Pronunciation of 'of'

[eggcracker]

I usually pronounce 'of' as 'ov'. But, when I tried to pronounce 'standards of beauty', my pronunciation becomes 'standarz obeauty'. I can't pronounce 'ov(of)' in the 'standards of beauty'.
It okay to pronounce the noun phrase as 'standardz obeauty'?

 

[abaka]

It's true that the "f" in "of" is sometimes omitted, frequently enough that the spelling o' exists for it. It's probably regional, for example Irish or even more so Scottish: Robert Burns used it, often. For a learner of English, the quality of the vowels and of certain tricky consonants like "th", as well as the overall inflections, are probably more noticeable than a detail like a final consonant in a preposition that's usually unstressed. But if it's your oral English being tested, I would suggest working on your of's, for they are a difficulty you've already identified.

 

[konungursvia]

Basically, you cannot use o' here (no v sound) without sounding incorrect.

I usually pronounce 'of' as 'ov'. But, when I tried to pronounce 'standards of beauty', my pronunciation becomes 'standarz obeauty'. I can't pronounce 'ov(of)' in the 'standards of beauty'.
It okay to pronounce the noun phrase as 'standardz obeauty'?

 

[eggcracker]

Aha! "Standarz o' beauty"

 

[CarloSsS]

Sometimes in very informal AmE speech, I hear only schwa for the sound "of". Is it only me, or does this really happen in AmE or any other English accent for that matter?

 

[raindoctor]

Sometimes in very informal AmE speech, I hear only schwa for the sound "of". Is it only me, or does this really happen in AmE or any other English accent for that matter?

Trust your ears here.

After an unstressed vowel, English /v/ is deleted in 've and of in most tempos when a consonant follows: lotsa books, mighta had, etc.

of + consonant > schwa + C
of + vowel > /əv/ + vowel

Notice the similarity with indefinite articles.

a: a + consonant
an: a + n + vowel

Here, /n/ plays the same role as /v/.

In some cases, /v/ is not deleted. cf. have we: [ˈhæβ wi]

 

[BobK]

This unstressed /əv/ accounts for the common howler 'should of <verb>', which - whatever descriptivists might like to pretend - is a MISTAKE.

b