Tuesday 5 December 2017

Pronunciation exercises for EAL students - no. 10

/f/ - /v/ and fortis clipping:

  1. Does he believe in God?
  2. You need half a pound of butter.
  3. Sharon needs time to grieve after the death of her husband.
  4. The plane'll leave at 12:30.
  5. That cow over there is with calf.
  6. It was a relief to have him out of the house.
  7. My sofa can serve as a bed.
  8. He was overcome with grief because his wife had died.
  9. It’s about half a mile down the road.
  10. I don't believe a word of it.
  11. We've got to halve our aid budget.
  12. I've known her all my life.
  13. This new drug can save our lives.
  14. I leave you to it.
  15. Many people surf the net aimlessly.
  16. Your behaviour was stupid beyond belief.
  17. My dad continued to grieve for his wife.
  18. His grief was obvious.
  19. Nicola was accused of being a thief.
  20. This calf is so cute.
  21. I want my daughter to be in safe hands.
  22. The roles of husbands and wives are different in our society.
  23. We live only a few miles from London.
  24. The Canadian flag contains an eleven-pointed maple leaf.
  25. He aims to halve unemployment.
  26. It's my strongly-held belief that things were better in the past.
  27. The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
  28. A fairly odd couple came to live next door to us.
  29. Can you prove it?
  30. The cow will calve in two weeks' time.
  31. Take it or leave it.
  32. She married late in life.
  33. I don't feel safe in my house.
  34. I'll leaf through the book.
  35. You'll save a lot of time if you travel by car.
  36. Proof of the allegation must be by convincing evidence.
  37. Don't waste your time surfing the net.
  38. The waiter'll serve another table first.
  39. The police had no proof that he was guilty. 
  40. A thief had broken into the office.
  41. About one-third of whale calves die in their first year.
  42. Have you met my wife?
  43. They're just petty thieves.
  44. Some men want their wives to stay at home and not take a job.

Monday 4 December 2017

Stressed Weakform


credit: Japan Times
credit: Cambridge University
 This blog is not about stressed people, but about stressed weakforms (or: weak forms). I found a video in which the speaker - art historian James Fox - uses the conjunction because in the sentence:
"In Japan [cherry] blossom is celebrated not in spite of its transience but because of it."
In this sentence he stresses both spite and because in these multi-word prepositions. In the case of because, however, he does not use the pronunciation typical of the accented (= strongform) version, but an unaccented /bə'kəs/. Listen: