1 HOUR LESSON: How To Speak Fast And Understand Natives | Practice English Listening

in this one hour English lesson you are going to improve your listening skills of fast English but I'm going to test you throughout this entire video so if you can understand me a native speaker speaking quickly using natural pronunciation and using Advanced Expressions phrasal verbs idioms if you can pass this test you are definitely fluent in English but you have to pass this whole test the whole one hour and you have to understand the individual words I'm saying and you have to understand the meaning of the expressions in order to pass this test so let's see if you can pass welcome back to J for his English I'm Jennifer now let's get started here are your instructions for the entire lesson I am going to say a sentence three times you need to listen to that sentence and write down exactly what you hear in the comments after I'll explain what I said and you can learn the pronunciation changes that take place in fast English and you can also learn the advanced Expressions that I use and that native speakers commonly use so let's get started with the first listening exercise I'll say it three times we should have had a backup plan we should have had a backup plan we should have had a backup plan I said we should have had a backup plan let's talk about the pronunciation notice I said we should have we should have had should have native speakers we combine this to sound like notice that L is silent we Shoulda we should have had should have had we should have had a backup plan let's take a look at the linking between back up this is how native speakers combine sounds so two separate words will sound like one word cup so we take the sound from back the last sound and we transfer it to the next sound up ba cup but you have to combine those sounds together so it sounds like one word backup Backup backup plan backup plan we should have had a backup plan now what is a backup plan a backup plan is an alternative plan that you can use if your original plan fails let's say you're going to present at a conference or a meeting so you bring your computer and your presentation is on the computer that's your original plan that's plan a but it's always smart to have a backup plan this could be your backup plan you can put your presentation on a USB a memory stick so if there's any issues with your computer you have a plan B a backup plan and then you can say my computer wouldn't connect to their equipment but thankfully I had my presentation on a USB thankfully I had a backup plan let's try this again I'll say three times her comment really pissed me off her comment really pissed me off her comment really pissed me off I said her comment really pissed me off let's look at the pronunciation of pissed because here this is an ed a past simple verb but the sound of that Ed is a very soft T pissed pissed now when we say this in a sentence and there are words that come after you almost don't hear that t so you can't really distinguish that it's in the past simple it's the context of the sentence that will make it obvious that it is the past her comment really pissed me off now what does this mean to piss someone off this means to make someone really angry now note that this is an informal expression and it can also be considered impolite it would be considered impolite if your name is Mark and I said Mark you're really pissing me off that would be impolite but native speakers commonly use this to complain about people so I could be talking to my husband or my best friend and say Mark really pissed me off today in that context it's not impolite but it would be impolite to look directly at someone and say you really piss me off so don't do that now we also use this in the structure to be pissed off the pronunciation is the same pissed off to be pissed off this is simply to be really angry for example I was so pissed off when I came home to a completely dirty house even though my kids promised to clean up after the party do you want to do another listening exercise I'll say three times take what she says with a grain of salt take what she says with a grain of salt take what she says with a grain of salt I said take what she says with a grain of salt here the pronunciation is clear but if you don't know what this idiom means then you won't understand it so the idiom is to take something with a grain of salt we use this to say that you shouldn't believe everything someone tells you because it might not be true so let's say your friend tells you that oh Gina says she'll help me move this weekend but from your experience Gina likes to make a lot of promises but she doesn't always follow up with those promises she doesn't always fulfill those promises then you might say take what she says with a grain of salt you're letting your friend know that Gina might not actually do what she says and let's focus on the grammar here what do you notice about this sentence take what she says with a grain of salt what verb tense is this in we're using the imperative take is in the imperative because the sentence begins with a base verb there's no subject here that's how you can identify the imperative and the imperative is used to give instructions orders or suggestions so I'm suggesting that my friend take what she says with a grain of salt your next listening exercise I'll say it three times it's high time we let her go it's high time we let her go it's high time we let her go I said it's high time we let her go for pronunciation let's talk about Let Her Go Let Her Go here notice how her sounds like er you don't hear the age ER but I also attach it to the word before so I link those sounds together letter letter letter letter Go Let Her Go it's high time we let her go let's look at the expression it's high time when you say it's high time that something should happen you're saying that