The 100 MOST COMMON WORDS in ENGLISH

You’re probably over-pronouncing all of the first  27 most common words in American English. So today  

we’re going to study the American pronunciation  of the 100 most common words in English. In these  

100 simple words, you are going to learn so much  about the American accent, rhythm, and melody.

I’m Rachel and I’ve been teaching the  American accent and English listening  

skills to non-native speakers for over  15 years. Check out Rachelsenglish.com  

to learn more about improving your spoken English.

To start, let’s look at 1-10,  the most common, most important,  

most used words in the English language.  We’ll learn what exactly a reduction is,  

and how it will help you understand fast English  and speak more natural American English.

The number one most common word  in American English is THE.

In a sentence it will become the, the.

Very fast with a schwa. This is when  the next word begins with a consonant.

For example, “the most”, the, the most.

It's usually pronounced with  the EE vowel, the, the, the.

If the next word begins with a vowel or diphthong,  for example, “the other”, the, the, the.

The most important thing  about the pronunciation of  

this word is that it should be said very quickly.

The cat. It should never be THE CAT, THE CAT.

Always ‘the cat’. The, the, the very fast.

The next word is ‘be’, and I assume  this means the verb TO BE, conjugated.

I am, you are, he is, she  is, it is, we are, they are.

The important thing to know  about these pronunciations is  

that they will almost always be said in  a contraction, ‘I am’ becomes I’m, I'm,

I'm. Said very quickly, I’m.

Sometimes you’ll even hear  as just the M sound: M’sorry.

M’sorry, mm, mm, mm. This  is a natural pronunciation.

YOU ARE, you’re, reduces to ‘you’re’. Super  fast. basically no vowel. You're, you're.

You’re gonna be okay. You’re, you're.  Very fast. HE IS becomes ‘he’s’.He's.

SHE IS is she’s. She's. IT IS, it’s, it’s, it’s.

Sometimes we reduce this even further  we change a sound, we dropped the vowel.

We say just ‘ts’. Ts, ts.  ‘ts cool! ‘ts awesome! Ts.

Have you ever heard that? ‘Ts cool. ‘Ts raining.

It's a common reduction.

WE ARE, we’re, becomes ‘we’re’.  We’re running late. ‘we’re’, ‘we’re’.

Very fast. THEY ARE, they’re becomes ‘they’re’.

Very fast, the vowel changes, they’re.  They’re okay. They’re, they’re.

Word number three: to.

Almost never pronounced this way, to.

We use a reduction: the vowel changes  to the schwa. To, to, said very quickly.

And sometimes, the true T at the beginning  changes to more of a D sound, or a Flap T.

“Let’s go to the beach.”

Go to the. Go to. Go to.

How is ‘to’ being pronounce there?  To, to, go to. A flap of the tongue,  

and the schwa. Said very  quickly. Go to. Go to the beach.

It’s nothing like TO, is it? OF.

Again, we don’t fully pronounce  this word. It’s not OF, it’s of.

Schwa, very light V, said  very quickly. And actually,  

you’ll often hear this word without the ‘v’.

Then it’s just the schwa, and we pronounce it  this way in phrases ‘kind of’ and ‘sort of’.

kinda, sorta.

For example, I’m kinda tired. Kinda.  Kinda, uh, uh, uh. Schwa, very fast. Kinda.

Ok, we’re only four words in, but let’s review.

I’m going to put up a sentence.  Look at it, find the reduction,  

and then say the sentence with the  reduction. Say the reduction very quickly.

Here's one sentence:

I am remember becomes I'm.

How quickly did you make that first word?

I'm running late. I'm running  late.Try it as just the M sound.

Mmm, mmm. M'running, M'running. M’running late.

Sorry guys, I’m running late. So natural.

When you learn the reductions in American English,  

and you start to really use them in your  speech, you gain a native feeling. Also,  

understanding Americans becomes easier because  you can start to identify the reductions.

One more for you to try out loud now: I  want you to try reducing the word ‘to’.

Look at it, think about it, now try it out loud.  “I know how to do it.” How to, how to, how to.

I’m making that the Flap T and the schwa. Are  you? Try it again. How to, I know how to do it.

Alright, we’ll keep going with number 5:

AND.

And.

Another word that we rarely fully pronounce. There  are a couple of different ways to reduce this.

We’ll start with the full pronunciation,  and we’ll reduce from there.

AA vowel followed by N consonant: the tongue

is lifted in the back for AA, Aaaa.

Then relaxes before the N. Aa-uh, aa-uh, aa-uh.

So it’s not a pure AA sound. Aa-uh,  aa-uh. And, and, and, and, and.

First reduction is just dropping the D.  “An’, An’and I think it will be okay.”

An, An' I, An’ I. No D, just the N into  the next word. An' I think it will be okay.

Another reduction, more common, is to just say  the N sound, “N’. N' I think it will be okay.”

N’, N', just straight from  the N into the next word.

N' I, N' I think it will be okay.

Cookies and cream, salt and pepper, black  and white, up and down, left and right.

All of these, I’m just making a quick  N sound, linking the two other words.

Up and down.

Number 6.

Okay, we’re actually going to do 6 and  32 together, because they’re related.

They're the articles A and AN.

Now, we don’t say A and AN.

We say ‘a’ and ‘an’. Schwa. Very fast,  very little movement for the mouth.

A, a, a coffee. A, a or An,  an example. An, an. A, an.

Number 7.

IN.

We don’t drop or change a sound here. We  don’t reduce. But it is still unstressed.

This mean it should be really short, less clear.  Instead of saying ‘IN’, we would say ‘in’.

“He’s in love.” In, in.

“She’s in a hurry”. In, in, in.

So be careful. It’s not IN.  That sounds stressed. It’s ‘in’.

Number 8: THAT.

You know what I realize? I already have  a video for a lot of these reductions.

I have a video on the pronunciation of THAT  and how we really pronounce it in a sentence.

So I’ll give a brief description here,  

but I’ll also link to that and other related  reduction videos in the video description.

THAT is a word that can be used lots  of different ways in American English.

And in some cases, in many cases, we reduce the  vowel from AA to the schwa so THAT becomes ‘that’.

Now the ending T: the pronunciation of that  sound depends on the beginning of the next word.

If the next word begins with a vowel or diphthong,

it’s a Flap T: That I, d d, d that I.

If the next word begins with a  consonant, then it’s a Stop T. That she.

That, that That she. I know,  it’s a little confusing.

Check out my video on the word THAT for  a longer explanation and more examples.

But just note that we often  don't pronounce this word,  

that. We often reduce it so it has the schwa that.

Number 9: the verb HAVE.

Just like the verb ‘be’, this will  often be used as a contraction in  

spoken English, which is already a reduction.

We’re already changing sounds for that:

I HAVE becomes I’ve, I’ve I’ve I’ve I’ve.  “I’ve been wanting to see that.” I’ve I’ve.

YOU HAVE becomes ‘you’ve.’

HE HAS becomes ‘he’s’.

He's he's. You’ve you’ve. He’s been waiting. He's.

Here’s something interesting: the  pronunciation of the HAS contraction.

With ‘he’ and ‘she’, it’s pronounced

as a Z. Hiz.

Hiz been, hiz been.

But with Shes shiz shiz. But with  it, its, it’s been raining, then

it’s an S sound. It's. He’s, Z  it’s, Ss S. WE HAVE becomes ‘we’ve’,  

we’ve’ we’ve’ and THEY HAVE becomes

‘they’ve’ which sounds like  deiv when it's unstressed.

Number 10: the pronoun I.

Usually said very quickly, it’s  not “I” but “I”. I think so.

I, I, I. I think, I.

If you’re speaking really quickly, you can maybe  get away with something more like ‘aa’ than ‘I’.

I think so. Aa aa aa. I think so.

When it’s said so quickly, you can’t really tell  if I’m doing the full diphthong I or not.

Wow. There were a lot of reductions  there. Maybe you already knew some of  

these reductions. If you did, please let  me know which ones you already knew in  

the comments below. Let’s look at the next  set of 10. There will be more reductions,  

more opportunities to smooth  out your spoken English.

One thing that will make it easier  for you to hear reductions in fast,  

conversational English is listening  practice and training. I have a free  

course where you can do this training.  Transform the way you hear English  

and the way you speak English. Visit  Rachel’s English.com/free to get this,  

Top 3 Ways to Master the American Accent. I’ll  also put the link in the video description.

We’re starting today with number 11,  

the word ‘it’. This word doesn’t reduce  in a sentence, we don’t drop or change a

sound, but it said very quickly. And the  pronunciation of the T depends on the next word.  

If it begins with a consonant, this T is a Stop T:  it, it, it. It won’t be. It, it won't. Very fast,  

it. If the next word begins with a vowel  or diphthong, then this T is a Flap T,  

linking the two words together. It always, it  always, it it it it, it always, it always. Said  

very quickly. It always. Nothing too crazy here,  just say the word quickly. Not IT, but it.

Number 12, one of my all-time favorite reductions:

For. We almost never say it this way.  We say ‘fer’. Isn’t that funny? I had a  

student once who lived in America and  was married to an American. She told  

her husband how she was learning about  this reduction. And his response was,  

“that’s ridiculous". We don’t do  that, we don't pronounce that fer.

Then later, he did it, as he was speaking  naturally, and she pointed it out. Most  

Americans aren’t even aware of these crazy  reductions that we do. So, to make this  

reduction drop the vowel, ff-rr, fer fer. Say  the word very quickly, low in pitch. Fer fer.  

This is for work. Fer. I made a longer video with  more examples on the reduction of the word ‘for’,

check it out if you want more detail  here. I got it for my birthday. For  

for. What’s for dinner? For. In  conversation, fer not ‘for’.

Number 13: Not. Now, this word, in conversation,  

will very often be contracted n’t.  Didn’t, doesn’t, can’t, shouldn’t, won’t,

and so on. Notice I’m not releasing the T there,  didn’t, but didn’t. Didn’t. It’s an abrupt stop of  

air in the N to signify the T: didn’t, didn’t,  shouldn’t, nt nt, nt, shouldn’t couldn’t,  

couldn’t. If we don’t use a contraction,  then we’re often stressing it: I do NOT  

want to see her right now. In these cases,  we’ll probably do a Stop T. Not. I do NOT  

want to see her right now. Not, stop the air,  and then keep going. I do Not wanna. Not.

Number 14: on. This word doesn’t reduce. We don’t  change any sounds like we did with ‘for’. But,  

it is unstressed. You don’t want to  say ON in a sentence, but rather,  

‘on’. On on. “Put it on the table.” On. When  it’s unstressed, that gives good contrast to  

the longer, clearer stressed words ‘put’  and ‘table’, and this contrast is very  

important in American English. It's better  than each word being longer and clearer.

What would it sound like if ‘it, on, the’, were  also stressed? Put it on the table. Put it on  

the table. Put it on the table. No, that’s  not how we speak. Put it on the table. Put  

it on the table. That’s how we speak. Not ON,  but on. Try that with me now. Low in volume,  

low in pitch, not very clear.  On, on. Put it on the table.

Number 15, the fifteenth most  common word in English: with.  

There are two ways you can pronounce  this word: with a voiced TH, with,

with, with or an unvoiced TH, with,  with. I don’t use the voiced TH. I  

think it sounds a little old-fashioned.  I would stick with the unvoiced TH, with,  

with. Just like ‘on’, this word  doesn’t reduce. None of the sounds

change. But, it is unstressed. It will  usually be pronounced like this: with,  

rather than WITH. “It’s with the other one” with  the, with the, with the, with the, with the. Low  

in pitch. Notice I’m just making one TH to connect  these two unstressed words, with the, with the,  

with the. It's the unvoiced TH. With the, with  the other one. It’s with the other one.

Number 16, he. Oh yes, this one reduces.  Can I just say, we are already at 16,  

and we still haven’t seen  one word that is stressed,

that's a content word. Wow. When are we going  to see it, and what is it going to be? I can’t  

wait to find out. But, back to 16, he. Fully  pronounced, ‘he’, it's the H consonant and EE  

as in SHE vowel. But very often we drop the  H, and have just the EE sound. What does he  

want? What does ee ee ee ee. We drop the  H and we connect it to the word before:  

does he?, does he? What does he want?  What would that sentence sound like if  

every word stressed? What does he want?  What does he want? What does he want? No,  

that’s not natural English. What does he want?  I have a video on dropping the H reductions.  

Click here or in the description below to  see that video and to get more examples.

Seventeen. As. Yep, this word  reduces. It’s not pronounced  

AS in a sentence. That’s stressed.  This word is usually not stressed.

The vowel changes to the schwa and it  becomes ‘uhz’. AS, uhz. He’s as tall as  

me. Uhz—uhztalluhz. Uhztalluhz. Not AS, uhz,  uhz. He's as tall as me. I have a video that  

goes over this reduction too. Click here or in the  description below to see that and more examples.

