Say These 100 DAILY WORDS in a British Accent! (MODERN RP)

Hello, lovely students, and welcome to your  pronunciation training session. Today, I am  

very excited to help you pronounce 100 everyday  words in my Modern Received Pronunciation accent. 

Now, I'm not just going to read a list  of words to you—to make this really fun,  

productive and efficient for you—I've  divided the words into 10 categories,  

each focusing on a specific feature of  my accent or British everyday vocabulary.

I promise you that by the end  of this pronunciation training  

session, you will notice a marked  difference in your pronunciation.

Here is the plan! Step 1:  I'll model each word for you,  

first slowly and then faster.  Repeat after me to practise.

And then step 2: we'll practise the  words together in full sentences.

When I say together, I mean that I'd like  you to speak along with me at the same time.

Why? Well, this technique, often called  shadowing, will help you to build fluency,  

practise your English rhythm and gain confidence  in your beautifully accurate pronunciation.

It's a win win win! It'll also help you to  

notice how some words change slightly  when they're connected to other words.

I also want to remind you that you do not  have to copy my accent to speak beautiful,  

clear English! The Modern RP accent is  just one example of British pronunciation.

This lesson is going to help you  understand its key features while  

refining your own style and  finding your own unique voice.

It is no secret that English pronunciation  can be hard. It can be really difficult to  

know where your strengths and weaknesses are  and what steps you need to take to improve.

For this exact reason, I have created an in depth,  free—emphasis on free—Pronunciation Level Test.

It's totally online, totally free. It includes  

45 questions which will take you  through from Beginner to Advanced.

Once you complete the test, I will  send your result to you via email.

It's a fantastic way for you to discover just  how clear and accurate your pronunciation is,  

and identify any areas that  would benefit from a bit of work.

How can I take this test? I hear you ask. Well,  

I've put the link in the description box  and you can also scan that QR code there.

Once you've completed the test,  you'll get an email with your results.

Okay, let's get started!

We're going to focus first  on one key feature of my  

and many other British accents. I don't pronounce  the letter 'r' at the end of a word or before  

consonant sounds, so the letters -er at the  end of words usually sound like /uh/, /uh/.

This sound is called the schwa sound and  it's the most common sound in English.

In most American accents, these  letters would sound more like /uhr/.

Can you hear the difference?  /uh/, /uhr/, /uh/, /uhr/.

Let's practise with 10 common  words with /uh/ or -er at the end.

Remember to repeat after me. I'll go slow  first then fast. One: 'Whether.' 'Whether.'

Two: 'Shower.' 'Shower.'

Three: 'Shopper.' 'Shopper.'

Four: 'Driver.' 'Driver.'

Five: 'Lager.' 'Lager.'

Six: 'Natter.' 'Natter.'

Seven: 'Quieter.' 'Quieter.'

Eight: 'Whisper.' 'Whisper.'

Nine: 'Deliver.' 'Deliver.'

And ten: 'Offer.' 'Offer.'

How did you find that?

Here's something interesting—I do usually  

pronounce the letter 'r' when  it comes before a vowel sound.

Listen and compare:

'The weatheR was awful.'

'The weather /r/ is awful.'

Did you hear the difference there?

Let's practise some of these words  in full sentences. Shadow me.

I'll mark where I pronounce  the 'r' sound to help you.

'The weather was awful so the shopper /r/ asked  

the taxi driver to take her  to the pub for /r/ a lager.

While she was having a natter /r/ on the phone,  the room suddenly grew quieter /r/ and some  

people began to whisper /r/ about the  heavy snow shower that was forecast.'

Pause and replay that if  you want to practise again.

The next sound we will focus on is  in the final word of our last list.

'Offer.' 'Offer.' /ɒ/, /ɒ/.

So pull your tongue to the back of your mouth.

Open the jaw slightly and  round the lips. /ɒ/, /ɒ/.

In many North American accents, this  short /ɒ/ sounds more like a long

'o', 'o', /ɒ/, 'o', /ɒ/. So if you want to speak  

with Modern RP, keep this sound  as a short burst /ɒ/, /ɒ/—'offer'.

Here are 10 everyday words with this sound.

Repeat after me.

'Often.' 'Often.'

Remember, you can also say 'often'.

'October.' 'October.'

'Opportunity.' 'Opportunity.'

'Want.' 'Want.'

'Stop.' 'Stop.'

'Clock.' 'Clock.'

'Knowledge.' 'Knowledge.'

'Hospital.' 'Hospital.'

'Impossible.' 'Impossible.'

And 'apology'. 'Apology.'

