When my husband proposed to me, he got down on one knee in Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia on a
beautiful September day. In today's video, we're taking a scene from a movie Welcome to Marwen and
a marriage proposal is about to happen. We'll use this scene to study English, specifically American
English pronunciation. We'll do an in-depth analysis like this, which greatly improves
your listening comprehension when it comes to movies, TV, and English conversation. And the
more you know about these pronunciation habits of native speakers, the easier it will be for others
to understand you speaking English. As always, if you like this video or you learned something, new
please give it a thumbs up and subscribe with notifications, I'd love to see you back here.
The premise of the movie is Mark suffered a violent crime. He was beat up very badly.
Then he built this world of dolls in his backyard to help him cope. And in this world,
there's a doll of himself and a doll of a woman named Nicole. Mark wants to propose to Nicole.
But first he has the doll version of himself do it. So in this clip, he is showing some scenes of
that proposal to Nicole. Here's the clip.
He built her a teahouse and then proposed
to her in it? Yes. That's right.
Wow. That's exactly what Nicole said.
And then, he gave her a medal? Well, he couldn't find a ring.
Remember there's a war on. Oh yeah, of course.
And he got down on one knee and everything.
Did you notice that the T was dropped in the
word exactly? Did you notice how the H was dropped in the word 'her' in the phrase
'gave her a medal'? Let's do an in-depth analysis of the scene now.
He built her a-- So she puts a pause here,
while she's considering what to say, and we have one stressed word in this first thought group.
He built her a-- and it's the peak of stress. The word 'he' builds up to it. The words her and a,
fall away from it, and it's all very smooth. He built her a-- the true T here releases
right into the H. He built her a-- this is just the schwa. He built her a-- he built her a--
think of that as one word. Try to make it that smooth. He built her a--
He built her a--
tea house?
Tea house? Tea house? The intonation goes up, that's a little bit questioning, clarifying,
she's not sure ,is it a tea house? Tea house? Tea house? We have another true T here,
because it starts a stressed syllable.
Tea house?
Tea house. It's a compound word, and with compound words like eyeball, basketball,
stress is on the first word of the compound word. Tea house? Tea house? So this is house,
house, unstressed. That's different than house, house, how it would sound stressed. Tea house,
house, tea house. Although he or she makes the intonation go up, so it's tea house? Tea house?
Tea house? Tea house? Tea house and then proposed to her in it?
And then propose to her in it? And then propose to her in it? So posed,
is the most stressed syllable here. And rather than drawing it like this with an up down shape,
I’m gonna draw it going up, because her sentence goes up. Proposed to her in it? And it's
just all going up. So when we're in a part of a phrase where the intonation is going up, this is a
yes/no question, and those usually go up in pitch, when we have a stress syllable like that, rather
than being up down, he built, it tends to scoop up. Propo, po, and then propose to her in it?
And then proposed to her in it?
And then, pronounced: and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, low in pitch, very flat,
they're unstressed words. The D is dropped. And then, and then, and then. This is a simplified
voiced TH because it starts an unstressed syllable. So you don't need to bring your tongue
tip through. Then, then, and then, and then, and then, and then. The tongue moves forward,
touches the backs of the teeth, and then pulls back. And then, and then, and then, and then.
And then
proposed to her in it?
Pro-- the first syllable of this stressed word is unstressed, so it's going to feel more like these
words: and then pro, and then pro, and then pro--
And then pro
And then proposed to her in it?
And then propose--
The S, the letter S here is a Z sound in this word, proposed. Proposed to her in it?
Proposed to her in it?
So let's talk about our sequence of sounds here. We have Z in proposed. The ED ending is just a D
sound, so it's not two sounds here, it's just a single D sound: proposed to-- and then we have a
true T in the word 'to'. When we have a D between two consonants, it's not uncommon to drop it,
or a T sound, so these ending, ED endings, can be dropped if the sound before is a consonant and
the sound after is a consonant. So that might be confusing, you might be like, well, how do
I know it's past tense? And we know that because of the context. So we don't actually hear the ED
ending. We don't actually hear the D sound. But we know it's past tense because they're talking about
something that happened. He's showing her pictures telling her a story. But if you've ever wondered
what happens with ED endings sometimes? That's what happens. When it's a T or
a D sound, and it comes between two other consonants, it's pretty common to drop it.
Propose to---
So we go right from the Z sound into the true T.
This is a schwa. It's not to, it's: to to to. Proposed to, proposed to, proposed
to. Z to T with no D. Proposed to her in it.
Proposed to her in it.
To her in it. To her in
it. She does a little tiny bit of a break here. To her in it. In it. In it. In it.
Again, pitch is on its way up and we have a stop T here. In it.
In it. In it. Link these words together, it shouldn't feel like two separate words.
