ADVANCED English Listening Test - Pronunciation & Advanced Expressions

Today you're going to test your  listening skills so you can better  

understand fast speaking native English  speakers, welcome back to JForrest .

English,of course.

I'm Jennifer.

Now let's get started.

Here's how this lesson will work.

I'm going to say a sentence three times,  

and you need to write down exactly  what you hear in the comments.

After, I'll explain what I said and I'll  explain the pronunciation changes that take  

place in fast English, and I'll explain  the advanced vocabulary that I used.

Are you ready to get started?

Remember, I'll say each sentence three times.

That's out of our budget.

That's out of our budget.

That's out of our budget.

Did you get this one?

I said.

That's out of our budget.

Let's talk about the pronunciation changes.

Notice that's this is a contraction  of that is that's now we have out of.

We can combine these two sounds together and it  

will sound like outta out of  that's out of our budget RR.

Notice the word is our because it's a  possessive our budget, the budget belongs to us.

But I pronounce it just as a very  unstressed RR, our budget our budget.

But based on the context, it's  obvious that it's not the verb  

to be R and it is in fact our the  possessive that's out of our budget.

Do you know what this means?

The expression to be the verb to be,  that is to be out of ones budget.

So we need a possessive here.

Ones budget.

That's another way of simply saying  that something is too expensive.

The cost exceeds what you're either  willing to pay or what you're able to pay.

Now of course, you have a budget for your  household and you can often use the expression,  

oh sorry, that's out of our budget to say that  you're not willing or able to pay for that item.

But there's a budget in the  workplace, for example, as well.

So let's say you wanted a standing desk.

So a standing desk is a desk that  you're able to raise so you can work  

at it standing up because it's more  comfortable and it's better for you.

So you ask your boss, can  you buy me a standing desk?

But your boss says no.

And he might say, oh, sorry,  that's out of our budget.

So this doesn't necessarily mean the company  doesn't have the money to buy you a standing desk.

But they're unwilling to buy you a standing desk.

They don't want to spend the money.

So remember, it can be unable because you don't  have the money or unwilling you have the money,  

but you don't want to spend  it on that specific item.

Sorry, that's out of our budget.

I found one for sale, but it's out of my budget.

Do you see a budget?

I don't see a budget.

Let's try this again with  another listening exercise.

I'll say it three times.

Money is no object.

Money is no object.

Money is no object.

This one was easy, right?

I said money is no object.

Notice at the beginning Here monies Money is.

This is a contraction.

Monies.

Money is no object.

Now, it's important that  you hear these contractions  

because they're necessary for grammar.

Because the expression is to be no object.

Money is no object.

If you don't hear that contraction,  then the sentence won't make sense.

Grammatically, this is an expression that  means the opposite of what we just learned.

If you say money is no object,  

it means that the cost of something  is not a concern or a limitation.

So basically you're saying I'm willing  to pay any price for this specific item.

It's common to use this in specific situations.

Maybe it's your husband or  your wife, your best friend,  

your mother's birthday and  it's a very special birthday.

O on this specific occasion for planning that  special someones birthday, money is no object.

So you might say, can you recommend  somewhere special for my husbands birthday?

Now, when someone recommends something, of  course they're going to think about the price,  

so you can tell the person, and money is no  object, so they know that they can recommend  

the most expensive restaurant, and you're  comfortable with that in this specific situation.

Or maybe in our last example, you asked your  boss to buy you a standing desk and he said,  

OK, sure, we'll buy you a standing desk so you can  

go into the store and you can say  my boss is paying for this desk.

So money's no object.

Money is no object, as you probably know.

Sure, money is no object.

OK, I told you, money is no object.

Let's try this again with  another listening exercise.

I'll say it three times.

I'm beyond livid.

I'm beyond livid.

I'm beyond livid.

I said I'm beyond livid for pronunciation.

Just notice that contraction.

I am.

I'm.

I'm beyond livid.

What does livid mean?

Well, it's an adjective  that means extremely angry.

I'm livid.

Now when we add beyond, this is an intensifier.

So extremely angry.

Livid is already very intense.

But if you add beyond livid,  it makes it 10 times stronger.

I'm extremely extremely angry.

I'm beyond livid.

Just remember to conjugate that verb to be.

So if you're speaking about a past emotion,  

you could say I was beyond livid when  my boss denied my desk reimbursement.

So here a desk reimbursement is when  you pay for something and if you're  

reimbursed it means someone gives you  that money after usually your company.

But in this case your boss denied your  desk reimbursement even though in the  

last example you bought the most expensive desk.

Because remember, money was no object, but now  you have to pay for that very expensive desk.

So that's why you were beyond livid.

You can use beyond to intensify  any emotion, any adjective.

She was beyond happy when she passed her ielts.

I'm beyond awful.

I'm beyond scared.

That is beyond exciting.

Let's try this one more time.

I'll say it three times.

Her comment's been gnawing at me.

Her comment's been gnawing at me.

Her comment's been gnawing at me, I said.

Her comment has been gnawing at me.

In spoken English, it's very common to take that  

auxiliary verb has and form a  contraction with the subject.

This is more informal, but it happens most of  the time by native speakers in spoken English.

Her comments been, her  comments been gnawing at me.

So you have to hear that  auxiliary verb in the contraction.

But the sentence structure tells you that the  

contraction is there because  grammatically it's required.

Now, in written English,  

it would be more common and proper to  say her comment has been gnawing at me.

But even if I were to see that in written  form, if I were to read it out loud,  

I would just automatically form  that contraction in spoken English.

Notice that pronunciation for gnawing  that G is silent, gnawing, gnawing.

Her comments been gnawing at me.

What does this mean?

The expression is to gnaw at someone.

When something gnaws at someone, it means that  something really irritates or bothers that person.

That something really preoccupies your thoughts,  which means you keep thinking about it.

You can't get it out of your head.

So maybe you were telling your coworker how you  

bought the most expensive desk because  money was no object, or so you thought.

But then your boss denied your desk  reimbursement and you were beyond livid.

You were telling this whole story to  your Co worker and instead of sympathy,  

your Co worker said I told you not to buy  the most expensive desk and that comment.

What your Co worker said has been gnawing at  you, which means you keep thinking about it.

It keeps bothering you and irritating you.

You can't get it out of your mind.

Even though it happened hours ago, days  ago or weeks ago, it's been gnawing at you.

Something was still gnawing at me.

It's secretly gnawing away at you.

No, no.

Why?

Why didn't he?

Now let's do an imitation exercise so you can  

practice your pronunciation and imitate how  a native speaker would say each sentence.

I'll say each sentence again three times,  

and I want you to repeat that sentence  out loud to practice your pronunciation.

That's out of our budget.

That's out of our budget.

That's out of our budget.

Money is no object.

Money is no object.

Money is no object.

I'm beyond livid.

I'm beyond livid.

I'm beyond livid.

Her comments been gnawing at me.

Her comments been gnawing at me.

Her comments been gnawing at me.

Did you enjoy this lesson?

Do you want me to make more  lessons just like this?

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And if I see that all the  students are beyond excited,  

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And why don't you keep improving  your English listening skills  

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