Shadowing Practice: The Schwa Sound | English Pronunciation Training - Learn English Speaking with Video

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In this English pronunciation lesson, we're focused a hundred percent on the most common sound in English, the schwa.

Arguably it's also the most important, especially when it comes to natural sounding speech.

Now, if you're thinking the schwa, what is that?

I've never heard of it before.

Don't worry.

I've got you in this

Confident English lesson today, you're going to learn what is the schwa in English?

English.

Why is it so important?

And two essential rules for using the schwa.

Along the way you'll learn eight ways to apply those two rules.

So you'll easily recognize words in which you should be using the schwa sound.

And the great news is learning to use the schwa correctly will not only help you with natural sounding speech in English,

but it will also help you better understand fast English speakers.

But before I say any more about that, very quickly, let me introduce myself just in case this is your first time here.

I'm Anne Marie with Speak Confident English.

Everything I do is designed to help you get the confidence you want for your life and work in English.

One way I do that is by sharing my weekly confident English lessons.

These lessons focus on fluency and confidence building strategies, in depth grammar training, and accurate pronunciation training.

Just like in this lesson today, you can find all my lessons

and follow me every week at my Speak Confident English website and on my Speak Confident English YouTube channel as well.

So while you're watching this lesson, make sure you give it a thumbs up and subscribe.

So you don't miss my future lessons.

Now let's get back to the schwa.

I mentioned briefly that understanding the schwa will help you understand fast English speakers.

And this lesson is actually part of an entire series I have on better understanding fast English speakers.

You can get all of those lessons, for example, on assimilation, dropped sounds and more by checking out my fast English speaker series.

I'll leave a link to that playlist in the notes below.

And now I want you to sit down, get comfortable, and let's learn everything you need to know about the schwa,

why it's important and how you can use it.

We're going to start at the beginning.

What exactly is the schwa?

As you'll learn, the schwa is the most common vowel sound in English.

And it's what we call a reduced vowel sound.

In other words, it's really lazy.

It doesn't like to do a lot of work.

The reason it's the most common is the schwa sound can replace vowels in a word.

It can replace any vowel, an A E I O or U sound.

And you'll see examples of that as we continue through this lesson.

Now, you might be thinking, do I really need to know this?

Can't I just use the normal vowel sounds?

Well, you could, however, the schwa is used to convey the correct stress and rhythm of the English language.

And that's why it's so important.

We'll talk much more about stress in English, but before we go there, let's talk about what the schwa sounds like.

The schwa sound typically sounds like a, Uh, uh, uh.

Notice that everything is relaxed.

When I make that sound, my jaw, my lips, everything,

uh, uh, in writing the symbol that we use to represent the schwa is this symbol.

However, typically in writing, you don't see the schwa.

For example, in the word helmet, you don't see the schwa written.

However you do hear it.

Listen again.

Helmut.

That second E has an a sound.

Helmut.

Ut.

Helmut.

This is exactly what makes the schwa so challenging.

The fact that we don't see it in writing.

When you learn a new word and you learn that word in writing, you see it with all the vowels we have in English,

but in spoken communication, it's there.

Here's another example.

When you learn the word content, for example, I feel content in that word, you see the O vowel,

but in spoken communication, we hear the schwa content, content.

Remember the uh sound content.

Before we learn the two essential rules for using the schwa,

let's talk about how this is related to better understanding fast English speakers.

The schwa is used in unstressed syllables, which we're going to learn much more about in a moment.

And when used, it's said faster with lower volume than you you might hear in stressed syllables and speaking.

What that means is the schwa reduces the amount of time it takes to say a vowel in the word.

And as a result, when English speakers use it, it sounds like they're speaking faster.

The amount of time needed to speak or say that syllable is reduced.

Using the schwa gives the illusion that words are being said more quickly.

Learning to recognize the schwa in spoken communication and learning to use it is going to help you in multiple ways.

First, it will strengthen your listening skills.

It will help you get familiar with the stressed, timed nature of the English rhythm.

As a result, you'll have improved comprehension with native English speakers, and you'll be able to produce these sounds as well for natural sounding speech.

So let's talk about rule number one, using the schwa.

