1
00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:04,240
Speaker 1: This right here is what it sounds like when you

2
00:00:04,480 --> 00:00:09,480
speak while paying attention to the thought groups. And this

3
00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:13,119
right here is what it sounds like when you speak

4
00:00:13,160 --> 00:00:17,960
without paying attention to the thought groups. Let's dive in.

5
00:00:21,079 --> 00:00:24,800
Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from

6
00:00:24,839 --> 00:00:29,920
New York City. And here's your English teacher, Michael al Ray.

7
00:00:30,199 --> 00:00:34,679
Speaker 1: Thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael here from

8
00:00:34,719 --> 00:00:39,640
Happy English and I help people speak English better. And

9
00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:46,920
this is Happy English Podcast Episode eight fifty three, speaking naturally,

10
00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:54,799
thought groups and pausing. Hello and welcome, thanks for joining

11
00:00:54,799 --> 00:00:59,520
me for another episode of the Happy English Podcast. Let

12
00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:03,039
me start with something I hear from a lot of

13
00:01:03,079 --> 00:01:08,000
English learners, and maybe even you have said or thought

14
00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:15,400
something like this. Some people believe that if they speak quickly,

15
00:01:16,280 --> 00:01:21,200
they'll sound more fluent, more like a native speaker. But

16
00:01:21,359 --> 00:01:27,000
here's the truth. Just because you're speaking fast doesn't mean

17
00:01:27,079 --> 00:01:34,400
you're speaking fluently. Fluency is not about speed. Fluency is

18
00:01:34,480 --> 00:01:40,040
about rhythm. It's about sounding natural with the right pauses,

19
00:01:40,519 --> 00:01:45,719
the right tone, and the right feeling. Think about it.

20
00:01:46,359 --> 00:01:52,439
If someone speaks quickly but without pausing, without separating their

21
00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:59,920
ideas into clear groups, it doesn't sound fluent. It sounds rushed, messing,

22
00:02:00,599 --> 00:02:05,200
and honestly kind of hard to follow. So today I

23
00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:09,319
want to help you speak more naturally by focusing on

24
00:02:09,360 --> 00:02:13,319
something that native speakers do all the time, even if

25
00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:19,719
they don't realize it, and that is thought groups. Well,

26
00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:25,199
what's a thought group? A thought group is a short

27
00:02:25,319 --> 00:02:29,639
chunk of speech, a group of words that belong together

28
00:02:29,919 --> 00:02:37,400
in meaning. We don't speak word by word, and we

29
00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:45,599
don't pause after every word. Instead, we group our ideas

30
00:02:45,879 --> 00:02:51,599
and pause between those ideas. Here's an example. When I

31
00:02:51,719 --> 00:02:55,479
was a kid, I used to love playing in the

32
00:02:55,599 --> 00:03:03,960
park with my friends. Notice how I pause after each idea.

33
00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:08,919
That's a natural rhythm. Each pause is a thought group.

34
00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:14,280
When I was a kid, I used to love playing

35
00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:20,560
in the park with my friends. So naturally, when I

36
00:03:20,759 --> 00:03:23,759
was a kid, I used to love playing in the

37
00:03:23,879 --> 00:03:29,199
park with my friends. Now, listen to the same sentence

38
00:03:29,719 --> 00:03:33,560
without pausing. When I was a kid, I used to

39
00:03:33,639 --> 00:03:37,800
love playing in the park with my friends. Wow, hard

40
00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:42,039
to follow, right, Even if you pronounce every word clearly

41
00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:48,439
without pausing, it becomes difficult to understand. Let's try a

42
00:03:48,479 --> 00:03:53,840
few more. If you want to speak English naturally, you

43
00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:59,080
need to practice rhythm and pausing. There are two thought

44
00:03:59,159 --> 00:04:04,000
groups in that sentence. If you want to speak English naturally,

45
00:04:05,919 --> 00:04:11,639
you need to practice rhythm and pausing. Here's another one.

46
00:04:11,879 --> 00:04:16,319
The movie we saw last night was so good. I

47
00:04:16,480 --> 00:04:20,759
might watch it again. There are three thought groups in

48
00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:26,360
that sentence. The movie we saw last night was so good,

49
00:04:27,399 --> 00:04:31,120
I might watch it again. When we speak like this,

50
00:04:31,399 --> 00:04:35,959
it sounds smooth and clear. The movie we saw last

51
00:04:36,040 --> 00:04:42,000
night was so good, I might watch it again. So

52
00:04:42,839 --> 00:04:47,959
why is this important? Because when you speak in thought groups,

53
00:04:48,120 --> 00:04:53,680
you sound more natural, more fluent, and easier to understand.

54
00:04:54,279 --> 00:04:58,279
It's like music. There's a rhythm to it, and that

55
00:04:58,560 --> 00:05:05,439
rhythm helps your listener follow what you're saying. Plus, when

56
00:05:05,480 --> 00:05:10,839
you listen to native speakers, they're not separating every word,

57
00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:15,920
but when you start recognizing their thought groups, it becomes

58
00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:22,439
easier to understand them, even at full speed. Thought groups

59
00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:28,000
happen all the time in native conversations in real life.

