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  • Today, you're getting the next video in the 100 most common words in English series.

  • This is video 9.

  • In this series, we're studying the real pronunciation.

  • This is likely different from what you learned in English class.

  • You see, in American English, we have all sorts of words that are unstressed or even reduced.

  • That means we change the Pronunciation.

  • The set of the 100 most common words in American English contains many, many words that reduce.

  • If you haven't already seen video one and the other videos in this series, I do suggest you start there.

  • These videos build one on top of the next.

  • So click here to watch video 1.

  • 00:00:48,280 --> 00:00:50,140 We start with number 81.

  • The word 'back'.

  • A noun, a verb, this is a content word and will usually be stressed in a sentence.

  • Please step back.

  • Or, it was moving back and forth.

  • Please step back.

  • Back and forth.

  • Stressed.

  • Back.

  • We have the b consonant, the AH vowel, and finally, the k sound.

  • The back of the tongue lifts to touch the soft palate and is released.

  • Kkback.

  • Back.

  • Careful with the vowel AH.

  • The back of the tongue stretches up.

  • Ah.

  • And the jaw drops.

  • You might also lift your top lip a little bit, back, ah, back.

  • Back.

  • Number 82, the word 'after'.

  • This word can be a content word or a function word depending on how it's being used.

  • So it could be stressed or unstressed.

  • We don't reduce this word though, we don't change or drop the sound.

  • Let's look at an example.

  • It's raining so we can't go to the beach.

  • Well, let's go to the movies.

  • After all, I already took the day off.

  • After all.

  • After.

  • After.

  • It has that same AH vowel in the stressed syllable, doesn't it?

  • Ah. After.

  • Next, we have an F, then a really soft t sound: aftafter.

  • It's a True T but not as sharp or strong as it would be at the beginning of a stressed syllable like time.

  • Ttt- time.

  • So a soft t, then a quick schwa r ending.

  • Flat, low in pitch, said quickly.

  • After.

  • After.

  • Often this word will be unstressed.

  • For example, in the phrase 'after all' I could stress 'all' instead of 'after'.

  • Now it sounds like this: after all, after, after, after, after, after, after, after, after,

  • the stressed syllable in the stressed version

  • is longer and has more of an up-down shape of a stressed syllable.

  • After.

  • Unstressed.

  • After, after, after.

  • It's flatter, less clear, a little bit more mumbled.

  • Let's look at another sentence.

  • He left after everyone went to bed.

  • Left after.

  • Left after.

  • After.

  • After.

  • After.

  • Unstressed let's leave after dinner.

  • Leave after.

  • After. After. After.

  • Unstressed.

  • 'Leave' and 'dinner' are stressed.

  • Let's leave after dinner.

  • Let's leave after dinner.

  • After.

  • So the unstressed words are less clear, said more quickly, and are flatter and lower in pitch.

  • The contrast is the stressed words which are longer,

  • stressed syllables, and an up-down shape in that pitch, in that intonation.

  • That contrast is what makes good English.

  • Number 83, use.

  • This is one of those words it's pronounced differently depending on the part of speech.

  • As a noun, 'use', the final sound is an S.

  • As a verb 'use', the final sound is a Z.

  • Lots of words change like this depending on part of speech.

  • For example, 'house' the noun ends in the S sound, and 'house' the verb ends in Z.

  • Address, can have first syllable stress.

  • Address.

  • Address.

  • That's the noun.

  • But the verb has second syllable stress.

  • Address.

  • Address.

  • Use.

  • Use.

  • Both nouns and verbs are content words which means they're stressed in a sentence.

  • They both begin with the JU diphthong.

  • Ju, ju.

  • Tongue tip presses the back of the bottom front teeth

  • and the middle part of the tongue presses forward along the roof of the mouth.

  • Yy-you-yy-you.

  • Then, the lips round.

  • Juuuujuu

  • 'use' with an s or 'use' with a z.

  • What's the use?

  • A noun, or: I'll use it later.

  • A verb.

  • Word number 83 and this is the 19th word that is reliably stressed in a sentence.

  • That means we've covered a lot of words that can be unstressed or even reduced.

  • What about number 84?

  • Nope this is another content word.

  • The word 'two'.

  • This word is interesting because it's a homophone.

  • That means it shares a pronunciation with a different word.

  • It sounds just like t-o-o.

  • The number two.

  • I like it too.

  • Two.

  • Too.

  • Exact same pronunciation.

  • You might say this is just like t-o that's also pronounced 'two'.

  • Not really.

  • Fully pronounced, sure.

  • But we don't fully pronounce the word 'to'.

