Shadowing Practice: The Rhythm of English: Function Words, Weak Forms & Sounding Natural - Learn English Speaking with Video

In my previous video, I talked about the most important sound in English, the schwa sound.

But there was something in that video I mentioned, which I said we'd talk about later.

Weak forms.

Well, now it is later, and I'm a man of my word.

So let's talk about weak forms.

Every sentence in English has two kinds of words.

Words we call content words nouns verbs adjectives these are words

which provide content they tell the story they are the meat of your sentence

if you rush these words

if you say them too quickly people might not understand what

you're saying then we also have what we call function words

function words are the boring words grammar words they're just there

to fill gaps kind of like stepping stones these are not normally pronounced in their strong form

so for example a word like two is hardly ever pronounced as two it's listen to this sentence

and tell me what you think sounds better I'm just waiting for the bus

or I'm just waiting for the bus for the for the I'm pronouncing for

and the very very quickly and that's because nobody cares about the words for

and the I mean yes they are important

but they don't need to be emphasized we know that they're there

and the listener is only really listening for those important words waiting bus these kinds of words

that provide content the thing we're doing and the thing that we're waiting for, right?

For has been pronounced as and that's using the schwa sound.

Now, if you're not familiar with how to pronounce the schwa sound, go and watch the video which I made a couple of weeks ago about the schwa.

But if you want a really quick example, the sound is very relaxed, very lazy.

We don't do much with the mouth.

It's just so add an F before that.

Instead of for, it becomes fh, fh, for the bus.

Waiting for the bus.

Fh, fh.

Now I have a list of what I would call the most common weak forms and some example sentences.

So try to copy me if you can.

An, n, n, schwa then n, n.

I have an umbrella, n, umbrella.

I have an umbrella.

And can reduce to for example fish and chips fish

and chips fish and chips fish and chips but but

but it's nice but it's pricey but it's pricey it's nice

but it's pricey that that that i think that it's fine that it's fine. As. As.

Instead of as soon as you can.

As soon as you can.

Notice how those stressed words are becoming more obvious now, and we don't need to shout them now because we're relaxing the weak words. Than.

Thn.

It's later than I thought.

Thn.

I it's later than I thought. To.

The most common one I would say.

I'm heading to the shops becomes I'm heading to the, to the, get used to that,

to the, to the, to the, to the shops.

I'm heading to the shops.

And this is what creates the rhythm of English when we speak.

That rhythm that everybody tells me they feel like they're missing if they're a non -native English speaker.

For, th, th.

Notice how that schwa is barely there.

It's so lazy.

This is for you.

For, for you.

This is for you. From, from, from.

She just got back from her holiday becomes, she just got back from her holiday.

From her holiday.

she just got back from her holiday of of another super

common one a couple of minutes a couple of of of a couple of minutes a couple of minutes at

I'll see you at the station.

Ah, another really common one.

Just a schwa.

How are things?

How are you?

How are things?

we were just talking we were just talking we were just

talking we were just talking we were just talking you don't

need to memorize the list you just need to become familiar with them they're those short everyday words

that just come up in loads of different sentences and you'll find moments where they can be relaxed.

Can, can, I can pick it up becomes I can, I can, can, I can pick it up, I can pick it up.

Shall, shall, shall, shall we head off, shall we head off? have,

have, have, I have seen it, I have, have, I have seen it, I have seen it, has,

she has had lunch, she has, she has, she has had lunch,

she has had lunch, had, had,

had, we had just arrived we had we had

just arrived we had just arrived do do you fancy a walk do you practice

that one do you do you fancy a walk Do you fancy a walk? Does. Does. Does. Does.

Does she know yet? Does she. Does she. Does she.

Does she know yet?

Them.

I'll ask them tomorrow.

For now, just get comfortable with how they're pronounced.

Maybe create some practice sentences of your own.

However, I do have to make things, as always, a little bit more complicated because sometimes we might pronounce these words in their strong forms.

I'm sorry.

Let's talk about some strong form triggers.

Triggers which make the function words sound important.

100

Trigger number one.

