Standard Reductions

Standard Reductions in Spoken English

 At Accent Master I find many of my accent redcution clients to be hestiant to use standard reductions in spoken English.  They are afraind that they will sound unprofessional, but this is not the case.  Use these reductions to you don't accendently reduce in a non standard way such as dropping articles or word endings.

Now you may be quick to recognize contractions such as don't, can't, she's, but what about unwritten reductions. Such as gotta, haveta, gonna, useda, hasta, wanna. These reductions also fall under the umbrella of standard reductions. That is right, they are standard. Let alone can you use them, your listener is expecting you to use them.

When you don't reduce these phrases, you speech can sound overly formal. No matter the education level, these standard reductions are used. For example:

I've gotta go to the store.
I have got to go to the store.

I'm gonna talk to him.
I am going to talk to him.

She hasta finish her work.
She has to finish her work.

Try to create sentences for the following reductions

wanna
gonna
shoulda
coulda
woulda
musta
useda
supposta
oughta
shouldn't've
couldn't've
wouldn't've
whaddaya (what do you...)

Listen for other speakers using these phrases in their speech.
I hope you enjoyed the lesson. Let me know what else you would like to learn about in English pronunciation!

Lynn Founder of
Accent Master