Record these sentences (from Unit 4, Part 4C). The focus of this activity is to practice reductions. Before you record, decide which words should be reduced and which should be spoken fully.

1. Whatever it is must be pretty important, because I’ve traveled with it, moved it, from apartment to apartment to apartment.

2. Did you know that we Americans have about three times the amount of space we did 50 years ago?

3. All this shopping has led to lots of credit card debt and huge environmental footprints.

4. I bet most of us have experienced at some point the joys of less.

5. So I’m going to suggest that less stuff and less space are going to equal a smaller footprint. It’s actually a great way to save you some money. And it’s going to give you a little more ease in your life.

6. First of all, you have to edit ruthlessly.

7. We’ve got to clear the arteries of our lives. … We’ve got to  cut the extraneous out of our lives, and we’ve got to  learn to stem the inflow.

8. We need to think before we buy.

9. Most of us, maybe all of us, are here pretty happily for a bunch of days with a couple of bags, maybe a small space, a hotel room.