Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • Hello.

  • My name is Emma, and in today's video I am going to help you with your pronunciation.

  • Today I am going to teach you how to pronounce one of the most common words in English.

  • That word is the word "of".

  • Okay?

  • So, when we say "of" just on its own as a single word, we usually pronounce it like

  • this: "ov", which has kind of like a "v" sound at the end, "of".

  • Now, that's kind of hard to pronounce.

  • There's an easier way that we pronounce this word when we use it in a sentence or an expression,

  • and that's what we're going to learn today.

  • So let's get started.

  • Okay, so I have here some English expressions.

  • I have: "A lot of", "Slice of pie", "Piece of cake".

  • Now, when I actually say this, I don't say: "ov".

  • I want you to listen very carefully to what I'm actually saying and how I pronounce the

  • word "of" in these expressions.

  • Okay?

  • "A lot a".

  • I'll say that one more time: "A lot a".

  • "Slice a pie", "Slice a pie", "Piece a cake", "Piece a cake".

  • Okay?

  • Now, I've said it a little louder than I usually would, but you'll notice I didn't say: "Slice

  • ov pie", I said: "A slice a pie".

  • So my point here is that native speakers of English, especially North American English,

  • usually do not pronounce "of" like this; we actually pronounce it more like "a".

  • Okay?

  • So, what we can do is we can actually add an "a" here.

  • So I want you to repeat after me: "A lot a", "A lot a", "I have a lot a friends."

  • Okay?

  • "A lot a".

  • And we also say "a" a little bit quieter because it's not a stressed syllable.

  • So we like to say it quieter than the rest of the expression.

  • "Slice a pie".

  • So I can remove this and add an "a".

  • So let's say that together: "Slice a pie".

  • All right, now let's try this expression: "A piece a cake".

  • So this means it's something that's easy, so: "piece a cake".

  • Okay?

  • So let's do some practice together.

  • And you will see "of" a lot in English, so this is a really good word to practice and

  • to get used to pronouncing in a native speaker way, because: A) it will be easier to understand

  • you, and B) "a" is a lot easier to say than "ov".

  • Okay?

  • So let's practice these sentences together.

  • So, I've put the word "of" with a red underline, and anytime you see "of", I want you to change

  • it to "a", okay?

  • So, let's say this together: "It is made of brick.

  • It is made of brick.", "He has lots of money.

  • He has lots of money."

  • Okay.

  • "Game of Thrones."

  • If you like that TV show, that's a really important thing to be able to pronounce.

  • "Game of Thrones.", "I thought of something."

  • So, again, let's turn this to "a": "I thought of something.", "It's a piece of cake."

  • And that means it's something very easy.

  • "It's a piece of cake."

  • Okay?

  • This is actually one of my favourite idioms: "It's a piece of cake."

  • All right?

  • So now let's do some more practice on the word "of" and its pronunciation.

  • So one thing you can do if you're having trouble with the pronunciation of "of" in sentences,

  • or expressions, or phrases is you can actually just put the "a" underneath "of" to help remind

  • you.

  • Okay?

  • So this is one thing you can do when you're practicing the pronunciation of this.

  • So let's practice some more sentences.

  • "That's a nice piece of furniture."

  • Okay?

  • So now I want you to try: "That's a nice piece of furniture."

  • And, again, when we say this part, we're not saying it loud, we're not saying: "Piece a

  • furniture", we say it kind of quietly: "Piece of furniture".

  • Okay?

  • Let's try the next one: "The cost of living is high.

  • The cost of living is high."

  • Okay.

  • You can do it one more time.

  • "The cost..."

  • Sorry.

  • "The cost of living is high."

  • All right.

  • Let's do this next sentence.

  • And, by the way, at the time of filming, Justin Trudeau is the Prime Minister, just in case,

  • you know, it changes, I want this to make some sense.

  • "The Prime Minister of Canada is handsome."

  • Okay?

  • He's a handsome man.

  • "The Prime Minister of Canada is handsome."

  • Okay?

  • So now you can try to say that.

  • Okay.

  • Now let's try another sentence: "Many of the shows are comedies.

  • Many of the shows are comedies."

  • Okay?

  • And when we say this part, we also kind of say it quicker, too.

  • "Many of the shows are comedies", versus if I said: "Many of the shows are comedies."

  • You can say that, but again, most native speakers say it very quick and more like a "a" sound.

  • "Many of the shows are comedies."

  • All right, and let's try one more: "Ottawa is..."

  • So first I'll say it slow.

  • "Ottawa is north of Toronto.

  • Ottawa is north of Toronto."

  • So now you try to say it.

  • "Ottawa is north of Toronto."

  • Okay, great.

  • So this is something you can practice, you know, even if you find an English book, "of"

  • is just such a common word, you can find tons of examples of "of" in sentences.

  • So, again, try to say this out loud, you know, practice reading, say the sentences out loud,

  • and change the "of" to an "a" sound, an unstressed "a" sound, and that will really help your

  • pronunciation and it will also make it easier to say, because again, "ov" is harder to say

  • than "a".

  • All right?

  • So thank you very much for watching this video.

  • If you would like to practice more, you can come visit our website at www.engvid.com;

  • there, we will have a quiz for you where you can practice what you've just learned.

  • You can also subscribe to my channel; I have a lot of different resources on pronunciation,

  • grammar, vocabulary, and many more things to do with English.

  • So, until next time, thank you for watching and take care.

Hello.

Subtitles and vocabulary

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