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[Music]

hi everybody welcome back to ask alicia

the weekly series where you ask me

questions and i answer them

maybe okay let’s get to your first

question this week

first question this week comes from mo

adam hi mo adam

mo adam says how do i express the plural

form of

non-humans like animals or things should

i use

it are or they are ah

use they are i assume for this question

we’re talking about countable nouns if

you’re using countable nouns

please use they are plus the noun with

s sound at the end so i know that we

might kind of associate using they with

people but we actually also use they

when we’re talking about

objects so we don’t use it when we’re

talking about

plural objects we will however use it

if we’re talking about an uncountable

noun so please keep this in mind

if you’re using a countable noun please

use they are

if you’re using an uncountable noun use

is so let’s take a look at some examples

they are with the plural form and these

things will introduce

non-human things for example these

computers

they’re from my company nice shoes

they’re brand new yeah

i wish i could stay in a luxury hotel

but man

the rooms they’re so pricey

so in sum please just make sure if

you’re using a countable noun use

they are plus the plural form of your

noun i hope that this helps you

thanks for the question okay let’s go on

to your next question

next question this week comes from aniko

hi aniko

aniko says hi alicia could you please

explain the meaning of

for the record when and how is it used

in everyday speech

okay sure we use for the record to mean

my official statement is or my

official opinion is so we use for the

record

just before we make the statement or

just before we share that information

the idea here is that we expect that

information

is going to be written down or is going

to be recorded

like literally recorded in a record

so a record literally used to refer to

something like a notebook where we kept

information so when we say

for the record it literally means this

is information that i want to say

and have included in a record so we use

this a lot

when we’re trying to clear up so that

means trying to make something clear

when we’re trying to clear up something

that’s controversial

or maybe there’s been a misunderstanding

or there’s been trouble or a problem of

some kind

because information is not so clear and

so we say

for the record to make our official

statement or to share our official

opinion about something

let’s take a look at some examples i

would like to say for the record that i

think this is a terrible decision

for the record i didn’t cheat on that

test

so you might hear people like begin an

interview or you might hear people

beginning

like a legal situation with the

expression state your name for the

record

which means please say your name so that

we can officially record it

so for the record just means give us

information that you

expect to be considered official another

related term that you might hear

also in kind of legal or like uh maybe

police related or controversy related

situations

is the expression let the record show

let the record show

so let the record show is usually said

like a lawyer or some other kind of

legal professional

and it’s usually said to the person

writing notes or the person recording

like the discussion or the situation and

they use it

to mean please like make a note in the

record that something happened

so for example let the record show that

the witness refused to answer

questions so in simple english that

means please write down in the record

that the witness refused to answer

questions so this let the record show is

kind of a specific expression that we

use

in legal situations for the record is

fairly similar though you may also hear

it used in everyday speech

to sound kind of funny like if we want

to make kind of a

basic or very like everyday opinion

sound a little official just like for

humor purposes to sound funny

someone might say for the record and

then introduce their opinion

but in most cases especially for like

media for the record

is used to make official statements so i

hope that this helps you thanks for an

interesting question

okay let’s move on to your next question

next question

comes from jung yoon kim i hope i said

that right hi jungyeon kim

jungyun says a friend of mine asked if

something was mine

i was sure it did not belong to me

what’s the best way to respond to the

question

is this yours in a case like this it

couldn’t be mine

or it can’t be mine which is correct um

you could use either really i think i

would probably use

it can’t be mine because it couldn’t be

mine sounds to me a little bit too

formal and too polite and you mentioned

you’re talking to your friend

in this case so i would probably say it

can’t be mine

if i had to choose from one of these i

mean they’re both correct they both

communicate the same idea

but if it were me again in this

situation i would probably say something

a little bit different i would probably

say something like that’s definitely not

mine mine’s in my house or there’s no

way that’s mine i threw mine away last

year

i would probably say something like

that’s definitely not mine or

there’s no way that’s mine like those

feel a little more direct

and they’re a little bit rough so it

feels natural to use those expressions

with my friends

by the way the expression there’s no way

means there’s no possibility like

there’s no chance that that

is mine that’s what that expression

means so in sum you could use

all of these i think i would probably

use there’s no way that’s mine or

that can’t possibly be mine something a

little bit more direct and then i follow

with some evidence like mine is at my

house or i threw it away last year

so you can use any of these whichever

you prefer but i would suggest using

