How to Speak English Fast and Understand Natives | EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW IN ONE VIDEO

By the end of this one hour English lesson, you're going to improve your listening skills

of fast English so you can better understand native English speakers.

You'll also add common phrasal verbs, idioms, and expressions to help you sound just like

a native speaker.

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 natural expressions that I used.

Are you ready for your first listening test?

I'll say it three times.

She's leaps and bounds more qualified than him.

She's leaps and bounds more qualified than him.

She's leaps and bounds more qualified than him.

I said she's leaps and bounds more qualified than him.

Notice the contraction.

She's This is she is the verb to be.

Native speakers will always contract this.

She's she's.

Let's talk about leaps and bounds.

Notice how bounds the D is not pronounced.

Bounds bounce and here when we have and between 2 words, you can reduce that just to leaps

and bounds.

Leaps and leaps and bounds Leaps and bounds.

She's leaps and bounds more qualified than him.

Notice how you don't hear the H on him, then him, then him.

But if we want to combine those sounds together and say it like one word, denim, denim, denim.

Let's talk about what this means.

She's more qualified than him.

You understand that when I add leaps and bounds, leaps and bounds, this is a modifier.

It makes more qualified stronger.

So it sounds like greatly more qualified, a lot more qualified, and it can also mean

quickly if that's the context.

But in this context it's a modifier that means greatly.

So you can say I've improved my English by leaps and bounds.

By leaps and bounds here.

Notice how you have to include the word by.

I've improved my English, and you want to modify that improve to make it sound stronger.

I've improved my English by leaps and bounds, so write that in the comments.

If you feel like my lessons are helping you improve your English by leaps and bounds.

Jennifer, I've improved my English by leaps and bounds.

Put that in the comments.

It's leaps and bounds ahead of mine, which means you're just progressing by leaps and

bounds.

Birchikan has grown by leaps and bounds.

Let's try this again.

I'll say it three times.

Is the agenda set in stone?

Is the agenda set in stone?

Is the agenda set in stone?

I said.

Is the agenda set in stone?

First, let's talk about the agenda.

Notice how I have that long E sound the agenda because agenda starts with a vowel.

This is not a rule that native speakers always follow.

I could equally say the agenda, the agenda, the agenda.

So if you hear both, it's just not something a native speaker always does.

Let's talk about set in stone.

Notice we have AT between 2 vowels, so we can pronounce that T as a soft D set in said

din din.

So I take that sound and I connect it to the next word in and it sounds like din Duh duh

din set in set in set in stone.

And I'll say all three of those words together, because they're an expression.

The expression is to be set in stone.

In our example, the verb to be is is.

It starts the sentence because the sentence is in question form.

Is the agenda set in stone.

To be set in stone.

When something is set in stone, in this case the agenda, it's in a state that is very difficult,

if not impossible to change.

So the agenda could be set in stone because all the speakers are confirmed.

You've booked the hotel room, you've already paid for the hotel room, people have already

booked their ticket to come to the event.

So it's difficult, if not impossible to change any aspects of the agenda.

It's set in stone.

We commonly use this expression in the negative to say our plans aren't set in stone.

If I say that to you, it means that I can change my plans.

So perhaps I told you what my plans are and then you want to do something different.

I can say, oh don't worry, our plans aren't set in stone, so it's saying I can change

my plans.

My plans are flexible, so you can use this both in the positive or the negative.

Because nothing's set in stone.

Is that set in stone?

These nicknames, are they set in stone?

Let's try this again.

I'll say it three times.

I was tossing and turning all night.

I was tossing and turning all night.

I was tossing and turning all night.

Did you get this one?

I said.

I was tossing and turning all night.

We have and so remember, same thing as before tossing in.

I can change that to.

But I have to connect it to the word before.

Tossing and tossing and turning.

So I will say all three Tossing and turning as one word.

Tossing and turning.

Tossing and turning.

Tossing and turning.