something should happen now and not later and when you use this expression you also suggest that it should have already happened so we should have we should have already let her go but we didn't so we should do it now because it's high time we let her go and in my opinion it's high time that you enrolled in the finally fluent Academy it's high time you should have already done this you should have already done this but maybe you haven't so you should do it now and not later once the finally fluent Academy well this is my premium training program where we study native English speakers on TV movies YouTube and the news so you can improve your listening skills of fast English and add the most common Expressions to your speech so we do exactly what you're doing now but you use native speakers from TV movies YouTube so you get a variety of different accents and styles of speech plus you'll have me as your teacher and I'll be there to coach you every step of the way so it's high time you join the finally fluent Academy and you can look for the link in the description to learn more coming back to our example is high time you let her go now to let someone go this is an alternative way of saying to fire someone when you fire someone they permanently stop working for the company so when you let someone go they permanently stop working for the company it's high time we let her go remember you're suggesting you should let her go a while ago so now you better do it let's do one last listening exercise I'll say it three times he looked a little frazzled he looked a little frazzled he looked a little frazzled I said he looked a little frazzled let's talk about pronunciation A little little native speakers we don't pronounce T's between two vowels it will be either a very soft D lid little do or you just won't hear it Lil Lil a little a little and notice the ah is connected to it a little a little a little he looked a little frazzled frazzled here it's a past simple Ed verb but the pronunciation is a very soft D and you almost don't hear it frazzled very sought frazzled frazzled to be frazzled or to look frazzled this is when you are or look very tired but you also look very worried or anxious so I might look frazzled if you see me and normally my hair is nice and in a nice position but you see me and my hair is crazy I have makeup a little bit under my eyes maybe my shirt is a little messy as well and visibly you can see that I might look frazzled and then obviously I'll look very tired and maybe like very worried and anxious so you might see it visibly in my appearance and you can see it on my facial expression as well so if you see a co-worker that looks frazzled you might say are you okay you look a little frazzled amazing job improving your listening skills of fast English now let's improve your pronunciation Let's do an imitation exercise I'm going to say each sentence again but I'm going to pause and then I want you to repeat the sentence out loud and try to follow my pronunciation exactly so try to imitate my pronunciation and I'll say each sentence three times so I want you to repeat it out loud three times we should have had a backup plan we should have had a backup plan we should have had a backup plan her comment really pissed me off her comment really pissed me off her comment really pissed me off take what she says with the grain of salt take what she says with the grain of salt take what she says with the grain of salt it's high time we let her go it's high time we let her go it's high time we let her go he looked a little frazzled he looked a little frazzled he looked a little frazzled are you ready all right let's go so I'll say it three times my mom nitpicks like crazy my mom nitpicks like crazy my mom nitpicks like crazy did you get this one I said my mom knitpicks like crazy the pronunciation is clear but if you don't know what the vocabulary means you're not going to understand what that native speaker said here our verb is too nitpick two nitpick what does this mean this is when you find faults faults are things that you don't like or criticisms when you find faults in details that are not important I'm sure you know someone in your life who nitpicks or maybe you nitpick yourself let's say you're with someone and you go out for dinner and the food is great the restaurant is beautiful the server is very friendly but your friend finds faults in details that are not important your friend nitpicks you could say the dinner was amazing but of course Lindsay wasn't happy about the color of the plates or the art on the walls Lindsay is a nitpicker so your friend wasn't happy about the color of the plates that is such a detail that is not important so this is a perfect example of someone who nitpicks but notice in my example I said Lindsay is a nitpicker a nitpicker this is the noun form and a nitpicker is simply someone who nitpicks the original example was my mom nitpicks like crazy here like crazy this simply means a lot or quickly but in this context it means a lot so my mom nitpicks like crazy my mom nitpicks a lot you could also say I worked like crazy all weekend so you worked a lot all weekend let's try this again I'll say it three times it's okay to be picky sometimes it's okay to be picky sometimes it's okay to be picky sometimes did you get this one I said it's okay to be picky sometimes for pronunciation notice I use the contraction it's it's this is the contraction of it is it's okay it's okay to be but I didn't say it's okay to be picky I said to be to be so an unstressed two it's okay to be to be to be picky it's okay to be picky now don't confuse this expression to be picky with our last expression to nitpick yes they both use the word pick but they are totally different Expressions this expression to be picky this describes someone who has very strong preferences about what they like and don't like for example