Marriage Story

A Marriage story.

A great movie to learn English with – the pace is good, the conversation is frank.

Today, we’re going to take a scene from this movie and do a full, in-depth analysis of everything that’s said,

looking at how it’s pronounced, why it sounds American, and go over idioms too.

Studying English this way will help your listening comprehension,

and it will also help you understand how to sound more natural speaking English.

First, let’s watch the whole scene.

Then we’ll do our in-depth analysis.

Henry’s teacher wants to meet with us.

You mean his L.A. teacher?

Can you, uh, answer the email so we can set a time?

Yeah. I’ve been distracted.

I understand. I just want to rule out everything, you know, with his reading.

I just think he’s a little over-anxious. I think he wants it too much.

He’s off the charts in Math.

He quits too easily when things aren’t easy for him. You know, he’s like us. He’s stubborn.

He’s still a lousy Monopoly player because he tries to save all his money.

And now, the analysis.

Henry’s teacher wants to meet with us.

What are our most stressed syllables in this phrase?

Everything links together really smoothly, but we have some peaks where the melody goes up.

Henry’s teacher wants to meet with us.

Henry’s teacher wants to meet with us.

Henry’s teacher wants to meet with us.

Henry’s teacher– I’m feeling a lot of stress there.

Teacher wants to meet with us.

Listen again and notice how every word slides right into the next word with no breaks.

This linking is really important to the character of American English.

Henry’s teacher wants to meet with us.

Henry’s teacher wants to meet with us.

Henry’s teacher wants to meet with us.

So after the peak of stress on ‘teach’ we have three syllables, cher wants to–,

that are flatter in pitch, said more quickly,

wants to–, the word ‘to’ reduces, it’s not ‘to’ it’s ‘tuh’ with the schwa.

Wants to– wants to– wants to– wants to–

Cher wants–

Teacher wants to meet with us.

Then we have a stop T in ‘meet’ that’s because the next word begins with the W.

So it’s not, meet with, but it’s meet with, meet with, that tiny little break, little lift, is what we feel as the T.

Meet with us. Meet with us.

Meet with us.

You mean his L.A. teacher?

What about this next question? What happens with the melody?

You mean his L.A. teacher?

You mean his L.A. teacher?

You mean his L.A. teacher?

You mean his– a little bit of up-down shape there. You mean his L.A. teacher?

Then we have most of our stress on A. Whenever we have an acronym like this,

where we’re saying the letters, LA, JFK, etcetera, it’s always the last letter that gets the most stress.

L.A. teacher? We’re going up in pitch, it’s a yes/no question, and those usually go up in pitch,

but since it’s going up in pitch rather than feeling the stress as an up-down shape, it’s sort of the opposite.

L.A. teacher? It’s a scoop down and then up.

You mean his L.A. teacher?

You mean his L.A. teacher?

You mean his L.A. teacher?

You mean his L.A. teacher?

Can you, uh–

Can you, uh– Can you, uh–

That little utterance, very smooth, no breaks in the voice. Can you, uh–

And we have that peak on ‘you’, the word ‘can’ is not ‘can’ it’s kuhn.

I would write that with the schwa, said very quickly, can, can, can, can you, can you, can you, uh…

Can you, uh–

Can you, uh–

Can you, uh–

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Okay, back to the analysis.

Can you, uh–

Can you, uh–

Can you, uh–

Uh– This is the UH as in butter vowel,

and it’s the sound that Americans make when we’re thinking. Uh, uhm, for example.

Can you, uh–

Can you, uh–

Can you, uh, answer the–

Answer the– Then she does a little break here, either because she’s drinking, or while she’s thinking.

Answer the– So ‘an’ is the most stressed syllable, and the two unstressed syllables, swer, the,

just sort of fall down in pitch from that peak. The letter W, there’s no W sound here.

Answer the– answer the–

Answer the–

The word ‘answer’ will be written phonetically with the AA vowel, and then N,

but when AA is followed by N, it’s not quite pure.

That would be AA, An–, an–, answer.

And that’s not how we say it, we say answer. So the back of the tongue relaxes,

we move through a sound that’s sort of like the UH as in butter sound, aauhh– aauhh– aauhh–

answer, answer the–

Answer the–

answer the–

answer the email.

