Shadowing Practice: Tone units & Tonic syllables | Intonation in English | Speaking Naturally - Learn English Speaking with Video

Hi everybody and welcome to this video.

We want to have a look at tone units and tonic syllables.

But first of all, thank you so much for your many lovely comments in my videos and on my channel.

I love hearing from you.

Thank you so much.

But let's get back on track.

So what are tone units the way we speak.

Now, speech in English is organized into tone units.

Thank you.

not into individual words or sentences.

Often we think of it this way, but that is not really accurate.

Thank you.

Tone units are the building blocks of all spoken communication.

So can you give an example?

This might sound a bit technical so far. Of course.

Let's have a look here.

We have two sentences.

The car stopped, we'd arrived at the park and got out.

and to put any capital letters into lowercase.

We will use other symbols to show tone units, and we will use capital letters for another purpose later.

So here are the sentences again but we've removed all the punctuation and capital letters.

Now, let's listen how the speech is divided up into short pieces here.

Listen carefully.

The car stopped.

We'd arrived at the park and got out.

Thank you.

Here again are the different units of speech.

And this time you can see a little symbol appearing where there was a little break.

The car stopped.

We'd arrived at the park and got out.

These short pieces are called tone units.

We're going to use this symbol here, those two forward slashes, to show a tone unit boundary.

Thank you.

Here's some more examples.

Our context is a day at the park.

Let's have a look at the text.

We had brought a picnic, a blanket and some games for the children.

It was a beautiful day with blue skies and sunshine.

Finally, we had a chance to relax.

But then, the accident happened.

So this is our little story and let's have a look what happens when we say this.

Let's see if you can find the tone units.

Let's look at the first part.

Again, I have removed all the punctuation and capital letters.

Let's listen.

We had brought a picnic, a blanket and some games for the children.

Here are the town unit boundaries.

We had brought a picnic.

a blanket and some games for the children.

You can hear a little pause in between each tone unit.

Now I have a bit of a longer pause so you can hear it properly,

but in natural speech there is a pause but it is still very short.

We had brought a picnic, a blanket and some games for the children.

What is important is that there is no pause whatsoever in between a tone unit.

Let's have a look at the next part.

It was a beautiful day with blue skies and sunshine.

Here are the tone units and their boundaries.

It was a beautiful day.

with blue skies and sunshine. And the last part.

Finally, we had a chance to relax.

But then the accident happened.

And once again, here are the tone units.

Finally, we had a chance to relax.

But then the accident happened.

So this sentence, originally it was one sentence, is really consisting of one,

two, three, four tone units in total.

So you can see when we talk about pronunciation and

when we want to have a look at what happens when we speak,

it makes much more sense to think of tone units and to show the tone units rather than the sentence.

Thank you.

Now so well done you've found already some tone units and you've heard some Let's just revise.

A tone unit or tone units are the basic building blocks of spoken English.

When we hear spoken English, it is heard as organized into tone units.

And this is really important.

We hear it organized into tone units, not sentences.

In written English, we think of individual words and sentences.

But in spoken English we hear tone units.

And tone units and sentences are not the same.

Good.

In a tone unit, all the sounds of the words join together.

They are linked.

Thank you.

Often, a town unit sounds like one long word to the listener.

Thank you.

Let's have a look at a comparison to illustrate what that means.

For example, all the sounds of a word linked together to form a word, and you know that already.

Let's have a look at an example: the word "sunshine".

We had this word come up before in the sentence: "It was a beautiful day with blue skies and sunshine".

"Sunshine" consists of several sounds.

Peace.

ah, nn, sh, i, nn.

But obviously, I do not say them individually.

Yeah.

I would link them up.

SUNSHINE And quickly...

sunshine So we link those sounds together to form a word.

"Sunshine." sunshine In the same way,

all the sounds of the words link together to form a tone unit.

100

Here was our original tone unit. And sunshine. And sunshine.

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You can see the transcript next to the spelling.

