Pronunciation: The sound /s/

Hi, I'm Tim and this is my pronunciation workshop. Here, I'm gonna show you how English is really spoken.

It'll help you become a better listener and a more fluent speaker. Come on, let's go inside.

Now, do you know my star sign? Of course you

don't, I don't even know my star sign. I don't believe in any of that rubbish. But I know

someone who does. Say hello to my twin, Tom.

Hi

Hi Tom

Oh, hi Tim.

Now, Tom, do you know what our star sign is?

Well, I don't know about your star sign Tim, but I'm a Gemini.

Thanks Tom, you can go now.

You're welcome. Bye.

You know when I think of Tom, and the fact that I got the brains and the good looks,

it makes me feel a bit like this. Oh, I've got an idea. I can use this to help

with this week's topic. Let's ask the people of London what they think of this photo.

How many 's' s are there in the words 'he looks sad'. Two, right. But how many can you

hear? Watch again.

When one word ends in a /s/ sound and the next word begins in /s/, we don't pronounce

both sounds, nor do we pronounce just one sound. Instead they come together to make

a slightly longer 's' sound. So, 'he looks sad' becomes 'he lookssad'. This is called

'twinning' or gemination. It helps the words flow more fluently from one to the other in

everyday speech. Here are some more examples:

Right, so you've heard the examples, and now it's your turn. Are you ready to start? Listen

and repeat.

How did you get on? Great. Remember, you can always read more about this topic on our

website, bbclearningenglish.com. That's all from the workshop for now. See you next week.

Bye bye.

Oh, Tim, I've got it! If I'm Gemini and you're my twin, then you must be Virgo!

He really is stupid.