Guides
Practical, sourced guides for adults learning English, with extra depth for advanced speakers and Spanish speakers.
Accent, rhythm & intonation
- Why Your English Is Good but You Still Sound ForeignAdvanced learners often have strong grammar and vocabulary but still sound foreign. The cause is usually prosody: stress, rhythm and intonation.
- Word Stress in English: Rules, Patterns and PracticeHow English word stress works, why misplaced stress confuses listeners more than a wrong sound, and practical patterns and drills to fix it.
- Sentence Stress and Rhythm: Why English Sounds Like MusicEnglish is stress-timed: content words get the beat and small words shrink. How sentence stress and rhythm work, and drills to stop sounding robotic.
- Schwa and Weak Forms: The Sound That Makes English FluentSchwa is the most common vowel sound in English. Learn how weak forms of to, for, and, can and the work, and why full vowels make you sound robotic.
- American English Intonation: A Practical GuideHow pitch works in American English: the focus word, falling vs rising intonation, questions, lists and contrast, with exercises for flat-sounding speakers.
- Linking and Connected Speech in American EnglishWhy native speakers seem to talk fast: linking, the flap T, reductions and assimilation explained, with practice phrases for listening and speaking.
- The Shadowing Technique: How to Do It Right (Free Tools)Shadowing means speaking along with a native recording. A step-by-step method to improve rhythm, intonation and fluency, with free tools and common mistakes.