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  • In the US, summer is for sand, sun, and blockbuster movies. And this summer, we're going to use

  • those movies to learn English and study how to sound American. Every video this summer

  • is going to be a study English with movies video. We'll pull scenes from the summer's

  • hottest movies, as well as favorite movies from years past. It's amazing what we can

  • discover by studying even a small bit of English dialogue. We'll study how to understand movies,

  • what makes Americans sound American, and of course, any interesting vocabulary phrasal

  • verbs or idioms that come up in the scenes we study. I call this kind of exercise a Ben

  • Franklin Exercise. First, we'll watch the scene. Then we'll do an in-depth analysis

  • of what we hear together. This is going to be so much fun! Be sure to tell your friends

  • and spread the word that all summer long, every Tuesday, we're studying English with

  • movies here at Rachel's English.

  • Let's get started. First, the scene.

  • Situation?

  • Lost toy. Side yard.

  • Billy. Goat. Gruff. Raise the blinds.

  • They have names? You never told me that.

  • You never asked.

  • Where is he?

  • There. How do we reach him?

  • Operation pull-toy.

  • Slink?

  • You got it, Woody.

  • Barbies.

  • Go.

  • Now, the analysis.

  • Situation?

  • What is the melody, the song of this word?

  • If you had to just hum the tune of this word, what would you what would you hum?

  • To me it sounds like this. Mm-hmm.

  • Very clearly, it goes up at the end.

  • Situation? What does that mean at the end that it goes up?

  • That means it's a question. She's asking for information.

  • She's like what's going on? Situation? It's very different than: situation.

  • Where the pitch goes down. That's a statement. Pitch goes up makes it a question. Asking for information.

  • Situation?

  • Situation?

  • Situation?

  • Lost toy. Side yard.

  • Lost toy. Side yard. Okay, so he has a little bit of...In his voice

  • because he's pulling himself up. But it's two little sentences put together into one

  • thought group. Let's look at how he links everything together. First, the word 'lost'

  • and the word 'toy'.

  • Lost toy. Lost toy. Lost toy.

  • Lost toy.

  • He links them together with a single letter T, a true T.

  • Any word that begins with a T that is a stressed word, is going to be a true T.

  • Toy, toy, toy. The exception is if it's in a TR cluster, then it might be CH,

  • like the word train. But if it's just T, not in a cluster, it is gonna be a true T if it

  • starts a stressed word or syllable. Lost toy. Link those together with a single T. Try that.

  • Lost toy.

  • Lost toy. Lost toy. Lost toy. Side yard.

  • Whoa! Different day, different outfit, important announcement. Did you know that with this

  • video, I made a free audio lesson that you can download? In fact, I'm doing this for

  • each one of the youtube videos I'm making this summer, all 11 of the learn English with

  • movies videos. So follow this link, or find the link in the video description to get your

  • free downloadable audio lesson. It's where you're going to train all of the things that

  • you've learned about pronunciation in this video. Back to the lesson.

  • Lost toy. Side yard. Okay. So no break, I put a period there, but there was no break.

  • The OY diphthong goes right into the S. Side yard. And the D goes right into Y. So there's

  • no release of the D. If I did release it, if he did release it, it would sound like

  • this: side yard, side yard, side, side, side yard. But it's not that clear, its side yard.

  • So my tongue is in position for the D. I do vibrate the vocal chords, it's a voiced sound,

  • side yard. But rather than releasing the tongue tip down, I go right into the Y consonant.

  • That helps the two words link together more smoothly.

  • Side yard.

  • Side yard. Side yard. Side yard.

  • And the final D I don't even really hear. So I wouldn't say, I would also say it's no

  • release. I think he does voice it. Side yard. It's just that it's a subtle sound, and she

  • starts speaking, the music starts, so we sort of lose it. But just know this is a common

  • pronunciation for D especially when it links into another consonant, is that we don't release it.

  • Side yard. Side yard. Side yard.

  • Side yard. Side yard. Side yard.

  • If we were linking into a word that began with the vowel or diphthong, it would sound

  • more released. Like if I was going to say the words 'side of' together, it would sound

  • like this: side of-- duf, duf, duf. Then the tongue is coming down, it is releasing into

  • the vowel. But here, we go right from the voiced to D into the next consonant.

