ELT365 · Day 166 — Weak forms in the stream of speech

Idea — Function words — articles, prepositions, auxiliaries — reduce to a schwa or disappear in natural speech. Learners trained on strong forms are unprepared for real listening.

Example — “I was at the station” → /aɪ wəz ət ðə steɪʃən/ — three function words weakened.

Try — Mark the weak forms in three sentences from tomorrow’s listening. Pre-teach the reduced versions.

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