The schwa is used in unstressed syllables to understand this rule and to apply it.

It is essential to understand the difference between stressed and unstressed syllables.

And this can be a challenge because not everyone can initially hear the difference between stressed and unstressed sounds in English.

So let me share with you an example that I learned many years ago to help you recognize the difference.

When I was a kid, I loved playing outside with my neighborhood friends.

During the summer, we would often be outside playing hide and seek or kick ball.

And when it was time to go home for dinner,

or if it was during the school year and it was time for me to go home,

to do my homework, I would see my mom or dad come outside, stand on the front porch and yell my name.

When they did that, it would sound like this.

Anne Marie, Anne Marie.

Can you hear the unstressed part of my name?

Listen again.

Anne Marie.

Notice that you don't hear Anne Marie.

Instead, Anne Marie.

The ma of my name is unstressed.

That syllable has less emphasis.

It said faster and with lower volume.

In fact, you can hear the schwa there an ma, uh, uh, re with that in mind,

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let's look at five specific uses of the schwa in unstressed syllables.

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Use number one is words ending with the vowel a in words

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that have more than one syllable and end in the a vowel sound.

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That final a is typically reduced to a schwa sound.

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For example, Cola, uh, uh, Cola, sofa, Panda.

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Here are four more words.

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And I want you to apply that same rule.

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Use a schwa sound at the end.

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I'm going to give you a moment to practice each word

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and then I'll say it as well so that you can listen and repeat.

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Number one, barista, a barista.

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Number two, Frisia.

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Number three, persona.

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Number four, iguana.

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Okay.

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Let's transition right into use number two

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because it's very similar in words with more than one syllable that begin with a letter A,

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that first syllable can be used with a schwa sound when it's a weak syllable.

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Let's take a look at some example words instead of enunciating an A sound as in the words day,

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may say we hear schwa the beginning of these,

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uh, ago, a tone away.

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I want you to give this fourth one a try on your own.

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Alaska in use three, the schwa can be found in the middle of a word when it has more than two syllables.

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And when it is a weak syllable,

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for example, elephant, listen carefully to the middle syllable elephant,

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elephant, dinosaur, sediment, elephant, dinosaur, sediment.

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Look at the spelling of those words.

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Notice that each one contains a different vowel in the middle syllable, yet we're still using the schwa sound in each one of those.

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Let's try a few more.

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This time I want you to say them first

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and then you'll hear me say them so that you can listen and repeat.

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I also want you to think about how many schwa sounds are in the word.

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So let's try number one, algebra, algebra, algebra.

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Algebra.

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How many schwa sounds do you think we have there?

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Algebra.

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Two schwa sounds.

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Algebra.

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Word number two.

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Academic.

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Academic.

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How many schwa sounds are there?

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There's just one.

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A -ca -demic.

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The second syllable.

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A -ca -demic.

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And number three.

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Transatlantic.

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Transatlantic.

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Listen one more time and see if you can identify where the schwa is.

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Transatlantic.

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It's at the beginning of the word Atlantic.

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Okay.

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Okay.

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It's time for use number four of using the schwa in unstressed syllables.

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In this case, the schwa is often used when words end in A I N A N or O N.

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And it has to be when the syllable is unstressed or a weak syllable.

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For example, in the word human, the first syllable carries the primary stress

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and the second syllable is unstressed rather than pronounce the second syllable as the word man,

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as we would in the singular word man, it takes on the schwa human,

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a human, human using that same rule.

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How would you pronounce these words?

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Take a moment to practice.

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Once again, I'll say them aloud so that you can listen and repeat.

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So number one, what do you think?

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When we say number one, you don't hear bargan.

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You hear bargain.

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Bargain.

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Number two, captain.

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Captain.

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Number three, reason.

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Reason.

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And number four, person.

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Person.

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Notice in all four of those examples, that final unstressed syllable has an a sound that schwa

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and now use number five for using the schwa in unstressed syllables is with noun suffixes.

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As a quick reminder, a suffix is added to the end of a word and it changes the form of a word.

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For example, if I have the verb to compete when I add shun at the end, it becomes competition, a noun.

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Shen is a noun suffix.