something a little more direct when

you’re speaking with your friends

so i hope that this helps you thanks for

the question let’s move on to our next

question

next question comes from alexander hi

alexander

alexander says hi do the expressions you

want to do something

you should do something and you need to

do something mean the same thing

i’ve heard many people say you want to

do something

meaning you should do something but i

can’t find any explanations about using

want to in this way thanks ah i’m

guessing that this use of want to

is when people are teaching someone else

how to do

something so like for example if you’re

showing someone how to use

software for the first time you might

hear people use you want to do this you

wanna do that

like you’re you’re kind of teaching them

something but some people

choose to use you want to like the next

step you’re going to

want to do that’s kind of the feel of

this expression

this is a personal choice so in that

case

yes when you’re teaching someone to do

something

and you’re like you’re showing them

steps in a process you can use

you want to do this so for example like

if i’m teaching someone how to edit

video i might say

first you want to import the video then

you want to make a timeline

then you want to start choosing the

parts of the video to use

so i’m using you want to there but you

could replace that with

you should first you should import the

video then you should create a timeline

then you should choose the parts of the

video

so yes in that specific situation

want to and should can have the same

meaning

but in general no they have very

different meanings

like we use you want to generally to

ask about someone’s feelings for

something like you want to go to a movie

later or like you want to get something

to eat

like you’re asking for someone’s opinion

about something making a suggestion

when you’re using you should do

something it’s for advice

reasons so that’s kind of similar to

teaching someone to do something

then your final point about using you

need to do something

that could also be used to describe

steps in a process

yes but it has that feeling of

responsibility

so we use that when we have obligations

like things that we need to take care of

like you need to go to the bank today

like you’re telling someone else to do

something you’re telling someone else

about their responsibilities

so in some yes uh in this specific

situation when you’re teaching someone

steps in a process

you should do something and you want to

do something

can mean the same thing but outside of

this situation

they have very different functions and

very different meanings

so i hope that this helps you thanks

very much for this question

all right let’s move on to your next

question next question comes from

jin hi jin jin says what is the

difference between

new and newbie how do i use these words

ah nice one yeah nu is an adjective

newbie refers to a person who is new in

a situation and it is a noun

let’s take a look at a couple of example

sentences to compare

how we might use these let’s imagine you

have just

joined like a team of some kind like a

new sport or some kind of activity

you could introduce yourself to the

people in your team by saying hi

i’m new or you could say hi i’m a newbie

so using hi i’m new sounds a little bit

more natural in that situation

because you’re introducing yourself to

people you

don’t know so the deal with newbie or

the thing about newbie is that it’s kind

of a cute word it’s sort of

casual it’s friendly we use it when

we’re talking to people that we already

know

or we’re kind of in a community that we

already know

so for that reason hi i’m a newbie might

sound a little bit

too friendly when you’re introducing

yourself to someone for the first time

let’s compare this then to a different

situation

let’s imagine you’re working together

with your teammates on a new project

and you need to learn a new software

like microsoft excel or something

you might ask your teammate for help by

saying something like

hey i’m new to excel can you help me

or you could say um i’m an excel newbie

can you help me so in that case either

is fine

but newbie sounds a little cute a little

friendly a little bit closer

so newbie has the feeling of

friendliness a little bit like you’re in

a community you’re in a situation

where people already know who you are

and you can kind of feel that it’s

acceptable to use that word

so again both sentences they communicate

the same

idea it’s just a little bit of a

distance difference like the distance

between you and the person listening

is a bit closer than if you say i’m new

so you can think about this

when you’re choosing between these two

words again nu is an adjective

hi i’m new and newbie is a noun hi

i’m a newbie so i hope that this helps

you

one more bonus point you may also see

n-o-o

like the number zero zero and b noob

so noob is an even more casual word

that’s very commonly used

online and in video games and it means

someone who is new to the situation

but also doesn’t really know very much

and they’re kind of irritating or they

get in the way

so you might hear people using noob in

this way

some people myself included also like to

use noob in a kind of self-deprecating

manner

so self-deprecating means you use it to

make yourself seem a bit lower

so when you want to express that you’re

new to something and not very good

you can say i’m a noob so again it’s a

noun just like newbie

so a few extra points there i hope that

this was helpful for you thanks for an

interesting question

hi everybody my name is alicia in this

lesson i’m going to talk about

catenative verbs let’s get started

first let’s begin what is a catenative

verb

there are two points i want to introduce

first

first a catenated verb is a verb that

can

chain to other verbs so we can connect

