Welcome back to JForrest English.
I'm Jennifer and today I'm going to test your listening skills of Fast English to see how
well you understand native English speakers.
And by the end of this lesson, you're going to improve your listening skills and have
natural expressions added to your speech.
Let's get started.
Here are your instructions for the entire lesson.
First, I'm going to say a sentence 3 times, and you need to write down exactly what you
hear word for word in the comments.
Next, I'm going to explain exactly what I said and I'll explain the pronunciation changes
that take place in fast English, and I'll explain the expressions that I used as well.
Are you ready?
Here we go.
Looks like we're back to square 1.
Looks like we're back to square one, I said.
Looks like we're back to square one.
Did you get that one?
Let's talk about the pronunciation changes.
Notice the contraction we're we're This is we are as a contraction we're.
Now notice how unstressed my pronunciation is.
It sounds like we're.
We're we're.
This is how native speakers say it at a natural pace.
We're back.
We're back to, This sounds like to in real English to we're back to we're back to square
one.
We're back to square one.
Now what does this mean, to be back to square one?
Well, square one on a board game is the beginning of a board game.
So when you're back to square one, it means you're back to the beginning and you're back
to the beginning, the start, because you tried something and it didn't work, so you had a
failed attempt and you have to try again.
Looks like we're back to square one.
It looks like we have to start again from the beginning because our first attempt failed
our next listening exercise.
I'll say it three times.
I don't know if we can trust her.
She's pretty wishy washy.
I don't know if we can trust her.
She's pretty wishy washy.
I don't know if we can trust her.
She's pretty wishy washy, I said.
I don't know if we can trust her.
She's pretty wishy washy.
First, let's talk about don't know at a natural pace.
This sounds like don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know, don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know if we can notice here.
We can trust when can is the auxiliary verb, so it's not the main verb.
We reduce this to kin, kin, and it's very unstressed sound.
I don't know if we can, if we can trust, if we can trust and notice you hear trust more
because it's the main verb and can, which sounds like kin, is very short.
Kin can trust.
Can trust.
I don't know if we can trust her.
Now here, we can get rid of that H sound and it just sounds like her.
Trust her.
But then you combine it to the word before.
Trust her, trust her, trust her.
I don't know if we can trust her.
She's This is a contraction for she is she's pretty wishy washy.
What does wishy washy mean to be wishy washy?
This is when you have no clear or consistent ideas or decisions.
We generally use this as an adjective to describe someone who changes their mind, changes the
decision that they make frequently.
So that's why you don't know if you can trust her because she says she's going to come to
your party or help you move, but because she's wishy washy, tomorrow she might change her
mind and say, oh, actually I'm not coming to the party or I'm not going to help you
move.
But then maybe the next day she changes her mind again and she does come to your party.
She's wishy washy.
I don't know if I can trust her.
She's pretty wishy washy.
Our next listening exercise, I'll say it three times.
You gotta give him props.
He's a real trooper.
You gotta give him props.
He's a real trooper.
You gotta give him props.
He's a real trooper, I said.
You got to give him props.
He's a real trooper You got to got to sounds like gotta you gotta you gotta give him.
Same thing we saw with her.
Get rid of the age and it will sound like him.
But you can combine it to the word before.
Give 'em, give 'em give 'em.
You gotta give 'em props.
He's this is a contraction.
He is.
He's a real trooper.
Now, what does this mean to give someone prompts.
This is when you give someone respect, credit, or recognition.
So let's say a coworker of yours gets a really big client.
Well, if you want to give your coworker credit or recognition, you could say, oh, we got
to give him props and then you can celebrate his big achievement.
Let's talk about he's a real trooper.
When you describe someone as a trooper, to be a trooper, this is someone who perseveres
through hardship or difficulty.
So they persevere.
They keep going, they don't give up, they don't quit, they persevere.
And This is why you got to give them props.
Because he didn't quit, even though it was difficult.
Because he's a real trooper.
Our next listening exercise, I'll say it three times.
Our successes and failures were writ large.
I said Our successes and failures were writ large.
Notice our I did not pronounce this as our.
I said RRA very reduced sound our our successes, our successes, our successes and failures
here.
And when and comes between 2 nouns or even 2 verbs, we reduce it to our successes and
successes and failures.
Coffee and tea, successes and failures.
Our successes and failures were writ.
Did you spell this starting with a R or with a W?
The W is silent, just like in the word, right?
The W is silent, but in spelling it's there.
In pronunciation, it isn't writ large.
What does writ large mean?
This is an adjective that simply means to be very obvious.
So our successes and failures were very obvious.
Why is that?
Perhaps we work for a public company, and when we fail, the general public knows we
failed.
But also, when we succeed, the general public knows we succeeded.
Because our successes and failures are writ large.
They're very obvious.
Are you ready for your last listening exercise?
I'll say it three times.
With a few tweaks, it'll be good to go.
I said with a few tweaks, it'll be good to go.
Did you hear that contraction?
It'll it will sounds like it'll it'll it's a very soft sound.
It's easy to miss that.
Will it'll it'll it'll be, it'll be.
But without it, the sentence wouldn't be grammatically correct.
If I said it be that isn't correct, it will be.
It'll be it'll, it'll, it'll be good to go.
Just like we saw before too is a reduced sound, an unstressed sound.
To good to go.
To To go.
To go.
Good to go.
What does this mean?
With a few tweaks.
Tweaks are changes.
Small changes.
So let's say you're writing a report and your boss or coworker wants you to remove this
section and add this information.
That would be a tweak, A tweak.
You need to make a small change, A tweak with a few tweaks.
With a few changes.
It'll be good to go.
When something is good to go, good to go, it means it's ready.
And we use this in two contexts, Ready to leave or ready to start doing something.
So let's say you and your friend are going to the movies.
Your friend could text you and say good to go.
Are you ready to leave?
And in this case it could be Are you ready to leave your house to meet me at the movies?
Good to go, good to go.
We use this a lot as native speakers.
In this context it'll it'll be good to go.
Something can also be good to go in the context of it's ready to start doing something.
For example, the new website will be good to go on Monday, which means the new website
will be ready, ready to start doing something, ready to start receiving visitors, ready to
be available to the public.
The new website will be good to go on Monday.
Now, the new website as a subject is it so if you already know you're talking about the
website, you can say it'll, it'll be good to go.
Now let's do an imitation exercise so you can practice these natural pronunciation changes
and practice these new expressions.
I'll say each sentence again three times in a row, and I want you to imitate my pronunciation,
try to say it just like me.
Get all those pronunciation changes and I want you to say this out loud so you can do
this as many times as you'd like to practice.
Looks like we're back to square 1.
Looks like we're back to square one.
I don't know if we can trust her.
She's pretty wishy washy.
I don't know if we can trust her.
She's pretty wishy washy.
I don't know if we can trust her.
She's pretty wishy washy.
You got to give him prompts.
He's a real trooper.
You got to give him prompts.
He's a real trooper.
You got to give him prompts.
He's a real trooper.
Our successes and failures were writ large.
With a few tweaks, it'll be good to go.
Did you like this lesson?
Would you like me to make more lessons like this?
Testing your listening skills?
Well, if you do then put more, more, more in the comments so I know you want more lessons
just like this.
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 get started with your next lesson right now?