  • Side yard. Side yard. Side yard.

  • Billy. Goat. Gruff.

  • Okay, so she calls her three sheep. And each of them is its own little thought group of

  • a stressed single syllable. What is the melody of that stress syllable? Actually I need to

  • correct myself, it's not single. Billy is a two-syllable word. Okay, but what is the

  • shape of stress?

  • Billy. Goat. Gruff.

  • Billy. Goat. Gruff.

  • Billy. Goat. Gruff.

  • Billy. Goat. Gruff.

  • Uh-uh-- It's up down. That is the shape of stress.

  • Billy. Goat. Gruff. And actually, I love that we have an opportunity here to

  • talk about the fact that this word is two syllables, this word is one, this one is one,

  • but they still all have the same shape because the second unstressed syllable here just falls

  • into the same line of pitch. Billy. There's no skip, there's no change, I just change

  • syllables as my voice continues to smoothly come down. Goat. Stop T. Gruff. So it's this

  • little up-down shape that makes a stressed syllable. And the unstressed syllable in Billy

  • just falls into that same line. Really smoothly connected.

  • Billy. Goat. Gruff.

  • Billy. Goat. Gruff.

  • Billy. Goat. Gruff. Raise the blinds!

  • Raise the blinds! What are our stressed words here?

  • Raise the blinds!

  • Raise the blinds!

  • Raise the blinds!

  • Raise the blinds! Raise and blinds, both stressed, the word 'the' unstressed, but does connect

  • in smoothly. So raise goes up and as it comes down, we get the word 'the' at the bottom

  • before the voice goes back up for blinds. Raise the blinds. Uhhh-- uuhhh-- We're really

  • talking a lot about intonation here. I just want you to be aware of how smooth all the

  • words are when they link together and also what does a stress syllable sound like.

  • It has an up-down shape of stress. The unstressed syllables are lower in pitch, but they all

  • connect into the same line without a skip.

  • Raise the blinds!

  • Raise the blinds!

  • Raise the blinds!

  • Now, one last thing I want to talk about here is the D sound. So here, side yard, we linked

  • right into the next consonant, we didn't release the D. Here, the D comes between two sounds,

  • two consonant sounds, N and the Z sound, blinds, and she drops it. It's a common thing to do

  • to drop T or D between two other consonants. Why do we do that? For smoothness. To make

  • things smooth, and we still totally get the meaning. No one would ever think: Oh my goodness,

  • she didn't make the D sound! It's just so natural, it's the way we speak. So do it that

  • way too, it will make it more simple, and you'll likely find it easier to say: blinds,

  • blinds, blinds. Very light weak Z sound at the end, no D.

  • Blinds, blinds, blinds.

  • They have names?

  • They have names?

  • Quieter. They have names? Intonation goes up again

  • because it's a question. In this case, it's a yes/no question. They have-- and the word 'have'

  • lower in pitch, but smoothly connects. I actually shouldn't write that with breaks.

  • I don't want you to think there's any break, there's not. They have names? It sounds just

  • the same way that a three syllable word would. It's a three syllable thought group,

  • made up of three separate one syllable words, but they all go together smoothly.

  • They have names?

  • They have names?

  • They have names?

  • You never told me that.

  • What are our stressed words here?

  • You never told me that.

  • You never told me that.

  • You never told me that.

  • You never told me that.

  • Pitch goes up a little bit at the end.

  • Why does the pitch go up here? It's not a question. True. I would say it's going up because it's

  • a little bit of showing surprise, exasperation. You never told me that. It's like whoa, hey,

  • I can't believe that! So that's why I would say the intonation goes up a little bit at the end.

  • You never, never, never. Flatter, lower in pitch, it's a valley compared to 'you' and 'told'.

  • You never told me that. And let's look at the D in 'told'. Comes after an L

  • before an M, the two words linked together so it comes between two consonants.

  • Does he make a D sound?

  • You never told me that.

  • You never told me that.

  • You never told me that.

  • I don't hear it. Told me, told me, told me that, told me that. I believe it is dropped.

  • When you study how Americans speak, you see how often we simplify things. And it's still

  • clear because it's our habit. Everyone's on the same page with these simplifications.