a second verb to this first catenary

verb

when we use catenated verbs the verb

after the catenative verb can take two

forms

first it can take the infinitive form

that means

to plus the verb or

it can take the infinitive form without

i’ll show you some examples later the

second form it can

take is the gerund form that’s the ing

ending form of the verb so we use

catenated verb plus infinitive or

catenated verb plus

gerund when we make these sentences so

it’s like the verb that we begin with

and then our chaining verbs come after

that so the first verb is the catenated

verb

let’s take a look at some example

sentences then

first one she should stop smoking

here my caternative verb is in red so

stop is my catenated verb

it connects to smoking so

smoking ends in the ing form here

smoking so this is the connecting verb

we start here we connect it here with

this ing

form another example with the ing

form the gerund form please start

writing so start is my catenated verb

it chains to the next thing writing is

the second verb the verb we use to

follow it so this is in the ing form

let’s look at two more examples that use

the infinitive form

here we want to build

a house so here’s my catenated verb

the first verb here then i follow it

with two builds so

two and build together here this is the

infinitive form

i need to use two here we want to build

a house second he needs

to buy a suit my cat a native verb is

need i’ve got this s here i need to

conjugate the verb because my subject is

he needs to buy a suit

so depending on the sentence we need to

choose the infinitive form

or the gerund form i marked this

example though with this mark because

this is an example of some

situations where using the gerund form

or the infinitive form

can actually change the meaning of the

sentence

if for example i said she should stop to

smoke

it means she should stop her activities

to smoke like to smoke a cigarette this

sentence means

she should stop smoking like that means

that she should stop the activity of

smoking

in her life altogether so be aware that

there are some cases where

gerund and infinitive have different

meanings

there aren’t so many but there are some

so try to keep this in mind

and this is something that you need to

remember as you read and as you listen

so based on context really okay

so now i want to continue to kind of a

uh in-depth topic a little bit deeper

into this subject

complex catenatives so complex catenated

verbs

these are catenated verbs that take an

object

so i have some example sentences here

again the catenated verb is in red

and the object is in blue here

will you help me clean the room

so my catenated verb here is help my

object is me and then my linking verb is

clean so clean here you’ll notice

there’s no

two this is an example like i mentioned

here

where sometimes we don’t use two before

the infinitive

so we don’t use it in this case it’s

just a plain infinitive

will you help me clean the room so

here’s my cattle native i chained it

to clean with an object so this is a

complex catenative

another example they asked us to move

our bags they asked us to move our bags

here is my verb my catenated verb ask

past tense in this case my object

so us we were the receiving party

so they asked us to move our bags here i

have the infinitive form again to move

in this case i have the two included

here

okay um some more examples she wants

them to take photos here’s my catenated

verb

want in this case wants because my

subject is she

and my object them to take again i have

the infinitive form

here she wants them to take photos

finally he took me to apply for a loan

again my catenated verb took past tense

object me and i have the infinitive form

again to apply for alone

so you will see these different types of

catenated verb related structures so

complex catenative refers to

these patterns that have objects

so when do we use this kind of thing we

use it

actually a lot in speech especially when

we’re just talking casually like about

things we need to do

we can make long sentences by chaining

verbs together in this way

here’s a quick example we went to get a

rental car

to help our friends move to a new

apartment

so this maybe is a little bit awkward

but

it’s something that a native speaker

might say we just say everything really

quickly

but let’s break this sentence down so we

went

here’s my past tense we went to get so

here’s a catenated verb right here

we went to get a rental car so my

linking verb here is in the infinitive

form

to help so here’s another catenative

verb

in this case it’s complex so to help our

friends so who did we help

we helped our friends move so here’s my

linking verb

move to a new apartment so we can kind

of chain a lot of

ideas together with something like this

so native speakers as well when we’re

speaking quickly maybe we don’t make

perfect sentences or we don’t make

complete sentences

but we use this kind of speaking we use

this kind of

verb linking to make longer ideas and

longer sentences

so i hope that this helps you as you

think about how to put verbs together

if you want some more information on

catenative verbs

i would recommend checking just doing a

google search to see some lists and some

more example sentences of catenative

verbs

because there are there are quite a few

um but we

just kind of put them together depending

on the situation depending on what we

want to communicate as with any

other grammar point so i hope that you

get some practice with this and pay

attention to this when you’re reading to

see

common types of pairings that use this

kind of grammar

so i hope that this was helpful for you

of course if you have any questions or

comments

or if you want to practice making

example sentences with catenative verbs

please feel free to do so in the

comments section of this video

hi everybody my name is alicia in this

