Real English Conversations Episode 34

[Music]

welcome to speak English with Tiffany I

am teacher Tiffany let’s jump right in

hey girl what’s you up to cooking about

you me well I actually just finished

eating dinner I was starving so my mom

and I went to get some food so now I’m

just kind of relaxing in my room

watching some TV starving starving this

means to be extremely hungry or to be

very hungry so let’s look at some

examples really quickly of this word

okay first one says isn’t lunch ready

yet I’m starving

this person is waiting for lunch to be

made the second example is the little

children were starving and the final

example is I’m absolutely starving now

this word right here absolutely just

puts emphasis on the fact that I am

extremely hungry so absolutely starving

he runs kind of like dog to run

something to run something now this is

an expression that means to operate or

be in charge of a particular business or

task so let’s look at some examples

using this expression we have right here

I have been running this store for the

last 25 years it means I own the store

and I am the manager of the store in the

second example we have this business has

been run by their family since 1945 so

this means that there’s a company or

there’s a business that people go to and

this business or company has been run by

or operated by the same family since

1945 so this family has run the business

okay

run the business alright so every day

when I’m working at my desk I see all of

these dogs going past my window with him

walking them so I thought about you

Devon though you guys have a dog and you

love pets so I’m gonna ask you you know

when did you guys start liking pets or

like when did you guys start falling in

love with dogs over other animals like

years and years for me because my I grew

up a pet years and years now this is an

expression that is used to express a

long period of time so let’s look at the

first example in this example we’re

talking about a young man named Michael

and we’re saying it has been years and

years since I last talked to Michael so

let’s say for example you talked to

Michael when you graduated from

university okay so University graduation

all right that’s when you talk to

Michael right

you guys talked about what you’re gonna

do in life and you had a great

conversation but it’s been years and

years so now you fast forward and now

you both have a family and children and

you’re able to talk to each other again

so then you can say wow it’s been years

and years since we last talked to each

other okay this period of time right

here years and years now let’s look at

the second example the second example

says they have liked each other for

years and years it means they have liked

each other for an extremely long period

of time my dad always were rescuing

animals the words and resting dogs it

was

Sybil’s in cans it was burbs I mean you

name it we’ve had it okay if it wasn’t

this it was that now this is an

expression that is used to show that

there were multiple actions options or

situations remember my friend was

talking about her parents and how they

would rescue kittens or other animals

because of their love for them so if it

wasn’t this it was that now here is the

first example if it wasn’t raining it

was snowing so multiple what situations

okay raining is one and snowing is one

okay so these actions if it wasn’t one

it was the other and now the second

example says if it wasn’t the girls

crying it was the boys screaming now

this sounds like a situation a teacher

or a parent with young children would

experience when kids aren’t happy if it

wasn’t one thing it was the other so

what happens here again we have two

different actions or it could also be

situations the girls crying and the boys

screaming okay if it wasn’t this it was

that pit bull now my friend said that

her and her husband have a pit bull this

is what a pit bull looks like so he

looks very peaceful and very cute in

this picture so their dog is also very

cute this is a pit bull oh you know in

America so many Americans are scared of

pit bulls and made you get a pit bull um

actually you know it’s really sad

because a lot of people think that

upgrade breed breed so a breed is a

stock of animals or plants within a

species having a distinctive appearance

and typically having been developed by

deliberate selection so on the top of

this

you’ll see that I have different types

of dogs these are all different breeds

of dogs I’ve put a total of eight

different breeds now remember my friend

she has a pitbull which is right here

her dog is a pit bull the breed is a pit

bull but you notice here this is a

beagle then you have a Labrador and you

have many other types of dogs even a

shih tzu right here so these are

different breeds or types of dogs

actually have some semblance into what

character or personality that I have but

really is all about the type of culture

Dada breed has hmm so people are really

scared of pit bulls because you know

some older have treated pit bull pit

bulls badly and they have reacted that

are just like really loving dog like a

little cuddle bug that to cuddle and

they’re really neutral and really lovely

cuddle bug cuddle bug now this is

someone or an animal who likes to be

held close in another person’s arms as a

way of showing love or affection and I

remember my friend said her dog is a

cuddle bug so her dog likes love and

affection so let’s look at three

different examples using this term the

first one is Jamie is a cuddle bug very

