Steve: Hi Jill.
Jill: Hi Steve.
Steve: I'm looking forward to this. We're going to have some easy words and phrases that you have selected from your experience and that perhaps some of the beginner or intermediate learners have trouble with or don't use always correctly. What were some of the ones that you picked up from your experience?
Jill: Um, one was most and almost so a lot of people will say most when they mean almost and they have very different meanings. Almost simply means, what's a good way to say it? Steve: It's kind of difficult. Jill: It is kind of, I want to use almost to describe it. Not, not all of.
Steve: You didn't quite, it wasn't quite something. Jill: Right so I, I almost got there on time. So, you've just about got there on time but you didn't quite make it there on time so you were a little bit late. Steve: Right.
Jill: Um, or I almost had enough money to buy those shoes.
Steve: Right.
Jill: So you didn't quite have enough but you were very close to having enough. Steve: Right.
Jill: So that's what almost means. Most Steve: Close to it. Jill: Close to it.
Steve: Close to it but not quite there.
Jill: Yeah, exactly. Um, most can be used in so many different ways and it means, I mean, well it means nothing similar to almost at all.
Steve: Right.
Jill: So you can say I like most chocolate but I don't like dark chocolate. Steve: Right.
Jill: So that means on all other types you like but you don't like dark. Steve: Right.
Jill: Or, another example of most would be um, when you're talking about a larger amount than anything or anyone else. So, for example France produces the most wine. So it produces more wine than any other country.
Steve: I mean it's what we call a superlative. Jill: Yeah.
Steve: Many, more and most. Big, better, best. So, most is the most.
Jill: Most is the most.
Steve: Most is the most so yeah, that is really Jill: This is the most popular restaurant in town. There is no other restaurant that is more popular than this one.
Steve: Right.
Jill: Vancouver is the most beautiful city in the world. You know that's a matter of opinion. Steve: In the opinion….
Jill: So, yeah.
Steve: You could say home is the most wonderful place to live.
Jill: Exactly.
Steve: Whatever. You know and, and I think it's important as we talk about these words and we try to use them we're trying to create we hope, an interesting discussion so that people will listen to this discussion hopefully more than once. And, so they'll hear most and more and the different examples that you gave and listen to it and eventually they will remember this discussion of ours or they'll remember some other discussion but if they can remember most in these sentences, the most beautiful city in the world, most of all I like chocolate, if they can remember those within those phrases, within those sentences, if they can somehow recreate you know that memory of listening to that discussion that's going to help them. That's going to help them and that's why we recommend obviously lots of listening. Jill: Listening to it more than one time.
Steve: More than one time, saving phrases because if you just try to remember the word most you may remember it for tomorrow but you probably still will confuse it with almost or something.
Jill: Or more, whatever which is actually another one I have here.
Steve: Ok.
Jill: More. Um, so you can use more in several ways. You can use it on it's own so I have more money than you do or you can say more than plus a number or an amount. So more than um, it costs more, it costs more than $5 to go to a movie.
Steve: Right.
The interesting thing there of course is the connection between more and than. It's not more as. I have more money than you. You have more money than me. You have more money than $50. More money than yesterday.
Jill: Right.
Steve: So it's always more than. Right.
Jill: It's always than. Right.
Or there's you know the more you do something the better you get at it. Steve: That's a wonderful phrase. Jill: So you have to, you have to have the more plus something and then the more again. So it's implying that one action is going to impact on another. Steve: And you know it's very interesting because all languages have similar phrases and yet they all deal with them in slightly different ways and this is the kind of phrase where someone who is a speaker of another language will bring their pattern into English. So, it's very important to recognize that in English we say the more, the more you have, the more you get. Jill: The more you, the more you, the more you study the more you will learn.
Steve: Right.
And of course the expression, the more, the merrier.
Jill: That's right. The more, the merrier. That's right. And I think you know there's phrases with more, more and more, you know. I like you more and more everyday so you know I liked you when I first met you but the more I get to know you the more I start to like you. I like you even more.
Steve: Exactly. That's right. So that's more and more. Jill: More and more.
Steve: And there again more and more is, is a, is a phrase that's used in other languages in different ways, in different structures but in English it's more and more. Jill: And, actually here I have a good example of what almost means as well. More or less. More or less so not quite.
Steve: Right.
More or less. Not quite.
Jill: Then another phrase is more than likely which means it's very likely, it's probably going to happen. So, it's Steve: That's a very idiomatic expression, more than likely. Likely has a certain degree of probability but more than likely. It's more than just likely. It's almost certain. Certain. Almost again.