101

When a function word is the very last word in a sentence, it's very likely it's going to be stressed that's

102

because there's nothing after it to carry the rhythm to keep the rhythm going

103

so we're going to emphasize the ending of

104

that sentence picture it as a full stop a way to finish a thought

105

or a thing

106

that we're saying for example someone could ask me with the

107

weak form do you want to go there to go there right

108

so two gets pronounced in its weak form

109

because it's in the middle of a sentence

110

and then i might respond maybe

111

and say something like yes i want to two is the end

112

so i'm going to pronounce it as to let's practice this

113

do you want to go there do you want to go

114

there yes i want to yes i want to who are

115

you talking to i'm not going to say who are you talking to just sounds a bit weird

116

because it's like there's no final ending here

117

so it needs to be who are you talking to who

118

are you talking to now we could pronounce you as yeah

119

because it's in the middle of a sentence who are you talking to

120

so let's say somebody asks me where are you from

121

from is going to be pronounced in its strong form

122

because it's at the end of the sentence where are you from sounds weird right

123

but if i answered that question and said i'm from bristol in England.

124

I'm from.

125

I'm from Bristol.

126

Because the next word is a stressed word, I can carry that rhythm and pronounce from in its weak form. From.

127

I'm from Bristol.

128

Where are you from?

129

I'm from Bristol. From.

130

I might say, don't look at me.

131

Look at me.

132

Don't look at me but let's say somebody asks me this question What are you looking at?

133

What are you looking at?

134

It's now pronounced in its strong form

135

because it's at the end of the question and trigger two

136

when you're emphasizing a word correcting someone a moment where you need this word to be stressed Well, then you might stress it.

137

Oh, I can't remember if Elliot said, can he do it or can't he?

138

I can't remember.

139

What did he say?

140

I would say, I said I can do it.

141

I said I can do it.

142

Because I want to emphasize that word, can now.

143

Now, let's take a look at this long paragraph.

144

Listen to all of the weak forms I pronounce.

145

I'm going to have to read it from the screen, so I'm going to stop looking at you for a second.

146

I was going to call you, but I thought you might be at work so I sent a message instead.

147

I know you've got a lot of things to do this week and I didn't want to add to it.

148

If you've got a minute later, let me know.

149

I'd love to hear how things are going.

150

And if you can't that's fine too.

151

I just wanted to check in with you.

152

I was going to call you but I thought you might be at work so I sent a message instead.

153

I know you've got a lot of things to do this week

154

and i didn't want to add to it

155

if you've got a minute later please let me know i'd love to hear how things are going

156

and if you can't that's fine too i just wanted to check in with you

157

so lots of in there instead of two

158

but one thing i wanted to mention was

159

when i said i didn't want to add to it one exception here we're connecting our speech

160

to ends with a vowel sound, add begins with a vowel sound.

161

Vowels hate each other.

162

So we usually create a consonant in between them to connect our speech.

163

So instead of saying to add with the weak form, we're actually going to pronounce to in its strong form,

164

create a w sound to join to the word add. To add.

165

So this is just one more exception where the weak form becomes strong.

166

To add, to educate, to eat, I want to eat, right?

167

So we're going to pronounce it in its strong form when we connect our speech, but that's it.

168

And of course, notice that's fine too.

169

T -double -O will always be pronounced in its strong form.

170

It's not a weak form word.

171

So take a random text, read a book, anything you can do where you read out loud and start highlighting those function words.

172

Look for those words that could be relaxed.

173

But remember those stress triggers.

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One of the hardest things though is just knowing if you're doing it right or wrong.

175

Is your rhythm actually good?

176

Do you sound comfortable when you speak?

177

Are the weak forms in the right places?

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Are you overthinking it?

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I can help you with this.

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I have a course where I can give corrections along the way on whatsapp

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and i do private coaching so you're welcome to work with me

182

so we can improve your rhythm your pronunciation

183

or build towards even a british accent if you wanted to

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but thank you very much for watching everybody i hope you enjoyed this

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and i hope you found it useful i'll see you next time take care cheers guys bye

¿Qué es la Técnica de Shadowing?

Shadowing es una técnica de aprendizaje de idiomas respaldada por la ciencia, desarrollada originalmente para la formación de intérpretes profesionales y popularizada por el políglota Dr. Alexander Arguelles. El método es simple pero poderoso: escuchas audio en inglés nativo y lo repites en voz alta de inmediato, como una sombra que sigue al hablante con solo 1-2 segundos de retraso. A diferencia de la escucha pasiva o los ejercicios de gramática, el shadowing obliga a tu cerebro y músculos de la boca a procesar y reproducir simultáneamente patrones de habla reales. Las investigaciones muestran que mejora significativamente la precisión de la pronunciación, la entonación, el ritmo, el habla conectada, la comprensión auditiva y la fluidez al hablar, convirtiéndola en una de las metodologías más efectivas para la preparación del IELTS Speaking y la comunicación en inglés en el mundo real.

Shadowing Practice: The Rhythm of English: Function Words, Weak Forms & Sounding Natural - Learn English Speaking with Video

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