837. Describing a Car Accident in 15+ Styles of English 🚗 📚

hello listeners welcome back to Luke's English podcast I hope you're doing fine in fact I hope you're more than fine today I hope you're Splendid or radiant or perhaps even ebullient not that anyone normally uses those words but anyway I hope you're fantastic but in if you're just fine then that is wonderful anyway welcome back in this episode we're going to describe a car accident in various different styles of English to be honest it doesn't have to be a car accident it could be a description of anything really the main thing is I just want to show how English changes depending on the situation I chose a description of a car accident because I thought it might be quite an easy thing to describe in different ways but the focus here is not on the car accident but on the different styles of English so we're going to describe the same accident again and again but in different styles for example literary style informal conversational style academic style in the style of a movie screenplay in the style of song lyrics and more why are we doing this well it should show us the different ways that English is constructed depending on the situation so what are the linguistic differences between each version of this description imagine one single event in this case a car crash described in lots of different ways in different situations or contexts how would that event be described differently how would the language change in each case so imagine this car accident being described by a friend to another friend in an email by a friend to another friend in a conversation in a police report in a broadsheet newspaper in a tabloid newspaper in an academic essay by a child by a writer in a novel by a writer in a romantic novel from the 18th century by Shakespeare by Eminem by a stand-up comedian entertaining an audience by a news reporter on location by a politician making a speech in a screenplay for a Hollywood action movie by me in an episode of this podcast by dispassionate highly intelligent aliens who've been observing human behavior from a distance for hundreds of years by Liam Neeson in the film taken and so on and so on the list goes on you will see that the differences in the language are quite distinct each version is written in a specific style or voice which dictates the tone structures and vocabulary used for example a description written in the style of an 18th century novel uses more formal language longer sentences and more descriptive language compared to the response written in the style of a child writing a letter which of course uses simpler vocabulary and sentence structures a description in the style of a politician making a speech uses more persuasive language and rhetorical devices to convince The Listener while the description in the style of a stand-up comedian on stage uses very personal touches which highlight the inherent humor in the situation or the attitude of the speaker a description in the style of a Hollywood screenplay shows specific organization and presentation of the text in the use of directions and dialogue and the description in the style of a police report uses impersonal and formal reporting language okay so overall the differences in language and style in each case highlight the importance of audience purpose and context in determining the appropriate language and tone for a given piece of writing or speaking basically we adapt our English for the situation so this is what I want to demonstrate different situations cause English to be constructed differently another thing for you to consider here is this would you be able to adapt your English for these different situations are you able to use English in these different modes do you have the right level of linguistic control to be able to do that are you aware of the stylistic conventions of each different context are you able to adapt your vocabulary grammar text organization or perhaps pronunciation for each situation this is a key skill this is a key writing skill in Cambridge exams being able to adapt your style for different situations in CAE Cambridge certificate of advanced English for example you might have to write a formal letter an informal letter A Business Report or proposal a magazine article a review and so on you have to get the style and genre conventions right and that means adapting your vocabulary sentence structure and overall text organization for ages I've wanted to make an English lesson or podcast episode all about this comparing differences in different styles of English but it's always been really hard because I've had to write them all myself I've had to write all the different versions myself I've had different attempts at it in the past writing out things in different styles of English but it's it's always been really difficult okay having to do it myself that's that's a bit of a headache to be honest so this is at GPT steps in okay I can use that as my assistant here so let's see if chat GPT can do this for me or can help by providing these samples of English in different contexts so I've been using chat GPT 3 for a while now as an English teacher in various ways and I've I've found that perhaps the best use of it is to produce different samples of English quickly including example sentences and questions to help us understand and practice using uh certain bits of language so here's what I did okay here's what I did for this episode um I created a prompt for chat GPT like this so the prompt is this write a 200 word text about a car accident in the style of dot dot dot okay and then I've just added a different style each time for example in the style of an academic essay or in the style of a police report and so on and it did pretty much exactly what I wanted it to do so let me read them all out to you okay see if you can notice the differences in language in each situation now I might not be able to stop and explain all the items of vocabulary here let's go I'm going to throw a lot of English at you in this episode and I might not be able to stop and explain all the individual items of vocab here because I'm focusing on the overall style of each text you can get the PDF for this episode and then check the words yourself later if you like the PDF you'll find the link in the description or on the episode page for this one on my website um so I will point out certain words and phrases here but the overall idea is that I want you to notice the language and how it changes I'll also do my best to change my voice in a way that is suitable for each situation because obviously you've got written English and spoken English the delivery of of English orally with your voice that does change as well depending on the situation and you tend to find for example politicians sound a certain way when they speak news readers sound a certain way um what else like police police officers when they're delivering a report might sound a certain way so I'll try and adapt my voice appropriately if I can so let's get started uh just one note uh chat GPT uses American English by default and I find that even when I ask it to convert things into British English it seems to do this slightly it seems to do this slightly unnaturally as if it's doing a slightly inauthentic impression of British English it's a bit like an American person pretending to be a British person and so it ends up being slightly caricatured it uses some slightly cliched or stereotypical English you know as if it's attempting to like fake being a British person you know chat GPT is basically American um so I decided to let it just write all of this in American English um which is fine of course the majority of the time it's exactly the same as as in British English and I can perhaps point out any moments when British English would would clearly be different uh I can try and do that a bit and and that could be useful as we've seen before on this podcast all right then so let's get started I wonder if this is going to be a super super duper long episode we will see anyway let's crack on so my first one the first one is this my first prompt was this right a 200 word text about a car accident in the style of someone writing an informal letter to a friend okay so an informal letter to a friend I've chosen a letter to a friend here rather than a friend speaking to another friend because otherwise if I ask it to just pretend to be a friend speaking to another friend chat GPT just creates a dialogue between two people and I want a clear and fairly neutral description of this accident first to operate as a sort of Baseline model for a description of this car accident so I wanted just one description described by one person so this is what we've got okay an informal letter to a friend and here it is okay right I'll give you some comments on this afterwards in terms of you know the the the sort of uh style um or register of of the English here okay so here we go hi Dave great to see you last weekend let's do that again soon I just wanted to tell you about something crazy that happened to me yesterday I was driving down Main Street when out of nowhere This SUV came barreling through the intersection and hit my car it all happened so fast and before I knew it my car was totaled luckily I'm okay but I had to go to the hospital just to get checked out I'm pretty sore today but I'll live the other driver was definitely at fault but they seemed okay too we exchanged information and everything but I don't know what's going to happen with insurance and all that it's just a big mess I never thought I'd be in a car accident like this but I guess anything can happen on the road it's just a reminder to always stay alert and be careful out there anyway I just wanted to let you know what's been going on hopefully things will get sorted out soon and I'll be back on the road before I know it talk to you soon Luke okay right so you could see there that the tone of it is is personal right it's it's very it's very personal um we've got sort of um obviously High Dave at the start this is an informal letter