Learning English

Tim
Hi. I'm Tim and this is my Pronunciation Workshop. Here, I'm going to show you how English is really spoken. Come on, let's go inside. Today, I'm going to tell you about perhaps the most common feature of fluent English pronunciation. And to help me, I’m going to use one of these. Now, I know you know what it is, but let's ask the people of London to describe it.

Voxpops
He's holding an egg.
He's holding an egg.
He's holding an egg.
He's holding an egg.
He's holding an egg.

Tim
An egg – that's two words, right? But, when we pronounce them, there's no gap in between them. It almost sounds like one word. Listen again.

Voxpops
He's holding an egg.
He's holding an egg.
He's holding an egg.
He's holding an egg.
He's holding an egg.

Tim
In fluent English, when one word ends in a consonant sound and the next word begins in a vowel sound, we link the two sounds together without a pause in between them. So, an egg becomes anegg. This is called catenation. Here are some more examples.

Examples
He’s in the garden.
I used to believe in Father Christmas, but not any more.
I had to give up jogging.
He had it in his office.

Tim
Right, so you've heard the examples: you know the drill. Listen and repeat.

Examples
He’s in the garden.
I used to believe in Father Christmas, but not any more.
I had to give up jogging.
He had it in his office.

Tim
Great work. Remember, if you want to learn more about pronunciation, then please visit our website, bbclearningenglish dot com. And that is about it from the Pronunciation Workshop for now. I'll see you soon. Bye! Now I think I’m going to have this egg, for my lunch. It is a hard-boiled egg, isn't it?

Voice
Oh yes Tim, yes, yes, it's definitely a hard-boiled egg.

Tim
Great, looks good, Oh no no no no no! Ohhh, what a mess! Very funny.