 not a question, I do have a video on the DO reduction.
20:57 Click here or in the description below to see that video.
21:01 Twenty.
21:01 The word At.
21:03 Preposition, function word, and yes, it reduces.
21:08 In conversation, we often pronounce this word ‘ut’, with a schwa,
21:13 instead of AT, with the AA as in BAT vowel.
21:18 The T is a Flap T if the next word begins with a vowel or diphthong,
21:23 and a Stop T if the next word begins with a consonant.
21:26 If you’re not sure what a Stop or Flap T is,
21:29 I do have a video on that, click here or in the comments below.
21:35 Sample sentence: She’s at school.
21:39 Ut.
21:39 AT becomes ‘ut’.
21:41 She’s at school.
21:43 Now let’s look at the next set.
21:47 Again, almost all unstressed words, including, yep, more reductions.
21:53 We start this video with ‘this’.
21:55 This is number 21 in the most common words in English.
21:59 It’s not usually going to be pronounced THIS.
22:02 It’s usually going to be pronounced a lot more quickly than that, unstressed.
22:09 This.
22:10 This.
22:10 “This is what I’m talking about.” This, this, this.
22:15 Sometimes it’s more stressed, “Not that one,
22:18 this one.” It depends on how it’s being used.
22:22 But much of the time, this word will be unstressed, said very quickly: this.
22:29 22: But.
22:31 This word is usually going to be unstressed.
22:34 In those cases I would probably write it phonetically with a schwa.
22:39 “I wanted to stop in, but I was already
22:42 running late.” But, but, but, but, but I, but I.
22:46 The T here links into the next word with a Flap
22:50 T if the next word begins with a vowel or diphthong.
22:54 If the next word begins with a consonant, then it’s a Stop T.
22:58 “We wanted to stop by, but we were
23:01 already running late.” But, but, but we, but we.
23:05 There, it's a stop T.
23:07 Said very quickly.
23:09 Unless someone is exaggerating on purpose: BUT!
23:14 You won’t hear this word with a True T.
23:18 23: His.
23:20 Oh, this one is fun.
23:22 This one does have a reduction.
23:24 It’s really common to drop the H in this word.
23:28 What’s his name?
23:30 What’s his?
23:31 What's his?
23:32 HIS becomes ‘iz’.
23:33 Said very quickly, reduced.
23:35 This is much more natural than making it sound stressed,
23:40 fully pronounced: What’s his name?
23:43 What’s his name?
23:44 Hmm, that doesn't sound right.
23:47 "What's his name?" sounds much better.
23:49 I have a video on dropping the H reductions,
23:53 so click here or in the description to see more examples.
23:58 24: By.
24:00 This word doesn’t reduce, none of the sounds change or are dropped,
24:04 but it’s usually unstressed and said very quickly: We’ll be right by the door.
24:10 By the, by the, by the— unstressed, not too clear.
24:14 But we need this contrast of stressed
24:17 and unstressed to sound natural when speaking English.
24:21 25: From.
24:24 This is often said very quickly,
24:27 and I would write the vowel phonetically as the schwa: from, from.
24:32 When the schwa is followed by the M,
24:35 it gets absorbed by the schwa, so what I’m saying is,
24:39 you can say the word so quickly that you’re
24:42 not even trying to make a vowel: frm, frm, frm.
24:46 I’ll be back from work at three.
24:49 From, from work.
24:50 Very fast.
24:51 If I said this sentence with each word being clear,
24:55 no reductions, what would it sound like?
24:59 I’ll be back from work at three.
25:02 I’ll be back from work at three.
25:04 Pretty robotic, not natural.
25:06 Even though reductions might seem wrong, they might seem lazy,
25:11 they’re right, because they’re part of a bigger picture.
25:16 Rhythmic contrast in English.
25:18 26: They.
25:21 Let’s just start out with a sample sentence.
25:25 They already left.
25:27 They already left.
25:28 Unstressed.
25:29 Said very quickly.
25:30 They, they, they.
25:32 Sounds don’t really change, it doesn’t reduce, but it’s unstressed.
25:37 They, they.
25:38 Man, we're on number 26 of the most common words in English and so far,
25:45 every single one either reduces or is often unstressed.
25:49 When will we get to our first real content word?
25:54 We'll see.
25:54 27: We.
25:58 It's just like the pronoun 'they'.
26:00 Not usually stressed in a sentence.
26:03 We, we.
26:04 We already left.
26:06 We, we, we.
26:08 Said quickly.
26:09 We already left.
26:11 Not a reduction, we don’t change or drop a sound, but unstressed.
26:17 We.
26:17 We already left.
26:19 28: Say.
26:21 Oh my gosh, this is a content word.
26:24 This is a verb and it is usually stressed in a sentence.
26:27 It took us 28 words to get here.
26:30 If this doesn’t show you the importance
26:33 of using reductions and speaking with a rhythmic contrast,
26:37 making some words unstressed and less clear, I don’t know what will.
26:42 The first 27 of the most common words in English are that way.
26:48 Say.
26:49 Let’s put it in a sentence.
26:51 What did he say?
26:53 He said he’s running late.
26:55 Say, said.
26:57 Stressed, longer, clearer.
27:00 Up-down shape of intonation: say.
27:05 S consonant, AY diphthong.
27:07 We need jaw drop for that.
27:10 Say.
27:11 There’s something interesting about ‘say’, ‘said’, and ‘says’.
27:16 The diphthong changes.
27:18 Check out a video I made on that change
27:21 by clicking here or in the description below.
27:24 29: Her.
27:27 Okay, we’re back to a word that reduces.
27:30 It’s very common to pronounce this word with no H.
27:33 It becomes ‘er’.
27:35 What’s her name?
27:36 Er, er, er.
27:37 When we drop the beginning H,
27:40 we take the word and attach it to the end of the word before.
27:46 What's her.
27:47 What's her name?
27:48 There are several words where we drop the H, I have a video on that.
27:53 Click here or in the description below to see more examples.
27:57 30: She.
28:00 Unstressed.
28:00 You could probably even reduce it by dropping the vowel,
28:04 and just making a quick ‘sh’ sound.
28:07 Let me try that in a sentence.
28:09 We don’t think she knows.
28:11 We don’t think she knows.
28:13 I’d say that works.
28:15 So you can put a quick ‘ee’: I don't think she knows.
28:19 Or you can drop the vowel: I don't think she knows.
28:22 And it sounds pretty much the same.
28:24 She knows.
28:25 She knows.
28:26 The next set of 10.
28:28 More reductions, more smooth linking.
28:31 We start this video with number 31, and yes, it’s a great reduction.
28:36 The word OR.
28:39 You might have learned that the pronunciation of this word is
28:43 ‘or’, like it would rhyme with ‘more’ or the number ‘four’.
28:48 But ‘more’ and ‘four’ are content words.
28:50 That means they will often be stressed in a sentence, given more time.
28:55 ‘Or’ is a function word.
28:57 That means it’s not stressed in the sentence.
29:01 It’s not one of the most important words, and it’s said very quickly.
29:05 Remember, English is a stress-timed language.
29:08 That means all syllables are not equal in length.
29:13 We have long syllables and short syllables,
29:16 and speaking with that contrast is really
29:19 important in sounding natural in American English.
29:22 So ‘or’ isn’t pronounced ‘or’ in conversation, that’s too long, it’s too clear.
29:28 We need it to be shorter.
29:30 It’s actually ‘or’, said very quickly, low in pitch.
29:34 It can also be reduced.
29:37 Then it’s pronounced ‘or’, the vowel reduces to the schwa.
29:41 You don’t have to try to make the schwa, it gets absorbed by the R sound.
29:46 Just make an R.
29:48 Rr— Let’s put it in a sentence: Would you like white or brown rice?
29:53 White or brown?
29:55 Would you like white or brown rice?
29:57 White or brown?
29:59 white-rrr rr— rr— rr— rr— Just an R sound linking these two words.
30:06 I’m leaving Monday or Tuesday.
30:08 Monday-rr.
30:09 Monday-rr.
30:10 Rr— rr— Monday or Tuesday.
30:13 Just an extra R sound between.
30:17 Great rhythmic contrast.
30:18 If you’re just jumping into the series, you may be thinking,
30:23 how important are reductions, how frequent are reductions?
30:26 Out of the 31 most common words in English that we’ve studied so far,
30:32 only one is always stressed.Thirty are usually unstressed or reduced.
30:38 So there’s your answer.
30:40 Most common words: What’s 32?
30:44 The indefinite article ‘an’.
30:47 An.
30:48 Unstressed, it reduces to the schwa,
30:51 an— an— we actually already covered that one when we learned about
30:56 the indefinite article ‘a’ or 'a' back in video one of this series.
31:02 33: Will.
31:05 If this is the only verb in the sentence— I will.
31:09 He will.
31:11 –then it’s stressed.
31:12 But most of the time it’s not the only verb,
31:15 it’s used to indicate something in the future.
31:19 I like fishing.
31:20 That’s right now, present.
31:22 I’ll like fishing when I learn more about it.
31:26 This is the future.
31:27 The word ‘will’ is usually written and spoken in a contraction.
31:32 I’ll like fishing when I learn more about it.
31:35 “I will” becomes “I’ll”, but I reduced it.
31:41 I'll— I'll— I’ll like fishing—just like the word “all”, said very quickly.
31:48 I’ll, I’ll, I’ll.
31:50 I’ll like fishing when I learn more about it.
31:54 What other WILL contractions might you hear?
31:57 You’ll, we’ll pronounce this more like ‘yull’.
32:01 He’ll, in a sentence, this will sound more like 'hill' or ‘hull’.
32:06 He’ll be coming by at three.
32:10 He'll.
32:10 She will.
32:11 She’ll.
32:12 This can be reduced: she'll or shull.
32:16 She’ll have the report ready soon.
32:20 She'll.
32:20 “It will” becomes “it’ll”, with a Flap T.
32:24 This is just like the word “little” without the L.
32:28 These are both tough words, and I have a video on the word
32:32 ‘little’ which might make this contraction easier to pronounce.
32:35 I’ll put a link here and in the description below.
32:40 This schwa-L ending, the contraction of WILL,
32:43 can go at the end of any third person singular noun:
32:46 “the dog” becomes “the dog’ll”: The dog’ll need to be walked soon.
32:54 “Tuesday” becomes “Tuesday’ll”.
32:57 Tuesday’ll be better.
32:59 “John will” becomes “John’ll”.
33:01 John’ll be here soon.
33:04 Note: in writing, these might show up as a misspelling, as not a word.
33:09 But this is how we speak.
33:12 This contraction, this reduction of will.
33:14 If it’s a pronoun, like “she’ll”, then it’s not considered a misspelling.
33:19 But this is a case where how we speak English is different from how we write it.
33:25 It’s common to reduce, and say: John'll.
33:27 “John’ll be here at three” rather than “John will be there at three.” We will,
33:35 “We’ll”, You might here this as: we'll or wull.
33:39 Two different reductions.
33:41 We'll be late.
33:43 We'll be late.
33:45 “They will”, “they’ll”, often reduce and sound like “thull”.
33:50 They’ll be hungry when they get here.
33:53 Third person plural, again, if you write this as a contraction,
33:57 it will show up as a misspelling, but speaking this way is very common.
34:03 “The kids will” becomes “The kids’ll”.
34:05 The kids’ll be tired.
34:07 The kids’ll be tired.
34:08 A dark L at the end of the word.
34:12 Wow.
34:12 There was a lot to talk about with the word “will” because
34:16 of the way it contracts and reduces with so many different words!
34:21 Number 34: My.
34:24 A possessive pronoun.
34:25 This is my boyfriend.
34:27 My shirt’s too big.
34:30 We don’t reduce it, we don’t change or drop one of the sounds,
34:33 but it is unstressed.
34:35 This is the word’s most common use.
34:38 But, it can be used another way.
34:40 It can be used as an expression or an interjection to show surprise: Oh my!
34:47 Maybe it's even showing a little disapproval.
34:50 My!
34:51 In these cases, it would be stressed, it would be longer,
34:56 it would have the up-down shape of stress.
34:59 Number 35 in the 100 Most common words list: one.
35:05 It’s a little word, but it has a lot of different uses.
35:09 As a noun or an adjective, it will probably be stressed.
35:13 For example: We’re looking for one teacher to join our team.
35:17 One.
35:18 But it can also be used as a pronoun,
35:21 and in that case you might hear it reduced.
35:24 Instead of “one”, it will be ‘un’.
35:27 I need a new phone, this one’s going to die.
35:31 This un— this un— this un— This one's going to die.
35:35 This one’s going to last longer, but that one’s cheaper.
35:40 That un—this un— Did you notice the pronunciation?
35:45 This un—that un— nn—nn—nn— The apostrophe S is for the contraction IS.
35:52 This ‘uns’, that ‘uns’.
35:55 Now, you don’t have to pronounce this this way,
35:58 you can say “this one’s, that one’s”.
36:01 But you’ll definitely hear Americans occasionally reduce the word to ‘un’.
36:06 Number 36.
36:08 The word ‘all’.
36:10 This one, I would say, is usually going to be stressed and a little longer.
36:14 It’s most commonly used as an adjective, or a noun, or an adverb.
36:20 Did you eat all the cake?
36:22 We’ve been having all sorts of problems.
36:25 So here we are, number 36.
36:28 The 36th most common words in English,
36:30 and this is only the second word that doesn’t have a reduction,
36:34 or isn’t unstressed in some cases.
36:37 Wow.
36:38 The other one was “say” back at number 28.
36:41 What does this mean?
36:43 Many of the most common words in English
36:46 are words that are unstressed or reduced.
36:49 If you ignore these, you can never sound natural, because they are everywhere.
36:54 And chances are, when you learned the words, you did not learn the reductions,
37:00 and you did not learn how to make them unstressed.
37:04 So we’re trying to fix that now.
37:06 Let’s keep going, number 37.
37:08 The word “would”.
37:09 I’m actually going to also work on 67 at the same time, the word “could”.
37:16 And I’ll throw in as a bonus, a word that's not on the list, the word “should”.
37:22 Actually, as with many of the reductions on this list,
37:25 I’ve made a video that goes over these pronunciations.
37:28 Should I just put it in here?
37:31 Would you like to see it?
37:34 Should.
37:34 Would.
37:35 It is a good one, it’s useful!
37:38 Let's watch!
37:39 These words all rhyme.
37:40 The pronunciation is simpler than it looks.
37:43 The L is silent.
37:45 So they all have their beginning consonant,
37:48 the OO as in Book vowel, and the D sound.
37:52 Should.
37:54 Would.
37:56 Could.
37:58 They rhyme with 'good', 'hood', and 'wood'.
38:03 Yes, 'would' and 'wood' are pronounced the same.
38:08 They're homophones.
38:09 So this is the pronunciation of these words in full.
38:13 But as you know, Americans like to reduce
38:16 less important words in a sentence to make the important words stand out more
38:21 and these are three words that can be reduced.
38:26 As with many reductions, we change the vowel to the schwa and speed up the word.
38:32 Should.
38:33 Should.
38:35 Would.
38:36 Would.
38:37 Could.
