Wetening) V7 ow speech: When are some, the, from, ete. Weak forms of function words following groups of function words. (For exceptions, see Unit 22.) 8) Some words are not usually made prominent (see Unit 10) in conversation. These include the the personal pronouns /, me, we, us, you, he, him, she, her, it, they, them| she SAW me. the possessive determiners my, your, his, her, its, our their e's my BROTHer. each other, one another They were HiTting each other. the articles a, an, the it’s an OWL. the determiners some and any Do you WANT some?_ the indefinite pronouns some-/anybody, some-/anyone, some-/anything when they are used as the object of a sentence ‘didn't SEE anyone. there used to introduce a sentence there's some CAKE left. forms of the auxiliary verbs be, have, do and the modal verbs (shall should, can, could, ete) except in negative forms He was LATE. ean HEAR it. prepositions (e.g. as, at, for, from, of, to) they're from SPAIN. the conjunctions and, but, or, as, than, that e's OLDer than me. Some of these function words have a weak form and a strong form. The weak form is the usual pronunciation, but the strong form is used when the word is ~ + prominent (see Unit 22) + said on its own + at the end of the sentence Example with weak Example with strong {fil, Phil, Jwil, [jul (or Lia) form form The following have weak forms with /a/: the, a, an, |i can (/kan/) SWIM. | | CAN (keen) come nd, but, that, than, your, them, us, at, for, from, of, after ALL to, as, there, can, could, shall, should, would, must, do, does, am, are, was, were, some This s for (/fa/) YOU. __| who's it FOR (fox)? she, he, we, you are pronounced with reduced are you (/ju/ or Jjaf) | A: who DID it? vowels in their weak forms: TIRED? B: YOU (/ju:/)! his, her, he, him, her, has, had are often pronounced] was he (/hi/ or /i/) without /h/ in their weak forms (except at the THERE? of a sentence) HE ([hisf) was THERE, bout SHE (/fis/) wasn't. 2 | fastspeech: When faju/ taking /imta/ see /a/? a [arasam/ Ra aT a but they help to make your English sound more fluent and natural. you taking him to seeher? There are some over there, over there, SS itis not always necessary to produce weak forms in your own speech in order to be understood,21.2 @ bs bo 2B: Section B Stress in words and phrases Exercises Listen and repeat these sentences. Prominent syllables are in capital letters. Focus in particular on copying the non-prominent forms of the function words, in green. 1 Do they LIKE each other? oo — 2 1SAW somebody at the WINdow. SE 3 there was a LETter from his BROther. 4 there should be some MORE in the BOX. 5 we were GOing to see her PArents. 6 she doesn’t LOOK as OLD as me. 7 WHEN do you get the reSULTS of your TESTS? 8 1 was at HOME from EIGHT o'CLOCK. Do you think the words in bold will have their weak (write W) or strong form (5) in these dialogues? EXAMPLE a A: That ice-cream looks nice. B: Do you want some? $ b A: Pm really thirsty. B: There’s some orange juice in the kitchen. Wd 1a A:Do you think I should apologise? B: Yes, 'm sure that would help. b A: Did you get 100% on the test? B: No, I spelt ‘would’ wrong. 2.a A: 1was in Slovenia last weekend. B: What were you doing there? b A: Why weren't you and Amy at the party? B: But we were. 3.a A: What have you got there? B: It’s a present from Alex. b Ar ls this a card for Simon’s birthday? B: No, it’s from Simon. 4a A: Why did you mark it wrong? B: You wrote ‘your’ instead of ‘you’. b A: We are off to Scotland again in the summer. B: Are you going with your sister? 5 a A: Can I borrow your screwdriver? B: What do you want it for? b A: Did the phone ring? B: Yes, it was for David. Now listen and check your answers. Then say the B parts aloud. Listen. Write the number of words you hear in each space. EXAMPLE 2... leaving now ...3... staying? Are you leaving now or are you staying? 1... waiting... brother. 2 Tknew ...... going... late again, "3. take swimming pool? 4 I thought ........ station already, ... wrong. 5... go to the 200, ...... before? 6 more books here ....... have. 7 He asked ..... money —.... lent . 8 She told better off going by bus. Now check your answers in the Key. Then listen again and repeat the sentences.PRONUNCIATION WORKSHEET Strong & weak forms 1 &) Listen to some sentences. Are they in the Present Perfect, Past Simple or Present Simple? 2 G2 Listen again; this time the sentences include time references, Note the difference. Remember! Itis often difficult to hear the ~ed ending of regular verbs. Time references will help you to distinguish which tense is used, 3&3 Listen to these sentences. Mark the stress in the verb forms. How is been pronounceé: /bi:n/ or /ban/? Are all the words in the verb structures pronounced clearly? 1 I've been studying all day, so I'm really tired. 21'm really bored; I've had to read about 200 pages today. 3 It’s terrible; she’s been living out of a suitcase for too long. | 4 He's always stayed with his parents. He doesn’t know how to be independent. 5 How many times have I told you not to do that? 6 1've known my best friend since we were at school | 7 He's just finished his degree. 8 Sorry I've not been in touch; I've been travelling. Remember! + We only stress the important information in sentences. Auxiliaries and modals have two kinds of pronunciation: ~ strong (if the word is important) = weak (the most common, when the word is nat as important) + Weak forms, while difficult to understand because they are not stressed, are predictable through context. Use key words \__ and the context to help you get the message, 4 6 Listen to some question prompts. Can you understand the message? Write down the key words What kinds of words are missing? 5 G2) Listen again with a clearer context. Can you reconstruct the questions? Why? Do you really need to understand all the words to get the idea? 6 &33\ Listen to the complete dialogues and check. What's the difference in the pronunciation of modals and auxiliaries in the questions and answers? Repeat the sentences. Remember! + The strong forms of modals and auxiliaries are normally used in these cases | 1 When they are negative (the final -ts often dropped). 2 In short answers. | 3 For emphasis, 7 Gs Listen to nine extracts, Did you notice the modals and auxiliaries? Listen again and repeat.