Your Monthly Dose of English - Best of January 2021

access your free language gifts right now before they expire here's what you're getting this month first the cooking conversation cheat sheet learn all the must-know cooking phrases with this new cheat sheet download it for free right now second are brand new visual flash cards want to speak more of the language you'll need to learn more words and with our new printable visual flash cards you'll learn over 1500 just download and print them out third can you talk about your favorite shows learn how to say no spoilers what are you watching right now and other useful words and phrases for video on demand fourth what's your new year's resolution with this bonus phrase list you'll learn to say read more save money learn a language and other common goals fifth must know words and phrases for the new year if you're learning the language and can't yet talk about the new year then access this one minute vocabulary lesson six looking for a new language learning app with the innovative 101 app you'll learn language fast and start speaking in minutes because the audio and video lessons are just three to fifteen minutes long learning is that easy download innovative 101 for free for the android iphone and ipad and finally the deal of the month if you want to finally master the language with lessons by real teachers and our complete language learning program get 55 off 24 month premium with our extended holiday deal to get your gifts and language learning resources click the link in the description below download them right now before they expire [Music] hi everybody welcome back to ask alicia the weekly series where you ask me questions and i answer them maybe okay let's get to your first question this week first question this week comes from mo adam hi mo adam mo adam says how do i express the plural form of non-humans like animals or things should i use it are or they are ah use they are i assume for this question we're talking about countable nouns if you're using countable nouns please use they are plus the noun with an s sound at the end so i know that we might kind of associate using they with people but we actually also use they when we're talking about objects so we don't use it when we're talking about plural objects we will however use it if we're talking about an uncountable noun so please keep this in mind if you're using a countable noun please use they are if you're using an uncountable noun use it is so let's take a look at some examples of they are with the plural form and these things will introduce non-human things for example these computers they're from my company nice shoes they're brand new yeah i wish i could stay in a luxury hotel but man the rooms they're so pricey so in sum please just make sure if you're using a countable noun use they are plus the plural form of your noun i hope that this helps you thanks for the question okay let's go on to your next question next question this week comes from aniko hi aniko aniko says hi alicia could you please explain the meaning of for the record when and how is it used in everyday speech okay sure we use for the record to mean my official statement is or my official opinion is so we use for the record just before we make the statement or just before we share that information the idea here is that we expect that information is going to be written down or is going to be recorded like literally recorded in a record so a record literally used to refer to something like a notebook where we kept information so when we say for the record it literally means this is information that i want to say and have included in a record so we use this a lot when we're trying to clear up so that means trying to make something clear when we're trying to clear up something that's controversial or maybe there's been a misunderstanding or there's been trouble or a problem of some kind because information is not so clear and so we say for the record to make our official statement or to share our official opinion about something let's take a look at some examples i would like to say for the record that i think this is a terrible decision for the record i didn't cheat on that test so you might hear people like begin an interview or you might hear people beginning like a legal situation with the expression state your name for the record which means please say your name so that we can officially record it so for the record just means give us information that you expect to be considered official another related term that you might hear also in kind of legal or like uh maybe police related or controversy related situations is the expression let the record show let the record show so let the record show is usually said by like a lawyer or some other kind of legal professional and it's usually said to the person writing notes or the person recording like the discussion or the situation and they use it to mean please like make a note in the record that something happened so for example let the record show that the witness refused to answer questions so in simple english that means please write down in the record that the witness refused to answer questions so this let the record show is kind of a specific expression that we use in legal situations for the record is fairly similar though you may also hear it used in everyday speech to sound kind of funny like if we want to make kind of a basic or very like everyday opinion sound a little official just like for humor purposes to sound funny someone might say for the record and then introduce their opinion but in most cases especially for like media for the record is used to make official statements so i hope that this helps you thanks for an interesting question okay let's move on to your next question next question comes from jung yoon kim i hope i said that right hi jungyeon kim jungyun says a friend of mine asked if something was mine i was sure it did not belong to me what's the best way to respond to the question is this yours in a case like this it couldn't be mine or it can't be mine which is correct um you could use either really i think i would probably use it can't be mine because it couldn't be mine sounds to me a little bit too formal and too polite and you mentioned you're talking to your friend in this case so i would probably say it can't be mine if i had to choose from one of these i mean they're both correct they both communicate the same idea but if it were me again in this situation i would probably say something a little bit different i would probably say something like that's definitely not mine mine's in my house or there's no way that's mine i threw mine away last year i would probably say something like that's definitely not mine or there's no way that's mine like those feel a little more direct and they're a little bit rough so it feels natural to use those expressions with my friends by the way the