American English in Real Life Study - Gonna, alright, sort of, check out

This video is a bonus video to the one made last week. There we were studying listening

comprehension in two-syllable words. In this video, we’re taking the same footage, but

we’re studying different things: alright, the CAN reduction, and the phrasal verb ‘check

out’, plus a lot more. So stay tuned.

>> So, the space that we’re getting married in used to be a chocolate factory, about a

century ago.

Did you notice that the letter T in CENTURY was pronounced CH? As a C-H. Ch. There are

quite a few common words in American English where T followed by U is pronounced this way.

A few other examples: virtue, future, mature, mutual, nature, ritual, statue, fortunately.

Century. Listen again.

>> So, the space that we’re getting married in used to be a chocolate factory, about a

century [3x] ago. And now it’s a photography studio painted all white, with hardwood floors.

It’s a little industrial, as you can see. And yeah, this is where we’re gonna do it.

Where we’re gonna get married.

You probably noticed I used ‘gonna’ in that sentence: this is where we’re gonna

do it, where we’re gonna get married. It’s so common, it comes up in almost every real

life English video. ‘Gonna’ is a great reduction that will make you sound more American.

We use it all the time with the To Be contractions: I’m, you’re, it’s, and so on. There

are more ‘gonna’s in this video. Write them down as you hear them, and watch all

the way to the end to see if you got them all.

>> And yeah, this is where we’re gonna do it. Where we’re gonna get married. So we

came back today so that we could, sort of, think about decorations and layout.

Sort of. Did you notice how I used it in that sentence? What does it mean?

>> So we came back today so that we could, sort of, think about decorations and layout.

I used it here as a filler word while I thought of what to say. It doesn’t really have any

meaning here. Listen again.

So we came back today so that we could, sort of, think about decorations and layout.

‘Sort of’ will link together so it sounds like one word. When we do that, the T in ‘sort’

becomes a flap T, sort of. You’ll also hear it with no V sound: sorta, sorta.

Americans will also use ‘sort of’ and ‘kind of’ to mean a little bit. For example,

I’m sort of tired. I’m not really tired, but I’m sort of tired.

Are you hungry? Sort of. He’s sort of a jerk.

She’s sort of annoying.

>> So we came back today so that we could, sort of, think about decorations and layout.

So, I think the tables are going to go here. And the bar is probably going to be somewhere

else. We are having alcohol at our wedding. Some people choose not to, although most people

do. And, we’re getting married and having the reception all here in this same space.

It used to be really typical to get married in a church. Less so now. Most of my cousins

have gotten married outside. A lot of my friends as well.

A lot of – just like ‘sort of’, this is a really common phrase, and it all links

together so it sounds like one word. You can drop the V sound at the end: a lot of, alotta.

Listen again.

>> A lot of [3x] my friends as well. We can’t do that because it’s going to be January

in Philadelphia, um, but hopefully this will be just a lovely! We’re going to have lots

of candles. Everywhere candles, candles, candles. And, the chocolate that used to be made in

this factory, it was the precursor to the Hershey’s kiss, it’s shaped the same,

it’s called a Wilburbud. And we’re going to have a lot of those for our guests to enjoy

as well. Unless we eat them all before the wedding, which might happen.

>> What else can I say? Actually, that was an example, a great example of a ‘can’

reduction.

‘Can’ will reduce when it’s a helping verb, which is most of the time. It’s not

CAN, but kn, kn. Listen again.

>> What else can I say?

>> One idea that I had for decorating is, I bought some hooks that are magnetic, and

I thought I might be able to put them on the metal beams and hang little lanterns with

candles in them. So I’m going to have to set those up and see if they work. I’m going

to go get those now.

>> Alright.

Did you notice how I said ‘alright’? I dropped the L, and made just a quick AW sound

for the first syllable. Aw, aw, alright. That makes it easy to say the syllable really quickly,

which is what we want since it’s unstressed. Alright, alright. Listen again.

>> Alright [3x]

>> Let’s check it out.

Check it out. What does this mean? The phrasal verb ‘to check out’ has several

meanings. When you’re leaving a hotel you go to the front desk and you tell them you’re

leaving, maybe you pay the bill. This is called checking out.

>>We need to check out at 11.

It means to go to the cashier to buy things at a store.

>> Are you done shopping? >> No, I still need to check out.

To be checked out means to not be paying attention. >> I have no idea what was discussed, I was

completely checked out during the meeting.

To check something out means to get to know it or give it a try.

>> Have you been to the new coffee shop? >> No, I’ll have to check it out soon.

To check something out can also mean to borrow it.

>> I’m checking this book out of the library.

To check out something can mean to verify it’s true.

>> I’ll check out her story before I write about her.

To check someone out means to have romantic, or at least physical interest in someone.

>> I think he likes you, I saw him checking you out.

What did I mean when I said ‘check it out’? Listen again.

>> Alright. Let’s check it out.

Here I was using the meaning to give it a try.

>> Let’s check it out [3x].

Alright, let’s check it out.

Now that’s going to be fun, right? All up and down with a little tea light in it? I

love it. That’s going to be fun.

>> Alright.

Another alright. Again, no L. A-, a-, a-, alright.

>> Alright. [3x]

>> I think the tables are gonna go here.

>> And the bar is probably going to be somewhere else.

>> We’re gonna have lots of candles.

>> And we’re gonna have a lot of those for our guests to enjoy as well.

>> So I’m gonna have to set those up and see if they work.

>> I’m gonna go get those now.

>> Now that’s gonna be fun, right?

>> That’s gonna be fun.

Even with just a few phrases of American English, there’s a lot to learn. Thanks for studying

with me.

>> Alright guys, that’s it. And thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.