Speaker 1: 0:00

The English Like A Native podcast is a free listening resource for intermediate and advanced English learners. Bonus episodes and transcripts are available to plus members, and English courses are available on my website, englishlikenativecouk. All the links will be in the show notes. Hello everyone, you're listening to the English Like A Native podcast, the podcast that's designed for lovers and learners of English. I'm your host, anna, and today we're perfecting our pronunciation.

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When you take a pencil in your hand and put the tip of the pencil to paper and start making marks perhaps a beautiful piece of art or a simple doodle what are you doing? What's the common verb that's associated with using a pencil to make a picture, to draw D-R-A-W Draw, and what do you call the item of furniture that you use to store all sorts of items like clothes or cutlery, or even the pencils that you are using to draw. What is this piece of furniture called? You pull it out and you push it back in again. Of course, I'm talking about draws. So if this is a standalone piece of furniture, then it's often known as a chest of drawers, a chest of drawers. Now, a chest of drawers may have two small drawers at the top and then one or two larger drawers. Below A single draw is spelled D-R-A-W-E-R and it's pronounced draw, which is exactly the same as our early pencil utilizing activity to draw, to draw a single draw. Now, do not let the E-R on the end of the word for our piece of furniture pull you into an unusual pronunciation like draw-er, draw-er. If you pronounce it as draw-er, then you're referring to a person who draws, like an artist, for example. If they use pencil, then they could be a draw-er. They could be known as the draw-er, although we don't use that phrase very often but A drawer draws the draws, a drawer draws the draws.

Speaker 1: 3:17

Now, the vowel sound I used here is a tricky one for many. In all the pronunciation assessments that I've done so far for students and this is a great number of assessments that I've done I'd say that around 85% of those students struggle with this long vowel or often replacing it with a diphthong sound O. Now, a diphthong is a sound that consists of two parts, two vowel sounds that are connected. There's an audible shift from one sound to the other. For example, this diphthong I just mentioned, o, starts with a more open mouth and then the mouth closes to a more closed position towards the end. O, so has an O sound too. Did you hear it? So so, so the O sound tends to be replaced by O, meaning that we hear the verb draw being pronounced as draw. This is incorrect. So try saying this verb to yourself out loud now and identify whether you say the RP draw, or whether you do the variation that many students fall into of draw, draw. Which one do you do, draw or draw? If you do struggle with the O sound, if you just identify that you don't say draw but draw, then it's really great that you've identified it. And so now what you need to do is try to practice in front of a mirror so that you can ensure that your mouth stays completely still and that you don't move it at all. So if you're pronouncing the long vowel that we're looking for O, our mouth does not move O, o. But if you're slipping into the diphthong O, o, you'll notice the mouth going from an open to a closed position. So find the long vowel where the mouth doesn't move, and then let's stick with that long O sound and repeat the sentence with me. To draw a chest of drawers. To draw a chest of drawers Once more. To draw a chest of drawers Great, now there are a few other homophones that also contain this long O vowel.

Speaker 1: 6:33

The following word is incredibly common Sure, meaning certain or yes, mum, is it okay to use your car this weekend? Sure, are you sure? Yes, now, american English has a huge influence on the style of English that's spoken around the world, and in American English sure is pronounced differently, either with R colouring, sure, sure, or with a kind of flattened vowel sure, sure. In British English the R is not pronounced, though you may occasionally hear a variation in the vowel. So in some speakers RP, speakers of a certain age or heightened RP speakers, so people who are very high up, like aristocracy and royalty you may hear the vowel being changed to a diphthong Ur ur. So they say sure, sure, sure, sure. Are you sure, eille? We must cancel the recital Charles Eille, are you sure? Yes, eille, we must cancel the recital Charles Eille, are you sure? But in my opinion this is going out of fashion in modern usage and the Cambridge Dictionary agrees. Yes, I have the backing of the Cambridge Dictionary.

Speaker 1: 8:10

The homophone of sure is sure, as in the land along the edge of the sea, the sure is lovely to walk along the shore. So let's put those two words together in a sentence. I'm sure the sure is four more miles away. I'm sure the sure is four more miles away. Repeat after me I'm sure the sure is four more miles away. Now it may surprise you to learn that I actually grew up with a completely different accent to the one you're hearing now, and if you want to know how I managed to transform my voice and how you can do the same, then check out the link to my pronunciation masterclass in the show notes. Okay, good work. So I have two more oars for you, not oars like what you use to row a boat, but the long oar vowels. I have two more oar homophones for you to get your mouth around, and next up is floor, the thing that is beneath us. Unless we head to the cellar, also known as the basement, then the floor will be above us and below us, the cellar floor underfoot and the ground floor overhead. So the spelling is F-L-O-O-R. Again, we're ignoring the R. We have floor. Floor.