Now commonly a native speaker will drop the G sound on tossing, ING and just say tossing,

tossing.

I personally don't do this, but many native speakers do.

Tossing, tossing, tosing, but same thing.

You have that sound.

Tossing and turnin.

Tossing and turnin or like I said, tossing and turning.

Tossing and turning.

The pronunciation is quite clear, but if you don't know what this means, you won't know

how to communicate.

With a native speaker.

I was tossing and turning all night to toss and turn.

This is used to say you had a very restless sleep and you were moving a lot.

That is the tossing and turning.

That's the movement.

You were moving a lot while you were sleeping, so you had a restless sleep.

If you were tossing and turning all night, it means you had a restless sleep.

So it means right now you're.

Tired, You could say.

Sorry I'm yawning so much.

I tossed and turned all night, and that means you had a terrible sleep, so now you're tired.

That's what's got you tossing and turning.

He's always tossing and turning.

Then then I spend all night tossing and turning, trying to figure out what I should have said.

Are you ready for your next listening exercise?

I'll say it three times.

Just give it a go and see.

Just give it a go and see.

Just give it a go and see.

Did you get this one?

I said just give it a go and see.

Let's talk about, give it.

We can combine these together.

And I'm going to use a sound.

Give it vit, vit, give it, give it.

So that's how I can say these two words as one.

Give it.

And I'll do the same thing with a go.

I'll just pronounce it as one word, a go.

Give it a go.

Give it a go, give it a go.

Just give it a go and see What does this mean?

To give something, I'll go simply means to try something.

So if I say just give it a go, I'm saying just try it.

Maybe your friend invited you to go dancing but you don't know how to dance.

I could say just give it a go.

Now here the IT is dancing, so I could say just give dancing a go.

Just give dancing a go.

Remember in the original example it was.

Just give it a go and see.

Here the C represents and see what happens.

See what happens when you try dancing.

Maybe you are really good at it, or maybe you're not very good at it, but you had so

much fun you don't even care that you weren't good at it.

So if you send me a message and say Jennifer, I'm not sure if I can give a presentation

in English.

I'll say to you, just give it a go.

So I want you to write in the comments right now, Jennifer, I'll give it a go.

I'll give it a go.

Put that in the comments, Jennifer.

I'll give it a go.

I'll give it a go.

Let's give it a go.

Let's give it a go and see what the future brings.

Let's try this one more time.

I'll say it three times.

We have a lot riding on this pitch.

We have a lot riding on this pitch.

We have a lot riding on this pitch.

I said we have a lot riding on this pitch.

Notice when I said the sentence fast, I did not contract.

We have, I didn't say we've a lot.

We've a lot riding on this pitch.

I didn't say that.

I said we have.

We have a lot riding on this pitch.

That's because in American English, we do not contract have when have is the main verb.

We only contract have when it's an auxiliary verb.

I could change this and say we've got we've got a lot riding on this pitch.

In this case, have is the auxiliary verb.

Got is the main verb.

So I can form that contraction.

We have, we've we've got, we've got a lot riding on this pitch.

You're probably wondering what this means.

When you have a lot riding on something, it means that something, whatever the something

is, is extremely important to your success, whatever success means to you Now, in this

case, the something is this pitch.

This pitch is extremely important to this person's overall success.

What does?

This pitch mean in the business world, a pitch is a presentation, but the purpose is to convince

someone to do something or to buy something.

So it's extremely important that this pitch, this presentation is successful and it's extremely

important for the person's overall success, likely their career success.

To use a previous expression that you learned, I was tossing and turning all night thinking

about this pitch.

My career is riding on it.

Everything is riding on it.

Well, this is it, folks.

Everything is riding on this pitch.

So much rides on this.

Now let's do an imitation exercise so you can practice this pronunciation.

So I'm going to say each sentence again, but I want you to say the sentence out loud.

And then we'll repeat that three times.

