In English, whenever the letters "t" or "d" come before the letter "n", we tend to blend the sound by lifting our tongue to the roof of our mouth as if to say the "t" or "d" sound, and then go straight into the "n" sound. i.e. important, subordinate, coordinate, Martin, etc. In addition, whenever we pronounce monosyllabic words that end in the letter "t", we tend to cut the "t" sound short by using what I call a tongue stop, i.e. what, got, taught, thought, etc. It should be notated that for polysyllabic words we tend to pronounce the "hard t" at the end of these words, i.e. comment, warrant, torrent, compliment, etc. If you ever have any questions or concerns, always feel free to message me here on italki.

In English, we have 3 articles total: The Definite Article: the ; and the Indefinite Articles: a, an. The Definite Article is used to refer to a specific thing or specific things i.e. the dog, OR the dogs. However, the Indefinite Articles are used only to refer to one thing i.e. a dog NOT a dogs. When referring to something in the Indefinite Plural, we simply exclude the Article, i.e. dogs are in the street. If you ever have any questions or concerns, always feel free to message me here on italki.

In English, we have 2 forms of the Negative Modifier: "no" and "not". "Not" is the more common usage, always applying to verbs (even when they act as nouns, such as gerunds) and adjectives, i.e. I am not blue, I am not going, I will not go, to be or not to be, etc. "No" is used when referring to either Common Nouns or Proper Nouns (and, on rare occasions, pronouns) i.e. I am no mailman, I have no choice, I have no McDonald's near me, etc. If you ever have any questions or concerns, always feel free to message me here on italki.

In English, the most common Unstressed Syllable is the schwa (pronounced "uh"). English speakers will often change the pronunciation of unstressed syllables to the schwa, which can be confusing for some people learning English. Unfortunately, there is no hard and fast rule for distinguishing what does and does not default to the schwa sound, but the schwa is common enough to be an effective guideline for those wanting to master English. If you have any questions or concerns, always feel free to message me here on italki.