expression there's no way means there's no possibility like there's no chance that that is mine that's what that expression means so in sum you could use all of these i think i would probably use there's no way that's mine or that can't possibly be mine something a little bit more direct and then i follow up with some evidence like mine is at my house or i threw it away last year so you can use any of these whichever you prefer but i would suggest using something a little more direct when you're speaking with your friends so i hope that this helps you thanks for the question let's move on to our next question next question comes from alexander hi alexander alexander says hi do the expressions you want to do something you should do something and you need to do something mean the same thing i've heard many people say you want to do something meaning you should do something but i can't find any explanations about using want to in this way thanks ah i'm guessing that this use of want to is when people are teaching someone else how to do something so like for example if you're showing someone how to use software for the first time you might hear people use you want to do this you wanna do that like you're you're kind of teaching them something but some people choose to use you want to like the next step you're going to want to do that's kind of the feel of this expression this is a personal choice so in that case yes when you're teaching someone to do something and you're like you're showing them steps in a process you can use you want to do this so for example like if i'm teaching someone how to edit video i might say first you want to import the video then you want to make a timeline then you want to start choosing the parts of the video to use so i'm using you want to there but you could replace that with you should first you should import the video then you should create a timeline then you should choose the parts of the video so yes in that specific situation want to and should can have the same meaning but in general no they have very different meanings like we use you want to generally to ask about someone's feelings for something like you want to go to a movie later or like you want to get something to eat like you're asking for someone's opinion about something making a suggestion when you're using you should do something it's for advice reasons so that's kind of similar to teaching someone to do something then your final point about using you need to do something that could also be used to describe steps in a process yes but it has that feeling of responsibility so we use that when we have obligations like things that we need to take care of like you need to go to the bank today like you're telling someone else to do something you're telling someone else about their responsibilities so in some yes uh in this specific situation when you're teaching someone steps in a process you should do something and you want to do something can mean the same thing but outside of this situation they have very different functions and very different meanings so i hope that this helps you thanks very much for this question all right let's move on to your next question next question comes from jin hi jin jin says what is the difference between new and newbie how do i use these words ah nice one yeah nu is an adjective newbie refers to a person who is new in a situation and it is a noun let's take a look at a couple of example sentences to compare how we might use these let's imagine you have just joined like a team of some kind like a new sport or some kind of activity you could introduce yourself to the people in your team by saying hi i'm new or you could say hi i'm a newbie so using hi i'm new sounds a little bit more natural in that situation because you're introducing yourself to people you don't know so the deal with newbie or the thing about newbie is that it's kind of a cute word it's sort of casual it's friendly we use it when we're talking to people that we already know or we're kind of in a community that we already know so for that reason hi i'm a newbie might sound a little bit too friendly when you're introducing yourself to someone for the first time let's compare this then to a different situation let's imagine you're working together with your teammates on a new project and you need to learn a new software like microsoft excel or something you might ask your teammate for help by saying something like hey i'm new to excel can you help me or you could say um i'm an excel newbie can you help me so in that case either is fine but newbie sounds a little cute a little friendly a little bit closer so newbie has the feeling of friendliness a little bit like you're in a community you're in a situation where people already know who you are and you can kind of feel that it's acceptable to use that word so again both sentences they communicate the same idea it's just a little bit of a distance difference like the distance between you and the person listening is a bit closer than if you say i'm new so you can think about this when you're choosing between these two words again nu is an adjective hi i'm new and newbie is a noun hi i'm a newbie so i hope that this helps you one more bonus point you may also see n-o-o like the number zero zero and b noob so noob is an even more casual word that's very commonly used online and in video games and it means someone who is new to the situation but also doesn't really know very much and they're kind of irritating or they get in the way so you might hear people using noob in this way some people myself included also like to use noob in a kind of self-deprecating manner so self-deprecating means you use it to make yourself seem a bit lower so when you want to express that you're new to something and not very good you can say i'm a noob so again it's a noun just like newbie so a few extra points there i hope that this was helpful for you thanks for an interesting question hi everybody my name is alicia in this lesson i'm going to talk about catenative verbs let's get started first let's begin what is a catenative verb there are two points i want to introduce first first a catenated verb is a verb that can chain to other verbs so we can connect a second verb to this first catenary verb when we use catenated verbs the verb after the catenative verb can take two forms first it can take the infinitive form that means to plus the verb or it can take the infinitive form without to i'll show you some examples later the second form it can take is the gerund form that's the ing ending form of the verb so we use catenated verb plus infinitive or catenated verb plus gerund when we make these sentences so it's like the verb that we begin with and then our chaining verbs come after that so the first verb is the catenated verb let's take a look at some example sentences then first one she should stop smoking here my caternative verb