Wadjasay? American English Pronunciation Practice

Send me a text message. Suggestions? Subjects for future podcasts? Let me know--thanks! Imaginary businesses with tricky-to-pronounce names. Use this podcast as an exercise to warm up your pronunciation. Go slowly before you try to go fast! 1- Rudy’s Radioactive Radiator Repair 2- Thea’s Thursday Seances Featuring Thinking, Theorizing, and Theremin Lessons 3- Skip’s Sports Emporium and Unicycle Se...

Send me a text message. Suggestions? Subjects for future podcasts? Let me know--thanks! To “take over” has a couple of meanings. It can mean to “take control of” something, but it can also mean to control by being bossy. 1- While I was sick, weeds took over the garden. Now it looks terrible. 2- When my father died, I had to take over running the company. 3- Our children have taken over my life. I...

Send me a text message. Suggestions? Subjects for future podcasts? Let me know--thanks! Another expression with the verb take. Let’s practice with “to take advantage of.” To “take advantage of” can be good or bad.  Here’s an example of the bad kind: “He took advantage of his friend’s generosity by borrowing money and never paying it back.” And the good kind: “She took advantage of every opportunit...

Send me a text message. Suggestions? Subjects for future podcasts? Let me know--thanks! Let’s continue our practice with the verb “take”, this time with “take place” which means to “happen”, usually for organized events. 1) The next summer Olympic Games will take place in Los Angeles. I hope it won’t be too hot. 2) The next performance by the Boston Symphony Orchestra will take place on September...

Send me a text message. Suggestions? Subjects for future podcasts? Let me know--thanks! The verb “take” is very common in English and it’s used in many ways. One of the expressions is to “take a look.” Here are some examples: 1) “Doctor, please take a look at this X-ray.” 2) He took one look at the snake and said, “It’s a Burmese Python.” 3) “We need to take a look around your apartment,” said the...

Send me a text message. Suggestions? Subjects for future podcasts? Let me know--thanks! August has been very busy but here's a podcast so you won't think I've run away somewhere. We use the word "so" in many ways. Here are some sample sentences. 1- That is a beautiful painting? Do you really think so? 2- Is it time for dinner? Is the food ready? I think so. 3- She speaks F...

Send me a text message. Suggestions? Subjects for future podcasts? Let me know--thanks! This podcast contains 26 sentences. Each sentence includes at least one 4-syllable word. The words are in alphabetical order, so the 4-syllable word in the first sentence is “alligator” beginning with “A” and so on. Sentence number 26 contains the word “zoology”. Note that some of the sentences are silly and no...

Send me a text message. Suggestions? Subjects for future podcasts? Let me know--thanks! Fixed expressions are little English phrases that native speakers use all the time . If I were in your shoes , I would learn lots of fixed expressions. For variety, this podcast uses several synthetic voices to read the sentences. 1. The fact that she speaks five languages doesn't mean she's qualified...

Send me a text message. Suggestions? Subjects for future podcasts? Let me know--thanks! Practice with the DJ sound, as in “judge” and “ginger.” 1 - His travel agency has a large budget for advertising.  2 - Have you ever heard of an angel with an allergy? 3 - The archaeologist apologized to the biologist.  4 - She lives on the edge of Egypt. 5 - The earthquake caused a lot of damage. It was a huge...

Send me a text message. Suggestions? Subjects for future podcasts? Let me know--thanks! Here's a short poem to help you practice S, Z, and SH sounds. Dessert Time at the Zooquarium. A zebra sipped a milkshake. A serpent swam in cream. Hippos splashed and frolicked. In a gurgling chocolate stream. The zoo was full of visitors  who buzzed like busy bees. And watched the sharks swim lazily  thro...

Send me a text message. Suggestions? Subjects for future podcasts? Let me know--thanks! English has V sounds and W sounds. But some languages only have one or the other. If your native language is missing one of these sounds, you need to learn it. Otherwise we won’t know if you want to say “wet” or “vet”. To help you practice, I wrote this poem: Mind Your Vs and Ws Our teacher is a vampire, He wob...

Send me a text message. Suggestions? Subjects for future podcasts? Let me know--thanks! Let's continue with English reductions where the pronunciation of the word "and" changes to ’n.  Here’s another example: “She’s out and about, shopping at the mall,” changes to …”out ’n about”… 11. Our cat wandered off again but she’ll come home by and by. 12. Now and then we like to eat dinner a...