Jill: And this is, I mean, almost again. Yes.
Steve: Almost certain.
Jill: Yes.
So that would be a phrase I would say is probably not for the beginner learner. Probably quite a few of these ones with more might not be.
Steve: But you know, I'll interrupt you, I'll disagree with you because occasionally you're allowed to disagree with me too. I think if a beginner said more than likely it would sound very nice.
Jill: Oh it would sound great for sure.
Steve: Very nice because I think there are some you know words that would sound so difficult that, and would be very difficult to use but more than likely, I think that would be a very nice phrase for a person, even someone who was a beginner to use.
Jill: Yeah I think it would be great too. I just think it would, it's a difficult construction so I just think they might have some problems with it in the beginning but I mean, more is such, I think a useful word so to save more in several different sentences you know and with you know, more than and you know save it as part of a phrase I think more than one time Steve: Right. Jill: is a very good thing to do.
Steve: Have you got any more?
Jill: Um, I, I just picked one more.
Steve: Ok.
Jill: And it's basically… Steve: One more by the way, even that is a phrase you know. How do you say that? They say it in different ways in different languages but in English you say, Jill do you have any more examples? Do you have any more? Yes I have one more. One more.
Jill: Or yes I have two more or yes I have whatever.
Steve: Right.
Jill: But in this case, yes I have one more. So um, and I chose the word come which, I mean to come is a verb.
Steve: Right.
Jill: And it can just be used in so many ways. You know, when are you coming home? Where do you come from?
Steve: And those are phrases, come home, come from.
Jill: Come from.
Steve: Right.
Jill: Lisa came to the movie with us.
Steve: So come with. Come with.
Jill: Come with. Or, just what we say all the time if you know we're expecting somebody at our home and we've got our door unlocked and we're busy cooking or doing whatever and so they might ring the doorbell or knock on the door and you may just yell, come in. Steve: Right.
Right.
Jill: You know it's open, come in and it means you know, walk in. Steve: Or, if you're talking to your neighbor you might say come on over. Jill: Come on over. Come for a visit. Come, come to my place.
Steve: Come on over.
Jill: Yeah.
Steve: Or, if somebody says something that you don't agree with you could say, come on. Jill: That's right, come on. Get serious, get real.
Steve: So these are very idiomatic.
Jill: Yes.
Steve: You know one thing that, that you know because I've been, I've been working on my Russian recently and I had to write something in Russian and the words and phrases that came to my mind as I tried to write were words that I had heard in phrases and that I had heard in interesting content. We have of course, a Russian programmer and he and his wife, they helped write this for me in Russian. A very simple story and they recorded it and I listened to it 30 or 40 times but there are phrases in there that have stuck with me and the words that I am able to remember from those phrases, part of that experience that I had so many times of listening and listening, those are the words that I can remember. Trying to remember words on their own is very, very difficult. So, again for our learners with the Linguist system again, when you save a word you should try to save the phrase with it and so you get a double advantage. You get a list of the words to review, you get a list of the phrases to review.
Jill: So save it twice. Save it as a word and save it as a phrase.
Steve: Save it twice, as a phrase. And if you have a word for example, like we had you know going together, you can save that as a phrase and that will create some samples, some example sentences from your listening and reading but if you also have the individual word together you'll see many, many more examples of where these individual words are used. So that there's a real benefit in saving both the individual word and not just words that you don't understand but also words that you are not comfortable using. Jill: You know I try to, I really try to explain that to people when I'm talking to them on one on ones and even in some reports that you know there are people who understand English very well who I speak to and they understand everything I say but they still have a hard time using in certain phrases or a certain English constructions. They understand it when I say it and they understand it when they read it. They know what it means but they still can't use it properly, like the more you do something the better you get at it. You know, or the more I study the more I learn. You know, so they understand that but they use it incorrectly so those are the kinds of things you should still be saving.
Steve: And I think if they can, I was talking again earlier about this today but, it's the idea of recreating an experience that you have already had and as you do that and as you're helped by the various tools that we have at the Linguist to recreate that, you think back to that again and suddenly you find that you are able to use that phrase. So anyway, I think, have you got any more?
Jill: Not today. I think that's it for today. Steve: That's enough for today. Ok, well it's getting late in the afternoon so, we'll just end it here. Jill: Do this again.
Steve: Good bye Jill.
Jill: Good bye. Thanks.
Steve: Thank you.
