How to pronounce The agreement aims to reduce carbon emissions by fifty percent. in American English

Words 10 Difficulty Intermediate Featured sound Silent Schwa Before L/M/N/R

dhee the uh·GREE·muhnt agreement AYMZ aims tuh to ruh·DOOS reduce KAR·buhn carbon uh·MIH·shuhnz emissions bahy by FIHF·tee fifty per·SEHNT percent

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In casual American English, "The agreement aims to reduce carbon emissions by fifty percent" sounds like "dhee uh-GREE-muhnt AYMZ tuh ruh-DOOS KAR-buhn uh-MIH-shuhnz bahy FIHF-tee per-SEHNT". Several things happen here, and the headline one is the Silent Schwa Before L/M/N/R: the unstressed vowel disappears and the consonant becomes its own syllable. Keep stressed words long, unstressed words short, and link the consonants forward into the vowels.

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Sounds

75%

Clarity

68%

Stress

78%

Intonation

65%

Fluency

62%

Overall assessment

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72% Noticeable accent

Common mistakes

Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.

In "percent", the "" is not released — the articulators get into position but hold without the burst of air. Air stops but there's no release burst — the articulators hold position.

Inserting a vowel before the syllabic consonant.

In "agreement", the short unstressed vowel before "" disappears — the schwa is absorbed and the "" becomes the syllable nucleus on its own. Schwa is absorbed — consonant becomes the syllable nucleus.

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Why it sounds different

What makes this sentence sound American.

In "agreement", the short unstressed vowel before "" disappears — the schwa is absorbed and the "" becomes the syllable nucleus on its own. This is called the Silent Schwa Before L/M/N/R, a small move that separates 'classroom' from 'native'. It comes out as uh-GREE-muhnt.

The breakdown

What's happening in this sentence.

Small tricks that turn a textbook sentence into how an American actually says it.

(j/w)

Vowel-to-Vowel Linking between "the" & "agreement"A brief glide (y or w) bridges two vowels for smooth flow.

Reduced Words (to, for, of) in "the"Full vowel reduces to schwa /ə/ or other weak vowel. Consonants may simplify.

ə→◌

Silent Schwa Before L/M/N/R in "agreement"Schwa is absorbed — consonant becomes the syllable nucleus.

⌣

Consonant-to-Vowel Linking between "agreement" & "aims"Final consonant "migrates" to next word — no pause between.

•

Unreleased Stops in "percent"Air stops but there's no release burst — the articulators hold position.

Word by word

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the dhee agreement uh·GREE·muhnt aims AYMZ to tuh reduce ruh·DOOS carbon KAR·buhn emissions uh·MIH·shuhnz by bahy fifty FIHF·tee percent per·SEHNT

Watch out

Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.

The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.

Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.

In "percent", the "" is not released — the articulators get into position but hold without the burst of air. Air stops but there's no release burst — the articulators hold position.

per-SEHNT→per·SEHNT

Inserting a vowel before the syllabic consonant.

uh-GREE-muhnt→uh·GREE·muhnt

Pausing between the words.

The "" at the end of "" flows directly into the vowel starting "" — the consonant migrates to the next word with no pause between. Final consonant "migrates" to next word — no pause between.

uh-GREE-muhnt→uh·GREE·muhnt

Leaving a gap between two vowels.

Between "" and "", a brief "" glide bridges the two vowels for smooth flow. A brief glide (y or w) bridges two vowels for smooth flow.

dhee→dhee

Questions

Questions people ask about this.

Why is "the" said so quickly in this sentence?

Function words — articles, prepositions, auxiliaries, pronouns — reduce to short, unstressed schwa shapes in casual American speech. Pronouncing them fully like the dictionary entry is a dead giveaway of a textbook accent. Native speakers stress only the content words and let everything else collapse.

How are the words connected in casual American speech?

Americans don't pause between words. A consonant at the end of one word links forward into the vowel that starts the next; two vowels in a row get bridged by a tiny W or Y glide; an identical consonant repeated across a word boundary is held just once. The result is a continuous flow rather than a textbook word-by-word delivery.

Is this how the sentence is taught in textbooks?

Textbooks usually teach the citation form — every word pronounced fully, every consonant crisp, every vowel pure. Americans actually flap their Ts, drop function-word H's, link consonants forward into vowels, and reduce unstressed syllables to schwa. The respell on this page shows the casual form you'll hear in real conversations rather than the textbook version.

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Overall assessment

Common mistakes

Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.

Inserting a vowel before the syllabic consonant.

What makes this sentence sound American.

What's happening in this sentence.

Tap any word for its full breakdown.

Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.

Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.

Inserting a vowel before the syllabic consonant.

Pausing between the words.

Leaving a gap between two vowels.

Questions people ask about this.

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