The N, you can feel like begins the next word. Nit nit nit, in it. In it. In it.
In it. In it. In it.
In it.
Yes.
Yes. Yes. Up down shape, statement, answering the question. Yes.
Yes.
That's right.
Then a little two word thought group. That's right. That's right. Stress on right. It does
end with a stop T. That's right. That's right. What happens to the word that's?
That's, that's, that, do you hear it?
That's right.
No, not really. That's, it's, what's, let's, these can all be reduced to just TS. That's right.
That's right.
Now, I feel like I do hear a little sound before. It's sort of like a super unclear TH
schwa. That's, that's, that's, that's. But
it's very subtle and it would be common to even just drop that and just say: T's right.
T's right. But I'm hearing something like: it's right, just a little vocalization before the TS.
That's right. That's right. That's right.
That's right.
Wow. Wow. Wow. Up down shape. Wow. Lips around
for the W constant at the beginning, and for the second half of the OW diphthong. Wow. Wow.
Wow.
That's exactly what Nicole said.
Now he's kind of whispering. He's excited. That's exactly what Nicole said.
That's exactly what Nicole said.
Let's make this a little bit more clear.
Exact-- the stress is here on the second syllable. That's exactly, that's exactly,
the TS cluster linking right into the vowel. That's exactly. The letter X here, this has two
pronunciations. This one is the GZ, it can either be GZ or KX. And here, it's-- sorry, GZ or KS.
Here, it is GZ. Eg eg eg-- exactly. Now do you notice, I'm dropping the T? That's really common
when the T comes between two other consonants. So if I was just saying the word without the LY
ending, I would say you need to be exact. Exact. I would say the T if that was the end of my thought.
You need to be exact. But because it's got an LY ending, exactly, we now drop that, so it
just goes right from the K sound to the L sound. I only know one person who pronounces that T.
I have one friend who's very particular, and she says: exactly, she is the only person I
know who does that. So she's dropping it here, I'm sorry, he is dropping it here,
please also drop that T, it's going to be more natural. That's exactly. That's exactly.
That's exactly
what Nicole said.
That's exactly what Nicole said. That's exactly what Nicole said.
What Ni-- what Ni-- these are both going up towards that peak of stress. We have a stop T,
what Nicole said. And then said is coming off of that peak of stress. What Nicole said.
That's exactly what Nicole said.
When you're imitating the audio here, try to match his vocal quality, his whisper quality as well.
Not just the pitch and the rhythm, but try to match everything about the voice.
Pretend that you're him when you're working with this audio.
That's exactly what Nicole said.
And then he gave her a medal?
And then, and then, and then, a little break here, breaking it up into two thought groups.
And then, then, is definitely the stressed word,
the word 'and' just comes on the way up, and it's reduced, it's not and, what is it?
And then---
And then, and then, i would just write that schwa N. And then, and then.
And then---
And then, and then, and then. For this TH, you don't need to make too much of it,
she's not saying and then, and then, and then. She's
sort of leaving it out, not really, I mean her tongue tip is probably coming out
for the N. You can make the N with your tongue tip actually out of your mouth. Nnn-- nnn--
And so that's probably what's happening, we do these shortcuts without thinking of them.
And then---
And then, and then. And so then it's just right there to immediately pull back
for the EH vowel in then. So listen again, she's not saying and then, and then, and then, tthhh--
it's more subtle, more quiet than that,
And then---
gave her a medal?
He gave her a medal? He gave her-- up down shape of stress there. A medal? And then here,
it's going up because it's a yes/no question. He gave her, he gave her, linking together
really smoothly. EE vowel right into G. V sound right into schwa R. She drops the H here,
that's a common reduction. He gave her a-- er and a-- unstressed, flatter in pitch.
He gave her a medal. And then we have the scoop up for this stressed syllable. He gave her a medal?
He gave her a medal?
The L in medal is a dark L, it comes at the end of that word. You don't need to
lift your tongue tip, it's at the end of the thought group.
And so we would just say: medal uhl uhl with that dark sound, and then we would be done.
We don't lift the tongue tip. We make the dark sound with the back of the tongue,
while the tip is down. The back of the tongue presses down and back. Uhl uhl. Medal? Medal?
This is a little bit tricky because we have a flap, flap your tongue here for the D,
it's not medal, dull, it's not a full D. Medal? Medal? Medal?
But you flap your tongue against the roof of the mouth, then let it down,
make the dark sound with the back of your tongue, and you're done. Medal? Medal?
Medal?
Well, he couldn't find a ring.
Well, well, going up, well, when he makes the pitch go up,
that shows that he's going to continue talking. Well, he couldn't find a ring.
Well, he couldn't find a ring.