most young kids are picky I don't know about you but when I was a young kid five years old 10 years old there were many food items that I did not eat my diet was very simple I had a small number of things that I liked to eat and I had a very large number of things that I did not like to eat so as a child I was picky when it came to food when it came to eating what about you were you a picky eater were you picky about your food when you were a child or maybe you still are right now some adults are picky as well in our original example I said it's okay to be picky sometimes it's okay that means it is acceptable it's acceptable to be picky to have those strong preferences about what you like and don't like sometimes for example it's okay to be picky when it comes to a job choosing a job you should have very strong preferences about what you want that job to have the qualities of that job and that's okay choosing a job choosing a house you should definitely be picky have very strong preferences and choosing a spouse maybe that's the ultimate one you should be very picky when you choose a spouse because you're with that person for your entire life let's try this again I'll say it three times I'm B let's call it a day I'm beat let's call it a day I'm B let's call it a day did you get this one I said I'm beat let's call it a day let's talk about the contraction at the beginning I'm of course this is I am I'm I'm B I'm B I'm B let's call it but with linking we're going to combine those sounds so it sounds like call it call lit so call lit but then we have to say it as one word call it call it call it a day call it a day call it a day I'm B let's call it a day to be beat I'm beat this means to be very tired to be exhausted so instead of saying I'm very tired you can say I'm beat I'm beat we're beat the verb to be now let's talk about the expression let's call it a day to call it a day this is an expression used to say that you're going to stop working for the day and you stop working for the day because you've completed enough work you've done what you've needed to do or simply because everyone is exhausted everyone is beat and it isn't productive anymore to keep working so maybe it's three o'clock and technically the day ends at five o'clock but everyone is so tired everyone is beat that they're just not thinking clearly anymore so you might say let's call it a day let's just stop working for today and we'll get a good night's sleep we'll come back tomorrow and begin again you could combine this with our expression like crazy which means a lot and you could say we've been working like crazy all week let's call it a day so again maybe it's Friday at two o'clock and technically you're supposed to work until five but because you've been working like crazy all week let's just call it a day and stop working now are you ready for another listening exercise I'll say it three times you shouldn't be so nosy you shouldn't be so nosy you shouldn't be so nosy did you get this one I said you shouldn't be so nosy here notice I said shouldn't shouldn't you shouldn't be this is a contraction of should not shouldn't you shouldn't be you shouldn't be you shouldn't be so nosy what does this mean to be nosy to be nosy this is used to say that you're interested in what other people are doing or saying when you have no right to be interested in that you have no right to know what other people are saying or doing because it doesn't involve you a lot of people are nosy when it comes to their significant other's cell phone they want to know what their significant other is looking at online who they're talking to who they're texting with but ultimately you have no right to that knowledge because that's your significant others personal privacy so if your significant other leaves their phone and goes to the bathroom or goes to another room and you pick up the phone and you try to look at it without them knowing you are being nosy and that's when someone can say you shouldn't be so nosy let's try this one more time I'll say it three times being nosy is one of my pet peeves being nosy is one of my pet peeves being nosy is one of my pet peeves did you get this one I said Being nosy is one of my pet peeves and now you know what nosy means so I don't have to explain that being nosy notice how this is a gerund statement a sentence that starts with a gerund verb a verb in ing being nosy jiren's statements are used to make General statements so in general being nosy is one of my pet peeves what is a pet peeve a pet peeve is something that especially annoys you so there are many things that annoy you but a pet peeve is when whenever that one thing happens it really annoys you so I googled this and according to Google the top three pet peeves things that especially annoy people the top three pet peeves are loud chewing so if your co-worker is or your kids your husband or wife loud chewing is that one of your pet peeves number two according to Google is Bad Manners so if you have Bad Manners it means you're not polite so if someone holds the door open for you in North America it's considered polite to say thank you to that person so if you hold a door open for someone and the other person they go right in and they don't say thank you to you that would be an example of Bad Manners in North America and the person who held the door open would be annoyed because that's one of their pet peeves and number three according to Google is clutter clutter describes when a room is very disorganized or messy so if there were things all over my office papers everywhere things were not neat and organized that would be clutter what about you what's your pet peeve share your pet peeve in the comments below now let's do an imitation exercise where you're going to imitate my pronunciation so you're going to listen to me say the sentence and then you are going to repeat the sentence out