Rachel: Thanks for studying with me today guys. I
have a real treat. We're going to do another Learn English with TV lesson. In this video
we're taking a little clip from 'Grey's Anatomy'. Now in this scene, one of the characters is
apologizing. Have you ever had to apologize for something? We'll study how she does it
and then of course we'll also study all the ins and outs of pronunciation. Reductions,
stress, things like flap Ts. By studying this way, a full in depth analysis, it will really
help you with your listening comprehension when it comes to TV, movies or real life and
it will also help you sound more natural when speaking American English. It's amazing what
we can learn by studying even just a small bit of conversation.
Do you watch 'Grey's Anatomy'? I used to watch it back when I was more of a TV watcher and
I was really surprised when I went online to look for scenes and I found it is still
going on! I think it's like the 15th season or something. So I call this kind of exercise
a Ben Franklin exercise. It starts with us just watching the scene then together we'll
do the full pronunciation analysis. I'll make sure you understand everything that's happening
and how things are being pronounced. Let's go ahead and get started with the scene.
Girl 1: I'm sorry. Girl 2: I just saw Meredith. Jackson left
without talking to you? He just left? Girl 1: I wish I could blame this on him but
I told Link about you before I even knew. Girl 2: Jackson left?
Girl 1: I was really kind of awful to Owen. I was really... I was really awful
to Owen.
Girl 2: Jackson left.
And now, the analysis.
Girl 1: I'm sorry.
Rachel: I am sorry. She uses the contraction 'I'm'
which would be written in IPA with the AI diphthong, I'm. But she doesn't really say "I" does she?
like mm, mm, mm sorry, mm sorry.
Girl 1: I'm sorry.
Rachel: I've definitely noticed this before in the
I AM contraction. People will take just the M sound and link it on the next word. msorry,
msorry. Try that.
Girl 1: I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
Rachel: So it's short little 2 word thought group
and the stressed syllable is sorr. Mmsorrry. And then the voice falls in pitch as it comes
off that stressed syllable. There are no skips or jumps. Everything is smoothly connected.
Mmsorry, mmsorrry. The ending unstressed syllable. Just a really quick E as in SHE vowel -y, -y.
Mm sorry.
Girl 1: I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Girl 2: I just saw Meredith.
Rachel: Okay then we have a 4-word thought group.
I just saw Meredith. What are the stressed syllables there?
Girl 2: I just saw Meredith.
Rachel: I just saw Meredith. Just and Mer are the
most stressed syllables there. Now, "saw" is a verb and that's a content word those are
sometimes stressed but in a sentence with multiple content words, they're not all going
to have the same stress. And I would say "saw", even though it's not reduced or anything like
that, it is lower in pitch compared to the other stressed syllables. I just saw Meredith.
All linked together. Smooth pitch changes, no skips, no breaks.
What about this T? How does she pronounce that?
Girl 2: I just saw Meredith.
Rachel: She drops it. It's common to drop the T between
two consonants. So here it comes between S and S. And so actually these two words link
together with just a single S sound. Just saw, just saw, just saw.
Girl 2: I just saw, I just saw, I just saw Meredith.
Rachel: I'm going to stop here for a minute guys because
I have something important to tell you really quick. If you would like this kind of analysis,
I'm going to do 11 videos in a row starting June 18. It's the summer of blockbuster movies.
We're going to be learning English with movies and I'm going to make and extra free audio
lesson to go with each video lesson. If you want that, you'll have to sign up. I'm not going
to bombard people with emails so I only want to send people these free downloadable audio
lessons if you want them. So if you want to study English movies this summer follow this
link here or in the video description below. Pass it on to your friends, we're going to
be doing this together, it's going to be so fun, I cannot wait to spend my summer with
you. Okay now, back to this analysis. Girl 2: I just saw Meredith.
Rachel: Meredith. Merrredith. Make sure your tongue
is not flapping for the R in "Meredith" or "sorry". The tongue never flaps for the R in American
English so it does not bounce against the roof of your mouth. It should be pulled back
a little bit. The tip is pulled back a little bit within the mouth. It's not touching anything.
