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  • Hello Eat Sleep Dreamers, welcome back to another video with me Tom. Yes, I have grown

  • a bit of a beard. What do you guys think? I don't know. It's an experiment, alright?

  • So I'm trying it out. You guys let me know, if you think it looks ok, then let me know

  • in the comments below. If you think I need to shave it immediately, then tell me as well

  • but i though I'd try.

  • Alright, so thank you for joining me today because I have something super special for

  • you. We're going to look at the five tricks with pronunciation that every English student

  • should be using. We're going to look at five tricks that are going to improve your pronunciation.

  • They are also going to help you with your listening skills as well so you get the benefit

  • of both. Alright, I'm excited about this, I hope you are too. All that is coming right

  • up after we meet another Eat Sleep Dreamer.

  • The first trick is to master the schwa sound. The schwa sound is uh and it's the most common

  • sound in the English language. We use it pretty much all the time. Now what I want you to

  • focus on is how we use it with the smaller words, things like prepositions, auxiliary

  • verbs, articles. So we use it with those words to make life easier for ourselves. For example

  • 'I'd like a glass of water, please'. So we've got 'I'd like a' so instead of a it's uh.

  • 'I'd like a glass of water, please'. So not of of, 'I'd like a glass of water, please.'

  • So we're using the schwa sound on a and of to make it easier for us to say that sentence.

  • 'I'd like a glass of water, please' Let's look at another example 'I'm going to the

  • cinema tonight.' Did you hear the schwa there? It was on to, so i didn't say I'm going to

  • the cinema. I said I'm going to the cinema tonight. That's the schwa sound, I'm going

  • to the cinema tonight. Now we call this change of sound a weak form. So I'm using the weak

  • form, I'm saying to rather than to. So that would be i guess the strong form, this is

  • the weak form. I'm going to the cinema tonight. Ok, your turn 'I'm going to the cinema tonight.'

  • Alright, good stuff. Practise, practise practise. As always the most important thing is to practise,

  • ok? Say these sentences as many times as you can so that you really train your mouth and

  • your brain to make these sounds.

  • Number two contractions. This is when we blend two words together because it makes our life

  • easier. So for example, I am becomes I'm, I have becomes I've, I would becomes I'd.

  • You see it just makes life easier, I can't be bothered to say 'I would like to go' instead

  • of just saying 'I'd like to go.' much easier. If you're not using contractions you need

  • to start using them because they are everywhere in English. We use them all the time. So,

  • start learning, start using them immediately.

  • Let's work through some of the most common contractions there are. Ok, let's start with

  • the verb to be. So I am becomes I'm, you're, he's, she's, we're, they're. The verb to have

  • I've, you've, he's, she's, we've, they've. Let's move on to would and had because that's

  • the same contraction, it's the d. So I'd can be I would or I had. It depends on the context

  • so you have to look at the grammatical structure and also the context to kind of know which

  • one it is. So for example 'I'd love to' it's I would love to not I had love to. Ok, so

  • you just have to learn that. So I'd, you'd, he'd, she'd, we'd, they'd. Ok and will so

  • I'll, you'll, he'll, she'll, we'll. they'll. Alright let's do a little practice sentence.

  • This is a fun one. Let's pretend there's some strange food that you don't know if you want

  • to try it and you are with a friend and you might say to them 'I'll try it if you try

  • it.' Ok, so I'll try it if you try it. Ok, your turn. I'll try it if you try it. Good

  • job guys, number three coming right up.

  • Number three is elision. Now elision is how we miss out sounds or syllables in speech

  • to make again, to make life easier for ourselves. To make it easier for our tongue to pronounce

  • words and easier for us to communicate with each other. For example 'I don't know' not

  • "I don't know' 'I don't know'. 'What's the weather going to be like today?' 'I don't

  • know'. And instead of saying I don't know we make it easier for ourselves, we use elision

  • 'I don't know'. Often it's on vowel sounds and vowel sounds that don't have a stress.

  • So again another example might be interest and I'm missing out that middle e. Not interest.

  • And we just lose it because we don't need it, we don't need to pronounce it. The meaning

  • can stay the same, you can still understand what I am saying but it's easier for me to

  • say interest not interest. Alright and another example 'I'm going to go home now'. Not 'I'm

  • going to go home' 'I'm going to go home now' So that's a great example of elision. Ok,

  • let's do an example together 'I love your new camera.' Camera, it's not camera, it's

  • camera. 'I love your new camera'. Ok, your turn. Ok, good job.