loud so say the sentence out loud and try to match my pronunciation and then you'll repeat that three times for each sentence so let's do that right now my mom and it picks like crazy my mom and it picks like crazy my mom and it picks like crazy it's okay to be picky sometimes it's okay to be picky sometimes it's okay to be picky sometimes I'm beat let's call it a day I'm B let's call it a day I'm B let's call it a day you shouldn't be so nosy you shouldn't be so nosy you shouldn't be so nosy being nosy is one of my pet peeves being nosy is one of my pet peeves being nosy is one of my pet peeves are you ready so let's start with the first listening exercise I'll say it three times the party got a little loud a hand the party got a little out of hand the party got a little out of hand I said the party got a little out of hand let's talk about a little notice there are those two T's in the middle a native speaker is just going to drop them and it will sound like little little or a native speaker will pronounce them as D's a very soft D because they're between two vowels little little and then you connect ah a little a little a little the party got a little out of this is combined to sound like Auda Auda the party got a little outer the party got a little out of hand out of hand what does that mean to get or to become out of hand well out of hand me means out of control which means that you no longer have control over the party the party got a little out of hand so this is not a good thing in a more everyday context you might say my shopping has gotten a little out of hand a little Oda hand a little out of hand which means you no longer have control over your shopping so you're probably buying a lot of purses or jewelry or watches when you don't need to my shopping has gotten a little out of hand let's try this again I'll say it three times his email really caught me off guard his email really caught me off guard his email really caught me off guard I said his email really caught me off guard let's talk about his email his although the spelling is an S it's a z a voiced sound so it's a zed so we can use that to link to the next word because the next word starts in a vowel so it will sound like his email zemail you'll hear the Z on the word email but then you cannot have a pause between his and email you need to pronounce them together his email his email his email his email really caught notice here the spelling and the pronunciation are very different caught caught his email really caught me off guard when you catch someone off guard card this is an expression that means you surprise someone and you surprise someone generally with information or news or something they weren't expecting there are two options with our sentence his email really caught me off guard either a I wasn't expecting him to email me so the fact that the email even exists surprised me caught me off guard or option b I was expecting his email but I wasn't expecting the email to contain the information or the news that it contained so it was the content of the email that surprised me that caught me off guard we don't have enough information based on this one sentence to know it would be the overall context that would let you know if it's option A or option b one final note that this expression to catch someone off guard is commonly used in the passive so you could say I was caught off guard by his email I was caught off guard by his email that's the passive voice and it's very commonly used with this expression let's try this again I'll say it three times thanks for sticking out for me thanks for sticking up for me thanks for sticking up for me I said thanks for sticking up for me notice that the word four sounds like this is because it's unstressed thanks fur thanks for sticking up for me for me so in both places in this sentence thanks for thanks for sticking up for me thanks for sticking up for me what does this mean when you stick up for someone it means that you support someone or do you defend someone especially when they're being criticized so it's a positive thing to stick up for someone else now I have seen you my students my amazing students stick up for me in the comments section sometimes I'll be reviewing the comments and I'll see there's a negative comment like this video was really boring but then you one of my awesome students sticks up for me and you reply to that comment and you say something like no way this video is awesome and Jennifer's the fast I have seen this happen and then so I could reply and say oh thanks for sticking up for me because you defended me you supported me when I was being criticized thanks for sticking up for me thanks for sticking up for me let's try this again I'll say it three times it's so hard sticking to this diet it's so hard sticking to this diet it's so hard sticking to this diet I said it's so hard sticking to this diet notice how I use a contraction it's it's this is it is it is so hard it's it's so hard now one thing that native speakers do with the word so is we elongate it we make it longer to emphasize how hard it is or to emphasize whatever adjective it is it's so hard and the longer we say the word the more we believe that adjective is for example I'm so tired now obviously I'm exaggerating a little bit what native speakers can be quite dramatic and we can really hold out that so now let's talk about what this means notice in here we have this diet it's so hard it's so hard sticking to this diet in this case diet is a noun a diet I simply used a possessive this diet and it represents an eating plan so a plan that tells you what you're going to eat what you're not going to eat and how much of something you're going to eat as well that is a diet the purpose is generally to lose weight and usually a diet is temporary you temporarily do this until you reach your goal which is to lose a certain number of