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  • You told me you want to study English with moviesAnd a lot of you suggested a Will Smith movie,  

  • The Pursuit of Happyness”. By the waythe title of this film is intentionally  

  • misspelled. If you're going to write this  word, you definitely want to use an I. 

  • We'll do a full pronunciation  study of his job interview.  

  • So if you're going to have a job interview in  English anytime soon, this could be great for you.  

  • We'll study reductions, linking, stressAll the things that make up the character  

  • of spoken American English. You'll  be surprised what you'll learn

  • As always, if you like this  video or you learn something new,  

  • please give it a thumbs up and subscribe and  don't forget to click that notification bell.

  • Let's watch the clips we'll study together.

  • Chris, what would you say if a guy walked  in for an interview without a shirt on

  • And I hired him. What would you say?

  • He must've on some really nice pants.

  • (laughing)

  • Chris

  • You really pulled it off in there. Thank you very much Mr. Twistle

  • Hey, now you can call me Jay. Will talk to you soon.

  • And now the analysis.

  • Chris

  • Chris, He's saying his name and that's got a big  up-down shape of stress. So that's the shape of a  

  • stressed syllable in American English. Chris 

  • We don't have flat pitches for  our stressed syllables. They  

  • have change in direction. Usually, it goes up  and then down every once in a while it goes  

  • down and comes back up. But what's importantit's not flat. Chris, Chris, Chris. Chris.

  • Chris

  • And the CH letters there are making a K  sound. CH in American English can be the  

  • SH sounds like in chef or Chicagoit can be K sounds like Chris  

  • or choir and of course it  can be a CH sound like in choose

  • Chris

  • What would you say

  • What would you say. Then he puts a little breakSo, when we have little breaks, that means the  

  • words aren't linking together, there's a little  pause but aside from that break everything does  

  • link together and we call that a thought group. So  he puts a break after Chris. He puts a break after  

  • say. So these four words linked together smoothly  and we don't want a feeling of choppiness.  

  • Words within a thought group should be very  smooth and the melody should be smooth as well,  

  • no jumps or skips in the melody. So let's  listen to the melody of this phrase.

  • What would you say--

  • What would you say. What would you say. So would  unstressed but what, some of that length and  

  • the up-down shape, you also has some of the  up-down shape and then I think say actually  

  • goes the opposite way, starts going back up. So  when we make the melody of our voice go up at  

  • the end of a phrase that means that we're going to  continue. It's a signal that we have more to say.  

  • What, what would. What would. The T here is  a stop T unreleased, it's not T, what would,  

  • what would but what would, what wouldIt's also not dropped. It's not wha would,  

  • wha would. We have that little  skip that little lift. What would.

  • What would--

  • The D sound in you also not releasedIt's not would you but would you.  

  • Right from that vibration  of the vocal cords of the D  

  • into the Y consonant. Now the letterin would isn't pronounced. What would.

  • What would

  • What would you say,

  • What would you say. Smoothly connected, no skips  and if you're practicing just those first two  

  • words what and would, make sure you're feeling  a difference there. What is stressed, would is  

  • unstressed, it shouldn't feel the same. It's  not what, would but it's what would, what would.

  • What would

  • What would you say if a guy walked in  for an interview without a shirt on.

  • And now he finishes his thought group.

  • if a guy walked in for an  interview without a shirt on.

  • Really this is a question isn't it? He's saying  what, what would you say. His intonation does  

  • go down at the end. So sometimes people think  for questions, intonation always goes up. But  

  • that's now actually true. Definitely for yes no  questions it's true but questions that cannot be  

  • answered by yes or no usually the pitch goes  down at the end which is what happens here.

  • if a guy walked in for an  interview without a shirt on.

  • So let's just look at this thought group  again. We have a lot of words but no breaks.  

  • It's not if a guy walked in. But it's ifguy walked in. Ahhuauh. Smooth connection.

  • if a guy walked in

  • Let's listen to it, see if you can identify. What  are our longer syllables with a change in pitch?

