I met him. I met his wife.

You know her. They read my book.

They saw you. He knows their son.

She phoned me. We called their friends.

He likes them. She hates her job.

We found it. You need our help.

You don't need to copy the fast speech pronunciation. People will understand you if you use careful speech. But you need to be able to understand fast speech.

Pronouns are often joined to auxiliary verbs (is, have, will, etc.) in contractions. For example, when we speak, we join the I and will together to form I'll. In the sentence I'll ask her there are four words but only three syllables. This is because the pronoun and contraction are pronounced as one syllable. This sentence therefore has the stress pattern oOo (the pronouns and contractions I'll and her are unstressed).

You do not join the pronoun to an auxiliary verb at the end of a sentence. For example, say Yes, I will, don't say Yes, I'll.

You only put stress on pronouns if you want to emphasise or contrast something. It is like underlining with your voice. For example: You don't need him, but he needs you!

EXERCISES

29.1 Add pronouns to these words to make sentences with the pattern oOoO. Do not use the same pronoun twice. Then say your sentences aloud, making the rhythm clear.

Example drove/car →She drove her car.

1. read/book

2. drank/milk

3. sang/song

4. ate/lunch

 29.2 Listen and write the words you hear in the gaps.

Example Can you tell her to call me please?

1. Can you give.......to........please?

2. Did........meet........daughter, Catherine?

3. I don't think........likes........ .

4. What did........say to........?

5. Where did........buy........guitar?

6. What's........mother's name?

7. Where are........parents from?

8. ........bought presents for........children.

 29.3 Write the sentences below again. Change the people to pronouns, and make the auxiliary verbs (has/is/are etc.) into contractions. Then underline the stressed syllables in your sentences. There should be two in each sentence. Then listen, check and repeat.

Example Helen has given Robert some money.→She's given him some money.

1. Robert is buying presents for the children.

2. Bonnie and Max are opening their presents.

3. Bonnie and Max will thank Robert for the presents .

4. Robert will thank Helen for the money.

UNIT 30

Pronouncing the verb be

 You don't normally put stress on are in the middle of a sentence. Listen to this rhyme.

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

Flowers are nice,

And so are you!

Many speakers pronounce are just as the weak vowel sound /ə/, but if the following word begins with a vowel sound, the /r/ is pronounced too, for example People are angry.

The word is (and 's) is not usually spoken as a separate syllable; it is usually joined to the syllable before, for example Snow is/'s white. But if the word before ends with letters like S, CE, GE and CH, it is a new syllable, for example Grass is green. Listen to the examples.

is and 's - not a separate syllable	is and 's - a separate syllable
Snow is white.	Grass is green.
Your hair is dirty.	Your face is dirty.
The road is closed.	The bridge is closed.
The clock is broken.	My watch is broken.

After a pronoun, am, is and are are usually written as a contraction ('m, 's, 're).

In the middle of a sentence, was and were are also usually unstressed. Listen to the chant.

She was first.

You were last.

It was hard.

She was fast.

You were slow.

She was strong.

I was tired.

It was long.

The verb be is normally unstressed at the start of a sentence too. Listen to this chant.

Am I right? Am I wrong?

Is it short? Is it long?

Are you hot? Are you cold?

Were they young? Were they old?

Is it false? Is it true?

Was it me? Was it you?

The verb be is stressed in negative contractions (e.g. aren't), and at the end of sentences (e.g. Yes, I am).

The verb be is also stressed for emphasis or contrast, for example: That can't be John ... Wait a minute... It is John!

EXERCISES

 30.1 Underline the word are if you think the /r/ is pronounced. Then listen, check and repeat.

There are a lot of books in the picture. Some of them are on the desks and some are on the shelves. There are some trees outside the windows. The windows are open. There are some pens on one of the desks.

 30.2 Tick (v) the sentences where is is always a separate syllable. Then listen, check and repeat.

Example a Lunch is ready! v b Dinner is ready!

a The house is cold. b The room is cold.

a The taxi is here. b The bus is here.

a The beach is crowded. b The park is crowded.

a The steak is good. b The fish is good.

a The meaning is clear. b The message is clear.

a The smell is awful! b The noise is awful!

a Juice is good for you. b Fruit is good for you.

 30.3 Listen and underline the verb you hear.

1. People are / were angry.

2. Alice is / was here.

3. Your face is / was dirty.

4. The birds are / were singing.

5. The books are / were cheap.

6. The fish are / were dying.

7. The place is / was nice.

8. Paris is / was nice.

9. The children are / were tired.

10. My friends are / were coming.

 30.4 Listen and fill the gaps with one word.

Example That was my favourite.

1. His parents..............rich.

2. The birds..............singing.

3. The beach..............crowded.

4. The children..............at home.

5. He..............going out at the weekend.

6. Her dog..............called Kip.

7. This car..............very expensive.

8. The drinks..............free on this flight.

9. The weather..............terrible.

10. The banks..............closed on Saturday.

UNIT 31

Auxiliary verbs

 OooO is a very common rhythm in questions beginning with Wh-words (when, where, what, etc.) followed by auxiliary verbs.