pounds or percentage of body fat but the exact same word on a diet can also be used as a general term to refer to the food and drink that someone or a group of people consumes so you could say overall I have a very healthy diet this is a way of saying overall the food and drink I consume on a regular basis is healthy overall I have a very healthy diet but I'm going on a diet to lose five pounds before my vacation notice here the expression is to go on a diet this is how we say to start a diet which is your eating plan so we use the verb go and you go on a diet so now you know what a diet is and in this case it's an eating plan so let's talk about sticking to a diet it's so hard sticking to this diet when you stick to something it means you continue doing the that thing even though it's difficult or challenging and that's why the example is it's so hard sticking to this diet continuing this diet let's try this one more time I'll say it three times do you think you're gonna stick it out do you think you're gonna stick it out do you think you're gonna stick it out I said do you think you're going to stick it out here you commonly sounds like yeah do you do you think do you think your will sound like your do you think you're you're gonna going to will sound like gonna these are all unstressed sounds and reduce sound do ya think you're gonna do you think you're gonna stick it out let's talk about the combination of stick it out so we have it the t is actually between two vowels so if we connect those sounds together we'll pronounce the T like a soft d d and then on the stick I'll take that k sound and I'll transfer it to the next sound to help smooth those out stick it down but you have to say it all together stick it out stick it out stick it out do you think you're gonna stick it out now what does this mean when you stick something out it means you continue doing something until the end until it's finished until it's complete you stick it out so let's go back to our last example it's so hard sticking to this diet sticking to this diet which means continuing with something that is difficult or challenging and then I ask do you think you're gonna stick it out do you think you're going to continue with this diet until the end of this diet so maybe this eating plan was designed for 90 days so if you stick it out it means you complete the eating plan you follow the eating plan for 90 days until the end of the eating plan these two expressions are very similar just remember when you stick to something it means that you're focused on fulfilling a commitment you're dedicated you're going to fulfill a promise because you said you're going to do it so that stick to something now when you stick it out it simply means you complete something to the end now let's do an imitation exercise so you can practice your pronunciation and try to match it directly to mine so I will say a sentence and then you are going to repeat the sentence out loud and then we'll repeat each sentence three times so let's start with the first sentence the party got a little out of hand the party got a little out of hand the party got a little out of hand his email really caught me off guard his email really caught me off guard his email really caught me off guard thanks for sticking up for me thanks for sticking up for me thanks for sticking up for me it is so hard sticking to this diet it's so hard sticking to this diet it's so hard sticking to this diet do you think you're gonna stick it out do you think you're gonna stick it out do you think you're gonna stick it out are you ready let's start our first listening exercise I'll say it three times you all set for the meeting tomorrow you all set for the meeting tomorrow you all set for the meeting tomorrow how'd you do with that I said you all set for the meeting tomorrow let's talk about the pronunciation changes notice you all you all you all I said it quickly but I did say the individual words you all you all said you all sent I will point out that in the south in southern U.S the southern states it's very common to combine you all into one word do you know what that is y'all y'all I'm sure you've heard this mainly in movies or TV y'all y'all ready I personally don't say y'all because I'm not from the southern us but it is extremely common in the southern us for me I simply say you all you all I say them quickly but I do say both words you all set you all set for the meeting tomorrow notice here how for the meeting tomorrow four when it's unstressed more of a reduced sound a quick sound it sounds like fur fur for the meeting you all set for for the meeting for the meeting for the meeting tomorrow now before we talk about what this sentence means you might be wondering about the grammar does this sentence perhaps look grammatically incorrect to you is there a word missing the auxiliary verb are is missing are you all set for the meeting tomorrow we need r as an auxiliary verb because this is a question grammatically you need it but in spoken English native speakers commonly drop auxiliary verbs when they're only required grammatically but they're not required to understand what the sentence means so when native speaker does not need to hear an auxiliary verb to understand what a sentence means and that's why in spoken spoken English we commonly get rid of them so grammatically are you all set for the meeting tomorrow a native speaker would commonly say you all set you all set for the meeting tomorrow and then to show it's a question we can use a rising intonation at the end to show it's a question now let's talk about what this means this has a very simple meaning to be all set is simply to be ready or to be prepared so it's asking the person if they're ready for the meeting tomorrow if they're prepared for the meeting tomorrow NATO speakers commonly use this to ask if someone's ready or prepared to leave for example