In this video, you're going to test your listening skills of fast speaking English,
so you get really comfortable and confident understanding native English speakers.
And you'll also learn advanced expressions
to expand your vocabulary so you sound like a native speaker as well.
Welcome back to JForrest English.
I'm Jennifer.
Now let's get started.
I'm going to say a sentence three times,
and you need to write down exactly what you hear in in the comments.
After, I'll explain exactly what I said.
I'll explain the pronunciation changes that take place in fast
English, and I'll explain the advanced expressions and vocabulary that I used.
Are you ready?
Let's get started with the first listening exercise.
I'll say it three times.
Our chances are slim to none.
So how did you do?
I said Our chances are slim to none.
First, let's talk about the pronunciation changes.
Notice that our our sounded like our our our chances.
Our chances not a natural pace.
We don't pronounce it our chances,
We just do a very soft, unstressed R Our chances our chances our chances are.
Notice that because chances ends on an S&R, it starts with a vowel.
I can combine those together.
Chances SAR.
So it sounds like SAR, but I have to say those two words together.
Chances are.
So when you hear it at a fast pace,
you just hear the S from chances and you hear it both on chances.
And are.
Our chances are slim to none.
To to notice that two none again is just a very soft,
unstressed to slim to none, slim to slim to none.
What does this mean?
First, let's talk about chances, one's chances.
This is how possible something is.
For example, the team has a great chance of winning.
So here, their chance of winning.
It's how possible it is that the team will win.
The team has a great so their chances of winning are quite high.
But in this example I said our chances are slim to none.
What does that mean, slim to none?
This means very small or extremely unlikely.
Our chances are slim to none.
Now, I didn't specify chances of what in the original example,
so I could say our chances of getting a promotion this year are slim to none.
So this means it's very unlikely that you're getting a promotion.
There's a chance, yeah, slim to none, Slim to none.
Those are my chances.
My chances of ever flying again are slim to none.
But let's try another listening exercise.
I'll say it three times.
It was Slim Pickens at the career fair.
I said it was slim pickings at the career fair for pronunciation.
Notice how pickings sounded quite unstressed.
Pickens Inns, so I dropped that in.
I dropped that G sound from the ING pickin pickin, but it's plural, so I own that S Pickens Pickens.
Native speakers often drop the G sound or make it very soft with ING Pickens Pickens.
Listen to this clip and notice how Joey from Friends also drops
the G and says it Very unstressed Pickens.
It is slim Pickens.
It is Slim Pickens.
Now let's talk about what this means.
First of all, a career fair.
Do you know what this is?
This is an event where people looking for a job can meet potential employers.
A career fair is very common for university graduates,
college graduates or high school graduates to go to to try to find a job.
And I said it was slim Pickens.
So what does that mean to be slim pickings?
This is when there are very few good options to choose from.
So maybe there were people at the career fair, but the employers that were there
or the people looking for jobs that were there weren't the best quality.
So you could say it was Slim Pickens.
We commonly use these two words Slim Pickens.
If someone asks you how a search for something is going,
so maybe you're looking for a new house, a new car, or of course a job.
So someone could say, how's the job search going?
And then you can reply back and simply say Slim Pickens, Slim Pickens, It's Slim Pickens out.
There it is.
Slim Pickens are slim for an educated, independent woman.
Let's try this again with another listening exercise.
I'll say it three times.
Stop hogging the iPad.
How do you do with this one?
I said.
Stop hogging the iPad now here for hogging, notice we have ING.
So I did pronounce it more like Hagen Hagen hogging ING Hagen so stressed hogging unstressed.
Hogan I tend to use both of them and don't really realize which one I'm using.
I don't specifically choose before I'm about to speak which one I'm going to use.
It's just whatever comes out and I will easily switch between the two,
The stressed or the unstressed.
Stop hogging.
Stop hogging the iPad.
Notice how it sounded more like a stressed the With that long E,
we stress the and make it the When the noun that comes next starts with a vowel.
iPad.
I, of course a vowel.
Native speakers don't always follow this rule.
I don't always follow this rule.
I would commonly say the iPad, the iPad, the iPad.
So if you use one or the other, or if you hear native speakers using one or the other,
just know that both are acceptable.