Wh-word auxiliary pronoun main verb

(stressed) (unstressed) (unstressed) (stressed)

What do you think?

O o o O

Listen to these examples. You will hear each one twice; first in careful speech and then in fast speech. Notice how, in fast speech, the vowel is very weak in the auxiliary do and does.

OooO

What do you think?

Where do you live?

What does she mean?

Where does he work?

What did he say?

Why did you go?

Other auxiliaries are also usually unstressed in questions. Listen. Note that the speaker does not pronounce the first letters of the auxiliaries will, have and has.

What will he do? Where has she been?

What have I done? What can you see?

Auxiliaries are stressed in negative contractions and at the end of sentences. Listen to these examples.

Yes, I do.

I don't know.

Yes, I will.

He won't say.

Yes, I have.

I haven't done it.

Yes, I can.

I can't help.

Auxiliaries can also be stressed for emphasis or contrast. For example: I'm not English, but I am British!

In very fast speech, some speakers pronounce many of these questions with only three syllables. Listen.

OoO

What do you want? /wↄdjə'wↄnt/ (sounds like: What dya want?)

What does he do? /wↄtsi'du:/ (sounds like: What si do?)

Where have you been? /weəvjə'bin/ (sounds like: Wherve ya bin?)

Where did he go? /weərdi'gəu/ (sounds like: Where di go?)

EXERCISES

 31.1 Listen and complete the questions.

Example What did he do?

1. Where..................................... live?

2. What..................................... say?

3. Where..................................... work?

4. What..................................... see?

5. Where..................................... gone?

6. Who..................................... meet?

7. Where..................................... sit?

8. When..................................... end?

9. Where..................................... been?

10. Who..................................... asked?

 31.2 Write the questions in this conversation and give the stress patterns. Then listen, check and repeat the questions.

Example A: What do you do? OooO

B: I'm a doctor.

1 A: ....................................?

B: I live in Kingston, Jamaica.

2 A: ....................................?

B: I work in the University Hospital.

3 A: ....................................?

B: Yes, I'm married. My husband is a teacher.

4 A: ....................................?

B: He teaches History and Geography.

5 A: ....................................?

B: At the Grove Road Secondary School.

6 A: ....................................?

B: I met him when I was on holiday in Florida.

7 A: ....................................?

B: We got married in 1999.

31.3 Think of a computer which people speak into and it writes what they say. This computer wrote the underlined parts of these questions incorrectly. (You can read what it heard in phonemic letters.) Correct the writing.

Example What dya /djə/ mean? What do you mean?

1. Who vya /vjə/ told? ....................................?

2. What di /di/ say? ....................................?

3. When dya /djə/ start? ....................................?

4. Where zi /zi/ gone? ....................................?

5. How dya /djə/ do? ....................................?

UNIT 32

Pronouncing short words (a, of, or)

 Short words like articles (a, the), conjunctions (and, or) and prepositions (to, of) are usually unstressed. Listen to this chant. Every line has the stress pattern oOoO. They have this rhythm because the first and third words are all unstressed. These words are: some, and, a, of, for, the, to, or, as.

Shopping list

Some milk and eggs,

A tin of peas,

A snack for lunch:

Some fruit and cheese.

The loaf of bread,

A jar of jam,

Some juice to drink,

A piece of ham.

Some pears or grapes,

Some beans and rice,

A can of beer

As cold as ice!

Notice that the vowels in all the unstressed syllables are pronounced the same. This sound is written as /ə/ in the phonemic alphabet. Also, in fast speech, the consonant sounds after the vowel in these words may not be pronounced. In this case, and sounds like an, and of sounds like a. Listen to these examples.

and sounds like an:

an apple and an orange and an onion

of sounds like a:

a bit of this and a bit of that

You don't need to copy the fast speech pronunciation. People will understand you if you use careful speech. But you need to be able to understand fast speech.

The consonant sound in of is not dropped when the following word begins with a vowel, for example some of each.

The vowel sound in to and the is different if the following word begins with a vowel. In this case, to changes from /tə/ to /tu/, and the changes from /ðə/ to /ði/. Listen to the difference.

We need water to drink and food to eat.

I'll have the fish, and the apple pie for dessert.

EXERCISES

32.1 Make up phrases using the following words: bowl, bottle, jar, packet, bag, pot, carton, kilo. Write them in the correct column according to the rhythm (two phrases in each column). Then say the phrases aloud.

oOoO	oOoOo	oOooO	oOooOo
		A bowl of soup

 32.2 In these sentences, both of the words in italics are possible and they sound similar in fast speech. Listen and underline the word you hear.