to leave a house leave a restaurant leave a hotel room it doesn't matter where and we'll just use two words with a rising intonation to show it's a question all set all set I'm asking you are you ready all set and then you can simply reply and say yep and then we'll leave let you glance your set all set all set remember all set all set let's try another listening exercise I'll say it three times this reports all over the map this reports all over the map this reports all over the map I said this reports all over the map for pronunciation notice here this reports report is as a contraction reports this reports all over all over so notice how I can link those sounds together by extending that sound to the next word because it's a vowel all over all over lover all over this reports all over the map the expression to be all over the map this means that something is in a disorganized or confused state so the report is disorganized the report is confusing as another example I could say the consultant's recommendations were all over the map to be all over the map which means his re his recommendations were disorganized or confusing maybe they talked about a lot of different topics and it was difficult to follow they were all over the map firms all over the map is the internet is all over the map on that you know you know Charming but all over the map and let's try this again say it three times keep your eyes peeled for the turn keep your eyes peeled for the turn keep your eyes peeled for the turn I said keep your eyes peeled for the term notice the reduce sound for your your eyes your your your eyes keep your eyes keep your eyes peeled fur we talked about this before 4 becomes a unstressed reduced sound fur keep your eyes peeled for the turn for the turn for the turn for the turn notice here the sentence starts with a verb and it starts with a base verb which means it's the imperative verb tense and we use the imperative verb tense to give orders or suggestions keep your eyes peeled I'm giving you this as an order or a suggestion and what does that mean to keep your eyes peeled this means to watch carefully or to be on alert so if you're driving and you're following the directions the GPS you need to watch carefully for the specific streets so you know when to turn that's the turn if you're driving keep your eyes peeled for the turn watch carefully be on alert for the turn so you don't miss it and you're not late for your important meeting this is an expression you can use in many different situations let's say you're editing an important document your resume or something you're submitting for an assignment or to a client you might say keep your eyes peeled for any spelling or grammar mistakes which means as you're reviewing it pay close attention watch carefully be on alert for any spelling or grammar mistakes which is very good advice for everyone keep your eyes peeled [Music] are you ready to try this again I'll say it three times can you just ballpark the cost for me can you just ballpark the cost for me can you just ballpark the cost for me I said can you just ballpark the cost for me can in this sentence is an auxiliary verb so we pronounce it unstressed and it sounds like kin kin can can you can you and you you can make that unstressed too and reduce it to ya Kenya Kenya can you adjust I think I did say can you but you it's very common to hear native speakers say yeah Kenya Kenya just ballpark the cost for me we already talked about four it sounds like fur for me for me let's talk about this odd word here ballpark did you notice that grammatically it's a verb it's the main verb of the sentence two ballpark something when you ballpark something it means you provide a rough estimate of something and yes a ballpark is where people play baseball but we're not talking about baseball or Sports at all to Ballpark something is to provide a rough estimate of something in our sentence it's a verb to ballpark but we commonly use this as an adjective all figure a ballpark figure so the figure is the number the cost or a statistic and if it's a ballpark figure it means it's a rough estimate it's not exact it's not precise it's an estimate which means it's more of a range a lower and upper range for example maybe a consultant is providing you a quote an estimate on using a certain Software System and you want to know well how much is this going to cost my company but the consultant can't give you an exact number at this point because he doesn't have enough information so the consultant could say if I had to Ballpark it I'd say three to five million dollars but that's just a ballpark figure so you know it's just an estimate look just give me a number ballpark pick a gas ballpark figure that's fine a ballpark figure let's do this one more time I'll say it three times let's revisit this down the line let's revisit this down the line let's revisit this down the line I said let's revisit this down the line notice let's is a contraction for let us let's let's revisit when you put re in front of a base verb it means to do that verb again visit this again but for pronunciation that re is a strong sound e you hear that e revisit revisit let's revisit this down the line and notice how let's is the imperative let us let's the imperative verb tense again for a order or a suggestion let's revisit this down the line let's talk about down the line this means in the future but at an unspecified date so it's not clear at all you don't know when we'll revisit this visit this again but you know it will happen in the future but it could be a week from now it could be a month from now so this is a way that a native speaker can postpone something if they don't actually want to do it ah I'll do it down the line because it's not specific on when you'll do it it's just some point in the future here is another example that could apply to you if you don't improve