In fast speech, sounds that are found in words spoken slowly may be missed out.  Listen and notice how the highlighted sounds are missed out in this conversation extract:

A

B

C

It is not essential to make these changes in your own speech in order to be understood, although they can help your speech sound more natural and fluent.

Exercises

Listen to these sentences as many times as you need. First you w i l l hear them said slowly and carefully and then at a more normal speed for conversation. Listen and notice the differences you hear in the ‘conversation’ versions. Try to imitate the speakers.

1 Has he been to see you since Saturday ?

2 I asked her for the best tickets they’d got left.

3 Do you mind moving along a bit?

Listen to these conversations as many times as you need and fill in the spaces. How is the pronunciation of each missing word different from its slow form ?

He  _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _       _ _ _ .
B: That   _ _ _ _ _ _   terrible. Why   _ _ _ _     _ _   do that?
A: Maybe _ _    _ _  jealous  _ _ _ _ _ _  she’s    _ _ _ _ _    so well .

2      A:   _ _  know  _ _ _   _ _  coming?

B: Everyone   _ _ _ _ _ _   Cathy.
A: What time  _ _ _ _  they be here ?
B: _ _ _ _ _  six…. so well.

3 A:  _ _ _   _ _ _ coming out    _ _ _    _ _ _  a walk ?
B: Okay.  _   _ _ _ _   _ _ _   my coat.
A:  _ _ _   _ _ _ _   hat.     _ _ _      _ _ _        _ _ _ _      _ _ _ _   gloves, too.