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Words that end in a noun suffix and are an unstressed syllable are pronounced as the schwa.

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Now in English, we have quite a few noun suffixes.

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In this video lesson, I'm going to review three of them with examples so that you can hear that schwa sound.

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If you want a full list of noun suffixes in English and examples where you can hear the schwa,

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I recommend visiting this lesson at my Speak Confident English website.

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In that lesson, you'll see everything in writing, including 11 noun suffixes that follow this rule.

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Now let's get into the first three we're going to review together right now.

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First, nouns ending in Shun, T I O N.

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For example, the word station,

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uh, an station that first syllable has all the stress stay shun.

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This is similar to the word that we just used competition.

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The second noun suffix is words that end in I T Y as in the noun ability, ability.

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Notice the I in I T Y is a, ability, ability.

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And the third example, nouns that end in ism, I S M.

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For example, feminism, um, feminism.

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Can you think of other example words with those same noun suffixes?

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Take a moment, write one or two down, practice saying them aloud.

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You'll notice that schwa sound is present.

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Now let's transition to the second rule for using the schwa.

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And we'll look at three specific uses of that rule.

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But before I go there, don't forget, if you want a full list of those noun suffixes with examples,

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make sure that you visit the Speak Confident English website.

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And now rule number two for using the schwa, use the schwa with function words.

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If you're one of my fluency school students, you absolutely know what function words are.

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Function words are words that have a grammatical or structural cultural relationship with other words in the sentence.

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In other words, they have a job to do.

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And here are examples of function words in English conjunctions such as because and,

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but however determiners, for example,

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you're there prepositions at, on into of pronouns.

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For example, anybody, someone, auxiliary verbs, such as do, does, am,

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question words, who, what, when, and qualifiers, somewhat, rather, a little.

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In English grammar, these are all function words.

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And when used in a sentence, you'll often hear the schwa.

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Our first use with this rule is when you have a one syllable function word, use the schwa sound.

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Function words such as to,

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for, and, uh, the, and so on have vowel sounds that are typically reduced to the schwa sound.

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And in speaking, this gives the illusion that someone is speaking particularly fast because you you don't hear those function words clearly.

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When you have a function word in isolation, or if someone is intentionally emphasizing the word,

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then the vowel sounds remain fully intact.

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For example, if I have this word here, as in isolation, you hear the full vowel sounds.

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However, However, when used in a sentence or in combination with other words, it becomes unstressed.

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And as a result, you don't hear as you hear us.

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We have that a sound us.

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For example, the sentence, I'm not as tall as you.

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I'm not as tall as you.

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Listen carefully.

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You don't hear.

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I'm not as tall as you.

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Instead we have that schwa sound.

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I'm not as tall as you.

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I'm not as tall as you.

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Similarly, let's look at this word when pronounced in isolation,

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you'll hear your, however, when used in a sentence in an unstressed syllable,

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it's your, your, for example, I'd like to hear your opinion.

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I'd like to hear your opinion.

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Let's give this a try with a few example sentences in each of these sentences.

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I've highlighted the function word and I want you to try saying the sentence using the schwa sound.

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Let's give the first one a try.

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The cards for me, the cards for me, Instead of four, we have fur.

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I need a cup of coffee.

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I need a, a, I need a cup of, a, of coffee.

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I need a cup of coffee.

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And number three, could you pass me a pen?

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Could you pass me a pen?

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Now that you've got that down, this is the perfect time to go into use number two of this rule with function words.

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We use the schwa in reductions with two, one of our function words.

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In my playlist on how to understand fast English speakers, I've included a full lesson on common reductions in English.

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Let's revisit that topic briefly.

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Some words combine with two to form reductions.

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For example, gonna wanna gotta.

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When that reduced form occurs, they also weaken in stress and adopt the schwa sound.

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So instead of clearly hearing going to, you'll hear gonna as in this sentence,

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I'm gonna go to the store.

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The same is true with have to.

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Instead of I have to go to the store, we have hafta.

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I have to go to the store.

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Once again, we have that schwa to hafta.

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And lastly, gotta, I gotta go.

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So now that you have these two clear rules of how to use the schwa sound in English

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and when you should let's practice.