your English now it could hurt your career down the line now notice when I say down the line I'm not being specific on when your lack of English skills could hurt your career but at some point in the future it could be tomorrow it could be a week from now could be a year from now and that's why it's so important that you're here with me improving your English amazing job improving your listening skills now let's do an imitation exercise so you can improve your pronunciation and practice these pronunciation changes so I'll say the sentence and then I want you to say the sentence out loud and try to imitate my pronunciation and I'll repeat each sentence three times so let's do that now you all set for the meeting tomorrow you all set for the meeting tomorrow you all set for the meeting tomorrow this reports all over the map this reports all over the map this reports all over the map keep your eyes peeled for the turn keep your eyes peeled for the turn keep your eyes peeled for the turn can you just ballpark the cost for me can you just ballpark the cost for me can you just ballpark the cost for me let's revisit this down the line let's revisit this down the line let's revisit this down the line are you ready here we go with the first listening exercise I'll say it three times have you edited it yet have you edited it yet have you edited it yet did you get this one I said have you edited it yet this is extremely difficult to say it was difficult for me to say just now have you edited it so notice we have edited edit and then in the Ed form the past simple form edited edited that's the past simple of to edit edited now we have to add on it and you're going to combine that sound to edited so we already have e did did now we're going to add on it to it have you edited it yet have you edited it yet that is extremely difficult even for me to say I would say this is a tongue twister and most likely I wouldn't even use it I would change it to the noun to avoid this very difficult pronunciation have you edited the report yet have you edited the document yet now let's talk about the grammar what do you notice about this well first of all it's in question form and what verb tense is this it's the present perfect have you edited so we have have or has conjugated with the subject have you and then the past participle edited and then we have yet because yet is commonly used in question form with the present perfect yunt is also used in negative form with the present perfect so to answer this negatively I could say I haven't edited it yet I haven't edited it yet and remember that we use already with the present perfect for affirmative statements positive statements yes I've already edited it edited it together on my Mac took that video edited it and I'm glad I don't have to say that anymore because it was very difficult even for me let's try this again here's your listening exercise does she have what it takes to move up does she have what it takes to move up does she have what it takes to move up I said does she have what it takes to move up let's talk about does she does is an auxiliary verb so we can pronounce it very quickly in an unstressed pronunciation does does now she begins with a sh so we're going to combine those two sounds together does she does she does she does she we can combine what it into what it notice I have a soft D because we have a t between two vowels which we pronounce as a soft D sound what it what it does she have what it takes to move up to to move up so two will become unstressed so I'll use that to combine those together to move up move up to move up let's talk about what this means let's talk about the expression to have what it takes this means that you have this skills or the characteristics necessary to become successful right now I hope your thing taking Jennifer I have what it takes to become fluent which means you have the skills or the qualities to become successful in that particular area so right now you be you might be thinking well I don't have the fluency skills but do you have the qualities the qualities required patience consistency motivation dedication those are the qualities necessary to be successful when learning a language so you don't need the skills you need the qualities in order to say yes Jennifer I have what it takes to become fluent so put that in the comments because I know that you have what it takes now let's talk about to move up to move up in a business context when you move up it means you get a more important position within your company so basically you get a promotion which is a very good thing and it's amazing that you're here right now doing this because improving your communication skills will help you move up a lot faster it will help you advance in your career get a promotion a lot faster I don't have what it takes do you have what it takes because I have what it takes let's try this again I'll say it three times I'm finally all caught up I'm finally all caught up I'm finally all caught up I said I'm finally all caught up of course can't sounds like OT now because up is a vowel so now we have caught up we have a t between two vowels again I'll pronounce it as a soft D but I have to combine the sounds together caught up caught up caught up caught up I'm finally all caught up let's talk about what this means the expression is to be caught up I am caught up I'm finally all caught up to be caught up this means that you've finished all the tasks that you were previously assigned so maybe you had some tasks that you were supposed to do last week but you didn't have time and now today you had time so you completed those tasks so then you can say I'm finally all caught up notice in my example I said all caught up here all simply means one hundred percent entirely it's unnecessary to include it but native speakers really like to include this word and we use it quite frequently