Shadowing Practice: How I met your Mother | Lily Runs Away (1) - Learn English Speaking with Video
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62 sentences
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1
Marshall and Lily had been together for nine wonderful years until she dumped him and ran off to San Francisco.
2
The healing process was taking a long time.
3
I will not believe what just happened.
4
You go first.
5
I found a 1939 penny on the subway.
6
Just imagine the kind of history this little copper guy's seen.
7
Lily's back in town.
8
And you let me go first?
9
Have you seen her?
10
Uh, yeah.
11
I actually went apartment hunting with her today.
12
How's she doing?
13
You're not going to like it.
14
I am doing great.
15
This summer, best thing ever.
16
San Francisco is so happening right now.
17
She's happy?
18
Marshall had the worst summer of his life, and she's happy.
19
Yeah, and I suppose her art program was all fulfilling or whatever.
20
Oh, the art program.
21
Best thing ever.
22
Oh, my God.
23
This is your best work.
24
In all my years teaching, I've never seen anything so...
25
Needless to say, this is art.
26
I can't teach you anything.
27
Oh, jeez.
28
Such a...
29
God damn...
30
After what she needed to marshal, she should come back here devastated, crawling on all fours over the broken glass of her own shame and regret.
31
You never chose sides.
32
I respect that.
33
The next day, Robin and I went apartment hunting with Aunt Lily.
34
But I need the freedom to really chase my passion, which was painting, but now I think it's music or spoken word.
35
Maybe both.
36
God, isn't life amazing?
37
It is so great to see you, Ted.
38
Oh, I'm gonna get the key from the lockbox.
39
What?
40
She's miserable.
41
She's realized she's made a huge mistake.
42
Her and Marsha will be back together in a week.
43
I love it!
44
Um, no, you just want
45
Lily to be miserable.
46
The truth is, she's happy.
47
Trust me, I've known
48
Lily for nine years.
49
Trust me, I'm a girl.
50
Yeah, but you're Canadian.
51
Why do you always have to bring that up?
52
You bring it up every time, and that's nothing to do with it.
53
Five bucks says she still wants Marshall.
54
You're on.
55
Five American bucks.
56
Damn it.
57
Okay, so how do we get the truth out of her?
58
Tequila.
59
It's her weakness.
60
Three shots, she'll tell you the truth about anything.
61
I hope this is my new home.
62
Yeah, I'm gonna take that first apartment.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “How I met your Mother”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: Lily, Marshall, apartment, truth. This video has 62 sentences and 390 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:44. The speaker talks at a steady 143 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 84% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| miserable adjective | /ˈmɪz(ə)ɹəbəl/ | In a state of misery: very sad, ill, or poor. |
| buck noun | /ˈbʌk/ | A male deer, antelope, sheep, goat, rabbit, hare, and sometimes the male of other animals such as the hamster, ferret, salmonid, shad, skunk and kangaroo. |
| chase verb | /t͡ʃeɪs/ | To follow at speed. |
| passion noun | /ˈpæʃən/ | A true desire sustained or prolonged. |
| regret verb | /ɹɪˈɡɹɛt/ | To feel sorry about (a thing that has or has not happened), afterthink: to wish that a thing had not happened, that something else had happened instead. |
| copper noun | /ˈkɒpə/ | A reddish-brown metallic chemical element (symbol Cu) with the atomic number 29; also, the metal made up of this element. |
| weakness noun | /ˈwik.nɪs/ | The condition of being weak. |
| heal verb | /ˈhiːl/ | To make better from a disease, wound, etc.; to revive or cure. |
| dump verb | /dʌmp/ | To release, especially in large quantities and chaotic manner. |
| penny noun | /ˈpɛni/ | In the United Kingdom, a unit of currency worth ¹⁄₁₀₀ of a pound sterling, or a copper coin worth this amount. Abbreviation: p. |
| subway noun | /ˈsʌbˌweɪ/ | An underground railway, especially for mass transit of people in urban areas. |
| marshal noun | /ˈmɑɹʃəl/ | A military officer of the highest rank in several countries, including France and the former Soviet Union; equivalent to a general of the army in the United… |
| fulfill verb | /fʊlˈfɪl/ | To satisfy, carry out, bring to completion (an obligation, a requirement, etc.). |
| crawl verb | /kɹɔːl/ | To move by dragging one's body along or close to a surface, like a worm or insect, or on one's hands and knees, like a human baby. |
| devastated adjective | /ˈdɛv.əˌsteɪ.təd/ | Ruined, ravaged. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| come back verb | To return to a place. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Have you seen her?
- You're not going to like it.
- I can't teach you anything.
- Trust me, I'm a girl.
- Why do you always have to bring that up?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | Have you seen · I've never seen · I've known |
| Past continuous was/were + -ing — an action in progress at a moment in the past | was taking · was painting |
| Superlatives the -est / the most … — the top or bottom of a group | the worst · your best |
| Future with “going to” be going to + verb — a plan or something you can see coming | You're not going to like · gonna get · gonna take |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 13 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, you're, gonna. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: passion /ˈpæʃən/, marshal /ˈmɑɹʃəl/
- Long words — get the stress right: miserable /ˈmɪz(ə)ɹəbəl/, devastated /ˈdɛv.əˌsteɪ.təd/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like miserable, buck, chase.
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.