Wadjasay? American English Pronunciation Practice

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Lessons to help you understand and speak normal-speed American English. read less
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Mad Tea Party -01
25-09-2024
Mad Tea Party -01
Send me a text message. Suggestions? Subjects for future podcasts? Let me know--thanks!(From - Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll: beginning of Chapter 7.)There was a table set out under a tree in front of the house, and the March Hare and the Hatter were having tea at it: a Dormouse was sitting between them, fast asleep, and the other two were using it as a cushion, resting their elbows on it, and talking over its head. “Very uncomfortable for the Dormouse,” thought Alice; “only, as it’s asleep, I suppose it doesn’t mind.”The table was a large one, but the three were all crowded together at one corner of it: 1- “No room! No room!” they cried out when they saw Alice coming. “There’s plenty of room!” said Alice indignantly, and she sat down in a large arm-chair at one end of the table.2- “Have some wine,” the March Hare said in an encouraging tone.Alice looked all round the table, but there was nothing on it but tea. “I don’t see any wine,” she remarked.3- “There isn’t any,” said the March Hare.“Then it wasn’t very civil of you to offer it,” said Alice angrily.“It wasn’t very civil of you to sit down without being invited,” said the March Hare.4- “I didn’t know it was your table,” said Alice; “it’s laid for a great many more than three.”“Your hair wants cutting,” said the Hatter. He had been looking at Alice for some time with great curiosity, and this was his first speech.“You should learn not to make personal remarks,” Alice said with some severity; “it’s very rude.”5- The Hatter opened his eyes very wide on hearing this; but all he said was, “Why is a raven like a writing-desk?”“Come, we shall have some fun now!” thought Alice. “I’m glad they’ve begun asking riddles.—I believe I can guess that,” she added aloud.6- “Do you mean that you think you can find out the answer to it?” said the March Hare.“Exactly so,” said Alice.“Then you should say what you mean,” the March Hare went on.7- “I do,” Alice hastily replied; “at least—at least I mean what I say—that’s the same thing, you know.”“Not the same thing a bit!” said the Hatter. “You might just as well say that ‘I see what I eat’ is the same thing as ‘I eat what I see’!”8- “You might just as well say,” added the March Hare, “that ‘I like what I get’ is the same thing as ‘I get what I like’!”9- “You might just as well say,” added the Dormouse, who seemed to be talking in his sleep, “that ‘I breathe when I sleep’ is the same thing as ‘I sleep when I breathe’!”10- “It is the same thing with you,” said the Hatter, and here the conversation dropped, and the party sat silent for a minute, while Alice thought over all she could remember about ravens and writing-desks, which wasn’t much.Intro & Outro Music: La Pompe Du Trompe by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com Support the showEmail me: swift.water3883@fastmail.comYou can now support my podcasts and classes:Help Barry pay for podcast expenses--thank you!
So let's practice sentences with "so"
20-08-2024
So let's practice sentences with "so"
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 French and so do I.4- And so off to the movies we went, arm in arm. (So = then)5- She had never felt so happy before in her life.6- I can only exercise so much in one day.7- I didn’t do it!You did so!8- I so don’t want to travel with him. (Informal)9- You can’t count on her. She is so unreliable.10- Most television shows are so boring.11- I lived in Spain not so long ago.12- She was so good in math and science that she became a chemist.13- He has perfect pitch, so he always sings in tune.14- My son says he hates broccoli so he won’t eat it.15- So here we go again: arguing about something stupid.16- You say I shouldn’t run a marathon and I say, “So what? It’s my decision.”17- “So THAT’S who ate all the cookies!”18- His room is very neat and he keeps all his things just so.19- If you need to talk to your teacher, do so as soon as possible. 20- I’ll stay in Paris for a week or so.21- So now we’ve come to the end of this podcast. Bye!Intro & Outro Music: La Pompe Du Trompe by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com Support the showEmail me: swift.water3883@fastmail.comYou can now support my podcasts and classes:Help Barry pay for podcast expenses--thank you!