so you could say I'm caught up I'm all caught up they have the exact same meaning but a native speaker will likely add all to share another example using this expression I could say I'm all caught up on my emails so here notice I mentioned the specific task on my emails so that means I either read the emails that I was supposed to read last week or even yesterday or even earlier today or maybe I responded to the emails as well I'm all caught up on my emails all cut up okay we're all caught up you all caught up do you want to try another listening exercise I'll say it three times do you have a sec to bring them up to speed do you have a sec to bring them up to speed do you have a sec to bring them up to speed I said do you have a sec to bring them up to speed let's talk about do you have ah I can combine do you and say do ya do ya have ah have a do you have a do you have a do you have a do you have a sec notice that sound in there suck do you have a sec to bring them I can reduce the them just get rid of that th and I'm left with M and I have to add it to the word before Bring Em Bring em up to up to speed up to speed here SEC this is the short form of the word second this is very commonly used as a question do you have a sec do you have a sack I'm asking you for a short amount of time do you have a sec and this is commonly used before you ask for help or before you want to to start a discussion do you have a sec can you review this document do you have a sec can we discuss the conference let's talk about to bring someone up to speed up to speed this is an expression and when it's when you share the latest or most recent news and information on a specific topic so let's say you were on vacation for one week and during that one week you weren't checking your emails you weren't talking to anyone at work so you don't have the latest information or news when you get back you might say I was on vacation for a week can you bring me up to speed on the conference so you can specify something specific the conference on the conference and the person knows to share information or news related to the conference within the last week because that's the information or news that you don't have uh Dr Cox you have a sec hey Jack do you have a sec do you have a sec to talk about my piece let's try this one more time I'll say it three times are you going out tonight are you going out tonight are you going out tonight this was an easy one right are you going out tonight the pronunciation is quite clear notice how we can combine out tonight together when I say out I'm not going to pronounce that t out oh the tea is just silent but tonight starts with a T so I can use that tea from tonight for both words if I say them together out tonight out tonight out tonight so you can combine those together are you going out tonight I included this easy example because this is a very common expression that native speakers use and perhaps you don't know what it means or you don't feel confident using it yourself to go out that's the expression to go out this is when you do a social activity outside of your home so you leave your home to do something social so something fun perhaps it's to have a nice dinner with your significant other or your family or friends or it's to go to a movie are you going out are you going out tonight notice that this is in the present continuous because it's asking about a plan in progress are you going out tonight but the expression is to go out so your verb is go if it were last night you would say oh I went out last night now this isn't clear what you did so someone would have to ask you oh what did you do and then you could tell them oh I went to the movies wanna go out tonight are we going out tonight you want to go out tonight now let's do an imitation exercise so you can practice this fast pronunciation I'm going to say each sentence again and I'm going to give you time to say the sentence out loud and then I'll repeat each sentence three times have you edited it yet have you edited it yet have you edited it yet does she have what it takes to move up does she have what it takes to move up does she have what it takes to move up I'm finally all caught up I'm finally all caught up I'm finally all caught up do you have a sec to bring him up to speed do you have a sec to bring them up to speed do you have a sec to bring them up to speed are you going out tonight are you going out tonight are you going out tonight amazing job with this now to be honest I really regret using edited it as one of my examples because it was extremely difficult for me to say so I'm sure it was extremely difficult for you to say as well so I'm going to say that's a tongue twister and it's very difficult so remember have you edited you need edited three sounds have you edited it yet have you edited it yet have you edited it yet put that in the comments have you edited it yet put that in the comments and now I'm feeling more comfortable with that so you can practice that as well and you can get this free speaking guide where I share six 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 I recommend watching this lesson next because you'll learn a lot of vocabulary that will also help you understand native speakers so make sure you watch this lesson right now

Channel: JForrest English

Views: 1,114,615

Keywords: Jennifer Forrest, JForrest English, learn english, english grammar, english vocabulary, native english speaker, American English teacher, how to speak English, how to learn English, how to feel confident speaking English, English words, daily English, learning English, esl, ielts, fluent English, how to be fluent english, how to become fluent English, english fluency, fluent in english, jf English, learn English with news, english with news

Id: Ur-T55-0WVU

Length: 75min 10sec (4510 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 28 2023