Eighteen. You. Another word that  reduces. This word can be reduced  

to ‘yuh’. What are you doing?  What are you. Yuh, yuh, yuh.

You never have to do reductions, and you  could definitely say “What are you doing?”,  

you, you, you. I’m not reducing  that, I’m not changing the vowel,  

but I am still making it unstressed. ‘you’ instead  of YOU. This word will usually be unstressed. That  

means, don’t pronounce it ‘you’, which is  stressed. Pronounce it you. Or reduced you.

Nineteen. Do. Our first content  word. Content words are nouns,  

verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. They're  usually stressed in a sentence. Our

first stressed word! Sort of. Actually, this word  can reduce. It depends on how it’s being used in  

a sentence. In a question, where there’s another  verb, we often reduce it. For example, what do you  

think? ‘Think’ is another verb. Did you notice how  I pronounced ‘do’? What do you? What to, what to,  

what to do do. D plus schwa. Reducing DO like  this is nice, natural English. I do have a video,  

there I’m stressing it, I do have a video  because it’s a statement, not a question,  

I do have a video on the DO reduction. Click here  or in the description below to see that video.

Twenty. The word At. Preposition, function word,  and yes, it reduces. In conversation, we often  

pronounce this word ‘ut’, with a schwa, instead of  AT, with the AA as in BAT vowel. The T is a Flap T  

if the next word begins with a vowel or diphthong,  and a Stop T if the next word begins with a  

consonant. If you’re not sure what a Stop or Flap  T is, I do have a video on that, click here or  

in the comments below. Sample sentence: She’s at  school. Ut. AT becomes ‘ut’. She’s at school.

Now let’s look at the next set.  Again, almost all unstressed words,  

including, yep, more reductions.

We start this video with ‘this’. This  is number 21 in the most common words  

in English. It’s not usually going to  be pronounced THIS. It’s usually going  

to be pronounced a lot more quickly  than that, unstressed. This. This.

“This is what I’m talking about.” This,  this, this. Sometimes it’s more stressed,  

“Not that one, this one.” It  depends on how it’s being used.

But much of the time, this word will be  unstressed, said very quickly: this.

22: But.

This word is usually going to be unstressed. In  those cases I would probably write it phonetically  

with a schwa. “I wanted to stop in, but I  was already running late.” But, but, but,  

but, but I, but I. The T here links into the  next word with a Flap T if the next word begins  

with a vowel or diphthong. If the next word  begins with a consonant, then it’s a Stop T.

“We wanted to stop by, but we were already  running late.” But, but, but we, but we. There,  

it's a stop T. Said very quickly. Unless  someone is exaggerating on purpose:

BUT!

You won’t hear this word with a True T.

23: His.

Oh, this one is fun. This one does  have a reduction. It’s really common  

to drop the H in this word. What’s  his name? What’s his? What's his?

HIS becomes ‘iz’. Said very quickly,  reduced. This is much more natural than  

making it sound stressed, fully pronounced:  What’s his name? What’s his name? Hmm, that  

doesn't sound right. "What's his name?"  sounds much better. I have a video on  

dropping the H reductions, so click here or  in the description to see more examples.

24: By.

This word doesn’t reduce, none of  the sounds change or are dropped,

but it’s usually unstressed and said very  quickly: We’ll be right by the door. By the,  

by the, by the-- unstressed, not too  clear. But we need this contrast of  

stressed and unstressed to sound  natural when speaking English.

25: From.

This is often said very quickly, and I would  write the vowel phonetically as the schwa: from,  

from. When the schwa is followed by the M, it  gets absorbed by the schwa, so what I’m saying is,  

you can say the word so quickly that you’re  not even trying to make a vowel: frm, frm, frm.

I’ll be back from work at three. From,  from work. Very fast. If I said this  

sentence with each word being clear, no  reductions, what would it sound like?  

I’ll be back from work at three. I’ll be  back from work at three. Pretty robotic,  

not natural. Even though reductions  might seem wrong, they might seem lazy,  

they’re right, because they’re part of a bigger  picture. Rhythmic contrast in English.

26: They.

Let’s just start out with a sample sentence. They  already left. They already left. Unstressed. Said  

very quickly. They, they, they. Sounds  don’t really change, it doesn’t reduce,  

but it’s unstressed. They, they. Man, we're on  number 26 of the most common words in English

and so far, every single one either  reduces or is often unstressed.

When will we get to our first  real content word? We'll see.

27: We.

It's just like the pronoun 'they'.  Not usually stressed in a sentence.

We, we. We already left. We, we,  we. Said quickly. We already left.

Not a reduction, we don’t change  or drop a sound, but unstressed.

We. We already left.

28: Say.

Oh my gosh, this is a content word. This  is a verb and it is usually stressed in a  

sentence. It took us 28 words to get here. If  this doesn’t show you the importance of using  

reductions and speaking with a rhythmic contrast,  making some words unstressed and less clear,  

I don’t know what will. The first 27 of the  most common words in English are that way.

Say.

Let’s put it in a sentence.

What did he say?

He said he’s running late.

Say, said. Stressed, longer, clearer.  Up-down shape of intonation: say.

S consonant, AY diphthong. We  need jaw drop for that. Say.

There’s something interesting about ‘say’,  ‘said’, and ‘says’. The diphthong changes.  

Check out a video I made on that change by  clicking here or in the description below.

29: Her.

Okay, we’re back to a word that reduces. It’s  very common to pronounce this word with no H. It  

becomes ‘er’. What’s her name? Er, er, er. When we  drop the beginning H, we take the word and attach  

it to the end of the word before. What's her.  What's her name? There are several words where we  

drop the H, I have a video on that. Click here or  in the description below to see more examples.

30: She.

Unstressed. You could probably even  reduce it by dropping the vowel,  

and just making a quick ‘sh’ sound.  Let me try that in a sentence. We don’t  

think she knows. We don’t think  she knows. I’d say that works.

So you can put a quick ‘ee’: I don't think  she knows. Or you can drop the vowel:  

I don't think she knows. And  it sounds pretty much the same.

She knows. She knows.

The next set of 10. More  reductions, more smooth linking.

We start this video with number 31,  and yes, it’s a great reduction.

The word OR.

You might have learned that the  pronunciation of this word is ‘or’,

like it would rhyme with ‘more’  or the number ‘four’. But ‘more’  

and ‘four’ are content words. That means  they will often be stressed in a sentence,  

given more time. ‘Or’ is a function word. That  means it’s not stressed in the sentence. It’s  

not one of the most important words,  and it’s said very quickly. Remember,  

English is a stress-timed language. That  means all syllables are not equal in length.  

We have long syllables and short syllables, and  speaking with that contrast is really important  

in sounding natural in American English. So  ‘or’ isn’t pronounced ‘or’ in conversation,  

that’s too long, it’s too clear. We need it to be  shorter. It’s actually ‘or’, said very quickly,  

low in pitch. It can also be reduced. Then it’s  pronounced ‘or’, the vowel reduces to the schwa.  

You don’t have to try to make the schwa, it gets  absorbed by the R sound. Just make an R. Rr--

Let’s put it in a sentence:

Would you like white or brown rice?

White or brown?

Would you like white or brown rice?

White or brown?

white-rrr rr-- rr-- rr-- rr-- Just  an R sound linking these two words.

I’m leaving Monday or Tuesday.

Monday-rr. Monday-rr. Rr-- rr-- Monday or Tuesday.  Just an extra R sound between. Great rhythmic  

contrast. If you’re just jumping into the series,  you may be thinking, how important are reductions,  

how frequent are reductions? Out of the 31 most  common words in English that we’ve studied so far,  

only one is always stressed.Thirty are usually  unstressed or reduced. So there’s your answer.

Most common words: What’s 32?

The indefinite article ‘an’. An. Unstressed,  

it reduces to the schwa, an-- an-- we  actually already covered that one when  

we learned about the indefinite article ‘a’  or 'a' back in video one of this series.

33: Will.

If this is the only verb in the sentence --

I will.

He will.

–then it’s stressed. But most of  the time it’s not the only verb,  

it’s used to indicate something in the  future. I like fishing. That’s right now,  

present. I’ll like fishing  when I learn more about it.

This is the future. The word  ‘will’ is usually written and  

spoken in a contraction. I’ll like  fishing when I learn more about it.

“I will” becomes “I’ll”, but  I reduced it. I'll-- I'll--

I’ll like fishing—just like the  word “all”, said very quickly.

I’ll, I’ll, I’ll.

I’ll like fishing when I learn more about it.

What other WILL contractions might you hear?

You’ll, we’ll pronounce this more like ‘yull’.

He’ll, in a sentence, this will  sound more like 'hill' or ‘hull’.  

He’ll be coming by at three. He'll.  She will. She’ll. This can be reduced:  

she'll or shull. She’ll have  the report ready soon. She'll.

“It will” becomes “it’ll”, with a Flap T. This is  

just like the word “little” without  the L. These are both tough words,  

and I have a video on the word ‘little’ which  might make this contraction easier to pronounce.

I’ll put a link here and in the description  below. This schwa-L ending, the contraction  

of WILL, can go at the end of any third person  singular noun: “the dog” becomes “the dog’ll”:

The dog’ll need to be walked soon.  “Tuesday” becomes “Tuesday’ll”.

Tuesday’ll be better. “John will”  becomes “John’ll”. John’ll be here soon.

Note: in writing, these might show  up as a misspelling, as not a word.

But this is how we speak. This contraction,  this reduction of will. If it’s a pronoun,  

like “she’ll”, then it’s not  considered a misspelling. But this  

is a case where how we speak English  is different from how we write it.

It’s common to reduce, and say:  John'll. “John’ll be here at  

three” rather than “John will be there at three.”

We will, “We’ll”, You might  here this as: we'll or wull.

Two different reductions.

We'll be late.

We'll be late.

“They will”, “they’ll”, often reduce and  sound like “thull”. They’ll be hungry  

when they get here. Third person plural,  again, if you write this as a contraction,  

it will show up as a misspelling,  but speaking this way is very common.

“The kids will” becomes “The kids’ll”.

The kids’ll be tired. The kids’ll  be tired. A dark L at the end of  

the word. Wow. There was a lot to talk  about with the word “will” because of  

the way it contracts and reduces  with so many different words!

Number 34: My.

A possessive pronoun. This is my  boyfriend. My shirt’s too big.

We don’t reduce it, we don’t  change or drop one of the sounds,

but it is unstressed. This is  the word’s most common use.

But, it can be used another way. It can be used as  an expression or an interjection to show surprise:

Oh my!

Maybe it's even showing a little  disapproval. My! In these cases,  

it would be stressed, it would be longer, it  would have the up-down shape of stress.

Number 35 in the 100 Most common words list: one.

It’s a little word, but it has a  lot of different uses. As a noun  

or an adjective, it will probably be stressed.

For example:

We’re looking for one teacher to join our team.

One.

But it can also be used as a pronoun, and in that  case you might hear it reduced. Instead of “one”,  

it will be ‘un’. I need a new  phone, this one’s going to die.

This un— this un— this un— This one's going  to die. This one’s going to last longer,  

but that one’s cheaper. That un—this un--

Did you notice the pronunciation?  This un—that un— nn—nn—nn--

The apostrophe S is for the  contraction IS. This ‘uns’, that ‘uns’.

Now, you don’t have to pronounce this  this way, you can say “this one’s,  

that one’s”. But you’ll definitely hear  Americans occasionally reduce the word to ‘un’.

Number 36. The word ‘all’.

This one, I would say, is usually going  to be stressed and a little longer.

It’s most commonly used as an  adjective, or a noun, or an adverb.

Did you eat all the cake? We’ve been  having all sorts of problems.

So here we are, number 36.

The 36th most common words in English,  and this is only the second word that  

doesn’t have a reduction, or  isn’t unstressed in some cases.

Wow.

The other one was “say” back at number 28.

What does this mean? Many of  the most common words in English

are words that are unstressed  or reduced. If you ignore these,  

you can never sound natural, because  they are everywhere. And chances are,  

when you learned the words, you  did not learn the reductions,

and you did not learn how to make them unstressed.  So we’re trying to fix that now. Let’s keep going,  

number 37. The word “would”. I’m actually  going to also work on 67 at the same time,  

the word “could”. And I’ll throw in as a bonus,  a word that's not on the list, the word “should”.

Actually, as with many of  the reductions on this list,  

I’ve made a video that goes over these  pronunciations. Should I just put it in  

here? Would you like to see it? Should. Would.  It is a good one, it’s useful! Let's watch!

These words all rhyme. The pronunciation is  simpler than it looks. The L is silent. So  

they all have their beginning consonant,  the OO as in Book vowel, and the D sound.

Should.

Would.

Could.