  • But wow, if you really tried to precisely and fully make every sound in American English,

  • you can see how it would be so hard to do it, and sound smooth, and sound fluent. And

  • so that is why we really need to study what Americans do, because you probably weren't

  • taught this in school. And this is where you can learn it, so that you can see how Americans

  • really are talking, so that you can speak more easily, and speak with more confidence,

  • have more fluency, and be more easily understood.

  • You never told me that.

  • You never told me that.

  • You never told me that.

  • And he does a stop T at the end of the word 'that'. That. We usually do that with T's

  • at the end of a thought group, or also when they're followed by a word that begins with

  • a consonant.

  • You never told me that.

  • You never told me that.

  • You never told me that.

  • You never asked.

  • You never asked. You never asked. Asked-- the most stressed syllable there. Stress syllable

  • of ne-- also has some of that shape.

  • You never asked. You never asked. You never asked.

  • Everything really smoothly links together. OO right into the N and the R right into the

  • vowel AH. Never ah-- no break there, nothing showing me it's a different word.

  • Just smooth connection.

  • You never asked.

  • You never asked.

  • You never asked.

  • Now what are the rules for ED endings? The rule is when the sound before is unvoiced,

  • like this K, it's a T. So we have a single syllable, five letters but just one syllable

  • the AH vowel, S consonant, K consonant, T consonant. So we have a cluster here of three

  • consonants. It's common to drop the K here. We've talked about dropping the D between

  • two consonants. We also do that with the K. I can't say if we do it in every case,

  • but I know we do it in this word a lot. So 'asked' becomes: asked, asked, you never asked. Now,

  • I do think I hear her doing a light K here. Asked. But that's not usual. Much more common

  • to drop the K, and just say: asked, you never asked.

  • You never asked.

  • You never asked.

  • You never asked.

  • Where is he?

  • Where is he? Where is he? All linked together and we have a great reduction.

  • First, what's our stressed word there?

  • Where is he?

  • Where is he?

  • Where is he?

  • Where is he? Always look for the peak of pitch. So here, it's the word 'is', someone is missing,

  • they want to know his location. Where is he? Where is he? The ending R links right into

  • the IH vowel, really smooth. Then with the word 'he' we have a reduction, the H is dropped.

  • This is a really common reduction with he or him. The H is dropped and we just have

  • the IH vowel. Sorry, the EE vowel. And that links right into the word before. 'Is' is

  • pronounced with the Z sound. So we have the Z sound right into the EE vowel. Zee, zee, zee.

  • Where is he? Where is he? Where is he?

  • Where is he?

  • Where is he?

  • Where is he?

  • There!

  • There! There! It's short. There's urgency in the voice, but I still get the sense of

  • the up-down shape. There. There. It's certainly not: there, there, there. Flat. There, there,

  • there. A little rounded word, a little hop. There. There. There.

  • There!

  • There!

  • There! How do we reach him?

  • Okay, in this thought group, how do we reach him? What are our stressed words?

  • Our peak in pitch? Our mountains in the melody?

  • How do we reach him?

  • How do we reach him?

  • How do we reach him?

  • How do we reach him? How and reach, do we, lower in pitch, connect

  • in, in the valley, and him, comes down off the end of 'reach' as the pitch of the voice

  • goes down. How do we reach him? All really smoothly connected. Now, we already talked

  • about the reduction of he, I mentioned we do this with him too. And look! Here's an example.

  • The H is dropped, it's just the IH vowel and the M consonant. Now, I want to say,

  • when we do this, when we drop the H, we always link the word on to the word before.

  • So we go right from the CH sound to the IH vowel, no break. If you did a break, the reduction

  • wouldn't sound right. So chim-- chim-- reach him-- reach him-- How do we reach him?

  • How do we reach him?

  • How do we reach him?

  • How do we reach him?

  • Operation pull-toy.

  • Okay. Operation pull-toy. What is the most stressed syllable or word there?

  • Operation pull-toy.

  • Operation pull-toy.

  • Operation pull-toy.

  • We have some stress on the stressed syllable, operation, and then the most stressed, operation

  • pull-toy, on the word 'pull' and the word 'toy' falls off and pitch as we come off of

  • that peak for pull.

  • Operation pull-toy.