is in red so stop is my catenated verb it connects to smoking so smoking ends in the ing form here smoking so this is the connecting verb we start here we connect it here with this ing form another example with the ing form the gerund form please start writing so start is my catenated verb it chains to the next thing writing is the second verb the verb we use to follow it so this is in the ing form let's look at two more examples that use the infinitive form here we want to build a house so here's my catenated verb the first verb here then i follow it with two builds so two and build together here this is the infinitive form i need to use two here we want to build a house second he needs to buy a suit my cat a native verb is need i've got this s here i need to conjugate the verb because my subject is he he needs to buy a suit so depending on the sentence we need to choose the infinitive form or the gerund form i marked this example though with this mark because this is an example of some situations where using the gerund form or the infinitive form can actually change the meaning of the sentence if for example i said she should stop to smoke it means she should stop her activities to smoke like to smoke a cigarette this sentence means she should stop smoking like that means that she should stop the activity of smoking in her life altogether so be aware that there are some cases where gerund and infinitive have different meanings there aren't so many but there are some so try to keep this in mind and this is something that you need to remember as you read and as you listen so based on context really okay so now i want to continue to kind of a more uh in-depth topic a little bit deeper into this subject complex catenatives so complex catenated verbs these are catenated verbs that take an object so i have some example sentences here again the catenated verb is in red and the object is in blue here will you help me clean the room so my catenated verb here is help my object is me and then my linking verb is clean so clean here you'll notice there's no two this is an example like i mentioned here where sometimes we don't use two before the infinitive so we don't use it in this case it's just a plain infinitive will you help me clean the room so here's my cattle native i chained it to clean with an object so this is a complex catenative another example they asked us to move our bags they asked us to move our bags so here is my verb my catenated verb ask past tense in this case my object so us we were the receiving party so they asked us to move our bags here i have the infinitive form again to move in this case i have the two included here okay um some more examples she wants them to take photos here's my catenated verb want in this case wants because my subject is she and my object them to take again i have the infinitive form here she wants them to take photos finally he took me to apply for a loan again my catenated verb took past tense object me and i have the infinitive form again to apply for alone so you will see these different types of catenated verb related structures so complex catenative refers to these patterns that have objects so when do we use this kind of thing we use it actually a lot in speech especially when we're just talking casually like about things we need to do we can make long sentences by chaining verbs together in this way here's a quick example we went to get a rental car to help our friends move to a new apartment so this maybe is a little bit awkward but it's something that a native speaker might say we just say everything really quickly but let's break this sentence down so we went here's my past tense we went to get so here's a catenated verb right here we went to get a rental car so my linking verb here is in the infinitive form to help so here's another catenative verb in this case it's complex so to help our friends so who did we help we helped our friends move so here's my linking verb move to a new apartment so we can kind of chain a lot of ideas together with something like this so native speakers as well when we're speaking quickly maybe we don't make perfect sentences or we don't make complete sentences but we use this kind of speaking we use this kind of verb linking to make longer ideas and longer sentences so i hope that this helps you as you think about how to put verbs together if you want some more information on catenative verbs i would recommend checking just doing a google search to see some lists and some more example sentences of catenative verbs because there are there are quite a few um but we just kind of put them together depending on the situation depending on what we want to communicate as with any other grammar point so i hope that you get some practice with this and pay attention to this when you're reading to see common types of pairings that use this kind of grammar so i hope that this was helpful for you of course if you have any questions or comments or if you want to practice making example sentences with catenative verbs please feel free to do so in the comments section of this video hi everybody my name is alicia in this lesson i'm going to talk about how to use a and the and when to use no article so let's get started okay first i want to begin by talking about using a and an these are the indefinite articles that we use in english regarding pronunciation you might hear people use a or a you can choose whichever you prefer they're both correct so we use the indefinite article uh or an when we want to introduce a noun so that means it's our first time using the noun like when we're telling a story for example so the first time we introduce the noun we use a or an to do that so we use a if the following noun begins with a consonant sound a consonant sound some examples of this a cookie this is a a consonant sound a pen this p is a consonant sound and a fish so this f is a consonant sound so if the next word if the following noun begins with a consonant sound we should use the uh indefinite article then we use an when the following noun begins with a vowel sound so some examples of this are an apple so here we have a as our vowel sound we use an an apple an egg hear the e sound and then an hour so here this is a vowel sound so this is a great example of this note that i want to mention sound does not equal spelling so i said when the following noun begins with a vowel sound we use an here yes we have the consonant h beginning this word but it makes a vowel sound an hour hour so it's like the h doesn't make that h sound so an hour we use this indefinite article an instead of uh so please be careful we're listening for a sound not for the spelling in this case okay then as you can see we use the indefinite article before nouns in the singular form only so for example you don't see s at the end of these words we can only use the singular form so meaning one of something only the singular