BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts.

Want to improve your grammar? We have a podcast for that. Listen to learning English grammar

to improve your language for everyday conversation. What do you regret? Do you have a long

to-do list? And would you rather climb a mountain or sail across an ocean?

Test your grammar today.

Search Learning English Grammar wherever you're listening to this podcast.

Or visit BBC LearningEnglish.com.

Music. Hello and welcome to this episode of six-minute vocabulary.

I'm Finn.

And I'm Faye Faye. Hi.

Today we're going to be talking about contractions like I've, meaning I have or isn't, meaning is not. We're going to talk about what these contractions mean and how to pronounce them. That's right. And learning

to use contractions like I've or isn't when you're speaking will make your English sound much more fluent and

natural.

And that's got to be good news. As usual, we'll have lots of examples.

There'll be a short quiz.

And finally, we'll give you a top tip to help you with your vocabulary studies.

So, let's start with an example. Listen to Bill talking about his wife and his brother.

While you're listening, try to answer this question. Has Bill's brother ever visited the US?

My wife and I live in London. We've been married for about five years.

I've always lived in London, but she's lived in Germany and the US and lots of different places.

I've never been to the US, but my brother's been there many times because his wife is from New York. So Fayefe asked you, has Bill's brother ever

visited the US? And the answer is yes. Bill's brother has been to the US many times because his wife

...