1. I had a salad as / and a main course.

2. Give her an / some egg if she's hungry.

3. She went to look at / for the fruit.

4. He gave me a basket of / for bread.

5. Get some pasta and / or rice.

6. I like the / to cook.

7. She ordered a / the soup.

8. Have some / an orange juice.

9. He invited me at / for lunch.

10. He made this jar for / of jam himself.

 32.3 Listen and fill the gaps. Then listen, check and repeat. Make sure you keep the same rhythm: oOoO.

Example

a glass of milk

……time……lunch

……egg……..chips

……bag……..nuts

……drink…...eat

…….cook…...rice

32.4 Think of a computer which people speak into and it writes what they say. This computer wrote these sentences incorrectly. Write the correct sentences.

Example We had beans an rice.→We had beans and rice.

1. We had a nice cup a tea.

2. I don't want a go out tonight.

3. I need a drinker water.

4. We cook to chicken.

5. He can't cooker meal.

6. Have a nice cream!

7. Come in an sit down.

UNIT 33

Understanding conversation

 Listen to this conversation. What is the cause of the misunderstanding?

A: I've just got this one bag.

B: Wow! Do you always travel so light?

A: Yeah. Can't stand the wait, you know, at the airport ...

B: Yeah, I know. My bag's really heavy. But it's got wheels, so I don't have to carry it.

A: No, I mean the waiting, you know, waiting for your cases to come out on the belt.

The speakers pronounce all the words clearly but there is a misunderstanding because the words weight and wait have the same pronunciation. When Speaker B says heavy, Speaker A knows he understood weight, not wait, so she corrects the misunderstanding.

In conversation, we need to know when communication is going wrong, and then correct it.

When we don't understand what someone says in a foreign language, we often think it is because we don't know the language well. But often it is not our fault. Listen to this man from London. Do you understand what he is saying?

It leaves at free forty-five this afternoon.

There are many different accents in English. In this accent, three sounds like free. In this example, you can probably guess from the context that he is saying three forty-five. The context often helps us understand what people are saying.

We can't always guess from the context. Sometimes we need to ask questions in order to understand. Remember these ways of asking:

Sorry, I don’t understand.

How do you pronounce this?

Could you repeat that?

How do you spell that?

EXERCISES

 33.1 In each of the sentences below, one of the words is written wrongly. It is written wrongly because that's what it sounds like in the accent of the speaker. All the accents are different from standard, British English. Listen and guess from the context which word is written wrongly and correct it.

Example She's a rider (writer) of romantic novels

• Read about it in the noose papers.

• She went to hospital 'cause she had art problems.

• We watched TV and den we went to bed.

• I want to tank you for your help.

• They were jailed for robin a bank.

• With a bit of look, we'll win this game.

• Can you old the umbrella while I get my keys out?

 33.2 Listen to these dialogues and fill in the missing words. Then listen again and say B's lines.

1

A: Can I help you?

B: Yes, I'd like to see... I'm sorry, ……do you pronounce this name?

A: O'Shaughnessy. Doctor O'Shaughnessy.

B: Yes, I'd……to see Doctor O'Shaughnessy, please.

2

A: My name's Mark.

B: …, Mike, you say?

A: No, Mark. M-A-R-K.

B: Oh, I see. You don't … the R?

A: No, not in my accent.

3

A: My surname's Vaugn.

B: Sorry, could you … that, please?

A: Vaugn.

B: Vaugn? How do you … that?

A: V-A-U-G-N.

B: Oh yes, I’ve seen that name before!

 33.3 Listen. Reply to each sentence you hear using one of the expressions below. Number the expressions in the order you use them.

…… Sorry, could you repeat that, please?

…… Sorry, I don't understand.

…1… How do you pronounce that?

…… Can you speak more slowly, please?

Мс

UNIT 34

Reading aloud: 'pronouncing punctuation'

 Listen to this text. Notice that in speech there are pauses where, in writing, there are punctuation marks.

I can never guess the weather right. If I wear a warm shirt, the weather's hot. If I wear cool clothes, there's a cold wind. When I don't take my umbrella, it rains. If I take my umbrella, does it rain? Of course not! Then I leave it on the bus! Oh well. We all have our weaknesses, I guess!

Reading aloud is good pronunciation practice. Don't forget to 'pronounce the punctuation'.

Pauses can change the meaning of what we say. Listen to these pairs of sentences and note the difference in pronunciation.

a It was cold outside. There was snow on the ground.

b It was cold. Outside, there was snow on the ground.

a Was that the question he asked?

b 'Was that the question?' he asked.

a I got up, quickly got dressed, and went downstairs.

b I got up quickly, got dressed, and went downstairs.

We need to use pauses to give us time to think, and to give the listener time to take in the information. Listen to this address and note that there are pauses where there are line breaks and where there are gaps in the telephone number. Notice also that when the speaker spells her surname and email address, she divides the letters into groups.

Linda Wharton