1. Silent Night

This is a classic Christmas carol that has been produced in countless different versions. For a particularly angelic voice, try Sinead O’Connor’s version, available here.

2. Nat King Cole – The Christmas Song

This one lacks an imaginative title, but is crammed full of Christmas vocabulary. Presented in a casual, beautiful voice that should be clear for all to hear.

3. Doris Day – Winter Wonderland

This slow, sweet song has some great imagery, packed full of Christmassy nouns and adjectives. Nice and clear use of English here.

4. Santa Claus is Coming to Town

This is one of the most lively tunes on this list – a song with many variations, in this case from American rock legend, Bruce Springsteen. A chorus that drills in the use of the present continuous (Santa is in the temporary process of coming!).

5. Bing Crosby and David Bowie – Peace on Earth / Little Drummer Boy

Here’s a fantastic crossover between a classic singer (Crosby) and a modern youth (Bowie, at least at the time!). With a nice little bit of chatter before the tune in this video. Listen to it for the duel singing, it’ll challenge your listening skills!

6. Frank Sinatra – Let it Snow

A voice worth listening to – Frank Sinatra presents a series of Christmas images in this melodic, energetic tribute to a White Christmas!

The post 6 Christmas Songs for practising English listening skills appeared first on English Lessons Brighton.

It’s – It is or It has?

It is forms present simple or present continuous clauses.

This means it is is usually followed by a noun, an adjective (describing word) or a present participle (verb + ing).

• It’s a dog. (Present simple – It’s + Noun)
• It’s difficult. (Present simple – It’s + Adjective)
• It’s raining. (Present continuous – It’s + Present Participle)

This is true for all ‘s contractions: for it’s, he’s, she’s, or nouns and ‘s:

• He’s swimming. (He’s + Present Participle)
• She’s very sad. (She’s + Adjective)
• This dog’s a pedigree. (This dog’s + Noun)

It has forms either present simple or present perfect clauses, but we do not contract the present simple form. We say: It’s been a long day. (It has been a long day.) but He’s a nice guy. would mean He is a nice guy as it is followed by a noun, and He has a nice guy would not be contracted.

This means when it’s means it has it is usually in the present perfect (or present perfect continuous), and is therefore followed by been.

• It’s been a complicated lesson. (Present Perfect – It’s + been…)
• It’s been getting easier. (Present Perfect Continuous – It’s + been…)

This is true for all ‘s contractions: for it’s, he’s, she’s, or nouns and ‘s:

• She’s been angry at me all day. (She’s + been)
• The postman’s been late every day this week. (The postman’s + been)

In general, therefore:

It’s + been = It has ; It’s without been = It is

Exercise 1 – Practising It is VS It Has

For the following sentences, decide if the contraction means is or has.

1. It’s a giraffe. ______
2. She’s angry because of the weather. ______
3. He’s been asleep since yesterday. ______
4. That cat’s very lazy. ______
5. This man’s been following me. ______
6. It’s been a hot day. ______
7. He’s driving up to Scotland. ______
8. She’s really starting to smell. ______

It’d – it would or it had?

It would forms modal (or conditional) clauses, such as It would be nice to visit France. It is usually followed by an bare infinitive verb (without to), for example be, get, have. These are also often followed by adjectives.

• It’d be good to see you. (It’d + Infinitive + Adjective)
• It’d get cold quickly if the window was left open. (It’d + Infinitive + Adjective)

This is true for all ‘d contractions, for other nouns and pronouns:

• I’d be happy to do the job. (I’d + be…)
• The actor’d be mad not to take the part. (The actor’d + be…)

It had can form past simple or past perfect clauses, but we do not contract the simple form. We say: It’d been a long day. (It had been a long day.) but not It’d a cold nose. (It had a cold nose.). If it’d is not followed by a verb, it is usually therefore incorrect. It had in a contraction is usually followed by been. You can also recognise it through other perfect clause clues, such as expressions of time such as since, all… , for….