38:38 Could.
38:39 You'll hear Americans go further though and drop the D.
38:44 I noticed I did this when I was doing
38:46 a Ben Franklin exercise on some of my own speech.
38:50 Should we get dinner?
38:51 Yeah!
38:52 Should we get dinner?
38:53 One of the things I noticed is I'm dropping the D sound.
38:56 Shou we— shou we— Should.
39:00 Should.
39:01 Just the SH sound and the schwa.
39:04 The lips are flared and the teeth are together.
39:08 Sshhh— the tongue tip is pointing up to the roof
39:10 of the mouth but it's not touching it.
39:13 Sshhhuuu—shhu— Then, for the schwa,
39:17 everything relaxes and you go into the next sound:
39:22 shuh— shuh— shuh we— Should we call her?
39:27 Should we.
39:28 Should we.
39:29 I should go.
39:31 Should go.
39:32 Should go.
39:33 I should go.
39:35 Now, if the next sound is a vowel or a diphthong, I wouldn't drop the D.
39:40 It would be too unclear to go from the schwa into another vowel.
39:45 So for: Should I?
39:46 Should I?
39:47 For example, I make a really quick flap of the tongue for the D.
39:52 Should I.
39:53 Should I.
39:54 Should I say that?
39:55 Should I try it?
39:57 Should I call him?
39:59 If dropping the D seems like too extreme of a reduction for you,
40:03 you certainly don't have to do it.
40:06 Just keep 'should' unstressed, really quick: should, should, should.
40:10 Now, let's look at 'could'.
40:12 The K sound is made when the back part of the tongue
40:17 comes up and touches the soft palate in the back.
40:21 K, k, k, k.
40:22 Could we try later?
40:24 Could we?
40:25 Could we?
40:26 Again, just dropping the D.
40:28 K sound, schwa, next word.
40:31 Could we?
40:32 Could we?
40:33 Saying it with a D when the next word begins with a vowel or a diphthong.
40:38 Could I?
40:38 Could I come back later?
40:40 Could I?
40:41 Could I?
40:42 So just a nice, short, could.
40:45 Finally, would.
40:46 For the W sound, the lips are in a tight circle,
40:49 and the back part of the tongue lifts.
40:51 Ww—ww—wuh— Would we want to do that?
40:55 Would we?
40:56 Would we?
40:58 Would we want to do that?
41:00 Or with a really quick D sound.
41:02 Where would I go?
41:04 Would I— Would I— Would I— So you can
41:07 reduce these words by changing the vowel to the schwa.
41:10 You can reduce them further by dropping the D,
41:14 unless the next sound is a vowel or a diphthong.
41:18 Number 38.
41:19 Actually, we’re going to do 38 and 39 at the same because they’re homophones!
41:26 What are homophones?
41:27 Words that are spelled differently and have different
41:31 meanings but that are pronounced exactly the same.
41:35 38 is ‘there’ and 39 is ‘they’re’.
41:38 If homophones seem confusing to you, you’re not the only one.
41:43 I actually have a very long video
41:45 that goes over many homophones in American English,
41:48 you can click here to see it, or check the video description.
41:54 There, they’re.
41:55 Fully pronounced, we have “there”.
41:58 But, both of these can reduce.
42:01 The word ‘there’ can be used lots of different ways,
42:05 and a common way is the phrase “there is” or “there are”.
42:10 These phrases will often be in contraction, “there’s” and the “there’re”.
42:17 But these contractions can reduce when we say them.
42:22 Then it becomes “thurs” and “thur”.
42:25 There’s a good reason why I can’t tell you.
42:28 There's a good reason— There’s, there’s, there’s.
42:32 It has the schwa rather than the EH vowel.
42:36 It’s said more quickly.
42:38 The contraction “there are” gets even less clear,
42:42 it’s really just one syllable “thur”.
42:44 R reduces, and we lose it.
42:47 It has the same sounds as the reduced “there”, so it blends in.
42:52 There’re lots of reason why I can’t tell you.
42:55 There’re lots.
42:56 There're.
42:57 There're.
42:57 There’re lots of reasons.
43:00 What about the contraction “they are”, “they’re”?
43:04 Yes, that also reduces.
43:06 It might not be pronounced “they’re”, but instead,
43:11 “thur”, with the schwa.They’re in the kitchen.
43:15 Thur, thur.
43:16 They’re in the kitchen.
43:18 And the last word for this video, number 40, “what”.
43:22 This word can reduce.
43:24 Fully pronounced, it’s “what”,
43:26 and the T is a Flap T if the next word begins with a vowel or diphthong:
43:33 what are you going to do?What are, what are.
43:38 Rrrr— Flap.
43:39 The T is a Stop T if the next word begins with a consonant:
43:43 What were you thinking?
43:45 What were, what were.
43:48 Stop T.
43:49 But, if the next word begins with a D,
43:52 then we can reduce the word ‘what’ by dropping the T.
43:56 Make the vowel a schwa.
43:58 So the word ‘what’ becomes a very quick “wuh, wuh”.
44:04 “What did” and “what do” are common word combinations where we do this.
44:10 What do you think?
44:12 What do, what do, what do.
44:15 The word ‘what’ is simply ‘wuh’.
44:18 What did you say?
44:20 What did, what did, what did.
44:23 Again, the word ‘what’ is simply ‘wuh’, wuh.
44:29 The next set of 10.
44:32 Getting into some stressed words now, but still, some reductions.
44:36 Today, were starting with number 41, the word 'so'.
44:41 Does this word reduce?
44:42 Yes it does.
44:43 Fully pronounced, it has the OH as in NO diphthong.
44:49 So, so.
44:50 I don't think so.
44:53 So.
44:54 Your hair looks so good.
44:58 So.
44:58 But you'll hear it reduced to 'suh' when its used
45:02 as a filler word at the beginning of a sentence.
45:05 As a filler word, the word doesn't really have meaning.
45:09 For example: So what do you think?
45:12 So what do you think?
45:14 So.
45:14 So.
45:14 So you're going to need another one.
45:18 So.
45:18 So.
45:19 You'll definitely hear Americans do this.
45:22 Number 42: Up.
45:24 Hey, we found another word that doesn't reduce.
45:27 This word will be stressed.
45:29 We're on number 42 of the 100 most common words in English,
45:33 and this is only the third word that generally is always stressed.
45:38 How amazing that so many words are unstressed or reduce!
45:42 For this word, we have the UH as in BUTTER vowel and the P consonant, Up.
45:49 Up.
45:50 P is a stop consonant, which means we stop the air, up-, and release it, pp.
45:59 The release is very light.
46:02 Up, up.
46:04 Sometimes we don't release stop consonants,
46:07 like if it's at the end of a thought group: What's up?
46:12 What's up?
46:13 There I'm not releasing the P.
46:16 What's up?
46:17 Also we often skip the release if the next
46:20 word begins with a consonant sound: What's up, Mom?
46:24 What's up, Mom?
46:25 My lips came together for the P, but then when they parted, rather than pp,
46:32 the light escape of air, I just went right into the M sound.
46:37 I think 'up' is so common because its used in so many phrasal verbs.
46:43 Crack up, break up, throw up, act up, creep up,
46:48 butter up, burn up, bone up, just to name a few.
46:54 There are so many phrasal verbs in English.
46:58 At the beginning of 2017, I made a new video every day going over phrasal verbs.
47:04 Click here to see that collection, or see the link in the video description.
47:09 Number 43: Out.
47:12 Oh, this is funny.
47:14 This is another word that is common in phrasal verbs.
47:17 Work out, figure out, burn out, black out, block out, stand out, bring out.
47:24 Not surprising that some of these phrasal
47:28 verb parts are showing up on this list.
47:31 There are a bunch without.
47:33 And this word doesn't reduce.
47:35 We have the OW diphthong, ow, and the T consonant, out.
47:41 Out.
47:41 And just like P, T is a stop consonant.
47:45 We don't usually release it: tt— if it comes at the end of a thought group,
47:51 or if the next word begins with a consonant.
47:55 Let's look at some examples: Watch out!
47:58 End of the phrase, an unreleased T.
48:02 Watch out.
48:03 I cut off the air, so it's not: watch ow.
48:07 Watch ow.
48:07 That would just sound like there was no T.
48:11 But with the abrupt stop, watch out!
48:13 Without the falling intonation, it sounds like a T to us.
48:20 Watch out.
48:21 You cant back out now.
48:23 Out now.
48:24 There, the T was followed by a word beginning with a consonant, another Stop T.
48:33 Out now.
48:34 Out now.
48:35 T is special: if the next word begins
48:38 with a vowel or diphthong, then we flap it.
48:42 A single rra— against the roof of the mouth.
48:46 For example: Get out of here.
48:49 Out of, out of.
48:51 Ra— ra— A flap T to connect the two words.
48:55 And did you notice the reduction of OF?
48:58 Yep, that's just the schwa.
49:01 'Of' is word number 4 in the 100 most common words in English list.
49:08 Number 44.
49:09 The word IF.
49:10 This word is usually a conjunction and then, it's unstressed.
49:15 It's said very quickly.
49:17 Call me if you get lost.
49:20 Call me if you get lost.
49:23 Call me if you get lost.
49:25 Here, its part of a string of unstressed words.
49:28 Low in pitch, flat, said quickly.
49:31 If, if, if.
49:32 Me if you— me if you— call me if you get lost.
49:37 You might even hear the word reduced at the beginning of a sentence,
49:42 just the F sound attached to the next word,
49:46 no vowel: If you want leave, that's okay.
49:49 If she doesn't care, that's okay.
49:52 Ff, ff, ff, if you wanna.
49:56 If she— ff— Reduced.
49:59 Number 45, the word about.
50:02 This word can be a preposition, an adverb, or an adjective.
50:06 It doesn't reduce, none of the sounds change.
50:10 Sometimes its stressed in a sentence, for example,
50:12 I was out and about and thought I'd stop by.
50:16 About, about.
50:17 Its longer and it has more volume, a higher pitch: out and about.
50:23 But it can also be unstressed: It’s all about the timing.
50:27 It’s all about the timing.
50:31 About the, about the, about the, it's lower in pitch and volume,
50:35 and a little less clear than when it was stressed, about.
50:39 It’s all about the timing.
50:41 About the, about the, about the.
50:43 So, it can be unstressed, but nothing changes, it doesn't reduce.
50:48 Since its a two-syllable word, it still has one syllable that's stressed,
50:53 that's a little clearer, even when the word is being used in an unstressed way.
50:58 Okay now, I did make a mistake here when I was originally filming it.
51:04 There is a reduction for about and it's "bout".
51:09 Can you hear me?
51:10 How bout now?
51:12 How bout, how bout.
51:14 Bout.
51:14 You will hear native speakers do that, dropping the schwa.
51:20 Bout.
51:21 Number 46.
51:23 The word 'who'.
51:25 We already talked about one question word, and that is the word 'what'.
51:30 That word can reduce, we do drop the T if the next word begins with a D.
51:35 But generally, question words don't reduce.
51:38 Generally, they're stressed.
51:40 Who was that?
51:42 Who does she think she is?
51:44 When 'who' begins a question, it doesn't reduce.
51:47 It's the H sound and the OO as in BOO vowel.
51:52 Who, who.
51:53 But sometimes we use the word 'who' in the middle of a sentence.
51:58 Then it can reduce.
51:59 For example: Anyone who wants to come can come.
52:03 Anyone who wants.
52:05 Anyone who wants.
52:08 Did you notice how I reduced that?
52:12 I dropped the consonant!
52:13 It was just the OO vowel.
52:16 Oo, anyone who.
52:18 Anyone who wants.
52:19 This is a reduction you might hear Americans do.
52:24 Number 47: The word 'get'.
52:27 A verb, this word is a content word and is generally stressed in a sentence.
52:32 So this is the 5th word we've found in our list of the 100
52:37 most common words in English that I feel confident I can say is always stressed.
52:43 Just 5 out of 47!
52:46 Wow!
52:47 Unstressed and reduced words are so common!
52:51 Let's talk about the pronunciation.
52:54 G consonant, EH as in BED vowel, and the T.
52:58 We already talked about an ending T in out.
53:01 The same rules apply here because the T comes at the end of the word,
53:06 just after a vowel or diphthong.
53:08 If the word ends a thought group or is followed by a consonant,
53:13 it will be a Stop T.
53:16 Example: I'll get the biggest one.
53:19 Get the, get the, get the.
53:22 Abrupt stop.
53:23 I'll get the biggest one.
53:25 If the next word begins with a vowel or a diphthong,
53:28 then you will flap the T: I don't get it.
53:32 Get it, get it, ra--, ra— I don't get it.
53:37 Do you hear the Flap?
53:38 Get it.
53:39 I don't get it.
53:41 Number 48.
53:42 The word 'which'.
53:43 This word can be stressed or unstressed,
53:45 depending on how it's being used in a sentence.
53:48 But nothing changes, it doesn't reduce.
53:52 So, stressed, it's: which.
53:55 Which do you want?
53:57 Which, which.
53:59 Up-down shape of stress.
54:02 Which, which.
54:03 But unstressed, it's lower in pitch and flat: which, which.
54:08 The movie, which I saw last night, was terrible.
54:12 The movie which I— which, which, which, which.
54:17 Unstressed there, flat.
54:19 Which.
54:20 Which.
54:21 Let's talk about the pronunciation.
54:23 It begins with WH.
54:25 This can be pronounced two ways: first, a pure W sound.
54:29 This is how I've been pronouncing it.
54:32 Ww, ww, which, which.
54:34 The other way is to pronounce it,
54:37 I think is more old-fashioned, with a: hh— hh— hh— sound before.
54:43 A little escape of air first.
54:46 Which.
54:46 Which.
54:47 Do you hear that?
54:49 HH, hh, which.
54:51 This is actually how my Mom pronounces WH- words,
54:57 and I made a video with her about these two possible pronunciations.
55:01 Click here or in the description below to see that video.
55:06 W, IH as in SIT vowel, and CH.
55:10 Which.
55:11 Which stressed, and which, which, unstressed.
55:18 Quick question: Did studying this word make you think of any other words?
55:24 Which and witch are homophones when you use the clean W for which.
55:31 That means they're two totally different words, different spellings,
55:34 different meanings, but they have the same pronunciation.
55:39 Number 49: Go.
55:41 A verb.
55:43 Let's conjugate it: I go, you go, she goes,
55:47 just add a light Z at the end: goes, goes, goes.
55:52 He goes, we go, they go.
55:55 Yes, in this form, I would say, this word is always stressed!
56:00 The G consonant and the OH diphthong.
56:04 Go.
56:05 Jaw drop, then lip rounding for the diphthong.
56:11 Oh.
56:12 Go, go.
56:13 Goes.
56:14 But you know what?
56:16 There's another conjugation for this word: the –ing form.
56:21 Going.
56:22 I'm going to go to the store.
56:24 I'm going to go to the mall.
56:27 There I'm using the –ing form and the infinitive.
56:30 Going to go.
56:31 Now, if you've seen any of my real-life English videos,
56:36 or any of my speech analysis videos,
56:39 then you know the phrase 'going to' is very common,
56:43 and you know, we do reduce that.
