Why "It isn't teddy bear" is correct?

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Doitsujin
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Re: Why "It isn't teddy bear" is correct?

Postby Doitsujin » Sun Oct 14, 2018 9:25 pm

cjareck wrote:- What's your favourite thing?- Hmm. It isn't a computer. It isn't Teddy Bear*. Hmm. My favourite toy is big. And it's blue. It's a scooter!
Most likely your textbook is outdated. The current version reads:
What’s your favourite thing?
1.12
A: Hmm... It isn’t a computer. It isn’t a teddy bear. Umm. My favourite
toy is big and it’s blue. It’s a scooter.
B: My favourite thing isn’t a robot. It isn’t a watch. It isn’t a bike. It’s
red and blue. It’s small. It’s a spaceship.
BTW, if you're a Firefox user, also check out the free LanguageTool grammar checker plugin. (It can't help you with this particular problem, though.)
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cjareck
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Re: Why "It isn't teddy bear" is correct?

Postby cjareck » Sun Oct 14, 2018 9:33 pm

I could hear it wrong here is that sentence:
http://www.umk.pl/~jcentek/Teddy.mp3
Maybe there is "a" but I can not hear it?
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Re: Why "It isn't teddy bear" is correct?

Postby Speakeasy » Sun Oct 14, 2018 10:17 pm

cjareck wrote:I could hear it wrong here is that sentence:
http://www.umk.pl/~jcentek/Teddy.mp3
Maybe there is "a" but I can not hear it?

Czareck, first off, allow me to express a measure of amazement that you should be able grasp much of anything at all from this sound clip! Bravo! You have a really good ear! Second, following several attempts, I finally managed to catch what the young child was saying. I now see two possibilities:

(1) She is saying "It isn't Teddy Bear" wherein, as discussed above, the object of our discussion is a personified toy -- a teddy bear -- to which the child has assigned the name Teddy Bear. In a similar manner, had she named her stuffed toy "Fluffy", two possibilities would exist (a) "It isn't Fluffy" in the sense that we have been discussing, or (b) "It isn't fluffy" wherein the word fluffy (non capitalised) is used as an adjective (no article required).

(2) She is saying "It isn't (a) teddy bear" wherein the indefinite article "a" is pronounced but only barely vocalized . There is a short gap in the sentence as she says "It isn't ... teddy bear" wherein she might have said "a" in a barely audible manner or, as an alternative, this might an example of a glottal stop*.

*Glottal Stop - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glottal_stop

EDITED:
Tinkering.
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Re: Why "It isn't teddy bear" is correct?

Postby Adrianslont » Mon Oct 15, 2018 12:13 am

cjareck wrote:I could hear it wrong here is that sentence:
http://www.umk.pl/~jcentek/Teddy.mp3
Maybe there is "a" but I can not hear it?

She is definitely pronouncing the “a”. It is clear as day to me. I’m not saying it is emphasised or anything but it is still clear to me.

Speakeasy, I was expecting a really lofi clip and much ambiguity after your comments but it was all clear to me. This is despite my hearing loss issues - though I was wearing earbuds. I can only guess that my variety of English is closer to the little girl’s than yours.

Certainly whole words go missing when I listen to french - then often appear six months later when my french is improved.

I think articles in English present a difficulty for even those learners who have them in their native language - they are single syllable, one of them
is just a vowel and another contains the dreaded “th” and they are usually very “reduced”.
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Re: Why "It isn't teddy bear" is correct?

Postby Speakeasy » Mon Oct 15, 2018 12:59 am

Adrianslont wrote:She is definitely pronouncing the “a”. It is clear as day to me. I’m not saying it is emphasised or anything but it is still clear to me ... Speakeasy ... despite my hearing loss issues ... I can only guess that my variety of English is closer to the little girl’s than yours ...
I, too, suffer from hearing-loss. Even wearing headphones, I could make only the slight gap and could not really make out the "a". As to the little girl's variety of English, as is commonly-known, Canadian is the purest. ;)

EDITED:
Difficulties with the Quote function.
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Re: Why "It isn't teddy bear" is correct?

Postby smallwhite » Mon Oct 15, 2018 2:37 am

Can OP please post the audio of the other sentences as well for us to hear the A's in them?
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Re: Why "It isn't teddy bear" is correct?

Postby cjareck » Mon Oct 15, 2018 4:37 am

smallwhite wrote:Can OP please post the audio of the other sentences as well for us to hear the A's in them?

Yes, of course:
http://www.umk.pl/~jcentek/Girl.mp3
Other are very clear. And do not forget it is for 8-year old children who started learning English year before.
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Re: Why "It isn't teddy bear" is correct?

Postby Brun Ugle » Mon Oct 15, 2018 6:06 am

I have good hearing and was listening with headphones. I had no problems hearing the clip. I thought it was very clear. To me, it sounds like she says, “It isn’t Teddy Bear.” She enunciates very clearly and pronounces the t’s in isn’t and in Teddy. So there are two t’s where many people in faster or less enunciated speech would slur them together and only pronounce one t. I didn’t hear any sound between them.
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Re: Why "It isn't teddy bear" is correct?

Postby Adrianslont » Mon Oct 15, 2018 9:46 am

cjareck wrote:
smallwhite wrote:Can OP please post the audio of the other sentences as well for us to hear the A's in them?

Yes, of course:
http://www.umk.pl/~jcentek/Girl.mp3
Other are very clear. And do not forget it is for 8-year old children who started learning English year before.

The other two “a” are definitely clearer than the one before teddy.

I just surveyed three more native speakers of English in my household (just asking them what they heard) and got mixed results - two couldn’t hear the “a” and one, like me, hears it very clearly and described how it is “reduced” in lay terms.

So my household is split 2-2. It’s no wonder you are having trouble hearing it.

Edit: I just returned to my two household members who didn’t hear the “a” and gave them earbuds this time - and this time they could hear the “a” easily. But they still can’t hear it without earbuds. So it is 2-2 without earbuds and 4-0 with earbuds.

This points to the limitations of the speaker on my phone? There have been recent (and old) discussions on the forum about listening using headphones or sound bars and how it is easier to hear things. Anyone who is not hearing the “a” might like to try listening with headphones and see if that makes a difference for them.
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Re: Why "It isn't teddy bear" is correct?

Postby Speakeasy » Mon Oct 15, 2018 1:30 pm

The little girl said "a" ...

The little girl said "a" ... Yes, No, Maybe ...
Yes, No, Maybe 1.JPG


The little girl said "a" ... Them's Fightin' Words!
Them's Fightin' Words.jpg
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Last edited by Speakeasy on Tue Oct 16, 2018 3:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
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