English Listening: The Heroic Dog | Episode 03
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Listen to a story about a strange encounter I had with a dog when I went for a walk around my neighbourhood.
You’ll also learn how to contract and reduce the verbs “could have been” into the sound /kʊdəv bɪn/.
Welcome to the English Teacher Melanie Podcast, a podcast for intermediate to advanced English learners who want to improve their English listening and speaking skills!
Each episode includes a story and a pronunciation tip. In the story, I use core vocabulary, the most common words in English, to tell a real world story. The pronunciation tip will help you understand natural spoken English.
You’ll hear the story twice. The first time, the story is a little slower than normal. It sounds funny because I used editing software to change the speed of the story and make it slower. After the pronunciation tip, you’ll hear the story again, but at a regular speed.
THE STORY
I recently had a very strange encounter with a dog in my neighborhood. The other day I decided to go for a walk to get some exercise and some fresh air. As soon as I closed and locked my front door, a dog appeared in my driveway and started barking at me. It’s not normal for a dog to be wandering around a residential neighborhood by itself. We don’t have stray dogs living outdoors on their own. I was really concerned about the dog & I wanted to help. He could have been far from home and he could have been wandering the streets for days without food or water.
Learn more: English Grammar: Using could to guess information
I tried to show him that I was friendly and that he didn’t need to be afraid of me. I tried to get closer to him to check if he had an ID tag on his collar, but he ran away from me! He ran up the street, stopped, and started barking at a man walking down the street toward me. I wondered if this was his dog, but then the dog turned around and started barking at me. I continued to follow the dog, and this time he let me get close enough to pet him. I noticed that his ID tag said his name was Thor and there was also a phone number on it. Unfortunately I didn’t have a cell phone with me. I tried to grab his collar and lead him back to my house so I could call the phone number, but he was too quick. He ran away from me again.
All of a sudden, I smelled burning wood, and that’s not a common smell in the middle of the day! There was a fire in someone’s garage! Thor wasn’t lost. He was looking for someone to alert to the fire! What a heroic dog! I called out to the man walking down the street to ask if this was his house and let him know that there was a fire. He called 911 on his cell phone, and ran into the house to see if anyone was inside. Three people ran out. They didn’t even know there was a fire in their own garage! Apparently some wood in their garage caught fire after someone had been smoking a cigarette.
Learn more: English Vocabulary: 911 and 9/11
With all this activity, no one noticed that Thor had disappeared. He had alerted someone to the fire and this wasn’t even his house! His work was done, so he headed home.
NOTE: I called the dog ‘he.’ I know that ‘Thor’ is a male name. If you know the sex of an animal, you can use ‘he’ or ‘she’ instead of it.
Yes, this is a REAL, TRUE story!
PRONUNCIATION TIP
HOW TO CONTRACT AND REDUCE THE VERBS COULD HAVE BEEN INTO THE SOUND /kʊdəv bɪn/
This transcript uses IPA symbols to represent sounds and teach pronunciation. Learn more about the IPA here.
Listen again to something I said in the story:
He could have been far from home and he could have been wandering the streets for days without food or water.
Did you hear me say could have been?
I contracted the two helping verbs could and have into one sound: /kʊdəv/
Since the verb have is just a helping verb here and not the main verb, it doesn’t need to be fully pronounced. It’s reduced. The h is not pronounced, and the vowel sound is reduced to the schwa sound /ə/, so it sounds like /əv/.
Sometimes even the /v/ is not pronounced at the end of have and the contraction is pronounced: /kʊdə/
Also, the past participle been is pronounced /bɪn/
Put all those sounds together: /kʊdəv bɪn/
Listen again:
He could have been far from home and he could have been wandering the streets for days without food or water.
This also happens with other modal verbs:
must have becomes must’ve /məstəv/ or /məstə/
should have becomes should’ve /ʃʊdəv/ or /ʃʊdə/
would have becomes would’ve /wʊdəv/ or /wʊdə/
NOTE: Sometimes even native speakers get this wrong! They hear /kʊdəv/ and write ‘could of’ or they hear /kʊdə/ and write ‘coulda.’ Be careful!
Comments
I’ve never had pets.When I was a child,I wanted a dog and asked my mother.But I couldn’t.We were not allowed to have any pet because we lived in apartment.
Yuko, that’s so sad! Now that you’re older, have you thought about getting a dog? Thanks for your comment : )
What a smart dog Thor was.
German Shepherd is big dog.
You were not surprised to see Thor appearing Suddenly?
You don’t see stray dogs around my place either.
but,stray cats are often seen,here.
I wonder if the cats let us know emergency? haha
oxwinter
Hi, Oxwinter!
Actually, I was very surprised because he came right up to our garage! That’s unusual. How did he know I was there? I was a bit scared too – dogs that have been wandering around for awhile could be vicious.
Thanks for your comment : )
Thank teacher Melanie. it is my second listening lesson for improving listening skill. Thanks.
That’s great, Tai! If you do a little bit every day, your listening will continue to improve!
Keep it up!
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Thank you for your story, Miss Melanie. It’s really touchy. I always want to have a dog. Unfortunately, my mom doesn’t like any pets at our house.
Apart from the story of Thor, your story help me to improve my listening!!!
Once again, thank you!!
your pod casts are really useful for me and helps improving my listening skill effectively. thanks a lot, teacher Melanie!
Thank you so much, Thai! I am so happy to read your comment. I have just started re-recording the old podcast episodes, and you are the first person to comment on the new & improved episodes!
More episodes are coming soon!
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Hi Melanie,
your podcast are really handy. Thank you so much for your dedication. When I listen your podcast I try to do my own transcription, and although I don’t want to be a nitpicking person. I’d say that I listen to “All of the sudden” instead of “all of sudden” as your script in the beggining of the third paragraphs. Could you say what was on?
Thanks
Thank you for bringing this to my attention! It was supposed to say “all of A sudden”! I have corrected the transcript.
“All of a sudden” is a fixed expression. It’s never “all of the sudden.”
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Thank you very much for your quick answer. I really appreciate your work, it has high quality, the design of your web is tasteful and I can see your passion on it. Your opening my eyes about English pronunciation.
Keep it doing,
Kindest regards,
Miguel
Hi MELANIE
I have found your website recently. It’s very useful for me and maybe everyone! I come from IRAN, sorry for my bad English but i do my best 😉
Hope to get better after listening to your podcasts.