Pronunciation ChallengeWhy Old Friends Matter

Today’s video talks about old friends. Having just recently celebrated my 47th birthday, I can really relate to this topic. The video explains what is so special about these friends, and why it’s important to hang on to them. So I recommend you give it a watch. I still have a couple of friends that I met way back in elementary school, and even though we’ve all gone on to have very different lives in different cities, we still manage to keep the friendship alive. Now let’s look at today’s featured sentence:

Sentence: The old friend is a guardian of memories on which we might otherwise have a damagingly tenuous hold. We need old friends because of a crucial complexity in human nature.
99~110

Pronunciation Tips:

Guardian of, have a, of a - blended words
Tenuous - three syllables, ten-u-ous -> short e, long u, schwa
Crucial - long u, ci makes ‘sh’ sound, schwa

Vocabulary:
1. guardian KK[ˋgɑrdɪən] IPA/ˈgɑrdiən/
N.

A guardian is someone who protects something. Here’s an example sentence: “The controversial film was panned by religious groups and other self-appointed guardians of moral decency.”

Another meaning for guardian is someone who has similar authority to a parent over a child. Here’s an example sentence: “After his parents were killed in a car crash, Billy was adopted by his Aunt Sally and she became his legal guardian.”

guard [gɑrd] /gɑrd/
V.

As a verb, guard means to protect someone or something from being attacked or stolen. Here’s an example sentence: “I need to go to the bathroom. If I leave my laptop on the table here, can you guard it for me until I get back?”

2. otherwise [ˋʌðɚ͵waɪz] /ˈʌðərˌwaɪz/
Con.

Otherwise is used after an order or suggestion to show what the result will be if you do not follow that order or suggestion. Here’s an example sentence: I suggest you study now, while you have time. Otherwise, you’re going to be up very late the night before the exam.

3. tenuous [ˋtɛnjʊəs] /ˈtɛnjəwəs/
Adj.

Tenuous means thin, weak, and easily broken, either literally or figuratively. Here’s an example sentence: “Although he was very close to his mother, his relationship with his father was tenuous, at best.”

And that’s the end of our pronunciation challenge. Now I want to hear about you. What longtime friends do you have? Do you still live in the same city? What do you have in common now, vs. what you had in common back when you first met? Let me know in the comments below! In my case, my longtime friends and I still have some similar hobbies, but of course it’s our shared experiences that bond us more than anything. I’m Jonathan for VoiceTube. Thanks for watching!