Sorrry. Merrredith. And then the 2 unstressed syllables are lower in pitch. Edith, edith,
edith. And then they have a different feeling, a different shape than 'Mer' which has that
up-down shape. Now this does end in an unvoiced th sound, tongue tip does come through the teeth
for that, Meredith. That can be a tricky sound for some people.
Girl 2: Meredith. Meredith. Meredith. Jackson left without talking to you?
Rachel: Stressed syllables? The stressed syllable
of the name. Jackson left without talking to you? And the pitch goes up in the end because
it's a yes/no question. And that is usually how we deal with the intonation with a yes/no question.
It's how we show it's a yes/no question.
Jackson left without talking to you? It's different than "Jackson left without talking to you."
Pitch goes down, that's a statement. Here, pitch goes up, it's a question.
Girl 2: Jackson left without talking to you? Jackson left without talking to you? Jackson
left without talking to you?
Rachel: The letter o here is the schwa son-Jackson,
Jackson, son, son, son. So you'll say that quickly with no jaw drop. Don't try to make
a vowel there. Just s into n sound. Son, the schwa will happen on it's own. Schwa gets
absorbed by the n. Now what about this T? I said we usually drop the T when it comes between
two consonants. Here's the F consonant and here's the W consonant. How does she pronounce
that?
Girl 2: Jackson left without...
Rachel: She does release it with a very light true
T. So even these rules we usually do this, they're not always. There's always some exception
that some will make. So she articulates that T.
Girl 2: Jackson left without, Jackson left without, Jackson left without talking to you?
Rachel: Ta without Ta. We have a word that ends in
a T the next word begins in a T in these cases we link with a single T. And it is a true
T. This T starts a stressed syllable and when every T starts a stressed syllable that's
not part of the TR cluster, it is a true T.
Girl 2: Without talking to you? Without talking to you? Without talking to you?
Rachel: Without talking, without talking. Now are
you noticing what's happening here? It's not talking with the ng consonant. She drops the
ng consonant and instead makes it an n consonant. Talkin', talkin', talkin', talkin' to you?
Girl 2: Talkin' to you? talkin' to you? talkin' to you?
Rachel: Talking to. So she says talkin'. But then
what does she do with to? How is this word pronounced? Fully pronounced it would have
the true T and the U vowel. But what do you hear?
Girl 2: Talkin' to you? talkin' to you? talkin' to you?
Rachel: Talkin. Talkin. It's actually reduced to just
the schwa sound. So sometimes we'll make it a true T. Tu, tu. And then the schwa. We do
that when the sound before is unvoiced. Sometimes we make it a flap T. Talkin' to, talkin to.
to to to to. The tongue bounces against the roof of the mouth. And I have noticed sometimes
when it comes after an n, the T sound is dropped altogether and it becomes just a schwa that
links the word together. So she straight goes from the N sound into the schwa and then right
into the JU diphthong. Talking to you, talking to you. Reductions like this, reductions and
linking. It's just everywhere in spoken American English practically every sentence.
Girl 2: Talkin' to you? talkin' to you? talkin' to you?
He just left?
Rachel: He just left? He just left? What do you
think is the stressed syllable in that thought group?
Girl 2: He just left?
Rachel: He just... flatter in pitch. Left? That's where
we get more energy in the voice. And it does go up again because again, it's a yes/no question.
That makes it different from a statement. He just left. He just left? "He" and "just": unclear,
lower in pitch, lower in volume and what happens to this T?
Girl 2: He just left? He just left? He just left?
Rachel: It's totally dropped. Comes between two consonants,
the S sound links right to the L sound. He just, he just, he just, he just. See how simply
you can make that. You don't want to use a lot of mouth movement because they're unstressed
words, you want to say them quickly so we simplify things. He just, he just, he just.
Girl 2: He just left? He just left? He just left?
Rachel: He just left? And then we do have a very light
release of a true T here. We often release a true T when it's in a cluster. Here it's
in an ft cluster, unless it links to another word. Here it's in the end of a thought group.
So that will generally be released with a light t sound.
Girl 2: Left? Left? Left?
Girl 1: I wish I could blame this on him but I told Link about you before I even knew.
Rachel: That's a long thought group. There's a little
bit of a lift here. Maybe between where I put the comma for grammatical purposes. But
it's a lot of words. Let's look at the first chunk. What do you think are the stressed
syllables there? Girl 1: I wish I could blame this on him,
I wish I could blame this on him, I wish I could blame this on him..
