In General American, in many words that you would normally hear a [j] before [u], like in British English new [nju:] - in GA, this [j] sound is dropped. This is called j-dropping (yod-dropping).

In General American, [j] is dropped mostly in stressed syllables after alveolar sounds [t] [d] [n] [l] [s] [z] (that may be represented by different letters in the spelling - see resume), that are followed by [u] sound (in pronunciation, not necessarily in spelling - see new)

• [t] tune

• [d] dune

• [n] new

• [l] lunatic

• [s] consume

• [z] resume

It’s important not to overgeneralize yod-dropping, because [j] is present after alveolar sounds if they are in an unstressed syllable:

• menu /'men.ju/

• volume /'vɑl.jum/

• value /'væl.ju/

• continue /kənˈtɪn.ju/

And [j] before [u] is still present after non-alveolar sounds:

• music

• mute

• few

• huge

Practice pronouncing these words without [j] before [u]. Use dictionaries if you need to hear the native pronunciation:

• assume

• student

• duty

• numerous

• lunar

• news

• due

• tutor

• pursuit

• supermarket

• presume

• Luna

• YouTube

1) Find 3-5 ways to relax your body quickly and do these activities before speaking (this can be as short as a 1-minute practice).

2) Take a few deep breaths and exhale slowly.

3) Imagine you’re speaking to a person you really like and feel good around, someone who makes you happy when you talk to them. If you don’t have a person like that in your life, pretend you’re talking to a favorite character from a movie.

4) Do something that will make you smile or force a smile on your face (our minds don’t know a difference)

And now answer the questions below.

Answer these questions out loud:

1) What is your favorite memory?

2) Where would you like to travel to the most and why?

3) If you could go back in time to any time period, where would you go and why?

4) If you were invisible for one day, what would you do?

5) If you could do anything for a month and get paid $10,000 for doing only this thing, what would you do? And how would you spend this money?

6) How can you bring more fun and joy into your everyday life? What is one activity that you could add to your daily routine that would bring you happier?