PART I. UNDERSTANDING THE BASICS.
1. Reductions.
Syllable Stress. Ellipsis. Function Words. More Ellipsis: Dropping Initial Words. Going to, want to, have to. Reductions for and/or.
2. Introduction to Linking.
Linking with Vowels. Linking Identical Consonants.
3. Special Sound Changes.
The Flap. -ty/teen. -nt Reduction. The Glottal Stop. Can/Can't. of. Linking of with Vowels.
4. Silent h.
Function Words Beginning with h. Questions Beginning with have/has. Pronoun Summary.

PART II. BUILDING ON THE BASICS.
5. Advanced Linking.
Linking Similar Consonants. Linking with ?ed Endings. Assimilation with y.
6. Focus on Function Words.
Listening for Unstressed Words. a/an. our/are/or.
7. Contractions.
Negative Contractions. Common Contractions with Personal Pronouns. Contractions with "wh" Words. Other Contractions with will. The “s” Contraction. Contractions with it/that.
8. Ending and Beginnings.
-s/es Endings. -en Ending. Adjective Endings. Prefixes. Comparative and Superlative Endings.

PART III. ADVANCED LISTENING CONCEPTS.
9. Grammar Challenges I.
Understanding Tag Questions. Infinitives (to + verb) and Gerunds (verb + -ing). Negative Comparisons. Talking To vs. Talking About.
10. Grammar Challenges II.
Past Tense Modal Reductions. Expressing Conditions with Should and Had.
11. Special Aspects of Intonation and Stress.
Statements as Question. Tag Ending. Contrastive Stress. Indicating Surprise with Yes/No Questions. Using Rhetorical Questions to Show Sarcasm.

PART IV.
12. TOEFL Practice I.
13. TOEFL Practice II.
14. TOEFL Practice III.
Appendix.
Tapescript.
Answer Key