https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=buUjdwYCHaY
Good afternoon teacher, good afternoon everyone. We are group 7. Today we will give
you some information related to Strong form and weak form in English.

Before starting our presentation, I wanna show a video, so please enjoy it and focus how
did the character pronounce these words?
How do you feel about this video? Yeah, it’s meaningful and motivational, right? Can
anyone help me to answer my first question, how did the main character pronounce these
words.
How can I do this? CAN is stressed, so it is clearly to hear /kæn/ strong form
You can go underneath.  Can is unstressed, it is lighter than the first one.. It is  weak
form
To comprehend clearly about strong form and weak form, welcome to the main part
today. This is the table content.

1. Definition ( Phương )
 The weak form is pronounced when the word is unstressed.
 The strong form is only pronounced when the word is stressed
 Most weak forms have either schwa /ʃwɑː/ /ə/ or short /i/ vowel sounds. These
words are important, it can help you to enhance your listening and speaking skills.
2. Function words:
function words are often associated with content words. Content words are verb,
noun, adjective, adverb, it contains meaning so they are always stressed, means
having strong form. While function words are words such as auxiliary /ɔːɡˈzɪl.i.ə.ri/
verbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and pronouns, in certain circumstances
/ˈsɝː.kəm.stæns/ they are pronounced in their strong forms however it is more frequent
and common to be pronounced in their weak forms.
3. When to use strong forms: there are 4 circumstances
 there are 4 circumstances the strong form is used
1. When they occur at the end of a sentence.
Eg: “I’m fond of chips” aim 'fɒnd əv 'tʃɪps
Of is in the middle of the sentence it has weak form
However, when it comes at the end of the sentence, it has the strong form
ɒv 
“Chips are what I’m fond of”  'tʃɪp ə 'wɒt aim 'fɒnd  ɒv
2. When a weak-form word is contrasted with another word, it also has
weak form.
Eg: The letter’s from him, not to him.
 ðə  'letəz  'frɒm him  nɒt 'tuː him
from and to have strong form because they are contrasted with each
other.
 A similar case is a co-ordinated use of prepositions:
 Eg: “A work of and about literature” 

                  ə 'wɜːrk 'ɒv ən əˈbaʊt 'lɪtrətʃə

3. When a weak-form word is given stress for the purpose of emphasis. It means that
it depends on speaker’s purpose.

Eg: You must give me more money ju 'mʌst 'giv mi 'mɔːr ˈmʌni

Must has strong form

4. When a weak-form word is being “cited” or “quoted”

Eg: “You shouldn’t put “and” at the end of a sentence”

                Ju  'ʃʊdnt pʊt  'ænd ət ðiː 'end əv  ə ˈsentəns

‘ and’ is quoted so it has strong form.

So now, I will introduce most common weak – form words.

4. Most common weak-form words 

1. Article (Trang Anh)

    * the

    Weak forms: 

+/ðə/ ðə (it has weak- form before consonants):

Eg: The first floor. /ðə fɜ:st flɔ:r/

 Strong form: /ði/ ði (it has strong form before vowels):

Eg: I would like the apple. /ai wəd laik ði 'ӕpl/

* a/an

    Weak forms

+ /ə/ ə (before consonants)

Eg: I have got a new dress. / ai hæv gɔt ə nju: dres/

Strong form: /eɪ/

e.g. It’s a horse, not two ( speakers wanna emphasis the quantifier)

ɪts ‘eɪ ‘hɔːs ‘nɒt ‘tuː ‘hɔːsiz

+  /ən/ ən (before vowels): 

Eg: He is an honest man. /hɪ iz ən 'ɒnist mæn/

strong form: /æn/

Eg: It’s an apple, not two apples. ( speakers wanna emphasis the quantifier)

ɪts ‘æn ˈæp.əl ‘nɒt ‘tuː ˈæp.əls

2. Conjunction

* but: (strong form  /bʌt/)

     Weak form /bət/
e.g. The food is good but the service is terrible. /ðə fu:d iz bət ðə 'sɜ:vis iz 'terəbl/

*than: (strong form /ðӕn/)

e.g. what is he bigger than?

     Weak form /ðən/

e.g. Better safe than sorry.  /'betər seif ðən 'sɒri/

* and: (strong form /ænd/)

e.g. - You need tea or coffee?

- tea and coffee. ‘tiː ‘ænd ˈkɒf.i

     Weak forms /ən/

e.g. Fish and chips /fɪʃ ən tʃɪps/

(The word and is pronounced fully with a /æ/. If you say this slowly and stress each word
it sounds like /fɪʃ ænd tʃɪps/. This doesn't sound natural. Foreigners have tendencies to use
Weak forms .So we should say /fɪʃ ən tʃɪps/.

