Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.
00:08
Hi. I'm Tim and this is my Pronunciation Workshop.
Here, I'm gonna show you how English is
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really spoken. Come on, let's go inside.
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Oh dear, excuse me. I'm a bit tired: I was out
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late last night, with the lads. I know, yeah,
we didn't get back until 9.30. In the evening.
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It was a wild night. I know, I know, I am
a party animal. Anyway, while I get myself
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together a bit, let's ask some other people
in London what they got up to last night.
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At 9 o'clock last night I was watching a movie.
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01:01
I was laying in bed.
I was invited to a dinner at my friend's house.
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I was playing football
I was out drinking.
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Well well, what interesting lives we all lead.
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Now they all used the past form of the verb
'to be' - was. Now the word 'was' is made of
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the sounds /w/, /ɔ:/, / z/, isn't it? Or
is it? Listen again. What sound can you actually hear?
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At 9 o'clock last night I was watching a movie.
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I was laying in bed.
I was invited to a dinner at my friend's house.
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01:36
I was playing football
I was out drinking.
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When the word 'was' is unstressed, as in the
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examples we've just heard, then the vowel
sound changes to a schwa - /ə/. So 'was' becomes
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/wəz/, and also 'were' becomes /wə/. These
are called weak forms. Here are some more examples.
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I was there when it happened.
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We were delighted with the results.
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We were having a good time until it rained.
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He was feeling much better last night.
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Right, now you've heard the examples, and
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now it's your turn. Listen and repeat.
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I was there when it happened.
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We were delighted with the results.
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We were having a good time until it rained.
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He was feeling much better last night.
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Great work. Remember, if you want to learn
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more about pronunciation, then please visit
our website, bbclearningenglish dot com. And
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that is about it from the Pronunciation Workshop
for now. I'll see you soon. Bye bye! Now...
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oh look! Hey, you know what this is? This
is WAS backwards. Get it? WAS backwards...
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it's a SAW. Now, I know what you were thinking.
You were thinking that I was going to have
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some terrible accident. Well don't worry - it's
not even switched on - look! Wooahhhhh!!!
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