What exactly is a Ben Franklin exercise? See the instructions for it on the exercise page. These exercises are a lot of work, but allow you to really take command of your pronunciation!!

As you study and takes notes on the pronunciation, notice the phrase 'strive for'.  The V is dropped and the speaker connects the next word: 'stri-for'.

Video Text:

The middle class was always something to strive for.  If you work hard, you do your job right, you do expect to have that nice little house in suburbia on Long Island, with a nice manicured lawn, with a car in the driveway, maybe go away on a vacation.  You do expect to go to college, get a good-paying job.  And those good-paying jobs are disappearing from America.