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And here you can see very clearly that it really sounds and looks like one word.

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and sunshine and sunshine.

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There's no pause in between and the word 'and' has been reduced to 'n' and joined with sunshine and sunshine and sunshine.

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This happens in all tone units.

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All the sounds link together.

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Thank you.

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Let's look at more tone unit examples in which the sounds link together.

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Thank you.

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Let's have a look at number one.

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I will always read them out and I want you to concentrate on the linking between the words of each tone unit.

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Number 1.

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They arrived.

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They arrived.

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Number two: It was early.

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It was early.

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Number three.

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There were toys.

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There were toys.

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Number four: for children, for children.

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Number five: "It was summer.

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It was summer." Number six, she was shy, she was shy.

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Number seven where the shop was Thank you.

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Can you hear how the sounds of these words run together to form the tone unit?

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I hope so.

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In each of these tone units, one syllable is stressed more than the others.

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Let's have a look at the first three again.

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Listen carefully and see if you can identify the syllable that is stressed more.

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Number one: They arrived.

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They arrived.

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Here, arrived is stressed more.

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Remember that the word arrived consists of two syllables.

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Arrived The second syllable is stressed.

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The first one isn't.

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Number two.

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It was early.

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It was early.

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Here /ɛ / is stressed in early.

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Early also consists of two syllables, but here the first syllable is stressed.

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It was early.

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It was early.

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Number three.

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There were toys.

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There were toys.

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Here, toys is stressed.

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Toys only consists of one syllable and therefore that is the one that is stressed.

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Now, these stressed syllables are called tonic syllables.

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In each of the tone units we have one stressed syllable and one stressed syllable only in our examples.

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And those are the tonic syllables of the tone unit.

150

Thank you.

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Now we will show tonic syllables in capitals in this video.

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So have a look again at our three examples.

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They arrived.

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Arrived is now in capital letters and that means this is the tonic syllable.

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Thank you.

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Here are more tonic syllables from our earlier examples.

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I'll read them out one more time.

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Pay attention to the tonic syllables and how they are more prominent and stressed than the rest.

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Number one: They arrived.

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Number two: It was early.

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Number three: They were toys.

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Number four: For children.

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Number five: It was summer.

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Number six.

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She was shy.

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Number seven, where the shot was.

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Some of the tone units have tonic syllables that consist only of one syllable like toys,

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shy and sharp in number three, six and seven.

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And the other tone units all have tonic syllables in words that are more than one syllable long.

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Arrived, early children, summer.

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So those all consist of two syllables, but only one is stressed and that is the tonic syllable.

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In our example of course, you could also have a word with three

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or four syllables where one is stressed and that could be the tonic syllable as well.

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Thank you.

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So in our example here, All tone units have only one tonic syllable.

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However, let's look at another tone unit.

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Listen carefully.

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The car stopped.

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The car stopped.

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What is different here?

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Thank you.

182

Thank you.

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This town unit has two syllables that are stressed.

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car and stopped.

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The car stopped.

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Can you find the two stressed syllables in the following example?

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Listen carefully.

188

The playground was full.

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The playground was full.

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Thank you.

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Play and playground and 'full' are the two stressed syllables in this tone unit.

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Thank you.

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They ran across.

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They ran across.

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Here, 'ran' and 'cross' in the word 'across' are both stressed.

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Thank you looking at the ducks Look and looking and ducks are both stressed.

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Looking at the ducks.

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Thank you.

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Now, if we have a tone unit with two stressed syllables,

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We need to decide which of the two is the tonic syllable.

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Now.

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These two are not stressed in quite the same way.

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Yes, we would say they're both prominent, they're both stressed, but not in quite the same way.

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Thank you.

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In the last stressed syllable of a tone unit, there's a fall -in pitch.

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Listen carefully.

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The car stopped The car stopped Thank you.

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The last stressed syllable in each tone unit is the tonic syllable.

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The tonic syllable is underlined.