He couldn't, he couldn't find a ring. Do you feel that
up down shape of stress on those words? He find a-- both flatter in pitch.
He couldn't find a ring.
He couldn't find a ring. He couldn't find, couldn't. In this N apostrophe T contraction,
i don't really hear the T. I don't hear a stop, so I'm going to write that as dropped.
He couldn't. Couldn't find. So the L in this word is always silent. Couldn't find. Right
from N into F. Couldn't find. He couldn't find, he couldn't, find he couldn't find a ring. Very
light D. Couldn't find a ring. Linking into the schwa, couldn't find a ring, couldn't find a ring.
Couldn't find a ring.
Remember, there's a war on.
Remember, okay little pause, except bring it into its own thought group.
Three syllable word, listen to it. Tell me which syllable is stressed.
Remember---
Remember, it's the middle syllable. So it's not remember, it's ruh ruh, make that a schwa,
make it fast. Ruh ruh ruh ruh remember. Remember.
Remember,
there's a war on.
There's a war on. There's-- so she's sort of saying the word oh, while he's talking.
There's, there's, there's. This word, I would say reduced, I'm not hearing there's.
There's. There's. There's. There's. And even though this would normally be a Z,
I hear it as a very weak S. There's. There's. There's. There's.
There's---
a war on.
There's, There's
A war on. A war on. A war on. Linking together, very smoothly. The letter A is a schwa, a war
on. And then the R links right into the vowel. This can be either AW or
AH as in father. War on. A war on.
A war on.
The word war, a little tricky it's W consonant, then it's got the AW as in law vowel, followed
by R. This combination changes this vowel. So this vowel is LA AH, but it's not wa wa war war.
It's woh oh ohr. A different vowel sound, so what happens is the R makes the AW a little more
closed. Woh oh oh. Your lips are more round, your mouth isn't as open, and the tongue pulls back a
little bit. Woh woh war. This is the same sound in core. Or quarter. Oh oh oh war war. A war on.
A war on.
A little note about linking. So we have a word in American Englis, moron. You would call someone a
moron who you think is dumb, makes bad decisions. He's a complete moron. Moron. So this has the
same sounds. It's AW as in law, R, and then the same ending. So the M is different than the W.
But moron sounds just like war on but with a different beginning sound. So that just is a
way to illustrate how important linking is. Linking makes two words sound just like one.
The only difference between war on and moron is the beginning consonant. There's no break or
anything like that to show that one of them is two words. Moron. War on. We just love to link words
together in a thought group in American English. It starts to feel like one long word. A war on.
A war on.
Oh yeah, of course.
Oh yeah, of course. Oh yeah, of course. She really whispers it very quiet.
Oh yeah, of course. Oh yeah, of course.
Oh yeah, of course.
And he got down on one knee and everything.
And he got down. Phrasal verb. Both are stressed. Got down on one knee and everything. Everything.
And he got down on one knee and everything.
Got down, one knee, and EH are our most stressed syllables, the first syllable of everything.
And he. How are those two words pronounced?
And he.
And he. And he. And he. And he.
The D is dropped, the H is dropped. AA vowel N, EE vowel. And he. And he. And he.
You know, this is just like the name Annie, only Annie, the name, would be stressed.
And he---
Except Annie, since it's a name, would probably never be pronounced unstressed. Annie, Annie,
Annie, Annie. It would always have a stressed syllable. Annie. Annie. The first syllable
of that is stressed. Annie. Annie. But here, and he. And he. And he. It's the same sounds,
only they both have an unstressed feel. And he. And he. And he. And he got down.
And he got down--
on one knee and everything.
Got down on, got, got, got. Stop T. Got down on.
Linking together N into the vowel for on. Down on one knee.
Got down on one knee and--
One knee, one knee, do you notice those two words? We're just linking them together with a single
N sound. So the letter K is silent, and of course there's no sound for this
EE. One knee. I'm not gonna actually show that blocked off, because then it looks like the word
on, but we don't pronounce that letter as its own sound. One knee. One knee.
One knee and----
everything.
And everything. And everything. Now here, the word and sounds like the word in. I would say, i would
write it in IPA with schwa and even though this word, I would write with IH, N. But it's reduced:
and, and, and, and everything. D is dropped. And everything. And this ending N links right into
the vowel of EH, the stressed syllable. And everything. And everything. And everything.
And everything.
Awkwardly, later on in the scene,
he gets down on one knee to propose to her, and she is not interested. Okay, let's listen to this
whole conversation one more time.
He built her a teahouse and then
proposed to her in it? Yes. That's right.
Wow. That's exactly what Nicole said.
And then, he gave her a medal? Well, he couldn't find a ring.
Remember there's a war on. Oh yeah, of course.
And he got down on one knee and everything.
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