Speak English Naturally: 2-Hour Vocabulary & Conversation Masterclass

It's easier to remember new vocabulary when  you're studying real English conversation. Today,  

we're studying 10 conversations starting with  one where I go over my morning routine back  

when I had a cute baby. We'll also go in  depth on how Americans greet each other,  

my friend will make us some pizza, I'll  go shopping with my husband and you'll  

be able to see and learn from many  more real life moments in America. 

Lesson 1: My morning routine. It’s 6:37 in the morning. 

That’s about how well my eyes focus when I get up. What time do you get up? 

I was recently at a YouTube conference where  someone did a presentation on My Morning Routine. 

Different people across the world just  taking their camera through their morning, 

showing people what their life is like  and I thought: This is fascinating! 

I loved seeing other cultures, seeing what  people did, how they lived just a normal day. 

So I decided today, I'm going to do the same.  I'm going to show you my morning routine. 

What is my morning like? And of course, we'll  turn it into an English lesson along the way. 

I have a baby. What do you think the  first thing I do every morning is? 

The first thing is always nurse Sawyer. He's a little too distracted by  

the camera to nurse right now. Nurse – this word has several different meanings. 

You can nurse a baby, you can nurse  a sick person, you can nurse a  

cold, and you can even nurse a beer. We’ll go over these meanings. 

First, I want to say the verb ‘breastfeed’  can be used interchangeably with this term,

and it doesn’t mean anything else,  so that can be another option. 

The first thing I do every  morning is breastfeed my baby. 

Notice that I’m not saying  the T here – that’s common. 

When the T comes between two  consonants, we often drop it. 

Breastfeed. Straight from the S  

sound in to the F sound. Breastfeed. 

Now, let’s talk about all  those different meanings. 

If we use this word as a noun, it’s somebody  who's been trained as a nurse, to care for  

the sick, it’s an occupation. My aunt is a surgical nurse. 

As a verb, like I used it, it can  mean to breastfeed, to feed a baby. 

It can also be used to describe caring for someone  who is sick: she nursed him back to health.

It can be used to describe taking care of an  ailment: I’ve been nursing a cold for two weeks. 

That means I’m taking throat lozenges for it,  drinking lots of tea, trying to get better. 

We also use it to talk about a drink, usually an  alcoholic one, that we’re drinking very slowly. 

Just taking a sip every once in a while. Rachel, can I get you a drink? 

No thanks, I’m still nursing this beer. This is something new. This is different  

from our routine. Looking at a camera. 

One of the first things I try to do everyday  is make the bed which I used to never do. 

But it's one tiny thing that I can do to create  a little bit of organization in a life that is  

otherwise very chaotic right now. Chaotic, chaos.

Here the CH makes a hard K sound. Kk-- It’s also common to make a CH sound,  

like in ‘chest’, ch-- or an SH  sound, like in Chicago, sh--. 

CH makes a K in choir, echo, Chemistry,  anchor, stomach, orchestra, and many others. 

You can’t tell how a CH should be pronounced just  by looking at it, you have to know word by word. 

This is why spelling and  pronunciation is so tricky in English. 

Then I head downstairs to have  breakfast with Stoney and David. 

I don't feel like cereal so I'm going to  make an egg. Does anybody want an egg? 

I don't. >> No? 

>> Okay. I used the phrase ‘feel like’.

You can use this interchangeably with ‘want’,  except the form of the verb will change. 

I feel like going to bed, I want to go to bed. So with ‘feel like’ we follow it with the ING  

form of a verb, feel like going. With ‘want’, the next verb is  

in the infinitive, want to go, wanna go. But the meaning of the two sentences is the same. 

This applies to the negative as well. I don’t feel like having cereal,  

I don’t want to have cereal. But when I said it, I followed it by a noun. 

I don't feel like cereal so  I'm going to make an egg. 

I don't feel like cereal. So nothing else changes 

I don’t feel like cereal, I don’t want cereal. Hey Stoney, your mouth is totally full. 

So we can't understand you. So take your  time, chew, swallow, and then say what  

you were trying to say. Good, daddy. It's good. 

It's good? The toast? Yes. 

Looks like it's really good. The most common breakfast in  

the US is probably cereal with milk.  That’s what David and Stoney had. 

What do you usually have for breakfast? Post it to Instagram, tag me, @RachelsEnglish,  

I love to see this kind of thing,  what people eat in different cultures. 

Let’s have breakfast together. Mommy, I want some milk. 

Okay. Well, how would you  ask me to get you some milk? 

Milk, please?

Sure. What time are you guys getting together? 

Here, David's talking about getting  together with a friend and his kids. 

This is a phrasal verb that means  to meet, to spend time together. 

You could also use it as a noun: we’re having  a get-together at our house this weekend. 

Why don’t you come? If you use it with ‘it’, the meaning is different. 

'Get it together' means to get  organized or get stabilized after chaos. 

For example, if Stoney is having a tantrum,  we could say, ‘get it together, Stoney’. 

Or, at a busy time in my life lately, I  missed a meeting because I totally forgot. 

I apologized and said, “I’m so sorry I forgot. I just can’t get it together these days.” 

Get together is to meet. Get it together is to  

recover from a period of chaos. Mommy, where is the flashing part? 

Oh, I put it over there. There? 

The flashing part – here, Stoney is talking  about a camera that had a blinking light. 

Did you notice that Stoney can’t say ‘there’ yet? There. 

He can’t make a TH. I’ve worked with him on it  

several times and he just can’t coordinate  putting the tongue tip through the teeth. 

I know this is a huge challenge  for my non-native students,  

so I just wanted you to know it takes time! Stoney has been speaking English for over two  

years now, and he still doesn’t have that sound. There. 

I’m interested to see when he picks it up. And breakfast just continues with  

random loud noises. The rest of the morning  

continues with cleaning up the kids. Okay, let's get you cleaned up. 

How was 'get you' pronounced? Have you noticed that it’s really  

common to hear a CH in this phrase? Let's get you cleaned up. 

When a word that ends in T is followed by  ‘you’ or ‘your’, that T often turns into a CH. 

Chuu. Chuu. Ge-chuu.There's no  rule about doing this or not. 

It's just a habit the happens and many  Americans do it a lot of the time. 

If you don't do it, you can do a stop T. Get you, get you. 

Let's get you cleaned up. Stoney, you want these  

waffle pretzels for your snack, right? Do you want one right now? 

Yes. Special treat. 

Snack. We all need a good snack every once in a while. 

This is not a full meal, but a little  bit of food that we eat between meals. 

Snack. At our house,  

we get up anywhere between 6 and 6:45. Stoney doesn’t leave for school until after 9,  

so we have a lot of time to fill up. Sometimes we go out for a walk,  

but often we just play at home. I've already got it all ready for you. 

Did you hear the ‘you’ reduction? Yuh, yuh. 

I've already got it all ready for you. Hey, hey. We're not skipping  

teeth. Stand up. Stoney. We’re not skipping teeth. 

I’m sure many parents can relate to this. When you skip something, you don’t do  

something that is part of a regular sequence. In this case, brushing teeth in the morning is  

definitely part of our morning routine. Stand up. 

Mercy. Mercy. 

This is an exclamation of exasperation,  surprise, anger, or frustration. 

I was feeling all of those things! Luckily, he did decide to brush his teeth. 

And now, we brush teeth. It's just  part of getting ready for school. 

My camera died, after that, we got Stoney  dressed and David took him to school, 

then he came home and took Sawyer while I  went to work. And that is our morning routine. 

I'm Rachel and I've been teaching the American  accent on YouTube for over 15 years go to  

Rachelsenglish.com/free to get my free course  The Top Three Ways to Master the American Accent. 

In this video, my husband and I are  shopping for a new bed in New York city. 

So we have a problem to solve. We need new  bed, so we’re going to take this problem and  

we’re going to make an English lesson about it  so you’re going to learn some new vocabulary,  

new phrases while we’re on the streets of  New York City going furniture shopping. 

There’s so many different kinds of beds so we’re  looking for a king, that’s the biggest. Queen  

is the next then full then twin. Now, there’s  also something called a California King which  

is also really big but the dimensions are kind of  different but today we’re looking for king bed. 

David. Yes. 

Are you thinking wood, metal, upholstered,  leather like what material are you thinking about? 

Well, I’m thinking more about  upholstered which is unusual for me. 

Uhmm. So, like what kind of fabric,  

you know I love velvet. I love a good velvet. Yeah. Now I’m in that I’m that zone too. 

Uhmhm, Okay. I was just thinking about the word  metal like the material. It’s sort of a tricky  

pronunciation that’s a flap T and then a dark  L and it sounds just like this word: meddle,  

which is a verb and it means to get into and  to get busy with someone else’s business,  

things that don’t concern you like I could say,  “stop meddling in my life. You do not need to know  

the details of my life. Stop meddling!” Meddle. Metal. 

Alright, we’re crossing Houston. In New York City,  the street is pronounced Houston but in Texas,  

same spelling, big city is Houston. Now we’re  heading there to the building with green spikes  

on top. We’re heading to the Crate and Barrels.  To head somewhere means to go in that direction,  

that is your destination. We’re  heading to the Crate and Barrel. 

Let’s head on in. Yeah, check there. And beds are upstairs. 

Beds are upstairs. Thank you. Now, we are making a side stop  

at the espresso machine spot because I decided  it’s what I want for my birthday. The question  

is do you go with the big one that does lots of  things or small one that’s simple and just does  

one thing well? Hard to decide! Way too big, right David? 

Yup. Okay. 

I think we need to head over here. In this video, you’re going to hear  

me use the phrase “head on in”,  “head over” and “head upstairs”. 

Now, you said you didn’t love the looks of  it. Seeing it in person, what do you think? 

Not crazy about it. Not crazy about it. 

Shoot. Well then, I guess we’re  starting from scratch because that’s  

what I had narrowed it down to. Alright, let’s head upstairs. 

This one, a little too bold for our  taste so you probably know bold,  

the font. If something is bold like in  style or color, it’s making a big statement,  

it’s pretty different. This bed  is a little too bold for us. 

What do you think? I don’t think like how chunky that is. 

Too bulky? Yeah. 

This one less chunky, less bold, more subtle  than the metal one. I kind of like the warmth  

of the wood color, what to you think? You were  thinking upholstered, this is not upholstered. 

No, but I like that. So this is a maybe. 

Yep. I do kind of  

like the ones that have more of a platform feel  where this comes out of a few inches although  

there’s sort of a pain in the butt to make. It’s a maybe. We may choose it in the end.  

Any bed that is a no is one we’re  definitely going to eliminate and  

when we finally find the one we like, that’s  the one and the only one that will be a yes. 

Upholstered has a bit of a wider frame to it. Because of that flap T, the word wider sounds  

just like this word, to call  something more white, whiter. 

Looks like they have various fabrics  we could choose from. Let’s look. 

This one does have different swatches available. So you think this is the right one. 

I do, yeah. Alright,  

I’m open to it. I can’t say yes  in the moment but I’m open to it. 

Thank you. Bye, see you later. 

Bye. Bye bye. 

