Pronounce 5 English Idioms Correctly

VIDEO: Learn How To Pronounce 5 English Idioms Correctly

Hi, it’s Esther from Speak More Clearly

It can be embarrassing if you don’t know how to pronounce some common English idioms, or you don’t know what they mean, so let’s practise 5 of them together.

The first English idiom is: Be glad to see the back of – this means to be happy when a person or thing leaves.

The Pronunciation tips for this are: Make sure you pronounce the ‘th’ in the word ‘the’ correctly. You can also link the words ‘ back and of’ so it’s’ ba ckof’ for more flowing English rhythm.

Make sure you pronounce the consonant cluster in glad as gl and don’t put a vowel in between the g and l. So it’s not gelad but glad. Let’s practise a sentence.

“They were glad to see the back of their annoying neighbour.” Or you could say “ I’ll be glad to see the back of them.”

The second idiom is: Blessing in disguise – this means something good that isn’t recognised as something good at first.

The Pronunciation tips for this are: Make sure you don’t say the /g/ in blessing, but say a ng sound blessing, you can link the ng with the ‘i’ in the word ‘in’ so it becomes blessi ngin. Also, disguise is said ‘dis guys’.

Let’s practise a sentence.

‘The storm damage to the roof was a blessing in disguise, as the new roof is even better.”

The third English idiom is: Cut corners- this means, when something is done badly to save money.

The pronunciation tips for this are: If you are practising an American accent then use an American /r/ sound for the ‘or’ and ‘er’ sounds in the word corner- so it’s corners, corners.
If you are practising a British or Australian English accent, the ‘er’ and ‘or’ vowels are not said with the /r/ sound included.
So it’s said corners, corners.
Let’s practise a sentence.
“They definitely cut corners, when they installed the plumbing in this house!”

The fourth idiom is: Feel a bit under the weather – this means feeling a little unwell.

The pronunciation tips for this are: You can link the words ‘feel a’ and ‘bit under‘, to be said, ‘fee la’ and ‘bi tunder’ rather than say them all separately.
This makes it sound more flowing. Make sure you say the voiced ‘th’ sounds in ‘the’ and ‘weather’.
Let’s practise a sentence.
“I won’t come to the movies because I feel a bit under the weather.”

The fifth idiom is: Give the benefit of the doubt – this means to believe someone’s statement without proof.

The pronunciation tips for this are: You can link the words benefit and of, so it becomes ‘benefi tof’, benefit tof.
Be careful to say the ‘th’ in ‘the’ properly, even though the previous word ends in a /v/ sound.
So It’s ‘give the’ and ‘of the’ not ‘give de’ or ‘of de’.
Notice the last two vowels are de stressed in the word benefit. Benefit
Let’s say a sentence.
“I wasn’t sure whether she was telling the truth, but I gave her the benefit of the doubt anyway.”

Of course to continue to improve your English pronunciation, you need to continue to immerse yourself in auditory training. This is exactly why I developed the speak more clearly English accent training course. Click on the accent you wish to learn below, and start speaking English more clearly today.