  • if a guy walked in

  • If a guy walked in. if a guy walked, a little  bit on guy but really the peak of stress there  

  • is walked. If and a, they're just sort  of part of the melody going up. If a,  

  • if a, if a, if a. It's not if a but they're said  quickly, they're unstressed. If a guy walked in.

  • if a guy walked in

  • Walked. This is another word with a silent L just like  would. Now the ED ending in the word walked is  

  • pronounced as a T. And we have three different  pronunciations for the ED ending. I do have a  

  • playlist on those ED endings so you can click  here or see the link in the video description.

  • Walked in

  • Walked in, walked in.  

  • The T is just now released by itselfIt's released into the next word in.  

  • Walked in, walked in. So it's not quite as strongit's subtle but this kind of linking is important.  

  • Because within thought groups we  want to sounds to flow continuously.

  • Walked in

  • For an interview without a shirt on.

  • Walked in for an interview, an interviewmore stress there without a shirt on.  

  • So walked in and stress, I'm sorry, and shirt are  our most stressed syllables there. After walked,  

  • we have some unstressed syllables in, for, an  and they're not fully pronounced like that,  

  • are they? In for an, in for an, in  for an, in for an, in for an. Can you  

  • understand that I'm saying those three words? In for an. And they're all linked together,  

  • the word for reduces. For, for. You can almost  think of it as not having any vowel at all. It's  

  • the schwa R sound. And the R links right into  the schwa for our article an. For an for an,  

  • for an. In for an, in for an, in for anReally unclear. And that's what we want in  

  • our unstressed syllables. We have walked and  interview. But in for an becomes in for an.  

  • in for an. in for an. We need that contrast of  clear and less clear. Now you may have noticed  

  • in the word interview he dropped the T soundThat's really common. T after N especially in the  

  • word part inter. Interview, internetinternational. Really really common to drop the T.

  • Walked in for an interview without a shirt on

  • A little bit of stress on out. Withoutwithout, without a, without (flap).  

  • What's happening to that T? That becomes a flap T.  I write that with the letter D. Because it sounds  

  • like the D between vowels in American EnglishBut it's coming between two vowel diphthong  

  • sounds. We have the OU diphthong in the  word out. And we have the schwa and so a T  

  • between those two sounds is just (flap) going to  flap against the tongue. Without a, without a.

  • Without a --

  • And there's no break between interview  and without either. Interview with, view  

  • with. Keep that sound going  continuously, no choppiness.

  • Interview without a

  • Interview without a shirt on.

  • Without a shirt on. Now what's happening with this  T? Shirt on. (flap). It's another flap T, why? It  

  • doesn't come between two vowel of diphthong sounds  because this is an R. Well the rules for flap T  

  • include after an R before a vowel or diphthongSo like in the word party, that's a flap T,  

  • it comes after an R before a vowel or diphthong. In the phrase shirt on. Shirt (flap) on.Flap T.

  • without a shirt on.

  • Let's listen just to without a shirt on in slow  motion so you can really focus in on those flaps,  

  • You're not hearing ttt, that true T.

  • without a shirt on.

  • And I hired him.

  • Okay and he has one more thought group  here. Everything links together. And I  

  • hired him. Everything is going up towards  the peak of stress on our verb. And I,  

  • and I is just on the way to that peak of stressAnd I hired him. One line, smoothly connected.

  • And I hired him.

  • We have a couple reductions. We have and,  

  • D is dropped. And I, and I. And that N consonant  links right into the I diphthong. And I hired him.

  • And I hired him.

  • Hired him. Hired him. Can you tell that  there's no H there. He's not saying hired him.  

  • He's saying hired him. Dropping the H, it's  pretty common to drop the H in the word him,  

  • her, his, he. Definitely something  that we do. And then we just link it  

  • on the word before. So here the ED ending  makes a D sound. Hired him. Hired him.

  • Hired him.

  • What would you say

  • We have a four word thought group here. One word  is the most stressed. Let's listen to it three  

  • times. You tell me where your body wants to movewhere do you feel the most stress is. If you were  

  • going to move your head once or move your hand  once on the stress. Where would your body do that?

