In a department store

Pretty girl:	I want to buy a coat.
Assistant:	Coats are upstairs on the next floor.
Fat man:	Where can I get a hot meal?
Assistant:	The restaurant is on the tenth floor.
Little girl:	I want to buy some bottles of fruit juice.
Assistant:	They are on the next counter on your left, dear.
Tall lady:	I want some tins of tomato paste.
Assistant:	Try the supermarket in the basement.
Gentleman:	Could you tell me where the travel agency is?
Assistant:	It’s right next to the restaurant to the restaurant on the tenth floor.
Student:	I want to buy a football.
Assistant:	Take the lift to the sports department. It’s on the top floor.
Little boy:	Could you tell me where the telephone is?
Assistant:	It’s on the twelfth floor opposite the photographer’s.
Twins:	Could you tell us the time please?
Assistant:	Yes. It’s exactly twenty-two minutes to ten.

4.

Leisure

by W.H. Davies.

What is this life, if full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare!

No time to stand beneath the boughs,

And stare as long as sheep and cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,

Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see in broad daylight

Streams full of stars like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,

And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can

Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care

We have no time to stand and stare.

Loss of Plosion.

In a cluster of two plosive consonants or a plosive + an affricate (either within a word or at word boundaries) the first consonant loses its plosion, i.e. there is no audible release of the first plosive.

When two plosives have the same place of articulation there is a complete loss of plosion of the first sound. The obstruction is removed and a plosion is heard only after the second consonant.

 e.g.: Deep purple, at ten, midday, lick candies.

When the contacting plosives have different places of articulation the release of the first consonant is very weak, and there is a perceptible plosion only after the second consonant.

 e.g.: Accept, bad boy, what kind, big deal.

In fact, the phenomenon of the loss of plosion manifests itself in a micropause instead of the release of the first element of these clusters.

! While training these clusters at the initial stage make the second element sound more prominent and prolong a bit the pause replacing the release of the first consonant.

Sound Drills.

1. Practise loss of plosion in the following words and phrases.

a)

prospect architect contact project product actor October

kept accept attempt apt chapter except September

football rugby outcome postcard blackboard cocktail obtain

bookcase cheek bone check-book lamp-post post-date dog-collar bagpipe

picture gletcher subject sculpture deckchair

b)

stop – stopped jump – jumped trip – tripped dip – dipped pop – popped grasp – grasped

rob – robbed sob – sobbed dub – dubbed barb – barbed grab – grabbed stab – stabbed

knock – knocked lock – locked attack – attacked bake – baked look – looked like – liked

lag – lagged beg – begged clog – clogged hug – hugged drug – drugged leg – legged

c)

[p] deep purple, hope to, a group captain, ripe bananas, rap dancers, cheap gas, stop cheating, cheap gin;

[t] a flat tyre, eight pounds, lost property, quite common, a remote control, inverted commas, balanced breakfasts, competent directors, a separate garage, a lost chance, a locked jail;

[k] black coffee, take care, mystic tales, a blank page, traffic problems, a sick baby, a back garden, thank goodness, quick changes, dark jeans;

[b] rob banks, a superb tact, Arab countries, an adverb position, club dancers, superb guitars, lab chairs, bribe generals;

[d] bad days, a blood donor, rapid pace, a hundred times, a value added tax, an armed conflict, you’d better, card games, a mild chuckle, a grand jury; a good gymnasium;

[g] a big gap, dig potatoes, vague talks, hug Kate, leg behind, a big deal, a vague chance, bulldog jaws.

2. Practise the following pairs of word combinations. Make sure you pronounce one consonant at the word juncture in the left column and two consonants at the word juncture in the right column. Be sure to ‘lose’ the plosion of the first consonant.

red eye	red dye
bright eyes	bright ties
her bread	herb bread
top layer	top player
big eight	big gate
black ape	black cape
draw pictures	drop pictures
we talk	we’d talk
fur coats	first coats
pay back	paid back
Bess’s jacket	best jackets
my cheque	might check