They rhyme with 'good', 'hood', and 'wood'. Yes,  

'would' and 'wood' are pronounced  the same. They're homophones.

So this is the pronunciation of  these words in full. But as you know,  

Americans like to reduce less important  words in a sentence to make the important  

words stand out more and these are three words  that can be reduced. As with many reductions,  

we change the vowel to the  schwa and speed up the word.

Should.

Should.

Would.

Would.

Could.

Could.

You'll hear Americans go  further though and drop the D.

I noticed I did this when I was doing a Ben  Franklin exercise on some of my own speech.

Should we get dinner?

Yeah!

Should we get dinner?

One of the things I noticed  is I'm dropping the D sound.

Shou we— shou we--

Should. Should.

Just the SH sound and the schwa. The lips  are flared and the teeth are together. Sshhh—

the tongue tip is pointing up to  the roof of the mouth but it's not  

touching it. Sshhhuuu—shhu— Then,  for the schwa, everything relaxes

and you go into the next sound: shuh-- shuh-- shuh  we-- Should we call her? Should we. Should we.

I should go.

Should go. Should go.

I should go.

Now, if the next sound is a vowel or  a diphthong, I wouldn't drop the D.

It would be too unclear to go from the schwa into  another vowel. So for: Should I? Should I? For  

example, I make a really quick flap of the tongue  for the D. Should I. Should I. Should I say that?

Should I try it?

Should I call him?

If dropping the D seems like too  extreme of a reduction for you,  

you certainly don't have to do it. Just  keep 'should' unstressed, really quick:  

should, should, should. Now, let's look at  'could'. The K sound is made when the back  

part of the tongue comes up and touches  the soft palate in the back. K, k, k, k.

Could we try later?

Could we? Could we? Again, just dropping  the D. K sound, schwa, next word.

Could we? Could we?

Saying it with a D when the next word  begins with a vowel or a diphthong.

Could I? Could I come back later?

Could I? Could I? So just a nice, short, could.

Finally, would.

For the W sound, the lips are in a tight  circle, and the back part of the tongue lifts.

Ww—ww—wuh-- Would we want to  do that? Would we? Would we?

Would we want to do that? Or with a really  quick D sound. Where would I go? Would I--  

Would I-- Would I-- So you can reduce these  words by changing the vowel to the schwa.  

You can reduce them further by dropping the D,  unless the next sound is a vowel or a diphthong.

Number 38.

Actually, we’re going to do 38 and 39  at the same because they’re homophones!

What are homophones? Words that  are spelled differently and have  

different meanings but that are  pronounced exactly the same.

38 is ‘there’ and 39 is ‘they’re’.  If homophones seem confusing to you,

you’re not the only one. I actually have a very  long video that goes over many homophones in  

American English, you can click here to see  it, or check the video description. There,  

they’re. Fully pronounced, we have  “there”. But, both of these can reduce.

The word ‘there’ can be used lots of different  ways, and a common way is the phrase “there is”  

or “there are”. These phrases will often be in  contraction, “there’s” and the “there’re”. But  

these contractions can reduce when  we say them. Then it becomes “thurs”  

and “thur”. There’s a good reason why I  can’t tell you. There's a good reason--

There’s, there’s, there’s. It has the  schwa rather than the EH vowel. It’s  

said more quickly. The contraction  “there are” gets even less clear,  

it’s really just one syllable “thur”. R  reduces, and we lose it. It has the same  

sounds as the reduced “there”, so it blends in.  There’re lots of reason why I can’t tell you.

There’re lots. There're. There're.  There’re lots of reasons.

What about the contraction “they are”,  “they’re”? Yes, that also reduces. It  

might not be pronounced “they’re”, but instead,  “thur”, with the schwa.They’re in the kitchen.

Thur, thur. They’re in the kitchen. And  the last word for this video, number 40,  

“what”. This word can reduce. Fully pronounced,  it’s “what”, and the T is a Flap T if the next  

word begins with a vowel or diphthong: what are  you going to do?What are, what are. Rrrr— Flap.

The T is a Stop T if the next  word begins with a consonant:

What were you thinking? What  were, what were. Stop T.

But, if the next word begins with a D, then  we can reduce the word ‘what’ by dropping the  

T. Make the vowel a schwa. So the word ‘what’  becomes a very quick “wuh, wuh”. “What did” and  

“what do” are common word combinations  where we do this. What do you think?

What do, what do, what do. The word  ‘what’ is simply ‘wuh’. What did you  

say? What did, what did, what did. Again,  the word ‘what’ is simply ‘wuh’, wuh.

The next set of 10. Getting into some stressed  words now, but still, some reductions.

Today, were starting with  number 41, the word 'so'.

Does this word reduce? Yes it does.  Fully pronounced, it has the OH as

in NO diphthong. So, so. I don't think  so. So. Your hair looks so good. So.

But you'll hear it reduced to 'suh' when  its used as a filler word at the beginning  

of a sentence. As a filler word, the  word doesn't really have meaning.

For example: So what do you think? So  what do you think? So. So. So you're  

going to need another one. So. So. You'll  definitely hear Americans do this.

Number 42: Up.

Hey, we found another word that doesn't  reduce. This word will be stressed. We're  

on number 42 of the 100 most common words  in English, and this is only the third  

word that generally is always stressed. How  amazing that so many words are unstressed or  

reduce! For this word, we have the UH as  in BUTTER vowel and the P consonant, Up.

Up. P is a stop consonant, which means  we stop the air, up-, and release it,  

pp. The release is very light. Up, up.  Sometimes we don't release stop consonants,  

like if it's at the end of a thought group:

What's up?

What's up?

There I'm not releasing the P. What's up? Also we  

often skip the release if the next  word begins with a consonant sound:

What's up, Mom?

What's up, Mom? My lips came together  for the P, but then when they parted,  

rather than pp, the light escape of air, I  just went right into the M sound. I think  

'up' is so common because its  used in so many phrasal verbs.

Crack up, break up, throw up, act up, creep up,  butter up, burn up, bone up, just to name a few.

There are so many phrasal verbs in  English. At the beginning of 2017,  

I made a new video every day going  over phrasal verbs. Click here to  

see that collection, or see the  link in the video description.

Number 43: Out.

Oh, this is funny. This is another  word that is common in phrasal verbs.

Work out, figure out, burn out, black out, block  out, stand out, bring out. Not surprising that  

some of these phrasal verb parts are showing  up on this list. There are a bunch without.  

And this word doesn't reduce. We have the OW  diphthong, ow, and the T consonant, out. Out.

And just like P, T is a stop consonant. We don't  usually release it: tt-- if it comes at the end of  

a thought group, or if the next word begins with a  consonant. Let's look at some examples: Watch out!

End of the phrase, an unreleased T. Watch out.

I cut off the air, so it's not: watch ow.

Watch ow. That would just sound like there  was no T. But with the abrupt stop, watch  

out! Without the falling intonation, it sounds  like a T to us. Watch out. You cant back out now.

Out now. There, the T was followed  by a word beginning with a consonant,  

another Stop T. Out now. Out now.

T is special: if the next word begins with a vowel  or diphthong, then we flap it. A single rra--  

against the roof of the mouth. For example:  Get out of here. Out of, out of. Ra-- ra--

A flap T to connect the two words. And  did you notice the reduction of OF? Yep,  

that's just the schwa. 'Of' is word number 4  in the 100 most common words in English list.

Number 44. The word IF.

This word is usually a conjunction and then,  it's unstressed. It's said very quickly.

Call me if you get lost.

Call me if you get lost.

Call me if you get lost.

Here, its part of a string of unstressed words.

Low in pitch, flat, said quickly. If, if,  if. Me if you-- me if you-- call me if you  

get lost. You might even hear the word  reduced at the beginning of a sentence,  

just the F sound attached  to the next word, no vowel:

If you want leave, that's okay.  If she doesn't care, that's okay.

Ff, ff, ff, if you wanna. If she-- ff-- Reduced.

Number 45, the word about.

This word can be a preposition, an adverb,  

or an adjective. It doesn't  reduce, none of the sounds change.

Sometimes its stressed in a sentence, for  example, I was out and about and thought  

I'd stop by. About, about. Its longer and it has  more volume, a higher pitch: out and about.

But it can also be unstressed:

It’s all about the timing.

It’s all about the timing.

About the, about the, about the,  it's lower in pitch and volume,  

and a little less clear than when it was  stressed, about. It’s all about the timing.

About the, about the, about  the. So, it can be unstressed,  

but nothing changes, it doesn't reduce.

Since its a two-syllable word, it  still has one syllable that's stressed,  

that's a little clearer, even when the  word is being used in an unstressed way.

Okay now, I did make a mistake here when I was originally filming it.

There is a reduction for about and it's "bout".

Can you hear me? How bout now? How bout, how bout. Bout.

You will hear native speakers do that, dropping the schwa.

Bout.

Number 46. The word 'who'.

We already talked about one question word, and  that is the word 'what'. That word can reduce,  

we do drop the T if the next word begins with a D.

But generally, question words don't  reduce. Generally, they're stressed.

Who was that?

Who does she think she is?

When 'who' begins a question, it doesn't reduce.  It's the H sound and the OO as in BOO vowel.

Who, who. But sometimes we use the word 'who'  in the middle of a sentence. Then it can reduce.

For example: Anyone who wants to come can come.

Anyone who wants.

Anyone who wants.

Did you notice how I reduced that? I dropped  the consonant! It was just the OO vowel. Oo,  

anyone who. Anyone who wants. This is a  reduction you might hear Americans do.

Number 47: The word 'get'.

A verb, this word is a content  word and is generally stressed in  

a sentence. So this is the 5th word  we've found in our list of the 100  

most common words in English that I feel  confident I can say is always stressed.

Just 5 out of 47! Wow!

Unstressed and reduced words are so common!  Let's talk about the pronunciation. G consonant,  

EH as in BED vowel, and the T. We already  talked about an ending T in out. The same  

rules apply here because the T comes at  the end of the word, just after a vowel  

or diphthong. If the word ends a thought group or  is followed by a consonant, it will be a Stop T.

Example: I'll get the biggest one. Get  the, get the, get the. Abrupt stop.

I'll get the biggest one. If the next  word begins with a vowel or a diphthong,  

then you will flap the T: I don't  get it. Get it, get it, ra--, ra--

I don't get it. Do you hear the  Flap? Get it. I don't get it.

Number 48. The word 'which'.

This word can be stressed or unstressed,  depending on how it's being used in a  

sentence. But nothing changes, it doesn't  reduce. So, stressed, it's: which.

Which do you want? Which, which. Up-down  shape of stress. Which, which. But unstressed,  

it's lower in pitch and flat: which, which. The  movie, which I saw last night, was terrible.  

The movie which I-- which, which, which,  which. Unstressed there, flat. Which. Which.

Let's talk about the pronunciation. It begins  with WH. This can be pronounced two ways:  

first, a pure W sound. This is how I've  been pronouncing it. Ww, ww, which,  

which. The other way is to pronounce  it, I think is more old-fashioned,  

with a: hh-- hh-- hh-- sound before.  A little escape of air first.

Which. Which. Do you hear that? HH, hh, which.  This is actually how my Mom pronounces WH- words,  

and I made a video with her about these  two possible pronunciations. Click here  

or in the description below to see that  video. W, IH as in SIT vowel, and CH.

Which. Which stressed, and  which, which, unstressed.

Quick question: Did studying this word  make you think of any other words?

Which and witch are homophones  when you use the clean W for which.

That means they're two totally different words,  

different spellings, different meanings,  but they have the same pronunciation.

Number 49: Go. A verb.

Let's conjugate it: I go, you go, she goes,  just add a light Z at the end: goes, goes,  

goes. He goes, we go, they go. Yes, in this  form, I would say, this word is always stressed!

The G consonant and the OH  diphthong. Go. Jaw drop,  

then lip rounding for the  diphthong. Oh. Go, go. Goes.

But you know what? There's another conjugation  for this word: the –ing form. Going.

I'm going to go to the store.

I'm going to go to the mall.

There I'm using the –ing form and the infinitive.

Going to go. Now, if you've seen  any of my real-life English videos,  

or any of my speech analysis videos,  

then you know the phrase 'going to' is very  common, and you know, we do reduce that.

What do we reduce it to? Do you know?

Going to. Let me say that in a sentence again:  

I'm going to go to the mall. I'm gonna go.  There, did you hear it? Gonna-- gonna-- gonna--

I'm going to go to the mall.  Right. It's 'gonna'. One of  

the most common reductions in all of English.

Now, occasionally I get a  comment from someone saying,  

'gonna' is not proper English. Hmm. Not  true. I would never tell anyone to write it.

Ok? Don't write it!

But its perfectly natural and normal  in spoken English. It's proper. It's a  

beautiful reduction! I made a video several years  

ago where I took a couple of presidential  speeches. And I found examples of gonna.

