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