lesson i’m going to talk about how to

use

a and the and when

to use no article so let’s get started

okay first i want to begin by talking

about using

a and an these are the indefinite

articles that we use in

english regarding pronunciation you

might hear people use

a or a you can choose whichever you

prefer

they’re both correct so we use the

indefinite article

uh or an when we want to introduce

a noun so that means it’s our first time

using the noun like when we’re telling a

story for example

so the first time we introduce the noun

we use

a or an to do that

so we use a if the following noun

begins with a consonant sound a

consonant

sound some examples of this a cookie

this is a a consonant sound a

pen this p is a consonant sound

and a fish so this f is a consonant

sound so if the next word if the

following noun

begins with a consonant sound we should

use the

uh indefinite article then

we use an when the following noun

begins with a vowel sound so some

examples of this are

an apple so here we have a as our vowel

sound we use

an an apple an egg

hear the e sound and then an

hour so here this is a vowel

sound so this is a great example of this

note that i want to mention

sound does not equal spelling

so i said when the following noun

begins with a vowel sound we use

an here yes we have the consonant

h beginning this word but it makes

a vowel sound an hour

hour so it’s like the h doesn’t make

that h

sound so an hour we use this indefinite

article

an instead of uh so please be careful

we’re listening for a sound not for the

spelling

in this case okay then as you can see

we use the indefinite article before

nouns in the singular form only

so for example you don’t see s at the

end of these words

we can only use the singular form so

meaning

one of something only the singular form

when you’re using

the indefinite article so a very simple

example sentence

using the indefinite article is

i got a dog we might start a story with

this i got

a dog so dog is in the singular

i got one dog this is a new dog i’m

introducing this dog to my conversation

so i use uh to do that okay

let’s compare this now to the definite

article

the is the definite article in english

so we use the to refer to

a known or a specific noun

so this can be something that we

directly explain

or we just understand it from the

context

so relating to this point something that

we understand from context or a specific

noun this can be when there’s only

one of something so a great example of

this is some countries

for example the united states of america

or like the republic of so and so

those begin with the so there’s only one

of that and we understand that

we use the in cases like that it’s in

like the title

okay so we use that to talk about things

we know about

so something that we heard earlier in a

conversation or earlier in a story for

example

or when we know what the noun is so

we can use this before singular or

plural forms of nouns so here’s an

example

i got a dog which we saw before i got a

dog i bought a bed

for the dog here i’ve used

the because in this sentence

i mentioned this dog the dog in this

sentence

is the dog i bought or i got rather

in the first sentence so i’m introducing

it here i got a dog

this is my introductory statement kind

of my full sentence

here’s this new information this new

noun i got a dog

in my next sentence i want to mention

this same dog

i use the to describe that i bought a

bed

for the dog you’ll also notice here i’ve

introduced another

new thing i bought a bed for the dog so

i’ve used

the indefinite article here this is

another new thing

but i want to refer to the same known

now that i

introduced in the previous sentence okay

so this is an introduction to using the

definite article

now let’s look at when to use no article

no uh no and no the

we use no article when referring

generally

to a group or all instances like all

kinds or all types of

something we use this a lot when we’re

talking about things we like

or dislike for example so

we use the plural form of the noun we do

not use the singular form we need to use

the plural form

a very simple example of this is i like

dogs

i like dogs so you’ll see here i’ve used

the plural form

dogs so by saying i like dogs

it means i like all instances of that i

like all

examples of dogs all different kinds of

dogs i like

dogs okay so let’s continue on then

to a short story example that i prepared

so this example includes uses

of the indefinite article the definite

article

and cases where we’ll see no article

there are a couple points i want to talk

about

so let’s take a look last weekend i took

a bus to a park near my neighborhood

i walked around the park then i found

a place to sit down and relax i read a

book

took photos and enjoyed watching the

people

at the park but i got bit by a bug

i hate mosquitoes so this is a very

simple story

about something that happened recently

this is a past tense story

it features um indefinite definite

articles and no article

so let’s take a look last weekend i took

bus so i’m introducing a bus this is the

first case

where i’m explaining a bus in my story

so i took a bus

to a park near my neighborhood so

a park near my neighborhood this means

there could be

other parks near the neighborhood i want

to talk about one

in particular to a park in my

neighborhood

i walked around the park so here i use

the to refer to this park

i introduced earlier in my story

i walked around the park this park i

talked about before

then found a place to sit down

and relax so my next step was to find a

place

so i’m using a here because

the place is just any place i just

chose one specific place to sit down and

relax this could be any place i want to

talk about just one in particular

okay then i said i read a book so again

i’m using uh here to introduce this so i

have not talked about the book before

