How do speakers of American English weaken or compress function words? On the next page are some common one-syllable function words and their unstressed pronunciations. These reductions are not errors. If you weaken these words, your speech will sound more natural. If you stress these words, your speech may sound monotonous.
Notice how many function words have schwa /ə/.
Note: In some contexts, speakers may stress words that usually are weak.
He CAN'T SWIM, CAN he? -- (in tag questions)
He IS SICK. -- (for special emphasis)
You will learn more about the influence of context in the next two chapters.