In addition to a bed, we  are looking for a mattress. 

How does it feel David? I’ll come back in a hour to get you. 

Alright. I think it would match  

the style of the nightstands. Excuse me. 

Yeah. Does this come in other, other, uhm. 

Yeah. Yeah. 

Can I see the swatches? They would be at the design lab. 

Okay. Thank you. Anytime. 

It’s also nice. It’s also got the metal  leg that that I think is a nice feature. 

Soft. What do you think of the color? 

I’m not crazy about that color. Okay. Not crazy about it. But you’re  

crazy about the boucle? Yeah. 

Boucle, just like velvet is a kind of fabric. We already know we don’t want all wood right? 

I think that’s true. Okay. 

Alright. So, it’s sort of between  those two boucle ones. What? Now  

you’re looking at and you're wavering. That looks sort of like the style of what  

the vanity is going to be in the bathroom. Yeah. But how is this going to look next to  

white wood nightstands. I don’t  want to get new nightstands. 

That’s true. I mean I love the dresser; I love the  

nightstands but they’re not what we have. Right. Good point. 

The only thing with going with not the white is  that it’s custom made and you can’t return it. Oh. 

And you know we like to be wishy-washy. Let’s just go look at that one more time  

and then pull up the one we saw at Crate  and Barrel and just sort of compare the two. 

Pull up is a phrasal verb that we use in  many ways. We do use it often to refer  

to a screen. I’m going to pull this up on my  computer. I’m going to pull it up on my phone. 

Alright, let me pull up the other one. Like I did here. You can also pull up your  

socks. Oh, my socks are slipping, I’m going  to pull them up. But also a car will pull  

up it comes to the curb. Is your car here yet?  Yeah, the Lyft driver is pulling up right now. 

The headboard here has a bit of a  curve to it which you kind of like. 

I think that adds something yeah. The Lotus though does have a seamer on the  

top which is also sort of a detail that. Yeah, I like that. 

That is interesting. I’m going to ask this guy. 

Naturally, we wanted to see the bed we  were considering next to the nightstands  

we already have. Don’t worry, I  asked. They said I could move it. 

Alright, let’s see. I can totally  do it. I can totally do it. Okay,  

I think I’m going to need some help. I mean it looks fine. 

It turns out the king size didn’t come with the  boucle fabric we wanted so, we had to talk to a  

consultant and work out other fabric options. Problem is, it doesn’t come in a fabric  

we want for a king so, comparing these two  fabrics, the other issue is David likes this 

one better and I like the one at Crate and Barrel  better. So we have a few things to figure out. 

Come around the front babe. Check it out. The long view, which one do you like better? 

Yeah, me too. More warmth in that. 

Yeah. Okay, let me get the long view. 

Honestly, it might look a little bit better  than the white boucle in my opinion anyway. 

Alright, let’s drape this over. That looks kind  of nice like you know, the metal and the leg  

just almost a bronzy feel to this. Yeah, I thought the same thing,  

it nods to the leg. Well, let’s take a sample of this home,  

make sure it works with the carpet and chaise. This video I made with a bunch of other YouTubers  

on different greetings in American English. In this American English pronunciation video we're  

going to go over how to greet Americans as some of  you know last time I was here in La at the YouTube  

space I made a video on introducing yourself  to people at the time I didn't know anybody  

now I'm back again with all the same people  so they're all going to be in this video  

again saying hey first of all let's listen  to a bunch of different greetings says hey  

hey Anthony what's up hey Rachel what's up Rachel  hey Veronica hey morning guys morning hi hey hey  

hey hello greetings hey what's going on hey man  what up no you probably noticed a lot of people  

said hey this is definitely the most common way to  greet somebody in America it's pretty casual and I  

use it all the time with my friends hey hey notice  the shape of the voice there's a little curve up  

and then a curve down in the voice hey hey hey so  basically it's a stressed word we start with the H  

consonant sound and go into the a as in say thong  make sure you drop your jaw enough for the first  

half of that diff thong hey hey hey says hey hey  Veronica hey hey Rachel hey hey we also heard hi a  

few times again it's stressed so it has that shape  of a stressed syllable hi hi it begins with the H  

consonant sound and we have the I as in b by diff  thong again make sure you drop your jaw enough for  

the first half of that diff thong hi hi hi hi  look at that jaw drop we have on the ey as in  

by diff thong we also heard hello this is a two-  syllable word with stress on the second syllable  

daa hello so it's that second syllable with the  up down shape of the voice the first syllable will  

be pretty flat H it begins with the H consonant  and has the e as in bed vowel but this is very  

quick hello the second syllable begins with the  L consonant so the tongue tip will come up here  

and touch the roof of the mouth just behind the  teeth hello then we have the O as in no diff thong  

drop your jaw for the first half of the sound and  make sure you round your lips for the second half  

hello hello hello a little bit of lip rounding  here for the second half of the O diff thong  

you may have noticed some of the guys added man  hey man hey man it's okay to say this only to a  

man but you may have noticed that I used the term  guys for a bunch of girls so guys is a little bit  

more gender neutral hey guys morning guys morning  because I was was filming in the morning a lot of  

people said morning as their greeting this is  short for good morning simply morning morning  

now you could say afternoon or evening during  those times but it's not nearly as common morning  

morning guys morning hey morning guys morning  morning most greetings involve one of these  

greeting words hey hi morning and so on and often  a question the appropriate way to respond is to  

answer the question and to ask the same question  yourself for example hey how are you good how are  

you let's take a look at a few of these exchanges  Stacey Christina hey hey ra how are you guys oh  

it's good to see you yeah you too how have you  been good good hey s what's up what up no hey  

Max what's up hey how's it going good how are you  hey Jen hey Frankie hey how are you guys doing  

today good how are you not good good you're not  good good I just broke my hey what's going on not  

much how are you I'm just hanging out here it's  your birthday today it is actually happy birthday  

Rachel thank you how are you Fabulous As Always  hey Aaron hey how are you doing good how are you  

good how are you we heard this two ways once with  the word are stressed how are you how are you guys  

are you guys how are you guys how are you but  most of the time you'll hear it with that word  

reduced how are you how are you how are you how  are you how are you how are you how are you great  

how are you great how are you great how are you  how are you so in that case mixture it's really  

short how how are you how are you D how are you  D da the most common response to this phrase is  

good you might sometimes hear great one person  even said how are you fabulous as always and  

unfortunately one person said not good because her  phone had just broken you're not good I just broke  

my another question we heard is how's it going so  we're Contracting How is how's how so just put a  

z sound there at the end of how the next word  begins with a vowel so the Z should link those  

two words together how is it how is it how's it  going notice the stop T at the end of it we're not  

releasing it how's it going so just hold the air  for a second and then release again you can either  

end with the NG consonant or with the N consonant  n going going it's a little more casual but that's  

okay how's it going how's it going how's it  going it's going how's it going daada daada  

how's it going again the answers here will be good  great not bad Etc what's up this is answered just  

like what's going on usually nothing or not much  but you can say what you're doing in that moment  

you can hear this as up with the TS reduction we  also heard it as what up where the T was dropped  

Al together what up and we even heard one person  say what up so what was he doing here he dropped  

the S sound so now the T came between two vowel  sounds so it was a flap T sounding like a d what  

up what's up what's up what's up Rachel hey Bry  what's up oh hey Rachel what's up hey Scooter  

what's up what up no I hope this was helpful  the next time you see someone you know don't  

be afraid to go up and start a conversation a huge  thanks to everybody who is in this video Stacy and  

Christina both have awesome how to channels Stacy  does knitting tutorials and Christina paper crafts  

Aaron makes awesome skateboarding videos Anthony  does music reviews Don does children's music Evan  

makes awesome Drawing Tutorials what's up Rachel's  English how y'all doing people this is Evan from  

your uh Channel cartoon block showing kids how to  do their thing and drawing and sketching and all  

that Veronica has great great travel videos on  California Rose and Ean both have great makeup  

and style channels fabulous Cuban guy does sketch  comedy Sarah's crafting channel is awesome Chris  

and hila work on hila cooking a great Cooking  Channel Billy does awesome children's music  

with puppets you met one of the puppets in one of  my other videos Bry ey mixes rap with video games  

on his channel Jason does comedy sketches  on his channel scooter has some great 100  

lists on his Comedy Channel Max no sleeves never  wears sleeves in his Comedy Channel Miss Jen  

fabulous has a nail Channel where she did teach  me a different way to paint my nails and Pete is  

a video producer behind the scenes on several  different YouTube channels yeah what does that  

mean what does do mean do is a urban term which  can mean though however you just added for that  

emphasis on to the end of sentences pretty much  anything it's like an exclamation point almost. 

Can you say it again? Whudup doe!!! 

Here, my friend Dave makes his pizza  with his cute little pizza oven. 

Doesn’t this look good? We’re going to look  at a lot of different vocabulary words and  

pronunciations here. First, this word. 

Look at that bubble. Wow. 

You probably know bubble as this: And you probably know it as bubble gum  

or bubble tea. But do you what it means to live  in a bubble? This is a phrase that I’ve heard  

used more and more in recent years and it means  detached from the world. You only know what’s  

happening right around you, your friends, your  family. You don’t think about what else is going  

on in the world. You don’t inform yourself.  It’s sometimes applied to people who live a  

comfortable life who don’t really think about  what it might be like for someone who’s less  

fortunate. Or it can be used to describe someone  who only interacts with people that have the 

same views and opinions like in politics as  they do. Let’s use it in a sample sentence. 

I really want to travel a lot with my children  because I don’t want their lives to only be lived  

in an American bubble. Okay, that’s in a  

bubble. What about on the bubble? If something’s on the bubble, that means  

a decision is being made and you’re not sure what  the outcome would be. It could go this way or that  

way. For example, let’s say I’m taking the top ten  students in my Physics class to form a team for  

competition. I have eight people, I know I’ll use  them for sure. Then I have four or five kind of on  

the bubble. I’m not sure which of those students  I’ll choose. Each one of those students is on the 

bubble. They may get chosen or they may not. Have you heard this word to describe something  

inside you? A feeling can bubble up. I started to feel panic. Bubble inside  

me. An idea can bubble up. I’m bubbling with ideas! 

Or someone can be bubbly. Someone  who’s bubbly is really cheerful. 

The idiom “To burst your bubble” means to  wreck an idea or reality that someone’s  

put together that can’t actually work out. To say or do something that show someone  

his beliefs are false or what he  wants to happen will now happen. 

For example, let’s say I ran into my friend  from English class and I say “What are you  

up to this weekend?” She tells me all the  great things she’s going to do this weekend,  

all the fun she’s going to have. On Monday then,  she’ll start working on a paper that’s due on  

Wednesday. I might say, “I hate to burst your  bubble, but that paper is due on Monday. You’re  

going to have to work on it over the weekend.” So many uses for this word. And this dough was  

bubbly with pockets of air in it. Look at that bubble. 

Wow. Now I ask my  

friend Dave how long he’s been making pizzas. Little over a year now since I got this pizza  

oven. Uh-uh. 

This thing is definitely been  a game changer from my outdoor  

uh food and uhm entertaining capabilities. Yeah, it’s nice to be able to be outdoors. 

