Day 7 - Reducing AT, AN, CAN - Understanding Fast Speech in English
65,534 views ・ 2016-01-17
Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.
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Hi. It's Day 7.
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Can you find a few minutes to study with me?
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I got an idea or two to share with you.
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Let's start.
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English with Jennifer
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Small words like AT and AN are function words.
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They don't carry a lot of content in a sentence or phrase,
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so often we reduce them.
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We use weaker vowel sounds.
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We use a schwa /ə/.
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It's a very relaxed sound.
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[uh]
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So AT can sound like /ət/.
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at noon - /et nun/
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AN will sound like /ən/.
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an idea - /ən aɪˈdiə/
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CAN is also reduced
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It's used as a helping verb, and we reduce it
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in a question or in a full statement when the main verb is still present.
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I asked you, "Can you find a few minutes?"
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/kən/...Instead of /kæn/ ... /kən/
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Can you find a few minutes?
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Note how there's variation when Americans reduce CAN.
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Either we use the schwa,
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which sounds like "uh." /kən/
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Or we use a short I, like in the word "it." /kɪn/
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Listen to these examples.
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Listen closely.
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I'll say a sentence or phrase.
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You try to understand.
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That's all for now.
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Thanks for watching and happy studies!
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