  • Operation pull-toy.

  • Operation pull-toy.

  • Operation. First syllable stress. Now, you see the letter O, I know my students can be

  • very tempted to round their lips, say something like: oh, oh, oh, but there's no lip rounding,

  • it's not an O like vowel, but it's the AH vowel like in father.

  • AH-- operation, operation pull-toy.

  • Operation-- Operation-- Operation pull-toy.

  • Pull-- This word can be tricky. P consonant, the vowel like what is in push, UH, and the L, pull.

  • The L here is a dark L because it comes after the vowel in the syllable.

  • And I don't really think you need to try to make the UH vowel then a dark sound, then lift

  • the tip for the L. Pull toy. When I do that, I really just make two sounds, the P sound,

  • and the dark sound for the dark L before I make the T. I don't lift my tongue tip. Pull toy.

  • I lift it only to get in position for the T, which is a true T.

  • Pull-toy. Pull-toy. Pull-toy.

  • Pull-toy. So for the dark L, we make that not with the tongue tip, tongue tip stays down,

  • but we make it with the back of the tongue. Uhl, uhl, uhl, uhl, pull toy.

  • Pull, see if you can work on the word pull by itself without lifting your tongue tip.

  • It might be a really strong habit, try to fight that.

  • Try to make the uhl sound with the back of your tongue.

  • Pull. Pull toy. Operation pull-toy.

  • Operation pull-toy.

  • Operation pull-toy.

  • Operation pull-toy.

  • Slink?

  • Slink? Slink? Pitch goes up, it's a question. He's like saying are you there? Are you listening?

  • So if someone says Rachel? I know that they're wondering if it's me, they're wondering where I am,

  • it's always a question when the pitch goes up like that.

  • Slink? Slink? Slink?

  • You got it, Woody!

  • You got it, Woody! All right, I love what's happening with the pitch here. You got it.

  • The word 'you', the pitch is going up, because the pitch is on 'got' and we want all of the

  • pitch to be smoothly transitioning. You got it, Woody! And then we have another little

  • bit of a mountain on that stressed syllable 'Woo--'

  • You got it, Woody! Got it. Got it. These two words linked together with a flap T.

  • This is how the D sounds in American English between vowels, and we link two words with a flap T,

  • or we make a T a flap T when it comes to between two vowel sounds. Now here, the T

  • is followed by a consonant. That's going to be a stop T. You got it. It, it,

  • it's not it, with the released T, but it's it, with a stop T, my tongue goes into position,

  • or I cut off the air with my vocal cords, it, and that's a stop. You got it, Woody!

  • You got it, Woody!

  • You got it, Woody!

  • You got it, Woody!

  • Barbies!

  • Go!

  • Barbies! Barbies!

  • The up-down shape again, it's a single thought group. It's two syllables, the first syllable

  • is stressed, and the second syllable falls into the intonation as the voice goes down.

  • Barbies. Now, this is different than 'Slink?' where the intonation went up. He was like

  • are you there? Are you paying attention? She's not asking anything. She is commanding. Barbies.

  • So pitch goes down. It's a statement. Barbies. Go.

  • Barbies!

  • Barbies!

  • Barbies!

  • Go!

  • So she's shouting 'go', intonation is higher. Go! Go! But it still has that up-down shape

  • even though it's fast, it's not flat. Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go.

  • It still has that up-down shape.

  • Go!

  • Go!

  • Go!

  • I liked this scene because there were so many short thought groups. And I feel like that

  • really lets us focus in on that up-down shape of what we want in a stressed syllable.

  • Let's watch the whole scene one more time.

  • Situation?

  • Lost toy. Side yard.

  • Billy. Goat. Gruff. Raise the blinds.

  • They have names? You never told me that.

  • You never asked.

  • Where is he?

  • There. How do we reach him?

  • Operation pull-toy.

  • >> Slink? >> You got it, Woody.

  • Barbies.

  • Go.

  • We're going to be doing a lot more of this kind of analysis together.

  • What movie scenes would you like to see analyzed like this?

  • Let me know in the comments! And if you want to see all my Ben Franklin videos, click here!

  • You'll also find the link in the video description.

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

In the US, summer is for sand, sun, and blockbuster movies. And this summer, we're going to use

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