It is. Game changer  

is an idiom and it doesn’t necessarily  have to do with games. It’s anything that  

significantly changes the outcome of something. For example, let’s say my friend got into the  

college of her dreams. You know, I hate  to burst your bubble but that college is  

too expensive. But wait, she got a major  scholarship. Oh, this is a game changer! 

With this scholarship, she will be able  to go to the college of her choice. Or,  

I got my grandma her first iPhone. It’s a  game-changer. She can keep in touch with  

all her grandchildren now. Game changer. Little over a year now since I got this  

pizza oven. Uh-uh. 

This thing is definitely been  a game changer from my outdoor  

uh food and uh entertaining capabilities. Yeah, it’s nice to be able to be outdoors. 

It is. So, I’m just going to give myself  

a little bit of extra assurance by sliding it. Yeah, because it’s so heavy with all that topping. 

Yeah. But as soon as it hits that plate, it’s  already baking. So now, it will be really easy  

to shift around. We want to get that lid  back on so it draws the flame up and out. 

What’s the temperature in there? You got me. I’d say somewhere between  

nine hundred to a thousand degrees. No. 

Yeah. No. 

Hmmm. Got me. This phrase  

means I don’t know. Have you heard it before? It  could also be “beats me.” These both mean the same  

thing. I don’t know, I have no idea. Got me. What’s the temperature in there? 

You got me. I’d say somewhere between  nine hundred to a thousand degrees. 

No. Yeah. 

No. Hmmm. 

I just couldn’t believe it. Well,  Dave made several amazing pizzas. 

Mushrooms, I did a little uh,  grilled Zucchini over here. 

Oh I was wondering, did you  had the grill going too? 

Yeah I grilled some zucchini. This has got some garlic, some  

turmeric. I’m a big fan or turmeric right now. It’s supposed to be good to your joints, right? 

Good at inflammation uh, anti-inflammatory. So we're going to make a vegetable,  

uh, pizza here. Because Rachel,  

she loves her vegetables. I do. 

Yeah, it got a little extra burned there. Hmm. Really good though. 

How was it? Amazing. 

So the pizza got burned on the  bottom. Let’s go over a few terms  

to discuss how things are cooked or baked. With red meat, that is meat from a cow,  

it can be raw, not cooked at all. There’s  also rare, just a little cooked. The internet 

is full of helpful infographics. We passed  through medium and go all the way to well-done.  

Burned is, well beyond well-done. Now, this  terminology, medium, rare applies to red meat. 

If you want to say that something  hasn’t been cooked long enough,  

you could say underdone or undercooked. One time, I got clam chowder and the  

potatoes were too hard. Not cooked all  the way, not cooked through, undercooked. 

So, one pizza on the bottom was  a little burnt. No big deal. 

By the way, just last weekend, Dave made  us all pizza again and it was absolutely  

perfect. On point. I said, “Dave,  you’ve really dialed in your pizza.” 

Dial it in is one of my favorite idioms and I have  a great video going over that idiom and the idiom  

“Phone it in” which has an opposite meaning,  check out that video in the video description. 

I love that zucchini on there. That zucchini is bomb. 

If something is bomb, that means  it’s very good. This is slang that  

my husband David uses a lot. Food can  be bomb, a house can be bomb, a trip,  

a view and so on. You’ll also hear it as “the  bomb.” It doesn’t matter if “the” Infront or not,  

this pizza is bomb or this pizza is  the bomb. They mean the same thing. 

Who’s that? Hah. Me! 

You’re right! It’s you. Are you keeping a closer eye Dave? 

I am definitely keeping a closer eye on this  one. See, we just get it nice and brown there. 

It looks so good. I said, “Are you keeping a closer eye?” 

To keep an eye on something is an idiom  that means to pay attention to something.  

He’s keeping a closer eye on the pizza  than last time so this one won’t burn. 

One time, I was at an indoor playground and  I asked another mom to keep an eye on Stoney  

while I went to the bathroom. Sometimes, if David  is simmering a soup but has to leave the house to  

get the kids, he might say, “Can you keep an eye  on the soup and stir it every once in a while?” 

Think of a situation where you might want  to keep an eye on something for you. To pay  

attention to it for you. Then make up  a sentence an put it on the comments. 

Are you keeping a closer eye Dave? I am definitely keeping a closer eye on this  

one. See, we just get it nice and brown there. It looks so good. 

I will say the texture of that crust is so good. It is nice. I agree with you. 

The texture of a food is important. The  consistency, how it feels in your mouth.  

Pizza crust can be chewy. That’s what this was,  it can be dry, crispy. There’s so many different  

ways to describe different textures for food,  hard, crunchy, soft, pillowy, mushy, gooey,  

runny, spongey and so on. Can you think  of more? Put them in the comments below. 

I like a good chewy crust. I will say the texture of that crust is so good. 

It is nice. I agree with you. This one's blowing up. 

Oh, that looks about perfect. Almost done. That’s pretty good. 

I’m going to hit this side Yeah. 

See it’s a little lighter? Dave did a reduction over reduction. I love  

it when people do this. The phrase was “I am going  to hit this side.” You’re probably familiar with  

the way Americans reduce "going to" to "gonna."  Very common. Have you ever notice before that I’m  

gonna is sometimes reduced further? It can become  I’muna or even just muna. This is what Dave did 

here. He said “I’muna.” Dropping the g of gonna. I’muna hit this side 

Now, hit this side. That just means he’s going  to make sure that side is what get closest to  

the flame. Let’s listen a bit more. He also  uses the contraction “should have.” He says  

“He let the dough rest more than he should’ve.” I’muna hit this side. See it’s a little lighter? 

I totally agree. This stuff is making some deep dish. Today.  

I think I’ll let it sit the dough rest a little  bit longer than I should’ve because the dough is a  

little less stretchy, it’s more bubbly, it’s airy. I just love capturing natural English and finding  

the idioms and the reductions  and sharing them with you here. 

Massive thanks to my friend Dave who let me  capture his pizza-making skills on camera. 

In this lesson, you'll see me  working with my mom on a knit hat. 

For fluent English, you need vocabulary,  common phrases, idioms, phrasal verbs,  

even slang. In this video, we're going to study  real English conversation to get all of these.  

We're sitting down with my mom, we're working on  a knitting project, and you're going to hear her  

drop some slang in our conversation. Lots of great  vocabulary here, idioms, learn them from my mom  

and you'll never forget them. As always, if you  like this video, or you learn something new, or if  

you like my mom, give it a thumbs up and subscribe  with notifications. I'd love to see you back.

When I filmed this, Corona Virus was raging and I  was visiting my parents, so we wore masks inside.  

My mom knit me a hat and we were going to make  a pom-pom to put on top but we didn't know how.

But you've just never-- I've just never put a pom-pom on a hat. 

Okay, what do the instructions say?  This thing is not self-explanatory.

If something needs instructions, that's the  opposite of self-explanatory. If something is  

self-explanatory, that means you can understand  it by looking at it, it's easily understood,  

it's clear by looking at how to figure it  out, how to do it. If that's not the case,  

then you need instructions. A pompom is  exactly what you'll see us make here,  

an ornamental ball. It's also used in  cheerleading. Let's see that clip again.

But you've just never-- 

I've just never put a pom-pom on a hat. Okay, what do the instructions say? This  

thing is not self-explanatory. Okay, see, it says wind the yarn.

Wind the yarn. The word wind is a verb. You  wind something. We'll see that later in the  

video. Wind. Wind. Wind. Past tense is wound. But  these four letters can also be pronounced wind,  

the natural movement of air. Here it's wind,  wind the yarn, wrap it around this pompom maker.

Are they both out at the same time? Yeah, it looks like it. 

So... And you start here  at the base, it looks like. 

Now hold on, there are four of these things.

Twice there, I used the phrase 'it  looks like'. This means 'it seems  

like this is true' or 'this will be true' but  it doesn't have to be something you can see,  

that you can actually look at. For example,  I was talking to my friend Laura on the phone  

in the fall. We had a trip planned together  and because of the virus, we thought we were  

going to have to cancel. It seemed like we  would need to cancel. I said it looks like  

we're going to have to cancel. And she said it  looks that way. It seems that it will be true,  

that we'll have to cancel our trip. I also said,  now hold on. 'Hold on' is a phrasal verb that  

means two different things. Hold on, get a grip  on something, like a, here, a pencil, hold on.

It also means wait, stop. And that's  how I mean it here. Now hold on, wait,  

stop. There are four of these things. I thought  there are only two. How does that make sense with  

the directions? This is a phrase we use on the  phone a lot too. 'Hold on' means you're going  

to pause a phone conversation, ask the person  to wait while you quickly attend to something.  

Can you hold on a second? Could I please get  a latte to go? Okay, I’m back, for example.

Are they both out at the same time? Yeah, it looks like it. 

So, and you start here at the base, it looks like. Now, hold on. There are four of these  

things. Maybe a YouTube video is in  order. What do you think? These are  

about as clear as mud in my opinion. Yeah, they're not very clear right.

Maybe a YouTube video is in order. 'In order' has  two different meanings. Here it means appropriate  

to the situation. The situation, the directions  were hard to understand. Watching a how-to video  

on YouTube was definitely appropriate to the  situation. Here's another example. Someone has  

just announced their engaged. Someone  else might say champagne is in order.

Maybe a YouTube video is in  order. What do you think? 

These are about as clear as mud in my opinion. Yeah, they're not very clear, right?

Let's study the phrase 'what do you think'? I  said 'what do you think' a little stress on the  

question word, wuh-- wuh-- stress on the verb  think, think, think. And I had some reductions.  

What do-- linked together: what do-- what do--  what do-- the vowel in 'do' changed to the schwa,  

same with you, it became ya ya. Whuh duh yah--  whuh duh yah-- whuh duh yah-- what do you think? 

This is a common pronunciation of  a common phrase. What do you think? 

What do you think? These are about  as clear as mud in my opinion. 

Yeah. They're not very clear. I used the idiom 'as clear as  

mud'. This means not clear at all, not easy  to understand. Mud is opaque, you can't  

see through it, it's not clear. Something  that's hard to understand is clear as mud. 

These are about as clear as mud in my opinion. 

So she's holding it like this and  she's wrapping it around here. 

Right. My mom said 'wrapping it  

around'. Wrap around. Wind around. Coil around.  Twist around. These all mean the same thing. 

So she's holding it like this and  she's wrapping it around here. 

Right. But then-- 

I mean, I, apparently, I would say you do the  same for each one? But it doesn't say that. 

I used the adverb apparently. I was describing  what to do, what I thought the directions were  

saying, but I wasn't sure. The instructions didn't  actually say to do that. It's what I was guessing  

based on what I saw in the directions. Apparently  means as far as one can know, see, or understand.  

For example, why did Amanda quit? Apparently,  she got another job that is, as far as I know,  

I didn't hear it from Amanda, but this is what  I heard, this is what I understand to be true. 

But then-- I mean, apparently, I would say you do  

the same for each one? But it doesn't say that. Which is why I think we should go to YouTube. 