So even world leaders giving important speeches  to large groups of people use this reduction.

If you're interested in seeing that video, click  here or in the description below. What's the  

pronunciation of gonna? First syllable  is stressed. We have the G consonant,  

the UH as in BUTTER vowel, N, gun-- gun-- gun--  and then the schwa in the unstressed syllable.  

Uh-- uh-- Gonna. Gonna. If you have not already  noticed this reduction, now that you've learned  

it, you're gonna hear it all the time. It's  everywhere. Gonna. You're gonna hear it.

Number 50. Wow, we're halfway down the list.

What is number 50? Me.

A pronoun, which is a function word, which  means it will generally be unstressed in a  

sentence. It doesn't reduce, we  don't change any of the sounds,  

but it's flat in pitch, said quickly compared  to the other stressed words in the sentence.  

He gave me his number. Gave and number are  stressed, the rest of the words, unstressed.

He gave me his number. Me his, me  his, me his, both flat in pitch,  

unstressed. Said very quickly. Do  you hear how I'm reducing the word  

'his'? Dropping the H? Wow, did we cover  that? Yeah, we did. That was number 28.

Next set of 10. More question  words, more verbs. But still,  

some VERY important reductions. Kin you  guess any them? Kin, kin, can you?

Number 51: the word WHEN.

This word definitely reduces. Fully pronounced,  

it’s the W sound, the EH as in BED vowel, and  the N consonant. When. You may be thinking,  

I’ve heard this word pronounced differently.  You may have heard it pronounce hhwen.

Hhh— when.

WH- words can be pronounced with a “hh”  sound before the W. It’s not necessary,  

and it’s not my preference. I think, just keep  it simple, just use a clean W sound. When.

But in a sentence, this word can be unstressed  and said more quickly. Then you could write the  

vowel with the schwa or the IH as in SIT vowel  in IPA. “When” becomes: when, said very quickly.

If you don’t know what IPA, the International  Phonetic Alphabet is, I have a playlist of  

videos that goes over that. Click here or in the  description. Let’s look at some example sentences.

When are you going to stop by?

When, when are you— I said that very quickly,  

unstressed. When, when, when  are you going to stop by?

Another sentence: It was better  when we were kids. When, when,  

when, when, when we were, when we  were, Unstressed. Said very quickly.

It was better when we were kids.

You see, we don’t want every word in  American English to be fully pronounced,  

when. Some of the understandability of  English depends on the contrast of stressed  

and unstressed syllables, clear and less clear.

Let’s look at number 52, the word ‘make’.

Now, this is a stressed word. We have two  categories of words in American English:  

Content Words and Function Words.

Content words are nouns, verbs,  like this verb ‘make’, adjectives,  

and adverbs, and content words are what  are generally stressed in a sentence.

“Make”: M consonant, AY diphthong, and  the K sound, is usually stressed in a  

sentence. Make. Make. It has an up-down shape.  That’s the stressed shape of intonation. Make.  

That’s different from: when, when, when,  which was flatter in pitch and lower.

Make, longer, shape of stress, more clear.

Sentences: I’ll make you one. Make.  Make. It would make things easier.

Make. Make.

Number 53.

Here, we have a beautiful reduction.

It’s the word ‘can’. If ‘can’ is a main  verb, then it’s not reduced. Who can  

help tomorrow? I can. Also, it doesn’t  reduce if it’s a noun: a can of soup.

But most of the time, ‘can’ is a helping verb,  

not a main verb, and that means  it reduces. We change a sound.

Let’s go back to the example:

Who can help tomorrow?

I can.

In the question: Who can help tomorrow?  ‘Help’ is the main verb. ‘Can’ is the  

helping verb. Did you hear how I pronounced  it? Who can help tomorrow? Who can help?

It’s no longer ‘can’, but ‘kn’.  Who can— Who can help? Short,  

flat, no vowel. We write it in IPA  with the schwa. Kn, kn, kn. Try that.

Kn, who can help?

I can see you.

‘See’ the main verb, ‘can’ the  helping verb. Kn, kn. I can,  

I can see you. That’s quite  a reduction. Very common.

Number 54: The word ‘like’.

This word can be used lots of different  ways, so it can be an adverb, a noun,  

or an adjective, which would mean it’s  stressed, or it can be a preposition or  

conjunction, which means it will be  a function word and is unstressed.

However, even when it’s unstressed,  

this word does not reduce. Let’s look at an  example where it’s stressed. I don’t like it.

Like.

I don’t like it.

Here, it’s stressed. Like. Like. Up-down shape  of stress. But what about this sentence? He  

acted like nothing happened. He acted like—  like, like, lower in pitch, much faster.

He acted like nothing happened.

He acted like nothing happened.

Like. Unstressed. None of the  sounds change so it doesn’t reduce,  

but it’s pretty different from the stressed  version. Like, like. Like, like, like.

One more example, and this  is a really common use of  

the word. We use this when we’re telling  a story, something that happened to us,  

and we’re talking about what  someone said or someone’s reaction.

For example: Yesterday I saw Jim walking  home from school, and I was like,  

“Do you need a ride?” And he was like,  “No, I’m just going to walk.” I was like,  

he was like, she was like, you were  like, like, like, like, like, like.

All of these are examples of ‘like’ unstressed.

Number 55: Time.

Now this word, a noun, an adjective,  a verb, is always a content word.

That means it will likely be stressed. This is  

only the 6th word in this list so  far that is always stressed.

We’re on number 55.

That’s crazy. So if you thought every word you  spoke needed to be clear and fully pronounced,  

I hope this series is helping to change your mind.

This word is pronounced with the True T,  because it’s stressed, and it has the AI  

as in BUY diphthong, and don’t forget that  M. Time. Lips have to come together. Time.  

There is no case where the lips don’t come  together for the M. Always. Time, time.

Crisp, clear True T, teeth come  together for it: ttt— time,  

up-down shape of stress. Let’s look at a sentence.

What time is it? Time. A noun.  Or, you do sit ups for a minute,  

and I’ll time you. Time, time. There, it’s  a verb, still stressed, same pronunciation.

Number 56: No.

Another word, the seventh word, that  will generally always be stressed.

There is not a case where it would usually reduce  or be unstressed. No. No. Up-down shape: No.

And please don’t ever forget the lip rounding  that goes into this diphthong: oohhh.

No.

No. I have no idea. He  voted ‘no’ on the sugar tax.

No, no. That was a simple one, wasn’t it?

What about 57?

57 is interesting. The word ‘just’.  It’s either an adjective or an adverb,  

and those are both content words,  so it will generally be stressed.

And for the most part, we don’t reduce  stressed words. They’re important. We  

only reduce and say quickly the words that are  a little less important, the function words.

BUT. This word is interesting because it  has a T, and T has its own set of funny  

rules. If you’ve seen many of my videos, you  know them. I talk about the T pronunciations  

a lot. If the T comes between two  consonants, we often drop that T.

Well, that’s a reduction.  Let me show you what I mean.

When the word ‘just’ is followed by  a word that starts with a consonant,  

there is a good chance that a  native speaker will drop the T,  

and just say: jus. Jus’ instead of  ‘just’. I just thought, why not?

Just, just, just thought. Just thought—  just— The ST ending is followed by TH,  

the T comes between two consonants, we drop it:

jus’ thought, just’ thought.  I just missed the bus.

I just missed—

just missed the bus—S-T-M, drop the T. Jus’  missed, jus’ missed, I just missed the bus.

Now, if ‘just’ is followed by a word  that begins with a vowel or diphthong,  

don’t drop the T. Just make it a light, True T.

For example, it’s just Alex. Just  Alex— just, tt, tt, just Alex.

It’s just Alex.

Number 58, another word that  reduces. This one is a function word:  

him. And just like number 9, “have”,  number 16, “he”, number 23, “his”,  

number 29, “her”, we often drop the  H and link this to the word before.

For example, I gave him another one. Gave ‘im,  gave ‘im, gave ‘im. A very common reduction.

We do this with these function words that begin  with an H. Simply schwa-M. Gave ‘im. Gave ‘im.

Another example: We want him  to succeed. Want him, want him.

Wait, what’s happening to the T  in ‘want’? I’m dropping the H,  

so it doesn’t come between two  consonants. Well, we’ll find out soon,  

because that’s number 93 on the list of  the 100 most common words in English.

59: Know.

You’re thinking, wait, we already did  that. That was number 56. Yes, but,  

different word. ‘No’ and ‘know’ are homophones.  That’s right. That means they sound exactly the  

same, even though they are two different  words and they’re spelled differently.

Know.

Know.

A verb. Usually stressed in a  sentence. N consonant, OH diphthong:

know. However, with really common  phrases, we often make some reductions,  

like how ‘going to’ becomes ‘gonna’. And  with the really common phrase “I don’t know”,  

we make a reduction. I dunno, I dunno, I  dunno. And, this can sound like the last  

sound is not OH: I dunno, I dunno,  I dunno, I dunno, o, o, o, o, o, o.

It’s more like a quick ‘uh’ there.

Certainly not: know, oh, oh, with  a full and stressed OH diphthong.

I don’t know.

Number 60, the last word for  this video, the word “take”.

Usually a verb, sometimes a noun,  it’s a content word. And generally,  

it’s going to be stressed in a sentence.

Just like ‘time’, it’s a one-syllable  stressed word that begins with a True T,  

tt, AY, then the AY diphthong, and the K sound.

Take. Sentences: Can you take me there?

Take, take, take.

Or, I need to take it back.

Take.

Take.

Take.

Longer, up-down shape, more  time, a stressed syllable.

In this set, we’ve got some words that are  tricky to pronounce, like YEAR and PEOPLE.

Number 61 is the word ‘people’.This  is the first time we’re starting one  

of these videos with a word that is NOT an  example of a word that will be unstressed.

This word is a noun, a content word,  and generally, it will be stressed.

Now, this is a tricky word. And I don’t  have too many videos where I go over the  

specific pronunciation of a single word, but I do  happen to have one where I talk about this word,  

so I’ll put in a clip here that will go  through the pronunciation, step-by-step.

It’s a two-syllable word with stress  on the first syllable. Da-da. People.

It begins with the P consonant sound,  lips are together for that, pp-.

Then we open into the EE as in SHE vowel,  pe-, pe-. So the tongue tip is down here,  

but the front part of the tongue is stretching  up towards the roof of the mouth, pe-, pe-.

Now we have the P, schwa, L sound. This is  unstressed, so it's going to be low in pitch and  

very fast, -ple, -ple, -ple. People. So the lips  will come together again for the P. People. -ple.  

Then we go into the schwa/Dark L sound. Don't  worry about making a separate schwa sound,  

just go straight into the Dark sound  of the Dark L. So, to make that sound,  

your tongue will pull back, so the back part  of the tongue here is shifting towards the  

throat a bit, people, ull, ull. And  that's how we get that dark sound.

Now, it should be very short because  it's unstressed, people, people.

The second half of the Dark L  involves bringing the tongue  

tip to the roof of the mouth. People.  But you can actually leave that out.

A lot of people will just make, people,  ull, the Dark sound to signify the Dark  

L and not necessarily bring  the tongue tip up. People,  

people. Let’s do a couple of example sentences  with people. I’m a people person. People,  

people. Up-down shape of stress, longer,  more clear than the unstressed words:

I’m a-- I’m a-- I’m a people person.  What does ‘people person’ mean?

It means that I’m very social. I like  interacting with a lot of people,  

I’m very outgoing, I’m an extrovert. I  have room for three more people in my car.

People, people. Stressed.

Number 62.

Is it as clear as ‘people’?

No. It’s the word ‘into’. ‘Into’  is a preposition. And prepositions  

are function words, which means they’ll  generally be unstressed i n a sentence.  

Let me show you what I mean. I  ran into my teacher at the movies.

I ran into my teacher at the movies. Ran, teach-,  

mov-. These are the stressed syllables. All the  others, including the word ‘into’, unstressed.

Less clear, low in pitch, flatter, given less  time. Into. If it was clear and fully pronounced,  

it would have that up-down shape  of stress, into, and a True T.

The final vowel would be the OO  as in BOO vowel. Into. But that’s  

not how I pronounced it. I ran into my teacher.

Into. Into. Into.

A couple things are different. First of all, it’s  not stressed so it’s flat in pitch, low in pitch.  

Second, two sounds have changed. The T sounds  more like a D, and the final vowel is the schwa.

Into. into. Into. into.

So instead of ‘into’, it’s: into, into.

This T is not following the rules  of T pronunciations. The rules are,  

after an N, we can drop a  T completely, but if not,  

it’s a True T. But many Americans will say ‘into’  more of a D or Flap T sound connected to the N.

If you only learned the stressed pronunciation  of this and every word in American English,  

your English wouldn’t sound too natural, because  we use so many reductions so frequently.

Number 63: the word ‘year’.

