This lesson accompanies the YouTube video found HERE. It's important to reduce prepositions in sentences in order to achieve stressed-timed rhythm. Practice the story below by imitating each sentence. Speak out loud during the pauses in the recording. Repeat exactly what your here. Try to imitate the rhythm and everything about the sentence, including how fast and how loud each word is. Copy how I connect the words together also. Listen to the repetition audio here:
for = fur
to = tuh (t’) or duh (d’)
tuh after a consonant
duh after a vowel or voiced consonant
on = stays on!!
in = stays in!
of = uh (a) before a consonant but stays “of” before a vowel!
than = thun
at = et
as = ez
Remember, prepositions at the end of a sentence or phrase won’t reduce.
Practice:
I called for a taxi to go to the mall on Third St.. I got in the back of the car and told the driver where I wanted to go. When the driver started to take a different route than the one I’m used to, I tapped him on the shoulder to ask him where he was going. To my surprise, instead of answering me, the driver screamed, lost control of the car, hit the curb at high speed, and stopped 2 inches in front of a pedestrian. As the taxi driver stared at the frightened pedestrian who cursed at us louder and longer than a machine gun, I feared for the driver, but the driver continued to the mall as though nothing had happened. He calmly told me, “Don’t tap me on my shoulder anymore. You scared the heck out of me.” I apologized, for I hadn’t realized that a tap could scare him as much as it did. The driver assured me it was more his fault than mine. “Today’s my first day as a taxi driver. I’ve been driving a funeral car for the last 25 years.”
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