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
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