ADVANCED English Listening Test (Improve Your Listening Skills)

In this video, you're going to test your  listening skills of fast speaking English,  

so you get really comfortable and confident  understanding native English speakers.

And you'll also learn advanced expressions  

to expand your vocabulary so you  sound like a native speaker as well.

Welcome back to JForrest English.

I'm Jennifer.

Now let's get started.

I'm going to say a sentence three times,  

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

After, I'll explain exactly what I said.

I'll explain the pronunciation  changes that take place in fast  

English, and I'll explain the advanced  expressions and vocabulary that I used.

Are you ready?

Let's get started with the  first listening exercise.

I'll say it three times.

Our chances are slim to none.

Our chances are slim to none.

Our chances are slim to none.

So how did 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 not 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 a 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 two none  again is just a very soft,  

unstressed to slim to none, slim 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.

But 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 in.

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.

It is Slim Pickens.

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, It's Slim Pickens out.

There it is.

Slim 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 Hagen Hagen  hogging ING Hagen 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.

O 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.

I see.

Don't be stingy.

He's 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.

Did you like this lesson?

Would you like me to make more lessons just like  this, so you can improve your listening skills?

Add lots of natural expressions to your speech.

Well, if so, put Don't be stingy.

Don't be stingy in the comments.

And you're telling me not to be stingy with my  videos, so I'll create more and more videos.

So put Don't be stingy.

Don't be stingy.

Put that in the comments and remember, I don't  want you to be stingy with this video either,  

so make sure you like it, share it  with your friends, and of course,  

subscribe so you're notified  every time I post a new lesson.

And you can get this free speaking  guide where I share 6 tips on how  

to speak English fluently and confidently.

You can click here to download it or  look for the link in the description.

And why don't you get started  with your next lesson right now?