They're one of the best ways for you to improve listening comprehension

and learn tricks to sound more natural when speaking English, like using specific reductions.

This January, you're getting five all new Ben Franklin videos

where we do a full analysis of real American English conversations.

Today's topic, word game.

Let's get started with this analysis.

First, the whole conversation.

Team two, listen up.

- I'm looking at you. - Woot, woot!

Three, two, one.

Okay. This is something that you use to sweep the floor, and you plug it in.

- Broom. - No, you plug it in. Vacuum.

- Uh, it’s two words. - Vacuum cleaner.

Now, the analysis.

Team two, listen up.

Team two, listen up.

So we had divided our family into two teams

and both ‘team’ and ‘two’ are stressed. Team two.

But ‘two’ is the most stressed because

that is the part that makes it different from team one.

And actually, I wrote that poorly. That should look like this. Team two.

In English, we don't want choppy words within a thought group.

We don't want them to feel separate.

We always want them to feel very connected.

The intonation, the pitch, always changes smoothly.

Team two. So the ending M right into the T with no break.

Team two, listen up.

Team two.

Team two.

Team two, listen up.

Again here, it links together.

Smooth: Listen up.

The T in listen is always silent.

The ending N linking into the beginning vowel.

Nup— listen up.

Listen up.

Listen up.

Listen up.

What's going on with the P here? I'm not releasing it. Up. Ppp--

I'm not releasing it with a puff of air, my lips closed, that cuts off the sound, that's the stop part of the stop consonant.

But then they don't open releasing the air.

This is fairly normal. It's fairly common to drop the release part of a stop consonant

when it comes at the end of a thought group. Listen up.

You can see my lips come together.

Listen up.

That gives the idea of the P and then that's it.

I move on to my next phrase.

‘Listen up’ is a phrasal verb.

How is it different from ‘listen’?

It's something you would use if you're trying to get the attention of someone or even more often, of a group of people.

This is something you might say if you feel like people have not been paying attention

and now you really need them to.

You're saying: I need everyone's attention because what I'm about to say is really important.

Listen up. Listen up.

Listen up. Listen up. Listen up.

I'm looking at you.

I'm looking at you.

I say this right as someone on my team cheers me on with a little high-pitched: woot woot!

That's just something, a phrase you might use

to show excitement or to cheer someone on in a competition.

I'm looking at you.

I'm looking at you.

I'm looking at you.

So I say I'm looking at you.

‘Look’ and ‘you’ get the most stress in this phrase.

A couple things happen here. First of all,

well, we have the contraction ‘I am’ to I'm

which is said quickly: I’m. I'm. I'm looking— I'm looking—

‘Look’ being the stressed syllable there, then I changed the NG sound, I just make it an N sound. Lookin.

So I make the sound at the front of my mouth with the front of my tongue

rather than at the back of my mouth with the back of my tongue.

I'm looking at you. Lookin.

I'm looking at you. I'm looking at you. I'm looking at you.

This is a little bit more casual of a pronunciation

and we definitely change the NG to the N

quite a bit in -ing words but I don't recommend doing it all the time.

There's definitely such thing as doing it too much.

We tend to do it more with the -ing words that are the most common.

What's going on with ‘at you’?

First of all, I reduce the vowel in ‘at’ so it's: uh- uh- uh- the schwa.

Then we hear a CH sound. Where's that coming from?

When a word ends in a T and the next word is ‘you’ or ‘your’,

it's not uncommon to combine those to link them together with a CH sound: choo— choo—

at you— at you—

I’m looking at you.

at you— at you— I’m looking at you.

I must have thought that somebody on my team had not been paying very good attention because I say ‘listen up’

which means what I’m saying next really matters,

I’m about to start, and then I say ‘I’m looking at you.’

specifically calling out someone on my team.

I’m looking at you.

Three. Two. One.

Then my nephew gives me a countdown for the timer.

Three separate content words.

Three.

Two.

One.

All with an up-down shape of stress.

Three. Two. One.

We never want flat pitches in our stressed words.

This up-down shape of stress, this change of pitch of intonation,

is what marks a stressed syllable. It's very natural American English to do this.

Three. Two. One.

Three. Two. One.

Three. Two. One.

Okay this is something that you use…

Okay this is something--

So the words ‘this’ and ‘is’, they would usually be said very quickly.

This is something—

but as I read it, I'm still thinking about what to say,

so they get made longer. This is—

They're both turned into stressed syllables but this is not how it would normally be pronounced.