So let's do that now.

She's leaps and bounds more qualified than him.

She's leaps and bounds more qualified than him.

She's leaps and bounds more qualified than him.

Is the agenda set in stone?

Is the agenda set in stone?

Is the agenda set in stone?

I was tossing and turning all night.

I was tossing and turning all night.

I was tossing and turning all night.

Just give it a go and see.

Just give it a go and see.

Just give it a go and see.

We have a lot riding on this pitch.

We have a lot riding on this pitch.

We have a lot riding on this pitch.

Amazing job.

Think of how much you've learned already.

And we're just getting started.

So let's keep going with the lesson.

Remember.

I'll say it three times.

They've been bickering all day.

They've been bickering all day.

They've been bickering all day.

Did you get this one?

I said they've been bickering all day.

Let's talk about the pronunciation changes.

Notice I have they've.

This is a contraction.

They have.

They've, they've, they've native speakers use contractions in spoken English almost

100% of the time, so you need to be very, very comfortable hearing the contraction because

it affects the grammar of the sentence you need to have.

They have been bickering because that shows the grammar, and the grammar is the present

perfect continuous.

So if you didn't have that, it would be grammatically incorrect.

They've been bickering all day now.

Notice I said bin bin, a very unstressed bin.

This is how we pronounce the past participle of the verb be bin in American English.

I don't speak British English, but I believe in British English they pronounce it more

stressed bean.

But in American English we don't do that.

We just say bin bin.

They've been, they've been bickering all day.

Now, to understand fast English outside of the classroom, you need to hear the individual

words, but you also have to understand the meaning of the words.

So let's talk about the verb to bicker.

This is when you argue about things that are not important.

The concept of bickering is extremely common and everyone does it, and we usually do it

with people we spend the most time with our family.

Our spouses, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, our close friends, our Co workers

that we spend a lot of time with.

Anytime you spend a lot of time with someone, it's common that you'll bicker.

But it's different from fighting.

Because when you're fighting with someone, usually there's a strong emotion involved,

but when you bicker, you don't really have that emotion.

It's less serious because the things you're arguing about fighting about are not actually

important.

Like I said, this can be very common in the workplace when you spend a lot of time with

your coworkers.

So maybe you're in a meeting and you've been discussing an issue for hours with your coworkers.

But people start bickering.

They start arguing about things that aren't important.

You could say we didn't get anything done today because we bickered all meeting.

We are.

We bicker.

Yeah, we bicker either.

Yeah, well, we were bickering because they were bickering.

Kids are bickering.

Let's try this again with another listening exercise.

I'll say it three times.

That street's pretty sketchy.

That street's pretty sketchy.

That street's pretty sketchy.

How'd you do with this one?

I said that streets.

Pretty sketchy.

Did you hear that?

Streets.

The S Well, that is the verb to be in a contraction form.

The street is the streets.

The streets Pretty sketchy.

Again, it's extremely important that you hear these contractions for grammar because we

need the verb to be grammatically.

The sentence would sound very awkward if you didn't have it, because it would be grammatically

incorrect that streets pretty sketchy sketchy sketchy sketchy sketchy.

Let's talk about to be sketchy.

That street is our verb to be to be sketchy.

This is used to say that something is not completely safe.

So by saying that street's pretty sketchy.

I am saying that street doesn't look completely safe.

I don't think that street is safe.

So I'm saying we shouldn't go down that street.

We should avoid that street.

Now why would I say this street is sketchy?

This is an adjective that native speakers use a lot.

If I say your street's sketchy, it's most likely because it's dark or lacks lighting.

There aren't a lot of people around, there's broken glass or broken windows, or there are

a lot of abandoned buildings on that street.

It could be all of those reasons or it could be just one of those reasons for me to say

that street doesn't look safe, that street.

'S.

Pretty sketchy I could say.

Let's take another St.

This one looks.

Sketchy.

So I can also use the verb look look sketchy, but I have to conjugate it.

