Focus on vocabulary. Part 9

Steve: Hello, Jill.

Jill: How are you, Steve? Hi.

Steve: I'm doing just fine, thank you. Again, today is a typical Vancouver winter day.

Jill: Yes.

Well, it's nicer, I think, than a lot of our days. At least it's not raining. Steve: Better than average.

Jill: Better than average.

Steve: Overcast. You know, it was once said that if you can see the mountains it's going to rain tomorrow. If you can't see the mountains it's raining today. Steve: Alright. We are going to do the 9th Episode in The Power of the Linguist. Let's listen to it; but, before we get into that, of course, this is thelinguist.com. This is the English Link Podcast where we talk about words and phrases that are found in our content and this is the easy version where we talk about easy content. So, let's listen to Episode 9 of The Power of the Linguist: A Simple Story. * * * When did the girl move into the apartment? Let me see. I cannot remember.

Please try to remember.

I am trying to remember.

Roughly when was it? I need to know.

It seems to me that she moved into the apartment about two years ago.

Are you sure?

Yes.

In fact it is her apartment. The apartment belongs to her.

It is the girl's apartment? What a surprise!

Yes.

I remember when she moved in.

It was November. It was snowing that day.

Are you sure?

Yes.

Your brother just moved in six months ago.

Really? How do you know when my brother moved in?

I remember that it was late at night and it was raining.

Why did you notice him?

He made a lot of noise.

He had friends who helped him move.

They all made a lot of noise.

* * * Steve: Well, Jill, did you notice any phrases in particular there? Jill: Well, I would say the first one is: Let me see. It's a whole sentence in this case. And, I think that it's people say Let me see all the time. It's very common and it's probably confusing to people because it's not really seeing with your eyes. It's not using the word see in that sense. It's really, it's kind of a filler sentence. Just sort of Let me think about that for a minute, is what it means.

Steve: Well, when I asked you to pick a phrase, I thought you would begin by saying Let me see because, as you say, it's a filler phrase. It gives you time to think; very, very common.

Jill: Yes.

Steve: Alright. What is the next phrase that caught your attention?

Jill: Please try to remember.

Steve: Please try; please; the use of please. You know, at first, he can't remember. He says Let me see. I can't remember. He's looking for time; he can't remember. And, of course, Sally says: Please; Please try; Please try.

Jill: She is encouraging him.

Steve: She is encouraging and the structure there is please try to remember. You know, a mother might say to her child who doesn't want to ear her dinner or her vegetables Please try to eat. Please try to eat. Please try to think. Please try to pronounce your English or your French or your Chinese. Alright.

Steve: What else do you have here?

Jill: I am trying to remember.

Steve: Right.

Now here we have, again, try to remember; trying to remember. So, one form is please try asking you to do something -- and then the person says I am. I am in the middle of trying to remember.

Jill: It's, basically, a command; a gentle command; the first one. Steve: Yes.

Jill: And then, this time, it's the regular subject verb. Steve: Right and it's in the continuous, the present continuous, which Jill: I'm trying. You're doing it right now. Steve: And, I think -- a very important point you said right now. I think, in many languages, they have one present, you know, I try now. But in English, wherever you can use the word now or right now, usually, it's the continuous form. I am eating now.

We don't say I eat now. I am eating now.

Jill: That's what you are in the process of doing Steve: doing now. So, now is a very key word in order to get that tense correct.

Steve: What else do you have here?

Jill: The next one would be: It seems to me that.

Steve: Right.

You know, if I were learning English on The Linguist, I would save the word seems. That's a word that is used in many phrases and I could not begin to describe all the different examples, but if people will save seems in The Linguist they'll see many examples. And, it seems to me is the same as saying I think.

Jill: I think.

Steve: Exactly; I think. So, you could say I think that she moved. But, it seems to me is a little different in meaning from I think. How would you explain the difference Jill: You have a feeling; you're fairly confident; but, you know, you are not 100 percent sure. Steve: Right.

Jill: It's pretty similar to saying I think. Steve: But, you know, it's funny, to me it seems to me is a little less confident than I think. I think that she moved in the apartment about two years ago. That's I'm fairly confident. It seems to me; you know, I'm kind of thinking; I'm trying to remember and it seems to me. So, it suggests that, as you said, the person is thinking about it.

