Study the general guidelines to pronounce function words. If needed Utter examples 4-5 times aloud:

Guideline 1

am, are, can, could, did, do, does, had, has, have, is, must, shall, should, was, were, will, would. Suppose that you use any of these verb forms as the first word in a ‘question word group’. Then, you must use their full-length forms (as given on the left hand side of the arrows), and not their weak forms.

E.g.:

• Am I at | fault?
• Are you a |doctor?
• Can I |help you?

In medial positions, use their weak forms.

Guideline 2

Am, are, be, can, could, did, do, does, had, has, have, is, must, shall, should, was, were, will, would. Suppose that you use any of these verb forms as the last word in a clausal idea unit (whole or fragmentary) or a ‘foot’ (We’ll soon see what a ‘foot’ is). Then, you must use their full-length forms, and not their weak forms.

E.g.:

• Yes, I am.
• Yes, we are.
• Yes, he can.
• Yes, they could.

Guideline 3

at, by, for, from, of, on, till, to, with. Suppose that you use any of these prepositions as the last word in a clausal idea unit (whole or fragmentary) or a ‘foot’ (We’ll soon see what a ‘foot’ is). Then, you must use their full-length forms, and not their weak forms.

E.g.:

• What are you looking at?
• This is what he earns his living by.

Guideline 4

he, her, him, his, them, us. Even when they occur finally in an idea unit (or in a foot within an idea unit), you should not use the full-length forms of these words. You should only use their weak forms. (You should use their full-length forms only when you stress them as special cases for reasons of meaning).

E.g.:

• Who’s i: (= he)?
• Ask ɜː (= her).
• Tell im (= him).

Guideline 5

How, what, when, where, which, who, whose, why. Suppose that you use any of these words as the first word in a ‘question word group’. Then you must use the full-length forms of these words.

E.g.:

• How did he | go?
• What | time is it?
• When will you be | ready?

But if these words occur medially, and if you’re speaking at a fast rate, you don’t normally have to use the full-length forms of these words.

Guideline 6

More. You need not use the full-length form of this word, and you can weaken it, when you use it for comparison.

E.g.: John | draws mə (= more) | beautifully than |Mary.

But suppose that you use this word to indicate the quantity or number of something. Then you must normally use its full-length form.

E.g.: More |people, more | money, etc.

Guideline 7

Some. Suppose that you’re using ‘some’ as an adjective. Then you should normally weaken this word, and should not use its full-length form.

E.g.:

• Səm (= some) people.
• Səm (= some) powder.

But you must not weaken it, but use it’s full-length form, if you’re using it as a pronoun.

E.g.:

• Some are good.
• He gave me

Guideline 8

that. Suppose that you’re using ‘that’ as a conjunction to introduce a clause. Then you can weaken this word. (Actually, you can leave out the word ‘that’ in context like these).

E.g.:

• Anil | told me (thət) | Mina was | there.
• Gita | thought (thət) | Anil had | gone.

Again, suppose that you use ‘that’ as a relative pronoun. Then again, you can weaken this word.

E.g.: the book (thət) you gave me.

In other context, you must not weaken it, but use its full-length form.

E.g.:

• Give me that.
•  Who’s that?
• Where’s that?

Guideline 9

there. Suppose that you use ‘there’ as the second word in a ‘question word group’ or as the introductory first) word in other word groups. Then you need not use the full-length form of this word. (In these cases, you’re using ‘there’ as an indefinite adverb).

E.g.:

• Is there (=thər) | any | doubt?
• There’s (= Thəz) a | boy at the | gate.

But suppose that you use ‘there’ to mean ‘to that place’ or ‘at that place’ or ‘in that place’.  Then, you must normally use its full-length form. (Here you’re using ‘there’ as a demonstrative adverb).

E.g.:

• Anil | told me | Mina was
• He’s gone