i want to introduce my book to the story

i read a book

took photos so here there’s nothing

you’ll notice

i took a photo i could say i took a

photo if i took one photo but maybe if i

took

a lot of photos i would say i took

photos i took

photos and i enjoyed watching

the people at the park so this the i

think is pretty clear

at the park so i’m talking about the

specific park i visited

this one however i’ve included in

parentheses

watching the people at the park

why did i do this so there are some

cases

where it’s correct to use the and it’s

correct to use no

article this is one example of that here

enjoyed watching the people in the park

and enjoyed watching people in the park

those are both correct sentences

actually

there’s not really a difference in

meaning here because

i’ve included a location here like if i

said

i enjoyed watching the people i might be

confused as the listener like which

people

who were you watching so saying watching

people

at the park makes it clear that it’s

only about people who were at the park

if i want to be extra specific and give

extra emphasis

i can include that here watching the

people

in the park like this is the thing i was

focusing my attention on in the park

so you can choose to include it you can

choose not to include it they

communicate the same thing but this is

one example of a situation

um where you could use uh you could use

the article or you could choose

not to okay then our last sentence

but i got bit by a bug a

bug so again new thing something new is

in my story a bug in this case by one

bug

then i finish with this expression i

hate mosquitoes so mosquitoes are those

small bugs that bite you and it gets

really itchy a mosquito

but i’m making a general statement all

mosquitoes i

hate mosquitoes maybe because they bite

i use the plural form i hate mosquitoes

with no article i hate mosquitoes

so this is a simple example of a

situation

or a story where you would use definite

indefinite and no

article to explain something that

happened to you

so i hope that this lesson gives you a

good introduction to

how and when to use uh an and

and no article but if hi everybody my

name is alicia

in this lesson i’m going to talk about

some expressions you can use

to talk about your hometown or your home

city or maybe your home

country let’s get started okay

the first sentence or the first

expression that i want to talk about is

just a basic

introduction i’m from so i’m from

your city or i’m from your country

please be careful

i’ve noticed in like the comment section

of the videos that we make for example

many of you introduce yourself but you

forget this

i’m from i’m from i often see the

mistake

i from which is incorrect so that’s not

correct we should use

i’m from remember i’m is the contracted

the reduced form of

i am i am from city i am from

country so please don’t forget this uh

i am i am from a city

when we make a sentence with this we

could say i’m from

vietnam for a country i’m from vietnam

or from a city i’m from bangkok so you

can choose either one your city or your

country both are fine to use

so if you want to choose something

different or if you want to explain

in a little more detail specifically you

can use an expression like this

i was born in a city

or in a specific country i was born

in another mistake i see with students

is they forget this was i often see

comments that say

i born in which is incorrect i was

born in city or country

i was born in brazil in the case of a

country

i was born in cambodia so you can use

your country name

here of course if you want to use a city

for example i was born in bangkok

and you want to give more information

maybe for some reason the person you’re

talking to

doesn’t know that city or maybe it’s a

really small city

you can say it’s in country so for

example

i was born in bangkok it’s in thailand

so you can explain the country as a

follow-up with this expression

it’s in where it is your city it

is in thailand in this case it’s in

country

then if you want to share some

information about your hometown

these are some expressions you can use

to do that these are very open so i hope

that you can find something that helps

you

the first one is it has a lot of

noun phrase it has a lot of noun phrase

here it means your city or your country

it’s probably best to talk about your

city here

though if you live in a really small

city maybe you can share about your

country maybe your country is small too

so it’s good to share about something

that’s maybe easy to understand if

you’re introducing your city or your

country

so you could say it has a lot of

something so some examples

would be it has a lot of traffic like if

your city has a lot of traffic you can

mention that

it has a lot of good food or it has a

lot of

nature so there’s some kind of simple

noun phrase

here that you can use to describe

something in your city

please note we use has it

has the city has so not is

we use is for adjectives we’re using

has here because these are noun phrases

so you could say it is busy city

or it is a windy city for example

but when you’re using a noun phrase you

need to change your verb here

it has a lot of traffic it has a lot of

nature

so please be careful about this point

let’s go to the next point

it’s famous for it’s famous for

so in some cultures each city or each

country maybe has some

specific thing that that city is really

well known for

you can use this expression to describe

that thing

it’s famous for again it is your city

or maybe your country it’s famous for

something so again there’s some noun

phrase

some maybe activity some famous item

for example it’s famous for spicy

food like my country is famous for spicy

food for example

or it’s famous for entertainment or

nightlife maybe

so think of something that your city is

well known for

so like for example las vegas maybe it’s