56:46 What do we reduce it to?
56:48 Do you know?
56:50 Going to.
56:50 Let me say that in a sentence again: I'm going to go to the mall.
56:56 I'm gonna go.
56:57 There, did you hear it?
56:59 Gonna— gonna— gonna— I'm going to go to the mall.
57:03 Right.
57:04 It's 'gonna'.
57:05 One of the most common reductions in all of English.
57:09 Now, occasionally I get a comment from someone saying,
57:12 'gonna' is not proper English.
57:14 Hmm.
57:15 Not true.
57:16 I would never tell anyone to write it.
57:19 Ok?
57:20 Don't write it!
57:21 But its perfectly natural and normal in spoken English.
57:25 It's proper.
57:26 It's a beautiful reduction!
57:27 I made a video several years ago where I took a couple of presidential speeches.
57:33 And I found examples of gonna.
57:36 So even world leaders giving important speeches
57:39 to large groups of people use this reduction.
57:43 If you're interested in seeing that video,
57:46 click here or in the description below.
57:49 What's the pronunciation of gonna?
57:51 First syllable is stressed.
57:52 We have the G consonant, the UH as in BUTTER vowel,
57:58 N, gun— gun— gun— and then the schwa in the unstressed syllable.
58:03 Uh— uh— Gonna.
58:05 Gonna.
58:05 If you have not already noticed this reduction,
58:09 now that you've learned it, you're gonna hear it all the time.
58:15 It's everywhere.
58:16 Gonna.
58:17 You're gonna hear it.
58:19 Number 50.
58:20 Wow, we're halfway down the list.
58:23 What is number 50?
58:25 Me.
58:26 A pronoun, which is a function word,
58:28 which means it will generally be unstressed in a sentence.
58:32 It doesn't reduce, we don't change any of the sounds, but it's flat in pitch,
58:38 said quickly compared to the other stressed words in the sentence.
58:42 He gave me his number.
58:45 Gave and number are stressed, the rest of the words, unstressed.
58:50 He gave me his number.
58:52 Me his, me his, me his, both flat in pitch, unstressed.
58:57 Said very quickly.
58:58 Do you hear how I'm reducing the word 'his'?
59:02 Dropping the H?
59:03 Wow, did we cover that?
59:06 Yeah, we did.
59:07 That was number 28.
59:09 Next set of 10.
59:11 More question words, more verbs.
59:13 But still, some VERY important reductions.
59:16 Kin you guess any them?
59:19 Kin, kin, can you?
59:21 Number 51: the word WHEN.
59:24 This word definitely reduces.
59:27 Fully pronounced, it’s the W sound, the EH as in BED vowel, and the N consonant.
59:33 When.
59:34 You may be thinking, I’ve heard this word pronounced differently.
59:38 You may have heard it pronounce hhwen.
59:41 Hhh— when.
59:43 WH- words can be pronounced with a “hh” sound before the W.
59:48 It’s not necessary, and it’s not my preference.
59:52 I think, just keep it simple, just use a clean W sound.
59:58 When.
59:59 But in a sentence, this word can be unstressed and said more quickly.
1:00:03 Then you could write the vowel with the schwa or the IH as in SIT vowel in IPA.
1:00:10 “When” becomes: when, said very quickly.
1:00:13 If you don’t know what IPA, the International Phonetic Alphabet is,
1:00:17 I have a playlist of videos that goes over that.
1:00:21 Click here or in the description.
1:00:24 Let’s look at some example sentences.
1:00:26 When are you going to stop by?
1:00:29 When, when are you— I said that very quickly, unstressed.
1:00:34 When, when, when are you going to stop by?
1:00:38 Another sentence: It was better when we were kids.
1:00:42 When, when, when, when, when we were, when we were, Unstressed.
1:00:48 Said very quickly.
1:00:49 It was better when we were kids.
1:00:51 You see, we don’t want every word
1:00:54 in American English to be fully pronounced, when.
1:00:57 Some of the understandability of English depends
1:01:00 on the contrast of stressed and unstressed syllables, clear and less clear.
1:01:07 Let’s look at number 52, the word ‘make’.
1:01:10 Now, this is a stressed word.
1:01:12 We have two categories of words in American English:
1:01:16 Content Words and Function Words.
1:01:19 Content words are nouns, verbs, like this verb ‘make’, adjectives, and adverbs,
1:01:25 and content words are what are generally stressed in a sentence.
1:01:30 “Make”: M consonant, AY diphthong, and the K sound,
1:01:35 is usually stressed in a sentence.
1:01:38 Make.
1:01:39 Make.
1:01:39 It has an up-down shape.
1:01:42 That’s the stressed shape of intonation.
1:01:46 Make.
1:01:47 That’s different from: when, when, when, which was flatter in pitch and lower.
1:01:53 Make, longer, shape of stress, more clear.
1:01:58 Sentences: I’ll make you one.
1:02:02 Make.
1:02:02 Make.
1:02:03 It would make things easier.
1:02:06 Make.
1:02:08 Make.
1:02:09 Number 53.
1:02:11 Here, we have a beautiful reduction.
1:02:14 It’s the word ‘can’.
1:02:16 If ‘can’ is a main verb, then it’s not reduced.
1:02:20 Who can help tomorrow?
1:02:21 I can.
1:02:22 Also, it doesn’t reduce if it’s a noun: a can of soup.
1:02:28 But most of the time, ‘can’ is a helping verb,
1:02:31 not a main verb, and that means it reduces.
1:02:35 We change a sound.
1:02:37 Let’s go back to the example: Who can help tomorrow?
1:02:41 I can.
1:02:42 In the question: Who can help tomorrow?
1:02:45 ‘Help’ is the main verb.
1:02:47 ‘Can’ is the helping verb.
1:02:49 Did you hear how I pronounced it?
1:02:52 Who can help tomorrow?
1:02:54 Who can help?
1:02:55 It’s no longer ‘can’, but ‘kn’.
1:02:59 Who can— Who can help?
1:03:02 Short, flat, no vowel.
1:03:04 We write it in IPA with the schwa.
1:03:08 Kn, kn, kn.
1:03:10 Try that.
1:03:11 Kn, who can help?
1:03:13 I can see you.
1:03:15 ‘See’ the main verb, ‘can’ the helping verb.
1:03:20 Kn, kn.
1:03:21 I can, I can see you.
1:03:24 That’s quite a reduction.
1:03:26 Very common.
1:03:27 Number 54: The word ‘like’.
1:03:30 This word can be used lots of different ways,
1:03:33 so it can be an adverb, a noun, or an adjective,
1:03:36 which would mean it’s stressed, or it can be a preposition or conjunction,
1:03:41 which means it will be a function word and is unstressed.
1:03:46 However, even when it’s unstressed, this word does not reduce.
1:03:51 Let’s look at an example where it’s stressed.
1:03:54 I don’t like it.
1:03:56 Like.
1:03:57 I don’t like it.
1:03:59 Here, it’s stressed.
1:04:00 Like.
1:04:01 Like.
1:04:02 Up-down shape of stress.
1:04:04 But what about this sentence?
1:04:07 He acted like nothing happened.
1:04:09 He acted like— like, like, lower in pitch, much faster.
1:04:15 He acted like nothing happened.
1:04:17 He acted like nothing happened.
1:04:20 Like.
1:04:20 Unstressed.
1:04:20 None of the sounds change so it doesn’t reduce,
1:04:25 but it’s pretty different from the stressed version.
1:04:30 Like, like.
1:04:31 Like, like, like.
1:04:34 One more example, and this is a really common use of the word.
1:04:38 We use this when we’re telling a story, something that happened to us,
1:04:42 and we’re talking about what someone said or someone’s reaction.
1:04:46 For example: Yesterday I saw Jim walking home from school,
1:04:50 and I was like, “Do you need a ride?” And he was like,
1:04:54 “No, I’m just going to walk.” I was like, he was like,
1:04:58 she was like, you were like, like, like, like, like, like.
1:05:01 All of these are examples of ‘like’ unstressed.
1:05:06 Number 55: Time.
1:05:08 Now this word, a noun, an adjective, a verb, is always a content word.
1:05:13 That means it will likely be stressed.
1:05:16 This is only the 6th word in this list so far that is always stressed.
1:05:21 We’re on number 55.
1:05:23 That’s crazy.
1:05:24 So if you thought every word you spoke needed to be clear and fully pronounced,
1:05:30 I hope this series is helping to change your mind.
1:05:34 This word is pronounced with the True T, because it’s stressed,
1:05:37 and it has the AI as in BUY diphthong, and don’t forget that M.
1:05:43 Time.
1:05:43 Lips have to come together.
1:05:46 Time.
1:05:46 There is no case where the lips don’t come together for the M.
1:05:52 Always.
1:05:53 Time, time.
1:05:54 Crisp, clear True T, teeth come together for it:
1:06:00 ttt— time, up-down shape of stress.
1:06:03 Let’s look at a sentence.
1:06:05 What time is it?
1:06:07 Time.
1:06:07 A noun.
1:06:08 Or, you do sit ups for a minute, and I’ll time you.
1:06:14 Time, time.
1:06:15 There, it’s a verb, still stressed, same pronunciation.
1:06:19 Number 56: No.
1:06:22 Another word, the seventh word, that will generally always be stressed.
1:06:27 There is not a case where it would usually reduce or be unstressed.
1:06:35 No.
1:06:35 No.
1:06:36 Up-down shape: No.
1:06:38 And please don’t ever forget the lip
1:06:41 rounding that goes into this diphthong: oohhh.
1:06:45 No.
1:06:46 No.
1:06:46 I have no idea.
1:06:48 He voted ‘no’ on the sugar tax.
1:06:52 No, no.
1:06:53 That was a simple one, wasn’t it?
1:06:57 What about 57?
1:06:58 57 is interesting.
1:07:00 The word ‘just’.
1:07:01 It’s either an adjective or an adverb,
1:07:04 and those are both content words, so it will generally be stressed.
1:07:08 And for the most part, we don’t reduce stressed words.
1:07:12 They’re important.
1:07:13 We only reduce and say quickly the words
1:07:16 that are a little less important, the function words.
1:07:19 BUT.
1:07:20 This word is interesting because it has a T,
1:07:23 and T has its own set of funny rules.
1:07:26 If you’ve seen many of my videos, you know them.
1:07:30 I talk about the T pronunciations a lot.
1:07:33 If the T comes between two consonants, we often drop that T.
1:07:38 Well, that’s a reduction.
1:07:39 Let me show you what I mean.
1:07:41 When the word ‘just’ is followed by a word that starts with a consonant,
1:07:46 there is a good chance that a native speaker will drop the T, and just say: jus.
1:07:53 Jus’ instead of ‘just’.
1:07:56 I just thought, why not?
1:07:59 Just, just, just thought.
1:08:02 Just thought— just— The ST ending is followed by TH,
1:08:07 the T comes between two consonants, we drop it: jus’ thought, just’ thought.
1:08:13 I just missed the bus.
1:08:16 I just missed— just missed the bus—S-T-M, drop the T.
1:08:23 Jus’ missed, jus’ missed, I just missed the bus.
1:08:29 Now, if ‘just’ is followed by a word that begins
1:08:32 with a vowel or diphthong, don’t drop the T.
1:08:35 Just make it a light, True T.
1:08:38 For example, it’s just Alex.
1:08:42 Just Alex— just, tt, tt, just Alex.
1:08:47 It’s just Alex.
1:08:49 Number 58, another word that reduces.
1:08:52 This one is a function word: him.
1:08:56 And just like number 9, “have”, number 16, “he”, number 23, “his”, number 29,
1:09:05 “her”, we often drop the H and link this to the word before.
1:09:11 For example, I gave him another one.
1:09:14 Gave ‘im, gave ‘im, gave ‘im.
1:09:17 A very common reduction.
1:09:19 We do this with these function words that begin with an H.
1:09:26 Simply schwa-M.
1:09:27 Gave ‘im.
1:09:28 Gave ‘im.
1:09:29 Another example: We want him to succeed.
1:09:32 Want him, want him.
1:09:35 Wait, what’s happening to the T in ‘want’?
1:09:39 I’m dropping the H, so it doesn’t come between two consonants.
1:09:43 Well, we’ll find out soon,
1:09:45 because that’s number 93 on the list of the 100 most common words in English.
1:09:52 59: Know.
1:09:54 You’re thinking, wait, we already did that.
1:09:58 That was number 56.
1:10:00 Yes, but, different word.
1:10:02 ‘No’ and ‘know’ are homophones.
1:10:04 That’s right.
1:10:05 That means they sound exactly the same,
1:10:08 even though they are two different words and they’re spelled differently.
1:10:12 Know.
1:10:14 Know.
1:10:15 A verb.
1:10:16 Usually stressed in a sentence.
1:10:18 N consonant, OH diphthong: know.
1:10:21 However, with really common phrases, we often make some reductions,
1:10:27 like how ‘going to’ becomes ‘gonna’.
1:10:30 And with the really common phrase “I don’t know”, we make a reduction.
1:10:36 I dunno, I dunno, I dunno.
1:10:39 And, this can sound like the last sound is not OH: I dunno,
1:10:45 I dunno, I dunno, I dunno, o, o, o, o, o, o.
1:10:51 It’s more like a quick ‘uh’ there.
1:10:53 Certainly not: know, oh, oh, with a full and stressed OH diphthong.
1:11:01 I don’t know.
1:11:03 Number 60, the last word for this video, the word “take”.
1:11:08 Usually a verb, sometimes a noun, it’s a content word.
1:11:12 And generally, it’s going to be stressed in a sentence.
1:11:15 Just like ‘time’, it’s a one-syllable stressed word that begins with a True T,
1:11:21 tt, AY, then the AY diphthong, and the K sound.
1:11:26 Take.
1:11:27 Sentences: Can you take me there?
1:11:30 Take, take, take.
1:11:33 Or, I need to take it back.
1:11:35 Take.
1:11:36 Take.
1:11:38 Take.
1:11:38 Longer, up-down shape, more time, a stressed syllable.
1:11:44 In this set, we’ve got some words that are tricky to pronounce,
1:11:49 like YEAR and PEOPLE.
1:11:51 Number 61 is the word ‘people’.This is
1:11:54 the first time we’re starting one of these videos
1:11:57 with a word that is NOT an example of a word that will be unstressed.
1:12:02 This word is a noun, a content word, and generally, it will be stressed.
1:12:07 Now, this is a tricky word.
1:12:09 And I don’t have too many videos where I
1:12:11 go over the specific pronunciation of a single word,
1:12:14 but I do happen to have one where I talk about this word,
1:12:18 so I’ll put in a clip here that will go through the pronunciation, step-by-step.
1:12:23 It’s a two-syllable word with stress on the first syllable.
1:12:29 Da-da.
1:12:29 People.
1:12:30 It begins with the P consonant sound, lips are together for that, pp-.
1:12:36 Then we open into the EE as in SHE vowel, pe-, pe-.
1:12:40 So the tongue tip is down here, but the front part of the tongue is stretching
1:12:46 up towards the roof of the mouth, pe-, pe-.
