I'll give you something to shoot!

[GoldfishLord]

"Subtitle: I'll give you something to shoot!

I wonder if the "thing to" part in the audio available at https://yarn.co/yarn-clip/ca829bb7-1e00-434f-af81-093797c39399 is shortened and pronounced [tə].

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Source: I've made up this.

The subject in the if-clause is too long. I'd like to know a natural way to say the bold part.

 

[Barque]

I wonder if the words "thing to" in the line you can hear at [link] have been pronounced "tuh".

 

[emsr2d2]

Yes, it sounds like "tuh" (I don't do phonetic symbols). In standard, natural, everyday English (in BrE at least), it's pronounced that way.

I suggest you ask a question instead of wondering. If you write "I wonder if ...", it's perfectly possible for us to just think you're wondering out loud. We could respond with "Do you? That's interesting".

Ask us a question! Not only would that make it very clear what you want but it would help you practise sentence construction for questions (word order).

You can practise it now:

Change "I wonder if 'thing to' in this audio has been shortened and is pronounced [tə]" into a direct question.

 

[GoldfishLord]

How about saying 'is the "thing to" audio part in a video clip, available at https://yarn.co/yarn-clip/ca829bb7-1e00-434f-af81-093797c39399, shortened and pronounced [tə]'?

 

[emsr2d2]

How about saying 'Is the "thing to" audio part in a video clip, available at ..., shortened and pronounced [tə]?'?

See above. Your word order is correct but you forgot to add a question mark to that new question (inside the quotation marks). There are two questions in your post - the one starting "How about" and the one starting "Is the".
Life would have been simpler for you if, instead of bothering with "How about ...?", you had just written:

Is the 'thing to' audio part in ..., shortened and pronounced [tə]?

 

[GoldfishLord]

Which is natural, 'the audio "thing to" part in a video clip' or 'the "thing to" audio part in a video clip'?

 

[Barque]

The first doesn't sound natural.
The second is better. But that doesn't really sound natural either.

You've got a couple of suggestions on alternative wording.

Also, asking "How about [something]?", while acceptable in informal speech, is not, strictly speaking, a grammatical question.

Your word order is correct

Correct in an informal context. (Like my "sentences" here.)

 

[emsr2d2]

Correct in an informal context. (Like my "sentences" here.)

I'm not sure what you mean by that. I was clearly referring specifically to the word order of the main question that I suggested GoldfishLord use for practice. That question was:

Is the "thing to" audio part in a video clip, available at https://yarn.co/yarn-clip/ca829bb7-1e00-434f-af81-093797c39399, shortened and pronounced [tə]'?

Why do you think that's correct only in an informal context?

 

[Barque]

You suggested that GoldfishLord say "How about [X]?" in the correction you posted in #5.

"How about X?" isn't a grammatical question, though you'll hear it in casual speech of course.

 

[emsr2d2]

You suggested that GoldfishLord say "How about [X]?" in the correction you posted in #5.

"How about X?" isn't a grammatical question, though you'll hear it in casual speech of course.

I did not suggest that he use "How about". He chose to use it and I corrected the punctuation that was required because of those opening words. I specifically recommended that he not start with "How about" and simply start with "Is the "thing to" ...".

I am locking this thread. We've gone a long way off track and the original question has been answered.