famous for entertainment that’s

something we could say about las vegas

in the usa

okay another expression you can use

that’s very similar to

it has a lot of is this one here i’ve

made

two sentences or two expressions you can

use

there is or there are a lot of

something so there is or reduced theirs

or there are a lot of something so this

is kind of a different way to say

this very similar let’s look at some

examples

here this is kind of a negative point

but there’s

a lot of crime so maybe your hometown is

rather dangerous and you want to talk

about that

you can say there is a lot of crime

crime

is like activities or actions that are

against the law

they are illegal so to describe that you

can say

there’s a lot of crime in my hometown or

there are a lot of animals maybe in your

city that’s really closely connected to

nature

you can say there are a lot of animals

so just be cautious

here there is a lot of crime um so

crime is a mass noun or a plural noun

rather

so we can use this is form but here

when we have there are we need to use

this s at the end of the word there are

a lot of animals the plural form

there are a lot of animals so just pay

attention

if you’re using um a singular noun or

you’re using this like plural or mass

noun

that has no s at the end you can use

this is form

if you’re using a plural noun there are

is fine

so there are a lot of animals okay let’s

go on to the next one

lots of people like to do something lots

of people like to

and here we’ll do we’ll have like an

activity some kind of verb

phrase probably lots of people like to

go out at night so for las vegas for

example lots of people like to go out at

night

or lots of people like to do outdoor

sports

so you’ll notice i’ve got a verb here

lots of people like to verb

and then some other information to tell

us about that

lots of people like to swim in the river

something that

is like an activity that’s kind of

unique or that’s particularly

interesting for your city

okay finally the population this is

another one people like to talk about

if you want to be specific you can say

of course my hometown is very small or

my home city is really

big you can talk about it like that yes

if you want to give the specific number

how many people

you can use this expression population

means the number of people in your city

or the number of people

in your country so the population is

and follow it with the number the

population is about

20 000 people or about

150 000 people

i have people in parentheses here

because

we don’t really need to use it but you

might hear people say

people at the end of this expression we

don’t need to include

people here because we have population

we know

population means the number of people

though sometimes we include this

you don’t need to really the population

is about twenty thousand

is perfect okay let’s go on then to the

last couple points

the last points i marked here these are

about the weather

so a really common topic when you’re

talking about your hometown is the

weather

these are a few expressions you can use

to talk about

what the weather is like in your

hometown for example

it rains a lot it rains a lot

or you could say it’s very rainy

it’s dry you might say for example in

the summer

it’s dry or in winter it’s dry so

it here refers to weather like weather

patterns it rains a lot

it’s dry another one the weather

is sunny year round so this is a word

or a hyphenated word year round which

means

all throughout the year so non-stop the

weather is sunny

year-round another good word to know is

humid it’s humid so this is when

like um a good example might be like a

tropical

situation a tropical city or a tropical

country so

maybe the temperature it’s not so hot

maybe sometimes

but the water content the moisture

content in the air is very

high so we call that humid it’s humid

it’s very humid

you might also hear the word muggy muggy

muggy is a little bit less formal than

humid it sounds a little more negative

too it’s humid it’s so humid

so these are a few weather related words

like climate related words

here you can replace this word rains

with something else like it snows a lot

for example

it rains a lot it snows a lot maybe it

hails where you’re from

hail is like a ball of ice so when you

want to talk about precipitation like

things coming from clouds

you could use this pattern all right so

this is just a quick introduction to a

few things that i hope can help

you as you try to explain your hometown

or your home country to other people

if there’s something else that you would

like to know how to say or if you have

any questions

or comments or if you want to practice

making an introduction to your home city

please feel free in the comment section

of this video

of course if you like this lesson don’t

forget to give the video a thumbs up

subscribe to our channel if you haven’t

already and check us out at

englishclass101.com

for some other things that can help you

with your english studies

jam okay hi everybody welcome back to

know your verbs my name is alicia and in

this lesson we’re going to talk about

the verb

jam let’s get started

let’s start with the basic definition of

this verb the basic definition of

jam is to cause something to be blocked

to cause something to be blocked

examples

i jammed the printer somehow we jammed

the shredder with paper

now let’s look at the conjugations for

this verb

present jam jams

passed jammed past participle

jammed progressive jamming

now let’s talk about some additional

meanings for this verb the first

additional meaning

is to push or force something into a

space

examples he jammed himself onto the

packed train

the moving company is jamming boxes into

trucks

so here we see examples of someone or

something

being pushed or forced into something

it’s like something that’s difficult to

get into or maybe there’s not enough

