2016-09-19 Idioms: movies, woulda/coulda/shoulda

Greg Malivuk
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http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk
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Homework: p. 35
1 5th picture, “to be a horrible actor”
2 4th picture, “a written review of a play, TV show, etc.”
3 1st picture, “to give something a favorable review”
4 2nd picture, “to start something right away”
5 3rd picture, “to promote”
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Let’s see a movie. - in a cinema
Let’s watch a movie. - at home
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We define the idiom with, “to be unable to act one’s way out of a paper bag”.
In conversation, we say, “He can’t act his way out of a paper bag,” or “she can’t act her…”.
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Grammar and pronunciation: modals about the past
	(modals: will/would, shall/should, can/could, may/might, must, ought to, had better)

I called his phone but he didn’t answer. He must have turned it off.
I got a bad grade on the test. I should have studied more.

We almost always reduce the pronunciation of “have” in these sentences:
must have -> must’ve -> must’a
should have -> should’ve -> should’a
could have -> could’ve -> could’a
would have -> would’ve -> would’a
might have -> might’ve -> might’a (this also has the “flapped” t-sound)
	(Some native speakers write “should of”, “could of”, etc., because they don’t know it’s supposed to be “have”.)

We can also reduce negatives:
shouldn’t have -> shouldn’a
couldn’t have -> couldn’a
wouldn’t have -> wouldn’a
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p. 30 - With partners, choose words from the box to complete the sentences. Then listen and check.
1 must’a been
2 should’a
3 must’a
4 should’a gotten
5 wouldn’a
6 could’a
7 shouldn’a
8 must’a been, wouldn’a been
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“Woulda, coulda, shoulda,” in any order, can mean that you’re thinking too much about what might have been, and you should focus on the present and future instead.
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Words with a ‘t’ (or ‘d’) that would be flapped normally, but where the next consonant is ‘n’, often have the vowel left out completely:
gotten -> got’n
important -> import’nt
cotton -> cot’n
wooden -> wood’n