60
00:05:28,079 --> 00:05:32,360
Here's how a native speaker might say something casually, what

61
00:05:32,399 --> 00:05:36,600
you doing later, want to grab a coffee? That's two

62
00:05:37,160 --> 00:05:41,360
clear thought groups. What you doing later? You want to

63
00:05:41,399 --> 00:05:45,519
grab a coffee? But it might sound like one fast

64
00:05:45,720 --> 00:05:51,360
sentence if you're not tuned into the rhythm or this one. Oh,

65
00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:55,759
I was going to call you, but something came up. Again,

66
00:05:56,160 --> 00:06:00,879
we've got two ideas, so to thought group. I was

67
00:06:00,920 --> 00:06:05,160
gonna call you, but something came up. And here's a

68
00:06:05,199 --> 00:06:09,759
longer one. I don't know what she said exactly, but

69
00:06:09,920 --> 00:06:14,959
I think she's upset. If you try saying that with

70
00:06:15,240 --> 00:06:19,639
no pausing, it's a total mess. But when you break

71
00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:23,959
it up, it becomes easy to say and easy to understand.

72
00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:29,040
I don't know what she's said exactly, but I think

73
00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:34,920
she's upset. So you might be thinking, oh, Michael, how

74
00:06:34,959 --> 00:06:39,160
can I practice thought groups? Well, let me give you

75
00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:47,079
four tips. First, read aloud with pauses. Yeah, I'm gonna

76
00:06:47,079 --> 00:06:52,639
plug reading. Here, take a short paragraph and read it slowly,

77
00:06:53,240 --> 00:06:59,480
breaking each sentence into small idea chunks, small thought groups.

78
00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:04,279
And the next tip related to that is to use slashes.

79
00:07:04,439 --> 00:07:10,519
You know that kind of short diagonal line that's the

80
00:07:10,639 --> 00:07:14,279
key next to the shift key on your keyboard, the slash.

81
00:07:15,720 --> 00:07:18,480
So when you read, get a pencil and draw a

82
00:07:18,519 --> 00:07:22,920
slash where you think a pause should go, Like I

83
00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:26,000
went to the store, but they were out of milk.

84
00:07:26,959 --> 00:07:30,800
I went to the store, slash, but they were out

85
00:07:30,879 --> 00:07:36,639
of milk. The third tip is to repeat what you hear.

86
00:07:37,439 --> 00:07:42,639
English teachers like to call this shadowing. Choose your favorite

87
00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:48,160
podcast like this one or a TV show and repeat

88
00:07:48,319 --> 00:07:53,519
one sentence at a time. Match the rhythm and pauses

89
00:07:53,720 --> 00:07:58,839
of the speaker. And finally, you need to breathe naturally.

90
00:07:59,639 --> 00:08:05,000
Thought groups usually match your breathing pattern. Don't try to

91
00:08:05,160 --> 00:08:11,399
say an entire paragraph in one breath, all right. Time

92
00:08:11,439 --> 00:08:15,439
to try it for yourself. Take a sentence, maybe one

93
00:08:15,480 --> 00:08:21,720
from this podcast, and read it aloud slowly, add little

94
00:08:21,839 --> 00:08:27,360
pauses between the ideas. You'll feel the rhythm, you'll sound

95
00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:33,120
more natural, and trust me, your English will instantly feel smoother.

96
00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:37,039
If you try it out, let me know how it goes.

97
00:08:37,759 --> 00:08:42,240
Come say hi on social media I'm at Happy English

98
00:08:42,279 --> 00:08:47,120
and why on just about every platform, or leave a

99
00:08:47,159 --> 00:08:50,360
comment on the blog thanks for spending time with me,

100
00:08:50,639 --> 00:08:53,440
and be sure to practice this lesson so you can

101
00:08:53,519 --> 00:08:58,000
sound more natural. And if you really want to get

102
00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:02,159
more practice using your English, you should join my podcast

103
00:09:02,279 --> 00:09:07,639
Learner's Study Group. There you can make new international friends.

104
00:09:08,159 --> 00:09:11,480
Join us for live group lessons every week where we

105
00:09:11,559 --> 00:09:17,840
practice these podcast lessons together. Plus you get access to

106
00:09:17,919 --> 00:09:23,000
the pdf transcript and audio download. For every Happy English

107
00:09:23,039 --> 00:09:27,440
podcast in the past and in the future. And on

108
00:09:27,480 --> 00:09:32,000
top of that, each episode has exercises where you can

109
00:09:32,080 --> 00:09:36,840
practice this English point with speaking and writing checked by me.

110
00:09:37,480 --> 00:09:41,600
To learn more, just visit Myhappy English dot com and

111
00:09:41,679 --> 00:09:47,919
choose podcast lesson eight fifty three. Remember, learning another language

112
00:09:47,960 --> 00:09:51,600
is not easy, but it's not impossible, and I'm here

113
00:09:51,639 --> 00:09:55,120
to help you on your journey.

114
00:09:56,039 --> 00:09:59,120
Speaker 2: This podcast is brought to you by Happy English. Please

115
00:09:59,240 --> 00:10:03,360
visit hi happy english dot com. Show your support for

116
00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:07,519
Happy English by leaving us a review. Get English, Get Happy,

117
00:10:07,759 --> 00:10:21,120
Happy English.