Today you’re going to join me and my family

as we play this word game, and study real English conversation as we play.

You’ll see lots of reductions happening,

and you’ll learn some great vocabulary words and idioms

like ‘dominant’, ‘detract’, ‘neck and neck’, and ‘sore loser’.

The game is called Codenames and last night, we played

four rounds and Mom and I beat David and dad each time.

Did you hear how the word ‘and’ was used to connect two nouns?

This is a common way we use the word ‘and’.

Mom and I, David and Dad.

The word ‘and’ reduces so it just sounds like an N sound connecting the two words together.

Using reductions and linking can really smooth out your English

and help you sound more natural and native.

Try that now, Mom and I, Mom and I.

David and Dad,

David and Dad.

Listen again.

And Mom and I--

And Mom and I--

And Mom and I beat David and dad--

David and dad--

David and dad each time.

Mom, are you ready to crush David and

Dad again in the game?

I'm so ready to crush David and Dad again in the game.

My Mom had a really bad cold when we shot this video.

I apologize for her voice being a bit scratchy.

Did you notice the vocabulary we used here?

The word ‘crush’.

When you crush someone in a game, it means you beat them by a lot,

a very wide margin.

The game was not close.

Mom, are you ready to crush David and Dad again in the game?

We're going to be the clue givers first.

Alright.

Alright, you want to draw one?

Alright, it's red. That means ladies go first and we have to take the extra card.

Listen to the word ‘alright’.

You heard it three times in that clip.

Alright.

Alright, you want to draw one?

Alright, it's red.

Alright.

Alright, you want to draw one?

Alright, it's red.

Words with R’s and L’s tend to be extra tricky for non-native speakers.

But the L sound is very weak, and actually,

you can get by without saying it at all.

I didn’t really say it, and neither did my Dad.

Just a quick AH as in FATHER or AW as in LAW sound will be great.

Alright, alright.

This works with ‘already’ as well.

Already, already.

Alright. Listen again.

Alright.

Alright, you want to draw one?

Alright, it's red.

Okay, mom. My clue is 'rod for two'.

In this game, you have a grid of words in front of you.

Some of the words are for your team,

some are for the other team, and some are neutral.

You try to get your teammate to guess your words,

and you do this by grouping them together and saying a word

that you think your partner will associate with the two words you’ve chosen.

So I said ‘rod’ for two.

That means, there are two words on the board that I think have an association with the word ‘rod’,

and I hope she guesses them correctly.

Notice I said ‘rod’ really clearly.

It doesn’t have the context of a sentence around it,

so I want to be really clear.

But how did I pronounce the word ‘for’?

I reduced it, f-schwa-r. Fer, fer, fer two.

Okay, mom. My clue is 'rod for two'.

For two.

For two.

Okay, Rod king?

Rod fair?

She’s going through the words, trying to decide if any of them make sense with the word ‘rod’.

Rod king?

Rod fair?

Okay, Rod king?

Rod fair?

Probably cast.

Prob’ly ‘cast’. Did you notice how she pronounced the word ‘probably’?

She reduced it by dropping a syllable.

I would say native speakers do this at least half of the time.

It makes the pronunciation easier, and you can do it do.

Practice that with me.

Prob’ly,

prob’ly.

Probably cast.

Probably cast.

Probably cast.

She chose ‘cast’.

This word can have several different meanings.

For example, when you break your leg or arm,

you might wear a cast for several weeks while it heals.

Or, in a play or opera,

everyone who is on stage acting is part of the ‘cast’.

It can also mean to throw or fling,

and this is what you do with a fishing pole,

to get your hook out into the water.

It can also be called a fishing rod.

So I said ‘rod’, she saw ‘cast’

and made the association, and that was correct.

In English, we have so many words like ‘cast’ that can be used different ways.

Probably cast.

Are we stumped already?

David is having a hard time coming up with his clue,

and my Dad says, “are we stumped already?”

To be stumped means to have no idea.

For example, let’s say you’re trying to figure out a very difficult problem and

you cannot come up with the answer.

You might say, “I’m stumped.”

The –ed ending is pronounced as a T

because the sound before was unvoiced,

the P consonant. pt, pt, stumped.

Are we stumped already?

Are we getting off to a slow start?

Then Dad says, are we getting off to a slow start?

That phrase means you’re not making much progress at the beginning.

Getting off to a slow start.

But David thought of a clue, and he said ‘dominant’.

Are we stumped already?

Are we getting off to a slow start?

Dominant.

Do you know what ‘dominant’ means?

Ruling, controlling, commanding, main.