1:12:49 Now we have the P, schwa, L sound.
1:12:52 This is unstressed, so it's going to be
1:12:54 low in pitch and very fast, -ple, -ple, -ple.
1:12:57 People.
1:12:58 So the lips will come together again for the P.
1:13:02 People.
1:13:02 -ple.
1:13:04 Then we go into the schwa/Dark L sound.
1:13:07 Don't worry about making a separate schwa sound,
1:13:10 just go straight into the Dark sound of the Dark L.
1:13:13 So, to make that sound, your tongue will pull back,
1:13:16 so the back part of the tongue here is
1:13:18 shifting towards the throat a bit, people, ull, ull.
1:13:22 And that's how we get that dark sound.
1:13:25 Now, it should be very short because it's unstressed, people, people.
1:13:31 The second half of the Dark L involves bringing
1:13:33 the tongue tip to the roof of the mouth.
1:13:36 People.
1:13:37 But you can actually leave that out.
1:13:39 A lot of people will just make, people, ull,
1:13:42 the Dark sound to signify the Dark L
1:13:45 and not necessarily bring the tongue tip up.
1:13:49 People, people.
1:13:50 Let’s do a couple of example sentences with people.
1:13:55 I’m a people person.
1:13:57 People, people.
1:13:58 Up-down shape of stress, longer, more clear than the unstressed words:
1:14:04 I’m a— I’m a— I’m a people person.
1:14:08 What does ‘people person’ mean?
1:14:10 It means that I’m very social.
1:14:12 I like interacting with a lot of people, I’m very outgoing, I’m an extrovert.
1:14:16 I have room for three more people in my car.
1:14:20 People, people.
1:14:23 Stressed.
1:14:25 Number 62.
1:14:27 Is it as clear as ‘people’?
1:14:29 No.
1:14:30 It’s the word ‘into’.
1:14:32 ‘Into’ is a preposition.
1:14:34 And prepositions are function words,
1:14:36 which means they’ll generally be unstressed i n a sentence.
1:14:40 Let me show you what I mean.
1:14:43 I ran into my teacher at the movies.
1:14:45 I ran into my teacher at the movies.
1:14:51 Ran, teach-, mov-.
1:14:54 These are the stressed syllables.
1:14:56 All the others, including the word ‘into’, unstressed.
1:15:01 Less clear, low in pitch, flatter, given less time.
1:15:05 Into.
1:15:06 If it was clear and fully pronounced,
1:15:09 it would have that up-down shape of stress, into, and a True T.
1:15:15 The final vowel would be the OO as in BOO vowel.
1:15:19 Into.
1:15:19 But that’s not how I pronounced it.
1:15:22 I ran into my teacher.
1:15:24 Into.
1:15:25 Into.
1:15:25 Into.
1:15:26 A couple things are different.
1:15:28 First of all, it’s not stressed so it’s flat in pitch, low in pitch.
1:15:34 Second, two sounds have changed.
1:15:35 The T sounds more like a D, and the final vowel is the schwa.
1:15:41 Into.
1:15:41 into.
1:15:42 Into.
1:15:43 into.
1:15:43 So instead of ‘into’, it’s: into, into.
1:15:48 This T is not following the rules of T pronunciations.
1:15:52 The rules are, after an N, we can drop a T completely,
1:15:56 but if not, it’s a True T.
1:15:59 But many Americans will say ‘into’ more of a D
1:16:03 or Flap T sound connected to the N.
1:16:06 If you only learned the stressed pronunciation
1:16:09 of this and every word in American English,
1:16:12 your English wouldn’t sound too natural,
1:16:15 because we use so many reductions so frequently.
1:16:18 Number 63: the word ‘year’.
1:16:21 A noun, a content word.
1:16:23 This is a word that will generally be stressed in a sentence.
1:16:28 No reduction here.
1:16:29 Year.
1:16:30 Year.
1:16:31 Up-down shape of stress.
1:16:33 Longer, clearer than the unstressed words in a sentence will be.
1:16:37 A lot of people have problems with the pronunciation
1:16:40 of this word because of the Y sound.
1:16:43 Year.
1:16:43 How is it different from ‘ear’?
1:16:46 I actually have a video on that.
1:16:49 Let me put in a little clip here.
1:16:53 ‘Year’ and ‘ear’ are exactly the same except for the Y sound.
1:16:58 The main vowel is the IH as in SIT vowel,
1:17:01 but I do feel like we squeeze it a little bit,
1:17:05 so it sounds a little more like EE.
1:17:11 IH, ear.
1:17:13 EE, ear.
1:17:14 Ear.
1:17:15 Let’s take a look.
1:17:18 First, the word ‘ear’.
1:17:20 For the IH or EE vowel, the jaw drops just a bit,
1:17:25 and the corners of the lips pull out wide, just a little.
1:17:29 The tongue tip is down here, touching the back of the bottom front teeth.
1:17:34 The front part arches towards the roof of the mouth without touching it.
1:17:39 Next is the schwa-R sound.
1:17:41 Look for the tongue pulling back as the lips flare.
1:17:45 The tongue pulls back and up,
1:17:47 with the tip pointing down so it’s not touching anything.
1:17:51 Now, let’s take a look at ‘year’.
1:17:54 The jaw dropped a little bit more here.
1:17:58 Why?
1:17:58 To accommodate the movement of the tongue.
1:18:01 While the tip is down in the same position for the next vowel,
1:18:05 the middle part of the tongue actually touches
1:18:07 the roof of the mouth and pushes forward a bit.
1:18:13 yy, yy.
1:18:14 At the same time, the throat closes off down here,
1:18:21 yy--, yy--, yy--, to add a different dimension to the sound.
1:18:27 Ee, yy, ee, yy.
1:18:29 Let’s watch the Y several times to see that motion
1:18:35 of the tongue pulling down from the roof of the mouth: yy, yy.
1:18:47 Now, the lips flare and the tongue pulls back for the R.
1:18:53 Now let’s compare the beginning position of these two words.
1:18:57 ‘Ear’ is on the left and ‘year’ is on the right.
1:19:01 Notice that the jaw has dropped more for the forward motion
1:19:05 of the tongue on the roof of the mouth for ‘year’.
1:19:09 Also, the corners of the lips are more
1:19:12 relaxed than for the initial vowel in ‘ear’, where they pull slightly out.
1:19:17 You can see this from the front as well.
1:19:21 The jaw has dropped more for the tongue movement.
1:19:25 So, we have the tongue movement, which is different for the Y,
1:19:30 as well as the Y sound in the throat, yy.
1:19:34 This is how we want to start the word ‘year’: yy, yy, year.
1:19:40 Now I’ll say the minimal pair several times.
1:19:45 Can you hear the difference?
1:19:47 Year.
1:19:50 Ear.
1:19:52 Year.
1:19:54 Ear.
1:19:57 Year.
1:19:59 Ear.
1:20:01 Year.
1:20:02 Let’s do a sentence or two.
1:20:05 We’re going to Italy this year.
1:20:08 Year.
1:20:08 Year.
1:20:08 It’s the last word in the thought group, and naturally in American English,
1:20:14 our energy and our pitch goes down in a sentence,
1:20:18 so the ending word is often less clear,
1:20:20 even if it’s stressed,even if it’s a content word like ‘year’.
1:20:25 But it still has the length of a stressed syllable.
1:20:28 We’re going to Italy this year.
1:20:31 Year, year.
1:20:33 A little bit of that up-down shape of stress.
1:20:36 What year were you born?
1:20:38 Year, year.
1:20:39 There the word ‘year’ is closer to the beginning of the sentence,
1:20:44 so it’s a little clearer.
1:20:46 Year.
1:20:47 Number 64: Another great reduction.
1:20:51 The word ‘your’.
1:20:52 This is related to the word ‘or’, which was number 31.
1:20:57 Fully pronounced, ‘your’ and ‘or’ rhyme with ‘more’ or ‘wore’.
1:21:02 But they’re almost never fully pronounced.
1:21:05 They’re almost always reduced in a sentence, ‘yer’, ‘er’.
1:21:09 So the vowel changes to the schwa.
1:21:12 Stressed: Your.
1:21:14 Fully pronounced, longer, up-down shape of stress.
1:21:19 But in a sentence: yer, yer.
1:21:22 Unstressed, low in pitch, said quickly.
1:21:26 Yer.
1:21:27 Sample sentence: What’s your name?
1:21:29 Yer, yer, yer.
1:21:31 Yer name.
1:21:32 Can I borrow your car?
1:21:35 Yer, yer, yer.
1:21:36 Borrow your car?
1:21:38 In this question: Can I borrow your car?
1:21:42 Can I bor— car— Those are the two stressed syllables.
1:21:46 ‘Can’ and ‘your’ reduced: can--, your--, and ‘I’ is unstressed.
1:21:53 Can I borrow your car?
1:21:55 What would it sound like if they were all stressed?
1:21:58 If they were all said very clearly, fully pronounced?
1:22:03 Can I borrow your car?
1:22:04 Can I borrow your car?
1:22:06 Can I borrow your car?
1:22:08 Can I borrow your car?
1:22:11 Completely unnatural.
1:22:12 Can I borrow your car?
1:22:14 It’s so important to learn about reductions,
1:22:17 and learn about the unstressed pronunciation of words,
1:22:21 so that you can sound more natural, more relaxed, and be more easily understood.
1:22:26 You’re in the right place for this.
1:22:29 Okay, let’s keep going.
1:22:31 Number 65: Good.
1:22:34 This is our first word in the 100 most
1:22:37 common words in English list that’s primarily an adjective.
1:22:40 An adjective is a content word.
1:22:43 Content words are nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
1:22:47 And content words are what are generally will be stressed in a sentence.
1:22:54 Good.
1:22:55 Good.
1:22:55 Up-down shape.
1:22:57 Good.
1:22:57 Longer, clearer.
1:22:59 The O here represents the UH sound, like in push, or book.
1:23:06 Good.
1:23:07 Uh.
1:23:07 The D is a stop consonant, and stop consonants have two parts,
1:23:12 a stop of air, and a release.
1:23:17 Good.
1:23:18 Good.
1:23:19 Stop and release.
1:23:21 But with stop consonants, it’s common to skip the release.
1:23:25 Then, the D becomes a lot more subtle.
1:23:29 I want to show you what I mean.
1:23:32 Good.
1:23:33 ddd— My tongue is lifted into position for the D,
1:23:36 and my vocal cords make a sound.
1:23:39 Dddd.
1:23:40 Good.
1:23:41 Good.
1:23:42 Good.
1:23:43 Do you hear it at the end?
1:23:45 It’s clearer on its own.
1:23:47 Dddd— But of course, we never use it that way.
1:23:50 It’s always part of a word or sentence.
1:23:53 And that can mean it’s harder here: good, good, ddd--, good.
1:24:00 Pronouncing your D this way will help your English sound natural.
1:24:05 If you’re linking the D into a word that begins with a vowel or diphthong,
1:24:09 then it will sound like a flap.
1:24:11 Let’s look at an example.
1:24:13 I feel good about the project.
1:24:15 Good about, good about.
1:24:17 Goo— ddd— Good about.
1:24:20 There, the next word begins with a vowel sound,
1:24:23 so I flap the tongue and connect the two words.
1:24:27 Good about.
1:24:28 It’s a good restaurant.
1:24:31 Good—dd—restaurant.
1:24:32 There, I make a very quick D sound in the vocal cords, before going into the R.
1:24:37 Good restaurant.
1:24:39 66, the word ‘some’.
1:24:42 This word generally reduces and can be said very quickly in sentences.
1:24:47 It depends on how the word is being used.
1:24:49 For example, if it’s being used to show that something was great,
1:24:53 or unique, like, “That was some party!”, then it’s fully pronounced.
1:24:58 Also, if it can be switched out for the word ‘certain’, then it’s stressed:
1:25:03 Some days I work from home, and some days I go to the office.
1:25:07 Fully pronounced: some, some.
1:25:09 Up-down shape, length, UH as in butter vowel.
1:25:15 But usually, it’s not stressed, it’s actually reduced.
1:25:19 Then it’s more like: some, some, some.
1:25:23 Flat, low in pitch, said very quickly, and the vowel reduces to the schwa.
1:25:31 Some.
1:25:31 Some.
1:25:31 Some.
1:25:31 We pronounce it this way when we use ‘some’
1:25:34 to mean an unknown amount, or unit, or thing.
1:25:38 Some water.
1:25:39 May I have some water?
1:25:41 Some, some.
1:25:42 We need some more volunteers.
1:25:45 Some, some.
1:25:46 Some more.
1:25:47 Some.
1:25:48 Said very quickly, low in pitch, flat: some.
1:25:55 Stressed: some.
1:25:57 Unstressed: sum.
1:25:58 Number 67, the word “could”.
1:26:01 Actually, we’ve already gone over this word.
1:26:03 We did that when we talked about ‘would’, number 37.
1:26:08 Number 68.
1:26:09 Another word that reduces, the word ‘them’.
1:26:13 A pronoun, which is a function word.
1:26:16 Fully pronounced, the word has the voiced TH, which I know is a tricky sound,
1:26:22 the EH as in BED vowel, and the M consonant.
1:26:26 Them.
1:26:27 I have good news for you if the TH is one of your hardest sounds:
1:26:31 This reduction involves dropping the TH.
1:26:34 So, let me give you an example sentence.
1:26:38 We gave them the tickets.
1:26:40 Gave ‘em.
1:26:41 We gave ‘em money.
1:26:43 Gave ‘em.
1:26:44 Gave ‘em.
1:26:45 You might be thinking, wait, we already studied ‘gave ‘im’,
1:26:48 and it was when we were talking about “him!” Yes.
1:26:53 Both ‘him’ and ‘them’ sound the same when reduced.
1:26:57 So, “we gave him money” will sound just like “we
1:27:01 gave them money.” It doesn’t matter that they sound the same.
1:27:05 We use a pronoun when we’ve established who we’re talking about.
1:27:09 So these two pronouns sounding the same
1:27:12 shouldn’t add any confusion to your conversation.
1:27:15 You can pronounce it quickly with the TH: them, them, them, them.
1:27:19 But you’ll also hear it with the TH dropped,
1:27:23 and this is something you can do in conversational English too.
1:27:27 Number 69: See.
1:27:29 This is a verb, a content word, and generally yes,
1:27:33 this will always be stressed in a sentence.
1:27:36 We’re on number 69 here of the 100 most common words in English,
1:27:41 and there have only been a handful of words where it’s never stressed.
1:27:46 Wow.
1:27:47 Unstressed words?
1:27:48 So common.
1:27:49 Reductions?
1:27:50 So common.
1:27:51 See is a simple word, just two sounds,
1:27:56 the S consonant and the EE as in SHE vowel.
1:28:01 See.
1:28:02 See.
1:28:03 Stressed with an up-down shape: see, see.
1:28:07 And it will be one of the longer syllables in a sentence.
1:28:11 I didn’t see you there.
1:28:13 See.
1:28:14 See.
1:28:14 Or: The CEO asked to see me.
1:28:18 See.
1:28:19 Number 70: the word ‘other’.