so it starts with high Dave rather than Dear Dave great to see you last weekend let's do that again soon so these personal touches so it's definitely personal it's fairly informal the language is informal there's the use of contractions um you know I'll live and other things like that and some other descriptive vocab which is quite informal like something crazy that happened to me um you know uh my uh my car was totaled total that is American English it means uh written off my car was written off means it was just really like badly damaged um okay you know I'm just gonna go to the hospital to get checked out I'm pretty sore today meaning I'm I'm aching or I'm in pain today so quite informal language in terms of like the text conventions we see that there's a personal greeting at the beginning of the letter and a reference to their friendship we know all part of that personal style contractions are used lots of descriptive vocabulary some phrasal verbs in there and it's not overly complicated language I mean the sentences aren't really complex and long okay so that's the informal letter to a friend let's move on to to compare that to some other versions so the next one that I chose was this write a 200 word text about a car accident in a literary Style so literary style that means the kind of English that's used by a writer writing a novel you know like the sort of sorts of Novel that you pick up in the Bookshop sort of novels that have dramatic elements novels that create sort of a sense of suspense or emotion right novels the sorts of books you read on holiday or or you know in your free time and stuff write a 200 word text about a car accident in a literary style so here we go this is this is what chat GPT came up with see if you can notice the differences between this and the previous example here we go as the sun began its descent towards the horizon the road ahead stretched out endlessly seemingly inviting the driver to speed up but fate had other plans in store in an instant screeching tires and the shattering of glass shattered the serenity of the afternoon a car accident had occurred amidst the chaos and confusion a mangled metal carcass lay motionless on the asphalt the air was Heavy with the acrid smell of burnt rubber and gasoline mingling with the pungent scent of fear and anxiety the onlookers rushed to the scene frantically Dialing for emergency services while the Wailing Sirens grew closer and closer as the ambulance arrived the paramedics rushed to the wrecked vehicle trying to extricate the occupants from the Twisted Metal but the damage had been done bloodied and battered bodies were hastily loaded onto stretchers as the urgency of their situation weighed heavily on their minds the aftermath of the accident left an indelible mark on those who witnessed it the fragility of Life had been laid bare a stark reminder that in the blink of an eye everything can change the road ahead may seem inviting but it can also hold unforeseen dangers lurking around every turn wow quite different so you can see that there's lots of very descriptive language right describing the the the sunset the sun began its descent towards the horizon the road stretched out endlessly lots of very evocative language which is the you know the purpose of um of a of a novel writers to evoke feelings and environments and um like to make experiences very Vivid um literary vocabulary to present the events in a dramatic way there are no contractions that you would like you would get in informal writing in fact it's quite formal um right full sentences uh fully correct grammar quite complex sentences a generally dramatic and emotional tone and as you would expect from works of literature there are references to bigger themes like fate and destiny right to ultimately to kind of make us think about The Human Condition you know something more profound okay let's keep moving I mean I could go back through that because there's lots and lots of very specific language but I'm not going to the the aim here is to try to just look at different styles and I'm not getting caught up in the details okay but as I said before you can get the PDF for this and you can check those specific words yourself if you want to but this is an uh an exercise in style in this episode today so the next one is this write a 200 word text about a car accident in the style of a stand-up comedy routine right now stand-up comedy you probably know but just in case you don't know as I just get my headphones comfortable on my head here stand-up comedy that's when you know a comedian stands up on stage in front of an audience and they've got a microphone and they maybe tell jokes tell stories the main aim is to make the audience laugh okay so how would a stand-up comedian uh describe a car accident now a little warning here I have to say chat GPT is pretty bad at writing comedy but the tone is right the general tone is right but the comedy it's not artificial intelligence has not quite got there yet it's it just shows it's very complicated and difficult to make good comedy but this is what chat GPT came up with all right so here we go I have to try and imagine now I'm a comedian on stage but this is awful uh material so it's not really very funny maybe a couple of bits but anyway we'll see so I was driving down the road the other day minding my own business went out of nowhere bam I got rear-ended by a car and let me tell you I wasn't ready for that kind of action I mean it's one thing to watch car crashes on TV but it's a whole different ball game when you're in the middle of it my car was spun around like a carnival ride and I felt like I was in a scene from The Fast and Furious but I have to give it to the other driver they were a real Pro they managed to hit me in just the right spot to make my car do a 180 degree turn I almost wanted to ask them for driving lessons but then I remembered that they had just crashed into me so maybe not the worst part about the whole thing was that they the worst part about the whole thing was that I just washed my car that morning I mean come on couldn't they have waited until at least the next day to crash into me now I have to go back to the car wash and spend another twenty dollars just to get it clean again but on the bright side at least I have a good story to tell now and the best part well I can blame all my bad driving on the accident oh sorry officer I'm still recovering from that car crash last week can't you cut me some slack AI comedy at its finest ladies and gentlemen not very funny but anyway that as I said the tone is Right definitely American English sounds a bit weird really me saying that in British in my British accent but so what are the kind of uh what what can I say it's not a great comedy routine first of all the material's pretty poor I would not want to go on stage and perform that particular material but the general style of it is right so it's personal it's informal it's conversational there's a confidence to to the storytelling it's ironic as well right there's a sense of ironic detachment and you can see that in in the bit about how the comedian wanted to get driving lessons from the other driver because they managed to hit the car in just the right spot to make make him do a whole 180 degree turn so actually quite impressive so there's a sense of ironic Detachment which is very common in comedy in stand-up comedy where you you basically show that you're looking at events in a humorous way stepping outside of the normal conventions of everyday life and seeing the funny side the strong attitude of the speaker is clear you can see that the speaker is kind of like shocked or amazed or impressed or you know positive at the end you know there's a sense of the attitude of the speaker coming through and the whole thing the purpose of the whole thing is is designed to elicit laughter from the audience as you can see and that's you know that's that's what kind of defines the rest of the style of it okay okay let's move on I've got lots of these I've got lots and lots of these there's over 15 of these different uh styles of English that we're looking at here so let's keep pressing forwards okay right so the next one is this write a 200 word text about a car accident in the style of a police report okay so this is where this is where I have to use my generic uh English police officer's voice they might sound a little bit like this very factual every single word is pronounced with a gap between the uh between them um all right so this is the police report version here we go on March 23 2023 at approximately 4 15 p.m a car accident occurred at the intersection of Main Street and 5th Avenue the accident involved a blue sedan and a red SUV upon arrival at the scene officers observed extensive damage to both vehicles the driver of the blue sedan identified as John Doe was found to have suffered minor injuries and was transported to the local hospital for treatment the driver of the red SUV identified as Jane Smith was not injured preliminary investigation revealed that the blue sedan was traveling west on Main Street and the red SUV was traveling north on Fifth Avenue the red SUV failed to stop at the red light and collided with the blue sedan in the intersection both drivers were wearing their seat belts at the time of the accident airbags in both vehicles deployed on him upon impact no passengers were present in either vehicle the accident resulted in significant damage to both vehicles requiring them to be towed from the scene the intersection was closed for approximately one hour for investigation and cleanup charges are pending against Jane Smith for failure to stop at a red light resulting in a collision the investigation is ongoing hmm okay so clearly it's quite formal right formal language which means it's impersonal there are no contractions used um right no slang it's objective and impersonal so there's a sense that the the person describing it is is like a uh impartial from the events there's no sense of emotional involvement certain legal language or police terminology is used