mary's podcast

Long E short i



Three terrible thieves threatened to throw thirty thousand stinging thistles through the thinly shielded thoroughfares of the thatch roofed theater.Thankfully several quick thinking thespians thwarted the thieves with deft thrusts if their Thallium swords in the thieves` thalamencephalons with thundering thumps, Thus driven hither through the Thomas thalweg, those thoughtless thieves tried to thwart the thespians from tumbling the thistles into the Thames, causing the thieves fall in. The Thames was frozen with thirteen—no—thirty thawing frozen ice floes and other things floating freely before thundering themselves down a roaring waterfall. The thieves tried to flush themselves from the thalassography of the thalassian thickets, emerging rather weathered and withered from their marathon. The thespians threatened the thieves with the thought of smothering in the Thames and suffering a terrible death bereft of theandric compassion and made them swear to never bother the thespians or their thatched theater again or risk being thumped in their thalamencephalons with thallium hatchets and be thrown in the thicket or the thawing ice floes of the Thames.

This is a comparison of a text to voice pronunciation and human pronunciation of the words, enchantment, absenteeism, abundantly, and amniocentesis

Pronunciation of Boys kissed girls.

These are some thoughts on "Going to" and "Will" : Are they expressions of a promise or merely an indefinite intention?

I am not sure, but maybe L1 transference could account for this phenomenon (common error), unless it is different in British English, although the site that one English teacher quoted previously, http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/future-mix , prescribes will and going to as stating something that one cannot change (weather, it will rain) and stating a planned activity (decision) respectively with no mention of uncertainty.

Examples would be:
It is going to rain tomorrow. (conclusion with regard to the future)
It will rain tomorrow. (assumption with regard to the future)

In Portuguese, the future indicative of the verb for "to be" (ser) is será, i.e., "He will be, It will be."

But Será is also used in the sense of a polite request such as "Would you close the window," which translates as "Será que você poderia fechar a janela."

Será que você poderia sentar na outra cadeira?

“Is it possible that you could sit in another chair?" The last example is from the article, Differences and Similarities in. Men's and Women's Directives in Carioca Brazilian Portuguese.

http://www.jstor.org/pss/341699 is the link to the beginning of the article.

Será is also used to express uncertainty:" Is it possible that I am pregnant," or "Could I be pregnant?" would translate as 'Será que estou gravida?"

So, it is my hypothesis that this built in connotation of será (will be) in latin languages could influence the feeling of English learners that Will "should" express uncertainty, as it does in the latin languages.

I asked my Portuguese teacher, a retired professor of linguistics, what he thought about my hypothesis and he could not verify it, but thought it worth investigating.

I would be interested to hear from speakers and or teachers of British English, Austrailian English, Canadian English, Indian English, African English etc. where English is one of the official language of the country whether going to and will are used interchangeably (synonymously) or whether there is an element of uncertainty, as is claimed by one textbook that I have personally seen in use in Brazil.

If the other Englishes besides American English are different then there is no problem with teaching will or going to as merely intentional (a possibility that is not definite). However, if the other Englishes also conform to the usage that I grew up with, that will and going to express a commitment (promise, definite plan) then maybe the writers of English grammars that teach them as expressions of uncertainty should be alerted.

WHEN DO WE PRONOUNCE A AS EI ?

Hi Luis! We only pronounce a like ei in two instances:

1. the speaker is just learning to read or speaking very slowly and distinctly so that he is certain that his audience will understand him. We speak that way to people just learning the language.

2. to provide emphasis that we mean only one friend or one condition, etc.

Let me read your sentenes:

"If it is necessary to borrow some money to fix the car, you should look for a friend who is an easy touch."

"An easy touch or a soft touch is someone who is kind and helpful."

The pronunciation of 'a' as 'ei' does not make sense in normal, fluent English conversation.

Here's an example where we use it for empahsis:

I only have two tickets [not 3]. I just wanted to invite a friend to go to a concert with me. You had no right to invite your girlfriend to come with us.

ORIGINAL QUESTION
I have a question if may ask. A native English speaker just made us so confused lol.

When we are reading something in English, it is clear for us that the article "a" in a sentence always sounds like the letter "a" from Portuguese language as the following examples "I got "a" new job" "that's a kind of internet language" "A few years ago" "A little while ago" "a lot of", but now, we heard a native English speaker pronounce it as "ei" like in the alphabet in English so have a quick look at those sentences bellow they are going to help you have a better idea what I'm talking about.

If it is necessary to borrow some money to fix the car, you should look for a (ei) friend who is an easy touch.

An easy touch or a (ei) soft touch is someone who is kind and helpful.

Just let me know if this kind of pronunciation a as ei makes sense.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Hi, my name is Mary. I am a volunteer English tutor at IHM Literacy Center in Philadelphia. I want to become a TESL teacher. So, I am taking classes online to accomplish this.

Mary1: Hello, my name is Mary.

Mary2: Hello, my name is Mary, too.

Mary1: Nice to meet you.

Mary2: Nice to meet you, too.

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee

Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk

Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp

Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu

Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz