Casual Versus Formal Speech

Speak Business English Like An American covers over 350 idioms and expressions you're likely to encounter in today's business world. Familiarize yourself with all of them.

4000 Essential English Words 6

The activities in "4000 Essential English Words" are specially designed to make use of important learning conditions. Firstly, the words are introduced using sentence definitions and an example sentence. 4000 Essential English Words 6: 600 words (Unit 1 - Unit 30).

4000 Essential English Words 5

4000 Essential English Words 4

4000 Essential English Words 3

4000 Essential English Words 2

4000 Essential English Words 1

400 Must Have Words for the TOEFL

400 Must-Have Words for the TOEFL® will help you improve your score on the TOEFL test. In particular, this book will build your TOEFL vocabulary for the new Internet-based TOEFL of 2005.

Speak English Like an American

If you already speak some English and now would like to speak more like a native, “Speak English Like an American” will help you. One of the keys to speaking like a native is the ability to use and understand casual expressions, or idioms. American English is full of idioms. Speak English Like an American will help you understand and use idioms better. It contains over 300 of today's most common idioms.

	sounds like:
1. Do you want to go?	“Wanna go?”
2. You’d better do it.	“You better do it.”

	sounds like:
1. probably	“probly”
2. I don’t know	“I dunno”
3. remember	“member”
4. going	“goin”
5. until	“til”
6. because	“cuz”

	becomes:
1. I need five dollars.	“I need five bucks.”
2. I don’t have any money.	“I’m broke.”

Rules and Patterns of Casual Speech
Formal, Careful Speech	Informal, Relaxed Speech	Examples
you	ya	I’ll call ya. See ya.
because	‘cuz	I did it ‘cuz I wanted to. I’m tired ‘cuz I worked all day.
I don’t know	I dunno	I dunno why. I dunno what to do.
let me	lemme	Lemme do it. Lemme help you. Lemme talk to him.
give me	gimme	Gimme a call. Gimme a break! Can you gimme a minute?
did you...?	joo	Joo call me? Why joo do it? Joo go out last night?
do you want to...?	wanna...?	Wanna go out? Wanna dance? What do you wanna do?
have got to...	gotta...	I gotta go. You gotta do it.
should’ve would’ve could’ve must’ve	shoulda woulda coulda musta	You shoulda told me. It woulda been nice. We coulda come. You musta seen it.
shouldn’t have wouldn’t have couldn’t have	shouldna wouldna couldna	You shouldna done that. I woundna known. It couldna happened.
going to	gonna	I’m gonna go. It’s gonna rain. What are you gonna do?
what do you...?	wadda you...?	Whadda you want? Whadda you doing? Whadda you think?

Rules and Patterns of Casual Speech
Formal, Careful Speech	Informal, Relaxed Speech	Examples
a lot of	a lotta	That’s a lotta money. I’ve got a lotta friends.
kind of	kinda	It’s kinda hot. What kinda car is that?
out of	adda	Get adda here. I’m adda money. You’re adda your mind. meaning: You’re crazy.
go to	goddu	I go to work. Let’s go to a concert.
yes	yeah yup	Yeah. It’s good. Yup. I did it.
no	nope	Nope. I’m not going. Nope. That’s not right.
-ing	in’	What are you doin’? Nothin’ much.

Casual Versus Formal Speech

Practice Dialogues