  • What would you say?

  • What would you say? Ahuhauh. I definitely  hear that you is our one stress word,  

  • what and would lead up to it  and then say falls away from it.

  • What would you say?

  • What. Stop T again not released. I should say  with the Wh words, there is a pronunciation that  

  • has an escape of air before what, whatwhite, why. Have you ever noticed that?  

  • It's not very common anymore and he doesn't do  that escape of air. It's just a clean W sound.

  • What would---

  • What would, What would. Now we have a word  ending in D, the next word is you, something  

  • interesting happening with the pronunciationListen three times and see if you can hear it.

  • What would you--

  • What would you, dyou, dyou, do you hear thatIt's a really clear J sound. Ju, ju. When a word  

  • ends in a D and the next word is you or yourit's not uncommon to hear it turn it into a J,  

  • I think it sorts of helps smoothly link the  two words together. We'd love smoothness in  

  • American English. What would you say? And then the  voice falls down in pitch, everything connected.

  • What would you--

  • What would you say?

  • He must've had on some really nice pants.

  • He must've had on some. So in this thought  group we have a first word stressed.  

  • He must've had on some. And then we have  a bunch of words that are less stressed,  

  • flatter in pitch than our last three  words stressed, longer. Really nice pants.

  • He must've had on some really nice pants.

  • Make sure everything is connected and  smooth but also make sure you have rhythmic  

  • contrast. Speed up these words, make them less  clear, we need that. He must've had on some.  

  • Do you notice must've. What's happening thereThe word have is being reduced all the way down  

  • to a single sound. The schwa, must've. Must've  had on some. The D flaps as it links had and on.  

  • Must've had on some

  • He must've had on some--

  • And the word some. Not really fully pronounced.  I would write that with a schwa instead of  

  • the UH as in butter sound. Some, some. He  must've had on some. He must've had on some.

  • He must've had on some---

  • And then our last three words clearerlonger, up-down shape of stress.

  • Really nice pants.

  • Really nice pants. The word pants. The vowel  there is a little tricky, it's the AH vowel  

  • as in bat but when it's followed by N like it is  here, we make a sound in between. It's like the UH  

  • as in butter vowel, back of the tongue relaxesSo it's not ah, pa, pants. But it's pae, ae,  

  • things relaxed and it changes the soundPae, pants. Pants, pants not pants.

  • Pants.

  • (laughing)

  • Chris..

  • Chris. Chris. Again, just like in the  beginning we have a name a proper noun,  

  • stressed word, a single syllable so it  has that up-down shape. Chris. Chris.

  • Chris.

  • You really pulled it off in there.

  • You really pulled it off in there. So we have  a little bit of stress on really. You really  

  • pulled it. But most of on off in there. Most  of it on off. Pull off. This is a phrasal verb.

  • You really pulled it off in there.

  • And it has a couple of different meanings. In  this case it means to succeed at something,  

  • to achieve something. He had an interview  

  • and they loved him. He succeeded at  that interview, he really pulled it off.

  • You really pulled it off in there.

  • The ed ending in pulled is just the D sound  and that links right into the e vowel,  

  • for smoothness. Pulled it, pulled itYou really pulled it off. Now we have a T  

  • between vowels. Let's listen for that.

  • It off--

  • It off, it off (flap). Yup, definitely a flap.  

  • You know we don't have many rules in American  English pronunciation that people follow but flap  

  • T, we follow that pretty well. Between two vowels  or diphthong sounds or after an R before a vowel  

  • or diphthong sound we flap it. Pulled it offIt off, it off, it off. Pulled it off in there.

  • Pulled it off in there.

  • If it helps you to link more smoothly, think  of the ending consonant as beginning the next  

  • word. So rather than thinking off in, you can  think off-in. Off in, off in, off in there.

  • off in there.

  • Thank you very much Mr. Twistle.

  • So he stresses the word much and thank younot very clear as in thank you very much Mr.  