All right let's go to YouTube. Okay, where's your iPad? 

Isn't it funny? I make how-to videos here on  YouTube but I often don't think of it when  

I'm trying to learn how to do something. What's  something you've learned how to do by YouTube? My  

nephew learned how to play the ukulele, and my  friend learned how to repair upholstery on her  

couch. Tell me in the comments what you've learned  to do on YouTube. So anyway, we found a video,  

and we started copying what she was doing. I mean she really filled it up. 

Yeah. So should I be... Yeah. 

Okay. I hope we got enough yarn. This is kind of fun.  

Stoney and Sawyer could do this. I think you might want the small one actually. 

I want a big pompom. I'm like, if you're  going to do a pompom, make it a big pompom. 

Okay. What does 'I'm like' mean? We use I'm like, she's  

like, he's like a lot when we're telling the story  of a past conversation. It's equal to saying:  

I said, she said, and so on. Here's an example  from a YouTube video. She's like 'Dad you can't  

believe it.' I'm like 'what?' she said I think  I’m going to be a geneticist. I'm like 'what?' 

I'm like, she's like. Here, talking to  my mom, I’m not retelling a conversation. 

But we also use this to say our opinion on  something, our feelings. My feeling was,  

if I was going to put a pompom on a  hat it might as well be a big one. 

I think you might want the small one actually. I want a big pompom. I'm like, if you're going to  

do a pompom, make it a big pompom. Okay. 

I totally don't understand how this  is going to become a pompom, but... 

Trust YouTube. That's right! 

I trust she knows what she's doing.  How full did she end up getting it? 

Really full. Wow, oh. 

Wow, oh wow. Okay. Geez Louise. 

Geez Louise. Geez is an exclamation  

used to show surprise or annoyance. It comes  from Jesus which can offend people when used  

in this context. Jesus, you don't have to  shout. So instead of that, you can say: geez,  

you don't have to shout! Adding Louise,  a first name that can be given to women,  

doesn't change the meaning. I would say  this is a little old-fashioned. Geez Louise,  

but I still use it sometimes, it's definitely  way less common than just saying geez. 

Wow, oh wow. Okay. Geez Louise. 

Yeah. It's completely beyond me to understand  how this is going to become a pompom. 

Completely beyond me. If you say something is  'beyond me' that means you don't understand  

it. Computer programming is beyond me. Or  why she wants to marry him is beyond me. 

Yeah. It's completely beyond me to understand  how this is going to become a pompom. People  

love seeing you guys in my videos. Especially dad  should be in a video with this crazy Covid hair. 

Yeah, that's what this is. Covid time. That'll be obvious because of the masks.

Obvious. This is something that is easily  understood, that is clear. It's very different  

from using beyond me. If it's beyond me,  I don't understand it. If it's obvious,  

it's clear and I do understand it.  it's also the opposite of clear as mud, 

I really couldn't believe how much winding I had  to do. But eventually I finished that side and had  

to move on to the other side. I wasn't quite  sure how to move from one side to the next. 

Now, did she do it through the middle? No, right here. Just bring it around-- 

Like that? Right there, yeah. 

Okay. Now, you're golden. 

Okay. My mom used some slang here:  

golden. It's literal meaning is made of gold,  or gold colored. But in slang, it means fine,  

or great. Rachel, do you want another drink?  No, thanks. I'm golden. Or maybe I'm giving you  

directions to a movie theater. At the end I say,  After that, you're golden, because there's a big  

sign where you need to turn into the parking lot. Now, did she do it through the middle? 

No, right here. Just bring it around-- Like that? 

Right there, yeah. Okay. 

Now, you're golden. Okay. 

That looks like the same amount  that I wound on the first one. 

Okay. All right. Now we-- 

Did you hear that? I used the past tense of  wind, wound. Now, I said before that WIND can  

be wind or wind. In the past tense, WOUND, that's  also two words. We have the past tense of wind,  

wound, but it's also pronounced  wound, which means to injure someone,  

or an injury. When you have a word like this that  has two different pronunciations and meanings but  

the same spelling, that's called a heteronym. That looks like the same amount that I wound  

on the first one. Okay. 

All right. Now we-- Then we watched what to do next. We cut the yarn,  

we tied a knot, and released the pompom. My dad  will say: it's bigger than the hat. And he's going  

to drop the TH sound in than. This reduction  is not all that common, but it's definitely  

common to change the AA vowel to the schwa. Bigger  than, bigger than, and in this case you'll hear:  

bigger nn-- bigger nn-- listen for that. It is one big pompom. 

That's awesome, isn't it? It's bigger than the hat! 

That's okay. Bigger nn-- listen again to that phrase. 

It's bigger than the hat! That's okay. 

Evening it up. Even up. Phrasal verb. 

To make everything even. Should we watch a tutorial  

on how to attach a pompom? I can figure this out. 

Figure out. Another phrasal verb. As my mom was attaching the pompom to the hat,  

she was having a difficult time. Listen to how  she described the experience of being filmed. 

It's tough when you're being filmed, isn't it? Yeah. Nerve-racking.

If something is nerve-racking, it's  distressing. You're nervous to do it.  

There's pressure to get it right and that makes it  more difficult to do. It's a simple thing to do,  

but I was filming her. It made her nervous. She  felt pressure to do it perfectly for the camera. 

It's tough when you're being filmed, isn't it? Yeah. 

Nerve-racking. Now we can turn it inside out,  

and we're going to just tie a couple of  knots here, and hope that holds it on. 

Yeah. Inside out and then we'll turn it  right side out. Isn't it funny how one is in,  

and the other is right? I guess you could say  wrong side out, but usually, we say inside out. 

That's right, yeah. And then the opposite of inside  

out is right side out. Not outside out. Okay, now we're going to turn it and  

see how it looks, and if it looks okay. Oh, perfection! It's so much cuter! And I’ve  

got my matching scarf. My mom made these stuff for  me. Isn't it great, guys? Gonna keep me warm all  

winter long in Philadelphia. Oh, that's so cute! 

Thanks, mom! That was a fun little project. 

It was very fun. So much love to my mom  

for not only making me that hat and scarf, but  also for agreeing to be in this video with me. 

Now, I don't want to leave out my dad.  Here, we're discussing his office. 

In this American English lesson, we're going  to sit down with my dad and talk about where  

he works now that he's mostly retired. You'll learn the phrasal verb ‘boot out’,  

how to use space and room, a shortcut to make the  word ‘months’ easier to pronounce, and much more. 

We're going to listen to the first 15  seconds or so of this conversation. 

Then we'll study some of the words—how  they're being used and how they're pronounced. 

Pay attention to booted out,  space, and often from home. 

Are you still going into work at all these days? No. Actually, I finally got booted out in my  

second office. Really? 

Yeah. I didn't know that. 

Well they, they're...they have  all kinds of issues with space. 

Yeah. And since I'm only working one month a year... 

Yeah. And that often from home. 

Right. Did you  

hear my dad use the phrasal verb booted out? Finally got booted out in my second office. 

Really? Booted out. 

This is just like kicked out. It means to be asked or forced  

to leave a place, job or situation. My dad, though he was mostly retired, still 

had an office at the University where he worked. But after many years, they needed the office  

for someone else and booted him out of it. Finally got booted out in my second office. 

Really? Notice my dad isn't  

pronouncing the T in 'booted' as a true T. That would sound like: booted, booted. But  

instead, it's: booted. That's a flap T. 

The tongue bounces once against the roof of the  mouth and the teeth don't need to come together  

the way they do for a true T. Booted. Booted. 

This is how we pronounce the T when it  comes between two vowels but doesn't  

start a stressed syllable in American English. Finally got booted out in my second office. 

Really? Yeah. 

I didn't know that. Well they, they're...they  

have all kinds of issues with space. The way my dad is using 'space' is  

interchangeable with the word room. These are nouns that mean an  

area that's available or unoccupied. The university doesn't have enough space. 

It doesn't have enough room for  my dad to have an office anymore. 

Of course these words have  other meanings as a noun. 

What you might think of as  outer space, or a room with  

four walls like a living room, dining room, etc. But let's come up with a few more sample sentences  

where we're using the words to mean 'available'. The garage is used for storage, there's no room  

to park. Or the garage  

is used for storage there's space to park. Sometimes, when I'm reading at night to my  

son Stoney, he sits really close to me. So close that he's sitting on my arm,  

and I can't turn the page. I might say: Can you scoot over, Stoney? 

I need a little more room. Or I could say: I need a little more space. 

They have all kinds of issues with space. Yeah. 

And since I'm only working one month a year... Yeah. 

And that often from home. Right. 

You may also use these nouns as adjectives. Then they become spacious and roomy. 

Our minivan is much more  spacious than our Volkswagen. 

Or our minivan is much more  roomy than our Volkswagen. 

They have all kinds of issues with space. Yeah. 

And since I'm only working one month a year... Yeah. 

And that often from home. Right. 

'Work from home' is the phrase be used for working  remotely at your computer in your home office. 

From is the preposition we usually  use, though you may use at as well. 

I work at home one day a week. Not 'in' but 'from' or 'at'. 

And since I'm only working one month a year... Yeah. 

And that often from home. Right. 

And that often from home. Listen to how my dad pronounces 'from'. 

Its reduced. It's not from,  

longer with the full UH as in butter vowel, but  it's reduced to the schwa and said really quickly. 

Often from home. Often from, from, from. 

Practice that with my dad. And since I'm only working one month a year... 

Yeah. And that often from home. 

Right. Do you notice how he's pronouncing often? 

Without the T sound. This word can be pronounced either way. 

Often or often. But it's a bit more common to drop the  

T and that's what I encourage you to do. That often from home. 

Often. Often. 

And since I'm only working one month a year... Yeah. 

And that often from home. Right. 

Now we'll listen to another thirty Seconds. Pay attention to stuff, how I say okay, the  

pronunciation of months, and the word 'bummed'. I now have my stuff stored in one bookshelf  

and two file cabinets. Why have it there at all? 

Well, these, I have a lot of things  at home but these are things that  

I just wouldn't use very often. >> So if I need them, I’ll go down. 

>> Okay. So how long ago did that happen? 

Oh, two months ago. Are you bummed? 

I was a little bummed about that. Stuff. 

This is a generic term we  often use to mean possessions. 

I have too much stuff. I need a second suitcase. 

Or as my dad said, I now have my stuff stored  in one bookshelf and two file cabinets. 

I now have my stuff stored in one bookshelf and two file cabinets. 

However, it can also refer to things  that are not tangible, not objects. 

For example, I have a lot of  stuff to deal with at work. 

This could be an employee who's not  cooperating, a client who's unhappy. 

What I'm dealing with is the difficulty,  not an actual thing, not an object. 

You could also say: I have a lot of stuff to do. That means I'm busy. 

You may also hear the phrase:  He really knows his stuff. 

That means he's very smart and  informed, relating to a specific topic. 

We also use this as a verb. Meaning to try to make something fit with force. 

There's no room in my bag for shoes. Can't you stuff them in? 

Did you notice how I use the word 'room' there? I could have also used 'space'. 