  • That one reduces so it's usually 'te', and not truly a homophone with t-w-o.

  • We learned the 'to' reduction back in the first video in this series.

  • It's number three in the most common words of American English list.

  • So the number two, t-w-o will be fully pronounced in a sentence.

  • Its pronunciation is simple.

  • A True T and the OO vowel which has quite a bit of lip rounding: two.

  • The OO vowel is tricky because you don't want to start with your lips in a tight circle.

  • Two.

  • Two.

  • Let them be more relaxed to start, then come in.

  • Two, two, two.

  • The game is at two thirty.

  • Two.

  • Number 85, a question Word, the word 'how'.

  • We already studied 'What' at 40, 'Who' back at 46, 'which' at 48, and 'when' at 51.

  • Question words are generally Stressed.

  • Let's look at a few example Sentences.

  • How did it go?

  • How tall are you?

  • How hungry are you?

  • In all three of these Sentences, 'how' was one of the words that was stressed.

  • How.

  • How tall?

  • How tall are you?

  • How.

  • How hungry?

  • How hungry are you?

  • These words are longer, clearer, and have the up-down shape of stress.

  • How.

  • How did it go?

  • How.

  • How did it go?

  • How tall are you?

  • How hungry are you?

  • For this word, we have the H sound and the OW as in now Diphthong.

  • Make sure your H isn't too heavy.

  • How.

  • How.

  • Or dropped: ow, ow.

  • A light easy H, how, then jaw drop, and back of the tongue lifts.

  • How.

  • Then lips round.

  • How.

  • How did it go?

  • Number 86 the word 'our'.

  • Now, this is a function word and it will reduce.

  • So when I'm saying the word on its own

  • and giving it its full clear pronunciation,

  • our, our, it's not really how we would be pronouncing that in a sentence.

  • But you might think full, clear, that's good!

  • That's how I want to pronounce things.

  • But remember, good English is made up of contrast.

  • More clear and less clear words.

  • So we have to have the less clear words for good contrast,

  • for good English, for the English to sound natural and understandable.

  • It's ironic sometimes we have to pronounce things less clear

  • for English overall to be more clear and more natural.

  • This is a pronoun and pronouns are function words.

  • That is the less clear words.

  • Let's look at some example sentences.

  • What time is our meeting?

  • Our, our, is our, is our.

  • What time is our meeting?

  • Our, our, our.

  • Now, I can say it with the other pronunciation with the AW, R pronunciation.

  • What time is our meeting?

  • Awr, awr, awr.

  • What time is our meeting?

  • Awr, awr, awr.

  • Our or awr.

  • Really they sound almost the same, the two reductions, because I'm saying them so quickly

  • and that's really what matters.

  • Saying it quickly, flat, low in pitch, so that the word is less clear,

  • so that it doesn't sound at all like the stressed version.

  • So that's what we want, a definite unstressed feeling.

  • Not 'our' but: our, our.

  • It's our son's birthday tomorrow.

  • It's our son's— our, our, our, our.

  • Listen to how different that is from 'son's' which is stressed.

  • Our son's, our son's.

  • Unstressed.

  • Stressed.

  • Number 87, the word 'work'.

  • Work is a verb that's a Content word and that's a word that will be stressed in a sentence.

  • So this one is longer, clearer, has the up- down shape of Stress.

  • Now I know this is one of the hardest words out there.

  • All of the words with the R vowel is going to be a tough word for most non-native speakers

  • because they feel like they should make a vowel and then an R.

  • Well let's learn this right now.

  • In American English, this symbol is always followed by R and the two symbols together make just one sound.

  • RrrWorrrk.

  • Don't drop the R sound and make it something like: wok, wok, wok.

  • That's not clear enough.

  • We want the R and we want the up-down shape.

  • Wworrrkk.

  • Work.

  • Work.

  • The biggest problem for people is how to make this R.

  • The lips round but they're not as rounded as they were for the W.

  • So they will relax out some: were, Wor. Wor.

  • The tongue movement is simple.

  • The tip is forward for the W and then the tip pulls back and up a bit.

  • It's not a huge movement and your jaw drops just a bit.

  • Wor.

  • Wor.

  • Wor.

  • Work.

  • If you know you're not getting the right sound, one thing to do is to make sure you don't drop your jaw.

  • Focus only on the tongue.

  • Work.

  • Work.

  • Work.

  • I have a video with some illustrations of this vowel, I'll put a link to that video at the end of this one.

  • If you struggle with this word or vowel, you'll definitely want to check it out.

  • Let's look at this word in some sentences.

  • We'll work it out.

  • Work.

