Key at bottom of page.
Commentary
the:
When unstressed, as it usually is, the definite article the has the weak form /ðə/ when the following word begins with a
consonant.
first:
When /t/ is at the end of a word (more specifically, in a syllable coda) and is
immediately preceded by a consonant (except /l/ and /n/), it is commonly
elided/deleted when another consonant immediately follows (i.e. without a
pause) in another word or in a suffix.
I:
Although I is a monosyllabic
function/grammatical word and is usually unstressed, it doesn’t usually have a
weak form.
wasn’t:
Although function/grammatical words are generally unstressed in English,
negative contractions such as wasn’t
(and don’t, won’t, can’t shouldn’t, etc.) are usually stressed.
Although /t/ isn’t usually elided when
it is preceded by /n/ (e.g. in bent nail
/ˈbent ˈneɪl/, front door /ˈfrʌnt ˈdɔː/),
the negative contractions, because of their high frequency, are an exception
and their final /t/ can be elided before both consonants and vowels (e.g. I couldn’t say /aɪ ˈkʊdn̩ ˈseɪ/. He didn’t ask /hi ˈdɪdn̩ ˈɑːsk/.), but
not before a pause. This is much more common in the case of disyllabic negative
contractions (e.g. didn’t, doesn’t, haven’t, hasn’t, hadn’t, shouldn’t, couldn’t, wouldn’t, etc.). In the case of
monosyllabic negative contractions (won’t,
can’t), elision of /t/ is only usual
in rather casual speech.
very:
The symbol i represents the same
vowel phoneme as the symbol iː. We
use i in unstressed syllables and iː in stressed syllables. This
distinction isn't very helpful for TEFL purposes and learners should simply
treat the two symbols as the same. Because we are using two different symbols
for one phoneme, this means our transcription isn't truly phonemic (phonemic
transcription = one symbol for each phoneme).
a:
When unstressed, as it usually is, the indefinite article a has the weak form /ə/.
it:
Although it is a monosyllabic
function/grammatical word and is usually unstressed, it doesn’t have a weak
form.
of:
When unstressed, as it usually is, of
has the weak form /əv/. When a consonant immediately follows in the next word, of can have the form /ə/. This is
particularly common before /ð/ (e.g. of
the, of those, of them, of this, of that) and in high-frequency phrases
(e.g. a cup of tea, a bunch of grapes).
mine:
Possessive pronouns (mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs) are usually stressed and do not have weak forms.
The first time I went skiing, I wasn’t
very good. I broke a leg. Fortunately, it wasn’t one of mine.
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