Speaker 1: 9:50

The homophone, of course, is floor, which means a problem, a blemish or a weakness, spelled F-L-A-W Floor. We are all flawed. Nobody is perfect. How boring the world would be if we were all perfect. Here's your sentence we were flawed to find a floor in the new marble floor. Here, to be flawed, I said to be flawed. To be flawed in this context means to be gobsmacked, to be astonished. A gog mouth wide open, surprised like you've been knocked to the ground, to the floor, with the surprising thing that you've just seen or heard you have been flawed. So there's a sentence again. We were flawed to find a floor in the new marble floor. We were flawed to find a floor in the new marble floor. One more time, repeat with me we were flawed to find a floor in the new marble floor. Great work.

Speaker 1: 11:09

Okay, last but not least, the three P's Poor, poor, poor. Now, before I spell them all for you, let me give you a sentence with all three homophones, and that will help you to make sense of it. I poured water on the poor doggy's paw. I poured water on the poor doggy's paw. Poor, poor, poor. To pour P-O-U-R.

Speaker 1: 11:46

This is a verb meaning to make a substance like a liquid or a powder flow from a container by tipping the container. We pour water from a bottle or a jug into a glass. A cement mixer pours wet cement onto the ground when you're making a road or a pavement and pours from the top of a sand timer to the bottom when you turn it over. Pour. Poor P-O-O-R. This is an adjective that means to have little money or wealth. The poor man didn't like begging for food. Poor can also mean to be deserving of sympathy. Oh, my sister broke her leg on her 18th birthday. Poor thing. And it can mean to be of low quality. This photo is of poor quality. Poor P-A-W this is a noun that means the foot of an animal.

Speaker 1: 13:05

Oh, a foot of an animal that has claws or nails, so like a dog or a cat or a bear, perhaps Not a deer. A deer has a different kind of foot. It doesn't have claws or nails, it has hooves. Okay, so the dog cut his paw while digging in the woods. My cat has left muddy paw prints all over my kitchen, naughty cat. So now let's say the original sentence. I'll say it three times. Try and say it with me. I poured water on the poor doggy's paw. I poured water on the poor doggy's paw. I poured water on the poor doggy's paw. Did you notice that in the word water we also have this oar sound Poor war, poor water, water. Okay, in the episode so far we've covered draw, draw shore, shore, floor, floor, paw, paw and paw. Now let me give you a little story that incorporates all of these oar words that we've covered so far. Here we go. Use your imagination to picture this. Upon a little beach on the North Coast of the UK, there was a small, quaint cottage near the shore. Inside the cottage lived an old artist named Mr Higgins, who was known for his peculiar habits and artistic talents. Mr Higgins had a favourite draw in his studio, an ancient wooden relic that contained his treasured art supplies. One morning, as he opened the draw to fetch his brushes and paints, he noticed a flaw. The draw had a creek. That grated on his nerves. He decided to waste no time and fix it straight away. He set to work, determined to nip this creek in the bud With a shaw hand. Mr Higgins took out his tools and began to craft, leaving the door ajar to allow for ventilation. A sound of the waves crashing outside served as background music to his repair efforts. He couldn't help but smile, feeling inspired by the beauty of nature. As he worked, he heard soft footprints approaching from the open studio door. A little stray cat, poor and hungry, peeked inside Its playful paw, reached out and touched one of the paintbrushes, leaving a trail of tiny paw prints on the floor. Mr Higgins chuckled at the sight. Ah little one, are you interested in art too? He said, offering the cat a small dish of milk. The cat purred in response, delighted by the treat. From that day on, the cat became a regular visitor to Mr Higgins' studio. Whenever the artist opened the draw, the cat would curiously investigate the art supplies. Sometimes it even tried to draw with its paws, creating adorable little messes. One evening, as the sun painted the sky with hues of orange and pink, mr Higgins decided to capture this unique friendship on canvas. He set up his easel by the open window, overlooking the beautiful shoreline. The cat sat nearby what he was searching with interest. With a gentle pour of paint onto his palette, mr Higgins started painting, depicting himself and the curious cat in front of the draw, both engaged in artistic exploration. The sun's warm rays illuminated the scene, creating a stunning backdrop for the heartwarming moment. The artwork turned out to be a masterpiece, capturing not just the beauty of the surroundings but also the joy of newfound friendship. The painting found its way to an art exhibition, where it touched the hearts of everyone who saw it. It was a testament to the power of unexpected connections with beauty that can arise from a simple flaw. From that day on, people visited Mr Higgins' cottage by the shore, not just to admire his art but also to meet the friendly cat who had become his loyal muse. And so the artist and the cat continued to draw inspiration from each other, forever connected by a shared love of art and the memory of that first day when they had met by the shore. Thank you so much for letting me tickle your eardrums. I do hope you found today useful. If you do struggle with the oar sound or any sound, or just transforming your voice in general, then don't forget about my free pronunciation masterclass, where I tell you exactly how you go about transforming your voice and I share exactly how I did it and what I have to offer that can help you to do the same. The links are in the show notes. Until next time, take very good care and goodbye.