  • Number four is catenation. Catenation is when one word finishes with a consonant and the

  • next word begins with a vowel, how we blend those two together so it sounds like the second

  • word begins with the consonant. For example, the classic example would be 'an apple' so

  • it's not an apple, it's anapple. So it sounds like the word apple begins with n anapple.

  • An egg, so it's not an egg, it's anegg. Sounds really strange when you say it over and over

  • again. Let's look at an example sentence. 'He runs a start up business'. Start up, so

  • the t is the consonant, the u is the vowel but instead of saying start up, I'm saying

  • startup. 'Start up business' 'He runs a start up business' Ok, try and say that for me 'He

  • runs a start up business'. Ok, this one definitely takes some time to get used to. It's really,

  • again, really fantastic when you are listening to native speakers talking because it might

  • sound like one word when in fact it's two words. Alright another example 'He's in Italy

  • at the moment'. So he's in, so the s there, the consonant goes across to in. So instead

  • of saying he's in, it's he's in. 'He's in Italy at the moment.' Try that with me 'He's

  • in Italy at the moment.' Ok, your turn. Ok, once again practise and notice other people

  • making these sounds. It's a great beginning, so if you can start noticing other people

  • using these sounds then you can start using them yourself.

  • Finally the last little trick is all about Intrusion. Now intrusion is how we link words

  • together with three extra sounds w j and r. Now why do we do this? Well, again it makes

  • life so easy when we are talking. For example, instead of saying 'go away' i could say go

  • away. I'm adding the w sound in there 'go away' Now we have two vowel sounds go o a

  • away 'Go away' and it juts helps us to blend these two vowel sounds together to say it

  • much more clearly much more fluently. Now I have done a whole video on intrusion that

  • you can click on just up there on the link below. On the link above sorry and it will

  • take you through intrusion in a lot more depth. But essentially we're adding three sounds

  • w j and r. Another classic example 'I agree' so it's not 'I agree' it's 'I agree'. So I'm

  • adding the j sound in there. Alright, you are going to like this one, this is slightly

  • crazy. 'I want to go to England' Can you hear the intruding sound? 'I want to go to England'

  • England? Where is England? I don't know. So we've got to, ok the vowel is 'o' and then

  • England begins with a 'e', to England. So an intrusion of the 'w' sound, 'to England'

  • 'I want to go to England'. Crazy , I know but it's so much easier to say 'I want to

  • go to England' than 'I want to go to England' that's not easy. Alright, practise that with

  • me 'I want to go to England'. Alright, make sure you get that 'England' 'i want to go

  • to England' Alright, good job. So remember, two vowel sounds, coming together at the end

  • of one word and at the beginning of another one we're going to add the intrusion r w or

  • j. Let me know in the comments below, which one did you find most useful? Those are five

  • really great tricks guys to help you with your pronunciation and of course your listening

  • because they are intertwined, they are connected because when we are listening people are using

  • pronunciation to express themselves and of course when we are trying to express our own

  • ideas we're using pronunciation so they are very much linked. So let me know in the comments

  • below which ones did you find interesting, useful, difficult? Now, my tip would be to

  • start small, ok? So don't try and use all of them all the time. Try and incorporate

  • one, choose one of those tricks and start to use it in your own English. Maybe just

  • by repeating it and recording yourself and then when you are in a conversation trying

  • to use it. You could also use it as listening practice so when you are next watching a TV

  • series, focusing on one trick for example elision and trying to listen for examples

  • of it. Ok, so now you are aware of it, it would be really great to try and listen and

  • to raise your awareness in other speakers English. And if you know anyone that would

  • find this video useful, please share it with them. If you are in an English class please

  • share it with your other classmates, share it with your teacher, share it with a friend

  • or a family member that's trying to learn English as well. Let's try and spread the

  • message so that everyone can improve their English with us. Don't forget that I've got

  • new videos every Tuesday and every Friday. Until next time guys, this is Tom the Chief

  • Dreamer, saying goodbye.

Hello Eat Sleep Dreamers, welcome back to another video with me Tom. Yes, I have grown

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