Practice with some 4-syllable words
04-07-2024
Practice with some 4-syllable words
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 nonsensical while others are perfectly normal. Don’t worry about the ones that don’t make sense. Your job here is to practice pronouncing English.  Let’s start:1. I was eaten by an alligator.2. She married a benevolent barbarian.3. He battled a cantankerous cauliflower.4. You can’t deactivate a dandelion.5. We rode up on an entertaining elevator.6. She was flabbergasted by my fettuccine.7. I donate generously to gastronomic startups.8. His harmonica playing was heartbreakingly sad.9. I will now introduce you to the isosceles triangle. 10. She doesn’t put jellyfishes in her jambalaya. 11. The kindergarten children of Kalamazoo are knowledgeable about Kookaburras.12. Our librarian spoke lyrically about her favorite books.13. Nobody wants to eat microscopic macaroni.14. The naturalist was also a skilled navigator. 15. My grandmother was a phone operator in Oklahoma. 16. I told the doctor about my peculiar palpitations.17. The politician’s quick-wittedness was questionable. 18. We had to regularly repair our car’s radiator.19. When we put out their dinner dishes, the dogs began synchronizing their salivation.20. Who put the teriyaki in the terrarium?21. Her ukulele playing was unbearably bad.22. A vacationer from Venice vaccinated me.23. Our watermelon was wonderfully juicy.24. I don’t know what a xylotomist is.25. She used to work in Yosemite Park.26. Is zoology the study of zoos?If you need to translate any of the words in this podcast, DeepL is a good translator.This podcast took several hours to write, record, and edit. Whaddya think? Is it worth a few dollars to you? Should I continue this work or quit? Your support will answer that question. Thank you.Intro & Outro Music: La Pompe Du Trompe by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com Support the showEmail me: swift.water3883@fastmail.comYou can now support my podcasts and classes:Help Barry pay for podcast expenses--thank you!
Practice with fixed expressions
23-06-2024
Practice with fixed expressions
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 to be president. 2. The fact that I just saw a rat means we're not eating dinner in this restaurant. 3. The fact that our next door neighbor owns three cars proves that he has more money than sense.4. On the way to work, a bird flew into my car.5. On the way to Paris, our plane developed engine trouble.6. On the way to the beach, it started to rain cats and dogs.7. To my amazement, dinner was ready and waiting for me when I got home.8. To his amazement, he got a perfect score on his physics exam.9. To our amazement, the storm passed by quickly and the weather was perfect for our picnic.10. To their amazement, their new film won first prize at the film festival.Plea for support... I need help keeping wadjasay available. Details in the podcast.11. If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't move to Bombay. It's too hot there.12. If I were in your shoes, I'd marry someone more intelligent than your current girlfriend.13. She said that if she were in my shoes, she'd quit her  job and go to graduate school.  14. Without warning, dishes began to rattle on the shelves. It was an earthquake!15. Without warning, his mother began to cry. "What's the matter?" asked Maria.16. Without warning, the car in front of us hit a patch of ice and skidded off the road.17. That's the kind of thing that drives me crazy.18. Poorly prepared food in a restaurant is the kind of thing I can't tolerate.19. Drinking alcohol and driving is the kind of thing that should be severely punished.20. I got off to a fast start but after a few kilometers, other runners began to catch up with me.21.  She was out sick at the beginning of the semester, but after she returned to school she soon caught up with the other students in her class.22. I had to work late but I caught up with my friends at the mall later in the evening.Intro & Outro Music: La Pompe Du Trompe by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com Support the showEmail me: swift.water3883@fastmail.comYou can now support my podcasts and classes:Help Barry pay for podcast expenses--thank you!
Mind Your Vs and Ws
09-06-2024
Mind Your Vs and Ws
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 WsOur teacher is a vampire,He wobbles when he walksHis voice is kind of funnyBut we like the way he talks.“I want to drink your blood,” he says,“It’s so invigorating.”But he says ‘vant’ instead of ‘want’And so ‘inwigerating’.“Mind your Vs and Ws,” We tell him with regret,“It’s ‘while’ and ‘went’ and ‘west’ and ‘wary’And ‘whale’ and ‘worse’ and ‘wet’.”“Just so!” he says, “I see, I see,I’ll get them right I bet:It’s ‘vile’ and ‘vent’ and ‘vest’ and ‘vary’And ‘veil’ and ‘verse’ and ‘vet’.”“No!” We shout, and laugh and yellAnd act like we will riotUntil he shows his shiny fangs—And then—like graves—we’re quiet.© 2024 Barry KahnPermission is hereby granted to use this poem for educational purposes only with attribution to the author.                                                                                                          Intro & Outro Music: La Pompe Du Trompe by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com Support the showEmail me: swift.water3883@fastmail.comYou can now support my podcasts and classes:Help Barry pay for podcast expenses--thank you!