Jill: Yeah.

Steve: It seems to me that she moved into the apartment. And what else do we have in that sentence?

Jill: About two years ago.

Steve: Right.

Jill: People have a lot of problem with that structure two years ago.

Steve: Yes.

And, I guess, the interesting thing is that even in languages that are close to English, the word ago doesn't seem to exist. Jill: No.

It seems to be since is used a lot.

Steve: Since is used or for.

Jill: Yes.

Steve: You'll hear people say She moved into the apartment for two years or something. So, again, as we always say, save the word ago. Save the word ago and see how it performs. See how it is used. Alright.

Jill: And the next one is belongs to her.

Steve: So, here we're talking about how do you identify possession. You know, somebody has something so, belongs to. The apartment belongs to her.

You know, the dog belongs to me. It's that issue of possession, of ownership, of belonging, of being connected to. So, it's just a useful phrase belongs to her. Jill: And the next one is, again, a sentence I remember when she moved in.

Steve: I remember when -- that's the phrase that I would really try to sort of put into my brain. I remember when. I remember when I was in high school. I remember when I visited New York City.

Jill: I remember when that happened.

Steve: I remember when that happened. I remember when. Wasn't there a song Do You Remember When or something Jill: There is. I can't remember who, though. Steve: I can't remember who. I can't remember when. I can't remember what. Jill: Right.

Steve: Okay. I can't remember why. So, those are, I think, useful phrases to Steve: And what do we have next? Jill: Six months ago. So, we've already talked about ago. Steve: Right.

It's just to reinforce it again -- two years ago; six months ago. It's very important to get that phrase right. Jill: Yup.

Jill: And then the next one is: You know when my brother moved in?

Steve: Because it's a question How do you know when my brother moved in? When did my brother move in? How do you know when my brother moved in?

Again, it's not so much a phrase as encouraging or helping people to become observant of the language of how these words come together. Alright.

Jill: And then: a lot of noise. He made a lot of noise.

Steve: Yeah. We couldn't really say He made much noise. Jill: No.

Steve: No. And we certainly couldn't say He made many noise. Jill: No, no.

Steve: So, when we are expressing quantity a lot of is actually used a great deal.

Jill: A great deal, yeah.

Steve: Yeah. It is used a lot. We could say he made a great deal of noise.

Jill: Yes.

Steve: So, it seems like a great deal and a lot of are words that are used quite often.

Jill: Yes.

Jill: And friends who helped him move. He had friends who helped him move.

Steve: You know, here again, it's that use of what we call a relative pronoun. In some languages that structure is quite different and they say: The helped him move friends. And so, we find people writing that in English our learners. The helped him move friends. Actually, that's quite a nice way of doing it, for those languages that have that structure. Jill: Right.

Steve: You know, the Chinese, the Japanese do that. That's fine. I like that. When I'm in that language that works. But in English, as in French, you know, and in many European languages, we have this relative pronoun who. He had friends who helped him move.

He had a car which he liked. He had a place where he liked to go. So, it's just how that relative pronoun works there. Jill: And there are relative pronouns all the time in English sentences and I think people make a lot of mistakes with them.

Steve: A lot of mistakes. And here, again again, I'm always repeating myself, but -- I would encourage people they know what the word who means; when, where, how. Save the word in The Linguist in order to create many, many example sentences. And then, get used to them because these sentences that you create then as examples in The Linguist, these come from your listening and reading, so they should be familiar to you. And so, gradually, you are reviewing that sound, you had heard it before and it starts to become a part of you so that when you go to speak or write it will come out naturally.

Steve: Okay, I think that's covered that. The content we are reviewing and we are talking about is from The Linguist www.thelinguist.com. We hope those of you who are members, we hope this helps you go back and review content that you have, hopefully, been listening to. Those of you who are not members, we have been talking about some easy content we have at The Linguist. Please come and join us. Regardless of your level, we feel that we can help you improve. Don't we? Jill: We sure can.

Steve: Okay. Bye, bye, Jill.

Jill: Bye, bye.