There's no space in my bag for shoes. Can't you stuff them in? 

I now have my stuff stored in one bookshelf and two file cabinets. 

Why have it there at all? Well, these, I have a lot of  

things at home, but these are things  that I just wouldn't use very often. 

>> So if I need them, I’ll go down. >> Okay. 

There, I said: kay, then: mmkay. These are both variants of 'okay'. 

I say this to show that I understand what he's talking about. 

I understand his reasoning. You'll hear both of these variants a lot. 

They're both really common. Kay. Mmmkay. 

>> I just wouldn't use very often. >> Kay. 

>> So if I need them, I’ll go down. >> Mmkay. 

So how long ago did that happen? Oh, two months ago. 

Two months ago. The word 'months' can be really tricky 

because we have a TH sound followed by S and I know my students just hate this combination. 

But there's good news here. There's actually a shortcut  

that most native speakers do. Did you hear my dad's pronunciation? 

Let's listen again. Oh, two months ago. 

He said: months, with a TS ending rather than THS. I do this too. 

It's really common and I definitely  recommend my students use this pronunciation. 

Tss. Tss Months. 

Months. Try that now. 

Months. Two months ago. 

Two months ago. Two months ago. 

Oh, two months ago. Are you bummed? 

I was a little bummed about that. 'Bummed' this is informal,  

slang, but it means to be disappointed. We might also use the phrasal verb: bummed out. 

It has the same meaning. Are you bummed? 

I was a little bummed about that. Now we're going to listen to the last  

fifty seconds of this conversation. At the end, I'm going to ask you a  

question to test your listening comprehension.  Since he doesn't have an office, my dad will  

use the library, use a conference room, use  someone else's office, or none of the above? 

Listen one more time to choose your answer. What is the answer? 

We did hear mention of the  library, or a conference room. 

Would you like go in and work at the  library? Or is there like a conference room? 

>> No. >> No. 

>> Not really. But he said no, he would not use those. 

Notice how my dad says the phrase 'not really'. This is a common phrase and sometimes,  

with common phrases, we reduce certain  words even more than we normally would. 

He dropped the T so the AW  vowel connects right into the R. 

Not really. Not really. 

Not is stressed even without the T. This would be a common way to pronounce  

this two-word phrase. Try it with me. 

Not really. Not really. 

>> No. >> No. 

Not really. >> No. 

>> No. Not really. 

>> No. >> No. 

Not really. So the first two options are out. 

What about the third option? We did talk about someone else's office. 

This guy offered for dad to  use his office sometimes. 

I can use another guy's office. Okay, is he also not there that much? 

No, he is there but he said he  would leave during that time. 

Why would he do that? Who is it? Well, he's a new guy and his wife also  

works there and she's not there that much. So he would go over to her office. 

Okay. I would go into  

his office where I have my stuff stored. But when I asked if he would do that,  

dad said: no. >> Do you think you'll ever do that? 

>> No. Yeah 'cause that feels awkward. 

So the correct answer is D. None of the above. 

My dad will just work from home. >> Do you think you'll ever do that? 

>> No. Yeah 'cause that feels awkward. 

I will just work from home. Notice he used that phrase again. 

Work from home. With the reduction of the word 'from'. 

Work from, from, work from home. >> I will just work from home. 

>> Yeah. Let's listen to the  

whole conversation one more time and listen  again to the words and phrases we studied. 

Are you still going into work at all these days? No. Actually, I finally got booted out in my  

second office. Really? 

Yeah. I didn't know that. 

Well they, they're...they have  all kinds of issues with space. 

Yeah. And since I'm only working one month a year... 

Yeah. And that often from home. 

Right. I now have my stuff stored  

in one bookshelf and two file cabinets. Why have it there at all? 

Well, these, I have a lot of things at home  but these are things that I just wouldn't use  

very often. Okay. 

>> So if I need them, I’ll go down. >> Okay. 

So how long ago did that happen? Oh, two months ago. 

Are you bummed? I was a little bummed about that. 

Because there's no place for you to go. Yeah. 

Would you like go in and work at the  library? Or is there like a conference room? 

>> No. >> No. 

Not really. So you're done? 

Now that... I can use another guy's office. Okay, is he also not there that much? 

No, he is there but he said he  would leave during that time. 

Why would he do...who is it? Well, he's a new guy and his wife also 

works there and she's not there that much. So he would go over to her office. 

Okay. I would go into  

his office where I have my stuff stored. >> Do you think you'll ever do that? 

>> No. Yeah 'cause that feels awkward. 

>> I will just work from home. >> Yeah. 

Thanks to dad for being in this video with me. One of my favorite things to do besides teaching  

English is to bake in this video  I'll bake with my friend Laura. 

In this American English pronunciation video,  we're going to study real-life English while I  

make an apple pie with my dear friend Laura. Okay, time to eat the caramel sauce. 

Caramel. Caramel. Caramel. They're all okay. They're all okay. Okay. 

Hmm… this tasty word can be pronounced three ways. Caramel. Caramel. Or caramel. 

Each pronunciation is accepted and you will  find all three of these pronunciations listed  

in the dictionary. Here's what it says. 

Whisk in a medium saucepan. Now it doesn't say over medium-low heat. 

Okay. Okay. 

-I'll do that. -Okay. 

Notice how we respond to each other. K and mkay. These are both common variants of the word ‘okay’. 

This word is used a lot in conversational English. It can be used to say ‘I understand,  

I'm listening’ which is how  Laura and I both use it here. 

Over medium-low heat. K. Mkay. 

I've read a part of the recipe and  we're both saying I understand that. 

Then she offers to take care of it and I  say ‘mkay’ again here, meaning I understand. 

-I'll do that. -Okay. 

We also use it for ‘yes’. Will you add the sugar? 

Okay. Over a medium low heat. 

-K. -Mkay. 

-I'll do that. -Okay. 

Here's what it says. Hmm… So we do this until the  

sugar is dissolved then we add the butter 

-which I put out on the counter. -with a stick. 

-Just light on the butter. -Yeah. 

You know, it's not… this, this  pie is not very high in calories. 

So that's false. False. 

I've said something here  that's not true. It's false. 

I'm not being serious. The pie is very high in calories. 

Listen to the different ways you  can say I'm not being serious. 

False. I'm joking. I'm being facetious. I'm just kidding. 

- How else could you say that? - She's joking. 

You already say that? - I did say that. I'm pulling my leg. 

-You’re pulling your leg. Yeah, I'm pulling your leg. It's  

a high in calorie pie. Okay so um... 

- Just joshing… - I'm just joshing you. 

Where does that one come from? I'm just Joshin. 

You could say that. I'm just joshing.  Hey, don't get upset. I'm just Joshin. 

I'm joking. I'm being facetious. I'm just  kidding. I'm pulling your leg. I'm just joshing. 

All of these things mean what I'm saying  should not be taken seriously or literally. 

I could have also said I'm  just playing or I'm playing. 

The word ‘just’ in all of these phrases  can be used but doesn't have to be used. 

A note on the pronunciation of the word ‘just’,  if it's followed by a word that begins with the  

consonant, the T will usually be dropped. For example, I'm just kidding. 

Just kidding. Straight from the S sound into the K with no T. 

False. I'm joking. I'm being facetious. I'm just kidding. 

I'm pulling your leg. It's a high in calorie pie. I'm just joshing you. 

Where does that one come from? You want to grab the stick of butter? 

Yeah. So every fall, for what,  

how many years have you been doing this? Well we've lived here since 2010. 

- No way. - And it probably started... 

No way. Here? No way. 

What does that mean? That means I can't believe what she's saying. 

I don't think it's true and  it turns out I misunderstood. 

I thought she meant she had been living in  that house since 2010 but she meant she'd  

been living in the town since then. Well we've lived here since 2010. 

- Here? No way. - And it probably started... 

- No. No. No. In North Hampton. Yeah. - Oh, you mean North Hampton. 

-Seven-ish. -6 or 7 years. Yeah. 

I said seven-ish years while  Laura said six or seven years. 

‘Ish’ is something you might hear put at  the end of a word to show approximation. 

-Seven-ish. -6 or 7 years. Yeah. 

Every fall I come up to Laura's house and we have  a fall baking weekend and actually we've made lots  

of videos from the fall baking weekend so I’ll  put a link to that playlist in the comments below. 

Also right here, just click the I. They're really fun. 

They are. At least we have fun. We have fun. 

We keep on working on the sauce for that  pie adding butter and then adding cream. 

Okay, are you ready to whisk? - I think I’m supposed to add this really slowly. 

- Slowly. Am I supposed to keep on whisking or stirring? 

There we're both unsure of what the recipe says. We both used the phrase ‘supposed to’. 

We both reduce this phrase to: spose ta. We reduced it from 3 syllables to 2. 

This is really common. The S and T can either  

be pronounced: Ss-- sposta, or ZD, spose ta. - I think I’m supposed to add this really slowly. 

- Slowly. Am I supposed to keep on whisking or stirring? 

Alright. Here we go. - Woah! 

- Woah! Steam bomb! The camera! Ok, so now we're slicing the apples.  

We're using machine to make it a little  easier. You can put them in here then. 

Yeah. Okay. There are always  

lots of reductions in American English. Let's look at the ones I just used. 

‘We are’ contracts to ‘we're’ and is  often pronounced ‘were’ in conversation. 

It's really fast and it sounds  just like this word: were. 

I use that contraction twice here. So now we're slicing the apples.  

We're using a machine to make it a little  easier. You can put them in here then. 

Yeah. Okay. You're going to put them in here then. 

Some more reductions. The word are at the beginning was dropped. 

We need that word to be grammatically correct  but it is sometimes dropped in spoken English. 

‘Going to’ became ‘gonna’ and  the TH was dropped in them. 

‘Put them’ becomes: put ‘em— put ‘em— No TH and a flap T to connect the two words. 

Put ‘em— put ‘em— You can put them in here then. 

Yeah. Okay. Right. Watch this do its magic. 

Love it. They come out at the  bottom. Totally thin slice. 

Let's put the lemon juice in. Let's put the lemon juice in. 

The word ‘let's’ is really unclear. It's very common to drop the beginning  

and basically just make the TS sound. Let's put the lemon juice in. Ts- ts- ts- 

That's, its, and what can  also make this reduction. 

We're just putting the TS sound  in front of the next word. 

See this video for further  examples and explanation. 

Let's put the lemon juice in. And the baby’s up. Let me go get him. 

Let me go get him. A couple reductions here. Let me becomes lemme, and the H is  

dropped in ‘him’. Dropping the H in  

this word is a really common reduction. When we do this, it sounds just like when  

we dropped the TH in them. 'Get him' becomes 'get um'. 

Just like 'put them' was 'put um'. The flap T links the words and the  

reduction of ‘them’ and ‘him’ are  the exact same sounds, schwa and M. 

Get em— put em— Let me go get him. 

Can you look right there? Say  ‘Hi! I just had a nice nap!’ 

Can you say ‘Hey everybody!’ Can you try that? 

‘Hey everybody!’ You want to try? No. Okay. 

Can I go ahead and put the apples in there? Yeah, dump them in. 