Past tense of regular verbs - MORE PRACTICE NEEDED!
18-05-2024
Past tense of regular verbs - MORE PRACTICE NEEDED!
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 dropped [drohpt]. Note: this podcast includes several synthetic voices. (Due to a bad cold and sore throat, my voice is on vacation.)If you need to practice this podcast, then you should also practice this one with the /d/ sound.1 .  I looked for my phone but apparently I had dropped it into the lake.2 .   We baked an apple pie and I brushed some butter on the crust.3 .   I cracked some eggs into the pan and we cooked breakfast. 4 .   I kissed her hand and she dropped me a curtsy.5 .   He finished work at six and then hiked home.6 .   The prisoner jumped out the window and escaped.7 .   I guessed what was wrong and then I fixed his car.8 .   My uncle laughed as he smoked a cigar.9 .   My sister and I talked as we shopped.10 .   The man stopped and looked out the window.11 .   Mr. Jones slipped on the ice, fell down, and knocked himself out.12 .   He picked some flowers for his mother and pressed them into her hand.13 .   We locked the door and hoped there were no burglars around. 14 .   The ballerina danced like an angel.15 .   His car crashed into a tree.16 .   What a crowd of people! The room was packed.17 .   I missed the bus so I walked home from work.18 .   I pushed the baby carriage. We passed lots of other carriages. So many babies!19 .   He joked with me as he dressed in a tuxedo.20 .   I relaxed and watched the men working across the street.21 .   I thanked the doctor for his help.22 .   She peeked into the oven. The cake was not baked yet.23 .   I touched him on the shoulder and he jumped.24 .   I passed him my binoculars so he could look at the lion.25 .   Our websites are now linked.If you're listening to this, I assume you've practiced most or all of the sentences in this podcast. And if you've done that, you must believe it's helping you to improve your English. That's great! But Barry has a question for you: should this podcast be free? It's not free for him to create: it takes time to write and record, often 2-3 hours per podcast. He pays monthly fees to the company that hosts the podcasts. He pays monthly fees for the software that he uses to record and edit the software. As a business, this podcast is a failure. The money it costs Barry is much greater than the few dollars he gets every month from supporters. And that’s why he’s thinking of stopping. If you care, become a supporter or at least donate by buying the occasional cup of coffee. If you don’t care, then stopping the podcast won’t make any difference—except that Barry will have more free time.If you’d like to share your thoughts, please use the link at the top of the podcast text. And if you’re wondering why Barry didn’t record this in his own voice, it’s because he has a terrible cold and no voice to recorIntro & Outro Music: La Pompe Du Trompe by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com Support the showEmail me: swift.water3883@fastmail.comYou can now support my podcasts and classes:Help Barry pay for podcast expenses--thank you!
Consonant clusters with "R"
12-05-2024
Consonant clusters with "R"
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 these:  hard, guard, stirred, part, third, park, clerk, etc. Depending on your native language these may be easy to pronounce, or sometimes quite difficult.  (In another podcast we'll practice some of the longer, harder clusters. Can you say "desks" for example?)1- English is not so hard to learn.2- The guard watched us as we approached the door.3- My mother stirred the pot of soup.4- My brother gave me part of his sandwich.5- Please spell the third word in that sentence.6- She parked her car in the dark.7- I work as a clerk.8- Slurp is a verb.9- The horse ran around the race course.10- The nurse was carrying a purse.11- There are no cars on Mars.12- My cat purrs all the time.13- His dog snarled at me.14- I called her the ‘Girl with the pearl earrings.’15- Did you hear the alarm at the farm?16- I warned them of the approaching storm.17- She lives on a farm.18- He walked away from the accident unharmed.19- My friends got divorced last year.20- My first job was the worst.21- The horse was pulling a cart full of garbage.22- I like the girl with the curly hair.23- She poured out her heart to her sister.24- The world is warming.25- How much is that diamond worth?Intro & Outro Music: La Pompe Du Trompe by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com Support the showEmail me: swift.water3883@fastmail.comYou can now support my podcasts and classes:Help Barry pay for podcast expenses--thank you!