space

in the first example we see he pushed

himself

into a packed train that means that the

train is

full of people already but he pushes

himself he

jams himself in forcefully pushing in

order to get on the train

in the second example sentence we see it

in reference to

boxes a moving company is jamming boxes

into trucks which

means there’s maybe not a lot of space

in the truck

however he needs he or she the moving

person

needs to get these boxes in so they’re

forcefully pushing we use

jam to talk about that to describe that

act all right let’s go on to the second

additional meaning for this verb

the second additional meaning is to play

music

informally or to improvise music in a

group

examples the group jams a few times a

month

i think the neighbors are jamming again

so this use of

jam refers to practicing music or

playing music

in a group of people so there’s a group

of people usually different instruments

and there’s no song specifically there’s

no like

goal really they’re just making music

together

so you might have heard this called a

jam session

actually to me it sounds a little

strange to use the word

jam if you yourself are not a musician

like it feels strange to me to say

they’re jamming

because i’m not really the kind of

person who uses that word

but it might sound more natural coming

from a musician

so if you’re a musician and you like to

improvise music with people

you might be able to use this word quite

naturally to talk about your practice

sessions

so again it’s just practice it’s just

kind of enjoying and feeling the music

it’s not really playing with a goal in

mind

you’re improvising improvising so you

can also use it in general kind of to

talk about other ways of enjoying music

like with dance

or even just enjoying music and kind of

moving your head a little

bit too we sometimes use the word jam to

mean just like

improvising and enjoying music in some

way

um so that’s another way kind of related

to this meaning

that we can sometimes use jam the third

additional meaning for this verb

is to cause a part of the body to be

crushed or

injured somehow usually crushed examples

my friend jammed his finger in a door a

few years ago

i jammed my toe on my bed

okay so jammed in these cases usually

refers to some kind of like crushing

motion or some like

like hard impact something like this so

in the first example sentence

my friend jammed his finger in a door a

few years ago

it means in the open door so maybe

there’s the door

and the space between the door and the

wall this person’s finger

went in between those two and the door

closed that’s a perfect example of when

we would use

jam this actually happened to my friend

this is true and his finger

was jammed in the door so this crushing

motion this crushing injury

we use jam to refer to that we can also

use it to refer to other kind of similar

small

injuries usually to like fingers and

toes as in the second example sentence

i jammed my toe on my bed that refers to

against a hard object you’re walking

walking walking and you

touch or you jam your

finger or you jam your toe into an

object like a table

or sofa or a bed or something it’s quite

painful and it feels like you just

pushed it forcefully into that object we

can say

jammed another verb we use in this case

is stub i stubbed my toe

but you can say jammed or stub depending

on what you like

people use both okay let’s go on to the

next additional meaning

the next additional meaning is to

interfere with a broadcast to interfere

with a broadcast let’s go to some

example sentences

they’re jamming our signal the signal

from the satellite has been jammed so

this means that some thing or someone or

some kind of

like machine or data or something is

blocking

some signal so this could be blocking

like a wi-fi signal like

satellite tv radio signal something

is causing the signal to be disrupted

the broadcast to be disrupted there’s

some problem there

so we use the word jam to talk about

this you will see this a lot

in like spy and police and suspense

movies relating to technology

like you can jam your enemy’s signal and

they can’t get any communications out

for example

so you block someone’s communication or

you block someone’s ability to broadcast

information we use jam to refer to that

okay now let’s look at a variation for

this verb

this variation is to jam on the brakes

to jam on the brakes quite specific

this expression means to push quickly

and with

force on the brakes of a vehicle

examples

he jammed on the brakes when the child

stepped into the road

don’t jam the brakes so to jam the

brakes or jamming the brakes is usually

like a very

quick and fast and very uncomfortable

motion very uncomfortable like results

actually

so you push the brakes and the car

quickly comes to a stop where the car

jerks very fast so the people inside the

car feel uncomfortable

and it can be bad for the car’s braking

system

maybe it can also like damage items in

the car

so it’s considered typically to be not a

good thing to do

so it’s typically not recommended to jam

the brakes

you’ll hear jam the brakes and also jam

on the brakes both of them

are in use so you can choose which you

prefer they have the same

meaning okay so those are a few

different ways that you can use the verb

jam i hope that you found something new

of course if you have questions comments

or other ways to use the word jam

please let us know in the comment

section of this video hi

everyone i’m gabriella how are your

english listening skills

in this video you’ll have a chance to

test them out with a quiz

first you’ll see an image and hear a

question

next comes a short dialogue listen

carefully and see if you can answer

correctly

we’ll show you the answer at the end are

you ready

a man and a woman are talking about

banks

which bank is the woman going to choose

[Music]