Let's practise the sound in some full sentences.

Shadow me now.

'In October, she had the opportunity to fix  the broken clock but said it was impossible  

without the right knowledge. Instead,  she stopped and offered her apologies.'

Rewind and replay that if you'd  like to practise again. If not,  

let's move on to our next  sound—which is super, super British.

Can you guess what it is? It's the glottal stop.

We make this sound by quickly  closing the throat and then  

releasing the air. It's like a  tiny, light cough 'ah', 'ah'.

It often replaces that /t/ sound in  the middle and at the end of a word,

but it can also appear in place of  some other consonant sounds, too.

We can represent this sound with this symbol.

Now, the use of the glottal stop is really  irregular. I don't tend to use it in the  

middle of words. This is more a feature of other  accents, but there are a few where I do use it.

Let's practise 10 glottal words.

Repeat these words after me.

'But.' 'But.'

'About.' 'About.'

'Football.' 'Football.'

'Scotland.' 'Scotland.'

'Hot.' 'Hot.'

'Backpack.' 'Backpack.'

'Seat belt.' 'Seat belt.'

'Unfortunately.' 'Unfortunately.'

'Flight.' 'Flight.'

And 'might'. 'Might.'

Now, in most of these words, I would only  use the glottal stop in fast informal speech.

Let's practise with a short text now, shadow me.

'Unfortunately, the flight was hot, but  I might make it to the football game.'

I actually inserted another glottal  stop there in 'it'—'I might make it'.

Again. I just want to reiterate. This is  very relaxed, casual speech with my friends.

There is so much more to say about  the glottal stop and when we use  

it in Modern RP. Let me know if  you'd like another video on that.

I could go into a lot of detail.

Now let's look at /j/ as in 'yes'.

In British English, we often insert a soft /j/  

sound before the /uː/ vowel  sound. In words like 'new'.

Many speakers from North America  

and other British dialects drop this /j/  sound so /njuː/ sounds more like /nuː/

We can hear another important difference  when the sounds /t/ and /j/ appear together

as they can combine to make a 'ch' sound.  So 'Tuesday' becomes 'Tuesday'. 'Tuesday'.

Similarly when /d/ and /j/ combine  they can become /dʒ/ as in 'June'.

Let's practise some daily words  with /juː/, /tʃuː/ and /dʒuː/

Repeat after me. 'The tube.' 'The tube.'

'Stupid.' 'Stupid.'

'Student.' 'Student.'

'Due.' 'Due.'

'Duty.' 'Duty.'

'News.' 'News.'

'Enthusiastic.' 'Enthusiastic.'

'Assume.' 'Assume.'

'Costume.' 'Costume'.

And 'attitude'. 'Attitude.'

And now. Shadow me as I say some  of these words in full sentences.

'The enthusiastic student  waited for the next tube,  

feeling a bit stupid in his Halloween  costume. He'd heard on the news of  

possible delays due to upgrade works but  felt a duty to keep a positive attitude.'

Now, let's look at another sound,  which changes a lot depending on  

the region you're from. It's 'oh' as in 'home'.

If you want to pronounce this sound like I do,

start with the schwa sound /ə/, /ə/. The one  we practised at the beginning of the lesson

then smoothly glide to an /ʊ/ sound, as in 'good'.

/ə/, /ʊ/. 'Oh', 'oh'.

When I make the 'oh' sound, I often round  my lips slightly at the end. 'Oh', 'oh',  

'home'. Let's practise 'oh' in 10  common words. We have 'snow'. 'Snow'.

'Hope.' 'Hope.'

'Gross.' 'Gross.' 2 there.

'Photo.' 'Photo.'

'Alone.' 'Alone.'

'Suppose.' 'Suppose.'

'Remote.' 'Remote.'

'Shadow.' 'Shadow.'

'Borrow.' 'Borrow.' And 'although', 'although'.

Shadow me now.

'Although she usually enjoyed working remotely,  

I suppose the winter shadows and  snow made her feel more alone.'

Okay, we're halfway through a 100 words. And next,  

we're going to practise  the /aː/ sound as in 'car'.

Now, I use this sound a lot, but it's less  common in the north of England and North America.

And that's because many words which have the  'ahh' sound and aren't spelt with the letter  

'r' can be pronounced with a short /æ/ as in  'apple'. Instead. For example, 'plant', 'plant'.

Do you know which one you tend to use?

Let's practise 10 words that I pronounce with  

the long /aː/ sound that you might  often hear with the short /æ/ sound.

We have 'task', 'task'.