Rachel: I...wish I could blame this on him. And the
pitch going up signals I'm not done talking, there is more I would like to say. Remember
these stressed syllables, these longer syllables, are our anchors in the sentence and we need
those clearer stressed syllables in contrast to the unstressed syllables that are said
much more quickly, much more simply.
Girl 1: I wish I could blame this on him...
Rachel: So I is lower in vocal energy, lower in pitch
I, I, I wish. I wish I. I could, I could, I could. These words also unstressed, lower
in pitch, lower in energy.
Girl 1: I wish I could, I wish I could, I wish I could blame this on him..
Rachel: This and on also unstressed, less clear. This
TH is really unclear. It's unvo.. it's voiced. And the voiced TH in an unstressed word can
be made without the tongue tip coming through. Blame this, this, this, this. It just touches
behind the bottom or actually both the bottom and top teeth in the front. This, this, this,
this. Doesn't have to come all the way through. But I almost feel like she drops it. That's
how unclear it is. Blame this, blame this, blame this on him? blame this... So you could
try it with a very very light TH or you could try it dropping it, and linking it in, and see
how that sounds.
Girl 1: I wish I could, I wish I could, I wish I could blame this on him...
Rachel: On him, on him... We sometimes drop the H in
him. She doesn't. The S goes right into the AW vowel. On him. And then the N goes right
into the H, everything smoothly linked together.
Girl 1: On him, on him, on him but I told Link about you before I even knew.
Rachel: But I told Link about you before I even knew. I think those are the most stressed
syllables in the 2nd half of this thought group. Everything linked together so smoothly.
But I, but I but I but I but I but I. The T becomes a flap T between two vowels or vowels
and diphthongs. That's what happens here. We have the uh vowel, the AI diphthong, that's
a flap T and it links the word smoothly But I, but I. Here it's beginning, the T is beginning
a stressed syllable so it's a true T. But I told. I told. I told, I told. Right from
the AI diphthong into the T sound, no brake.
Girl 1: But I told, but I told, but I told Link about
you before I even knew.
Rachel: So we have L,D,L. I don't know that I would
say she drops the D but it's very very subtle and I think you could drop the D. I told Link,
I told Link, I told Link. I think you could probably get away with that.
Girl 1: But I told, but I told, but I told Link about
you before I even knew.
Rachel: Link about, Link about, k k k. Ending K link
right on to the next sound the schwa. Link, k k k. Link about, link about.
Girl 1: Link about you.
Rachel: About you, about. Stop T, about you. So a
little lift there to signify the stop .This, the break in sound. Signifies the stop T.
Now another common way to pronounce a word that ends in T followed by U is a ch, about
you, about you. Have you ever heard that? She doesn't do that. She makes a quick stop
T about you, about you
Girl 1: About you, about you, about you before I even knew.
Rachel: Before I even knew. A little bit of length
also on the stressed syllable before. Before I. Smoothly linked together. I even. Sometimes
when we have a word that ends in a vowel diphthong. Here it's the AI diphthong and a word that
begins in a vowel diphthong. Here it's the E vowel. People want to put a little brake
there. Restart their voice because they feel like linking two vowel sounds is too unclear
but we wouldn't do that. We would say I even, I even.
Girl 1: Before I even, before I even, before I even.
Rachel: Listen to how she links I and even
Girl 1: Before I even, before I even, before I even.
Rachel: Really smooth. And then here we have the ending
N sound. Even knew. Beginning N sound linked together with the single sound. So, I just
really want to stress how smooth everything is. Before I even knew.
Girl 1: Before I even knew.
Girl 2: Jackson left?
Rachel: And she asks her question again, Jackson
left? And it goes up because again she's asking it as a yes/no question. Jackson left? And
a very light release of a true T there.
Girl 2: Jackson left? Jackson left? Jackson left?
Girl 1: I was really kind of awful to Owen.
I was really...
Rachel: Again a longer thought group, starts really
quietly. And I was, and I was, and I was...
Girl 1: And I was, and I was, and I was really kind
of awful to Owen.
Rachel: Then we have a little bit more volume on "really",
which is more stressed here. And I was really.
Girl 1: And I was really...