Me and you /mi: ən ju:/

       Pronouns:

* his:

- When it occurs before a noun

- Weak form: /ɪz/ (hɪz at the beginning of a sentence)

e.g. That is his last chance. / 'ðæt iz ɪz lɑ:st t∫eindʒ/

* her (Strong form /hɜː/)

- When used with a possessive sense, preceding a noun; as an object pronoun, this can
also occur at the end of a sentence. (At the end of a sentence, /hɜː/ is pronounced with
strong form)

Her

e.g. I love her, just her.

aɪ ‘lʌv hə ‘dʒʌst ‘hɜː

- Weak form:

/ə/ (before consonants) She raised her voice. /∫i: reizd ə vɔis/

 /hə/ (before vowels) She told him her age. /∫i: təʊld him hə eidʒ/

* your:

- Strong form /juː/: In emphatic contexts, sentence finally.

- E.g. So it was really you?=> /juː/

/jə/ (before consonants) Is that your coat? /iz 'ðæt jə kəʊt/

/jər/ (before vowels) I love your eyes. /aɪ lʌv jər 'aiz/

 “She” ((Strong form /∫i:/))

 Weak form /ʃi/
‘why did she read it’ /ʹwɑɪ dɪd ʃi ʹrɪ:d ɪt/
‘who is she ?’ /ʹhu: ʹɪz ʃi/

* “He” 
- Strong form /hiː/: In emphatic contexts, sentence finally.
e.g.: He is very nice, isn’t he? => /hi:/

The weak form is usually pronounced without h except at the beginning of a sentence

- At the beginning of a sentence/hɪ/

e.g. He is my boyfriend. /hɪ iz mai 'bɔifrend/

- Weak form /ɪ/ 
‘which did he choose?’ /ʹwɪtʃ dɪd I ʹtʃu:z/

* “We” 
Strong form: wiː
e.g. we are one
‘wiː ə ‘wʌn.

Weak form /wi/

‘How can we get there?’ /ʹhɑʊ kɘn wi ʹɡet ðeə/
‘We need that, don’t we?’ /wi ʹni:d ðæt ʹdəʊnt wi/
* “You” 
Strong form /juː/: In emphatic contexts, sentence finally.

- E.g. So it was really you?=> /juː/

Weak form /ju/ /jə/ 

‘what do you think?’ /ʹwɒt də ju ʹθɪŋk/
‘you like it, ’ /ju ʹIɑɪk  ɪt /

4. “That”, “some”, “there”

* “That” 
This world only has a weak form when used in a relative clause, when used with a
demonstrative sense it is always pronounced in its strong from 
           
Weak form: /ðət/
                  ‘That price is the thing that annoys me’ ðə ʹprɑɪs ɪz ðə 
                   ʹθɪŋ ðət əʹnɔɪz mie 

* “Some”
  In one sense (typically, when it occurs before a countable noun, meaning “ an
unknown individual”) it has the strong form:
e.g. “ I think some animal broke it” /ɑɪ ‘θɪŋk sʌm’ ænɪməI ‘brəʊk ɪt/
 It is also used before uncountable nouns (meaning “ an unspecified amount of”) 
 before other nouns in the plural ( meaning “an unspecified number of”)  in such
uses it has the weak form /səm/
e.g. ‘ Have some more tea’ /‘həʌ səm ʹmɔ: ʹti:/
 In final position: /sʌm/ 
e.g. ‘I’ ve got some’ /ɑɪv ʹgɒt sʌm/

* “ There”
 This word has a demonstrative function, it always occurs in its strong form /ðeə/
(/ðeɘr/  before vowels) for example:
‘There it is’ /ʹðeər ɪt ɪz/ 
‘Put it there’ /ʹpʊt  ɪt ʹðeə/ 

Weak forms:  /ðə/ (before consonants)

                     ‘ There should be a rule’ /ðə ʹʃʊd bi ɘ ʹru:I/
            /ðər/ (before vowels) 
                                  ‘There is’ ðər ʹɪz
In the final position: the pronunciation may be /ðə/ or /ðeə/      
             ‘There isn’t any, is there? 
             /ʹðər ʹɪznt eni ɪz ðeə/
        or /ðər ʹɪznt eni ɪz ðeə/

5. Preposition 

 ‘at’

Weak form: ət

‘I’ll see you at lunch’ ail 'si: ju ət  'lʌntʃ

In final position: æt
‘What’s he shooting at?’ 'wɒts i ' ˈʃuː.tɪŋ æt

‘for’

Weak form: fə (before consonants)

‘Tea for two’ 'ti: fə 'tu:

fər (before vowels)

‘Thanks for asking’ ' θæŋks fər ' ɑːsk ɪŋ

In final position: fɔː

‘What’s that for?’ ' wɒts ' ðæt fɔː

 ‘from’