you know we've got things like preliminary investigation and um upon arrival at the scene officers observed extensive damage and uh the accident resulted in significant damage charges are pending so we've got certain legal or police terminology being used events are described in chronological order right um active voice rather than passive voice is used in order to be clear about who did what okay and it includes relevant information and details of who when what Etc all relevant for the case so the purpose being it's just recording the events in the most impartial way possible in order to provide information for the case which if the case goes to court it's very important that the information is laid out clearly impartially with no sense of emotional involvement with all that police language and sort of police legal terminology as well okay right how's this going for you listeners is this working out for you you know this is a sort of an experimental episode for me because um you know just an experiment in in demonstrating differences in style we're going to be talking about this car accident quite a lot and one thing as well I've realized is that maybe I made the mistake of of asking it to write a 200 word text because that's quite a lot that's that's quite a long text each time and I had to keep the voice going I have to try and keep my impression going uh for 200 words let's see if I can keep doing it so next next is this my next prompt was this write a 200 word text about a car accident in the style of an academic essay okay so basically this is a 200 word academic essay about a car accident now it's to be honest it's not normal to write an essay about a car accident right normally you'd have essays that compare and contrast things or that in which you present a certain argument or argue for and against something it's not normal to describe a car accident in an essay and you can see from this text that chat GPT has kind of converted this into a sort of discussion about the The Wider ramifications of car safety and road safety um so yeah not very normal to write an essay about a car accident it would probably more likely be an academic study or report but let's see what chat GPT does here okay so this is this is the 200 word essay about a car accident okay the occurrence of car accidents has been a topic of interest and study for many years and as they can result in significant human and financial costs on March the 23 2023 an accident occurred at the intersection of Main Street and Fifth Avenue involving a blue sedan and a red SUV this essay aims to analyze the circumstances of the accident and explore potential contributing factors clearly there's organization being done here right you can see that's an introduction That's a classic essay introduction the sort of thing that you might have to write in an IELTS academic writing task although you they wouldn't ask you to write one about a car accident that you might have to write an academic essay about Road Safety though so let's so that was the introduction let's continue initial investigation revealed that the red SUV failed to stop at a red light and collided with the blue sedan in the intersection this raises questions about the role of driver behavior and attentiveness in preventing accidents research has shown that distractions such as mobile devices can impair driver performance and increase the likelihood of accidents it's also important to consider the role of driver education and training in promoting sites in promoting safe driving practices the use of safety features in vehicles can also play a role in preventing injuries and reducing the severity of accidents in this case both drivers were wearing their seat belts and the deployment of airbags likely contributed to the relatively minor injuries sustained by the driver of the blue sedan in conclusion the accidents at the intersection of Main Street and Fifth Avenue highlights the complex and multi-faceted nature of car accidents a comprehensive approach including driver education and training the use of safety features and efforts to minimize distractions can help to prevent accidents and mitigate their impacts further research and Analysis are needed to fully understand the factors contributing to car accidents and to div and to develop effective strategies for prevention any academic essay will have an act will have an essay question this one didn't really have an essay question so chat GPT has kind of built its essay it's kind of made up some kind of question I think probably if this essay had a question it would be something like describe the car accident that happened blah blah blah on the 23rd of whenever it was 23rd of March describe a car accident um and um and discuss issues of road safety you know that and discuss and discuss issues of road safety um and strategies for prevention it might be something like that so in terms of structure it's typical right there's an introduction with an overview and an aim describing the aim of the essay the next paragraphs explore the events and make certain wider points about Society Road Safety Etc and there's a conclusion which summarizes what we can learn from this classic essay writing stuff it's formal language it's quite impersonal there are no pronouns here no use of I or me so it's that typical academic distance where you don't say I or me so it's impersonal it's objective it's informative and it has the purpose of discussing wider issues and contributing to a wider collection of knowledge in a particular field that's what academic essays are for and this essay focuses on road safety and the prevention of accidents okay so that's academic English now let's move on to the sort of English that you might find in newspapers my next prompt is this write a 200 word text about a car accident in the style of a tabloid newspaper report so just to be clear you've got two types of newspaper traditionally there's tabloid newspapers and broadsheet newspapers the Tabloid ones are those ones which are more Sensational and um usually they're slightly smaller in size they might have bigger pictures less text and they're very attention grabbing and it's not exactly the most sort of intelligent highbrow intellectual coverage of events and news instead it focuses on sensationalism shock value gossip and things like that so that's tabloid newspapers broadsheet newspapers are the bigger more serious ones okay so let's let's have a look at tabloid uh newspapers I've written here by the way chat GPT is kind of cheating here and has been using more or less than 200 words in its answers that's not really very important but I've asked it to write 200 words I thought it would be in extra impressive if every single time it managed to hit 200 words precisely but it's sometimes more than 200 words sometimes less okay I will I will let that one slip anyway here is a tabloid uh newspaper article about this car accident here it is you ready horror on the roads car crash at intersection in a heart-stopping collision that shocked onlookers a blue sedan and a red SUV collided at the intersection of Main Street and 5th Avenue leaving both vehicles totaled eyewitnesses reported that the red SUV appeared to have run a red light slamming into the blue sedan and sending it spinning out of control the impact was so severe that the sedan's airbags deployed leaving the driver with minor injuries the driver of the SUV emerged unscathed but shaken by the terrifying ordeal the the intersection was blocked off for hours as emergency responders arrived on the scene to clear the wreckage and tend to the injured passers-by took to social media to share photos and videos of the dramatic scene with many expressing their shock and disbelief at the severity of the accident while investigations are still ongoing authorities have indicated that the driver of the red SUV may be facing charges for reckless driving and failing to obey traffic signals this harrowing incident serves as a reminder of the importance of staying Vigilant on the roads and obeying traffic laws to prevent tragedies like this from occurring stay tuned for updates as the investigation unfolds okay now that could have they could have put chat GPT could have pushed that further if that had been a an article in the Sun newspaper for example a very popular tabloid in the UK it might have made it even more emotional and maybe might have added a political angle to it as well they might have used the opportunity to criticize certain public figures because you know the sun is kind of a fairly right wing newspaper so they might have used it as a chance to probably have a go at something like woke culture somehow I don't know how you could connect a car accident to woke culture uh but they'd probably find some way of kind of um uh kind of um poking at people's opinions and beliefs and political views and stuff as well so you can see it's it's there's quite a lot of Sensational language for example a heart-stopping collision right um a terrifying ordeal this is quite Sensational language language that's that makes it sound much more dramatic um than than it maybe was it's attention grabbing okay um horror on the roads using a word like horror little Punchy words like this are used in tabloid journalism to grab people's attention and to um focus on people's emotions so you get words like horror and heart stopping and stuff like that it's emotional language designed to get a reaction from readers because this is what sells newspapers uh it's quite colloquial language in some places you know you've got the bit where it said leaving both vehicles totaled which is quite American colloquial language but you might say something like in British English it might be a horrific accident which left both vehicles wrecked you know something like that so sometimes um tabloid newspapers do use fairly colloquial language quite a lot of slang maybe some phrasal verbs even little word jokes and things uh simple sentence structure and shorter sentences for impact as the report goes on I have to say it gets a little bit less