Dump them in. ‘Them’ is reduced again. Dump em— dump em— Yeah, dump em in. 

I'm going to take you down to daddy. I'm going to take you down to daddy. 

'I'm going to' got reduced. With our most common words and phrases, we tend  

to do the most dramatic reductions. I’m gonna-- There's almost an idea of I in front  

of it but not really. I’m gonna-- I’m gonna--  

I’m gonna-- I'm gonna take you down to daddy. I made a video where I go over this reduction  

and more examples. Click here or in the  

description below to see that video. I'm going to take you down to daddy. 

Alright. - All of them? 

- Let me read ahead. Yeah, all of them. 

I love how when you start paying attention to  a particular reduction, you constantly hear it. 

Did you catch the reductions of ‘them’ here? We're talking about the apple slices. 

- All of them? - Let me read ahead. 

Yeah, all of them. All of them. Nice ‘them’ reduction, Laura. 

- All of them? - Mm-hmm. 

I like it. Okay. 

Then we mixed the apples in  with the other dry ingredients. 

We packed the apples into our pie shell  and drizzled on the caramel sauce which  

got too thick as it cooled. We overcooked it and finally  

we make the lattice top for the pie. I had some problems and I kept messing it up. 

What is wrong with me? I’m like really screwing up. 

Really screwing up. Screw up is a phrasal  

verb which means to do something the wrong  way or to do a bad job with something. 

I screwed up the pie crust. You could also say mess up. 

I messed up the pie crust. I’m really screwing up. I have to wipe that out. 

Oh darn. I I have to eat that caramel sauce. This is weird, Laura. Last time I made this,  

it seeped in much more. So when... because look  

when I'm doing the lattice now, when I pull  it up, it's like bringing up all this goo. 

- It’s thicker. - It's weird. 

I gotta say right now I'm like, I'm feeling  embarrassed about how this is turning out. 

Turn out. Another phrasal verb. 

As I'm using it here, it means  how something develops or ends. 

I'm not happy with how it's going, I'm  embarrassed with the end result of my pie. 

I got to say, right now, I'm like, I'm feeling  embarrassed about how this is turning out. 

I finished making the top and we  put it in the oven and the final  

scene of course needs to be trying the pie. It’s out of the oven, looking good. Laura,  

how are you feeling about it? I’m feeling great! 

Oh, also we made a pumpkin pie. I’m also feeling great about that. 

From scratch with a pumpkin. We  made whipped cream. Big deal. 

And Dana made chocolate-dipped macaroons. Macaroon or Macaron? 

To clarify, this is a macaroon and this is a  macaron, which is also pronounced ‘macaroon’. 

I don’t know, I’ll look it up  and I’ll let everyone know. 

Okay, let’s cut this pie. Who  wants a little bit of apple? 

If you'd like to recreate this pie,  it really is amazingly delicious. 

Please see the link in the  video description below. 

It's from my favorite pie book, the  Four and Twenty Blackbirds book. 

I’m going to have a caramely taste. It turned out well. 

That’s it guys and thanks so  much for using Rachel’s English! 

Here, it’s a beautiful sunny day in  Colorado and I’m going for a hike. 

In this American English pronunciation  video, we'll go for a hike in Colorado. 

My dad and I discussed the hike and we'll talk  about interesting pronunciations and vocabulary  

words that come up in real English conversation. This hike is called Chihuahua Gulch. 

Chihuahua. Have you heard  

this word before? It's a teeny tiny breed of dog. The spelling is pretty strange in American English  

because this word comes to us from Spanish. The breed originated in Mexico. 

This hike is called Chihuahua Gulch  and it's about seven miles roundtrip. 

Roundtrip. The opposite of this phrase is one way. 

So when you go somewhere and  come back, that's roundtrip. 

Notice how the D is dropped. Roundtrip. 

We often drop the D when it comes  between two other consonants. 

Roundtrip. Roundtrip. 

It's about seven miles roundtrip  and it goes up about 1,900 feet. 

So this hike ends at a lake? Yeah. You go… you start off  

going uphill about thirty minutes,  then you go through this long valley. 

Notice how my dad really  stretches out the word ‘long’. 

Why does he do that? When we want to  

really stress words, we make them longer, and you might do that especially with the word  

‘long’ making it longer for dramatic purposes. Long Valley. 

That took a long time. That test was so long. 

through this long valley with a  lot of gorse and little lakes and— 

Gorse. Hmm…do you know that word? I didn't either. 

Let's find out what it means. With a lot of gorse and little lakes  

and little streams. Gorse. 

Gorse are these bushes. Oh! I didn’t…didn’t know that. 

And you sort of go to the end of  the trees where the jeep road ends. 

Did you understand what he said there? He called this road ‘jeep road’. 

So a jeep is a really rugged  vehicle that has a high clearance. 

That is a lot of room between the  ground and the bottom of a car. 

You would not be able to drive  a regular car on this road. 

Where the jeep road ends and  then it’s just a single path. 

And you end up at a mountain lake. And you said that mountain lake:  

"Eh, if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all." You've seen one. You seen them all. 

This is a phrase you might use to  say that something isn't special. 

Now the full grammatically correct  pronunciation of this phrase would  

be ‘If you've seen one, you've seen them  all.’ but that's not how we pronounce it. 

We like to reduce things in American  English especially familiar words and  

phrases and this is a familiar known phrase. You've seen one, you've seen them all. 

We dropped the word ‘if’, we reduce  ‘you've’ to just ye-- and we reduce  

‘them’ to ‘um’. You seen. 

Seen um. You've seen one. You seen them all. 

Another scenario where you may use this: do you want to visit Paris? 

Nah, I'm not that into cities. You've seen one, you've seen them all. 

Eh, You've seen one, you've seen them all. A lot of them are pretty similar. 

A lot of them. My dad also reduced 'them' to 'um'. 

This is a really common reduction just like in  the phrase ‘you've seen one, you seen them all’. 

A lot of them. A lot of them. 

Practice that with me out loud,  smoothly connecting all the words. 

A lot of them. A lot of them. 

A lot of them are pretty similar. But you do have a great view? You  

can see a long way out over the... a  couple of different mountain ranges. 

A couple of different mountain ranges. My dad reduced the word ‘of’ to just  

the schwa. Uh. A couple of— 

We do this so much in conversation  especially with this phrase: a couple of— 

A couple of different mountain ranges.  And the lake itself is probably— 

Probably— This is how we pronounce  ‘probably’ most of the time in conversation. 

You can do it too. It simplifies  the word and makes it easier to say. 

Try it now. Probably. 

Probably. Probably. 

Itself is probably hundred yards  across and maybe 200 by 400. 

Does anyone ever swim there? I did see somebody swim in there once. 

- Very cold. - Ice cold. Really cold. 

Listen to the different ways  we describe how cold it is. 

- Very cold. - Ice cold. Really cold. 

Really cold. Ice cold. 

Very cold. 'Really’ and ‘very’ are words  we use before adjectives to say there's a  

lot of something. Really cold. 

Very cold. A high amount of coldness. 

Ice cold is another great way to  describe something being very cold. 

Now this lake is not ice, its  water, it's very cold water. 

So describing it as ice cold is  an exaggeration, a hyperbole. 

I know it's not actually ice. I know it's just extremely cold water. 

- Very cold. - Ice cold. Really cold. 

I had no temptation to do that. Yeah, I don’t think I will either. 

This is just… you can't design a better day. There's not much wind, hardly any clouds,  

cool but not cold, and this time of year,  you have a lot of aspens turning yellow. 

This time of year. 

Another example of reducing the word ‘of’  to just the schwa in natural conversation. 

This time of year. This time of year, you have  

a lot of aspens turning yellow and these bushes,  I mean, they would be green and in the summer. 

Yeah it looks awesome. I  mean, I love, I love the view. 

Yeah. Sweeping views. 

And we have seen wildlife along here. Yeah, just a couple hundred yards down. Once,  

there were four moose. Moose. 

These animals are fairly rare to see in the wild. One other time when I was in Colorado, we saw one. 

Click here or in the video  description to see that video. 

There were four moose grazing right by the path. Further down yet, we saw heard of maybe 10 or 15  

antelope. - Wow. 

- Galloping along. You often see deer. You often see. 

My dad reduced ‘you’ to ye,  changing the vowel to the schwa. 

This is also a common reduction. Why do we do this? 

Because in American English, the  contrast between stressed and  

unstressed syllables is really important. So if we can make unstressed syllables even  

shorter by changing something, then we do that. You often see. 

You often see deer up here and then on the rocks,  you can see marmots sometime and pike which are  

little tiny animals like and they squeak. How many times have you done this hike? 

Probably five or six. Probably. 

There's another probably to probably reduction. Probably five or six. 

And to me, it's the most scenic hike  around here especially in September. 

Scenic. This is a great word you can use  to describe a beautiful landscape. Scenic. 

Scenic. 

To me it's the most scenic hike around here  especially in September because the aspen  

are turning yellow and a lot of these bushes  are turning red and in June, July, it's just  

the waters too high you'd have to take off your  shoes and put on sandals and just wade through. 

So usually, we wait till August  or September to do this one. 

Wade. This is what  

you do when you're walking through water. So you're not swimming. You're walking  

like through a creek. If the water is too  deep, then you can't wade. You have to swim. 

Take off your shoes and put on  sandals and just wade through. 

Here is David walking over the creek that dad says  you have to wade through when the water is higher. 

We didn't make it to the top. Yeah but we got to a good turning  

around point and we had a fantastic view, we  had lunch looking out down the long valley. 

Couldn't have been better. Couldn't have been better. 

A word here is being reduced to just the schwa. What word is it? 

We noticed before that the word  ‘of’ reduces to just the schwa. 

But here it's the word ‘have’. Yes, the word ‘have’  

can be changed to just the schwa sound:  uh in conversation especially after could,  

couldn't, should, shouldn't, would, wouldn't. I've actually seen native speakers mess this up  

and write ‘should of’ instead of ‘should have’. It makes sense because ‘of’ and ‘have’ can both  

produce the same single sound, the schwa. Shoulda. 

But if this sound is following could, couldn't,  should, shouldn't, would, wouldn't, the word is  

definitely ‘have’ and reducing ‘have’ to just the  schwa after these words will help your English  

sound natural. Practice. 

Couldn’t have. Couldn’t have. 

Notice I'm dropping the T in the contraction.  This is how native speakers will say this phrase. 

Couldn’t have. Couldn’t have. 

Special thanks to my dad for being in  yet another Rachel's English video. 

To see more videos that use real  English conversation for teaching,  

check out my Real English playlist. Does you family ever do game night? 

In this fun lesson, I’m playing a  game with my husband and my parents. 

Have you ever played the game Codenames? Today you’re going to join me and my family  

as we play this word game, and study  real English conversation as we play. 

You’ll see lots of reductions  happening, and you’ll learn some  

great vocabulary words and idioms like ‘dominant’, ‘detract’,  

‘neck and neck’, and ‘sore loser’. The game is called Codenames and  

last night, we played four rounds and Mom and  

I beat David and dad each time. Did you hear how the word  

‘and’ was used to connect two nouns? This is a common way we use the word ‘and’. 