Email, email. Going up, stress on E. Email.

So we can set a time, and then intonation goes up.

It’s almost like this is a question, and then the second half is also a question.

Email, email, so we can set a time.

Email so we can set a time?

Email so we can set a time?

Email so we can set a time?

The L in ‘email’ is a dark L. It comes after the diphthong in that syllable,

and you don’t need to lift your tongue tip for this dark L.

Email, uhl, uhl, uhl.

Keep your tongue tip down, that will help you focus on the tongue position,

it’s the back of the tongue that makes that dark sound.

Don’t round your lips.

A lot of people want to make something sort of like: email, where the front part of the mouth makes

the sound, and then it sounds sort of like O or a W sound, but it should be: uhl, uhl,

a dark sound to the dark L. Email, email, email.

Email–

so we can set a time?

Now, let’s look at this word ‘can’. We just had it up here,

and it was pronounced: kuhn,

how is it pronounced the second time?

So we can set a time?

So we can set a time?

So we can set a time?

Can, can, can. So fast, so unclear. So we can, so we can, so we can, so we can, so we can set a time?

I guess I’ll write it with all of those sounds, but it’s just so fast, none of it’s very clear, is it?

So we can set a time?

So we can set a time?

So we can set a time?

Set a time? A flap T links these two words together.

We pronounce the T as a flap T when it comes between two vowels,

and that’s what happens when we link these words. Set a time?

Set a time?

Set a time?

Set a time?

Yeah. I’ve been distracted.

Yeah– Stress on ‘yeah’ up down. Yeah. I’ve been distracted.

Couple peaks of stress there.

Yeah. I’ve been distracted.

Yeah. I’ve been distracted.

Yeah. I’ve been distracted.

‘I have’ or ‘I’ve’, ‘I’ve’ is not pronounced that way, he doesn’t really say the V sound.

I’ve been distracted.

I’ve been distracted.

I’ve been distracted.

I’ve been distracted.

I have noticed we do this sometimes when we’re saying that word ‘been’ next. I have been–

one of the shortcuts is just to drop that V sound. I’ve been distracted. I’ve been, I’ve been, I’ve been.

So see if you can make that with no V sound at all, just linking the AI diphthong into the B.

That will help this transition be more smooth, it will help you make this less important word, less long.

And we need it to be short for that rhythmic contrast. That’s so important in American English.

I’ve been distracted. Now here, we have EE, two E’s but that makes the IH as in sit vowel, not the EE vowel.

I’ve been, I’ve been, I’ve been distracted.

I’ve been distracted.

I’ve been distracted.

I’ve been distracted.

The ED ending is pronounced as an extra syllable, IH plus D, when the sound before is a T or D.

So it’s a whole extra syllable here, because it comes after a T.

Distracted. Distracted.

Distracted.

Distracted.

Distracted.

I understand.

I understand.

What are our most stressed syllables there?

I understand.

I understand.

I understand.

I understand. ‘I’ and ‘un’ and ‘der’, are all going towards the main stress there, ‘stand’. I understand. I understand.

And this is lower in pitch, less energy in the voice.

I understand.

I understand.

I understand.

‘I’ and ‘uh’, these two sounds here linked together really smoothly.

I under, I under– Don’t try to make any kind of distinction.

The words should slide together. That’s okay. That smoothness is important in American English.

I under– I understand.

I understand.

I understand.

I understand.

I just want to rule out everything, you know, with his reading.

This next phrase is again, sort of lower in pitch and energy.

It’s sort of like an aside, but we do still have some the feeling of some more stressed syllables.

What do you think they are?

I just want to rule out everything, you know, with his reading.

I just want to rule out everything, you know, with his reading.

I just want to rule out everything, you know, with his reading.

I just want to–

Those first four words, all unstressed, said very quickly. Then we have some stressed syllables. Rule out

everything, you know, with his reading.

Let’s look at these first four unstressed words.

They’re not that clear. They’re not: I just want to–

That would be way over pronouncing them.

I just want to–

I just want to–

I just want to–

I just want to–

I just want to– What is happening? She’s dropping the J,

I’s– I’s– I’s– She’s dropping the T.

Now it’s really common to drop the T in ‘just’ when the next word begins with a consonant, like it does here.