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I have a long sentence here for you and I want you to apply these rules,

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these uses that you've learned and see if you can identify all the places where we should use a schwa sound.

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If you want, you can write this sentence down in a notebook

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and circle or underline the the places where a schwa sound would be used in speaking.

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Once you've finished, you can take a look at my example sentence with the schwa sounds highlighted in the comments below.

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Now to help you, I am going to say this sentence out loud so you can listen carefully for those schwa sounds.

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Here we go.

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An elephant walked into the room and spilled the professor's drink on the sofa.

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Listen again, An elephant walked into the room and spilled the professor's drink on the sofa.

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Again, you'll find my sentence written out with the schwa sounds in the comments below.

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If you found this lesson helpful to you, I would love to know.

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You can tell me in one very simple way, give this lesson a thumbs up here on YouTube.

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And while you're at it, subscribe to the Speak Confident English channel.

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So you never miss one of my Confident English lessons.

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That's the best way to let me know what has been helpful to you

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so that I can continue to create lessons just like this for you in the future.

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Thank you so much for joining me and I'll look forward to seeing you next time.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “The Schwa Sound”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: schwa, word, sound, English, syllable. This video has 275 sentences and 2891 words to shadow. The speech runs for 22:41. The speaker talks at a steady 127 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 82% 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
lesson noun	/ˈlɛs.ən/	A section of learning or teaching into which a wider learning content is divided.
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…
elephant noun	/ˈɛlɪfənt/	A large mammal of the family Elephantidae in the order Proboscidea, having a trunk, and native to Africa and Asia.
algebra noun	/ˈæl.d͡ʒɪ.bɹə/	Elementary algebra: A system for representing and manipulating unknown quantities (variables) in equations.
distress noun	/dɪˈstɹɛs/	Physical or emotional discomfort, suffering, or alarm, particularly of a more acute nature.
pronounce verb	/pɹəˈnaʊns/	To declare formally, officially or ceremoniously.
carefully adverb	/ˈkɛɹf(ə)li/	With care; attentively, circumspectly.
reduction noun	/ɹɪˈdʌk.ʃən/	The act, process, or result of reducing.
isolation noun	/ˌaɪsəˈleɪʃən/	The state of being isolated, detached, or separated; the state of being away from other people.
sofa noun	/ˈsoʊ̯fə/	An upholstered seat with a raised back and one or two raised ends, long enough to comfortably accommodate two or more people.
transition noun	/tɹænˈzɪʃ.ən/	The process of change from one form, state, style or place to another.
helpful adjective	/ˈhɛlp.fl̩/	Furnishing help; giving aid; useful.
symbol noun	/ˈsɪmbəl/	A character or glyph representing an idea, concept or object.
briefly adverb	/ˈbɹiːfli/	In a brief manner, summarily.
highlight verb	/ˈhaɪˌlaɪt/	To make prominent; emphasize.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
check out verb	To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.).
get back to verb	Return to (an activity)
look forward to verb	To anticipate, expect, or wait for, especially with a feeling of approval or pleasure; to be excited or eager to.
sit down verb	To assume a sitting position from a standing position.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

Now, if you're thinking the schwa, what is that?
Can't I just use the normal vowel sounds?
Can you hear the unstressed part of my name?
How would you pronounce these words?
Could you pass me a pen?

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is designed · is reduced · being said
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	I've never heard · I've highlighted · I've included

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 69 contractions and reduced forms, such as you'll, don't, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: rhythm /ˈɹɪð.əm/, thumb /ˈθʌm/, strengthen /ˈstɹɛŋ(k)θən/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: reduction /ɹɪˈdʌk.ʃən/, isolation /ˌaɪsəˈleɪʃən/, transition /tɹænˈzɪʃ.ən/, illusion /ɪˈl(j)uːʒ(ə)n/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: isolation /ˌaɪsəˈleɪʃən/, feminism /ˈfɛmɪnɪz(ə)m/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, similarly /ˈsɪm.ə.lə.li/, intentionally /ɪnˈtɛn(t)ʃənəli/

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 lesson, noun, elephant.

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.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: The Schwa Sound | English Pronunciation Training - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?