simple then number two both of my dogs

are cuddle bugs we cuddle all the time

and finally number three they are total

cuddle bugs now this word total when you

add it in front it basically emphasizes

what you are saying okay so I used it to

emphasize that they are cuddle bugs okay

now one thing

do want to tell you in the conversation

my friend said that the dogs are pretty

chill now this term is used very often

the term chill just means very relaxed

okay just means very relaxed so if you

hear this in a conversation just know

that the person is saying that the other

person or the animal is very relaxed you

know actually I can feel that one of my

closest friends her and her husband they

had two pit bulls and before I hung out

with them I also had that kind of in the

back of my mind that pit bulls were

dangerous dogs because of what you see

on the news and all of these stories but

my friend her two dogs I mean for years

I would always go to their house and

hang out and I was always around their

dogs and like you said they were very

lovable they always wanted to cuddle I

mean there were big dogs so at the time

when I go to the house and they sit on

my lap I mean it was it was heavy they

were some heavy dogs they were really

like my fear or even apprehension

towards pitbulls actually went away when

I’m at our house oh yeah good yeah I’m a

big advocate for pitbull apprehension

apprehension now this word means anxiety

or fear that something bad or unpleasant

will happen also it can mean

anticipation that something bad will

happen so my friend was talking about

people having an apprehension when it

comes to pitbulls people think that

something bad is going to happen

whenever they’re around pitbulls

so let’s look at three examples

sentences the first one says he felt a

lot of apprehension as he moved closer

to the door so he thought something bad

was going to happen as he moved closer

to the door okay

the second sentence says her

apprehension grew as she listened to the

story as she listened to his story so

something about the story she was

listening to made her feel that

something bad was going to happen okay

and the

example number three Kate is

apprehensive about losing her job she’s

afraid she is fearful that something bad

will happen and that thing is losing her

job 11 going on going on now this is

actually a phrasal verb that means to be

in progress or not done yet or the same

meaning as to continue it can also mean

about to be something or drawing close

to something and we normally use it when

we’re talking about time in this

situation so let’s look at the two

example sentences here we go the first

one is the party is still going on

it means the party hasn’t stopped it’s

continuing alright and the second

sentence is his speech is going on three

hours most of the people in the audience

have fallen asleep already

alright so again I said when you’re

talking about time it means that

something is drawing to a close

or coming close to something so it means

the man is probably still speaking and

has been speaking for about two hours

and 45 minutes okay because it’s going

on three hours it’s getting close to

this time right here it’s sad I wanted

to see a puppy forever but actually oh

sorry so actually it’s kind of cool that

you told me about the trainer near your

house because we’ve been training her a

lot lately

really mm-hmm we’ve been taking her to

some training classes and we’ve been

teaching her basic commands around yeah

yeah she can sit and stay she can do

this

and shake with both paw

chickens that I’ll put up my hand and

she’ll like tap my hand with her zone I

can now I’m trying to teach her how to

pick up something that’s falling on the

floor oh wow learned a lot yeah I’m

gonna fight it cause she’s so smart I

think it’s really good for the dogs too

so they have so much energy and it’s

like someone’s actually channeling that

energy to learn something so helping

them learn stuff so that’s good yes it’s

really helped a lot with her attention

and just being a good dog I want her to

be a good advocate and a good example

for pit bulls because I don’t want

people to be afraid of her channeling

channeling all right so this word right

here means to direct toward a particular

end or object or it can also mean to

direct toward or into some particular

course so here’s an example sentence of

this one okay his mom put him in karate

classes so that he could channel his

energy in a safe and productive way so

this was probably a little boy who had

lots and lots of energy so much energy

that his mom didn’t know what to do with

him so she put him into karate classes

to channel that energy okay all right

and the next one was advocate okay

advocate now this is the noun form and

this word actually means a person who

publicly supports or recommends a

particular cause or policy now remember

my friend is talking about her dog so

instead of person we’re gonna use her

dog in this place right here so let’s

look at an example sentence here we go

she was an untiring advocate of economic

reform okay or economic reform so what

this means is that she did not take a

break she was constantly being an

advocate for economic or economic reform

okay

untiring just means without

stopping okay without stopping untiring

okay yeah we sound like you’re an

amazing owner hi in that I tried I hope

you enjoyed this real English

conversation remember to watch another

of my English video lessons by clicking

the video on the left or right of your

screen and as always remember to speak

English