1:28:22 This word can be used as an adjective, a noun, a pronoun,
1:28:26 so, this word can be both a content word and a function word.
1:28:31 It can be stressed or unstressed.
1:28:34 For example, stressed: I don’t love it, on the other hand, it is cheaper.
1:28:40 Other.
1:28:40 Other.
1:28:41 Or, I read about that just the other day.
1:28:47 Other.
1:28:47 Other.
1:28:48 It’s usually stressed, but it can be unstressed.
1:28:51 For example, Someone or other will help out.
1:28:54 Someone or other.
1:28:56 Or other, or other, or other, or other.
1:28:58 Other, other, other.
1:29:00 Lower in pitch, a little mumbled, less clear.
1:29:03 However, I don’t change any of the sounds so it’s just unstressed, not reduced.
1:29:09 In the stressed syllable,
1:29:11 we have the UH as in BUTTER vowel and voiced TH, oth, oth.
1:29:17 Just the very tip of the tongue comes through the teeth for that TH.
1:29:21 Oth, th, th, th.
1:29:23 Other.
1:29:24 Then the schwa R ending in the unstressed syllable.
1:29:29 Other.
1:29:30 In the next set of 10, and you’ll learn another important reduction.
1:29:35 Today, we start with number seventy-one, and that’s the word ‘than’.
1:29:39 Fully pronounced, we have voiced TH, AA as in BAT, followed by the M consonant.
1:29:46 Than.
1:29:47 Than.
1:29:48 When AA is followed by N,
1:29:51 we relax the back of the tongue and change the sound: thaaa— thaa— than.
1:29:59 Than.
1:29:59 Aa-uh, aa-uh.
1:30:01 So it’s not aahh thaaan, thaaan, but ‘than’, aa-uh, aa-uh, aa-uh.
1:30:06 There’s an extra sound in there from relaxing the back of the tongue,
1:30:12 sort of like an UH vowel.
1:30:15 Thaaaa— Than.
1:30:16 Than.
1:30:16 Than.
1:30:17 But we don’t need to focus too much on the full
1:30:21 pronunciation of this word since it is a word that reduces.
1:30:25 Remember, when a word reduces, that’s called a reduction,
1:30:28 and that’s when we change or drop a sound.
1:30:31 So rather than saying ‘than’ in a conversation, it will be ‘thn’.
1:30:37 We change the vowel to the schwa, which is absorbed by the N,
1:30:40 so you don’t even need to think about making a vowel there.
1:30:44 Than, than, than, from the TH to the N.
1:30:48 Very fast.
1:30:49 Than.
1:30:50 We use this with comparisons: she’s taller than I am, than, than, than I am.
1:30:57 They’re older than we are.
1:31:00 Than, than, older than.
1:31:01 Taller than, older than, than, than, than.
1:31:05 A reduction, not a fully pronounced word.
1:31:08 If you go around fully pronouncing every word, it will not sound natural,
1:31:13 so you need to know and use these reductions.
1:31:17 Number seventy-two, a very similar word, ‘then’.
1:31:21 THAN is used with comparisons,
1:31:23 and THEN is used with timing, sequences, and if/then statements.
1:31:29 It got really dark, then it stormed all night.
1:31:33 Or: if we go grocery shopping, then we can cook dinner.
1:31:37 You won’t always hear it reduced, but often you will.
1:31:41 I reduced it in both of those sentences.
1:31:44 Fully pronounced, it has the EH vowel.
1:31:48 Theh— THEN.
1:31:50 But reduced, we change it to the schwa.
1:31:53 Then it sounds just like ‘than’ when we reduce it.
1:31:56 Then, then.
1:31:57 It was really dark, and then it stormed all night.
1:32:01 Then, then, then.
1:32:03 And then it, and then it, and then it.
1:32:05 And then it stormed.
1:32:07 Those three unstressed words together are not very clear: and then it.
1:32:12 And then it.
1:32:12 And then it.
1:32:14 ‘And’ reduces, ‘then’ reduces, ‘it’ is said quickly with a Stop T.
1:32:19 Some people might think, that’s very unclear, that’s not good English,
1:32:23 but I want to stress that it is.
1:32:26 Good English is made up of a contrast
1:32:28 between stressed words and unstressed words.
1:32:30 You have to have the unstressed words for this contrast.
1:32:34 And then it stormed all night.
1:32:36 And then it stormed all night.
1:32:38 If we go grocery shopping, then we can cook dinner.
1:32:41 Then we can cook dinner, then we can, then we can,
1:32:44 then we can, then we can then we can.
1:32:46 Do you hear that ‘can’ reduction?
1:32:48 That was number 53.
1:32:50 It’s interesting that our first two in this video,
1:32:53 two different words, sound exactly the same when they reduce.
1:32:57 THAN and THEN both become ‘thn’.
1:33:00 That’s okay.
1:33:01 This is true of a few other reductions as well.
1:33:05 Because of the context of the sentence, there isn’t confusion.
1:33:09 Number 73, the word ‘now’.
1:33:12 This is one word that doesn’t reduce.
1:33:14 It’s an adverb, and adverbs are one of four kinds of content words:
1:33:20 adverbs, verbs, nouns, and adjectives.
1:33:23 We generally don’t reduce content words, or make them sound unstressed.
1:33:28 Generally, these are stressed in a sentence.
1:33:31 This is what provides that contrast that I
1:33:34 was talking about being so important in American English.
1:33:37 Stressed and unstressed or reduced.
1:33:41 Long and short.
1:33:43 NOW has the N consonant and the OW diphthong.
1:33:46 For the diphthong, we start by dropping the jaw,
1:33:51 then let the jaw come up as you round the lips, ow, now.
1:33:57 Now.
1:33:57 For the N, keep the tongue nice and wide as it lifts for the sound, nnn, now.
1:34:05 Now.
1:34:06 Number 74, the word ‘look’.
1:34:09 What part of speech is the word ‘look’?
1:34:12 It’s a verb most of the time.
1:34:14 Look at me!
1:34:16 It can also be a noun: She gave me a look.
1:34:20 Noun, verb, these are both content words.
1:34:23 Stressed words.
1:34:24 And yes, this word will be stressed in a sentence.
1:34:28 There are six different pronunciations possible for the letters O-O.
1:34:33 I made a video about all of the possible pronunciations recently,
1:34:38 I’ll put a link to that video at the end of this video,
1:34:42 also, in the description below.
1:34:44 In this word, the pronunciation of OO is ‘uh’ like in ‘push’.
1:34:50 Uh, uh, luh, look, look.
1:34:53 It’s not ‘Luke’, oo, oo, where your lips round more.
1:35:00 Luke.
1:35:01 The lips are more relaxed: uh, look, look.
1:35:07 Number 75: the word ‘only’.
1:35:10 This is another content word.
1:35:12 At the beginning of this 100 word series,
1:35:15 most of the words we were covering were reductions.
1:35:18 Now we’re getting down the list, we’re getting a lot more content words.
1:35:22 I can tell you one mistake that I hear
1:35:25 all the time with the pronunciation of this word.
1:35:28 Instead of ‘only’, people will say ‘only’.
1:35:32 Uh, uh, uh, uh.
1:35:34 The vowel is more like the AH as in Father or the AW as in Law.
1:35:40 But the correct pronunciation is a diphthong.
1:35:43 That means we change the mouth position.
1:35:47 Ohh.
1:35:47 Jaw drop then lip rounding.
1:35:50 Oh, oh Only.
1:35:53 So make sure your mouth isn't staying stationary.
1:35:59 Oh, oh, only.
1:36:01 Only, oh, oh.
1:36:02 There has to be that movement, jaw drop, then lip rounding.
1:36:08 Right after the Oh diphthong, a flat,
1:36:12 wide tongue goes to the roof of the mouth for the N,
1:36:17 only, then light L, IH vowel, unstressed, only.
1:36:22 Another possible mistake here is to make the unstressed syllable too relaxed.
1:36:29 Then it sounds like: only, ih, ih, ee, ee.
1:36:33 It should be ee.
1:36:35 The tip of the tongue is down but the front
1:36:39 part is arched reaching towards the roof of the mouth.
1:36:43 Ee.
1:36:43 If it's too far away from the roof of the mouth,
1:36:47 then it sounds like IH instead of EE.
1:36:49 Only.
1:36:51 Only.
1:36:52 You're the only one.
1:36:54 If only it were true.
1:36:56 Number 76 the word ‘come’.
1:36:59 This is a verb.
1:37:00 So yes, it's a Content word.
1:37:02 And generally, we don't reduce this or make it unstressed in a sentence.
1:37:07 It's one of the stressed words.
1:37:10 Oh, Come on.
1:37:11 Why don't you come over for dinner?
1:37:14 It's the K consonant, the UH as in butter vowel, and the M consonant.
1:37:18 Come.
1:37:19 Come by later.
1:37:22 Cuh, cuh, ahh This vowel is very relaxed.
1:37:25 If there's any tension in the back of your tongue, it will sound different.
1:37:30 Cuh, uh, come.
1:37:32 Keep it relaxed.
1:37:33 Come on over.
1:37:35 Number 77.
1:37:37 It's.
1:37:38 Not with an apostrophe.
1:37:40 That's the contraction ‘it is’.
1:37:42 This word is showing possession.
1:37:44 It's pronounced just like IT apostrophe S but it
1:37:49 has a different meaning and is grammatically different.
1:37:52 Where's the remote?
1:37:54 It's in its usual place.
1:37:57 Here, I used IT apostrophe S as a Contraction, it is,
1:38:02 and then also without the apostrophe showing possession,
1:38:06 the usual place of the remote.
1:38:08 It's not unusual for Americans to drop
1:38:11 the vowel and just make this the TS cluster.
1:38:14 It's gone.
1:38:16 It's gone.
1:38:17 There I'm using the contraction ‘it is’.
1:38:21 Ts.
1:38:21 Ts.
1:38:22 It's gone.
1:38:23 This can also happen with the possessive ‘its’
1:38:26 though it might be a little less common.
1:38:29 Let's look at an example.
1:38:31 Where's the remote?
1:38:32 Its usual place.
1:38:34 Its usual place.
1:38:36 There I'm just making the TS sounds.
1:38:38 But usually, this word is not at the beginning of a sentence,
1:38:43 then I would pronounce the vowel.
1:38:45 Its, its, its, its.
1:38:48 The watch is in its case.
1:38:50 Its.
1:38:50 Its.
1:38:50 Its.
1:38:51 Said quickly.
1:38:51 So even though I'm not dropping the vowel, It's still unstressed.
1:38:55 I'm saying it very quickly.
1:38:57 This is not a stressed word.
1:39:00 Number 78, the word ‘over’.
1:39:03 This is usually a preposition.
1:39:05 That's not a Content word.
1:39:06 So usually this word won't be stressed.
1:39:09 It will be unstressed.
1:39:11 But no sounds reduce.
1:39:13 We don't change or drop anything.
1:39:15 Just like ‘only’ we start with the OH diphthong, jaw drop, then lip rounding.
1:39:22 Oh.
1:39:23 Oh.
1:39:24 Over.
1:39:25 A quick v schwa R, ver, ver, ver, ver.
1:39:29 Unstressed.
1:39:29 The schwa is absorbed by the R so you don't
1:39:33 need to try to make a vowel in that second syllable.
1:39:37 Just make a quick, low simple R sound.
1:39:39 Ov— rrrrr— Over.
1:39:44 Over.
1:39:45 For the V sound at the bottom of the lip comes
1:39:48 up to gently vibrate on the bottom of the top front teeth.
1:39:54 Over.
1:39:55 We jumped over the creek.
1:39:57 We jumped over the creek.
1:40:00 ‘Jumped’ and ‘Creek’ are stressed.
1:40:03 The rest of the words, including ‘over’ are unstressed.
1:40:06 We jumped over the creek.
1:40:08 We jumped over the creek.
1:40:11 We traveled all over Italy.
1:40:13 All over.
1:40:15 All over.
1:40:16 Over.
1:40:16 Over.
1:40:17 Over.
1:40:18 Over.
1:40:18 Unstressed, less clear than ‘all’.
1:40:21 All over—Flatter in pitch, less clear.
1:40:25 Number 79, the word ‘think’.
1:40:28 A verb, a Content word, a word that is usually stressed.
1:40:34 Fully pronounced.
1:40:35 This word is tricky to pronounce.
1:40:37 It's got that unvoiced TH at the beginning.
1:40:40 The only way to make the sound is to bring the tongue tip through the teeth.
1:40:46 The air should flow, there should not be a stop.
1:40:50 Th, th, th.
1:40:52 But rather, thhh.
1:40:53 Flowing air.
1:40:54 Two common mistakes would be to make an S instead.
1:41:00 Sink.
1:41:00 Or a tea instead: tink.
1:41:04 Try to avoid these substitutions and get comfortable with the TH sound.
1:41:08 Th—th— Now an IPA, this would be written phonetically with the IH vowel.
1:41:15 Ih— But when IH it is followed by NG, it changes.
1:41:20 It becomes more like: ee-ih-ee.
1:41:25 Let's compare this with the word ‘thin’.
1:41:28 The first two sounds are the same.
1:41:30 TH, IH vowel.
1:41:31 In ‘thin’, it's followed by the N sound.
1:41:35 And in ‘think’, it's followed by the NG sound,
1:41:39 which as I said, Changes the vowel.
1:41:43 So let's start with ‘thin’.
1:41:46 Thin, ih, ih, ih.
1:41:49 Thin.
1:41:50 And now, ‘think’: thing, thi, thing, thing, thinnggg, thin.
1:41:57 Ee, ih, ee, ih.
1:42:01 Do you hear how the vowel sound is different?
1:42:04 Thiiiink.
1:42:04 Think.
1:42:05 Think.
1:42:06 So even though it says IH, it’s a lot more like EE in real life.
1:42:14 You may say why is this letter N the NG sound?
1:42:20 There's no letter G.
1:42:21 That's true.
1:42:22 When the letter n is followed by the letter K,
1:42:26 Then the pronunciation of n is usually the NG sound:
1:42:29 nggg-— where the back of the tongue touches the soft palate.
1:42:34 This is also where the K sound is made.
1:42:38 Nnggkkk, nnggkkk.
1:42:40 Think.
1:42:40 Think.
1:42:42 Other examples.
1:42:44 Sink.
1:42:46 Siiinnggkkk.
1:42:47 Bank.
1:42:49 Bannngggkkk.
1:42:50 So both of these words, the N represents the NG sound.
1:42:55 Number 80, the last word for this video, the word ‘also’.
1:42:59 This is an adverb and generally it's stress in a sentence.
1:43:04 I also want to get coffee.
1:43:06 Or, that was also a problem.
1:43:08 I want to make sure you know not to fully pronounce that L.
1:43:12 It's a dark L because it comes after the vowel in the syllable.
1:43:17 Don't lift your tongue tip for this L.
1:43:18 Make a dark sound with the back of your tongue.
1:43:22 Ohhlll, ohhll, ohhlll.
1:43:23 Lifting the tongue tip it brings a sound forward and tends to mess people up.
1:43:30 It's a dark sound.
1:43:31 Ohhlll, ohhll.
