Unit 21. Some, The, From, etc.

Weak Forms of Function Words

Unit 21; Part A

Some words are not usually made prominent (see Unit 10) in conversation. These include the following groups of function words. (For exceptions, see Unit 22.)

the personal pronouns I, me, we, us, you, he, him, she, her, it, they, them	*She SAW me.*
the possessive determiners my, your, his, her, its, our, their	*He's my BROTHer.*
each other, one another	*They were HITting each other.*
the articles a, an, the	*It's an OWL.*
the determiners some and any	*Do you WANT some?*
the indefinite pronouns some-/anybody, some-/anyone, some-/anythingwhen they are used as the object of a sentence	*I didn't SEE anyone.*
there used to introduce a sentence	*There's some CAKE left.*
forms of the auxiliary verbs be, have, do and the modal verbs (shall,should, can, could, etc.) except in negative forms	He was LATE. Ican HEAR it.
prepositions (e.g. as, at, for, from, of, to)	*They're from SPAIN.*
the conjunctions and, but, or, as, than, that	*He's OLDer than me.*

Unit 21; Part B

Some of these function words have a weak form and a strong form. Theweak form is the usual pronunciation, but the strong form is used whenthe word is -

prominent (see Unit 22)

said on its own

at the end of the sentence

	Example with weak form	Example with strong form
The following have weak forms with /∂/: the, a, an, and, but, that,than, your, them, us, at, for, from, of, to, as, there, can, could,shall, should, would, must, do, does, am, are, was, were, some	I can (/k∂n/) SWIM. This is for (/f∂/) YOU.	I CAN (/kæn/) come after ALL. who's it FOR (/fo:/)?
she, he, we, you are pronounced with reduced vowels in their weak forms: /∫i/, /hi/, /wi/, /ju/ (or /j∂/)	**Are you (/ju/ or /j∂/) TIRED?**	A: who DID it? B: YOU (/ju:/)!
his, her, he, him, her, has, had are often pronounced without /h/ intheir weak forms (except at the beginning of a sentence)	was he (/hi/ or /i/) THERE?	**HE (/hi:/) was THERE, but SHE (/∫i:/) wasn't.**

Important for listening!
It can be difficult to hear the weak forms of function words in fastspeech, particularly when a number of them come together, because theyare often said quickly. Compare:
slow speech. When are you taking him to see her? There are some over there.
fast speech: When /aj∂/ taking /imt∂/ see /∂/? /ð∂r∂s∂m/ over there.

Itis not always necessary to produce weak forms in your own speech inorder to be understood, but they help to make your English sound morefluent and natural.

Exercises

1 Listen and repeat these sentences.

Listen and repeat these sentences. Prominent syllables are incapital letters. Focus in particular on copying the non-prominent formsof the function words, in green.

1   Do they LIKE each other?
2   I SAW somebody at the WINdow.
3   There was a LETter from his BROther.
4   There should be some MORE in the BOX.
5   We were GOing to see her PArents.
6    She doesn't LOOK as OLD as me.
7   WHEN do you get the reSULTS of your TESTS?
8   I was at HOME frm EIGHT o'CLOCK.

2 Do you think the words in bold will have their weak or strong form?

Do you think the words in bold will have their weak (write W) or strong form (S) in these dialogues?

Example: a A: That ice-cream looks nice. B: Do you want some? S
              b A: I'm really thirsty. B: There's some orange juice in the kitchen. W
1   a A: Do you think I should apologise? B: Yes, I'm sure that would help.
      b A: Did you get 100% on the test? B: No, I spelt 'would' wrong.
2   a A: I was in Slovenia last weekend. B: What were you doing there?
      b A: Why weren't you and Amy at the party? B: But we were.
3   a A: What have you got there? B: It's a present fom Alex.
      b A: Is this a card for Simon's birthday? B: No, it's fom Simon.
4   a A: Why did you mark it wrong? B: You wrote 'your' instead of 'you'.
      b A: We are off to Scotland again in the summer. B: Are you going with your sister?
5   a A: Can I borrow your screwdriver? B: What do you want it for?
      b A: Did the phone ring? B: Yes, it was for David.

Now listen and check your answers. Then say the B parts aloud.

3 Write the number of words you hear in each space.

Listen. Write the number of words you hear in each space. Key.1 2-2 They were waiting for their brother. 2 3-2 I knew that she was going to be late again. 3 2-3 Would you take her to the swimming pool? 4 4-3 I thought we were at the station already, but I was wrong. 5 2-4 Shall we go to the zoo, or have you been before? 6 3 -3 There are some more books here that he could have. 7 3-2-3 He asked me for some money and I lent it to him. 8 6 She told me that we would have been better off going by bus. Example: 2 leaving now 3 staying? Are you leaving now or are you staying? 1 ___ waiting ___ brother. 2 I knew ___ going ___ late again. 3 ___ take ___ swimming pool? 4 I thought ___ station already, ___ wrong. 5 ___ go to the zoo, ___ before? 6 ___ more books here ___ have. 7 He asked ___ money ___ lent ___. 8 She told ___ better off going by bus.
Now check your answers in the Key. Then listen again and repeat the sentences.
Follow up: Find arecording of speech at normal speed with a transcript. Take an extractand try to write down what the speakers are saying. Then check what youhave written against the transcript. Note in particular thepronunciation of function words.

Unit 20 Unit 21 Unit 22

English Globe understanding the world

Unit 21. Some, The, From, etc.

Unit 21; Part A

Unit 21; Part B

Unit 21; Part C