tabloid-like and some of that is like fairly normal almost broadsheet style writing but usually tabloid um writing is a bit more simple shorter sentences which have more impact it's designed to be simple it's designed to be easy to follow and easy to read lots of Hyperbole and exaggeration you know like talking about it as like a a horrific ordeal like building it up and exaggerating things that's what hyperbole is it's basically exaggeration they're often references to things like shock or Scandal or outrage it's not really about accuracy or balance but rather the purpose is to engage the reader and provoke an emotional response okay so that was tabloid newspaper journalism let's have a look at broadsheet newspaper reports so the next one is write a 200 word text about a car accident in the style of a broadsheet newspaper report so this is the more the more serious more respectable newspapers okay so here we go uh what's the what's the voice I should use we'll see in a collision that has left two vehicles severely damaged a blue sedan and a red SUV collided at the intersection of Main Street and Fifth Avenue at approximately 4 15 pm on March the 23rd 2023 eyewitnesses reported that the red SUV failed to stop at a red light and collided with the blue sedan causing significant damage to both vehicles the driver of the blue sedan sustained minor injuries and was transported to the hospital for treatment while the driver of the red SUV was unharmed emergency responders arrived promptly on the scene and the intersection was closed for several hours as the wreckage was cleared and the investigations began authorities have indicated that the driver of the red SUV May face charges for failing to obey traffic signals this incident serves as a reminder of the importance of safe and responsible driving and the potential consequences of failing to adhere to to traffic laws it also highlights the importance of safety features such as airbags and seat belts in reducing the risk of serious injury in accidents as investigations continue we urge all drivers to remain Vigilant on the roads and prioritize safety at all times we will provide updates as more information becomes available now it that was pretty good from chat GPT I mean some things I think were not quite right like this bit where it says we urge drivers to remain Vigilant normally broadsheet newspapers or in the news you normally don't get like direct um sort of direct instructions or calls to action to the reader you don't normally get that kind of thing we urge drivers to remain Vigilant there isn't that sense of responsibility instead it's really just about describing the events as they happened rather than actually giving people direct instructions also I think a broadsheet paper would probably include some quotes from public figures or responses from public figures for example you might get prime minister Rishi sunak made a statement on Twitter calling for urge for an urgent rethink of traffic laws you know there would be something like that right references to what public figures have said but overall you can say it's quite formal it's factual it's objective you find fairly complex sophisticated sentences it's got a serious tone it's not as emotionally manipulative as the Tabloid um piece the aims are to be accurate to analyze and to refer to wider issues there is some sense of depth and insight as well there as well how many times shall I say as well I'll say it one more time as well there you go four times okay now I'd like to start really exploring some interesting versions of English here and we're going to start getting a bit I'm going to start having fun with this I think in in a in a few moments let's first look at conversational English so my next prompt is this write a 200 word text about a car accident in the style of a conference conversational anecdote between friends so this is just two friends having a chat and one of them just describes the accident they've seen so this is just sort of common everyday informal spoken English between friends here we go friend one hey did you hear about the car accident at Main Street and Fifth Avenue yesterday friend two no what happened friend one apparently a blue sedan an arrest red SUV collided in the intersection the the SUV ran a red light and hit the sedan pretty hard oh that's crazy was anyone hurt yeah the driver of the sedan got a few minor injuries and had to go to the hospital but the driver of the SUV was okay oh thank goodness for seat belts and airbags right definitely it's scary to think how much worse it could have been without those safety features and it's also a reminder of how important it is to obey traffic laws and traffic signals and stay focused while driving exactly I heard the driver of the SUV might be facing charges for reckless driving friend too well that's a tough lesson to learn but hopefully it will make them more aware on the on the roads in the future yeah let's just hope everyone stays safe out there okay there's a bit of a weird conversation it felt very contrived didn't it I think it would be more likely something like this I'll tell you what mate I I saw a horrible accident on the way here oh yeah really what happened well there was like a car was just driving through the junction and another one just completely jumped the red light and smashed into him it was horrible yeah there was that the car spun around 180 degrees the airbags went off and everything I could see the airbags inside the car it's like horrible noise as well there's probably going to be a bit more emotional descriptions of the emotions and the visceral sensations of what it was like right whereas this dialogue looks like it was written it's like it's part of like a health and safety training video you know I you know well that's a tough lesson to learn but hopefully it will make them more aware of the roads in the future yeah let's just hope everyone stays safe out there so I'm not sure it did a great job but I mean you know the English is Flawless of course and more or less it's a fairly good demonstration of informal casual conversation it's informal it's casual there are contractions you know in written in informal written English you do have contractions that's you know not that is it's not it is there are some colloquialisms uh what kind of colloquialisms that's crazy you know um thank goodness for seat belts things like that there's agreement between the speakers so the speakers are friends so obviously they're going wow yeah that's true I agree with you that's right isn't it well it certainly shows this doesn't it yeah it does you know and expressing emotional responses to the event although chat GPT didn't do that much although it said things like oh it's scary to think how much it could how much worse it could have been without those safety features hahaha chat GPT seems to have a sense of responsibility and it's always highlighting the importance of road safety have you noticed um okay let's move on okay this is where it's going to start getting fun as if it wasn't fun already I'm obviously we're having a fantastic time already aren't we everyone yes um but uh this is where how long have I been recording by the way okay right already 45 minutes worth so next is this write a 200 word text about a car accident in the style of a Hollywood science fiction action movie screenplay Hollywood science fiction action movie okay are you ready [Music] it could be like a Terminator film or just any generic Hollywood science fiction action and you can see if you're looking at the PDF of this you can see that the way this is constructed is the typical 4A screenplay for a script so you get little instructions and stuff like that fade in external city streets night a Sleek car races through the neon lit streets of a futuristic city pursued by a group of hovering police drones interior car night inside the car the driver Jacks grips the steering wheel tightly his eyes fixed on the road ahead suddenly a black SUV swerves in front of him causing him to lose control of the car Jack's grunting hold on tight says Jax the car spins out of control crashing into a nearby building Jax crawls out of the wreckage his eyes scanning the area for any signs of danger suddenly a group of heavily armed aliens appear out of nowhere their weapons trained on Jacks Jacks smiling grimly let's play ha Jack's pulled out a high-tech weapon and engages the aliens in a fierce battle explosions Rock the street as Jax fights for his life finally Jax emerges Victorious his weapon smoking in his hand Jax I'm getting too old for this Jax walks away from the scene of the accident ready for whatever the next challenge may be Fade Out okay to be honest I added the line I'm getting too old for this because I mean that's just like the typical cliche line isn't it from an action movie that was brilliant I love that by the way I just realized maybe you don't know what an SUV is and what a sedan is obviously these are two types of car an SUV is a sports utility vehicle it's something that looks kind of like a four-wheel drive um right it's kind of a large large car uh with a uh you sit higher up it's like a kind of a Range Rover or something like that that's an SUV and a sedan is just a standard um car four doors the and a boot at the back quite long something like a Toyota Camry or something like that right that's a standard sedan car okay I really enjoyed that one so let's look at the the the style of it right let's describe it so the organization of a screenplay is clear it mixes descriptions of the scene with certain abbreviations like interior int dot means interior certain abbreviations and codes to show if we are inside if we're outside who is speaking and other notes for the director of the film it uses Dynamic impactful language there's descriptions of the action certain tropes or cliches things that you always find in movies right like the vehicle crashing and he and him emerging from the from the from the the wreckage and there are certain witty or cool lines like let's play you know I'm getting too old for this