  • Twistle. And then of course, stress on the name as  well. But this is a nice way to show the contrast  

  • between the stress word much and the unstressed  word thank you. So if all he had said was thank  

  • you, it probably would have been more clear. Thank  you, thank you. But instead he wanted to stress  

  • much. So thank you became less clear. Thank  you, thank you, thank you. Thank you very much.

  • Thank you very much--

  • It's important that we don't have that stress  feel for every word. Thank you very much.  

  • Thank you very much. That stop sounding natural  

  • in American English. We have to have that  contrast of the more clear and the less clear.

  • Thank you very much--

  • Thank you very much Mr. Twistle.

  • So we have a peak of stress on muchMuch Mr. then Mr. becomes a little valley  

  • Mr. Twistle before our next peak of stress.

  • Much Mr. Twistle.

  • Hey, now you can call me Jay.

  • He says hey, hey. Just a little  utterance. Not very clear, not very loud.  

  • Hey. Now you can call me Jay. And we have the  stress on the first word and the last word there.  

  • The words in between, less clear, part  of that valley. Hey, now you can call me.  

  • And we even have a reduction. How do you think  this word is pronounced? You might think oh, I  

  • know that word. It's can. But actually most of the  time it's not pronounced that way. Let's listen.

  • Now you can call me Jay.

  • You can call me. You call me. I'm going to  give a little bit of up down on call but can,  

  • what is happening to it? We reduced that and  we have just the schwa instead of the ah vowel.  

  • Now schwa mixes with an, we kind of loose it  all together. So it's really just can, can, can  

  • like there's no vowel at all. Now you  can, now you can. And he even doesn't  

  • make those consonant sounds very clear does  he? That word is so fast. It almost gets lost.

  • You can call me--

  • Jay.

  • You can call me Jay. So a lot of rhythmic contrast  there. You can so short. Call, a little longer.  

  • Jay, even longer. Me, also short. We  love that contrast in American English.

  • You can call me Jay.

  • Alright.

  • Alright. Alright. Not very clear, he nods  his head. Alright. I would still write  

  • that with an up-down shape of stress but  it's not very clear, it's sort of mumbled

  • Alright.

  • Stop T at the end and probably nosound. Just a,a,a. Alright, alright.

  • Alright.

  • We'll talk to you soon.

  • We'll talk to you soon. Two peaks of stress thereWe'll talk to you soon. And the other words less  

  • clear. We will, will becomes we'll, we'll. I  would write that W schwa L. Not very clear. We'll,  

  • we'll, we'll. We'll talk. We'll talk. Talkanother word with the silent L. We'll talk.

  • We'll talk--

  • We'll talk to you soon.

  • We'll talk to you. To and you, lower in pitchPart of that valley and they're not pronounced  

  • to you so fully pronounced we have to but  reduced it becomes to with the schwa. To.  

  • You, fully pronounced has the U vowel as well  but can reduce the schwa like it does here.  

  • So to you becomes to you, to you, to youYou can relax your mouth a lot more to say  

  • it that quickly. Try it. To you. To you. Talk  to you. Talk to you soon. Important reductions.

  • We'll talk to you soon. Talk to you soon is way that you can end a  

  • phone conversation or a meeting with somebody and  in this case, they will talk soon because they're  

  • going to follow up on the job interview. But  you can even say it when you're not necessarily  

  • going to talk to that person soon. For exampleyesterday I was talking to my aunt on the phone.  

  • We only talk like once a year maybe but  when we hung up I saidTalk to you soon.”

  • We'll talk to you soon.

  • Let's listen to this scene one more time.

  • I love studying English  movies like this. Don't you

  • Put your suggestion for the  next movie or even the next  

  • scene in the comments. Until then, keep  your learning going now with this video  

  • and don't forget to subscribe. I make new  videos on the English language every Tuesday  

  • and I love to see you back here. That's it  and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.