It’s a little bit less common to drop the J, but it does happen.

The word ‘just’, not important here. It’s a filler word.

I just want to–

I just want to–

I just want to–

I just want to–

I just want to–

‘Want to’ becomes ‘wanna’ but it’s not as clear as wanna. It’s: wanna, I’s wanna– I’s wanna– I’s wanna–

This is the nature of an unstressed syllable and we have four unstressed syllables here in a row.

I just wanna– I just wanna– I just want to rule out.

I just want to–

I just want to–

I just want to rule out everything, you know, with his reading.

And I’m hearing a light flap T connecting out and EV.

Out every, out every, out every, out everything.

Rule out everything–

Rule out everything–

Rule out everything–

But everything glides together really smoothly. The dark L in ‘rule out’,

you can’t lift your tongue tip there to finish it. Rule out. But link that right into the OW diphthong.

Don’t make a lift or a break, we want them to link together. Rule out. Rule out everything.

Rule out everything–

Rule out everything–

Rule out everything–

‘Rule out’ this is a phrasal verb and it means to make impossible,

to eliminate as an option.

If you rule something out, that means it won’t happen, or it can’t be.

For example, if you’re unwell, you may do a series of tests for specific illnesses to rule them out.

If it comes back negative, then you know it can’t be that.

Rule out everything–

Rule out everything–

Rule out everything, you know, with his reading.

Now let’s listen to four more unstressed words in a row: you know with his.

You know, with his reading.

You know, with his reading.

You know, with his reading.

You know with his–

you know with his–

you know with his–

you know with his–

You know, I think that’s really more of a schwa. Ye, ye, ye. You know, you know, you know, you know,

you know with his, you know with his, you know with his. The H is dropped in ‘his’, that’s a common reduction:

with his– with his– with his– with his– you know with his– you know with his–

You know with his–

You know with his–

You know with his–

The TH here, so light, so weak, not clear.

You may think this is insane, why are these words so unclear?

But that’s just the way American English is. When we have a lot of unstressed words in a row,

they get simplified. Sounds get dropped, sounds get changed,

but there’s enough there for us to get what it is, and it’s important to have that simplification.

So it can be said more quickly, so that the longer syllables get to be clearer.

That change between long and short is important in American English. It’s the structure of the language.

You know with his–

You know with his–

You know, with his reading.

I just think he’s a little over-anxious.

What are our most stressed words in this sentence?

I just think he’s a little over-anxious.

I just think he’s a little over-anxious.

I just think he’s a little over-anxious.

Just think he’s a little over-anxious. Think.

DA-da-da-DA-da-da-DA-da

Rhythmic contrast. Long and short. I, I don’t even hear it.

I know it’s there, it makes sense, that’s what I would write down if I was writing what he’s saying.

But when I really listen to it, I don’t really hear ‘I’. Now we have this word ‘just’, how was it pronounced?

Just think he’s a little over-anxious.

Just think he’s a little over-anxious.

Just think he’s a little over-anxious.

Just think he’s– just think he’s– just, just, just, just.

Again, that T is dropped. And it’s said really quickly. Just think he’s– just think he’s–

Just think he’s– just think he’s– just think he’s–

Think he’s– think he’s– Again, dropped H, common to do that in these function words like he and his and him.

Think he’s– think he’s– think he’s– think he’s–

The apostrophe S here is a Z because it’s short for the word ‘is’

where that S is a Z sound. That Z links right into the schwa.

Think he’s a– think he’s a– think he’s a– think he’s a–

Really smooth.

Think he’s a–

little over-anxious.

Little overanxious. DA-da-da-da-DA-da. Little, we have a flap T there. Little, little, little over.

So we have the unstressed syllable of ‘little’, and two unstressed syllables in ‘over’.

Tle over– tle over– tle over– little over-anxious.

A little over-anxious.

A little over-anxious.

A little over-anxious.

Anxious. That would be written phonetically with the AA as in bat, and the NG consonant.

So the letter N here is actually the NG sound: ang– made with the back of the tongue.

So when that happens, the AA vowel changes. It’s more like the AY diphthong, like in ‘say’.

Ay, ay, anxious. Overanxious.

Overanxious.