Rachel: And I was. All unstressed, very soft. The
word "and" gets pronounced just as schwa n. And I, and I, and I. Links right into the
AI diphthong, links right into the word 'was' which was actually pronounced 'was'. Was,
was, was, was. Very fast. Reduced with a schwa. Let's practice just those 3 words together.
And I was, and I was, and I was, and I was. So if you're trying to fully pronounce everything
and say 'and I was', It's going to sound really different isn't it? And I was, and I was,
and I was. That makes the anchor of the stressed syllable really a little bit more clearer.
Girl 1: And I was really, and I was really, and I
was really kind of awful to Owen.
Rachel: Really kind of awful to Owen. And again pitch
goes up, she's not done talking, she keeps right on going.
Girl 1: Really kind of awful to Owen, really kind
of awful to Owen, really kind of awful to Owen. I was really...
Rachel: I was really. Again, big time "was" reduction.
Was, was, was, was, I was, I was, I was really.
Girl 1: I was really, I was really, I was really...
Rachel: Kind of. How does she pronounce that? She
drops the D sound kinda, kinda. nd she changes the whole word of to just the schwa. Kinda,
kinda, kinda. It would not be weird to make the D sound kinda, kinda. I think that's actually
more common to pronounce the D and then link it to the schwa, but it's unstressed, it's
low in pitch, it's got less energy. And she does drop that D. Kinda, kinda, kinda.
Girl 1: Kind of awful, kind of awful, kind of awful to Owen.
Rachel: What about the word 'to' here? She does make
that a true T and then a schwa. She could have made that a flap T, awful to, awful to,
awful to. But she makes it a light true T, awful to, awful to, awful to.
Girl 1: Awful to Owen, Awful to Owen, Awful to Owen.
I was really...I was very awful to Owen.
Rachel: Now, I was very awful to Owen. Ver and O get
the most stressed, awful gets some too. Another "was" reduction. It's not was but it's was,
was, was said very quickly. I was, I was, I was.
Girl 1: I was very awful to Owen.
Rachel: Actually, you know what? I don't even hear
the word I. I wrote it when I was originally typing this up. I thought I heard it. But
it might just be the I thought that because I knew it was there grammatically. But now
when I'm hearing it. When I'm listening and really listening for that I, I don't hear
it.
Girl 1: I was very awful...
Rachel: Maybe just the quietest, lowest in pitch little
vowel before was. What about to?
Girl 1: I was very awful to Owen.
Rachel: Again super light true T and then a schwa.
Awful to Owen. And again there's no brake. Everything, every word glides smoothly into
the next word within this thought group.
Girl 1: Awful to Owen. Awful to Owen. Awful to Owen.
Girl 2: Jackson left.
Rachel: Okay now what's different about this?
Girl 2: Jackson left. Jackson left. Jackson left.
Rachel: Jackson left. Now it's a statement because
the pitch goes down. So the firs two times she said it as a question Jackson left? and
now she says it as a statement. Jackson left. She wants this woman to acknowledge what that
means 'Jackson left.'
Girl 2: Jackson left. Jackson left. Jackson left.
Rachel: And again a very light release of a true T.
So much to study in this short, short scene.
Girl 2: Jackson left. Jackson left. Jackson left.
Rachel: Let's listen to the whole conversation one
more time.
Girl 1: I'm sorry. Girl 2: I just saw Meredith. Jackson left
without talking to you? He just left? Girl 1: I wish I could blame this on him but
I told Link about you before I even knew. Girl 2: Jackson left?
Girl 1: And I was really kind of awful to Owen. I was really...I was really awful
to Owen. Girl 2: Jackson left.
Rachel: That was fun. To see the whole scene, click
here or see the link on the video description below. We're going to be doing a lot more
of this kind of analysis video together. What scenes would you like to see? Let me know
in the comments below. Also if you learned something brand new, a reduction or something like that
you never heard before, put that in the comments below. I love to know what you guys are learning.
That's it and thanks so much for using Rachel's English. If you want to see my absolute latest
video, click here. If you're new to the channel, check out this where to start playlist. Click
here to subscribe. I make new videos on American English every Tuesday. To be sure we can keep
in touch, click here to sign up for my newsletter. You'll get free lessons in your inbox every
week.