'Laugh.' 'Laugh.'

'After', 'after'.

'Nasty', 'nasty'.

'Chance.' 'Chance.'

'Answer.' 'Answer.'

'Example.' 'Example.'

'Advantage.' 'Advantage.'

'Master.' 'Master.'

'Contrast.' 'Contrast.'

Ready to shadow me.

"'It was not by chance that they mastered  the task quickly,' she laughed. In contrast,  

it was mastered after carefully  examining answers and examples."

Let's move on to the next section.

Shortening a word by dropping a  syllable is common in many accents,  

but here are 10 words that the Brits would tend  to shorten, which many North Americans might not.

Repeat after me.

'Ordinary.' 'Ordinary.'

'Perhaps.' 'Perhaps.'

'Restaurant.' 'Restaurant.'

'Library.' 'Library.'

'Secretary.' 'Secretary.'

'Secondary.' 'Secondary.'

'Police.' 'Police.'

'Medicine.' 'Medicine.'

'Cemetery.' 'Cemetery'

And 'category', 'category'.

Now, note I'm not saying that we  always shorten these words. I'm  

saying that we sometimes do.  Especially in forced speech.

'Call the police!' 'Call the  police!' I could say either.

Now, because it's more common to drop  syllables in full sentences when speaking  

very fast. I'm going to read the next  text a little bit faster to practise.

See if you can shadow me. You might need  to rewind and try a couple of times.

'The library is between the secondary  school and the police station,  

opposite the Indian restaurant.

Perhaps they'll have a  section on ordinary medicine?'

Okay, our next section gets really tricky.  

We're going to focus on some of the  most commonly mispronounced words.

Again, I'm going to model  these in my Modern RP accent.

First we have 'half'. 'Half'.

'Receipt.' 'Receipt.'

'Biscuit.' 'Biscuit.'

'Colleague.' 'Colleague.'

'Wednesday.' 'Wednesday.'

'Suit.' 'Suit.'

'Queue.' 'Queue.'

'Crisps.' 'Crisps.'

'Village.' 'Village.'

And 'drawer.' 'Drawer.' Just one syllable there.

Let's practise in a mini text. Shadow me now.

'I found the receipt for the suit,  

biscuits and crisps I bought in the  village in a drawer in the kitchen.

I went with a colleague to  return them all on Wednesday,  

but we had to wait in a massive  queue for half an hour.'

Okay, for our penultimate category,  

let's have a go at some words which we often  shorten when chatting to friends and family.

We have 'hols'. 'Hols'.

'Footy.' 'Footy.'

'Cuppa.' 'Cuppa.'

'Loo.' 'Loo.'

'Pressie.' 'Pressie.'

'Telly.' 'Telly.'

'Brekky.' 'Brekky.'

'Uni.' 'Uni.'

'Aggro.' 'Aggro.'

And 'deffo'. 'Deffo.'

Now, they are pretty slang. Do you want  to try in some full sentences? Shadow me.

'I love watching the footy on the  telly with a cuppa. My uni mates  

think I'm boring, but they deffo love it too!'

And we're going to finish today's  lesson with 10 words that can  

sound very different in my British  accent and North American English.

For this final category, I've enlisted the  help of one of my fabulous teachers, Joel,

who speaks English with a general American accent.

He speaks beautifully.

I always try to get Joel to  record things for our courses.

So, I'll say the word first and then you'll  hear Joel's very different pronunciation.

We have 'route'.

'Route.'

'Vase.'

'Vase.'

'Privacy.'

'Privacy.'

'Data.'

'Data.'

'Vitamin.'

'Vitamin.'

'Leisure.'

'Leisure.'

'Yoghurt.'

'Yoghurt.'

'Premiere.'

'Premier.' 'Hostile.'

'Hostile.'

And 'enquiry'.

'Inquiry.'

Okay. Shadow me now.

'En route to the film premiere, we  discovered that our data had been  

shared and our privacy intruded upon. The  enquiry concluded it was a hostile act.'

Shall we hear Joel?

'En route to the film premier,  

we discovered that our data had been  shared and our privacy intruded upon.

The inquiry concluded it was a hostile act.'

Fantastic! Okay, that brings us  to the end of today's lesson.

Were there any big surprises for you?

Which were your favourite and least favourite  words to pronounce? Let me know in the comments!

Also, if you're really interested in improving  your pronunciation and want to know where you  

are with your current level, don't forget about  my new free online Pronunciation Level Test.

The link is in the description box  and you can scan the QR code there.

I really hope you enjoyed today's lesson.  I'll see you in the next one! Muah!