Shadowing Practice: A, AN, or THE? Stop Making These Common English Mistakes! ❌ - Learn English Speaking with Video
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We'll be back with our art challenge a little later
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but first of all let's go through all of that with our English language expert Rob from the British Council.
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Hi Rob.
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Hi Ashley.
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Oh dear Stephen has a lot to learn about art.
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I know he really did think that rubbish bin was a piece of art.
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Well it isn't always easy to tell what art is is it?
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No. Anyway after watching that I've got a question for you.
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Go on.
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Do you know what an article is?
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Yeah it is something you read in a newspaper paper or a magazine?
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Well yes it is but for people who are learning English articles are a,
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an and the and it can be very difficult to learn how to use them properly.
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Really?
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They're just little words like this is a pen.
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Okay but is it a pen or the pen?
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Let's have a look at some examples.
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We're at an art market.
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It's a kind of market where artists sell their art.
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I'm going to make some art come back to the market and sell it.
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Brilliant idea, huh?
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So the first time you said we're at an art market.
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It's an and not a because art starts with a vowel sound
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and it's also an because the person you're speaking to doesn't know which art market it is.
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There are lots of art markets and this is just one of them, an art market.
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But the second time was different.
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Watch again.
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I'm going to make some art, come back to the market and sell it.
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Now, the second time, you said you were going to come back to the market.
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Why the market and not a market?
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Because it's the art market.
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It's obvious.
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Yeah, that's right.
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When we all know which art market or which thing we're talking about, we use the.
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It doesn't sound too difficult to me, Rob.
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Well, it is difficult because some languages don't have any articles.
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Really?
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Yes, Russian, for example, doesn't have any articles in the way English has.
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Ah, okay.
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That's strange.
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And there are some special rules too, like we say the sun and the moon, but not the Mars.
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Okay, I see.
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It's a bit complicated, isn't it?
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It is, but I always tell my students just to remember three golden rules.
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Let's watch.
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Yeah, excellent idea.
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Except one thing, you're not an artist.
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Rule number one.
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When you say your job, always use an article, a or an.
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So I'm a teacher, you're an actress, and that's why Stephen said you're not an artist.
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Here's rule number two.
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We're at an art market.
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Sounds like a challenge.
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And the winner gets to keep all the money we make agree.
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We're at an art market.
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Sounds like a challenge.
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The winner gets all the money.
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When you have a singular noun, art market, challenge, winner, it always has an article.
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It can be a, an, or the, but a singular noun always has an article.
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Or it has a determiner, like his or her or my, like this.
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Ashley wants to buy some art for her fat.
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Her flat.
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And here's rule number three.
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Art is all about ideas.
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It's a kind of market where artists sell their art.
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When we talk about things in general, we don't use an article.
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So, art is about ideas, not the art, because it's art in general.
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So we say cats like mice, Not the cats like the mice because we're talking about all cats and all mice.
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That's why you said it's a market where artists sell their art.
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Not the artists because it's all artists.
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Artists in general.
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See what I mean?
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I guess so.
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It's trickier than I thought.
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It is, but those three rules will help you avoid the most common mistakes.
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And you've just said the other thing
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that i want to have a look at typical ash you
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choose the biggest thing in the market for your tiny flat
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well yeah i guess it is a bit too big what
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do you think stephen i guess he's trying to make us think about the modern world i guess you
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and stephen use it quite a lot i guess it's a
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bit too big i guess he's trying to make us think
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so what does i guess mean um i think i guess i I mean,
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it means I'm not sure, but I think, right?
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Perfect.
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I'm not sure, but I think.
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I guess.
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And I guess that's all we have time for.
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Ah, you're right, Rob.
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But thanks again, and we'll be speaking to you a bit later.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 90 sentences and 785 words to shadow. The speech runs for 4:52. The speaker talks at a natural 161 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 88% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| mouse noun | /maʊs/ | Any mammal of the many rodent families (especially Muridae) that have a small body and a long tail. |
| singular adjective | /ˈsɪŋ.ɡjə.lɚ/ | Being only one of a larger population; single, individual. |
| noun noun | /naʊn/ | A word that functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as person, animal, place, word, thing, phenomenon, substance, quality, or idea… |
| complicated adjective | /ˈkɑm.plɪˌkeɪ.tɪd/ | Difficult or convoluted. |
| actress noun | /ˈæk.tɹɪs/ | A female who performs on the stage or in films. |
| tricky adjective | /ˈtɹɪk.i/ | Hard to deal with, complicated. |
| rubbish noun | /ˈɹʌbɪʃ/ | Refuse, waste, garbage, junk, trash. |
| determiner noun | /dɪˈtɝ.mɪ.nɚ/ | A factor that defines something, or one among several that define it. |
| vowel noun | /ˈvaʊ.əl/ | A sound produced by the vocal cords with relatively little restriction of the oral cavity, forming the prominent sound of a syllable. |
| golden adjective | /ˈɡəʊl.dən/ | Made of, or relating to, gold. |
| mistake noun | /mɪˈsteɪk/ | An error. |
| properly adverb | /ˈpɹɑpɚli/ | In a proper manner, appropriately, suitably; correctly, justifiably |
| strange adjective | /stɹeɪnd͡ʒ/ | Not normal; odd, unusual, surprising, out of the ordinary, often with a negative connotation. |
| obvious adjective | /ˈɑb.vi.əs/ | Easily discovered, seen, or understood; self-explanatory. |
| tiny adjective | /ˈtaɪni/ | Very small. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 28 contractions and reduced forms, such as we're, I'm, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- Long words — get the stress right: complicated /ˈkɑm.plɪˌkeɪ.tɪd/, determiner /dɪˈtɝ.mɪ.nɚ/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like mouse, singular, noun.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Superlatives the -est / the most … — the top or bottom of a group | the most common · the biggest |
| Present continuous am/is/are + -ing — something happening right now or around now | are learning · you're speaking · we're talking |
| Future with “will” will + verb — a decision, promise or prediction | We'll be · will help |
| Future with “going to” be going to + verb — a plan or something you can see coming | I'm going to make |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.