but I thought about it. I've been thinking a lot about this trifle since we made our video last week.

In this week's video, we're going to continue with learning English with TV,

learning English with Friends as we study more of this Thanksgiving episode.

Here's the scene.

Rach, you killing us here. Will you serve the dessert already?

What is it?

It's a trifle. It's got all of these layers. First, there's a layer of ladyfingers,

then a layer of jam, then custard, which I made from scratch,

then beef sautéed with peas and onions,

and then a little bit more custard, and then bananas, and then I just put some whipped cream on top!

What, what was the one right before bananas?

The beef?

Yeah. That was weird to me, too.

But then, you know, I, I thought, well, there's mincemeat pie. I mean, that's an English dessert.

These people just put very strange things in their food.

You know?

Oh, by the way, can I borrow some rum from your place?

Yeah, sure, yeah.

And while I'm gone, don't you boys sneak a taste!

Okay.

And now let's do the analysis.

Rach.

Rach, Rach, a nickname, of course, I'm very familiar with this nickname as I get called it all the time.

Rach, Rach, Rach, Rach.

Little up-down shape, but it is also pretty flat. He's a little frustrated.

Rach, Rach, Rach.

Rach, Rach, Rach, you're killing us here--

You're killing us here--

you're killing us here--

A couple reductions. You are, your, becomes yer, yer, yer, yer,

said really quickly, as if there's not even a vowel there.

You're killing us here.

You're killing us here.

Kill, the peak of stress for that phrase, the most stressed word, with that up-down shape.

Now he doesn't say killing, with an NG sound, he says killing with an N sound, tongue at the front of the mouth.

Killin'. You're killin' us here.

You're killing us here.

You're killing us here.

You're killing us here.

The energy of the word 'your'. Yer, yer, yer, yer.

It goes up, it's going towards the peak of stress, and then the final three syllables,

in us here, are all flatter, falling away from that peak.

You're killing us here.

You're killing us here.

You're killing us here.

You're killing us here. Will you serve the dessert already?

Will you serve the dessert already?

Serve and dessert, the most stressed syllables there,

they actually have the same vowel,

the UR as in bird vowel, serve, dessert, I call this an UR vowel.

It's just like the R consonant, only it's held out. It has that shape.

But you don't try to make two different sounds, a vowel, and then an R.

It's just the one sound.

Serve.

Serve.

Serve the dessert.

Will you serve the dessert already?

Will you serve the dessert already?

Will you serve the dessert already?

The letters SS here make a Z sound, dessert, dessert.

Will you serve the dessert?

Will you serve the dessert?

Will you serve the dessert?

Will you serve the dessert?

Will you-- both flatter, lower in pitch, unstressed.

Will you, will you. Will you serve.

The, also unstressed.

Will you serve the dessert?

So we actually have two unstressed syllables here because even though dessert is a stressed word,

the first syllable is unstressed.

Dessert. And that's the schwa.

The de-- the de-- the de-- the dessert.

Will you serve the dessert?

Will you serve the dessert?

Will you serve the dessert?

The T in dessert, that's pronounced as a stop T, dessert.

The dessert already?

The dessert already?

The dessert already?

The dessert already?

Listen to just the word 'already'.

Already?

He says it just like I do without an L sound.

Already. Already. Already. Already.

This is a three syllable word with middle syllable stress.

Already. You can definitely drop that L there, simplify that.

Already?

What is it?

This three syllable phrase what is our most stressed syllable?

What is it?

What is it?

What is it?

It's the middle syllable.

What is it?

What is it?

The word 'what' goes up in energy towards the peak and the word 'it' falls off in energy.

What is it?

Notice that the first T here in this phrase, the T in what, is a flap T linking those two words together,

and the second T is a stop T, it's at the end of the phrase.

What is it?

The letter S here is a Z sound, and it links the two words together.

Is it? Is it? Is it? What is it?

What is it?

What is it?

What is it?

It's a trifle.

Rachel's response: it's a-- It's a trifle.

Energy leading up to that stressed syllable tri-- It's a trifle.

And then the second unstressed syllable falls back from that.

It's a trifle. It's a trifle.

All links together, all very smooth, the letter A is the schwa.

It's a, it's a, it's a. It's a trifle.

It's a trifle.

It's a trifle.

It's a trifle.

The TR cluster is very often pronounced as a CHR and that's what she does here.

Tri-- tri-- trifle.

It's a trifle.

It's a trifle.

It's a trifle.

It's a trifle.

It's got all of these layers.

In this next sentence, what are the most stressed words?

The peak of stress, the peak of energy?

It's got all of these layers.

It's got all of these layers.

It's got all of these layers.

It's got all of these layers.