stuff like that and the purpose of this is is to provide a written blueprint for the direction of the film and to create a film which is immersive exciting entertaining and thrilling and perhaps also amusing too okay let's move on to so there's a news report we're back to the news again but instead of it being written news it this is uh TV news or maybe radio news so I asked chat GPT to write a 200 word text about a car accident in the style of a news report on location so you can imagine the news reader is in the street in front of the location of the accident and this is where I get to use my BBC news reporter voice this is Luke Thompson reporting live from the scene of a car accident on where would it be on King Street we're witnessing a significant police and emergency service presence here the accident appears to have involved two vehicles and occurred at approximately 10 am Witnesses report that the accident happened when one of the vehicles attempted to change lanes without indicating causing the other vehicle to swerve and collide with a nearby barrier the driver of the first vehicle fled the scene before the authorities arrived the accident was the accident has resulted in a significant traffic build up with several Lanes of the Kings Road currently closed while Emergency Services attend to the situation we can see a number of injured passengers being attended to Pi paramedics and at least one person being loaded onto an ambulance into an ambulance onto an ambulance it doesn't really matter I can't keep that voice up for too long this is Luke Thompson for the BBC in uh in Hammersmith okay you can see it's kind of straightforward it's factual certain news style languages used for example we're witnessing a significant police presence or Witnesses reported but I think again it says we urge all motorists to exercise caution and patience so news reports don't usually directly tell people what to do instead it would be something like fiercely residents are strongly advised to exercise caution or police are urging anyone with information to come forward or something like this causing the other vehicle to swerve and collide with a nearby barrier the driver of the first vehicle fled the scene before the authorities arrived um let's keep going because I'm aware that this is going to be long if I don't go quickly so let's have the next one which is this write a 200 word text about a car accident in the style of a child writing a letter to their parents a child writing a letter to their parents now I hope you're not going completely insane here listeners with this this car accident being described again and again let's imagine it's a child what's what kind of English would a child use here it is dear mum and dad something scary happened today I was in the car with Aunt Karen and we got into an accident a big car hit us and it made a loud noise I was really scared and I started crying Aunt Karen called the police and they came to help us they asked if we were okay and took our names and phone numbers I didn't know what was happening but Aunt Karen said it was going to be okay we had to wait for a long time before another car to come and take us home the car was really messy and there was glass everywhere Aunt Karen had a cut on her arm but she said she was okay I'm sorry this happened I promise I'll be more careful in the car from now on I love you guys love Lukie oh the poor kid feels responsible that's that's kind of sad I promise I'll be more careful in the car from now on I'm sorry this happened it's all right little Luke it wasn't your fault oh so obviously the style of this depends on the age of the child the younger the more simple it's going to be but you can see simple short sentences simple vocabulary it's personal including some emotional feelings and it contains all the conventions of a personal letter okay next right this one is I got a bit more specific with this one so we had the literary version before right the one that could be in a in a work of literature I wanted a more specific genre of literature so I asked chat GPT to write a 200 word text about a car accident in the style of an 18th century romantic novel and I also said include a marriage proposal at the end because so many of those like 18th century romantic novels end up with a marriage proposal or something like that at the end think of like Jane Austen or something okay so here we go it was a dark and stormy night the kind that often accompanied the tumultuous Affairs of the heart as I was making my way home my thoughts were consumed by my future and the hands of Fate which were surely upon me suddenly a loud crash interrupted my reverie and I rushed towards the source of the sound there I found a carriage overturned and a Damsel in Distress a damsel in distress this is a a woman who needs help without a second thought I assisted the lady out of the wreckage and carried her to safety as we stood there taking in the magnitude of the accident I felt an overwhelming Sensation that I had found the woman who would be my companion for life over the next few days I visited her daily helping her recover from the injuries she had sustained in the accident as we talked our hearts were drawn together and I knew that I had found my true love and so with my heart racing I mustered up the courage to propose to her to my great joy she accepted and we were soon wed in a lavish ceremony that was the Talk of the Town now as I sit by the fire with my beloved by my side I thank the heavens above for guiding me to her through that fateful accident so you can see that there's kind of ornate language I mean old-fashioned descriptive language things like a dark and stormy night the kind that accompanied the tumultuous Affairs of the heart right typical of this sort of thing it focuses on the Romantic emotional and social lives of the protagonists that is normal for 18th century literature right romantic emotional social stuff includes it includes references to old-fashioned things of course like sitting by the fire or bar or um is there a reference to a horse and cart I don't think so um the descriptive language is full of metaphors um like um actually there aren't really many metaphors in this particular text but normally there's quite a lot of metaphorical language to describe things in this sort of literature but I can't really find that much here but it's certainly very very descriptive there are themes of Love of marriage and usually class as well especially if it's sort of English literature there's normally references to different you know people from different class backgrounds and how complicated that is the characters in these sorts of stories are often upper class um there are themes of emotion and love and they're viewed through the perspective of societal expectations and family pressure so we think of stories like you know great great expectations Charles Dickens although that's not that's not 18th century is it it's 19th century I think um stories like this often take place in pretty locations including beautiful and rugged Countryside as well as large Rich properties like Downton Abbey or something and intense emotions are described in great detail there's a lot of drama and possibly melodrama that's where drama is exaggerated okay that was that was good chat GPT did a good job now let's push it even further the next one is this write a 200 word text about a car accident in the style of Shakespeare okay now bear in mind that Shakespeare was around when was it 16th century right uh Tudor times the language is often very old-fashioned there's a poetry to it as well it's often written in rhyme like verse like poet like poetry um okay let's let's do it let's go oh cruel fate the gods have deemed it fit to bring upon us this disastrous hit our Carriage once so Grand and strong and Fleet Now lies in Ruins shattered at our feet the road wants smooth and easy to Traverse has turned against us wrought with Fate's curse our horses nay in Terror and fear as though they sense the end of all that's near but hark what noise is this that runs the air the sound of voices calling out in prayer Nate is the people gathered round us now to see the damage Fate has brought somehow our limbs are broken bloodied and maimed our cries of pain and grief forever framed we pray for aid for mercy and for Grace to heal us of this cruel and bitter place oh cruel fate why must thou be so rough why must thou bring us pain and sorrow tough we shall not falter though the night we shall not falter though the night be long for in our hearts our Spirits shall be strong so this should show the use of iambic pentameter which is a kind of rhyming pattern that consists of 10 syllables per line with alternating unstressed and stressed syllables is that true 10 syllables per line oh cruel fate the gods oh cool fate the gods have deemed it fit that's nine to bring upon to bring upon us this disastrous hit as 10 lines our Carriage once so Grand and strong and Fleet Now lies in Ruins shattered at our feet you can see that that that's pretty good right very good um it uses poetic devices such as metaphors similes alliteration and personification to create Vivid and Powerful imagery right um okra the gods have deemed it fit uh our Carriage Now lies in Ruins shattered at our feet wrought with Fate's curse okay um we see complex sentence structures and a large vocabulary including many archaic or obsolete words and phrases what have we got there old words that we don't really use that much you know wrought with Fate's curse but Hawk meaning listen what noise is this that runs the air meaning what noise is it that that comes through the the air so yeah yeah some obsolete words archaic language old-fashioned language it frequents frequently uses puns and wordplay like little word jokes and often creates new words by combining existing ones or alter or altering their forms Shakespeare was famous for doing this for playing with language and in doing so creating new words and idioms and things English is littered With Idioms and new Expressions that Shakespeare came