Hello. I'm Margot Politis. Welcome to Study English, IELTS preparation.
Today, we have a story about new technologies in medicine. We're going to look at 'linking'
in spoken English, and then we'll talk about the word 'there'.
Let's listen to Dr Stuart Stapleton talk about how he treats patients in other locations
using computers and cameras.
At the Blue Mountains end, there are four cameras. There's one which stands roughly
where I would stand as the team leader in a resuscitation that gets the overview of
the room and the patient and the environment. There's another camera that's located above
the patient's bed.
There's also a camera that lets us look at things like X-rays, cardiographs, blood pressure
charts and the like.
And there's a final camera which is actually a mobile camera, which can also be head mounted.
So for example, if one of the staff up there needs to perform a procedure, which they may
have done maybe once or twice, then someone who's got a lot more experience can be at
this end and guide them through the process.
To speak English fluently and sound like a native speaker, it's important to link some
words together. Knowing how native speakers link their words together will also make it
easier to understand spoken English.
Sometimes it may be difficult to know where one word ends and the next one begins.
For example, 'healthy ear' sounds the same as 'healthy year'. When 'healthy' is linked
together with 'ear', a /j/ sound is added.
So 'healthy ear' and 'healthy year' have the same pronunciation, shown phonetically like
this, /'hɛlƟi j ɪə/, /'hɛlƟi jɪə/.
Normally, the context of the sentence would give you the meaning.
Listen to Dr Stapleton talking about a mobile camera that can view X-rays or cardiographs.
Listen to how Dr Stapleton links his words, but in particular listen for the /j/ linking
sound.
And there's a final camera, which is actually a mobile camera, which can also be head mounted.
So for example, if one of the staff up there needs to perform a procedure, which they may
have done maybe once or twice, then someone who's
got a lot more experience can be at this end and guide them through the process.
Dr Stapleton, like most native speakers, speaks quickly! Listen to how he says the phrase,
'which is actually a mobile camera.'
And there's a final camera which is actually a mobile camera.
Dr Stapleton says: 'actually a' like this /'ækʧuəli ə/.
To make your speech flow as smoothly as Dr Stapleton's, it's important to focus on the
last sound of a word and the first sound of the next, and then link the words together.
There are different types of linking in English.
This is linking type 1: vowel + /j/ + vowel.
'Actually' ends in an /i/ vowel sound and the next word begins with a /ə/ schwa sound.
Linking these words together we have /'ækʧuəli j ə/.
Listen once again to Dr Stapleton. See if you can hear another example of /j/ linking.
Then someone who's got a lot more experience can be at this end and guide them through
the process.
Dr Stapleton says 'be at' /bi æt/, /bi j æt/.
'Be' ends with the vowel sound /i/, and 'at' begins with vowel /æ/. Linking these
words together with the /j/ sound we have:
be at /bi j æt/.
Let's listen again. This time listen to how these two words are linked: 'also a'.
What sound does Dr Stapleton use to link the two words?
There's also a camera that lets us look at things like X-rays, cardiographs, um, blood
pressure charts and the like.
He says: 'There's also a camera'.
Did you hear a /w/ sound? 'There's also a camera'.
We sometimes use a /w/ sound to link between vowels.
'Also a' /'ɔ"lsoʊ ə/ '/'ɔ"lsoʊ wə/ This is linking type 2: vowel + /w/ + vowel
Knowing when to use /j/ and when to use /w/ depends on the end vowel of the first word.
High front vowels link with the /j/ sound.
High front vowels are /i/, /aɪ/, /eɪ/, /ɔɪ/ , the sounds that are produced with the highest
part of the tongue and close to the front of the mouth.
For example:
see, me my, eye
way, say boy, toy
High back vowels link with the w sound.
High back vowels are /u/, /aʊ/, /oʊ/, sounds that are produced with the highest part of
the tongue but close to the back of the mouth, like:
who, too
how, now
go, slow
Look at the sentence:
"Have you ever been overseas?"
Notice 'you ever'. 'You' ends with /ju/ - a high back vowel. So it links with linking
type 2- the /w/ sound.
It becomes 'you ever' /ju wɛvə /.
Now let's consider another aspect of Dr Stapleton's interview. He uses the word 'there' in different
ways.
Here's the clip again. Listen for 'there'.
There are four cameras. There's one which stands roughly where I would stand as the
team leader in a resuscitation that gets the overview of the room and the patient and the
environment. There's another camera that's located above the patient's bed.
Dr Stapleton uses 'there' to talk about the position of the cameras.
He says things like:
there are four cameras
there's one which stands
there's another camera
In these expressions, 'there' is used as an introductory subject.
It's used when we want to say something exists somewhere. 'There' is not the subject but
rather an 'empty' word that fills the position where the subject is usually found.
It doesn't contribute meaning. It's used because the sentence would be grammatically incorrect
without it. The real subject follows the verb.
There are four cameras.
Notice that the verb form of the introductory subject agrees with the real subject. The
real subject is plural - 'four cameras' .
So he uses the plural form of the verb 'to be' - 'there are'.
So we have 'there are four cameras', but 'there is another camera'.
Here's another use of 'there'.
So for example, if one of the staff up there needs to perform a procedure, which they may
have done maybe once or twice, then someone who's got a lot more experience can be at
this end and guide them through the process.
In this example, Dr Stapleton says: "one of the staff up there needs to perform a procedure".
'There' is used as an adverb to mean 'in that place'.
So 'there' can be used as an introductory subject or as an adverb of place.
Listen to Dr Stapleton in this clip and see if you can identify which way he uses 'there'.
There's also a camera that lets us look at things like X-rays, cardiographs, blood pressure
charts and the like.
And there's a final camera which is actually a mobile camera, which can also be head mounted.
He says: 'there's also a camera',
and 'there's a final camera'.
These are examples of introductory subjects.
So today we've looked at 2 different linking types in spoken English - using /j/ and /w/;
and we've talked about 'there' being used as an introductory subject, and as an adverb.
And you can get more practice by going to our Study English website. You can read the
transcript and check the study notes.
And there you have it. I'll see you next time on Study English. Bye bye.