All and lay-- our two peaks of stress here.

It's and got, a little lower in pitch, flatter, quicker.

It's got-- its got all--

It's got all--

It's got all--

It's got all--

Often the T between two vowels will link two words like 'got all'

but actually, she makes a stop here and re-emphasizes the vowel.

It's got all-- that helps make the word 'all' feel more stressed.

It's got all-- its got all--

What about the word 'of'?

It's got all of these layers.

It's got all of these layers.

It's got all of these layers.

All of these layers.

It's said very quickly, and I do think I hear a very quick subtle V sound, but you could leave it out.

All of these layers.

You could make it just a schwa.

All of these layers.

All of these layers.

All of these layers.

The letter S in 'these' is a weak Z sound.

All of these-- all of these layers--

All of these layers.

All of these layers.

All of these layers.

Really think about the stress. Repeat this sentence out loud and think about the stress. Let's slow it down.

It's got all these layers.

Da-da-da-da.

Focusing on the stress, and maybe even exaggerating it a little bit,

will help you work on the rhythmic contrast which will help you sound more natural speaking English.

It's got all of these layers.

It's got all of these layers.

It's got all of these layers.

First, there's a layer of ladyfingers--

What are the most stressed words in this phrase?

First, there's a layer of ladyfingers--

First, there's a layer of ladyfingers--

First, there's a layer of ladyfingers--

First, there's a layer of ladyfingers--

Da da da da da da da da.

A little bit of stress on fingers, ladyfingers.

First, there's a layer of ladyfingers--

First, there's a layer of ladyfingers--

First, there's a layer of ladyfingers--

First, this is also that same R vowel consonant combination,

fer, so you don't need to try to make a vowel there.

F to R to S.

First, first there's--

Now the letter T.

It's actually dropped here because she links these two words together,

and when the T comes between two consonants it's often dropped.

First there's-- first there's--

right from S into the TH.

First, there's a layer of--

First, there's a layer of--

First, there's a layer of ladyfingers--

First, there's a layer of ladyfingers--

The letter A here is just a quick schwa linking the words together.

The word 'of', again, the V is very subtle, I actually don't think I really hear it.

Layer of ladyfingers.

You can definitely just say that as a quick schwa linking the words together.

First, there's a layer of ladyfingers--

First, there's a layer of ladyfingers--

First, there's a layer of ladyfingers--

Ladyfingers is this bottom layer here, a ladyfinger is a bit of sponge cake that is shaped like a finger, a big finger.

Ladyfingers, fingers, notice the pitch goes up that's because she's listing.

She's listing all the layers. And when we list things,

the intonation goes up for each item until we get to the end and then the intonation goes down.

A layer of ladyfingers--

A layer of ladyfingers--

A layer of ladyfingers--

A layer of ladyfingers, then a layer of jam--

Then a layer of jam--

Then, a little bit up, a little bit of stress, and a little bit up.

Then a layer of jam, jam, and again, it goes up because she is continuing her list.

Then a layer of jam--

Then a layer of jam--

Then a layer of jam--

Then a layer of jam--

A little lift after 'then', but everything else is really smoothly linked together.

A layer of jam.

And here, I do here more of a V sound.

A layer of jam.

A layer of jam--

A layer of jam--

A layer of jam--

Jam.

Let's talk about the sounds there, if you look that up, you'll see the AA as in bat vowel.

Jaa-- jam.

It's not pure, that would be AH. Jam.

So when AH is followed by M, it's not pure, we make more of an UH sound,

the back of the tongue relaxes before the M.

Jaaam. Jam. So that transition is important in this sound to make it sound natural.

Jam. Jam.

Jam, Jam, Jam, then custard--

Then custard, then custard, the peak of stress there is cus-- then custard.

Then custard--

Then custard--

Then custard, which I made from scratch.

So then she says, which, and puts a break, separates it into its own thought group,

it's got that shape of stress, which I made from scratch, then she emphasizes 'I',

she's pretty proud that she put all of this energy and effort into this dessert.

Which I made from scratch--

Which I made from scratch--

Which I made from scratch--

I made from scratch--

scratch-- Stress on that word as well.

She takes a little bit of the sound out of her voice, but it's still stressed.

Which I made from scratch.

The word 'from', that is reduced. It's not from, but it's, from, from, schwa M, M takes over the schwa,

so it's as if there's no vowel at all in that word.

From, from, from scratch.

From scratch-- from scratch-- from scratch-- Then beef, sautéed with peas and onions--

Okay, in this thought group, what are our most stressed words?

Then beef, sautéed with peas and onions--

Then beef, sautéed with peas and onions--

Then beef, sautéed with peas and onions--

Then beef, sautéed with peas and onions--