And it's probably slightly more likely to use the stress version the with a
vowel simply because it makes it easier to pronounce those sounds.
So here's an iPad.
What does it mean to hog the iPad?
The iPad.
What does that mean?
When you hog something, it means you take or use more than your fair share.
So this is actually something I said to my husband Kevin the other day.
I said stop hogging the iPad because we only have one iPad
and he was using it and I felt like he was using it more than his fair share.
So I said stop hogging the iPad because I wanted to use it.
And I said this more in a joking way.
But let's say that you have a roommate.
Or you could think about someone You live with, a different family member, or even
a work colleague, and that person might use more of something or take more than their fair share.
So maybe it takes your roommate a really long time to get ready,
put on makeup in the morning, and you only have one bathroom.
You might say my roommate always hogs the bathroom in the morning,
and it means your roommate uses more than her fair share of the bathroom.
Notice in my original example?
Stop hogging the iPad.
Stop hogging.
Our verb to hog is in the gerund form.
That's because stop is a gerund verb, so you need stop plus verb ING.
Stop hogging the iPad.
That's why hog is in the gerund form with ING.
Stop hogging, my best friend.
Stop hogging the blank.
Stop hogging the blanket.
It's cold.
How about we stop talking the magazine, huh?
Let's try one more listening exercise.
I'll say it three times.
Don't be stingy with the cheese.
Did you get this one?
I said don't be stingy with the cheese.
I think the pronunciation is clear, but do you understand what this means?
And remember I said that I said to my husband, stop hogging the iPad.
Well actually this is something that he said to me.
He said don't be stingy with the cheese.
So what does it mean to be stingy?
This is when something is small in amount less than expected.
So I was putting cheese on something.
I don't remember what I'll say pizza.
I was putting cheese on our pizza and my husband thought I was being stingy.
I was using a small amount less than expected, but that was just his opinion
because he likes a lot of cheese, whereas I don't like a lot of cheese.
So in my opinion, I was not being stingy at all, but he thought I was being stingy.
We have another meaning for stingy, which is very common.
When you describe someone as stingy, it means they're unwilling to spend money.
So they have the money, they just don't want to spend it.
In that case, you would call someone stingy.
For example, we had to take the bus because my friend was too stingy to take a taxi.
This means that my friend had the money to take
a taxi, so it wasn't financially difficult for her to take a taxi.
But taking a taxi is more expensive than taking the bus, and she's stingy,
so she doesn't like spending money.
So she took the bus so she could save her money because she's stingy.
Although saving money and trying to save money can certainly be a positive thing,
when we use this adjective it's always in a negative, critical way.
O We think that person should have been willing to spend the money if we describe them as stingy.
I'm going to say to you, don't be stingy with your comments and don't be stingy with your likes.
Now in this case, it's the first example I explained when my husband said to me
don't be stingy with the cheese, he thought I wasn't using enough cheese.
So don't be stingy with your comments.
If you're stingy with your comments and your likes, it means you don't share them.
You keep them to yourself.
So it's another way of saying make sure you comment.
So put I'm not stingy in the comments, but I'm not stingy.
And that means that you freely comment on my videos or you freely like my video.
So don't be stingy.
Put that in the comments.
Don't be stingy.
I see.
Don't be stingy.
He's even stand.
You would play money.
Now let's do an imitation exercise so you can practice your pronunciation.
You can practice all the pronunciation changes that I explained in this video,
and you can imitate my pronunciation so you sound more natural.
So I'm going to say each sentence three times,
and I want you to repeat the sentence out loud after each time.
So let's do that now.
Our chances are slim to none.
It was Slim Pickens at the career fair.
Stop hogging the iPad.
Stop hugging the iPad.
Don't be stingy with the cheese.
Did you like this lesson?
Would you like me to make more lessons just like this, so you can improve your listening skills?
Add lots of natural expressions to your speech.
Well, if so, put Don't be stingy.
Don't be stingy in the comments.
And you're telling me not to be stingy with my videos, so I'll create more and more videos.
So put Don't be stingy.
Don't be stingy.
Put that in the comments and remember, I don't want you to be stingy with this video either,
so make sure you like it, share it with your friends, and of course,
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
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And why don't you get started with your next lesson right now?