A noun, a content word. This is a  word that will generally be stressed  

in a sentence. No reduction here.  Year. Year. Up-down shape of stress.

Longer, clearer than the unstressed words  in a sentence will be. A lot of people  

have problems with the pronunciation of this  word because of the Y sound. Year. How is it  

different from ‘ear’? I actually have a video  on that. Let me put in a little clip here.

‘Year’ and ‘ear’ are exactly  the same except for the Y sound.

The main vowel is the IH as in SIT vowel, but  I do feel like we squeeze it a little bit,  

so it sounds a little more like EE. IH,  ear. EE, ear. Ear. Let’s take a look.

First, the word ‘ear’. For the IH or EE vowel,  

the jaw drops just a bit, and the  corners of the lips pull out wide,  

just a little. The tongue tip is down here,  touching the back of the bottom front teeth.

The front part arches towards the  roof of the mouth without touching it.

Next is the schwa-R sound.

Look for the tongue pulling back as the lips  flare. The tongue pulls back and up, with the  

tip pointing down so it’s not touching anything.  Now, let’s take a look at ‘year’. The jaw dropped  

a little bit more here. Why? To accommodate the  movement of the tongue. While the tip is down in  

the same position for the next vowel, the middle  part of the tongue actually touches the roof of  

the mouth and pushes forward a bit. yy, yy. At  the same time, the throat closes off down here,  

yy--, yy--, yy--, to add a different dimension  to the sound. Ee, yy, ee, yy. Let’s watch the  

Y several times to see that motion of the tongue  pulling down from the roof of the mouth: yy, yy.

Now, the lips flare and the  tongue pulls back for the R.

Now let’s compare the beginning position of  

these two words. ‘Ear’ is on the  left and ‘year’ is on the right.

Notice that the jaw has dropped  more for the forward motion of  

the tongue on the roof of the mouth for ‘year’.

Also, the corners of the lips are more  relaxed than for the initial vowel in ‘ear’,  

where they pull slightly out. You  can see this from the front as well.

The jaw has dropped more for the tongue  movement. So, we have the tongue movement,  

which is different for the Y, as well  as the Y sound in the throat, yy.

This is how we want to start the word ‘year’: yy,  

yy, year. Now I’ll say the  minimal pair several times.

Can you hear the difference?

Year. Ear.

Year. Ear.

Year. Ear.

Year.

Let’s do a sentence or two. We’re  going to Italy this year. Year.  

Year. It’s the last word in the thought  group, and naturally in American English,  

our energy and our pitch goes down in  a sentence, so the ending word is often  

less clear, even if it’s stressed,even  if it’s a content word like ‘year’.

But it still has the length  of a stressed syllable. We’re  

going to Italy this year. Year, year.

A little bit of that up-down shape  of stress. What year were you born?

Year, year. There the word ‘year’ is closer to the  

beginning of the sentence,  so it’s a little clearer.

Year.

Number 64: Another great reduction.

The word ‘your’. This is related to  the word ‘or’, which was number 31.

Fully pronounced, ‘your’ and ‘or’ rhyme  with ‘more’ or ‘wore’. But they’re  

almost never fully pronounced. They’re  almost always reduced in a sentence,  

‘yer’, ‘er’. So the vowel changes to the schwa.

Stressed: Your. Fully pronounced,  longer, up-down shape of stress.

But in a sentence: yer, yer.  Unstressed, low in pitch, said quickly.

Yer.

Sample sentence: What’s your name? Yer, yer, yer.

Yer name. Can I borrow your car? Yer, yer,  yer. Borrow your car? In this question:  

Can I borrow your car? Can I bor--  car-- Those are the two stressed  

syllables. ‘Can’ and ‘your’ reduced:  can--, your--, and ‘I’ is unstressed.

Can I borrow your car?

What would it sound like if  they were all stressed? If  

they were all said very clearly, fully pronounced?

Can I borrow your car?

Can I borrow your car?

Can I borrow your car?

Can I borrow your car?

Completely unnatural.

Can I borrow your car?

It’s so important to learn about reductions, and  learn about the unstressed pronunciation of words,  

so that you can sound more natural, more relaxed,  

and be more easily understood. You’re in the  right place for this. Okay, let’s keep going.

Number 65: Good.

This is our first word in the 100  most common words in English list  

that’s primarily an adjective. An adjective  is a content word. Content words are nouns,  

verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. And  content words are what are generally  

will be stressed in a sentence.  Good. Good. Up-down shape. Good.

Longer, clearer. The O here represents  the UH sound, like in push, or book.  

Good. Uh. The D is a stop consonant,  and stop consonants have two parts,  

a stop of air, and a release.  Good. Good. Stop and release.

But with stop consonants, it’s  common to skip the release. Then,  

the D becomes a lot more subtle. I want  to show you what I mean. Good. ddd--

My tongue is lifted into position for  the D, and my vocal cords make a sound.

Dddd. Good. Good. Good.

Do you hear it at the end?  It’s clearer on its own.

Dddd--

But of course, we never use it that way.  It’s always part of a word or sentence.  

And that can mean it’s harder  here: good, good, ddd--, good.

Pronouncing your D this way will  help your English sound natural.

If you’re linking the D into a word  that begins with a vowel or diphthong,  

then it will sound like a  flap. Let’s look at an example.

I feel good about the project.

Good about, good about.

Goo-- ddd-- Good about.

There, the next word begins with a vowel sound,  

so I flap the tongue and connect  the two words. Good about.

It’s a good restaurant. Good—dd—restaurant.

There, I make a very quick D sound in  the vocal cords, before going into the R.

Good restaurant.

66, the word ‘some’.

This word generally reduces and can  be said very quickly in sentences.

It depends on how the word is being used.  For example, if it’s being used to show that  

something was great, or unique, like, “That  was some party!”, then it’s fully pronounced.

Also, if it can be switched out for  the word ‘certain’, then it’s stressed:

Some days I work from home, and  some days I go to the office.

Fully pronounced: some, some. Up-down shape,  length, UH as in butter vowel. But usually,  

it’s not stressed, it’s actually  reduced. Then it’s more like: some,  

some, some. Flat, low in pitch, said very  quickly, and the vowel reduces to the schwa.

Some. Some. Some.

We pronounce it this way when we use  ‘some’ to mean an unknown amount,  

or unit, or thing. Some water.

May I have some water?

Some, some.

We need some more volunteers.  Some, some. Some more.

Some. Said very quickly, low in pitch, flat: some.

Stressed: some.

Unstressed: sum. Number 67, the word “could”.

Actually, we’ve already gone over this word.  

We did that when we talked  about ‘would’, number 37.

Number 68. Another word that  reduces, the word ‘them’.

A pronoun, which is a function word. Fully  pronounced, the word has the voiced TH,  

which I know is a tricky sound, the EH as  in BED vowel, and the M consonant. Them.

I have good news for you if the  TH is one of your hardest sounds:

This reduction involves dropping the TH. So,  

let me give you an example  sentence. We gave them the tickets.

Gave ‘em.

We gave ‘em money.

Gave ‘em. Gave ‘em. You might be thinking, wait,  we already studied ‘gave ‘im’, and it was when  

we were talking about “him!” Yes. Both ‘him’  and ‘them’ sound the same when reduced. So,  

“we gave him money” will sound just like  “we gave them money.” It doesn’t matter that  

they sound the same. We use a pronoun when  we’ve established who we’re talking about.

So these two pronouns sounding the same shouldn’t  add any confusion to your conversation. You can  

pronounce it quickly with the TH: them,  them, them, them. But you’ll also hear  

it with the TH dropped, and this is something  you can do in conversational English too.

Number 69: See.

This is a verb, a content word, and  generally yes, this will always be  

stressed in a sentence. We’re on number 69  here of the 100 most common words in English,  

and there have only been a handful of  words where it’s never stressed.

Wow. Unstressed words? So common.

Reductions? So common. See is  a simple word, just two sounds,  

the S consonant and the EE as in SHE vowel. See.  See. Stressed with an up-down shape: see, see.

And it will be one of the longer syllables in  a sentence. I didn’t see you there. See. See.

Or: The CEO asked to see me. See.

Number 70: the word ‘other’.

This word can be used as an adjective,  a noun, a pronoun, so, this word can be  

both a content word and a function word. It  can be stressed or unstressed. For example,  

stressed: I don’t love it, on  the other hand, it is cheaper.

Other. Other. Or, I read about that  just the other day. Other. Other.

It’s usually stressed, but it  can be unstressed. For example,  

Someone or other will help out. Someone or  other. Or other, or other, or other, or other.

Other, other, other.

Lower in pitch, a little mumbled, less  clear. However, I don’t change any  

of the sounds so it’s just unstressed,  not reduced. In the stressed syllable,  

we have the UH as in BUTTER  vowel and voiced TH, oth, oth.

Just the very tip of the tongue comes  through the teeth for that TH. Oth,  

th, th, th. Other. Then the schwa R  ending in the unstressed syllable. Other.

In the next set of 10, and you’ll  learn another important reduction.

Today, we start with number  seventy-one, and that’s the word ‘than’.

Fully pronounced, we have voiced TH, AA  as in BAT, followed by the M consonant.

Than.

Than.

When AA is followed by N, we relax the back of the  tongue and change the sound: thaaa— thaa— than.

Than. Aa-uh, aa-uh. So it’s  not aahh thaaan, thaaan, but

‘than’, aa-uh, aa-uh, aa-uh. There’s an  extra sound in there from relaxing the  

back of the tongue, sort of like an UH vowel.  Thaaaa— Than. Than. Than. But we don’t need to  

focus too much on the full pronunciation of  this word since it is a word that reduces.

Remember, when a word reduces, that’s  called a reduction, and that’s when we  

change or drop a sound. So rather than saying  ‘than’ in a conversation, it will be ‘thn’.

We change the vowel to the schwa, which  is absorbed by the N, so you don’t even  

need to think about making a vowel there.  Than, than, than, from the TH to the N.

Very fast.

Than.

We use this with comparisons: she’s  taller than I am, than, than, than I am.

They’re older than we are.

Than, than, older than.

Taller than, older than, than, than, than.

A reduction, not a fully pronounced word. If  you go around fully pronouncing every word,  

it will not sound natural, so you  need to know and use these reductions.

Number seventy-two, a very similar word, ‘then’.  THAN is used with comparisons, and THEN is used  

with timing, sequences, and if/then statements.  It got really dark, then it stormed all night.

Or: if we go grocery shopping, then we can  cook dinner. You won’t always hear it reduced,  

but often you will. I reduced it in both  of those sentences. Fully pronounced,  

it has the EH vowel. Theh— THEN.

But reduced, we change it to the schwa.  Then it sounds just like ‘than’ when we  

reduce it. Then, then. It was really dark, and  then it stormed all night. Then, then, then.

And then it, and then it, and then it.

And then it stormed.

Those three unstressed words together  are not very clear: and then it.

And then it.

And then it.

‘And’ reduces, ‘then’ reduces,  ‘it’ is said quickly with a Stop T.

Some people might think, that’s very unclear,  

that’s not good English, but  I want to stress that it is.

Good English is made up of a  contrast between stressed words  

and unstressed words. You have to have  the unstressed words for this contrast.

And then it stormed all night.

And then it stormed all night.

If we go grocery shopping, then we can cook  dinner. Then we can cook dinner, then we can,  

then we can, then we can, then we can then  we can. Do you hear that ‘can’ reduction?

That was number 53.

It’s interesting that our first two  in this video, two different words,  

sound exactly the same when they reduce. THAN and  THEN both become ‘thn’. That’s okay. This is true  

of a few other reductions as well. Because of the  context of the sentence, there isn’t confusion.

Number 73, the word ‘now’.

This is one word that doesn’t  reduce. It’s an adverb,  

and adverbs are one of four kinds of content  words: adverbs, verbs, nouns, and adjectives.

We generally don’t reduce content words,  or make them sound unstressed. Generally,  

these are stressed in a sentence.  This is what provides that contrast  

that I was talking about being  so important in American English.

Stressed and unstressed or reduced. Long and  

short. NOW has the N consonant and  the OW diphthong. For the diphthong,  

we start by dropping the jaw, then let the  jaw come up as you round the lips, ow, now.

Now. For the N, keep the tongue nice and wide  as it lifts for the sound, nnn, now. Now.

Number 74, the word ‘look’.

What part of speech is the word  ‘look’? It’s a verb most of the time.

Look at me!

It can also be a noun: She  gave me a look. Noun, verb,  

these are both content words. Stressed words. And  yes, this word will be stressed in a sentence.

There are six different pronunciations possible  

for the letters O-O. I made a video about  all of the possible pronunciations recently,  

I’ll put a link to that video at the end of  this video, also, in the description below.

In this word, the pronunciation of  OO is ‘uh’ like in ‘push’. Uh, uh,  

luh, look, look. It’s not ‘Luke’,  oo, oo, where your lips round more.