And the letter X here, making the sounds K and SH.

Anxious, anxious, anxious.

Anxious.

I think he wants it too much.

Listen to this next phrase and tell me what you think the most stressed word is.

wants it too much.

I think he– tiny bit of stress on ‘think’. I think he wants it too much. And then a lot on ‘wants’. Wants it too much.

Did you notice in these first three words, I think he–, that H got dropped again?

I think he– I think he–

I think he–

wants it too much.

Wants it too much. ‘Too’ and ‘much’ both have some length like for stress.

But they don’t have a whole lot of that up-down shape. I think he wants it too much.

I think he wants it too much.

I think he wants it too much.

I think he wants it too much.

Then we have ‘it’ and ‘too’, and they link together with the single true T.

It too– it too– it too– it too much.

It too much.

He’s off the charts in Math.

What are our most stressed words in this sentence?

He’s off the charts in Math.

He’s off the charts in Math.

He’s off the charts in Math.

He’s off the charts in Math.

Three peaks of stress, the main one on ‘charts’. He’s off the charts in Math.

Linking together really smoothly. No skips, no break in the melody.

If you’re off the charts in something, it means you are extremely good at it.

He’s off the charts in Math.

He is very, very good and successful in math.

He’s off the charts in Math.

He’s off the charts in Math.

He’s off the charts in Math.

The apostrophe S here, again, this is ‘is’, it’s a Z sound. He’s off, he’s off, he’s off.

He’s off–

the charts in Math.

He quits too easily when things aren’t easy for him.

What are our most stressed words here?

He quits too easily when things aren’t easy for him.

He quits too easily when things aren’t easy for him.

He quits too easily when things aren’t easy for him.

He quits too easily when things–

a little bit of stress there, aren’t easy for him.

I think the peak of stress of the whole sentence is on ‘easily’

but then we also have these other places where there is some of that up-down shape and some length.

He quits too easily when things aren’t easy for him.

He quits too easily when things aren’t easy for him.

He quits too easily when things aren’t easy for him.

Let’s talk about a few pronunciation things. The word T-O-O, this word will never reduce to the schwa.

It will always have the OO vowel, but it might have an unstressed feel like it does here. He quits too easily.

He quits too easily.

He quits too easily.

He quits too easily when things aren’t easy for him.

Now we have an N apostrophe T contraction.

That can be pronounced a few different ways. Either with the true T, aren’t,

with the stop T, aren’t easy ,or with no T at all, aren’t easy.

What do you hear? True T, Stop T, or Dropped T?

Aren’t easy–

aren’t easy–

aren’t easy–

Aren’t easy– aren’t easy–

Definitely a little lift there, a little stop for the stop component of that T. Aren’t easy.

Aren’t easy–

Did you notice the letter S in ‘easily’ and ‘easy’ is the Z sound?

We have quite a few words in English where the letter S is actually the Z sound.

Husband, cousin, easy, for example.

Aren’t easy–

for him.

Easy for him. Did you notice the word ‘for’ is not pronounced ‘for’? It’s pronounced: fur, fur, fur.

That’s really common. For him, for him, for him.

And she doesn’t drop the H but it is unstressed. For him, for him, for him.

For him–

You know–

You know– You know– You know– You know– The word ‘you’ reduced, its ‘yuh’,

you know, you know, you know. Not the OO vowel, but the schwa. You know.

You know, he’s–

You know, he’s– You know, he’s–

She does drop the H in ‘he’s’. Now, she’s using not very much vocal energy, it’s a little bit of

a popcorn quality in this phrase. That happens in American English towards the end of a phrase,

and she’s just said he quits too easily when things aren’t easy for him.

And now this is sort of a continuation of that and her vocal energy has really gone down.

You know, he’s–

like us. He’s stubborn.

He’s, he’s, like us, like us, a little bit of stress on ‘us’, he’s stubborn.

He’s like us. He’s stubborn.

He’s like us. He’s stubborn.

He’s like us. He’s stubborn.

This quality of less of volume and less energy in the voice is very natural in American English

towards the end of a phrase. And it sounds really nice when a student can bring it in.

Sometimes I have students who have very good pronunciation, but their voice is always fully engaged,

and actually, that ends up sounding a little bit strange.