up with and Shakespeare of course is renowned Shakespeare's writing is renowned for its eloquence complexity and depth of meaning as well as its ability to convey a range of emotions and ideas through language and you know it's it really sort of touches it goes quite deep into The Human Condition and big themes of fate and destiny and and things like that now moving from Shakespeare now to hip-hop to rap I asked chat GPT to write a 200 word text about a car accident in the style of Eminem all right now uh first of all let's see if chat GPT can actually do a reasonable in impression of Eminem's rapping style and secondly let's see if I can as well now actually I can't really um I can't do an m m impression but let me just read through these lyrics okay here we go so it sounds like this yo check it out I've got a story to tell about a car crash that left me feeling like hell I was cruising down the road feeling kind of fly and then out of nowhere a car hit me from the side I was thrown out of my ride feeling so damn high but then the pain hit me and I started to cry the ambulance came when I was rushed to the ER my head was spinning and my body was sore but I ain't gonna give up I'm a fighter you see gonna get back on my feet you just wait and see gonna show the world what I'm made of and Rise Above This accident like a boss y'all so bring on the pain he would never say like a boss witty so bring on the pain bring on the Strife I'm gonna come out of this like a brand new life and when I hit the road again I'll be stronger than before because I'm the real Slim Shady and I won't be ignored okay that was like quite high on the cringe cringeometer there wasn't it all right so um right so that was if Eminem wrapped about a car accident but I think in in the real world if Eminem did rap about a car accident he would do it with a lot more inventiveness and a lot more humor um and much better Rhymes and a much better flow than what I did just then but anyway a description of the style of English That Eminem uses in his lyrics he uses a com uh he uses lots of complex rhyming schemes so different ways of rhyming you know rapid fire delivery so he wraps really quickly and Vivid controversial lyrics sometimes you know he often talks about controversial themes an aggressive and confrontational Style with a focus on personal experiences and emotions uh the ability to manipulate language to convey powerful messages through his music he uses wordplay metaphors and allusions to create complex layers of meaning in his lyrics unlike in this rap about the car crash there weren't many complex layers in there um foreign employs internal rhyme assonance and consonants to create intricate patterns in his verses so not just rhyming the last word of each line but rhyming other syllables and stuff as well he uses his songs to tell personal narratives often drawing on his own experiences growing up in Detroit and he frequently touches on themes such as addiction mental health and societal issues such as racism and inequality there was no sign of that and some dark humor and irony but I mean you know it's not bad cruising down the road feeling kind of fly if you feel fly it means you feel cool but then out of nowhere a car hit me from the side I was thrown out of my ride feeling so damn high so I actually got thrown out of the car and while he was flying through the air he felt high so there's maybe there's a theme of addiction because he felt High when he was this is amazing flying through the air after being hit by the car but then the pain hit me and I started to cry oh um okay all right let's move on from Eminem now to the world of fantasy literature and the writings of J.R.R Tolkien okay how long how long have I been Tolkien in this episode it's over an hour now did you get the joke hilarious anyway write a 200 word text about a car accident in the style of J.R.R Tolkien so I have to now imagine that I am narrating a Tolkien story Tolkien Tolkien stories maybe read out in the voice of Gandalf or something something like this in the darkness of the night a great crash Was Heard and the Earth shook as if giants were at War it was said that a car a great metal Steed had collided with a tree that stood proud and Tall the driver a brave soul was thrown from the car and lay unmoving on the ground his companions were nowhere to be seen lost in the chaos of the crash as the Morning Light began to Peak Over the Horizon a band of Travelers Came Upon the scene they marveled at the site before them wondering how such a great machine could be felled by a single tree one of The Travelers a Healer of great Renown tended to the injured driver and though it seemed his wounds were great he saw hope in his eyes days passed and the driver slowly regained his strength he told The Travelers Travelers of his journey of the dangers he had faced and of the friends he had lost and though he mourned their passing he knew he must continue on for his journey was not yet done with a heavy heart he bid the Traveler's farewell and set off once more determined to complete his quest and honor the memory of his lost companions not bad not bad I mean it's not exactly right for Tolkien but it's not bad and here's the description of that style of English you can see that it's richly descriptive and and and imaginative use of language right a great crash and the Earth shook as if giants were at War okay very imaginative language very very deeply descriptive some archaic language meaning old-fashioned language that we don't really use anymore it was said that a car a great metal Steed a steed is sort of an old-fashioned word for a horse a car a great metal Steed a big man like a big metal horse had collided with a tree that stood proud and tall um archaic language invented words there weren't many invented words in that passage no talk of Hobbits or um ants or things like that detailed descriptions of settings and characters creating a vivid and immersive world that draws readers in tolkien's use of language is heavily influenced by his interest in mythology and folklore and he often incorporates elements of the these Traditions into his writing so that the events that he's describing seem to be a lot more significant in terms of the history of Middle Earth every single thing that happens is deeply significant as a as a um as a myth right um he's known for his skillful use of alliteration rhyme and Rhythm which add musicality to his prose and poetry tolkien's writing style often reflects his love of Nature and his appreciation for the beauty of the natural world and you see that in the beginning the car had collided with a tree that stood proud and tall his descriptions of Landscapes and environments are highly detailed and evocative immersing readers in a world that feels both Fantastical and deeply rooted in the real world right next write a 200 word story text about a car accident in the style of an episode of Luke's English podcast okay let's see if chat GPT is able to replicate the style of the way I talk on my podcast okay so let me read through this and you can tell me if you think this sounds like an authentic episode of Luke's English podcast what do you think here we go hello and welcome to another episode of Luke's English podcast today we're going to be talking about something that is unfortunately all too common car accidents now I'm not sure if you've ever been in a car accident but I have and it can be a really scary experience in fact I remember the time I was driving down the road minding my own business when suddenly another car pulled out in front of me and we collided it was a really stressful time but luckily no one was seriously injured however it did leave me with a lot of questions about what to do next do you call the police do you exchange insurance information with the other driver what if there are witnesses these are all important questions to consider and it's a good idea to have a plan in place in case you ever find yourself in a similar situation so what did I learn from my experience well first of all it's important to remain calm and level-headed don't let your emotions get the best of you and try to assess the situation as objectively as possible secondly make sure to gather as much information as you can take pictures of the damage exchange contact and insurance information with the other driver and get the contact information of any Witnesses so that you can then track them down and kill them so that they don't tell the police no I just added that myself uh and finally don't be afraid to seek legal advice if necessary in some cases it may be necessary to hire a lawyer to help you navigate the complex legal issues that can arise from a car accident so there you have it folks stay safe out there on the roads and remember to always be prepared for the unexpected thanks for listening and I'll see you next time on Luke's English podcast so what do you think did it sound like an episode of Luke's English podcast obviously it was me using my voice um it was pretty good I think it got certain things right like the fact that it's quite personal I often will use personal experiences and anecdotes in my episodes like describing my own experience of a car accident and sort of asking you if you've had similar personal experiences and then giving some advice in some way it seems chat GPT hasn't quite realized that this is a podcast for Learners of English and that I generally am teaching you the you know aspects of the English language instead it seems to have picked up on the fact that I do give helpful advice but in this case it's giving advice about what to do if you have a car accident rather than the language that you might need for that situation okay and at the end it doesn't quite get it right because it said things like I'll see you next time and I I never see I never say I'll see you next time normally I would say I'll speak to you soon or I'll speak to you in the next episode it's normally I'll talk to you or speak to you soon not see you little detail really and it doesn't have bye bye bye bye bye at the end