1:43:32 Back of the tongue doing the work, tongue tip can stay down.
1:43:37 This word ends with an OH diphthong.
1:43:39 It's an unstressed syllable.
1:43:41 So there won't be as much jaw drop or lip rounding.
1:43:45 Still make sure your lips around a little bit to give us that feel.
1:43:50 Also.
1:43:51 Alllso.
1:43:51 I also want to get coffee.
1:43:55 Now it’s time for the next set of 10.
1:43:59 And we’re STILL not done learning reductions We start with number 81.
1:44:04 The word ‘back’.
1:44:06 A noun, a verb, this is a content
1:44:09 word and will usually be stressed in a sentence.
1:44:12 Please step back.
1:44:13 Or, it was moving back and forth.
1:44:17 Please step back.
1:44:19 Back and forth.
1:44:20 Stressed.
1:44:21 Back.
1:44:22 We have the b consonant, the AH vowel, and finally, the k sound.
1:44:27 The back of the tongue lifts to touch the soft palate and is released.
1:44:34 Kk— back.
1:44:35 Back.
1:44:35 Careful with the vowel AH.
1:44:38 The back of the tongue stretches up.
1:44:41 Ah.
1:44:41 And the jaw drops.
1:44:43 You might also lift your top lip a little bit, back, ah, back.
1:44:52 Back.
1:44:53 Number 82, the word ‘after’.
1:44:56 This word can be a content word
1:44:58 or a function word depending on how it's being used.
1:45:00 So it could be stressed or unstressed.
1:45:03 We don't reduce this word though, we don't change or drop the sound.
1:45:09 Let's look at an example.
1:45:11 It's raining so we can't go to the beach.
1:45:14 Well, let's go to the movies.After all, I already took the day off.
1:45:19 After all.
1:45:21 After.
1:45:22 After.
1:45:23 It has that same AH vowel in the stressed syllable, doesn't it?
1:45:27 Ah.
1:45:28 After.
1:45:29 Next, we have an F, then a really soft t sound: aft— after.
1:45:34 It's a True T but not as sharp or strong as it
1:45:38 would be at the beginning of a stressed syllable like time.
1:45:43 Ttt- time.
1:45:44 So a soft t, then a quick schwa r ending.
1:45:49 Flat, low in pitch, said quickly.
1:45:53 After.
1:45:55 After.
1:45:57 Often this word will be unstressed.
1:45:59 For example, in the phrase ‘after all’ I could stress ‘all’ instead of ‘after’.
1:46:05 Now it sounds like this: after all,
1:46:09 after, after, after, after, after, after, after, after,
1:46:15 the stressed syllable in the stressed version is longer
1:46:20 and has more of an up-down shape of a stressed syllable.
1:46:24 After.
1:46:25 Unstressed.
1:46:26 After, after, after.
1:46:28 It's flatter, less clear, a little bit more mumbled.
1:46:34 Let's look at another sentence.
1:46:37 He left after everyone went to bed.
1:46:40 Left after.
1:46:41 Left after.
1:46:42 After.
1:46:43 After.
1:46:44 After.
1:46:44 Unstressed let's leave after dinner.
1:46:48 Leave after.
1:46:49 After.
1:46:50 After.
1:46:50 After.
1:46:51 Unstressed.
1:46:52 ‘Leave’ and ‘dinner’ are stressed.
1:46:55 Let's leave after dinner.
1:46:58 Let's leave after dinner.
1:46:59 After.
1:47:00 So the unstressed words are less clear,
1:47:02 said more quickly, and are flatter and lower in pitch.
1:47:06 The contrast is the stressed words which are longer, stressed syllables,
1:47:11 and an up-down shape in that pitch, in that intonation.
1:47:16 That contrast is what makes good English.
1:47:20 Number 83, use.
1:47:23 This is one of those words it's
1:47:25 pronounced differently depending on the part of speech.
1:47:28 As a noun, ‘use’, the final sound is an S.
1:47:32 As a verb ‘use’, the final sound is a Z.
1:47:36 Lots of words change like this depending on part of speech.
1:47:40 For example, ‘house’ the noun ends in the S sound,
1:47:44 and ‘house’ the verb ends in Z.
1:47:48 Address, can have first syllable stress.
1:47:51 Address.
1:47:53 Address.
1:47:54 That's the noun.
1:47:55 But the verb has second syllable stress.
1:47:57 Address.
1:47:59 Address.
1:48:02 Use.
1:48:03 Use.
1:48:04 Both nouns and verbs are content words
1:48:07 which means they’re stressed in a sentence.
1:48:09 They both begin with the JU diphthong.
1:48:12 Ju, ju.Tongue tip presses the back of the bottom front teeth and the middle
1:48:19 part of the tongue presses forward along the roof of the mouth.
1:48:28 Yy-you-yy-you.
1:48:29 Then, the lips round.
1:48:31 Juuuu— juu— ‘use’ with an s or ‘use’ with a z.
1:48:39 What's the use?
1:48:41 A noun, or: I’ll use it later.
1:48:44 A verb.
1:48:45 Word number 83 and this is the 19th
1:48:49 word that is reliably stressed in a sentence.
1:48:52 That means we've covered a lot of words that can be unstressed or even reduced.
1:48:57 What about number 84?
1:48:59 Nope this is another content word.
1:49:02 The word ‘two’.
1:49:03 This word is interesting because it's a homophone.
1:49:06 That means it shares a pronunciation with a different word.
1:49:11 It sounds just like t-o-o.
1:49:13 The number two.
1:49:14 I like it too.
1:49:16 Two.
1:49:17 Too.
1:49:18 Exact same pronunciation.
1:49:19 You might say this is just like t-o that's also pronounced ‘two’.
1:49:25 Not really.
1:49:26 Fully pronounced, sure.
1:49:28 But we don't fully pronounce the word ‘to’.
1:49:31 That one reduces so it's usually ‘te’, and not truly a homophone with t-w-o.
1:49:38 We learned the ‘to’ reduction back in the first video in this series.
1:49:43 It's number three in the most common words of American English list.
1:49:48 So the number two, t-w-o will be fully pronounced in a sentence.
1:49:53 Its pronunciation is simple.
1:49:54 A True T and the OO vowel which has quite a bit of lip rounding: two.
1:50:00 The OO vowel is tricky because you don't want
1:50:03 to start with your lips in a tight circle.
1:50:05 Two.
1:50:06 Two.
1:50:07 Let them be more relaxed to start, then come in.
1:50:12 Two, two, two.
1:50:16 The game is at two thirty.
1:50:19 Two.
1:50:20 Number 85, a question Word, the word ‘how’.
1:50:23 We already studied ‘What’ at 40, ‘Who’ back at 46,
1:50:29 ‘which’ at 48, and ‘when’ at 51.
1:50:32 Question words are generally Stressed.
1:50:34 Let's look at a few example Sentences.
1:50:38 How did it go?
1:50:40 How tall are you?
1:50:42 How hungry are you?
1:50:43 In all three of these Sentences, ‘how’ was one of the words that was stressed.
1:50:48 How.
1:50:49 How tall?
1:50:50 How tall are you?
1:50:52 How.
1:50:53 How hungry?
1:50:54 How hungry are you?
1:50:56 These words are longer, clearer, and have the up-down shape of stress.
1:51:00 How.
1:51:01 How did it go?
1:51:03 How.
1:51:04 How did it go?
1:51:06 How tall are you?
1:51:07 How hungry are you?
1:51:09 For this word, we have the H sound and the OW as in now Diphthong.
1:51:14 Make sure your H isn't too heavy.
1:51:17 How.
1:51:17 How.
1:51:18 Or dropped: ow, ow.
1:51:20 A light easy H, how, then jaw drop, and back of the tongue lifts.
1:51:28 How.
1:51:29 Then lips round.
1:51:31 How.
1:51:32 How did it go?
1:51:34 Number 86 the word ‘our’.
1:51:37 Now, this is a function word and it will reduce.
1:51:40 So when I’m saying the word on its
1:51:42 own and giving it its full clear pronunciation,
1:51:45 our, our, it's not really how we would be pronouncing that in a sentence.
1:51:52 But you might think full, clear, that's good!
1:51:56 That's how I want to pronounce things.
1:51:59 But remember, good English is made up of contrast.
1:52:02 More clear and less clear words.
1:52:05 So we have to have the less clear words for good contrast,
1:52:09 for good English, for the English to sound natural and understandable.
1:52:13 It's ironic sometimes we have to pronounce things less clear
1:52:17 for English overall to be more clear and more natural.
1:52:21 This is a pronoun and pronouns are function words.
1:52:24 That is the less clear words.
1:52:26 Let's look at some example sentences.
1:52:30 What time is our meeting?
1:52:32 Our, our, is our, is our.
1:52:34 What time is our meeting?
1:52:37 Our, our, our.
1:52:38 Now, I can say it with the other pronunciation with the AW, R pronunciation.
1:52:43 What time is our meeting?
1:52:45 Awr, awr, awr.
1:52:46 What time is our meeting?
1:52:49 Awr, awr, awr.
1:52:50 Our or awr.
1:52:52 Really they sound almost the same, the two reductions,
1:52:55 because I’m saying them so quickly and that's really what matters.
1:52:59 Saying it quickly, flat, low in pitch, so that the word is less clear,
1:53:04 so that it doesn't sound at all like the stressed version.
1:53:08 So that's what we want, a definite unstressed feeling.
1:53:12 Not ‘our’ but: our, our.
1:53:15 It's our son's birthday tomorrow.
1:53:19 It's our son’s— our, our, our, our.
1:53:23 Listen to how different that is from ‘son’s’ which is stressed.
1:53:30 Our son’s, our son’s.
1:53:32 Unstressed.
1:53:34 Stressed.
1:53:36 Number 87, the word ‘work’.
1:53:39 Work is a verb that's a Content word and that's
1:53:41 a word that will be stressed in a sentence.
1:53:44 So this one is longer, clearer, has the up- down shape of Stress.
1:53:49 Now I know this is one of the hardest words out there.
1:53:52 All of the words with the R vowel is going to be a tough word
1:53:57 for most non-native speakers because they feel like
1:54:00 they should make a vowel and then an R.
1:54:02 Well let's learn this right now.
1:54:04 In American English, this symbol is always followed by R
1:54:08 and the two symbols together make just one sound.
1:54:13 Rrr— Wo— rrrk.
1:54:14 Don't drop the R sound and make it something like: wok, wok, wok.
1:54:20 That's not clear enough.
1:54:22 We want the R and we want the up-down shape.
1:54:28 Ww— orrrkk.
1:54:30 Work.
1:54:30 Work.
1:54:31 The biggest problem for people is how to make this R.
1:54:34 The lips round but they're not as rounded as they were for the W.
1:54:38 So they will relax out some: were, Wor.
1:54:41 Wor.
1:54:41 The tongue movement is simple.
1:54:44 The tip is forward for the W and then the tip pulls back and up a bit.
1:54:53 It's not a huge movement and your jaw drops just a bit.
1:55:02 Wor.
1:55:02 Wor.
1:55:02 Wor.
1:55:03 Work.
1:55:03 If you know you're not getting the right sound,
1:55:06 one thing to do is to make sure you don't drop your jaw.
1:55:11 Focus only on the tongue.
1:55:13 Work.
1:55:13 Work.
1:55:13 Work.
1:55:13 I have a video with some illustrations of this vowel,
1:55:16 I’ll put a link to that video at the end of this one.
1:55:19 If you struggle with this word or vowel, you'll definitely want to check it out.
1:55:24 Let's look at this word in some sentences.
1:55:26 We'll work it out.
1:55:28 Work.
1:55:29 Work.
1:55:30 She doesn't work Mondays.
1:55:32 Work.
1:55:34 Work.
1:55:35 Number 88, first.
1:55:37 Interesting another word with this R vowel you see the letter
1:55:42 I and you try to do a vowel but don't.
1:55:46 Don't do it.
1:55:47 Just the r sound.
1:55:49 Ff— rrr— st.
1:55:49 Ff— rrr— st.
1:55:54 Make your f, pull back the front of the tongue,
1:55:59 don't drop your jaw: fir, fir, and the ST cluster.
1:56:04 First.
1:56:06 First.
1:56:07 Make your s with your teeth together,
1:56:09 then lift the tongue tip to touch the roof of the mouth,
1:56:12 which stops the air, then release everything to make the t.
1:56:16 Sst.
1:56:17 Ssst.
1:56:18 As you release the tongue, the teeth part and the air comes through.
1:56:24 Sst- First.
1:56:26 First of all.
1:56:28 First.
1:56:29 First.
1:56:29 We have a True T in that ending cluster.
1:56:35 First.
1:56:36 If you've seen in many of my videos,
1:56:38 then you know that the pronunciation of the t
1:56:42 can change depending on the next word.
1:56:44 Here, it's an ending cluster ST.
1:56:47 A True T, unless it's followed by a consonant.
1:56:51 Let's look at two examples.
1:56:53 First, I want to try this.
1:56:55 First, john wants to try this.
1:56:58 First, I want to.
1:56:59 First, I want to.
1:57:00 There, it's followed by the diphthong AI and I’m making a True T.
1:57:05 First, ttt.
1:57:06 First, I want to.
1:57:07 And the next sentence: First, John wants to try this.
1:57:11 First, john.
1:57:12 First, john.
1:57:13 Here, I’m linking into a word that begins
1:57:16 with a consonant and I’m not making a t sound.
1:57:19 First, John.
1:57:21 So when we have an ending ST cluster
1:57:24 followed by a word that begins with a consonant,
1:57:28 it is very common to drop the t sound.
1:57:31 So this is a content word that means we normally
1:57:34 stress it in a sentence but because of this t,
1:57:38 we do sometimes make a reduction by dropping
1:57:41 the t for a smoother connection into the next word.
1:57:45 Number 89, the word ‘well’.
1:57:49 We use this word in lots of different ways,
1:57:51 as an adverb, an adjective, or a noun.
1:57:54 They're all content words where we'll stress it.
1:57:58 Things are going well.
1:57:59 I wish him well.
1:58:01 All is well.
1:58:03 Well, w consonant, EH as in bed vowel, and the dark L.
1:58:10 Well, uhl, well.
1:58:12 The dark l is made with the back
1:58:14 of the tongue pressing down and back a little bit.
1:58:17 Uhl, uhl.
1:58:18 You don't lift your tongue tip unless maybe you're going
1:58:21 to link into a word that begins with a vowel or diphthong.
1:58:25 Well.
1:58:26 Well.
1:58:27 Well.
1:58:28 Up-down shape of stress.
1:58:31 But this can also be an interjection and then it's often unstressed.
1:58:37 We use this a lot at the beginning of sentences.
1:58:41 Well, I want to leave by 7:00.
1:58:43 Well, I want to leave.
1:58:44 Well, I want to leave.
1:58:46 Well, well, well.
1:58:47 Well, I want to.
1:58:48 Well, I want to.
1:58:49 It's really just the w and a quick dark sound.
1:58:52 Wuhl, wuhl, wuhl, wuhl.
1:58:53 I've dropped the EH vowel, turned it into a schwa,
1:58:56 which sort of gets lost in the dark l.
