ELT365 · Day 175 — Stress and weak forms in real listening

Idea — In natural speech, content words carry stress and are clear; function words — articles, auxiliaries, prepositions — are reduced to weak forms. Learners who do not know this miss them completely.

Example — ‘Can you tell me what time it is?’ becomes ‘k’n y’ tell me w’t time it’z?’ in fast speech. The unstressed syllables are not deleted — they become schwa. Train the ear explicitly.

Try — Write four sentences. Say each at natural speed. Underline the stressed syllables. Ask learners to compare what they heard with what you wrote.

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