Mom and I, David and Dad. The word ‘and’ reduces so it just sounds like  

an N sound connecting the two words together. Using reductions and linking can  

really smooth out your English and help you sound more natural and native. 

Try that now, Mom and I, Mom and I. David and Dad, 

David and Dad. Listen again. 

And Mom and I-- And Mom and I-- 

And Mom and I beat David and dad-- David and dad-- 

David and dad each time. Mom, are you ready to crush David and 

Dad again in the game? I'm so ready to crush David  

and Dad again in the game. My Mom had a really bad  

cold when we shot this video. I apologize for her voice being a bit scratchy. 

Did you notice the vocabulary we used here? The word ‘crush’. 

When you crush someone in a game, it means  you beat them by a lot, a very wide margin. 

The game was not close. Mom, are you ready to  

crush David and Dad again in the game? We're going to be the clue givers first. 

Alright. Alright, you want to draw one? 

Alright, it's red. That means ladies go  first and we have to take the extra card. 

Listen to the word ‘alright’. You heard it three times in that clip. 

Alright. Alright, you want to draw one? 

Alright, it's red. Alright. 

Alright, you want to draw one? Alright, it's red. 

Words with R’s and L’s tend to be  extra tricky for non-native speakers. 

But the L sound is very weak, and actually,  you can get by without saying it at all. 

I didn’t really say it, and neither did my Dad. Just a quick AH as in FATHER or AW as in LAW  

sound will be great. Alright, alright. 

This works with ‘already’ as well. Already, already. 

Alright. Listen again. Alright. 

Alright, you want to draw one? Alright, it's red. 

Okay, mom. My clue is 'rod for two'. In this game, you have a  

grid of words in front of you. Some of the words are for your team,  

some are for the other team, and some are neutral. You try to get your teammate to guess your words,  

and you do this by grouping  them together and saying a word 

that you think your partner will associate  with the two words you’ve chosen. 

So I said ‘rod’ for two. That means, there are two words on the  

board that I think have an association with the  word ‘rod’, and I hope she guesses them correctly. 

Notice I said ‘rod’ really clearly. It doesn’t have the context of a sentence  

around it, so I want to be really clear. But how did I pronounce the word ‘for’? 

I reduced it, f-schwa-r. Fer, fer, fer two. Okay, mom. My clue is 'rod for two'. 

For two. For two. 

Okay, Rod king? Rod fair? 

She’s going through the words, trying to decide  if any of them make sense with the word ‘rod’. 

Rod king? Rod fair? 

Okay, Rod king? Rod fair? 

Probably cast. Prob’ly ‘cast’. Did you notice  

how she pronounced the word ‘probably’? She reduced it by dropping a syllable. 

I would say native speakers do  this at least half of the time. 

It makes the pronunciation  easier, and you can do it do. 

Practice that with me. Prob’ly, 

prob’ly. Probably cast. 

Probably cast. Probably cast. 

She chose ‘cast’. 

This word can have several different meanings.  For example, when you break your leg or arm, 

you might wear a cast for  several weeks while it heals. 

Or, in a play or opera, everyone who is  on stage acting is part of the ‘cast’. 

It can also mean to throw or fling, and this is what you do with a fishing pole,  

to get your hook out into the water. It can also be called a fishing rod.  

So I said ‘rod’, she saw ‘cast’ and made  the association, and that was correct. 

In English, we have so many words like  ‘cast’ that can be used different ways. 

Probably cast. Are we stumped already? 

David is having a hard time coming up with his  clue, and my Dad says, “are we stumped already?” 

To be stumped means to have no idea. For example, let’s say you’re trying  

to figure out a very difficult problem  and you cannot come up with the answer. 

You might say, “I’m stumped.” The –ed ending is pronounced as a T  

because the sound before was unvoiced,  the P consonant. pt, pt, stumped. 

Are we stumped already? Are we getting off to a slow start? 

Then Dad says, are we getting off to a slow start? That phrase means you’re not making much  

progress at the beginning. Getting off to a slow start. 

But David thought of a clue,  and he said ‘dominant’. 

Are we stumped already? Are we getting off to a  

slow start? Dominant. 

Do you know what ‘dominant’ means? Ruling, controlling, commanding, main. 

Dominant. Dominant. 

Dominant. I'm gonna say superhero. 

When Dad guesses, he says, “I’m ‘gonna’ say”, reducing ‘going to’ to ‘gonna’. 

I'm gonna. I'm gonna say. 

I'm gonna say superhero. I'm gonna say king. 

Okay mom, my hint is tent for two. I give Mom a clue again, tent for two. 

Did you hear how I reduced ‘for’ again? Fer, fer. Tent for two. 

For two. For two. 

Okay, pole is probably one cause  we always have a tent pole. 

Although we haven't always...  had them when we went camping. 

We had to resort to string and trees. A ladder and crossed two by fours like that. 

Have you ever forgotten the tent  poles when you went camping? 

I can’t quite imagine how  you could leave that out, 

but my parents managed to once a long  time ago, and they had to use a ladder  

inside their tent to hold it up. That's when I would have gone home. 

“That’s when I ‘would-a’ gone home.” Did you hear how I pronounced  

the phrase ‘would have’? I reduced the word ‘have’ to just the schwa. 

Would-a, would-a, that’s when I would-a gone home. This is a common reduction with ‘would’,  

‘should’, and ‘could’. Would-a, should-a, could-a. 

That's when I would have That's when I would have 

That's when I would have gone home. You weren't around yet. 

I know, I'm just saying in my, in my  world, camping is no longer fun when  

you didn't bring the poles. It did detract a bit. 

My Dad used the word ‘detract’. A great vocabulary word. 

This means to take a way from  the quality of something. 

Camping, without a proper tent,  made the experience less fun. 

It did detract a bit. Uhm, okay I'll say rainforest for two. 

David is giving the clue now,  and he said ‘Rainforest for two’. 

Did you see how he reduced  the word ‘for’? Fer, fer. 

We almost always pronounce it this way. Rainforest for two. For two. For two. 

So I will say Amazon for one of those. Amazon for one of those – 

another ‘for’ reduction. Fer one, fer one, 

Amazon for one of thosMy Dad also  reduced the word ‘of’ to just the  

schwa – one of, one of. Amazon for one of those. 

So I will say Amazon for one of those. Amazon for one of those. 

Amazon for one of those. Is it illegal for me to remove this? 

Yes. You're gonna try to jog your memory? 

Is it illegal for me to remove this? You're trying to jog your memory about  

what the previous clue was? Yeah. 

Once a correct word is chosen, you cover it  with a card that’s the color for your team. 

Because my dad can’t remember the  clue, he wants to uncover the word  

to see if that will help him remember. Did you notice the phrase I used for this? 

Jog your memory. Something ‘jogs your  

memory’ if it helps you remember something. You're trying to jog your memory about what  

the previous clue was? Yeah. 

Thanks for asking! He also said 'no' though. 

He said probably not. Prob’ly not. 

Another example of dropping that  middle syllable in ‘probably’. 

Probably. Prob’ly not. Dad said: He said probably not. 

He said probably not. He said probably not. 

We'll I'm going to take a chance and  say they are crickets in the rainforest. 

Well, I’m going to take a chance…  The word ‘well’ was pretty unclear. 

This can happen with this word as it’s a filler  word, it doesn’t have any special meaning here. 

It’s just a quick W and dark L. Well. well. well. Well I’m gonna-- Well I’m going to take a chance. 

And another ‘gonna’ reduction. Well, I’m going to take a chance… 

Well, I’m going to take a chance Well, I’m going to take a chance 

We'll I'm going to take a chance and  say they are crickets in the rainforest. 

Alright! My dad celebrated with ‘alright! 

And again, there was clearly  no L sound in this word. 

Alright. Alright. 

Alright. Alright. 

Okay, I'm gonna say shatter for two. Shatter. 

Another great vocabulary word. This means to break into pieces. 

A glass would shatter if it hit the floor. Shatter. 

Notice the double T is the Flap T here,  because the T sound comes between two vowels. 

Shatter. Okay, I'm gonna say shatter for two. 

And of course, another ‘for’  reduction. Fer two, fer two. 

Shatter. For two. For two. For two. I'm gonna go with glass. 

I’m going to go with. This means you choose. 

My mom is choosing ‘glass’ as her answer. 

You could also say this at a  restaurant as you’re ordering. 

“I’m going to go with the fish special.” That means that's the dish that I choose to eat. 

That I choose to order. I'm gonna go with glass. 

Now, Washington was the leader. - She touched it.- Yeah,  

you're not supposed to touch it until...it's okay, I know you  

weren't doing your final but... My Dad is really watching my Mom,  

who is on the opposite team. In this game you’re not supposed to touch a card  

until you’re making that your official guess. Listen to what I say to my Mom about this. 

Yeah, you're not supposed to  touch it until...it's okay, 

I know you weren't doing your final but...FYI. I said, I knew you weren’t doing  

your final guess, but FYI. That means, ‘for your information’. 

It’s like saying, just so you know. I was letting her know, that is the rule  

officially, so she should probably not do it. FYI. 

Yeah, you're not supposed to  touch it until...it's okay, 

I know you weren't doing your final but...FYI We don't know that. 

Just kidding. Don't pay attention to him. 

I'm gonna go with Washington. I’m going to go with. 

There’s that phrase again, to mean “I choose”. I'm gonna go with Washington. 

Actually, you're doing really well. Yeah, you guys were neck and neck. 

We're doing better. We're doing better. We're neck and neck. 

Here, we’re discussing the score. We were tied, so I said, “we’re neck and neck”. 

This means very close or tied, in a race or game. Did you notice the AND reduction? 

Neck and neck. Just the schwa and N, 

neck and—neck and neck-- and the N in 'and'  blends into the beginning N for ‘neck’. 

Neck and neck. We're neck and neck. 

So a historical figure is a proper noun? Rosie the riveter for two. 

Rosie the riveter for two. Wow. For the win! 

Two more ‘for’ reductions. For two, and ‘for the win’. 

The more you pay attention  to and listen for reductions, 

the more you start to notice they are  used all the time in American English. 

They are part of what makes  up good, clear English. 

Rosie the riveter for two. Wow. For the win! 

I can't think of one that fits Rosie the  Riveter right off the top of my head. 

Dad can’t think of an answer  off the top of his head. 

What does this phrase mean? It means immediately,  

without having to try or think. He can’t think of one off the top of his head, 

this means, he’s going to have  to sit there and really think  

about it to try to come up with an answer. I can't think of one that fits Rosie the  

Riveter right off the top of my head. I'm gonna say washer for one. 

Maybe... probably you file  things down when you're riveting. 

I'm gonna say file for two. You almost had it, Dad. You did say  

it once as being the most obvious. You said washer and queen  

seemed to be the 2 best fits. We've just played the best 3 of 5. 

4 out of 7. 4 out of 7. 

We played the best of 5 which  means one team has to win 3 

before a winner can be declared and  Mom and I won 3 in a row. The first 3. 

So we're the champions. Great job, Mom! 

Yay! Boo! 