• It’d been raining all day. (It’d + been…)

This is true for all ‘d contractions, for other nouns and pronouns:

• We’d been waiting for hours. (We’d + been…)
• They’d been tired throughout the competition. (They’d + been…)

In general, therefore:

It’d + been = It had ; It’d without been = It would

Exercise 2: Practising It would VS It had

For the following sentences, decide if the contraction means would or had:

1. He’d be good at football. ______
2. They’d be happier in a different room. ______
3. Jim’d been working hard. ______
4. That dog’d be cute if it was clean.  ______
5. We’d have to swim in the sea if we went to Spain. ______
6. What’d you like for dinner? ______
7. I’d been eating dinner when he arrived. ______
8. She’d never listened to the radio before. ______
9. There’d been an earthquake before we visited the city. ______
10. It’d be a shame not to learn all this. ______

Answers to the exercises:

Exercise 1:

1. is 2. is 3. has 4. is 5. has 6. has 7. is 8. is

Exercise 2:

1. would 2. would 3. had 4. would 5. would 6. would 7. had 8. had 9. had 10. Would

These are just the more common contractions; and as you can see they take some practice. There are others which can be difficult, including contractions in questions, but if you start thinking about them in context it will be easier to understand the meanings, and will gradually become a matter of instinct.

The post Recognising Contractions in Spoken English – ‘s and ‘d appeared first on English Lessons Brighton.

On the Right Track – all about the modern state of British trains (always a hot topic for people in the UK).

Feeling good about your country – because nationality is a common topic between foreigners. Complete with some comprehension questions and vocabulary list, as many of these examples are.

Why we love films that make us cry – for all the movie lovers out there, what’s so great about emotional films? What we in the UK call ‘tearjerkers’.

Is silence golden? – apt for a listening exercise, asking the question if the world is generally getting a bit too noisy.

The secret of happiness – who wouldn’t want to know that? Thinking about how happiness is relative across different countries.

End of the world? – something that’s always topical for me, as an author of post-apocalyptic books. Here’s a discussion of the Mayan culture’s theories about the End of the World.

Texting and walking made illegal – discussing the prospect of a ban on texting whilst walking in the United States. What do you think?

Work emails – a nice subject to follow on from my recent discussion of email greetings. We all have to deal with emails at work, so it’s a common topic that will be useful to listen to.

The site has also recently put out a whole series of Business English audio examples, which I will collect and annotate for you in my next post. Enjoy, and happy listening!

The post 6 Minute English – Listening practice from the BBC appeared first on English Lessons Brighton.

The schwa

The schwa (/ə/) is the most common sound in the English language, but it is actually an unpronounced sound. It is common because it occurs most of the time when a syllable is unstressed. It can make life easier speaking English, as most often you do not choose one of the 19 vowel sounds, but use the schwa instead.

For example, we pronounce the ‘a’ in man, but it becomes a schwa sound in ‘businessman’. In this case may not be incorrect to say businessman, but it emphasises man (ie, to demonstrate gender). To sound fluent, and say the word neutrally, the schwa is more appropriate. With other words, pronouncing a letter that should be voiceless will sound like a mistake, because it will shift the stress to the wrong syllable:

• breakfast (brekf-st, not brek fast)
• communication (c-munication, not com unication)
• report (r-port, not re port)

With these examples, fully pronounced letters alters the stress and makes the construction sound strange, possibly even altering the meaning.

The schwa does not cover just one letter or spelling – it is used everywhere.

Connecting speech

In English, when one word follows another, fluent speakers often combine them. This can change the way words sound, and cause some letters to disappear.

The schwa is very common here, too – for short words ending in a short vowel and followed by a consonant, such as most prepositions and articles, the schwa is used, almost joining the short word to the next word as an unstressed syllable.

Let’s go to the park. is pronounced Let’s go t-th-park.