Luke. The lips are more  relaxed: uh, look, look.

Number 75: the word ‘only’.

This is another content word. At the beginning  of this 100 word series, most of the words we  

were covering were reductions. Now we’re getting  down the list, we’re getting a lot more content  

words. I can tell you one mistake that I hear  all the time with the pronunciation of this word.

Instead of ‘only’, people will say  ‘only’. Uh, uh, uh, uh. The vowel is  

more like the AH as in Father or the AW as in Law.

But the correct pronunciation is a diphthong.  That means we change the mouth position. Ohh.

Jaw drop then lip rounding. Oh,  

oh Only. So make sure your mouth isn't  staying stationary. Oh, oh, only.

Only, oh, oh. There has to be that movement,  jaw drop, then lip rounding. Right after the  

Oh diphthong, a flat, wide tongue goes to the  roof of the mouth for the N, only, then light L,  

IH vowel, unstressed, only. Another possible  mistake here is to make the unstressed syllable  

too relaxed. Then it sounds like: only, ih,  ih, ee, ee. It should be ee. The tip of the  

tongue is down but the front part is arched  reaching towards the roof of the mouth. Ee.

If it's too far away from the roof of the  mouth, then it sounds like IH instead of EE.

Only.

Only.

You're the only one. If only it were true.

Number 76 the word ‘come’.

This is a verb. So yes, it's a Content  word. And generally, we don't reduce this  

or make it unstressed in a sentence. It's  one of the stressed words. Oh, Come on.

Why don't you come over for dinner?

It's the K consonant, the UH as in  butter vowel, and the M consonant.

Come.

Come by later.

Cuh, cuh, ahh

This vowel is very relaxed. If there's  any tension in the back of your

tongue, it will sound different.  Cuh, uh, come. Keep it relaxed.

Come on over.

Number 77.

It's.

Not with an apostrophe. That's the contraction  ‘it is’. This word is showing possession. It's  

pronounced just like IT apostrophe S but it has a  different meaning and is grammatically different.

Where's the remote? It's in its usual place.

Here, I used IT apostrophe  S as a Contraction, it is,  

and then also without the apostrophe showing  possession, the usual place of the remote.

It's not unusual for Americans to drop the  vowel and just make this the TS cluster.

It's gone.

It's gone.

There I'm using the contraction  ‘it is’. Ts. Ts. It's gone.

This can also happen with the possessive ‘its’  

though it might be a little less  common. Let's look at an example.

Where's the remote?

Its usual place.

Its usual place.

There I'm just making the TS sounds.  But usually, this word is not at the

beginning of a sentence, then I would  pronounce the vowel. Its, its, its, its.

The watch is in its case. Its. Its. Its. Said  quickly. So even though I'm not dropping the  

vowel, It's still unstressed. I'm saying it  very quickly. This is not a stressed word.

Number 78, the word ‘over’.

This is usually a preposition. That's  not a Content word. So usually this  

word won't be stressed. It will be  unstressed. But no sounds reduce.

We don't change or drop anything.  Just like ‘only’ we start with the  

OH diphthong, jaw drop, then lip rounding. Oh. Oh.

Over.

A quick v schwa R, ver, ver, ver, ver. Unstressed.  The schwa is absorbed by the R so you don't need  

to try to make a vowel in that second syllable.  Just make a quick, low simple R sound.

Ov— rrrrr— Over.

Over. For the V sound at the  bottom of the lip comes up to  

gently vibrate on the bottom  of the top front teeth. Over.

We jumped over the creek.

We jumped over the creek.  ‘Jumped’ and ‘Creek’ are stressed.

The rest of the words, including ‘over’  are unstressed. We jumped over the creek.

We jumped over the creek.

We traveled all over Italy.

All over.

All over.

Over. Over. Over.

Over. Unstressed, less clear than ‘all’.

All over—Flatter in pitch, less clear.

Number 79, the word ‘think’.

A verb, a Content word, a word that  is usually stressed. Fully pronounced.  

This word is tricky to pronounce. It's  got that unvoiced TH at the beginning.

The only way to make the sound is to bring  the tongue tip through the teeth. The air  

should flow, there should not be a  stop. Th, th, th. But rather, thhh.

Flowing air. Two common mistakes  would be to make an S instead.

Sink. Or a tea instead: tink.

Try to avoid these substitutions  and get comfortable with the TH  

sound. Th—th— Now an IPA, this would be written

phonetically with the IH vowel. Ih—  But when IH it is followed by NG,  

it changes. It becomes more like: ee-ih-ee.

Let's compare this with the word ‘thin’.  The first two sounds are the same. TH,  

IH vowel. In ‘thin’, it's followed by the N sound.  And in ‘think’, it's followed by the NG sound,  

which as I said, Changes the vowel. So let's  start with ‘thin’. Thin, ih, ih, ih. Thin.

And now, ‘think’: thing, thi, thing,  thing, thinnggg, thin. Ee, ih, ee, ih.

Do you hear how the vowel sound is different?

Thiiiink. Think. Think. So even  though it says IH, it’s a lot more

like EE in real life. You may say  why is this letter N the NG sound?

There's no letter G. That's true. When  the letter n is followed by the letter K,  

Then the pronunciation of n is usually the

NG sound: nggg--- where the back of the tongue  

touches the soft palate. This is  also where the K sound is made.

Nnggkkk, nnggkkk. Think.

Think.

Other examples. Sink. Siiinnggkkk.

Bank. Bannngggkkk.

So both of these words, the  N represents the NG sound.

Number 80, the last word for  this video, the word ‘also’.

This is an adverb and generally it's stress  in a sentence. I also want to get coffee. Or,  

that was also a problem. I  want to make sure you know  

not to fully pronounce that L. It's  a dark L because it comes after the

vowel in the syllable.

Don't lift your tongue tip for this  L. Make a dark sound with the back  

of your tongue. Ohhlll, ohhll, ohhlll.  Lifting the tongue tip it brings a sound

forward and tends to mess  people up. It's a dark sound.

Ohhlll, ohhll. Back of the tongue doing the work,

tongue tip can stay down. This  word ends with an OH diphthong.

It's an unstressed syllable. So there  won't be as much jaw drop or lip rounding.

Still make sure your lips around a little bit to  

give us that feel. Also. Alllso.  I also want to get coffee.

Now it’s time for the next set of 10. And  we’re STILL not done learning reductions

We start with number 81.

The word ‘back’.

A noun, a verb, this is a content word and  

will usually be stressed in  a sentence. Please step back.

Or, it was moving back and forth.

Please step back.

Back and forth. Stressed. Back. We  have the b consonant, the AH vowel,

and finally, the k sound. The  back of the tongue lifts to  

touch the soft palate and is released. Kk— back.

Back. Careful with the vowel AH. The back  of the tongue stretches up. Ah. And the jaw  

drops. You might also lift your top lip  a little bit, back, ah, back. Back.

Number 82, the word ‘after’.

This word can be a content word or a function word  depending on how it's being used. So it could be  

stressed or unstressed. We don't reduce this  word though, we don't change or drop the sound.

Let's look at an example. It's  raining so we can't go to the beach.

Well, let's go to the movies.After  all, I already took the day off.

After all. After. After.

It has that same AH vowel in the  stressed syllable, doesn't it?

Ah. After.

Next, we have an F, then a really soft t sound:  

aft— after. It's a True T but not as sharp  or strong as it would be at the beginning of  

a stressed syllable like time. Ttt- time.  So a soft t, then a quick schwa r ending.

Flat, low in pitch, said quickly.

After.

After.

Often this word will be unstressed. For example,  

in the phrase ‘after all’ I could stress ‘all’  instead of ‘after’. Now it sounds like this:  

after all, after, after, after, after, after,  after, after, after, the stressed syllable in  

the stressed version is longer and has more  of an up-down shape of a stressed syllable.

After. Unstressed. After, after,  after. It's flatter, less clear,  

a little bit more mumbled.  Let's look at another sentence.

He left after everyone went to bed.

Left after. Left after.

After. After. After.

Unstressed let's leave after dinner.  Leave after. After. After. After.

Unstressed. ‘Leave’ and ‘dinner’ are  stressed. Let's leave after dinner.

Let's leave after dinner.

After. So the unstressed words are less clear,  said more quickly, and are flatter and lower  

in pitch. The contrast is the stressed words  which are longer, stressed syllables, and an  

up-down shape in that pitch, in that intonation.  That contrast is what makes good English.

Number 83, use.

This is one of those words it's  pronounced differently depending  

on the part of speech. As a noun, ‘use’,  the final sound is an S. As a verb ‘use’,  

the final sound is a Z. Lots of words change  like this depending on part of speech.

For example, ‘house’ the noun ends in the S sound,  

and ‘house’ the verb ends in Z.  Address, can have first syllable stress.

Address.

Address.

That's the noun. But the verb  has second syllable stress.

Address.

Address.

Use.

Use.

Both nouns and verbs are content words which  means they’re stressed in a sentence. They both  

begin with the JU diphthong. Ju, ju.Tongue tip  presses the back of the bottom front teeth and  

the middle part of the tongue presses forward  along the roof of the mouth. Yy-you-yy-you.

Then, the lips round. Juuuu— juu—  ‘use’ with an s or ‘use’ with a z.

What's the use? A noun, or:  I’ll use it later. A verb.

Word number 83 and this is the 19th word  that is reliably stressed in a sentence.  

That means we've covered a lot of words  that can be unstressed or even reduced.

What about number 84? Nope this  is another content word. The word  

‘two’. This word is interesting because  it's a homophone. That means it shares  

a pronunciation with a different  word. It sounds just like t-o-o.

The number two. I like it too.

Two. Too.

Exact same pronunciation. You might  say this is just like t-o that's

also pronounced ‘two’. Not  really. Fully pronounced,  

sure. But we don't fully pronounce the word  ‘to’. That one reduces so it's usually ‘te’, and

not truly a homophone with  t-w-o. We learned the ‘to’  

reduction back in the first video in this series.

It's number three in the most common  words of American English list.

So the number two, t-w-o will be  fully pronounced in a sentence.

Its pronunciation is simple. A  True T and the OO vowel which has

quite a bit of lip rounding: two. The  OO vowel is tricky because you don't  

want to start with your lips in a tight circle.

Two.

Two.

Let them be more relaxed to start, then come in.

Two, two, two.

The game is at two thirty. Two.

Number 85, a question Word, the word ‘how’.

We already studied ‘What’ at 40,  ‘Who’ back at 46, ‘which’ at 48,  

and ‘when’ at 51. Question words are generally  Stressed. Let's look at a few example Sentences.

How did it go?

How tall are you?

How hungry are you?

In all three of these Sentences, ‘how’  was one of the words that was stressed.

How.

How tall?

How tall are you?

How.

How hungry?

How hungry are you?

These words are longer, clearer, and  have the up-down shape of stress.

How.

How did it go?

How.

How did it go?

How tall are you?

How hungry are you?

For this word, we have the H sound  and the OW as in now Diphthong.

Make sure your H isn't too heavy. How. How.

Or dropped: ow, ow. A light easy H,  

how, then jaw drop, and back of the  tongue lifts. How. Then lips round.

How.

How did it go?

Number 86 the word ‘our’.

Now, this is a function word and it will reduce.  So when I’m saying the word on its own and giving  

it its full clear pronunciation, our, our, it's  not really how we would be pronouncing that in  

a sentence. But you might think full, clear,  that's good! That's how I want to pronounce  

things. But remember, good English is made up  of contrast. More clear and less clear words.

So we have to have the less clear words  for good contrast, for good English,  

for the English to sound natural and  understandable. It's ironic sometimes we  

have to pronounce things less clear for English  overall to be more clear and more natural.

This is a pronoun and pronouns are  function words. That is the less  

clear words. Let's look at some example sentences.

What time is our meeting? Our, our, is our, is  our. What time is our meeting? Our, our, our.

Now, I can say it with the  other pronunciation with the AW,  

R pronunciation. What time is  our meeting? Awr, awr, awr.

What time is our meeting?  Awr, awr, awr. Our or awr.

Really they sound almost the  same, the two reductions,  

because I’m saying them so quickly  and that's really what matters.

Saying it quickly, flat, low in pitch, so that  the word is less clear, so that it doesn't sound  

at all like the stressed version. So that's  what we want, a definite unstressed feeling.  

Not ‘our’ but: our, our. It's our son's birthday  tomorrow. It's our son’s— our, our, our, our.

Listen to how different that is from ‘son’s’  which is stressed. Our son’s, our son’s.

Unstressed.

Stressed.

Number 87, the word ‘work’.

Work is a verb that's a Content  word and that's a word that will  

be stressed in a sentence. So this  one is longer, clearer, has the up-

down shape of Stress.

