Dr. Antonia Johnson
To Get Ahead
To Get Ahead
If you are looking for a horse to ride to get ahead, just become a good presenter.
Notice I didn’t say “excellent” or “outstanding”. Just become good – because the rest of the world is so terrible.
-David Peoples
English Speaking: The Grammar is in the Pronunciation, Part Two
English Speaking: The Grammar is in the Pronunciation, Part Two
Last time, I told you about how the grammar is in the pronunciation of “ed” for regular verbs for past tense and grammar “s” for subject and verb agreement. You also got that the grammar is in the pronunciation of grammar “s” for plurals and possessive.
Grammar for English articles (“a,” “an,” and “the”) is also in the pronunciation. You think articles are unnecessary and a waste of time? No! A punch of meaning goes with the use of the “indefinite” articles “a” and “an” or the “definite” article “the.” People need to hear the important information that goes with “a” or “an” versus “the.”
Case in point: when I was about 8 years old, my mother gave me money to go to the store to get “a pound of butter.” I took the money and searched the dairy section for the cheapest pound of butter. I got home and my mother was upset. I got the wrong kind. She wanted “the” butter that we always used– the unsalted, more flavorful brand that she used when special company was coming for dinner.
If you slur through the pronunciation of the articles, then you are sending inaccurate information. If you slur through or omit the articles, then people may think you are not well educated, because young, native-speaker elementary school children get the pronunciation and use of articles right all the time.
A lovely bonus to getting grammar accurate in your speech is that people who speak with accurate grammar will write with accurate grammar! A pretty powerful bonus. People who write with inaccurate grammar are often perceived as not being well-educated. Think of yourself. I’ll bet you are well educated.
Next time: Grammar, pronunciation and prefixes and suffixes
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Be sure to watch our English Speech Tips videos and Accent Reduction Tip videos for more English pronunciation and accent reduction exercise.
Job Advancement
Job Advancement
As executives reach middle management and above, the primary criteria for advancement are communication and motivation skills rather than basic job performance.
English Speaking: The Grammar is in the Pronunciation
English Speaking: The Grammar is in the Pronunciation
It is so simple. It took a genius linguist and priest to point out the obvious. He said: “Now I understand. I want better grammar. You want me to get perfect pronunciation because the grammar is in the pronunciation!”
“Exactly!” I told him.
Part one of understanding this critical point.
Grammar “s”: We place an “s” at the end of words
- For plurals, “One cat. Three cats. “
- For subject and verb agreement, “I sing. She sings.”
- For possessive, “The car belongs to Russ. Russ’s car.”
Grammar “ed”: We place an “ed” at the end of regular verbs to make past tense
- Today, I watch a soccer game. Yesterday, I watched a soccer game.
- Today, I greet the guests. Yesterday, I greeted the guests.
The issue is simple. In order to have accurate grammar in your speech, you need to say the grammar “s” very clearly. Do you want accurate plural grammar, subject and verb agreement grammar, and possessive grammar? Then say the grammar “s” clearly and accurately. Oh yes, there are pronunciation rules for the grammar “s.”
Do you want accurate past tense for verbs? That’s so important, because when something happens is critical to our understanding of events. To get accurate past tense for most of American English verbs, you need to get the pronunciation of the grammar “ed” correct. Yes, yes. Rules there, also.
Rules you ask?
American English rules go like this:
For the Grammar “s,” if the root word….
- Ends with a voiceless sound, the “s” is pronounced voiceless.
- Ends with a voiced sound, the “s” is also voiced and sounds like a “z”.
- Ends with s, z, sh, ch, or j, plural “s” is pronounced as “ez” or a short “e” and an “s” with a voice.
For the Grammar “ed,” always spell past tense with regular verbs with “ed,” but:
- Pronounce as an “ed” for words ending in a “t” or a “d” sound
- Pronounced as a “d” for all other words
More on “the grammar is in the pronunciation” next time.
Click here: www.cleartalkmastery.com/scheduler to sign up for a Free Sample Lesson with us!
Be sure to watch our English Speech Tips videos and Accent Reduction Tip videos for more English pronunciation and accent reduction exercise.
Conclusion for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning
Conclusion for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning
The natural tendency of human beings is to:
- Justify on facts, but buy on feeling
- Justify with business reasons, but buy for personal reasons
- Justify with logic, but buy on emotion