i’m starting a part-time job so i’m

thinking about opening a new bank

account

which bank do you recommend well it

depends on what you’re looking for

for example both bank a and bank b have

plenty of locations and atms to choose

from

this is very convenient but bank a

charges atm fees for every transaction

bank b allows me to use their atm at no

charge during business hours on weekdays

that’s true speaking of atm fees bank c

never charges fees but they don’t have

as many atm locations

that is nice but i don’t like the fact

that it would be more difficult to find

atms with bank c

by the way bank d is the best when it

comes to high interest rates

are they but i’m only planning to use

this bank account for money i’ll be

making from my part-time job

which won’t be that much then you should

choose the bank with the most convenient

atms and lowest fees

alright thanks for the advice

which bank is the woman going to choose

a man and a woman are talking about

banks

which bank is the woman going to choose

i’m starting a part-time job so i’m

thinking about opening a new bank

account

which bank do you recommend well it

depends on what you’re looking for

for example both bank a and bank b have

plenty of locations and atms to choose

from

this is very convenient but bank a

charges atm fees for every transaction

bank b allows me to use their atm at no

charge during business hours

on weekdays that’s true speaking of atm

fees bank c

never charges fees but they don’t have

as many atm locations

that is nice but i don’t like the fact

that it would be more difficult to find

atms with bank c by the way

bank d is the best when it comes to high

interest rates

are they but i’m only planning to use

this bank account for money i’ll be

making from my part-time job

which won’t be that much then you should

choose the bank with the most convenient

atms and lowest fees

alright thanks for the advice

a man and a woman are planning their

sightseeing route

in which order will they visit the sites

around town

which route should we take tomorrow i’d

really like to go see the museum

the castle and the observatory i also

want to buy some souvenirs along the way

the museum is open from 8 to six the

castle is open from nine to four

then the observatory seems to be open

from nine in the morning

until nine in the evening the castle has

a special guided tour twice a day

starting at noon and two o’clock i think

we should catch

one of those i think you need to book

the tour in advance

can you check that online sure

oh the one starting at noon is already

booked

should we book the one starting at two

sure

we can take that tour right after lunch

all right where do we want to go first

the museum

or the observatory i would love to see

the night view

what if we stay at the castle until 4

and then go to the observatory after

dark good idea okay let’s have lunch at

the restaurant inside the museum

then we can go souvenir shopping before

the castle tour starts

sure sounds like a perfect plan

in which order will they visit the sites

around town

a man and a woman are planning their

sightseeing route

in which order will they visit the sites

around town

which route should we take tomorrow i’d

really like to go see the museum

the castle and the observatory i also

want to buy some souvenirs along the way

the museum is open from eight to six the

castle is open from nine to four

then the observatory seems to be open

from nine in the morning

until nine in the evening the castle has

a special

guided tour twice a day starting at noon

and two o’clock

i think we should catch one of those i

think you need to book the tour in

advance

can you check that online sure

oh the one starting at noon is already

booked

should we book the one starting at two

sure

we can take that tour right after lunch

alright where do we want to go first the

museum

or the observatory i would love to see

the night view

what if we stay at the castle until four

and then go to the observatory after

dark

good idea okay let’s have lunch at the

restaurant

inside the museum then we can go

souvenir shopping before the castle tour

starts sure sounds like a perfect plan

hey everyone welcome to the monthly

review the monthly show on language

learning

[Music]

where you discover new learning

strategies motivational tips

study tools and resources by the way

all the lessons and bonuses you’re about

to see can be downloaded for free on our

website

so click the link in the description

right now to sign up for your free

lifetime account

okay today’s topic is how to get back on

track

after language learning failure if

you’ve ever made language learning a

goal

you’ve also likely experienced failure

maybe you quit studying for some time

maybe you came back to try again later

but how do you bounce back

after failing well it might be easier

than you think

in this episode you’ll discover one the

key points to consider

after failing a goal and two the steps

to getting back on track with language

learning

[Music]

but first listen up here are this

month’s new lessons and resources

first the cooking conversation cheat

sheet

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want to speak more of the language

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third can you talk about your favorite

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fourth what’s your new year’s resolution

with this bonus phrase list you’ll learn

to say