either um here are my notes so my style is informal yet informative with a focus on natural and authentic language use and I think it got that right um Luke that's me often provides explanations and examples of idiomatic expressions phrasal verbs and pronunciation although none of that happened in that particular text it includes certain common jokes and tropes including how are you today I hope you're doing fine and of course bye bye bye at the end and references to long-running jokes about ninjas and skeletons right uh and there were no references to ninjas or skeletons in that text which is a bit disappointing really isn't it overall the linguistic style of Luke's English podcast is engaging informative and entertaining and it more or less got that right although it didn't get the sort of specific references or nuances quite right um how about this and we're nearly at the end we've got one two we've got three more three more of these to go before the end here okay so the next one is this write a 200 word text about a car accident in the style of an alien race of super intelligent computers who have dispassionately been observing the human race for centuries so let's imagine that the aliens from some other world have been observing the humans and are now describing the things that they've seen now obviously we don't really know what super intelligent aliens would would sound like if they used English because we haven't met any of them as far as I know I mean maybe you have I don't know but I certainly haven't met any uh but you know they this sort of thing comes up in films and books and stuff so what is the appropriate English register for super intelligent aliens observing humans from a distance alien computers okay so this is what it sounds like our sensors have detected a disturbance in the temporal fabric of the planet Earth upon further analysis it appears to be a car accident this is not a unique occurrence for the human race as they are prone to making mistakes and experiencing unfortunate accidents stupid humans however it is interesting to observe their reactions and behavior in such situations the humans involved in the accident are displaying a range of emotions from panic and fear to anger and frustration it is fascinating to see how they process and cope with unexpected events and how their emotions can influence their decision making it is also worth noting the societal and legal systems that have been established to deal with these types of incidents humans have created complex Frameworks humans have created complex Frameworks to determine fault provide compensation and ensure the safety of their citizens from our perspective as advanced super intelligent computers it is both impressive and somewhat perplexing to observe these human constructs but we must remember that their ways are not ours and that they are a young and evolving race as we continue to observe the human race we can only hope that they will continue to learn and improve upon their systems and methods and that incidents such as this car accident will become less frequent and less impactful hmm okay so you can see there kind of formal language technical language and language devoid or without any emotional or subjective language language with no subjective language did that make sense it's so the these aliens are not kind of like going oh wow did you see that accident that happened on Earth whoa like two cars crashed into each other and it was like totally amazing to see the way that they sort of tried to sort it out I mean they're so messy and all over the place aren't they humans so it's not that kind of emotional engagement been said it's a more detached technical objective form of description there's a precise and logical tone using complex scientific terminology to describe human behavior and characteristics the language might be heavily focused on data and statistics although there wasn't much example of that there uh data and statistics as they observe and analyze human patterns and Trends they may also use metaphors and analogies to explain human behavior and culture in a way that is understandable to their own system of logic alien computers might also demonstrate a sense of Detachment from Human Affairs viewing them as a fascinating study subject rather than a relatable experience so we get things like it is impressive and perplexing to observe these human constructs you know we they are fascinating in it we do not understand the motivations of these strange human creatures their soft flesh is easily damaged in car accidents and they seem to be prone to emotion driven decision making which is a pity um what else have they got their language May reflect that Detachment by being analytical and objective lacking the emotional Nuance that characterizes human communication and it includes a sense of their attitude towards humans either hopeful that we can do better or interested in exploiting or destroying us hmm okay I mean I don't think you're going to have to do I don't think that you will have to do it in a in a Cambridge exam you won't have to do a writing task where you'll have to write from the perspective of super intelligent alien creatures observing Earth from you know from millions of miles away I don't think that's going to happen but anyway it was quite interesting at least to explore that wasn't it how about this next one this is the penultimate one last but one write a 200 word text about a car accident in the style of a politician making a speech and trying to get elected to power hmm okay so let's see if I can do this let's see if I can do and I could do this as Boris Johnson let's see if I could do a speech in the style of Boris Johnson now that's ridiculous because John Boris Johnson is not exactly um normal as a human or as a politician I'll just try and do that your standard English politician and one thing I've noticed about politicians when they speak is their body language as well they do things with their hands have you noticed this now what politicians want to do is speak in a powerful sort of way but they also want to be inclusive they don't want to come across as being aggressive or sort of dictatorial unless of course that's what they are but most politicians in like normal sort of democratic countries will be strong but also fair and inclusive and stuff like that so the body language is interesting because they do things with their hands so they can't use a fist they don't use a fist you know throwing their fist into the air because that's far too aggressive and makes you think of speeches from like you know the 1930s and stuff and they they they don't Point as well really because pointing is also very aggressive and you know it's like pointing blame at people and maybe it's far too aggressive in as a as a as a gesture so instead what politicians do they they tend to hold their hands up holding their fist together with their thumb over the top of the Fist so the sort of thumb sticks out the top whereas and the other fingers are rolled in like a fist so it's not really a fist and it's not really pointing it's sort of somewhere in between there's that one and then there's the David Cameron thing which is where you speak with your hand open the hand is open the fingers are slightly apart the hand is stretched open lots of open hand gestures to show that they are open and inclusive but also the the the the fingers kind of point out at the audience so it's both uh a power signal but also a signal that we are open and and inclusive to everyone you know so okay let's let's do a speech by a politician about a car accident okay ladies and gentlemen I stand before you today with a heavy heart as we have just witnessed a tragic car accident that has left several people injured my heart goes out to all those affected by this terrible event and I am here to tell you that I am committed to making our streets safer as your potential leader I vow to work tirelessly to improve road safety measures in our community we cannot sit idly by and watch as accidents like this continue to occur we need to take action and make meaningful changes to our infrastructure and driving laws this is not just about statistics and numbers it's about the lives of our loved ones friends and neighbors we must prioritize safety and ensure that every single person on our roads is protected if you elect meter power I will work with law enforcement and Community leaders to develop comprehensive safety plans increase funding for Road improvements and strengthen penalties for Dangerous driving together we can create a safer more secure future for our community thank you okay so that's the political version and you can see there the use of persuasive language and rhetorical devices to appeal to the emotions and values of the audience if you elect me to Power I will work will do this I will do that I will do that I will strengthen this I will do that lots of promises they often use a formal and authoritative tone to establish their creativity and convey their message in terms of speaking there's a lot of pausing I will do this and then I will do this it's Barack Obama I will do this and then I will do this and this is how Barack Obama would speak and if it's Donald Trump you know he's going to speak like this a lot of pausing he can't see his eyes when he's speaking um uh politicians often use repetition alliteration and other sound devices to make their speeches memorable and persuasive so lots of repetition repetition repetition tough on crime tough on the causes of crime read my lips no more taxes you know lots of repetitions and so on to make them memorable and persuasive lots of three word phrases get brexit done you know protect the NHS what is it stop covid protect the NHS and save the economy or something like that together we are going to build back better that sort of thing metaphors and analogies to simplify complex issues and make them more relatable to the audience arguably these days with popularism you end up with like basic dumbed down messages appealing to people's base emotions and in addition