You told me you want to study English with moviesAnd a lot of you suggested a Will Smith movie,  

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it

A2 walked flap stress shirt hired chris

Learn English With The Pursuit of Happyness | Rachel’s English

  • 110 2
    Summer posted on 2021/06/22
Video vocabulary

Keywords

subscribe

US /səbˈskraɪb/

UK /səb'skraɪb/

  • verb
  • To regularly pay to receive a service
sort

US /sɔrt/

UK /sɔ:t/

  • verb
  • To arrange things in a systematic way, typically into groups.
  • To arrange things in groups according to type.
  • To organize things by putting them into groups
  • To deal with things in an organized way
  • noun
  • A category of things or people with a common feature; a type.
  • Group or class of similar things or people
pronunciation

US /prəˌnʌnsiˈeʃən/

UK /prəˌnʌnsiˈeɪʃn/

  • noun
  • How a word is said; how a word sounds
  • A representation of how a word is spoken, often using phonetic symbols.
  • A particular way of pronouncing words, often associated with a region or social group.
  • other
  • The way in which a word or language is spoken.
  • The manner in which someone utters a word.
  • A particular way of pronouncing words, often associated with a region or group.
  • other
  • A representation of how a word is spoken, often using phonetic symbols.
  • A particular way of pronouncing words, especially one that is characteristic of a region or group.
phrase

US /frez/

UK /freɪz/

  • other
  • To express something in a particular way.
  • To express something in a particular way.
  • noun
  • A short expression that is commonly used.
  • A group of words that form a conceptual unit, though not a complete sentence.
  • A musical unit, often part of a larger melody.
  • Common expression or saying
  • A short expression that is commonly used.
  • A group of words that form a conceptual unit, though not necessarily a complete sentence.
  • Section of musical notes in a piece of music
  • A set of words used together
  • verb
  • To choose words to say what you mean clearly
common

US /ˈkɑmən/

UK /'kɒmən/

  • noun
  • Area in a city or town that is open to everyone
  • A piece of open land for public use.
  • A piece of open land for public use.
  • Field near a village owned by the local community
  • adjective
  • Lacking refinement; vulgar.
  • Occurring, found, or done often; prevalent.
  • (of a noun) denoting a class of objects or a concept as opposed to a particular individual.
  • Without special rank or position; ordinary.
  • Shared; Belonging to or used by everyone
  • Typical, normal; not unusual
  • Lacking refinement; vulgar.
  • Found all over the place.
scene

US /sin/

UK /si:n/

  • noun
  • Incident where someone behaves angrily, badly
  • View that looks like a picture
  • Place where something particular happened
  • Part of an act in a play
stress

US / strɛs/

UK /stres/

  • noun
  • Emphasis on part of a word or sentence
  • Pressure on something or someone
  • A state of mental tension, worry due to problems
  • verb
  • To emphasize one or more parts of a word, sentence
  • To put pressure on something or someone
  • To say your opinion strongly
  • To be in a state of mental tension due to problems
pronounce

US /prəˈnaʊns/

UK /prə'naʊns/

  • other
  • To give or make a judgment or decision.
  • To make the sound of a word or letter in a particular way.
  • verb
  • To state something in a legal or official way
  • To give your opinion or decision about something
  • To say the sounds of words in a correct way
bit

US /bɪt/

UK /bɪt/

  • noun
  • A former coin worth 12.5 cents.
  • The basic unit of information in computing.
  • The basic unit of information in computing, representing a binary digit (0 or 1).
  • A mouthful of food.
  • Device put in a horse's mouth to control it
  • A particular thing or experience.
  • A person's contribution to an effort.
  • Small piece of something
  • A short period of time.
  • A very small amount of money.
  • A small piece or amount of something.
  • A small acting role or part in a performance.
  • The part of a tool that cuts or bores.
  • other
  • To do one's part.
  • Not at all.
  • verb
  • Past tense of 'bite'.
  • (E.g. of fish) to take bait and be caught
  • adverb
  • Slightly; somewhat.
tongue

US /tʌŋ/

UK /tʌŋ/

  • noun
  • Long, thin part of (e.g. shoe under the laces)
  • Meat from the mouth of an animal, cooked as food
  • A language
  • Movable fleshy thing in your mouth, for tasting
  • Act of scolding someone
  • A specific manner of speaking
  • verb
  • To using your mouth to produce musical notes
  • To use your mouth to touch something