This street looks sketchy.

Or let's say your friend or your husband or your wife came to you and said hey, I heard

this amazing business proposal today.

All we need to do is invest $1000 and we're guaranteed $100,000 and you could say that

sounds sketchy.

So notice.

Here, the verb is to sound sketchy, and you're saying the idea, the plan, the business proposal

doesn't sound completely safe.

We also use this to describe people.

He's a sketchy guy or he's sketchy.

She's sketchy.

In this case, you're saying.

The person isn't safe, which means you can't trust the person.

So with people it's a way of saying I don't think I can trust him.

She's sketchy.

He's sketchy.

Seems a little sketchy.

You're kind of sketchy laundry to some sketchy laundromat.

Let's try another listening exercise.

I'll say it three times.

You must have seen it.

You must have seen it.

You must have seen it.

Did you get this one?

You must have seen it, but notice I didn't actually say have I reduced that entirely

to just ah you musta, you musta.

I could also reduce it to more of an of sound, which is very commonly done by native speakers.

You must have.

You must have.

You must have seen it.

Notice for.

Seen it?

I use that N, that N sound to connect the 2 words together.

Seen it?

Seen it?

Seen it.

So you hear a N in front of it.

It sounds like NIT.

But if you say those two words together, it blends together.

Seen it, Seen it?

You must have seen it.

Now let's talk about the grammar of this a must.

Is a modal verb and grammatically you need must plus base verb, which is the verb without

two.

So grammatically you need must have.

In written English, you must use must have seen it.

Because that's grammatically correct.

But in spoken English it will sound like must ah or must of.

But in written English, if you wrote you must ah or of, it would be incorrect grammatically.

So just remember what I'm explaining is for spoken English.

You must have seen it 200 times.

You must have seen it 2:00.

You must have seen them here.

Let's try this one more time.

I'll say it three times.

What's the ETA?

What's the ETA?

What's the ETA?

I said, what's the ETA?

Of course we have once.

That's a contraction of what is what's what's the now?

Because ETA.

It begins with a vowel sound, EI could.

Say either the OR the 'cause we do a more stressed the when the next word starts in

a vowel.

But this isn't a rule that native speakers follow all the time.

But if I did a more stressed E in the, IT would really blend together with ETA, the

TA and it would almost sound.

Like it's just one word, the TA, because I wouldn't really repeat the E on ETA, the ETA.

I believe in my example when I did the listening test, I think the first time I did it more

of the ETA and the second time I did it more of the ETA and the sounds blended together.

Let's listen to that again and see what I did.

What's the ETA?

What's the ETA?

What's the ETA?

Now, ultimately, either way that you pronounce it, the ETA or the ETA is fine.

Now you're probably wondering, well, what's ETA?

This stands for Estimated Time of arrival.

So your ETA, the ETA or someone somethings ETA is the estimated time of arrival for that

someone or something.

When it's expected to arrive.

So let's say we're talking about a project, and your boss wants to know when this project

will arrive.

In his inbox or on his desk, he could say.

What's the ETA?

And he could just say the If it's obvious you're talking about the project, he could

say what's your ETA because you're the one submitting the project.

Or he could say what's the project's ETA?

So the ETA belongs to the project, so you need that possessive what's the project's

ETA?

And they all have the same meaning.

We commonly use this with friends or Co workers, family members to let them know when we're

going to arrive.

So let's say you were supposed to be at your family's house at 7:00 for dinner, but you're

running late.

You could send them a text message and say running late.

Google says my ETA is 642 or 15 minutes.

Now Google says because when you put something in a GPS.

Google will tell you or whatever you use.

Google will tell you when you're expected to arrive.

That's your ETA.

What's their ETA?

Okay.

ETA.

ETA 11 minutes.

Now let's do an imitation exercise so you can practice your pronunciation as well.

So I'm going to say each sentence again.

