Some questions about words linking

I know that there is word linking in spoken English. One rule is, when a word ends with a consonant and the next word starts with a vowel sound, then these two words shall be linked together.

A second rule is, when a word ends with a consonant, and the next word starts with the same or similar consonant, you need speak the consonant for only once.

One more rule is, when a word ends with a "r" consonant, the next word starts with a vowel, then two words shall be linked and "r" shall be pronounced.

I find it pretty easy to link words like "of", "a" , "up", "it" , "in" , "after" , "out" , "and" "about" , "are" , "on" with other words, for example:

a lot of, a range of
as a , need a, have a
Looked up
pronounce it, make it, record it, compare it, hear it
as in the
repeat after
point out
record and listen
read about
sounds are
relied on

But there are some situations which puzzle me. I will give some examples here

checked the transcription - shall the “checked” and “the” be linked together? and which consonant shall be pronounce, 'd' or the 'th'?
similar examples - alongside the, imitate the, that there

Imitated American - shall the “d” and “a” be linked? but I feel a little uncomfortable to do that linking. it seems easier to pronounce two words separately and fast

not at all - shall I link all these three words together?

After a few days - do I need to link “after” and “a”?

Can someone help me? Thanks!

In rapid speech I would normally say something that sounded either like "chekt the transcript" or even "check the transcript" (the -ed would get lost in the middle).

For the second I would say "imitadedamerican" as all one word.

<not at all - shall I link all these three words together?>
Yes.
<After a few days - do I need to link “after” and “a”? >
Sure, with the linking [r].
All the words in a syntagma are connected.

@Uriel and sunny day
Thanks a million for the neat tip.

I have a few more questions
If "not at all" shall be linked together, then "part of our" shall also be linked together?

I learned a rule that "When the sounds /t/ or /d/ occur between two consonant sounds, they will often disappear completely from the pronunciation".
For example, postman is pronounced as "posman"
But how about "longest sleepers"? As the consonant before and after the /t/ are both /s/, can I merge these two /s/ into one and simply pronounce "longesleepers"?

<<I learned a rule that "When the sounds /t/ or /d/ occur between two consonant sounds, they will often disappear completely from the pronunciation".
For example, postman is pronounced as "posman" >>

That's right. Other examples:

First class ; fast car ; fast lane ; best place ; first place ; I don't have ; I don't know ; etc.

<<But how about "longest sleepers"? As the consonant before and after the /t/ are both /s/, can I merge these two /s/ into one and simply pronounce "longesleepers"?>>

Yeah, that's the most natural way of saying it.

Have a look at this document. It's got very detailed information about connected speech in English.

Good luck and practise a lot!!

Regards

Pete's right, Clari. The T would get lost. And my "part of our" would sort of sound like the single word "pardavar". Other accents would sound different, of course.

<<Have a look at this document. It's got very detailed information about connected speech in English.>>

Sorry man. I forgot to paste the link here.

Here you are:

http://www.slideshare.net/cupidlucid/aspects-of-connected-speech-presentation-710223

Regards