Now I know this is one of the hardest  words out there. All of the words with  

the R vowel is going to be a tough word for  most non-native speakers because they feel  

like they should make a vowel and then  an R. Well let's learn this right now.

In American English, this  symbol is always followed  

by R and the two symbols together  make just one sound. Rrr— Wo— rrrk.

Don't drop the R sound and make  it something like: wok, wok, wok.

That's not clear enough. We want the R and we  want the up-down shape. Ww— orrrkk. Work. Work.

The biggest problem for people is  how to make this R. The lips round  

but they're not as rounded as they were  for the W. So they will relax out some:  

were, Wor. Wor. The tongue movement is simple.  The tip is forward for the W and then the tip  

pulls back and up a bit. It's not a huge  movement and your jaw drops just a bit.

Wor. Wor. Wor. Work.

If you know you're not getting the right sound,  

one thing to do is to make sure you don't  drop your jaw. Focus only on the tongue.

Work. Work.

Work.

I have a video with some illustrations  of this vowel, I’ll put a link to that  

video at the end of this one. If you  struggle with this word or vowel,  

you'll definitely want to check it out.  Let's look at this word in some sentences.

We'll work it out.

Work.

Work.

She doesn't work Mondays.

Work.

Work.

Number 88, first. Interesting another  word with this R vowel you see the  

letter I and you try to do a vowel but  don't. Don't do it. Just the r sound.

Ff— rrr— st.

Ff— rrr— st.

Make your f, pull back the front of the tongue,  don't drop your jaw: fir, fir, and the ST cluster.

First.

First.

Make your s with your teeth together,  then lift the tongue tip to touch the  

roof of the mouth, which stops the air,  then release everything to make the t.

Sst.

Ssst.

As you release the tongue, the teeth  part and the air comes through.

Sst - First. First of all. First. First.  We have a True T in that ending cluster.

First.

If you've seen in many of my videos,  

then you know that the pronunciation of the  t can change depending on the next word.

Here, it's an ending cluster ST. A True T,  

unless it's followed by a consonant.  Let's look at two examples.

First, I want to try this.

First, john wants to try this.

First, I want to.

First, I want to.

There, it's followed by the diphthong AI  and I’m making a True T. First, ttt. First,  

I want to. And the next sentence:

First, John wants to try this.

First, john.

First, john.

Here, I’m linking into a word that begins  with a consonant and I’m not making a t sound.

First, John.

So when we have an ending ST cluster followed by a  

word that begins with a consonant, it  is very common to drop the t sound.

So this is a content word that means we normally  stress it in a sentence but because of this t,  

we do sometimes make a reduction by dropping the  t for a smoother connection into the next word.

Number 89, the word ‘well’.

We use this word in lots of  different ways, as an adverb,  

an adjective, or a noun. They're all  content words where we'll stress it.

Things are going well.

I wish him well.

All is well.

Well, w consonant, EH as in bed vowel,  and the dark L. Well, uhl, well.

The dark l is made with the back of the tongue  pressing down and back a little bit. Uhl, uhl.

You don't lift your tongue tip unless maybe you're  

going to link into a word that  begins with a vowel or diphthong.

Well. Well. Well. Up-down shape of stress.

But this can also be an interjection and  then it's often unstressed. We use this a  

lot at the beginning of sentences.  Well, I want to leave by 7:00.

Well, I want to leave.

Well, I want to leave.

Well, well, well.

Well, I want to.

Well, I want to.

It's really just the w and a quick  dark sound. Wuhl, wuhl, wuhl, wuhl.

I've dropped the EH vowel, turned it  into a schwa, which sort of gets lost  

in the dark l. Wuhl, wuhl, wuhl. Try that with me.

Wuhl, wuhl, wuhl.

Well, I want to.

Well, I want to.

Well, I want to.

Well, I want to leave by 7:00.

Well, that's not what she said.

Well, well.

Well, that's.

Well, that's.

Well, that's not what she said. So this word can  

definitely reduce depending  on how it's being used.

Number 90, the last word for  this Video, the word ‘way’.

This is fun. This reminds me of a video I just  made for my online school, Rachel's English  

Academy, where my dad and I are talking about  my way, your way, the best way, the wrong way.

This is a noun and it’s stressed in  a sentence. It's fully pronounced and  

has the up-down shape of stress. Way. W  consonant, AY as in say diphthong. Way.

We've had lots of words  beginning with W in this video.

Haven't we?

Work.

Well.

Way.

Lips come together into a tight  circle for that W. Www— way.

Then the ay as in say diphthong. First, jaw drop.

Wa— way.

Then, the jaw relaxes up as the  front of the tongue arches towards  

the roof of the mouth. The tip stays  down. Way, way. Get out of the Way.

We need to find a way to solve this  Problem. You've come a long way.

The final 10 in the 100 Most common words. We have  

learned so many reductions so far.  Do you think we’re done? No.

In this final video, we do have  a couple of great reductions.

But our first word, number  91, isn't a word that reduces.

The word is 'even', and this is an  adjective, an adverb, or a verb.

So a content word, usually stressed in a  sentence. But as I wrote sample sentences,  

I was thinking about how sometimes even  content words seem unstressed because  

there are so many other stressed words  that are more stressed in a sentence.

First, let's study word stress.

It's a two-syllable word, with stress on the  first syllable, the EE vowel. Ee. Even, ee.

The tongue tip is down, touching  the back of the bottom front teeth,  

and the top front part of the tongue  arches towards the roof of the mouth, ee.

The corners of the lips may pull out a bit.

Ee. Even.

Then we have V, schwa, N. When the schwa  is followed by N, it's absorbed by it,  

so you don't need to try to make  a schwa sound, then an N sound.

You can think of just going  straight from V right into N,  

vn, vn, vn. It's flat, low in  pitch, and said very quickly.

It's an unstressed syllable.

Even in our stressed words,  unstressed syllables are fast,  

less clear. Even, even. Let's  look at some sample sentences.

I didn't make much money, but I did break even.

Even numbers can be divided by two.

Even, even.

In both of these sentences, the  word was longer and clearer.

But let's look at two other  sentences. This one's even better.

Here, THIS and BETTER are more stressed, the  flow goes UH-uh-UH. This one's even better.

BETTER is much more important than EVEN, so  I stress that more. This one's even better.

This makes 'even' feel unstressed.

This one's even, even, even.

This one's even better.

Do you hear how it's flatter and doesn't  have the up-down shape? This one's even,  

even, even, even, even, even, better.

That means it's unstressed.

I don't even know what to do.

I don't even know what to do.

Even, even, even.

I don't even know.

I don't even, even, even, even.

Unstressed, less clear than KNOW and DO.

I don't even know what to do.

Even, even, even. This makes EVEN feel unstressed.

The contrast with the longer, up-down shape  of those stressed syllables. So when should  

you make sure to make it stressed?I would  say when it's a verb or a phrasal verb.

But if it's an adverb describing a verb, or an  adjective describing another adjective, then  

you can make it unstressed. Because the verb or  adjective it's describing will be more stressed.

Stressed or unstressed:

Even, even.

Even, even.

Number 92. The word NEW.

This is an adjective. It’s a content  word, it’s stressed. If you look it up,  

depending on the dictionary, it might say  that this word has two pronunciations.  

That’s not really true. We only use one,  and it’s N consonant and oo vowel new, new.

The dictionary might give an  alternate pronunciation, new,  

with the EW diphthong like in ‘few’, new,  but I really have not heard anyone use that  

pronunciation in conversational or business  or even more formal English. New. New.

You don’t want to start with your lips  in a tight circle for OO, nooo, nooo,  

that’s not quite right. Start with your lips more  relaxed, then bring them in for the OO vowel.

New, new, new. Let’s look  at some sample sentences.

There's a new idea.

I lost my new camera.

She has a new book coming out.

New, new, up-down shape of  stress, a little longer,  

it’s one of the more clear  words in the sentences.

Number 93, the word ‘want’.

Now, we mentioned this when we were  looking at number 58, the word him,  

in the sample sentence, “We want him to succeed.”

So when do re-visit that sample  sentence. But first, let’s talk  

about is it a content word or a function word.

Will it generally be stressed, or  unstressed in a sentence. It’s,  

a verb, or it can also be a noun. Those are  content words, so this word is usually stressed  

in a sentence. With stressed words, we don’t  really reduce, we don’t drop or change a sound.

But every once in a while we do, and ‘want’  is one of those words. It’s a content word,  

it’s stressed, but still, it’s  not uncommon to drop the T at  

the end. Let’s look at our sample  sentence, We want him to succeed.

Want him, want him.

Want is stressed, but there’s  no T. I’m dropping the H in him,  

a very common reduction, and we link the two  words together, want him, want him, want him.

It’s common to do this when the next  word begins with a vowel or diphthong:  

I want everyone to be there.

No T. Want everyone, want everyone.

We want her to do to better.

Want her, want her.

Dropping the H, ‘want’ is now followed  by a vowel, and so I dropped the T.

Want her, want her. I want another one.

Want another, want another. Dropped T.

In all of these sentences it was stressed, longer,  

with the up-down shape of stress.  But, at the same time it was reduced.

The T was dropped. What if the  next word begins with a consonant?

Then we make that a Stop sound. Just like  with N’T endings, it’s a nasally stop sound  

because of the N, want, want, nt, nt,  nt, nt, nt. So as you’re making the N,  

you make an abrupt stop by  the air stopping airflow.

Want, want.

And that the stop sound.

I want that.

Want that.

I want that

I want this one, want, nt, nt, nt, want.

Ok, we’ve talked about the ending a  lot, what about the rest of the word?

It begins with the W consonant, then  you have your choice of two vowels,

AH as in FATHER or AW as in LAW,

according to the dictionary.

Let’s try them out, AH, Father, AH,  wa-, want. Want. Or AW, LAW, want, want.

Want or AH, LAW, AH, Want, Want, want.

Those both work, but I also hear  a lot of Americans saying ‘want’,  

ah, law want. This is what I do,  with the UH as in BUTTER vowel.

Waa--, want, want.

I don’t want that, want, waaa--, want. Want.

So you have your choice of three vowels.

You’re also probably familiar with the  reduction ‘wanna’. This is want + to,  

and we drop the T. I think in this reduction,  

it’s especially common to use the UH vowel,  wanna, wanna. I know, they ‘wanna’ see you.

Wanna. So a stressed word,  but we might reduce it.

Number 94, a function word that does often reduce,  the word ‘because’. Just like with the word ‘want’  

the stressed syllable here might be pronounced  with the AH as in FATHER vowel, because,  

the AW as in LAW vowel, because, or the UH as in  BUTTER Vowel, because. Because, because, because.

But this words is a conjunction, a preposition,  

that is, a function word,  and so we often reduce it.

We say it really quickly and not  too clearly, and we change it,  

even the stressed syllable, to be the schwa.

Because, because, because,

because, because, because.

OR we go even further, and we  drop the first syllable, cuz, cuz.

You’ve probably seen people write C-U-Z,

I don’t like that. I don’t like writing  reductions, though it’s really common.

But speaking reductions, that’s great.

That’s wonderful English.  Let’s look at a few example.

We’re late ‘cuz’ there was  a traffic jam. Cuz, cuz.

Late cuz. Or I could say, we’re late  because there was a traffic jam.

Because, because, because.

Either way, one syllable or two, it’s  unstressed, reduced, not fully pronounced.

They’re staying home ‘cuz’ of the storm.

She’s grounded ‘cuz’ of her grades.

‘Grounded’ means in trouble, facing restrictions,  

usually this is something parents do  teenagers for breaking rules or bad behavior.

The ‘cuz’ or because reduction.

Number 95, the word ‘any’.

This word can be stressed or unstressed  in a sentence, but it doesn’t reduce.

We don’t drop or change a sound,  

we just make the quality different  to make it stressed or unstressed:

ANY vs. any.

Any.

We would stress this word when using  it as an adjective describing a noun:  

any kid would love that.

What kind of kid?

Any kid.

At any rate, that’s a good deal.

Any kid, any rate.

Otherwise, it can sound  unstressed: Do you feel any better?

FEEL any BETTER?

Feel any, any, any, any, any.

There it’s not that up down shape here  compared to FEEL and BETTER: Feel any better?

any, any, any, any.

Lower in pitch and flatter. Unstressed

We also use ‘any’ for an unknown amount.

Then it sounds unstressed: Do you have any money?

Have any, any, any, any.Do you have any time?

Any, any, any, said quickly,  flat and low in pitch.

Any, any.

The pronunciation: We have the  EH as in BED vowel, EH, eh-n,  

the N consonant and an unstressed EE. Any, any.

Any or any.

Number 96, wow, we’re getting close to the end!

Number 96 is ‘these’. This word  can be stressed or unstressed,  

depending on how it’s being  used, but we don’t reduce it.