And then I want you to repeat the sentence out loud and try to imitate my pronunciation

as closely as possible.

And I'll say each sentence three times.

Let's do that right now.

They've been bickering all day.

They've been bickering all day.

They've been bickering all day.

That street's pretty sketchy.

That street's pretty sketchy.

That street's pretty sketchy.

You must have seen it.

You must have seen it.

You must have seen it.

What's the ETA?

What's the ETA?

What's the ETA?

You are doing such a great job.

But let's keep going and let's keep testing your listening skills.

So let's start your first listening test.

I'll say it three times.

Careful with the blender, it's a little finicky.

Careful with the blender.

It's a little finicky.

Be careful with the blender.

It's a little finicky.

I said careful with the blender.

It's a little finicky.

First, let's talk about the pronunciation changes.

You can see here it's this is a contraction.

It is, it's it's a little, it's a little.

So we pronounce that as a a soft D little, the little, the little little.

Now some native speakers will drop those sounds entirely and it will just sound like Lil will.

And then we connect it with, ah, a little, a little, a little.

I personally pronounce the soft DS a little, a little.

It's a little finicky.

Finicky is probably a new word in your vocabulary.

So let's focus on the sounds.

Finn, IC E Now we're going to put the syllable stress on the first sound.

Fin.

Finicky.

Finicky.

Finicky.

What does this mean?

Well, finicky.

This is an adjective to be finicky, and this means that something requires a lot of attention

to detail.

So the example is using a blender, a common household appliance that's easy to use.

But if this blender is, it means that to use it successfully you have to really pay attention

to detail.

Maybe you have to make sure the lid is on in just a precise way, or press the buttons

in a very specific way in order for the blender to operate.

Likely because the blender is very old or there's a problem with the blender.

It's finicky.

It's a little finicky.

I think it's being so finicky with me these.

Machines are really finicky.

It's being finicky.

Now let's talk about grammar for a second, because notice the sentence.

Started with careful, careful.

Technically you need the verb be.

Be careful, be careful.

But native speakers will commonly drop verbs when they're not required to understand the

sentence.

So if I said to a native speaker careful, they're not going to be confused because there's

no verb be.

They understand what it means without the verb careful, be careful.

They're both correct, and a native speaker will most likely just say careful.

Let's try this again with another listening exercise.

I'll say it three times.

She's a finicky eater.

She's a finicky eater.

She's a finicky eater, I said She's a finicky eater.

This was easy for you, right?

Because it's the same word.

Finicky, finicky.

So hopefully you could clearly hear that.

Now what?

The meaning in this context is different.

We're not saying she's an eater.

That requires a lot of attention to detail.

A finicky eater is an eater who is difficult to please.

Now, why would an eater be difficult to please?

Because there are probably many things that she doesn't like or she has a lot of specific

preferences about how her food is prepared.

This adjective is commonly used to describe children because most children are finicky

eaters.

If you have kids, you can probably relate to this.

And you were once a child, so I don't know about you, But As for me, I was definitely

a finicky eater.

When I was a kid, I only liked about 5 things and there was a long list of things I didn't

like.

If you can relate to, that put me too.

Me too in the comments.

Me too.

So I know that you were also a finicky eater.

Good luck with my finicky appetite.

Let's try this again.

I'll say this sentence three times.

The audience was hanging on her every word.

The audience was hanging on her every word.

The audience was hanging on her every word.

I said.

The audience was hanging on her every word for pronunciation.

Notice how on her sounds like honor, honor, Honor.

Because we frequently drop the H sound on her and then I connect those two words together.

Honor.

I can also connect that with every honor, every honor, every honor, every.

What does this mean to hang on ones every?

Word.

This is an expression, and it means that you listen very closely, very attentively, very

carefully.

Now, with expressions, you need to make sure you have every single word.

So here it's on her.

Every word.

So if you said the audience was hanging on her word and you forgot to use every, it wouldn't

make sense.