1:58:59 Wuhl, wuhl, wuhl.
1:59:01 Try that with me.
1:59:02 Wuhl, wuhl, wuhl.
1:59:05 Well, I want to.
1:59:06 Well, I want to.
1:59:07 Well, I want to.
1:59:08 Well, I want to leave by 7:00.
1:59:10 Well, that's not what she said.
1:59:12 Well, well.
1:59:13 Well, that's.
1:59:13 Well, that's.
1:59:14 Well, that's not what she said.
1:59:16 So this word can definitely reduce depending on how it's being used.
1:59:21 Number 90, the last word for this Video, the word ‘way’.
1:59:26 This is fun.
1:59:27 This reminds me of a video I just made for my online school,
1:59:31 Rachel's English Academy, where my dad and I are talking about my way,
1:59:36 your way, the best way, the wrong way.
1:59:39 This is a noun and it’s stressed in a sentence.
1:59:42 It's fully pronounced and has the up-down shape of stress.
1:59:46 Way.
1:59:47 W consonant, AY as in say diphthong.
1:59:51 Way.
1:59:51 We've had lots of words beginning with W in this video.
1:59:55 Haven't we?
1:59:56 Work.
1:59:57 Well.
1:59:58 Way.
1:59:59 Lips come together into a tight circle for that W.
2:00:03 Www— way.
2:00:04 Then the ay as in say diphthong.
2:00:07 First, jaw drop.
2:00:09 Wa— way.
2:00:11 Then, the jaw relaxes up as the front
2:00:14 of the tongue arches towards the roof of the mouth.
2:00:17 The tip stays down.
2:00:19 Way, way.
2:00:20 Get out of the Way.
2:00:23 We need to find a way to solve this Problem.
2:00:26 You've come a long way.
2:00:27 The final 10 in the 100 Most common words.
2:00:31 We have learned so many reductions so far.
2:00:35 Do you think we’re done?
2:00:38 No.
2:00:38 In this final video, we do have a couple of great reductions.
2:00:42 But our first word, number 91, isn't a word that reduces.
2:00:46 The word is 'even', and this is an adjective, an adverb, or a verb.
2:00:51 So a content word, usually stressed in a sentence.
2:00:55 But as I wrote sample sentences, I was thinking about how sometimes
2:01:00 even content words seem unstressed because there
2:01:03 are so many other stressed words that are more stressed in a sentence.
2:01:08 First, let's study word stress.
2:01:10 It's a two-syllable word, with stress on the first syllable, the EE vowel.
2:01:16 Ee.
2:01:16 Even, ee.
2:01:17 The tongue tip is down, touching the back of the bottom front teeth,
2:01:21 and the top front part of the tongue arches towards the roof of the mouth, ee.
2:01:26 The corners of the lips may pull out a bit.
2:01:29 Ee.
2:01:30 Even.
2:01:31 Then we have V, schwa, N.
2:01:33 When the schwa is followed by N, it's absorbed by it,
2:01:36 so you don't need to try to make a schwa sound, then an N sound.
2:01:41 You can think of just going straight from V right into N, vn, vn, vn.
2:01:45 It's flat, low in pitch, and said very quickly.
2:01:49 It's an unstressed syllable.
2:01:52 Even in our stressed words, unstressed syllables are fast, less clear.
2:01:57 Even, even.
2:01:58 Let's look at some sample sentences.
2:02:02 I didn't make much money, but I did break even.
2:02:06 Even numbers can be divided by two.
2:02:09 Even, even.
2:02:11 In both of these sentences, the word was longer and clearer.
2:02:14 But let's look at two other sentences.
2:02:17 This one's even better.
2:02:19 Here, THIS and BETTER are more stressed, the flow goes UH-uh-UH.
2:02:27 This one's even better.
2:02:30 BETTER is much more important than EVEN, so I stress that more.
2:02:35 This one's even better.
2:02:36 This makes 'even' feel unstressed.
2:02:39 This one's even, even, even.
2:02:42 This one's even better.
2:02:44 Do you hear how it's flatter and doesn't have the up-down shape?
2:02:48 This one's even, even, even, even, even, even, better.
2:02:53 That means it's unstressed.
2:02:56 I don't even know what to do.
2:02:58 I don't even know what to do.
2:03:00 Even, even, even.
2:03:02 I don't even know.
2:03:04 I don't even, even, even, even.
2:03:07 Unstressed, less clear than KNOW and DO.
2:03:12 I don't even know what to do.
2:03:14 Even, even, even.
2:03:16 This makes EVEN feel unstressed.
2:03:19 The contrast with the longer, up-down shape of those stressed syllables.
2:03:24 So when should you make sure to make it stressed?I
2:03:28 would say when it's a verb or a phrasal verb.
2:03:31 But if it's an adverb describing a verb,
2:03:33 or an adjective describing another adjective, then you can make it unstressed.
2:03:38 Because the verb or adjective it's describing will be more stressed.
2:03:43 Stressed or unstressed: Even, even.
2:03:48 Even, even.
2:03:51 Number 92.
2:03:52 The word NEW.
2:03:54 This is an adjective.
2:03:55 It’s a content word, it’s stressed.
2:03:57 If you look it up, depending on the dictionary,
2:04:00 it might say that this word has two pronunciations.
2:04:04 That’s not really true.
2:04:06 We only use one, and it’s N consonant and oo vowel new, new.
2:04:12 The dictionary might give an alternate pronunciation, new,
2:04:17 with the EW diphthong like in ‘few’, new,
2:04:20 but I really have not heard anyone use that pronunciation
2:04:24 in conversational or business or even more formal English.
2:04:30 New.
2:04:31 New.
2:04:31 You don’t want to start with your lips in a tight circle for OO,
2:04:36 nooo, nooo, that’s not quite right.
2:04:38 Start with your lips more relaxed, then bring them in for the OO vowel.
2:04:43 New, new, new.
2:04:46 Let’s look at some sample sentences.
2:04:51 There's a new idea.
2:04:52 I lost my new camera.
2:04:55 She has a new book coming out.
2:04:57 New, new, up-down shape of stress, a little longer,
2:05:02 it’s one of the more clear words in the sentences.
2:05:06 Number 93, the word ‘want’.
2:05:10 Now, we mentioned this when we were looking at number 58, the word him,
2:05:15 in the sample sentence,
2:05:16 “We want him to succeed.” So when do re-visit that sample sentence.
2:05:21 But first, let’s talk about is it a content word or a function word.
2:05:26 Will it generally be stressed, or unstressed in a sentence.
2:05:30 It’s, a verb, or it can also be a noun.
2:05:34 Those are content words, so this word is usually stressed in a sentence.
2:05:38 With stressed words, we don’t really reduce, we don’t drop or change a sound.
2:05:43 But every once in a while we do, and ‘want’ is one of those words.
2:05:48 It’s a content word, it’s stressed, but still,
2:05:51 it’s not uncommon to drop the T at the end.
2:05:55 Let’s look at our sample sentence, We want him to succeed.
2:05:59 Want him, want him.
2:06:02 Want is stressed, but there’s no T.
2:06:04 I’m dropping the H in him, a very common reduction,
2:06:08 and we link the two words together, want him, want him, want him.
2:06:13 It’s common to do this when the next word begins with a vowel or diphthong:
2:06:18 I want everyone to be there.
2:06:20 No T.
2:06:22 Want everyone, want everyone.
2:06:26 We want her to do to better.
2:06:28 Want her, want her.
2:06:30 Dropping the H, ‘want’ is now followed by a vowel, and so I dropped the T.
2:06:36 Want her, want her.
2:06:38 I want another one.
2:06:40 Want another, want another.
2:06:43 Dropped T.
2:06:44 In all of these sentences it was stressed,
2:06:47 longer, with the up-down shape of stress.
2:06:49 But, at the same time it was reduced.
2:06:52 The T was dropped.
2:06:54 What if the next word begins with a consonant?
2:06:57 Then we make that a Stop sound.
2:07:00 Just like with N’T endings, it’s a nasally stop sound because of the N,
2:07:06 want, want, nt, nt, nt, nt, nt.
2:07:09 So as you’re making the N, you make an abrupt stop by the air stopping airflow.
2:07:16 Want, want.
2:07:17 And that the stop sound.
2:07:19 I want that.
2:07:21 Want that.
2:07:23 I want that I want this one, want, nt, nt, nt, want.
2:07:30 Ok, we’ve talked about the ending a lot, what about the rest of the word?
2:07:34 It begins with the W consonant, then you have your choice of two vowels,
2:07:38 AH as in FATHER or AW as in LAW, according to the dictionary.
2:07:44 Let’s try them out, AH, Father, AH, wa-, want.
2:07:47 Want.
2:07:48 Or AW, LAW, want, want.
2:07:50 Want or AH, LAW, AH, Want, Want, want.
2:07:58 Those both work, but I also hear a lot of Americans saying ‘want’, ah, law want.
2:08:04 This is what I do, with the UH as in BUTTER vowel.
2:08:08 Waa--, want, want.
2:08:11 I don’t want that, want, waaa--, want.
2:08:16 Want.
2:08:17 So you have your choice of three vowels.
2:08:21 You’re also probably familiar with the reduction ‘wanna’.
2:08:24 This is want+ to, and we drop the T.
2:08:28 I think in this reduction,
2:08:30 it’s especially common to use the UH vowel, wanna, wanna.
2:08:35 I know, they ‘wanna’ see you.
2:08:38 Wanna.
2:08:39 So a stressed word, but we might reduce it.
2:08:44 Number 94, a function word that does often reduce, the word ‘because’.
2:08:50 Just like with the word ‘want’ the stressed syllable here
2:08:55 might be pronounced with the AH as in FATHER vowel,
2:08:59 because, the AW as in LAW vowel, because, or the UH as in BUTTER Vowel, because.
2:09:08 Because, because, because.
2:09:10 But this words is a conjunction, a preposition, that is,
2:09:14 a function word, and so we often reduce it.
2:09:17 We say it really quickly and not too clearly,
2:09:20 and we change it, even the stressed syllable, to be the schwa.
2:09:24 Because, because, because, because, because, because.
2:09:28 OR we go even further, and we drop the first syllable, cuz, cuz.
2:09:33 You’ve probably seen people write C-U-Z, I don’t like that.
2:09:39 I don’t like writing reductions, though it’s really common.
2:09:42 But speaking reductions, that’s great.
2:09:45 That’s wonderful English.
2:09:47 Let’s look at a few example.
2:09:50 We’re late ‘cuz’ there was a traffic jam.
2:09:53 Cuz, cuz.
2:09:54 Late cuz.
2:09:55 Or I could say, we’re late because there was a traffic jam.
2:10:00 Because, because, because.
2:10:02 Either way, one syllable or two, it’s unstressed, reduced, not fully pronounced.
2:10:09 They’re staying home ‘cuz’ of the storm.
2:10:11 She’s grounded ‘cuz’ of her grades.
2:10:14 ‘Grounded’ means in trouble, facing restrictions,
2:10:18 usually this is something parents do
2:10:21 teenagers for breaking rules or bad behavior.
2:10:24 The ‘cuz’ or because reduction.
2:10:29 Number 95, the word ‘any’.
2:10:32 This word can be stressed or unstressed in a sentence, but it doesn’t reduce.
2:10:36 We don’t drop or change a sound,
2:10:39 we just make the quality different to make it stressed or unstressed: ANY vs.
2:10:45 any.
2:10:46 Any.
2:10:48 We would stress this word when using it as an adjective describing a noun:
2:10:54 any kid would love that.
2:10:56 What kind of kid?
2:10:57 Any kid.
2:10:59 At any rate, that’s a good deal.
2:11:02 Any kid, any rate.
2:11:05 Otherwise, it can sound unstressed: Do you feel any better?
2:11:10 FEEL any BETTER?
2:11:12 Feel any, any, any, any, any.
2:11:16 There it’s not that up down shape here
2:11:20 compared to FEEL and BETTER: Feel any better?
2:11:23 any, any, any, any.
2:11:25 Lower in pitch and flatter.
2:11:29 Unstressed We also use ‘any’ for an unknown amount.
2:11:32 Then it sounds unstressed: Do you have any money?
2:11:36 Have any, any, any, any.
2:11:38 Do you have any time?
2:11:41 Any, any, any, said quickly, flat and low in pitch.
2:11:45 Any, any.
2:11:46 The pronunciation: We have the EH as in BED vowel,
2:11:51 EH, eh-n, the N consonant and an unstressed EE.
2:11:56 Any, any.
2:11:58 Any or any.
2:12:02 Number 96, wow, we’re getting close to the end!
2:12:06 Number 96 is ‘these’.
2:12:08 This word can be stressed or unstressed,
2:12:11 depending on how it’s being used, but we don’t reduce it.
2:12:15 Voiced TH, EE vowel, weak ending these.
2:12:19 I want to point out that when this word is unstressed,
2:12:25 I’ll even say any time it doesn’t begin a thought group,
2:12:29 it’s common to cheat the pronunciation of the TH a little bit.
2:12:33 It still sounds like a TH to us, but we’ll make it without bringing
2:12:37 the tongue tip through the teeth: These, these.
2:12:41 We make it like this.
2:12:45 These, these, these.
2:12:47 The tongue tip is just behind the teeth,
2:12:50 the, the, the, these, then it pulls down for the E vowel.
2:12:55 You might see my tongue behind the teeth,
2:12:58 the--, these, these, but I’m not really bringing it out.
2:13:05 tttttthhhhese, these.
2:13:06 Instead It's these, these, these.
2:13:09 This is an important shortcut for non-native speakers since so many
2:13:15 of them struggle with the full pronunciation of the TH sound.
2:13:21 Th, th, th, thse, these, the tongue tip isn’t at the roof of the mouth,
2:13:26 and it's not pointing down.
2:13:27 It’s pressing the backs of the teeth and then pulling away.
2:13:32 These, these.
2:13:33 Let’s look at some examples.
2:13:36 First, sentences where they’re not stressed: Everyone wants one of these.
2:13:42 These, these, these.
2:13:44 We need these to be cut in half.
2:13:46 These, these, these.
2:13:48 Simple TH pronunciation where the tip does not come thru.
2:13:52 Now lets make it stressed,
2:13:54 like at the beginning of the sentence: These are great.
2:13:59 These people need help.
2:14:01 These, these, tongue tip is coming thru and we have that up-down shape,
2:14:06 a little longer, a little clearer.
2:14:09 These.
2:14:10 Number 97, give.
2:14:13 This is a verb, and verbs are content words,
2:14:15 which means they’re stressed and they don’t reduce.
2:14:18 Except certain ones can reduce, and this is one of them.
2:14:22 Give, G consonant, IH vowel, V consonant.
2:14:27 I’ll give you that for your birthday.
2:14:30 Give.
2:14:30 I'll give you.
2:14:32 Stressed, fully pronounced.
2:14:33 We’re going to give her a discount.
2:14:36 Give, give, again stressed and fully pronounced.
2:14:40 But with ‘me’, it’s common to reduce this.
2:14:44 It’s still a verb and it’s still stressed,
2:14:48 but we drop the final V sound: Gimme that.