Voiced TH, EE vowel, weak ending these. I want  to point out that when this word is unstressed,  

I’ll even say any time it doesn’t  begin a thought group, it’s common  

to cheat the pronunciation of the TH a little bit.

It still sounds like a TH to us, but we’ll make it  without bringing the tongue tip through the teeth:

These, these. We make it like  this. These, these, these.

The tongue tip is just behind  the teeth, the, the, the, these,  

then it pulls down for the E vowel. You might  see my tongue behind the teeth, the --, these,  

these, but I’m not really bringing  it out. tttttthhhhese, these.

Instead It's these, these, these. This  is an important shortcut for non-native  

speakers since so many of them struggle  with the full pronunciation of the TH sound.

Th, th, th, thse, these, the tongue tip isn’t at  the roof of the mouth, and it's not pointing down.

It’s pressing the backs of the  teeth and then pulling away. These,  

these. Let’s look at some examples.

First, sentences where they’re not stressed:

Everyone wants one of these.

These, these, these.

We need these to be cut in half.

These, these, these. Simple TH pronunciation where  

the tip does not come thru. Now  lets make it stressed, like at the

beginning of the sentence:

These are great.

These people need help.

These, these, tongue tip is coming  thru and we have that up-down shape,  

a little longer, a little clearer. These.

Number 97, give.

This is a verb, and verbs are content words, which  means they’re stressed and they don’t reduce.

Except certain ones can reduce,  and this is one of them.

Give, G consonant, IH vowel, V consonant.

I’ll give you that for your birthday. Give.

I'll give you.

Stressed, fully pronounced. We’re  going to give her a discount.

Give, give, again stressed and fully pronounced.  But with ‘me’, it’s common to reduce this.

It’s still a verb and it’s still stressed,  but we drop the final V sound: Gimme that.

Gi-- stressed, but no V.

Gimme, Gimme that.

In fact, sometimes you might see it written  GIMME. Gimme, gimme, gimme. Gimme that.

Can you gimme more time?

So the G-I syllable is still stressed, gi --

even though we’re dropping the final V.

This is just like ‘want’. It’s  a content word, a stressed word,  

and yet, in certain cases,  we drop the final sound.

Isn’t it interesting?

As you study how Americans really speak, you  see that the full pronunciation often isn’t  

the most natural or common pronunciation. If  all you learned was the book pronunciation,  

you’d have a pretty hard time  putting sentences together naturally.

That’s what this video series is about.  Getting you to see it’s not always about  

a full, clear pronunciation in  English. Let’s keep going.

Number 98, the word ‘day’.

This is always a noun, and it is  always stressed. We don’t reduce it!

Out of all of the most common  words that we’ve studied so far,  

almost 100, this is only number 25  that is never unstressed or reduced.

Wow! D consonant, AY as in SAY diphthong.

First drop your jaw, a-, then  arch the top front part of the  

tongue towards the roof of the  mouth. And the jaw relaxes up.

Ay, day, day.

I need another day to finish.

What day is he coming back?

Let’s call it a day.

Day, day, up-down shape of stress,  longer clearer. That last sentence,  

let’s call it a day, is an idiom that  means, let’s stop doing what we’re  

doing. It usually refers to work. For  example, if I’m working late at night,

David might come up to my office and say,

Rachel, why don’t you call it a day?

Number 99, the word ‘most’.

This can be several different parts of  speech, but all uses are content words.

So this word is generally stressed. But  it still might get a small reduction,  

and that’s because of the ending cluster.

This is just like number 88,  first, or number 57, just.

When the word is followed by a  consonant, it’s common to drop the T.

Most people like it.

Most people.

Most people.

It’s the most challenging part.

Most challenging

Most challenging

Most people, most challenging.

We drop this T because it comes between  two consonants and sometimes we do that  

to make speech smoother. To make the  transition between two words smoother.

If the word is followed by a word  that begins with a vowel or diphthong,  

or at the end of your thought group, then do  make the T: I got most of the questions right.

Here it's followed by a vowel.

Most of the, most of the,  most, and I'am making a T.

Most. Most.

M consoant, OH diphthong, mo-.

Jaw drop then lip rounding Mo-, most.

Then the ST cluster.

Most.

Number 100! The final word! Us.

This word is a pronoun, a function word, and  so it’s not normally stressed. It’s unstressed.

They took us to the movies.

Took us, us, us, us.

They gave it to us for our anniversary.

Gave it to us, us, us, us, us.

You could write this in IPA  as schwa-S. Fully pronounced,  

it’s UH as in BUTTER – S. US,  but unstressed, us, us, us.

If it’s the last word in a sentence,  I would stress it: This belongs to us.

Us, up-down shape of stress. But usually, us, us,  us, unstressed. Flat in pitch said very quickly.

Do you really need reductions? What if  you clearly and fully pronounce each word?  

Let’s look at some conclusions from studying  these 100 most common words in English.

When I gathered the 100 most  common words in American English,  

I wasn't thinking about going beyond  that; I wasn't thinking about 200 or 500,  

but after I finished it, I got curious:  what does the next 100 look like?

Do we have more content words? So I  decided I was going to expand upon  

that video series and put it here in the academy,  

and what that means is I started looking for a  list of the top 500 words in American English.

Now I found a list that I really  like, but it's not the same list  

as the top 100 words that I used  when I did that original course.

So what does this mean? I took this  new list which I really like and I  

looked at the top 100 words. It was  very similar to the list I used but  

a little different so in this video I'm  taking 14 words that are included in the  

top 100 words of my new list that weren't  included in the list that I already did.

So we'll call the list we'll cover today filling  in the top 100. There are 14 words on this list.

So my goal is to do the top 500 and I'm really  curious to see what this means for my students.  

If you study the 500 most common words in English  you really get to know the pronunciation and what  

they sound like in a whole sentence you study a  lot of sentences to to get to know the various  

meanings for each word how will this impact your  English I've got to think that it would make you  

speak much more confidently so I'm really excited  to dive into these next set of words with you.

The first word is more this word will be  stressed in a sentence it's a content word.

This word has either the a as in law vowel  or the o diphthong. Remember when the a as  

in law vowel is followed by r it changes it  gets more closed it's not a but it's o, Mo,  

more. So the lips round a little bit more  the tongue pulls back a little bit more.

As this word is stressed it will have that up  down shape more and the r comes as the voice  

falls down. If you're pronouncing this with  the O diphthong, it sounds more like more,  

more. I think this pronunciation is less  common I wouldn't actually recommend it.  

You may hear it I personally think it's  a little bit strange. More, more, more.

Next we have very an adjective or an adverb this  

word adds intensity and I think because  of that we tend to stress it even more.

I'm very tired do you hear how much I held on  to that beginning V sound? That really helped  

me to stress it so there's a big difference  between I'm tired and I'm very tired very  

adds so much intensity so go ahead and feel  free to play with really stressing this word.

So here we have the e as in bed vowel  followed by R. Again, the r does change  

the vowel here. It comes after the vowel in  a stressed syllable pure e as in bed is e e  

plus r a er er. That's not how we pronounce it  it's not there but it's there. So the vowel

there e e has a lot less jaw drop. Very, then a  pure e. Very also watch the ending e vowel some  

people make it too relaxed and it sounds like I  ver make sure your tongue stays high, very. e e  

e very the word find this is a verb a content  word and it will be stressed in a sentence.

We have the I diphthong find, but  pay attention to that ending D. When  

it comes between two consonants we  will drop it like in the word finds,  

finds. I'm not making a D sound there it's  right from the n Sound into a light Z.

This would also happen if we were linking  this word into a word that begins with a  

consonant like in the phrase “I found my book.”  I found my, found my. You do not need to worry  

about the D there. But when it's followed by  a vowel we will make a d. For example in the  

phrase “find out”. Find, find out. There I'm  making a D sound as I link to the next word.

Also in the word findings. There  I've added a suffix and it starts  

with a vowel and I am making more  of a D sound. Findings, findings.

The word “where”.

This word will often be stressed in a sentence and  

just like with very we have  the a as in bed vowel plus r.

This is just like very where we had a  plus r in the stress syllable, very where,  

where, where, where. So it's not e, but  it's e e, less jaw drop. Where, where.

Some people will pronounce wh words with  a light escape of air, where, where,  

but most people now have dropped that I suggest  you just do a clean W sound to begin where, where.

Thing. That's a noun a content word, usually  stressed in a sentence. Unvoiced th tongue tip  

must come through the teeth then the I as in  sit vowel followed by the NG consonant. When  

this vowel is followed by the NG consonant it does  change. It's no longer a pure I that would sound  

like thing, thing. But this word is pronounced  thing. When I is followed by NG it changes to more  

of an e vowel that is the tongue arches higher  it's closer to the roof of the mouth. Thing,  

thing, things. That will be a really light z  sound at the end when it's plural. Sometimes  

a plural Z is so weak so light that it  sounds like a very weak S without the voice.

Things

take as much of the air out  of that as you can. Things.

This word is also the ending of several common  words: something, nothing, anything, everything.

In those words, it's unstressed, so it's going  to be something, thing, thing, flatter and pitch,  

and said with a little bit less mouth movement  and a little bit more simple thing, thing, thing.

Should. I actually did cover this in the  first 100 words when I did should, would,  

and could together all with number 37.  Remember, we can definitely reduce this,  

so it's just the sh sound plus the schah when  it's followed by a word that begins with a  

consonant. For example, in the phrase  “should we try?” sh sh should we try?

I did not make audio for  this in the first 100 words,  

so I'm going to make it now  and put it here in this course.

Next, need. a content word. The pronunciation of  this word is pretty simple and straightforward.

The ending is D. This will link into a  beginning vowel or diff thong, like in  

the phrase I need another n n need a, there's  a flap of the tongue as the D comes between two  

vowel sounds. Now if the next word begins with  a consonant, I won't release the D. I need my,  

need my, need my, so my tongue is in position  for the D. my vocal cords are vibrating but I  

don't release it need d d. I just close my lips  and go right into the next sound the M sound  

need my need my I need my other one. I need my  other one. The D is quite subtle in these cases.

The word much.

An adjective an adverb or noun that  is a content word usually stressed  

in a sentence. No tricks or changes in  pronunciation here just the M consonant,  

A as in butter vowel and the CH sound much, much.

The word right.

Let's get this right. Another  content word. With this list,  

we're really getting into a lot  of content words, aren't we?

Right. R consonant, I diphthong, T. this ending  T will be a stop T if the next word begins with  

a consonant like in the phrase right now.  Also it will usually be a stop te at the  

end of a phrase like “that's right”. It will be  a flap T if the next word begins with a vowel  

or diphthong sound like in the phrase right away  this is because the t comes between two vowels.

Remember we're not talking about letters  the letter before the T here is the H,  

that's a consonant letter. But  the sound is the i diphthong. So  

the T does come between two vowels or  diphthongs in the phrase right away.

The word mean.

A content word. As with so many words in English  this word can be used different ways a noun,  

a verb, or an adjective. Mean. M consonant  e vowel n consonant mean. Now notice in the  

past tense the word changes becomes meant,  this is an irregular verb so it's not an ed  

ending. And adding that letter T changes  the pronunciation. It's no longer the E  

vowel but it's the e as in bed vowel meant,  meant. You'll often hear this as a stop t if  

the next word begins with a consonant like  in the phrase “I meant that.” Meant, meant.

The word may.

A modal verb stressed you may  want to study this one more.

M consonant, a diphthong, don't forget that  jaw drop at the beginning of the diphthong;

May

May

Here, an adverb. this is a content word and will  normally be stressed in a sentence here we have  

a vowel followed by R in a stressed syllable  and the r consonant does change this vowel. We  

have the E vowel followed by r or schwa R in the  same syllable, I is affected. It's not a pure I  

that would sound like here, here, here. That's not  how we say that word. We say here, here when I is  

followed by R in the same syllable it's a lot more  like the e as and she vowel, here, he e here, so  

there's less space between the top of the tongue  and the roof of the mouth than in a pure is here.

Many. This word is sometimes  stressed sometimes not. Many  

people want to meet you there it's stressed. Many.

How many people will be there?  There it's not stressed.

How many? How many people? Many many.  The letter A here makes the e as in  

bed vowel me many. Again watch  that ending unstressed e that it  

doesn't become I to relax keep the  tongue higher. E many e e e many.

And finally the word such.

This word can also be stressed or unstressed.

It's going to be unstressed when followed  by as. For example online schools such as  

Rachel's English Academy are  such a great way to learn.

There I used such Twice first it was  unstressed. Such as, such as, such as,  

such, such, such. Then it was stressed.  Such are such a great way to learn.

What a fun project it was for me  to make these 11 videos and here,  

finally, to pull them all together into  one video for you. Understanding reductions  

really will unlock a new level of  spoken English fluency for you.

Keep your learning going now with this video and  don't forget to subscribe with notifications on.  

I love being your English teacher. That's it  and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.