  • Work.

  • She doesn't work Mondays.

  • Work.

  • Work.

  • Number 88, first.

  • Interesting another word with this R vowel you see the letter I and you try to do a vowel but don't.

  • Don't do it.

  • Just the r sound.

  • Ffrrrst.

  • Ffrrrst.

  • Make your f, pull back the front of the tongue, don't drop your jaw: fir, fir, and the ST cluster.

  • First.

  • First.

  • Make your s with your teeth together, then lift the tongue tip to touch the roof of the mouth, which stops the air,

  • then release everything to make the t.

  • Sst.

  • Ssst.

  • As you release the tongue, the teeth part and the air comes through.

  • Sst -

  • First.

  • First of all.

  • First.

  • First.

  • We have a True T in that ending cluster.

  • First.

  • If you've seen in many of my videos, then you know that the pronunciation of the t can change

  • depending on the next word.

  • Here, it's an ending cluster ST.

  • A True T, unless it's followed by a consonant.

  • Let's look at two examples.

  • First, I want to try this.

  • First, john wants to try this.

  • First, I want to.

  • First, I want to.

  • There, it's followed by the diphthong AI and I'm making a True T.

  • First, ttt.

  • First, I want to.

  • And the next sentence: First, John wants to try this.

  • First, john.

  • First, john.

  • Here, I'm linking into a word that begins with a consonant and I'm not making a t sound.

  • First, John.

  • So when we have an ending ST cluster

  • followed by a word that begins with a consonant,

  • it is very common to drop the t sound.

  • So this is a content word that means we normally stress it in a sentence but because of this t

  • we do sometimes make a reduction by dropping the t for a smoother connection into the next word.

  • Number 89, the word 'well'.

  • We use this word in lots of different ways, as an adverb, an adjective, or a noun.

  • They're all content words where we'll stress it.

  • Things are going well.

  • I wish him well.

  • All is well.

  • Well, w consonant, EH as in bed vowel, and the dark L.

  • Well, uhl, well.

  • The dark l is made with the back of the tongue pressing down and back a little bit.

  • Uhl, uhl.

  • You don't lift your tongue tip unless maybe you're going to link into a word that begins with a vowel or diphthong.

  • Well.

  • Well.

  • Well.

  • Up-down shape of stress.

  • But this can also be an interjection and then it's often unstressed.

  • We use this a lot at the beginning of sentences.

  • Well, I want to leave by 7:00.

  • Well, I want to leave.

  • Well, I want to leave.

  • Well, well, well.

  • Well, I want to.

  • Well, I want to.

  • It's really just the w and a quick dark sound.

  • Wuhl, wuhl, wuhl, wuhl.

  • I've dropped the EH vowel, turned it into a schwa,

  • which sort of gets lost in the dark l.

  • Wuhl, wuhl, wuhl.

  • Try that with me.

  • Wuhl, wuhl, wuhl.

  • Well, I want to.

  • Well, I want to.

  • Well, I want to.

  • Well, I want to leave by 7:00.

  • Well, that's not what she said.

  • Well, well.

  • Well, that's.

  • Well, that's.

  • Well, that's not what she said.

  • So this word can definitely reduce depending on how it's being used.

  • Number 90, the last word for this Video, the word 'way'.

  • This is fun.

  • This reminds me of a video I just made for my online school,

  • Rachel's English Academy,

  • where my dad and I are talking about my way, your way, the best way, the wrong way.

  • This is a noun and it's stressed in a sentence.

  • It's fully pronounced and has the up-down shape of stress.

  • Way.

  • W consonant, AY as in say diphthong.

  • Way.

  • We've had lots of words beginning with W in this video.

  • Haven't we?

  • Work.

  • Well.

  • Way.

  • Lips come together into a tight circle for that W.

  • Wwwway.

  • Then the ay as in say diphthong.

  • First, jaw drop.

  • Waway.

  • Then, the jaw relaxes up as the front of the tongue arches towards the roof of the mouth.

  • The tip stays down.

  • Way, way.

  • Get out of the Way.

  • We need to find a way to solve this Problem.

  • You've come a long way.

  • When we were going over the word 'work',

  • I told you that I'd share a link to a video that goes over this R vowel sound.

  • This is for the word 'first' as well.

  • Rrr. Rrr.

  • Click here or in the description below to see that video that goes over that vowel

  • and has some illustrations so you can see what the tongue is doing inside the mouth.

  • Let's keep going down this list of the 100 most common words in American English.

  • Look for the next installment in this series, coming soon.

  • That's it and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.

Today, you're getting the next video in the 100 most common words in English series.

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