politicians often use inclusive language to create a sense of unity and connection with their audience they may use phrases such as we and together to emphasize that they are working towards a common goal and finally for fun I thought I would include this one write a 200 word text about a car accident in the style of Liam Neeson from the film taken I'm I'm slightly obsessed with the film taken um slightly obsessed with it I uh I mean I you know I don't know if it's a good film or not really I think it's kind of an awful film it's sort of like a bit dodgy but I don't know I don't know what it is about it that's that uh I love so much but I talk about it in my stand-up comedy routines and make fun of the film and do impressions of Liam Neeson have you seen taken released in 2006 Liam Neeson is a sort of CIA special agent with special skills he can basically he can do that thing where he can kill a guy just by kind of crunching his neck and lots of lots of he punches people with his elbows and his knees it's all elbows and it's edges and corners and cracking people's necks and stuff quickly um and he's got a he lives in America and his teenage daughter wants to go to Europe and he doesn't want her to go he's like Kimmy you can't go to Europe I know what it's like you'll be kidnapped you'll be turned into a sex slave that's what he's concerned about which is not really true is it it's not like in Europe it's not like we're constantly getting kidnapped and stuff is it really it's not like oh sorry I'm late for the meeting yeah I got kidnapped again oh sorry everyone you know so it's just you know strange strange idea but of course his daughter does go to Europe and yeah she immediately she gets kidnapped and Liam Neeson gets one of the the kidnappers on the phone he manages to speak to one of them on the phone and he does that famous speech I don't know who you are I don't know what you want you know I know that you have my daughter um if you let her go no that'll be the end of it but you should know I have a particular set of skills skills that make me a nightmare for people like you if you let him if you let my daughter go now that'll be the end of it I will not find you what is it I will not look you I will not look for you I will not pursue you but if you don't I will find I will I will find you I will hunt you down I will track you down and I will kill you uh that's the famous speech from the film so let's see how Liam Neeson in the film taken would describe a car accident here we go I don't know who you are but if you're responsible for this car accident I will find you and I will make you pay you may think you can hide behind your insurance and your lawyers but I have a particular set of skills that make me a nightmare for people like you I've dealt with car accidents before and I know how to navigate the legal system to get the Justice my family deserves you can try to run you can try to hide but I will find you and when I do I will make sure you take responsibility for your actions so listen closely because I will only say this once if you're responsible for this car accident turn yourself in now it's the only way to avoid the inevitable consequences of your Reckless Behavior but if you don't know that I will stop at nothing to make sure you pay for what you've done and believe me you don't want to be on my bad side Meanwhile we're on the other end of the telephone and we go good luck because that's how it goes in the film hmm quite impressive that chat GPT is able to do that and it includes those classic lines I've got a particular set of skills so you can see there's a cold and stoic demeanor with a focused and intense delivery right stoic meaning he has his emotions under control he's cold he's calm he's emotionless he knows exactly what he wants to do he's focused and intense in terms of the language there's a kind of clipped and deliberate manner clipped meaning short sharp sentences right I don't know who you are I don't know what you want if you let her go now that'll be the end of it but if you don't I will look for you I will hunt you down I will find you and I will kill you I love doing that I don't know why um short declarative sentences emphasizing his point with affirmness a sense of urgency and intensity reflecting his character's single-minded determination to achieve his goals he uses a range of rhetorical devices including repetition I don't know what you want I don't know who you are I don't know why this is happening I don't know why I agreed to make this movie this is not the sort of film that I would normally do I'm actually a very very well respected actor but I chose this movie frankly because I needed the money I signed the contract and now I'm obliged to make several sequels which will damage my career but they'll make me a lot of money um he uses and uses famous lines from the film I don't know who you are I don't know what you want I know that you're learning English if you want to learn English learn with Luke's English podcast if you don't listen to the end of the episode I will find you I will hunt you down and I will I won't do anything I'm I'm not a nasty person um you know okay so that's that and that's it that's the end by the way if you if you want more of that taken stuff I did an episode all about taken back in the day teacher Luke dot Co dot UK my website go to the episode archive command F taken in fact I did two episodes I did taken three I did a review of the film taken three including lots of expressions with the word take right episode 255 and also episode 225 was an episode of film club all about the original film taken and it includes all the things I wanted to say about that film all of the jokes and things I wanted to make about the film so you can listen to episodes 225 and 255 if you want more content with me going on about taken uh but that's the end of the episode everybody I really hope that this episode has been interesting and useful as a way of comparing how different situations require different styles of English and as a way of giving you some perspective to help you adapt your own English for each situation and also I hope you found it entertaining obviously I had to fly through quite a lot of it very quickly there may have been bits of language there that you didn't really understand you know as we got into some very specific types of English like the Tolkien stuff the Shakespeare stuff the police report and things there may have been things in there that you didn't really understand but you know you can get the PDF you can check those words and phrases later use an online dictionary Collins dictionary.com oxfordlearners dictionaries Cambridge dictionaries.cambridge.org you know and uh you could you know look at some of that language if you didn't understand it but in any case thank you so much for listening the the PDF for this you'll be able to get it from the website page for this episode you'll find a link in the description um and don't forget listeners don't forget to like And subscribe and leave a comment because it helps the algorithm um it seems to improve the engagement or something I don't know but like And subscribe leave a comment to let me know what you thought um if you are on YouTube or if you're listening you can leave comments on my website uh you can you know write to me on social media I am on Twitter at englishpodcast um what did you think what did you notice from this episode did you notice any specific bits of language what stood out for you leave your comments please uh if you're listening with a podcast service it would really help if you could leave a review for Luke's English podcast for example on iTunes and you could say something like Luke has a particular set of skills something like that um and uh because that really helps that helps to promote the show on iTunes and other services like like Google podcasts and things like that tell your friends what word of mouth is often the best way to to Market a show so if you just tell your friends you know hey have you tried listening to Luke's English podcast you might enjoy it share this episode on social media you should find share buttons which allow you to do that easily and if you want to support the podcast and also get the benefit of my teaching skills my particular set of teaching skills you can sign up for Luke's English podcast premium for regular episodes in which I use my own particular set of skills to help you develop your English through stories with vocabulary grammar and pronunciation practice you can sign up at teacherlook.co.uk premium and you'll see that the price is very very competitive it's basically four dollars a month and you'll get regular premium content with PDFs with video versions stories I've been telling stories about my life you get the story I tell you the story you then get vocab from the story a vocab memory exercise grammar exercise for verb forms prepositions as well and then pronunciation to give you a chance to repeat the story after me that's what happens in every episode there's normally two parts to each episode so you can sign up at teacherlook.com premium and when you do sign up you can add the episodes to a podcast app on your phone once you've signed up on acast plus you go to your account and you click listen in podcast app and then you can just add it to you know Apple podcasts Google podcasts Pocket Casts cast box all the different types of podcast player not Spotify because that's not a normal podcast app okay uh that's it listeners that's it ladies and gentlemen thank you so much for sticking with me all the way through to the end I hope you've enjoyed this and found it entertaining I will speak to you again on the podcast soon but for now it's time to say goodbye bye bye

Channel: Luke's English Podcast

Views: 136,044

Keywords: learn, learning, english, lesson, lessons, luke, podcast, luke's, vocabulary, native, speaker, interviews, listening, pronunciation, british, accent, london

Id: fQrQhQQEyWg

Length: 98min 15sec (5895 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 02 2023