‘This is’ becomes: this is— this is— this is something— this is something—

That's the change that's important in conversational American English.

Now here of course it's not quite conversational. This is different. I'm playing a game

and I'm taking more time as I'm thinking on the spot.

That means thinking without prior preparation about what to say.

This is something—

This is something—

This is something that you use—

Something that you use—

So here we have a T followed by ‘you’. I do not make it a CH.

I make it a Stop T: that you use—

but I do reduce the AH vowel.

‘That’ becomes: that— that— that—

This helps me say this word more quickly.

That you use--

That you use--

That you use--

That you use to sweep the floor.

To sweep the floor--

Okay, another example of an over pronunciation of a word.

The word ‘to’ almost never pronounced this way in conversational English. To.

Why did I do that? I was thinking of what is the right word to say.

So in conversational English, it would be: to sweep—

to— to— to—

The OO vowel reduces to the schwa: to sweep— to sweep— to sweep the floor—

to sweep the floor—

to sweep the floor—

to sweep the floor and you plug it in.

To sweep the floor and you plug it in.

Sweep.

Floor.

To sweep the floor.

Sweep the floor. Sweep the floor.

Listen to these three words and pay attention to the stress pattern. It's long, short, long.

Sweep the floor. Sweep the floor. Sweep the floor.

Sweep the floor.

So the word ‘the’ doesn't have this up-down shape of stress. It's flatter and it’s said very quickly.

the-- the-- the--

Sweep the-- sweep the-- sweep the floor and you plug it in.

And you plug it in— and—

Drop the D so even though I hold this word out a little bit as I think

and I don't reduce the vowel, the vowel is still ah.

I do drop the D, just a very common reduction of that word.

You plug it in—

And you plug it in-- And you plug it in-- And you plug it in--

So here we have three words: plug it in,

where you have two links of ending consonant to beginning vowel: plug it— git— git—

So you can think of the ending consonant G

as beginning the next word git— git— plug it— plug it— plug it—

That may help you link.

It in— it in— it in—

Here, again, we link the ending T right into the vowel IH and it changes to a flap T.

Why does it do that? Because it comes between two vowels.

It in— it in— it in—

plug it in— plug it in—

plug it in— plug it in— plug it in—

‘Plug in’ is a phrasal verb and we use this with electronics or things that charge,

where you have the plug and you either insert it into the socket in the wall,

or maybe you're inserting the plug into the device itself like your phone.

This is the phrasal verb to ‘plug in’.

Plug it in— plug it in— plug it in—

People guess broom. Broom.

No, you don't plug a broom in.

This was my, my main clue: sweep.

Of course people are going to guess broom but when I said plug it in,

remember this has to do with electronics, so that was my big clue. It's not a broom.

No, you plug it in.

Okay so there's some shouting here. I say ‘no, you plug it in.’ no. No.

Just like ‘Three. Two. One.’, it's a one word thought group, and it has that up-down shape. No.

Then I say ‘you plug it in’

as people are yelling and again we have this nice linking ending G into the beginning vowel

and then the flap T to link these two words. Plug it in.

And as I do that, they get, they get the idea.

‘Vacuum’, they yell.

- Broom. - Vacuum!

- Broom. - Vacuum!

- Broom. - Vacuum!

But I need to get them to say ‘vacuum cleaner’ so I give them one more clue.

- Broom. - Vacuum!

Uh, it’s two words.

It's two words.

'Two words' stress there.

'The word ‘it's’ lower in pitch, flatter, faster.

Two words.

Two words. Two words.

- Two words. - Vacuum cleaner.

Vacuum cleaner. Vacuum cleaner.

So now they're stressing ‘clean’ because that’s what makes the word different from vacuum.

Although normally, in a compound word like this, it's the first word that is stressed,

so that would be: vacuum cleaner.

Other examples of compound words: eyeball.

First word is stressed.

Mailman.

First word is stressed.

Basketball.

First word is stressed. In this case, well as always, it's only the stressed syllable.

So bas— basketball.

The first syllable is stressed.

Compound words, first word is stressed.

Let's listen to the whole conversation one more time.

Team two, listen up.

-I'm looking at you. -Woot, woot!

Three, two, one.

Okay. This is something that you use to sweep the floor, and you plug it in.

- Broom. - No, you plug it in. Vacuum.

- Uh, it’s two words. - Vacuum cleaner.

That analysis is really fun and helpful, right?

Click here to see other Ben Franklin videos on my YouTube channel.

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