When the first word ends with a consonant the next word starts with a vowel, the two words are often smoothly linked, as though one word.

As an extreme an example, That elephant eats eggs. could almost be pronounced as one flowing word, as no real spaces are needed.

When the first word ends with a vowel and the next word starts with a vowel, the vowel sounds become softer, introducing a /w/ or /j/ sound to smoothly link the two.

• Alone, grow sounds like gro, but grow up sounds like growup.
• Three eels sounds like three-yeels.

For words finishing ‘r’, the ‘r’ is often not pronounced when linking to a consonant, but becomes pronounced when linking to a vowel sound, for a smoother link:

• This car’s fast. (This ca-s fast.)
• This car is fast. (This car is fast.)

When two consonant sounds meet, the consonant is only pronounced once, to smoothly link the two.

• A bit troubled. (A bit-rubled).
• There’s a lot to do. (A lot-o-do)

Disappearing consonants

When the sounds /t/ or /d/ appear between two consonant sounds, they can often disappear completely from pronunciation.

• It was the worst lesson ever. (the wors-lesson ever)
• There was just one problem. (jus-won)

The post English pronunciation: disappearing sounds appeared first on English Lessons Brighton.

The British film industry is a great place to look if you want to practise listening to different accents. The films in this list are good examples of different accents to compare how people speak in different areas of the British Isles. It is not an exclusive list – if you would like more examples of films to test specific regions, please ask!

• Southern Accents
• Midlands and the North Accents
• Scottish Accents
• Irish Accents
• Welsh Accents

Southern Accents

1. Four Weddings and a Funeral

The archetype Hugh Grant romance, Four Weddings made British romantic comedies a massive international success. The robust cast represent the classy, well-spoken members of British society. It also contains some American, for a little contrast.

2. Love Actually

Continuing the Four Weddings vibe, Love Actually is an ensemble film – meaning it has a vast range of characters. Contains various English accents and some well-spoken Irish (from Liam Neeson).

3. Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

The opposite extreme to Four Weddings, the film that started a modern movement of British gangster comedies, Lock Stock… has a range of horrible people talking in a range of dirty London accents. Plus two from Liverpool.

Midlands and the North

4. The Full Monty

Dealing with the depressed industrial communities, The Full Monty is both a charming comedy and an effective portrait of 80s’ Sheffield.

For a similar look at communities in the Midlands to North, try Brassed Off.

5. This is England

Another gritty look at 80s England, this film has a mix of midlands accents and one very strong Liverpool accent. Shane Meadows’ other films contain further midlands accents, Dead Man’s Shoes is a particularly good dark comedy.

6. 24 Hour Party People

A history lesson in music, 24 Hour Party People charts the success of the Manchester music scene in the 70s. Steve Coogan, the star, may not be entirely representative of Northern accents, but the supporting cast certainly are.

Scottish Accents

7. Braveheart

Again the lead’s not Scottish, but the fine supporting cast are, and it’s an epic historical tale. Aside from watching it for the Scottish, it’s worth watching for Patrick McGoohan as the wicked king of England.

8. Trainspotting

Madcap, brutal and good fun, Trainspotting will really test your ability to understand the Scottish accent. For something a little softer, you might consider other films starring Ewan McGregor, where he’s allowed to use his own accent. Like A Life Less Ordinary.

Irish Accents

9. In Bruges

Solid Irish accents from the two leads, and a soft menacing London accent from Ralph Fiennes as a bonus. And a great, quirky film.

10. In the Name of the Father

Looking at injustice and the trauma caused by the Troubles in Ireland, this classic also contains some fine Irish accents.

11. Waking Ned

A lighter look at Ireland, the antics of a local community trying to claim a lottery ticket from one of their deceased neighbours.

Welsh Accents

Gavin and Stacey

To finish the list, not a film, but for a nice contrast of English and Welsh you can’t do much better than this quirky British comedy series.

The post 11 great films for listening to British accents appeared first on English Lessons Brighton.