When they learn to taper off the ends of their sentences sometimes,

that ends up bringing in a much more natural feeling to their English.

He’s like us. He’s stubborn.

He’s like us. He’s stubborn.

He’s like us. He’s stubborn.

And everything smoothly linking together. He’s stubborn.

Those two words will link together with a single S sound. He’s stubborn. He’s stubborn.

He’s stubborn.

He’s stubborn.

He’s stubborn.

Like us, he’s stubborn. And I’m pretty sure she’s dropping the H there, too.

Like us. He’s stubborn.

Like us. He’s stubborn.

Like us. He’s stubborn.

Like us. He’s stubborn.

He’s still a lousy–

I wrote ‘he’s’, that’s what makes sense grammatically, but I don’t even really hear that whole word.

It’s implied.

He’s still a lousy–

He’s still a lousy–

He’s still a lousy Monopoly player because he tries to save all his money.

Still a lousy Monopoly player–

Stress on those two words. Lousy Monopoly player.

Still a lousy Monopoly player–

Still a lousy Monopoly player–

Still a lousy Monopoly player because he tries to save all his money.

Cause he tries to save all his money.

Now, let’s look and see if there are any words that reduce here.

He’s still a lousy Monopoly player because he tries to save all his money.

He’s still a lousy Monopoly player because he tries to save all his money.

He’s still a lousy Monopoly player because he tries to save all his money.

Still a– Don’t reduce but they’re unstressed, said quickly.

Still a– still a– still a– still a–

Still a lousy– Look! It’s another word with a letter S where the letter S is the Z sound.

Lousy, lousy monopoly player.

Still a lousy Monopoly player–

Still a lousy Monopoly player–

Still a lousy Monopoly player because he tries to save all his money.

Because he tries to save all his money.

Because he tries to–

Because he tries to–

Because he tries to–

‘Because’ becomes: cause, cause. K schwa Z. Cause, cause. Cause he– cause he–

Then the Z links right into the EE vowel because the H is dropped in ‘he’.

Cause he– cause he– cause he–

Cause he–

tries to save all his money.

Tries to– tries to– to– True T but the vowel is not ‘to’, it’s: tuh, tuh, it’s the schwa.

Tries to– tries to– tries to–

Tries to–

save all his money.

And do you hear a CHR in ‘tries’? That’s really common.

To pronounce the TRS, CHR.

Ch– ch– ch– tries, tries, tries, tries, tries to–, tries to–, tries to save all his–

We have ‘all’ and ‘his’, unstressed, coming down in pitch from the stressed syllable ‘sa–’

what about ‘his’? Do we hear that H?

Tries to save all his money.

Tries to save all his money.

Tries to save all his money.

Save all his money. Save all his– Nope.

Dropped H there.

Save all his money.

Save all his money.

Save all his money.

Save all his money.

All his money. ‘His’, another word where the letter S is pronounced Z.

Actually, in the word ‘tries’, it’s a Z as well, but the Z is weak and here, she’s making a true T in the word ‘to’.

That’s an unvoiced sound and voiced sounds are stronger than weak sounds.

So I actually hear this as an S. It’s been shifted into an unvoiced sound. Tries to, tries to.

Even this word on its own as ‘tries’ with a Z.

But I think if you make that an S linking into that true T, that will simplify that.

Tries to, tries to, tries to, tries to save all his money.

Tries to save all his money.

Tries to save all his money.

Tries to save all his money.

There are so many things that make American English sound American.

This linking, these dropped sounds, these reductions that help us link things smoothly,

and give more rhythmic contrast. There’s so much to study in even just a small scene.

Tries to save all his money.

Tries to save all his money.

Tries to save all his money.

Let’s listen to this whole conversation one more time.

Henry’s teacher wants to meet with us.

You mean his L.A. teacher?

Can you, uh, answer the email so we can set a time?

Yeah. I’ve been distracted.

I understand. I just want to rule out everything, you know, with his reading.

I just think he’s a little over-anxious. I think he wants it too much.

He’s off the charts in Math.

He quits too easily when things aren’t easy for him. You know, he’s like us. He’s stubborn.

He’s still a lousy Monopoly player because he tries to save all his money.

Fantastic. I can tell you’re interested in learning English with movies.