Because with expressions, you have to use every single word of the expression.

So if you are listening to this lesson very closely, you're taking notes, you're actively

participating, then you, my friends, are hanging on my every word.

But if, as you're watching this video, you're also checking your e-mail or making dinner

or doing something else, then you're not hanging on my every word.

So I hope you're hanging on my every word.

If you are, put that in the comments, Jennifer, I'm hanging on your every word.

And that means you're paying very close attention to what I'm saying.

You're hanging on his every word.

But he hangs on your every word.

They all hang on my every word.

Let's try this again.

I'll say it three times.

She has me wrapped around her finger.

She has me wrapped around her finger.

She has me wrapped around her finger, I said.

She has me wrapped around her finger for pronunciation.

Notice wrapped the Ed is pronounced as a soft T Wrapped, wrapped, wrapped, wrapped around.

Now because I'm combining this with around, I can take that sound wrapped around wrapped

around and I can combine them together.

Remember I said we commonly get rid of the H sound on her?

So I can do that here as well, and then I can connect it together wrapped around her

to have someone wrapped around your finger.

Or we commonly say little finger wrapped around your finger wrapped around your little finger.

There's no difference.

So little is optional in this expression, and this is when you have complete control

over someone.

This happens in situations where perhaps this guy is totally in love with this.

Girl.

And he's just infatuated with her.

And because of that, she has complete control over him.

And no matter what she says, he just does it.

So he does her laundry for her.

He drives her to work every day.

She has him wrapped around her little finger.

I'll have you wrapped around my finger.

No time, please.

I've got Doctor Reed wrapped around my finger.

Boy, Archie, Veronica's got you wrapped around her little finger.

Let's do this one more time.

I'll say it three times.

I can't get anything past you.

I can't get anything past you.

I can't get anything past you, I said I can't get anything past you.

For pronunciation, notice we have get anything, so we have AT between 2 vowels.

So I can pronounce that as get anything, get anything, get anything.

And then I'll combine those two sounds together.

I can't get anything has due now what does this mean?

To get something past someone or you can also say to get something by someone they're exactly

the same.

It's just an option you can use past or by.

This is when someone doesn't notice something important.

But notice in my example I can't get anything by you.

I used it in the negative.

Let's imagine an example.

Let's say a customer is in a restaurant, and that customer ordered an expensive bottle

of French wine, but the restaurant tried to serve him cheap American wine.

Now, because I can't get anything by you, it means that you notice the details when

they're important.

So it means that you noticed that this isn't the wine you ordered, and you'll say, wait,

this isn't the wine I ordered.

And then the waiter could say, I can't get anything by you can't get anything past this

guy.

Can't get anything past you, can I?

Never could get anything past you Can I?

An amazing job improving your listening skills of fast English and also adding these advanced

expressions to your speech.

Now let's improve your pronunciation.

Let's do an imitation exercise.

I'm going to say each sentence again three times, and I want you to repeat each sentence

out loud so you can imitate my pronunciation.

Let's do that Now.

Careful with the blender.

It's a little finicky.

Careful with the blender, it's a little finicky.

Careful with the blender, it's a little finicky.

She's a finicky eater.

She's a finicky eater.

She's a finicky eater.

The audience was hanging on her every word.

The audience was hanging on her every word.

The audience was hanging on her every word.

She has me wrapped around her finger.

She has me wrapped around her finger.

She has me wrapped around her finger.

I can't get anything past you.

I can't get anything past you.

I can't get anything past you.

You have learned so much.

Let's do one more round of listening tests.

Our chances are slim to none.

Our chances are slim to none.

Our chances are slim to none.

So how'd you do?

I said our chances are slim to none.

First, let's talk about the pronunciation changes.

Notice that our our sounded like our our our chances, our chances at a natural pace.

We don't pronounce it our chances.

We just do a very soft, unstressed R Our chances our chances our chances are.