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So for our example in this video and the ones following, we will write stressed syllables in capitals.

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and the tonic syllable will be underlined.

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Here are some more examples from the tone units earlier.

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The playground was full.

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Full is the tonic syllable.

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They ran across.

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Cross is the tonic syllable.

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Looking at the ducks.

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'Dax' is the tonic syllable.

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um Here is a summary.

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Spoken English is organised into smaller pieces called tone units.

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This helps the listener because...

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The message is heard in smaller pieces, which we can hear one at a time.

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and because deciding which words really which syllables to stress shows what is important in our message.

224

Thank you.

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And as a result, it is easier for the listener to understand you.

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Remember, try to make it easy for the listener to understand you.

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Learn more about the pronunciation system of English.

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Thank you.

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Why?

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Well, because so you can feel at home using it.

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And the pronunciation system of English does not just cover sounds or word stress.

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Really, really important are sentence stress and intonation and tone units and tonic syllables form an important part.

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Develop a good understanding of the pronunciation and intonation of English.

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This is so important.

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People will find it much much easier to understand you.

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It all starts with learning to listen well.

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And remember, there are two ways of listening.

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You can listen to the "what" and you can listen to the 'how' "What" means this is all about the content,

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what is being said, what the message is.

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But the "how" is about how things are said.

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This is about the pronunciation.

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If you want to become better at spoken English and pronunciation, you need to focus on the how.

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Listen to how people say things and then pay attention to how you say them.

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And this will help you to improve your pronunciation.

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Now remember, you can find more free materials and videos to help you improve your pronunciation on my channel, Billy English.

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And if you visit, leave me a comment and a message.

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Like Sophia did, she passed both her phonology exams and I was so delighted to hear from her.

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Thank you.

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Why Practice Speaking with This Video?

Engaging with this video on tone units and tonic syllables is an excellent opportunity for you to learn English with YouTube. Speaking in natural, conversational English involves understanding the rhythm and flow of speech, which is effectively demonstrated in this content. Practicing with the examples provided will not only enhance your pronunciation but also help you identify the natural breaks in speech. This way, you can string your words together more fluidly, just like a native speaker. By focusing on tone units, you'll discover the building blocks of spoken communication, enabling you to improve English pronunciation and connect thoughts more seamlessly when speaking.

Grammar & Expressions in Context

The speaker in the video illustrates several key grammatical structures that are central to everyday English conversation. Here are a few vital components:

Simple Past Tense: Phrases like "The car stopped" provide clear examples of actions completed in the past. Understanding this tense is crucial for recounting events accurately.
Coordinating Conjunctions: The use of "and" in sentences such as "We’d arrived at the park and got out" showcases how to connect ideas smoothly. This is a basic yet vital skill in fluency.
Phrasal Structures: The phrase "We had brought a picnic" also serves as an example of how to express possession and experience in the past, which enriches your narrative skills.

By shadowing these structures in your practice, you can significantly enhance your ability to shadow speech and convey information like a fluent speaker.

Common Pronunciation Traps

As you embark on your learning journey, it's essential to be aware of certain tricky pronunciation aspects highlighted in the video. Here are a couple of common challenges:

Linking Sounds: In phrases like “We had brought a picnic,” the blending of words can cause confusion. Make sure to practice linking the final consonant of one word with the initial vowel of the next to sound more fluent.
Intonation Patterns: The speaker demonstrates varying intonation across tone units. Observing how tone changes can signal the end of a thought versus a continuation is crucial when practicing shadowspeak.

By concentrating on these pronunciation traps during your practice sessions, you can refine your speaking skills, making it easier to communicate your thoughts clearly and confidently in English.

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 organized · is divided · are called
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	we've removed · have removed · you've found
Future with “will” will + verb — a decision, promise or prediction	will use · will always read · will show
Present continuous am/is/are + -ing — something happening right now or around now	is really consisting · is being

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 →

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Grammar in this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?