Oh, don't be a sore loser! A sore loser is someone who is upset or  

angry when they lose a game or a competition. Of course you don’t have to  

be happy when you lose, but to be clearly upset, annoyed,  

or angry at a loss is to be a sore loser. Oh, don't be a sore loser! 

That's it guys, and thanks so  much for using Rachel's English! 

My parents were pretty great  for being in this video with me. 

It reminds me of a video we made a long time ago  where I introduced my parents on Rachel’s English  

for the first time. Did you see it? 

I’ll play it here for you right now. Now, I’ve been spending a lot of time  

teaching you English, and I thought it would  be fun to show you who taught me English. 

These are my parents Rita and Stan. Rita. 

Notice we have a Flap T there, because  the T is coming between two vowel sounds. 

-ta, -ta,Rita. Stan. 

Now here we have the AA as in BAT  vowel followed by the N consonant. 

When this vowel is followed  by the N or the M consonant, 

we get an extra sound. Aa-uu, uu, an  uh-like sound before the nasal consonant. 

Staaaaaan Stan, Stan. 

These are my parents Rita and Stan. Hello. 

So guys, do you remember what my first word was? 

I remember your brother’s first word. Ok. So, I’m the youngest of two. 

Clearly I’m not a memorable child because  the first one is the more interesting one. 

His first word was ‘hi’. Hi. 

And, I don’t remember Rachel’s first word, but  once she started speaking, she never stopped. 

That’s true. So you don’t remember my first word either? 

It was probably ‘mama’. But you don’t actually know. 

I don’t actually know. Ok. 

The pronunciation of this word is four  syllables, and with the CH consonant sound. 

Actually. But I notice both  

my Mom and I here pronounced it actually. We’re reducing the word by substituting the  

CH with a SH sound, that has no stop;  we’re making it a little bit smoother. 

And we’re dropping the schwa syllable altogether. Actually. 

Actually. But you don’t actually know. 

I don’t actually know. Ok. 

They’re trying to think of something cute that I  might have said to tell you guys. But my Mom said: 

I can think of something cute your brother said. Yeah. See? It’s terrible. 

Well, I remember doing lots of things with you. Right. No, it’s fine. 

I remember riding you to school  on the handlebars of my bike. 

Yeah. That hurt. I always wished that he  would buy an actual seat to put on the bike. 

One thing I remember is sending off a card three  days before she left for summer camp so she would  

receive a card on the first day of summer camp. Yeah. That was nice. I used to go away for two  

weeks, and Mom was very good about  sending cards and also treats. 

Well, thanks Mom and Dad so much for being  willing to meet my Rachel’s English audience. 

One last thing I want to say about them is  tomorrow is their 45th wedding anniversary. 

So, happy anniversary, guys! Thank you! 

Are you ok? Yeah. 

This is my favorite uncle John. This is my dad’s older brother. Isn’t he cute? 

John, this is Rachel’s English. Hi Rachel’s English. How are you? 

Rachel comes from a very talkative family. Yeah. We, we all talk a lot. 

- Yeah. - It makes sense that I’m  

doing what I’m doing. - Right. 

- I’m the quietest one I think. - Yeah, probably. 

And he’s not that quiet. My cousin Brad owns a  

farm and one dusk, he showed me around. Rachel: In this American English pronunciation 

video, you're going to  visit my cousin Brad's farm. 

You’ll learn reductions like the reduction  of the word them and how 'want to' becomes 

'wanna'. You'll hear the phrase "a lot of' pronounced 

'a lotta'. And you'll hear an  

example of the reduction of because and you are. Rachel: So Brad, how often do you feed 'em? 

Brad: Twice a day. Sorry about the wind here, guys. 

Here was our first reduction. Did you hear it? 

The reduction of THEM. It’s really common to drop the TH  

in this word and change the vowel to the schwa. When you do this reduction, make sure you link  

it on to the word before. There  should be no break between words. 

“Feed them” becomes “feed ‘em”,  feed 'em in conversational English. 

Feed ‘em. It’s like an  

unstressed syllable at the end of “feed”. Rachel: So Brad, how often do you feed 'em? 

So Brad, how often do you feed 'em? So Brad, how often do you feed 'em? 

Brad: Twice a day. Twice a day. 

Let’s look at this short sentence to study stress. Do you notice that some words are  

longer and some are shorter? They’re all one-syllable long,  

but “twice” and “day” are much longer than “a”. They have an up-down intonation: Day, day. 

“A” is flat and said very  quickly. It's unstressed. 

The other two words are stressed. This contrast between stressed and  

unstressed is important in American English. 

If everything was stressed and longer, it  would sound more like this: twice a day. 

Twice a day. That’s not normal English. 

Twice a day. Brad: Twice a day. 

Twice a day. Twice a day. 

Have you ever seen a cockfight Brad? Brad: No, I don't want to. 

Do they have 'em around here? Did you hear another “them” reduction  

in that small conversation? Listen again. 

Do they have 'em around here? Do they have ‘em around here? 

Here the word ‘them’ refers to “cockfights”. It's the plural pronoun and it's pronounced “em”. 

Linked to the word before, it  sounds like “have ‘em, have ‘em”. 

Do they have 'em around here? Do they have 'em around here? 

Do they have 'em around here? Yeah! a lot of guys from Washburn got arrested  

a couple of years ago for big cockfight ring. Big, big betting? 

Yeah. Rachel: So you guys  

had a lot of rain you were saying? Here was another reduction: of. 

A lotta rain. The phrase “a lot of” is common in American 

English, and it’s common to change the word “of” to “uh”, a lotta. 

Notice what happens to the T: it changes to a  Flap sound because it comes between two vowels. 

That helps link the two words together. A lotta. 

Only “lot” is stressed here, the  two other words are unstressed. 

Uh uh uhlotta, uhlotta. Try that. 

A lotta. Rachel:  

So you guys had a lotta rain you were saying? So you guys had a lotta rain you were saying? 

So you guys had a lotta rain you were saying? 

Oh, it's been terrible! Brad: You wanna play with 'em? 

This wind is making it a little hard to  hear, but did you hear what my cousin said? 

Brad: You wanna play with 'em? You wanna play with 'em? 

You wanna play with ‘em? There’s the “them” reduction again,  

referring to the chickens. With ‘em, with ‘em, with ‘em. 

He also reduced “want to” to “wanna”. This is really common, Americans do it all 

the time in spoken English. It’s not improper English. 

You wanna play with ‘em? Brad: You wanna play with ‘em? 

You wanna play with ‘em? You wanna play with ‘em? 

Rachel: No I'd.. Brad: Okay, you can grab ‘em out of there 

and play with 'em. Rachel: You can grab ‘em out of there. 

Another them reduction! Grab ‘em, grab ‘em. 

Brad: You can grab ‘em out, You can grab ‘em out, You can grab ‘em out of  

there and play with 'em if you want. Rachel: No, I do not wanna hold one of those. 

I just used the “wanna” reduction. Did you hear it? 

I do not wanna hold, I do not wanna hold, I do not wanna hold one of those. 

Rachel: It's huge! How much does that cow weigh? 

About 1400 pounds. Rachel: Wow, 1400. 

Weigh. This is a homophone. 

That means it sounds exactly  the same as another word. 

Do you know what word is? “Weigh” is pronounced just like “way”. Way. 

Different word, different meaning,  different spelling, but same pronunciation. 

We have a lot of homophones in American English. Click here to see a video I made about homophones. 

Rachel: It's huge! How much does that cow weigh? 

About 1400 pounds. Rachel: Wow, 1400. 

Yeah, Rachel: Hey Ian. 

Ian: Hey. (laughing) 

Rachel: No, that's not how you said it. You said "I sold 3 of 'em." 

I sold 3 of 'em before we went into winter. Because I knew I was gonna be short on feed. 

Here, my cousin is talking about his cows, and I  made him say it again so I could get it on camera. 

Do you hear the THEM reduction? I sold 3 of 'em 

Three of ‘em. Three of ‘em. 

Try that. Three of ‘em. 

I sold 3 of 'em. I sold 3 of 'em. 

I sold 3 of 'em before we went into winter. Because I knew I was gonna be short on feed. 

Good job. Rachel: I don't think I was meant to be a 

farmer. You wanna feed 'em Ian? 

You just heard two reductions that we’ve already learned in this video. 

What are they? Rachel: You wanna feed 'em Ian? 

You wanna feed 'em Ian? “Wanna” and “em”. 

Do you want to feed them.? You wanna feed 'em? 

I dropped the word DO, turned “want to”  into “wanna”, and used the “them” reduction. 

You wanna feed ‘em, Ian? Ian is my brother. 

Rachel: You wanna feed 'em Ian? You wanna feed 'em Ian? 

You wanna feed 'em Ian? Cows spend lot of time in there. 

Rachel: Who? The cows do. 

Rachel: Oh, uhuh. Rachel's Dad: Do you uh,  

keep 'em in there during the winter? My Dad made the “them” reduction too! 

Did you hear it? Rachel's Dad: Do you  

uh, keep 'em in there during the winter? 

keep 'em in there during the winter? keep 'em in there during the winter? 

Keep ‘em in there. Keep ‘em, keep ‘em, just add that unstressed  

syllable to the end of the word before. Keep 'em. 

My dad also dropped the T in  “winter”. It became 'winner'. 

Did you notice that? Rachel's Dad: keep 'em in there during the 

winter? during the winter? during the  winter? keep 'em in there during the winter? 

Actually, I noticed my cousin  Brad did this earlier too. 

Did you notice? Winter became winner. 

Brad: Before we went in to winter. Before we went in to winter. 

Before we went in to winter. Americans sometimes drop the T when it comes  

after an N. “Winter” sounds like ”winner”. Other common examples of this: center,  

interview, international, internet. Rachel's Dad: keep 'em in there during the 

winter or do they still go out somewhere? Brad: They go outside. 

They, they're actually outside even when it's snowing. 

Because when I come to feed 'em,  they have snow on their backs. 

Rachel's Dad: Oh. Because when I come to feed ‘em. 

THEM reduction, also, my  cousin Brad reduced “because”. 

It became “cuz”, cuz,. Cuz when I. Cuz when I. 

Brad: Cuz when I come to feed 'em, Cuz when I come to feed 'emCuz when I come to feed 

'em, they have snow on their backs. Rachel's Dad: Oh. 

Rachel: Brad thanks for showing me your farm. Brad: You're welcome! 

You’re welcome. This is a really common phrase. We don’t  

say “you are”, you are welcome. we don’t generally  say “you’re” fully pronounced, but we reduce it. 

Yer, yer. You’re welcome. 

You’re welcome. Brad: You're welcome! 

You're welcome! You're welcome! 

You studied a lot of reductions today. Reductions are a part of natural spoken English, 

but I don’t recommend using them in writing. It’s not professional. 

But please, please, use them when you speak. It will sound great! 

Which one of these conversations was your  favorite? Let me know in the comments.  

I love sharing my life with you, sharing  the English language with you. Be sure to  

subscribe with notifications on so you  never miss a lesson. I love being your  

English teacher. That's it and thanks  so much for using Rachel's English.