Notice that because chances ends on an S&R, it starts with the vowel.

I can combine those together.

Chances SAR.

So it sounds like SAR, but I have to say those two words together.

Chances are, Chances are.

So when you hear it at a fast pace, you just hear the S from chances and you hear it both

on chances.

And are.

Our chances are slim to none to to notice that to none.

Again, it's just a very soft, unstressed to slim to none, slim to to slim to none.

What does this mean?

First, let's talk about chances, one's chances.

This is how possible something is.

For example, the team has a great chance of winning.

So here, their chance of winning.

It's how possible it is that the team will win.

The team has a great so their chances of winning are quite high.

But in this example I said our chances are slim to none.

What does that mean, slim to none?

This means very small or extremely unlikely.

Our chances are slim to none.

Now I didn't specify chances of what in the original example, so I could say our chances

of getting a promotion this year are slim to none.

So this means it's very unlikely that you're getting a promotion.

There's a chance, yeah.

Slim to none.

Slim to none.

Those are my chances.

My chances of ever flying again are slim to none.

Let's try another listening exercise.

I'll say it three times.

It was Slim Pickens at the career fair.

It was Slim Pickens at the career fair.

It was Slim Pickens at the career fair.

I said it was slim pickings at the career fair for pronunciation.

Notice how pickings sounded quite unstressed.

Pickens Inns, so I dropped that ING.

I dropped that G sound from the ING pickin pickin, but it's plural, so I own that S Pickens

Pickens.

Native speakers often drop the G sound or make it very soft with ING Pickens Pickens.

Listen to this clip and notice how Joey from Friends also drops the G and says it very

unstressed Pickens.

It is Slim Pickens.

You know it is slim.

Pickens you.

Know now, Let's talk about what this means.

First of all, a career fair.

Do you know what this is?

This is an event where people looking for a job can meet potential employers.

A career fair is very common for university graduates, college graduates.

Or high school graduates to go to to try to find a job.

And I said it was Slim Pickens.

So what does that mean to be slim pickings?

This is when there are very few good options to choose from, so maybe there were.

People at the career fair, but the employers that were there or the people looking for

jobs that were there weren't the best quality.

So you could say it was Slim Pickens.

We commonly use these two words Slim Pickens.

If someone asks you how a search for something is going.

So maybe you're looking for a new house, a new car, or, of course, a job.

So someone could say, how's the job search going?

And then you can reply back and simply say Slim Pickens.

Slim Pickens.

Slim Pickens.

Out there, it is Slim.

Pickens.

Pickens are slim for an educated, independent woman.

Let's try this again with another listening exercise.

I'll say it three times.

Stop hogging the iPad.

Stop hogging the iPad.

Stop hogging the iPad.

How do you do with this one?

I said stop hogging the iPad.

Now here for hogging, notice we have ING.

So I did pronounce it more like hogen hogen hogging ING hogen so stressed.

Hogging unstressed.

Hogan, I tend to use both of them and don't really realize which one I'm using.

I don't specifically choose before I'm about to speak which one I'm going to use.

It's just whatever comes out and I will easily switch between the two, The stressed or the

unstressed.

Stop hogging, Stop hogging the iPad.

Notice how it sounded more like a stressed the With that long E, we stress the and make

it the When the noun that comes next starts with a vowel.

iPad.

I, of course a vowel.

Native speakers don't always follow this rule.

I don't always follow this rule.

I would commonly say the iPad, the iPad, the iPad.

So if you use one or the other, or if you hear native speakers using one or the other,

just know that both are acceptable, and it's probably slightly more likely to use the stress

version, the with a vowel.

Simply because it makes it easier to pronounce those sounds.

So here's an iPad.

What does it mean to hog the iPad?

The iPad?

The iPad.

What does that mean?

When you hog something, it means you take or use more than your fair share.

So this is actually something I said to my husband Kevin the other day.