Weak form: frəm

‘I’m home from work’ aim 'həʊm frəm ' wɜːk

In final position: frɒm

‘Here’s where it came from’ ' hɪəz weə it ' keɪm frɒm

 ‘of’

Weak form: əv

‘Most of all   ' məʊst əv ' ɔːl

In final position: ɒv

‘Someone I’ve heard of  ' ˈsʌm.wʌn  aiv 'hɜːd ɒv

 ‘to’

Weak forms: tə  (before consonants)

‘Try to stop 'traɪ tə 'stɒp

tu (before vowels)

‘Time to eat 'taɪm tu 'iːt

In final position: tu (it is not usual to use the strong form tu:)

 ‘I don't want to  ai 'dəʊnt 'wɒnt tu

 ‘as’

Weak form: əz

‘As much as possible əz 'mʌtʃ əz 'pɒs.ə.bl

In final position: æz

‘That’s what it was sold as”

ðæts 'wɒt it waz 'səʊld æz

6. Modals and auxiliary verbs

a, Modals verbs

 ‘can’, ‘could’

Weak forms: kən, kəd

‘They can wait’ 'ðeɪ kən ' weɪt

‘He could do it’ 'hi: kəd 'du: ɪt

In final position: kæn,  kʊd

‘I think we can’ aɪ ' θɪŋk wi ' kæn

‘Most of them could’ ' moʊst əv ðəm ' kʊd

‘shall’, ‘should’  
Weak forms: ʃəl or ʃl; ʃəd

‘We shall need to hurry’ wi ʃl 'ni:d tə 'hʌri

‘I should forget it’ 'ai ʃəd fə'get it

In final position: ʃæl, ʃud

‘I think we shall’ ai ' θɪŋk wi 'ʃæl

‘So you should’ ' səʊ ju 'ʃud

 ‘must’

This word is sometimes used with the sense of forming a conclusion or deduction (e.g.
‘she left at eight o’clock, so she must have arrived by now); when ‘must’ is used in this
way, it is less likely to occur in its weak form than when it is being used in its more
familiar sense of obligation.

Weak forms: məs (before consonants)

‘You must try harder’ ju məs 'traɪ 'hɑːdə

məst (before vowels)

‘He must eat more’ hi məst 'i:t 'mɔ:

In final position: mʌst ‘She certainly must’ ʃi ' sɜː.tn.li 'mʌst

b, Auxiliary verbs

 ‘am’, ‘are’, ‘was’, ‘were’

Weak forms:

am:  əm

‘Why am I here?’ 'wai əm ai 'hɪə

Are: ə (before consonants)

‘Here are the plates’ ' hɪə ə ðə 'pleɪts

ər (before vowels)

‘The coats are in there’ ðə ' kəʊst ər in ' ðer

Was: wəz

‘He was here a minute ago’hi wəz ' hɪə ə ' mɪn.ɪt  əˈɡəʊ

wə (before consonants)

‘The papers were late’ ðə 'peɪ.pəs wə 'leit

Were: wər (before vowels)

‘The questions were easy’ ðə 'ˈkwes.tʃən wər 'i:zi

In final position: æm, ɑː, wɒz, wɜː

‘She’s not as old as I am’/ ʃiz 'not əz 'əʊld əz 'ai æm

‘I know the Smiths are’ ai ' nəʊ  ðə 'smɪθs a:

‘The last record was’ ðə ' lɑːst ' rɪˈkɔːd  wɒz

‘They weren’t as cold as we were’ ðeɪ ' wɜːnt əz ' kəʊld  əz  ' wiː wɜː

‘have’, ‘has’, ‘had’

Weak forms: əv, əz, əd (with initial h in initial position)

‘Which have you seen?’ ' wɪtʃ əv ju ' siːn

‘Which has been best?’ ' wɪtʃ əz bi:n 'best

‘Most had gone home’ ' moʊst əd gɒn ' həʊm

In final position: hæv, hæz, hæd

‘Yes, we have’ 'jes wi 'hæv

‘I think she has’ ai 'θɪŋk ʃi 'hæz

‘I thought we had’ ai 'θɪŋk wi 'hæd

‘do’, ‘does’

Weak forms:

‘do’ də (before consonants)

‘Why do they like it?’ 'waɪ də ðeɪ 'laɪk it

du (before vowels)

‘Why do all the cars stop?’ 'wai du 'ɔːl ðə 'kɑːz ' stɒp

‘does’ dəz

‘When does it arrive?’ 'wen dəz it ə'raiv

In final position: du:  dʌz

‘We don’t smoke, but some people do’ 'wi: dəʊnt ' sməʊk bʌt 'sʌm piː.pəl 'du:

‘I think John does’ ai ' θɪŋk ' dʒɒn  dʌz