Send me a text message. Suggestions? Subjects for future podcasts? Let me know--thanks! English is full of reductions. We write “going to” but we say “gonna” for example. The conjunction “and” is often reduced to an /n/ sound. So “hot and cold” becomes “hot ’n’ cold” and so on. Here are ten sentences to practice with. These phrases are sometimes called “fixed” and phrases. Ask any American to fini...

Send me a text message. Suggestions? Subjects for future podcasts? Let me know--thanks! Regular verbs in English add “ed” to show past tense. So “walk” becomes “walked”, “cook” becomes “cooked”, etc. There are three ways the “ed” can be pronounced. In this podcast we will—again—practice verbs where the past tense ends with the /t/ sound. So in #1, look becomes looked [lookt] and drop becomes dropp...

Send me a text message. Suggestions? Subjects for future podcasts? Let me know--thanks! Final consonant clusters with "r" What's a consonant cluster? Simple: take the "r" sound, combine it with another consonant like "d", as in the word "yard" and you have a small group or cluster of two consonants. In the sentences below you'll find words like the...

Send me a text message. Suggestions? Subjects for future podcasts? Let me know--thanks! See the transcript for the text of part 2. Intro & Outro Music: La Pompe Du Trompe by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com Support the show Email me:  swift.water3883@fastmail.com You can now support my podcasts and classes: Keep the podcasts coming! Thank you!

Send me a text message. Suggestions? Subjects for future podcasts? Let me know--thanks! Click on the transcript link to read the text as you listen. Enjoy! Intro & Outro Music: La Pompe Du Trompe by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com Support the show Email me:  swift.water3883@fastmail.com You can now support my podcasts and classes: Keep the podcasts coming! Thank you!

Send me a text message. Suggestions? Subjects for future podcasts? Let me know--thanks! Syncope (loss of unstressed vowels after a stressed syllable.) Example “chocolate” [CHAWK-uh-luht] becomes [ CHAW -kluht] 1- I like to eat chocolate. [ CHAW -kluht] 2- She visits her mother every weekend. [ EV -ree] 3- He bought a new camera. [KAM-ruh] 4- We go for a walk in the evening. [EEV-niŋ] 6- Are you in...

Send me a text message. Suggestions? Subjects for future podcasts? Let me know--thanks! One of the science podcasts I listen to regularly is Astronomy Cast hosted by Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela Gay. In today’s lesson, you’ll hear a short excerpt from Episode 705: Water Worlds - Looking for Life Beyond Earth . First you’ll hear a clip from their podcast, and then I’ll break their speech into shorter...

Send me a text message. Suggestions? Subjects for future podcasts? Let me know--thanks! The phone rings and it's a stranger trying to sell you something. This is part one of a multi-podcast series based on a real script. Have fun! Hi, this is Barry calling from Scam-O-Rama Car Services. I’m calling regarding your 2016 Chevrolet Survivor. How is your 2016 Chevy Survivor running? Do you know th...

Send me a text message. Suggestions? Subjects for future podcasts? Let me know--thanks! This is the first in a series of lessons about connected speech. One of the ways in which we link syllables and words together is with "glides" -- for example a Y sound is added between "be" and "able" so it sounds like "bee yable".  Listen to the sentences and you'l...

Send me a text message. Suggestions? Subjects for future podcasts? Let me know--thanks! Here are some sentences with six-syllable words. 1- In the 1960s people experimented with hallucinogenic drugs.  2- Covid 19 has resulted in the hospitalization of too many people. 3- Please do NOT eat mushrooms which are not identifiable as safe and harmless. 4- Alien organisms might not be easily categorizabl...

Send me a text message. Suggestions? Subjects for future podcasts? Let me know--thanks! Crazy English. We pronounce "ough" in too many ways... I thought microbiology was a tough course, but my professor was a thorough teacher. I studied hard throughout, and in the end I learned what he taught even though it was a challenge. 1- I thought microbiology was a tough course… 2…but my professor...

Send me a text message. Suggestions? Subjects for future podcasts? Let me know--thanks! 1- Do you think you know what a parachute looks like?  2- Guess what: There are tons of parachute types out there, and you probably don’t know ’em all!  3- Here’s a rundown of several of the normal and not-so-normal types of parachutes…  3a- …that help skydivers (and far-flung cargo) make their way softly back...

Send me a text message. Suggestions? Subjects for future podcasts? Let me know--thanks! What parachute types are there? Do you think you know what a parachute looks like? Guess what: There are tons of parachute types out there, and you probably don’t know ’em all! Here’s a rundown of several of the normal and not-so-normal types of parachutes that help skydivers (and far-flung cargo) make their wa...