By the end of this lesson, you'll improve your listening skills so you can easily understand
fast speaking native speakers, welcome back to JForrest English.
Of course.
I'm Jennifer.
Now let's get started.
Here's how this lesson will work.
I'm going to say a sentence at a fast pace three times, and you need to write down exactly
what you hear in the comments.
Are you ready?
Let's start your first listening exercise.
I'll say it three times.
I'm a little rusty.
Did you get this one?
I said.
I'm a little rusty now.
Notice here I'm using a contraction.
I'm this is I am I'm.
Now let's talk about a little.
Notice I didn't pronounce those T's.
I pronounced them as soft D's a little.
Little the the little.
And I connected them together a little, a little.
Now sometimes native speakers will completely drop those T's and they won't pronounce it
at all, and it will sound like Lil Lil.
And then again you connect it with the ah, a little, a little a little rusty, a little
rusty, a.
Little rusty.
Now, what does it mean to be a little rusty?
Rusty is an adjective, so for sentence structure you need to use the verb to be to be rusty.
I'm a little rusty.
She's a little rusty.
This is when a skill or an ability isn't as good as it used to be.
Why?
Because of lack of practice.
So pay attention, English learners, because you don't wanna say I'm a little rusty with
my English.
You don't want to say that.
You definitely don't wanna say I haven't watched AJ force English lesson in months, so my English
is a little rusty.
That doesn't describe you right, so point in the comments.
I'm not rusty.
I'm not.
Rusty, because you're watching this lesson right now, you're practicing your English,
which means you're not rusty.
I'm not rusty.
Put it in the comments.
You can use this with any skill or ability.
It's commonly used with sports.
Let's say you play tennis, but it's winter right now, so you can't play tennis because
it's winter.
You might say I haven't played tennis in six months, so I'm very rusty.
So notice in the sentence I said I'm very rusty.
You could also talk about this specific skill or ability.
You could say my serve, my tennis serve, my serve is very rusty.
Well, my Latin's a little rusty.
Like pretty rusty.
I'm very rusty.
Let's try this again.
I'll say it three times.
We tweaked the plan.
Did you get this one?
I said we tweaked the plan.
Now notice the pronunciation of tweak it.
This is in the past simple.
So it's an Ed verb, but because the verb ends on a, we need a soft T so it's not tweaked.
That's incorrect.
Is tweaked.
Tweaked.
But when you use this in a sentence and there are words after, you're going to drop that
T sound entirely.
So notice how tweaked the sounds in this sentence.
We tweaked the plan.
It just sounds like the present.
Simple tweak.
It's the context that will make it obvious that I'm talking about a past action, not
the pronunciation.
What does it mean to tweak something?
When you tweak something, you change it slightly.
So just a little.
And you do that to make it more correct or more effective.
So let's say your friend or Co worker wants you to review a speech they wrote and you
really like it, but you don't like the conclusion.
You might say Uncle Jim's Tweaking the five things plan your speech is great, but I'd
tweak the conclusion if I were you.
So you're suggesting that they make a slight change, a small change to the conclusion to
make it better, more effective.
I do have one small tweak.
Sorry, you have a tweak.
Now.
We also use this to make the changes that we've made sound less significant.
So to sound small.
So if someone gets upset because you changed their speech or presentation or plan, you
can say, Oh no, no, I didn't change it.
I just tweaked it, which means you did change it, but you only did it slightly a very small
amount.
I just tweaked it and we tweaked it.
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Now let's continue with our lesson.
Let's try this again.
I'll say it three times.
Keep an eye out for him.
Did you hear what I said?
I said keep an eye out for him.
Now let's talk about an I out because native speakers will combine all these sounds together
so it sounds like one an IO and IO.
And notice that I didn't say for him.
I dropped that H sound on him and it sounded like M Forum forum.
And then it also sounds like one word.
Keep an eye out forum.
Let's take a look at the grammar.
Because notice keep this is the the base verb, so that means is the imperative verb tense.
And I'm using this because I'm giving an order or a command.
Keep an eye out for him.
I'm not asking, I'm telling.
Just keep.
An eye.
Out.
This is an expression and it means that you watch carefully for someone or something.
So let's say you're driving along and you have car troubles.
Maybe you get a flat tire, So you have to pull to the side of the road.
Now while you're trying to fix the car, maybe you tell your friend keep an eye out for other
cars, so watch carefully for other cars so you can say help help, we need help.
Or you might say, keep an eye out for snakes, because maybe you're in the desert.
Don't keep an eye out.
We use this a lot in the workplace.
Let's say you're expecting a delivery but you have to leave to go to a meeting.
You might say to your Co worker, I'm going to a meeting.
Can you keep an eye out for the delivery?
So you're asking your Co worker to watch for the delivery.
But watch carefully.
Thank you.
Keep an eye out.
Let's try this one more time.
I'll say it three times.
Can you show her the ropes?
Do you know what I said?
I said, can you show her the ropes?
Now notice can because this is an auxiliary verb, it's not the main verb.
It's pronounced as kin kin.
It's an unstressed sound.
Kin.
Can you show?
Because show is the main verb.
Can you show her now?
Here her same thing.
We can drop that H and it will sound like ER can you show her?
I'm happy to show her the ropes.
When you show someone the ropes and notice, ropes is always plural.
When you show someone the ropes, this is an expression, and we use it when you show someone
how to do a job or an activity or a task.
So if there's a new employee or a new member on your team, your boss might ask you can
you show her the ropes?
And you can say I'm happy to show her the ropes, and if you're the new employee receiving
the training after, you can say thanks so much for showing me the ropes.
Like no one showed me the ropes.
Don't worry, we showed her the ropes.
Then Dr.
Yang is showing him the ropes.
Now let's do an imitation exercise so you can practice your pronunciation.
I'm going to say each sentence three times, and I want you to repeat read each sentence
out loud.
I'm a little rusty.
We tweak the plan.
Keep an eye out for him.
Can you show her the robes?
Did you like this lesson?
Do you want me to make more lessons just like this?
If you do, then put Show me the ropes.
Show me the ropes.
Notice this isn't the imperative you're starting with the bass verb.
And also remember that ropes is always plural.
Show me the ropes.
Put that in the comments and I'll make more lessons just like this.
And of course, make sure you like this video, share it with your friends and subscribe so
you're notified every time I post a new lesson.
And you can get this free speaking guide where I share 6 tips on how to speak English fluently
and confidently.
You can click here to download it or look for the link in the description.
And why don't you keep improving your English vocabulary with this lesson?
I know you'll love it.