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You are here: Home / Archives for Videos / Intonation, Linking, Rhythm, and Stress / in a Sentence

This set of videos goes over stress in a sentence. Which words are generally stressed, and which unstressed? What does that sound like?

The “H” reduction in American English

The “H” reduction in American English

YouTube blocked? Click here to see the video. If you’re studying English to become fluent you need to master a tricky facet of American English: reductions!  I can help you sound more like a native English speaker and increase your spoken English … [Read more...]

Filed Under: in a Sentence, Specific Words, Videos Tagged With: Words that Begin with H Reductions

CAN Reductions in American English

CAN Reductions in American English

YouTube blocked? Click here to see the video. Reductions are a foundational aspect of spoken American English.  In this video I’ll show you everything you need to know about the word CAN and how it reduces! Video Text: How much do you know about … [Read more...]

Filed Under: in a Sentence, Specific Words, Videos Tagged With: CAN Reduction

Placement and Intonation Exercise: How’s it going?

Placement and Intonation Exercise:  How’s it going?

Focus on practicing the placement and intonation of American English on its own in this video.  Work on phrases on the vowel “uh” – take away the words and other sounds to focus on the placement and melody of the phrases. Study with Rachel’s online … [Read more...]

Filed Under: in a Sentence, Melody, Placement, Videos

5 Tips to Improve Listening Comprehension Skills

5 Tips to Improve Listening Comprehension Skills

Five tips, five secrets, five tricks to improving your listening comprehension skills! You can do this! Study how Americans speak to improve listening and pronunciation. YouTube blocked? Click here to see the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Conversation and Speech Studies, in a Sentence, Videos Tagged With: Listening Comprehension

Question about Speaking Slowly vs. Quickly

Question about Speaking Slowly vs. Quickly

If you talk too fast, will people be able to understand you?  Isn't it better to speak slowly and say every syllable and every word clearly?  No.  Rhythmic contrast is an important characteristic in American English, and in order to get that, some … [Read more...]

Filed Under: in a Sentence, in a Word, Videos

How to Pronounce ‘to the’ in a Sentence

How to Pronounce ‘to the’ in a Sentence

Study how to pronounce ‘to the’ in a sentence—simplify it.  There are many reductions in conversational American English. It’s important to know what they are to improve listening comprehension, but also to use the reductions in speech yourself. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: in a Sentence, Videos, Words that Reduce Tagged With: The Word THE, TO Reduction

English: A Stress-Timed Language

English: A Stress-Timed Language

In some languages, every syllable is the same length. In English, it sounds very awkward to make each syllable the same length.  It’s important to have contrast, some long and some short syllables. YouTube blocked? Click here to see the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Basics, in a Sentence, in a Word, Videos

Word Stress and Verbs

Word Stress and Verbs

Verbs are content words, which means they will be stressed in a sentence. This means they should be louder and have an up-down shape of the voice.  Study what verbs sound like in sentences. YouTube blocked? Click here to see the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: in a Sentence, Videos

Word Stress and Lists

Word Stress and Lists

Study the intonation of phrases that involve lists so people can follow your speech more easily. YouTube blocked? Click here to see the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pw05jLyV9Rc Video Text: In this American English pronunciation video, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: in a Sentence, Melody, Videos

Changing Word Stress for Clarification

Changing Word Stress for Clarification

As you study the rules for word stress, know that there are times when you will stress words that might normally be unstressed to clear up a misunderstanding. YouTube blocked? Click here to see the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: in a Sentence, Videos

Function Words – Pronunciation + Intonation/Word Stress

Function Words – Pronunciation + Intonation/Word Stress

What are function words?  Learn what they are and how important they are for providing rhythmic contrast in spoken English. YouTube blocked? Click here to see the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mS7w_np2Nw Video Text: This video will … [Read more...]

Filed Under: in a Sentence, Melody, Videos, Words that Reduce

Word Stress: Sentence Position

Word Stress: Sentence Position

The volume, pitch, and stress of a word depends somewhat on where it falls in a sentence. Words at the end, even stressed words, tend to be less clear.  Compare stressed words at the beginning with stressed words at the end with a helpful … [Read more...]

Filed Under: in a Sentence, Videos

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Video Categories

The Voice: Basics, Placement

Sounds: IPA, Alphabet, and Letters, Vowels, Diphthongs, Consonants

Intonation, Linking, Rhythm, and Stress: In a Word, In a Sentence, Linking, Melody, Contractions, Words that Reduce, Suffixes and Prefixes

Conversation: Specific Words, Phrases, Conversation and Speech Studies, Community

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