美音听力与发音小技巧[5]

Welcome to Daily Tips on Learning English. Today’s tip is on sound linking.

Remember that although written English has spaces between every word, spoken English doesn’t have pauses after every word. As a matter of fact, long strings of words are all linked together. And it is this linking, which often makes it difficult for learners of English to understand native speaker’s talking. Today’s tip is to notice how the “h” sound is often dropped in personal pronouns such as “he”, “him”, “his” and “her”. And when it is dropped, what is left is a vowel sound, and the vowel sound is always linked to the preceding word.

Let’s look at an example. Give her a book. Giv-er a book. Notice how the “h” is dropped and how “give her” become “giv-er”. Look at another example. Tell him to ask her. Tell-im to ask-er. Did you notice that “tell him” became “tell-im” and “ask her” became “ask-er”? This happens very frequently in spoken English, especially when “he” follows an auxiliary verb. For example, “what will he do?” becomes “What will-i do?” “Where will he go?” becomes “Where will-i go?” “When will he come?” becomes “When will-i come?” “Who will he meet?” becomes “Who will-i meet?” “How will he know?” becomes “How will-i know?” “Has he gone?” becomes “Has-i gone?” “Had he done it before?” becomes “Had-i done it before?” “Must he go?” becomes “Must-i go?” “Can he do it?” becomes “Can-i do it?” “Should he leave?” becomes “Should-I leave?” it’s important to accustom yourself to the dropped “h” sound in sound linking. This has been today’s daily tip. Tune in tomorrow for another tip on learning English.