Dominant.

Dominant.

Dominant.

I'm gonna say superhero.

When Dad guesses, he says, “I’m ‘gonna’ say”,

reducing ‘going to’ to ‘gonna’.

I'm gonna.

I'm gonna say.

I'm gonna say superhero.

I'm gonna say king.

Okay mom, my hint is tent for two.

I give Mom a clue again, tent for two.

Did you hear how I reduced ‘for’ again? Fer, fer.

Tent for two.

For two.

For two.

Okay, pole is probably one cause we always have a tent pole.

Although we haven't always... had them when we went camping.

We had to resort to string and trees.

A ladder and crossed two by fours like that.

Have you ever forgotten the tent poles when you went camping? 1

I can’t quite imagine how you could leave that out,

but my parents managed to once a long time ago,

and they had to use a ladder inside their tent to hold it up.

That's when I would have gone home.

“That’s when I ‘would-a’ gone home.”

Did you hear how I pronounced the phrase ‘would have’?

I reduced the word ‘have’ to just the schwa.

Would-a, would-a,

that’s when I would-a gone home.

This is a common reduction with ‘would’, ‘should’, and ‘could’.

Would-a, should-a, could-a.

That's when I would have

That's when I would have

That's when I would have gone home.

You weren't around yet.

I know, I'm just saying in my, in my world, camping is no longer fun when you didn't bring the poles.

It did detract a bit.

My Dad used the word ‘detract’.

A great vocabulary word.

This means to take a way from the quality of something.

Camping, without a proper tent, made the experience less fun.

It did detract a bit.

Uhm, okay I'll say rainforest for two.

David is giving the clue now, and he said ‘Rainforest for two’.

Did you see how he reduced the word ‘for’? Fer, fer.

We almost always pronounce it this way.

Rainforest for two. For two. For two.

So I will say Amazon for one of those.

Amazon for one of those –

another ‘for’ reduction.

Fer one, fer one,

Amazon for one of those.

My Dad also reduced the word ‘of’ to just the schwa – one of, one of.

Amazon for one of those.

So I will say Amazon for one of those.

Amazon for one of those.

Amazon for one of those.

Is it illegal for me to remove this?

Yes.

You're gonna try to jog your memory?

Is it illegal for me to remove this?

You're trying to jog your memory about what the previous clue was?

Yeah.

Once a correct word is chosen, you cover it with a card that’s the color for your team.

Because my dad can’t remember the clue, he wants to uncover the word to see if that will help him remember.

Did you notice the phrase I used for this?

Jog your memory.

Something ‘jogs your memory’ if it helps you remember something.

You're trying to jog your memory about what the previous clue was?

Yeah.

Thanks for asking!

He also said 'no' though.

He said probably not.

Prob’ly not.

Another example of dropping that middle syllable in ‘probably’.

Probably. Prob’ly not.

Dad said: He said probably not.

He said probably not.

He said probably not.

We'll I'm going to take a chance and say they are crickets in the rainforest.

Well, I’m going to take a chance… The word ‘well’ was pretty unclear.

This can happen with this word as it’s a filler word,

it doesn’t have any special meaning here.

It’s just a quick W and dark L. Well. well. well.

Well I’m gonna-- Well I’m going to take a chance.

And another ‘gonna’ reduction.

Well, I’m going to take a chance…

Well, I’m going to take a chance

Well, I’m going to take a chance

We'll I'm going to take a chance and say they are crickets in the rainforest.

Alright!

My dad celebrated with ‘alright!

And again, there was clearly no L sound in this word.

Alright.

Alright.

Alright.

Alright.

Okay, I'm gonna say shatter for two.

Shatter.

Another great vocabulary word.

This means to break into pieces.

A glass would shatter if it hit the floor.

Shatter.

Notice the double T is the Flap T here,

because the T sound comes between two vowels.

Shatter.

Okay, I'm gonna say shatter for two.

And of course, another ‘for’ reduction. Fer two, fer two.

Shatter. For two. For two. For two.

I'm gonna go with glass.

I’m going to go with.

This means you choose.

My mom is choosing ‘glass’ as her answer.

You could also say this at a restaurant as you’re ordering.

“I’m going to go with the fish special.”

That means that's the dish that I choose to eat.

That I choose to order.

I'm gonna go with glass.

Now, Washington was the leader.

- She touched it. - Yeah, you're not supposed to touch it

until...it's okay, I know you weren't doing your final but...

My Dad is really watching my Mom, who is on the opposite team.

In this game you’re not supposed to touch a card until you’re making that your official guess.