I said stop hogging the iPad because we only have one iPad and he was using it and I felt

like he was using it more than his fair share.

So I said stop hogging the iPad because I wanted to use it.

And I said this more in a joking way.

But let's say that you have a roommate.

Or you could think about someone You live with, a different family member, or even a

work colleague, and that person might use more of something or take more than their

fair share.

So maybe it takes your roommate a really long time to get ready, put on makeup in the morning,

and you only have one bathroom.

You might say my roommate always hogs the bathroom in the morning, and it means your

roommate uses more than her fair share of the bathroom.

Notice in my original example?

Stop hogging the iPad.

Stop hogging.

Our verb to hog is in the gerund form.

That's because stop is a gerund verb, so you need stop plus verb ING.

Stop hogging the iPad.

That's why hog is in the gerund form with ING.

Stop hogging my best friend.

Stop hogging the blank.

Stop hogging the blanket.

It's cold.

How about we stop talking the magazine, huh?

Let's try one more listening exercise.

I'll say it three times.

Don't be stingy with the cheese.

Don't be stingy with the cheese.

Don't be stingy with the cheese.

Did you get this one?

I said don't be stingy with the cheese.

I think the pronunciation is clear, but do you understand what this means?

And remember I said that I said to my husband, stop hogging the iPad.

Well actually this is something that he said to me.

He said don't be stingy with the cheese.

So what does it mean to be stingy?

This is when something is small in amount less than expected.

So I was putting cheese on something.

I don't remember what I'll say pizza.

I was putting cheese on our pizza and my husband thought I was being stingy.

I was using a small amount less than expected, but that was just his opinion because he likes

a lot of cheese whereas I don't like a lot of cheese.

So in my opinion, I was not being stingy at all, but he thought I was being stingy.

We have another meaning for stingy.

Which is very common when you describe someone as stingy, It means they're unwilling to spend

money.

So they have the money, they just don't want to spend it.

In that case, you would call someone stingy.

For example, we had to take the bus because my friend was too stingy to take a taxi.

This means that my friend had the money to take a taxi, so it wasn't financially difficult

for her to take a taxi.

But taking a taxi is more expensive than taking the bus, and she's stingy, so she doesn't

like spending money.

So she took the bus so she could save her money because she's stingy.

Although saving money and trying to save money can certainly be a positive thing, when we

use this adjective it's always in a negative, critical way.

So we think that person should have been willing to spend the money if we describe them as

stingy.

I'm going to say to you, don't be stingy with your comments and don't be stingy with your

likes.

Now in this case, it's the first example I explained when my husband said to me don't

be stingy with the cheese, he thought I wasn't using enough cheese.

So don't be stingy with your comments.

If you're stingy with your comments and your likes, it means you don't share them.

You keep them to yourself.

So it's another way of saying make sure you comment so put I'm not stingy in the comments,

but I'm not stingy and that means that you freely comment on my videos.

Or you freely like my video.

So don't be stingy.

Put that in the comments.

Don't be stingy.

See.

Don't be stingy.

Please even stand.

You would play money.

Now let's do an imitation exercise so you can practice your pronunciation.

You can practice all the pronunciation changes that I explained in this video, and you can

imitate my pronunciation so you sound more natural.

So I'm going to say each sentence three times, and I want you to repeat the sentence out

loud after each time.

So let's do that now.

Our chances are slim to none.

Our chances are slim to none.

Our chances are slim to none.

It was Slim Pickens at the career fair.

It was Slim Pickens at the career fair.

It was Slim Pickens at the career fair.

Stop hogging the iPad.

Stop hugging the iPad.

Stop hugging the iPad.

Don't be stingy with the cheese.

Don't be stingy with the cheese.

Don't be stingy with the cheese.

You did an amazing job.

Think of how much you learned in this lesson.

Now did you enjoy this lesson?

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

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You're ready to keep improving your English, so put let's go in the comments and you can

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Right now, I know you'll love it.