Last week, at English for Lunch, Peartree students got into the rhythm of English!
As many learners point out, one of the main obstacles when trying to understand spoken English is how quick people can speak. That is because languages have their own rhythm.
Last Thursday we saw that the English language divides words into 'not so important' words (or 'function' words) and 'important' words (or 'content' words, as specialists say), which are going to set the pace of how we say things.
That sounds too complicated! But, let's imagine a very simple sequence of words: 'one, two, three, four'. No matter how fast we speak, the words won't usually run into each other, because they're all important as they carry relevant meaning. So, let's look at the sentence:
'Do you really want a cup of tea?'
1 2 3 4
(the four content words in bold are going to set the pace, just like saying 1, 2, 3, 4).
This will make the sentence sound like: 'D'you really wanna cuppa tea?'!
I know, right? But it's really not that difficult! Come and join us at our next English for Lunch session this Thursday at 12:30pm!
We'll be doing further work on rhythm and will take a look at some words we use to describe sounds!
CRASH, BOOM, BANG!
Ouch, see you, guys!
As many learners point out, one of the main obstacles when trying to understand spoken English is how quick people can speak. That is because languages have their own rhythm.
Last Thursday we saw that the English language divides words into 'not so important' words (or 'function' words) and 'important' words (or 'content' words, as specialists say), which are going to set the pace of how we say things.
That sounds too complicated! But, let's imagine a very simple sequence of words: 'one, two, three, four'. No matter how fast we speak, the words won't usually run into each other, because they're all important as they carry relevant meaning. So, let's look at the sentence:
'Do you really want a cup of tea?'
1 2 3 4
(the four content words in bold are going to set the pace, just like saying 1, 2, 3, 4).
This will make the sentence sound like: 'D'you really wanna cuppa tea?'!
I know, right? But it's really not that difficult! Come and join us at our next English for Lunch session this Thursday at 12:30pm!
We'll be doing further work on rhythm and will take a look at some words we use to describe sounds!
CRASH, BOOM, BANG!
Ouch, see you, guys!
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