2:14:51 Gi— stressed, but no V.
2:14:54 Gimme, Gimme that.
2:14:57 In fact, sometimes you might see it written GIMME.
2:15:01 Gimme, gimme, gimme.
2:15:02 Gimme that.
2:15:03 Can you gimme more time?
2:15:05 So the G-I syllable is still stressed,
2:15:08 gi— even though we’re dropping the final V.
2:15:12 This is just like ‘want’.
2:15:14 It’s a content word, a stressed word, and yet,
2:15:17 in certain cases, we drop the final sound.
2:15:20 Isn’t it interesting?
2:15:22 As you study how Americans really speak,
2:15:24 you see that the full pronunciation often
2:15:27 isn’t the most natural or common pronunciation.
2:15:30 If all you learned was the book pronunciation,
2:15:34 you’d have a pretty hard time putting sentences together naturally.
2:15:39 That’s what this video series is about.
2:15:41 Getting you to see it’s not always about a full, clear pronunciation in English.
2:15:46 Let’s keep going.
2:15:48 Number 98, the word ‘day’.
2:15:51 This is always a noun, and it is always stressed.
2:15:55 We don’t reduce it!
2:15:56 Out of all of the most common words that we’ve studied so far,
2:15:59 almost 100, this is only number 25 that is never unstressed or reduced.
2:16:06 Wow!
2:16:06 D consonant, AY as in SAY diphthong.
2:16:11 First drop your jaw,
2:16:12 a-, then arch the top front part of the tongue towards the roof of the mouth.
2:16:18 And the jaw relaxes up.
2:16:20 Ay, day, day.
2:16:24 I need another day to finish.
2:16:27 What day is he coming back?
2:16:29 Let’s call it a day.
2:16:31 Day, day, up-down shape of stress, longer clearer.
2:16:37 That last sentence, let’s call it a day,
2:16:41 is an idiom that means, let’s stop doing what we’re doing.
2:16:44 It usually refers to work.
2:16:46 For example, if I’m working late at night,
2:16:49 David might come up to my office and say, Rachel, why don’t you call it a day?
2:16:55 Number 99, the word ‘most’.
2:16:58 This can be several different parts of speech, but all uses are content words.
2:17:03 So this word is generally stressed.
2:17:05 But it still might get a small reduction,
2:17:09 and that’s because of the ending cluster.
2:17:11 This is just like number 88, first, or number 57, just.
2:17:17 When the word is followed by a consonant, it’s common to drop the T.
2:17:21 Most people like it.
2:17:23 Most people.
2:17:26 Most people.
2:17:27 It’s the most challenging part.
2:17:30 Most challenging Most challenging Most people, most challenging.
2:17:36 We drop this T because it comes between two
2:17:39 consonants and sometimes we do that to make speech smoother.
2:17:44 To make the transition between two words smoother.
2:17:48 If the word is followed by a word that begins with a vowel or diphthong,
2:17:52 or at the end of your thought group,
2:17:54 then do make the T: I got most of the questions right.
2:17:58 Here it's followed by a vowel.
2:17:59 Most of the, most of the, most, and I'am making a T.
2:18:04 Most.
2:18:05 Most.
2:18:07 M consoant, OH diphthong, mo-.
2:18:11 Jaw drop then lip rounding Mo-, most.
2:18:15 Then the ST cluster.
2:18:17 Most.
2:18:19 Number 100!
2:18:20 The final word!
2:18:22 Us.
2:18:23 This word is a pronoun, a function word, and so it’s not normally stressed.
2:18:28 It’s unstressed.
2:18:29 They took us to the movies.
2:18:31 Took us, us, us, us.
2:18:33 They gave it to us for our anniversary.
2:18:36 Gave it to us, us, us, us, us.
2:18:40 You could write this in IPA as schwa-S.
2:18:43 Fully pronounced, it’s UH as in BUTTER– S.
2:18:48 US, but unstressed, us, us, us.
2:18:52 If it’s the last word in a sentence, I would stress it: This belongs to us.
2:18:57 Us, up-down shape of stress.
2:19:00 But usually, us, us, us, unstressed.
2:19:03 Flat in pitch said very quickly.
2:19:07 Do you really need reductions?
2:19:09 What if you clearly and fully pronounce each word?
2:19:13 Let’s look at some conclusions from studying
2:19:17 these 100 most common words in English.
2:19:21 When I gathered the 100 most common words in American English,
2:19:25 I wasn't thinking about going beyond that; I wasn't thinking about 200 or 500,
2:19:31 but after I finished it, I got curious: what does the next 100 look like?
2:19:36 Do we have more content words?
2:19:38 So I decided I was going to expand upon
2:19:41 that video series and put it here in the academy,
2:19:44 and what that means is I started looking
2:19:47 for a list of the top 500 words in American English.
2:19:50 Now I found a list that I really like, but it's not the same list as the top 100
2:19:56 words that I used when I did that original course.
2:20:00 So what does this mean?
2:20:01 I took this new list which I really like and I looked at the top 100 words.
2:20:07 It was very similar to the list I used
2:20:09 but a little different so in this video I'm taking 14 words
2:20:13 that are included in the top 100 words of my new
2:20:17 list that weren't included in the list that I already did.
2:20:21 So we'll call the list we'll cover today filling in the top 100.
2:20:26 There are 14 words on this list.
2:20:28 So my goal is to do the top 500 and I'm
2:20:33 really curious to see what this means for my students.
2:20:37 If you study the 500 most common words in English
2:20:40 you really get to know the pronunciation and what
2:20:43 they sound like in a whole sentence you study
2:20:45 a lot of sentences to to get to know
2:20:48 the various meanings for each word how will this impact
2:20:51 your English I've got to think that it would
2:20:54 make you speak much more confidently so I'm really excited
2:20:58 to dive into these next set of words with you.
2:21:02 The first word is more this word will
2:21:05 be stressed in a sentence it's a content word.
2:21:08 This word has either the a as in law vowel or the o diphthong.
2:21:13 Remember when the a as in law vowel is followed by r it
2:21:18 changes it gets more closed it's not a but it's o, Mo, more.
2:21:25 So the lips round a little bit more the tongue pulls back a little bit more.
2:21:31 As this word is stressed it will have that up down
2:21:35 shape more and the r comes as the voice falls down.
2:21:39 If you're pronouncing this with the O diphthong, it sounds more like more, more.
2:21:45 I think this pronunciation is less common I wouldn't actually recommend it.
2:21:49 You may hear it I personally think it's a little bit strange.
2:21:54 More, more, more.
2:21:55 Next we have very an adjective or an adverb this word adds intensity
2:22:01 and I think because of that we tend to stress it even more.
2:22:06 I'm very tired do you hear how much I held on to that beginning V sound?
2:22:12 That really helped me to stress it so there's
2:22:15 a big difference between I'm tired and I'm very
2:22:19 tired very adds so much intensity so go ahead
2:22:23 and feel free to play with really stressing this word.
2:22:27 So here we have the e as in bed vowel followed by R.
2:22:31 Again, the r does change the vowel here.
2:22:34 It comes after the vowel in a stressed syllable pure e
2:22:38 as in bed is e e plus r a er er.
2:22:43 That's not how we pronounce it it's not there but it's there.
2:22:51 So the vowel there e e has a lot less jaw drop.
2:22:59 Very, then a pure e.
2:23:02 Very also watch the ending e vowel some people make it too relaxed
2:23:10 and it sounds like I ver make sure your tongue stays high, very.
2:23:14 e e e very the word find this is a verb
2:23:18 a content word and it will be stressed in a sentence.
2:23:23 We have the I diphthong find, but pay attention to that ending D.
2:23:28 When it comes between two consonants we will
2:23:31 drop it like in the word finds, finds.
2:23:34 I'm not making a D sound there it's right from the n Sound into a light Z.
2:23:40 This would also happen if we were linking this word into a word that begins
2:23:43 with a consonant like in the phrase “I found my book.” I found my, found my.
2:23:49 You do not need to worry about the D there.
2:23:52 But when it's followed by a vowel we will make a d.
2:23:55 For example in the phrase “find out”.
2:23:57 Find, find out.
2:23:59 There I'm making a D sound as I link to the next word.
2:24:05 Also in the word findings.
2:24:06 There I've added a suffix and it starts with a vowel
2:24:11 and I am making more of a D sound.
2:24:15 Findings, findings.
2:24:17 The word “where”.
2:24:19 This word will often be stressed in a sentence and just like
2:24:22 with very we have the a as in bed vowel plus r.
2:24:27 This is just like very where we had a plus r in the stress syllable,
2:24:33 very where, where, where, where.
2:24:37 So it's not e, but it's e e, less jaw drop.
2:24:45 Where, where.
2:24:47 Some people will pronounce wh words with a light escape of air, where, where,
2:24:55 but most people now have dropped that I suggest you
2:25:00 just do a clean W sound to begin where, where.
2:25:04 Thing.
2:25:05 That's a noun a content word, usually stressed in a sentence.
2:25:10 Unvoiced th tongue tip must come through the teeth then
2:25:15 the I as in sit vowel followed by the NG consonant.
2:25:18 When this vowel is followed by the NG consonant it does change.
2:25:22 It's no longer a pure I that would sound like thing, thing.
2:25:27 But this word is pronounced thing.
2:25:30 When I is followed by NG it changes to more of an e vowel
2:25:37 that is the tongue arches higher it's closer to the roof of the mouth.
2:25:42 Thing, thing, things.
2:25:44 That will be a really light z sound at the end when it's plural.
2:25:50 Sometimes a plural Z is so weak so light
2:25:53 that it sounds like a very weak S without the voice.
2:25:58 Things take as much of the air out of that as you can.
2:26:06 Things.
2:26:07 This word is also the ending of several common words:
2:26:12 something, nothing, anything, everything.
2:26:14 In those words, it's unstressed,
2:26:16 so it's going to be something, thing, thing, flatter and pitch,
2:26:20 and said with a little bit less mouth movement
2:26:23 and a little bit more simple thing, thing, thing.
2:26:26 Should.
2:26:26 I actually did cover this in the first 100 words when I did should,
2:26:32 would, and could together all with number 37.
2:26:35 Remember, we can definitely reduce this, so it's just the sh sound plus
2:26:40 the schah when it's followed by a word that begins with a consonant.
2:26:44 For example, in the phrase “should we try?” sh sh should we try?
2:26:52 I did not make audio for this in the first 100 words,
2:26:55 so I'm going to make it now and put it here in this course.
2:26:59 Next, need.
2:26:59 a content word.
2:27:01 The pronunciation of this word is pretty simple and straightforward.
2:27:06 The ending is D.
2:27:07 This will link into a beginning vowel or diff thong,
2:27:09 like in the phrase I need another n n need a, there's
2:27:14 a flap of the tongue as the D comes between two vowel sounds.
2:27:19 Now if the next word begins with a consonant, I won't release the D.
2:27:25 I need my, need my, need my, so my tongue is in position for the D.
2:27:32 my vocal cords are vibrating but I don't release it need d d.
2:27:37 I just close my lips and go right into the next sound
2:27:41 the M sound need my need my I need my other one.
2:27:46 I need my other one.
2:27:48 The D is quite subtle in these cases.
2:27:52 The word much.
2:27:53 An adjective an adverb or noun that is
2:27:56 a content word usually stressed in a sentence.
2:28:00 No tricks or changes in pronunciation here just the M consonant,
2:28:04 A as in butter vowel and the CH sound much, much.
2:28:11 The word right.
2:28:13 Let's get this right.
2:28:14 Another content word.
2:28:16 With this list, we're really getting into a lot of content words, aren't we?
2:28:20 Right.
2:28:20 R consonant, I diphthong, T.
2:28:22 this ending T will be a stop T if the next
2:28:27 word begins with a consonant like in the phrase right now.
2:28:30 Also it will usually be a stop te at the end of a phrase like “that's right”.
2:28:35 It will be a flap T if the next word begins with a vowel or diphthong
2:28:40 sound like in the phrase right away
2:28:43 this is because the t comes between two vowels.
2:28:46 Remember we're not talking about letters the letter before the T here is the H,
2:28:51 that's a consonant letter.
2:28:53 But the sound is the i diphthong.
2:28:56 So the T does come between two vowels or diphthongs in the phrase right away.
2:29:01 The word mean.
2:29:03 A content word.
2:29:04 As with so many words in English this word can be used different ways a noun,
2:29:09 a verb, or an adjective.
2:29:12 Mean.
2:29:12 M consonant e vowel n consonant mean.
2:29:16 Now notice in the past tense the word changes becomes meant,
2:29:20 this is an irregular verb so it's not an ed ending.
2:29:24 And adding that letter T changes the pronunciation.
2:29:27 It's no longer the E vowel but it's the e as in bed vowel meant, meant.
2:29:34 You'll often hear this as a stop t if the next word
2:29:39 begins with a consonant like in the phrase “I meant that.” Meant, meant.
2:29:44 The word may.
2:29:46 A modal verb stressed you may want to study this one more.
2:29:50 M consonant, a diphthong,
2:29:52 don't forget that jaw drop at the beginning of the diphthong;
2:29:58 May May Here, an adverb.
2:30:02 this is a content word and will normally be stressed in a sentence here we have
2:30:08 a vowel followed by R in a stressed
2:30:11 syllable and the r consonant does change this vowel.
2:30:14 We have the E vowel followed by r
2:30:17 or schwa R in the same syllable, I is affected.
2:30:21 It's not a pure I that would sound like here, here, here.
2:30:26 That's not how we say that word.
2:30:30 We say here, here when I is followed by R in the same
2:30:35 syllable it's a lot more like the e as and she vowel,
2:30:40 here, he e here, so there's less space between the top of the tongue
2:30:44 and the roof of the mouth than in a pure is here.
2:30:49 Many.
2:30:49 This word is sometimes stressed sometimes not.
2:30:53 Many people want to meet you there it's stressed.
2:30:57 Many.
2:30:57 How many people will be there?
2:30:59 There it's not stressed.
2:31:01 How many?
2:31:01 How many people?
2:31:03 Many many.
2:31:03 The letter A here makes the e as in bed vowel me many.
2:31:09 Again watch that ending unstressed e that it
2:31:14 doesn't become I to relax keep the tongue higher.
2:31:19 E many e e e many.
2:31:22 And finally the word such.
2:31:24 This word can also be stressed or unstressed.
2:31:28 It's going to be unstressed when followed by as.
2:31:32 For example online schools such as Rachel's English
2:31:35 Academy are such a great way to learn.
2:31:38 There I used such Twice first it was unstressed.
2:31:41 Such as, such as, such as, such, such, such.
2:31:45 Then it was stressed.
2:31:47 Such are such a great way to learn.
2:31:51 What a fun project it was for me to make these 11 videos and here,
2:31:55 finally, to pull them all together into one video for you.
2:32:00 Understanding reductions really will unlock a new
2:32:03 level of spoken English fluency for you.
2:32:05 Keep your learning going now with this video
2:32:09 and don't forget to subscribe with notifications on.
2:32:12 I love being your English teacher.
2:32:14 That's it and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.