form when you're using the indefinite article so a very simple example sentence using the indefinite article is i got a dog we might start a story with this i got a dog so dog is in the singular i got one dog this is a new dog i'm introducing this dog to my conversation so i use uh to do that okay let's compare this now to the definite article the is the definite article in english so we use the to refer to a known or a specific noun so this can be something that we directly explain or we just understand it from the context so relating to this point something that we understand from context or a specific noun this can be when there's only one of something so a great example of this is some countries for example the united states of america or like the republic of so and so those begin with the so there's only one of that and we understand that we use the in cases like that it's in like the title okay so we use that to talk about things we know about so something that we heard earlier in a conversation or earlier in a story for example or when we know what the noun is so we can use this before singular or plural forms of nouns so here's an example i got a dog which we saw before i got a dog i bought a bed for the dog here i've used the because in this sentence i mentioned this dog the dog in this sentence is the dog i bought or i got rather in the first sentence so i'm introducing it here i got a dog this is my introductory statement kind of my full sentence here's this new information this new noun i got a dog in my next sentence i want to mention this same dog i use the to describe that i bought a bed for the dog you'll also notice here i've introduced another new thing i bought a bed for the dog so i've used the indefinite article here this is another new thing but i want to refer to the same known now that i introduced in the previous sentence okay so this is an introduction to using the definite article now let's look at when to use no article so no uh no and no the we use no article when referring generally to a group or all instances like all kinds or all types of something we use this a lot when we're talking about things we like or dislike for example so we use the plural form of the noun we do not use the singular form we need to use the plural form a very simple example of this is i like dogs i like dogs so you'll see here i've used the plural form dogs so by saying i like dogs it means i like all instances of that i like all examples of dogs all different kinds of dogs i like dogs okay so let's continue on then to a short story example that i prepared so this example includes uses of the indefinite article the definite article and cases where we'll see no article there are a couple points i want to talk about so let's take a look last weekend i took a bus to a park near my neighborhood i walked around the park then i found a place to sit down and relax i read a book took photos and enjoyed watching the people at the park but i got bit by a bug i hate mosquitoes so this is a very simple story about something that happened recently this is a past tense story it features um indefinite definite articles and no article so let's take a look last weekend i took a bus so i'm introducing a bus this is the first case where i'm explaining a bus in my story so i took a bus to a park near my neighborhood so a park near my neighborhood this means there could be other parks near the neighborhood i want to talk about one in particular to a park in my neighborhood i walked around the park so here i use the to refer to this park i introduced earlier in my story i walked around the park this park i talked about before then found a place to sit down and relax so my next step was to find a place so i'm using a here because the place is just any place i just chose one specific place to sit down and relax this could be any place i want to talk about just one in particular okay then i said i read a book so again i'm using uh here to introduce this so i have not talked about the book before i want to introduce my book to the story i read a book took photos so here there's nothing you'll notice i took a photo i could say i took a photo if i took one photo but maybe if i took a lot of photos i would say i took photos i took photos and i enjoyed watching the people at the park so this the i think is pretty clear at the park so i'm talking about the specific park i visited this one however i've included in parentheses watching the people at the park why did i do this so there are some cases where it's correct to use the and it's correct to use no article this is one example of that here enjoyed watching the people in the park and enjoyed watching people in the park those are both correct sentences actually there's not really a difference in meaning here because i've included a location here like if i said i enjoyed watching the people i might be confused as the listener like which people who were you watching so saying watching people at the park makes it clear that it's only about people who were at the park if i want to be extra specific and give extra emphasis i can include that here watching the people in the park like this is the thing i was focusing my attention on in the park so you can choose to include it you can choose not to include it they communicate the same thing but this is one example of a situation um where you could use uh you could use the article or you could choose not to okay then our last sentence but i got bit by a bug a bug so again new thing something new is in my story a bug in this case by one bug then i finish with this expression i hate mosquitoes so mosquitoes are those small bugs that bite you and it gets really itchy a mosquito but i'm making a general statement all mosquitoes i hate mosquitoes maybe because they bite so i use the plural form i hate mosquitoes with no article i hate mosquitoes so this is a simple example of a situation or a story where you would use definite indefinite and no article to explain something that happened to you so i hope that this lesson gives you a good introduction to how and when to use uh an and and no article but if hi everybody my name is alicia in this lesson i'm going to talk about some expressions you can use to talk about your hometown or your home city or maybe your home country let's get started okay the first sentence or the first expression that i want to talk about is just a basic introduction i'm from so i'm from your city or i'm from your country please be careful i've noticed in like the comment section of the videos that we make for example many of you introduce yourself but you forget this i'm from i'm from i often see the mistake i from which is incorrect so that's not correct we should use i'm from remember i'm is the contracted the reduced form of i am i am from city i am from country so please don't forget this uh um i am i am from a city when we make a sentence with this we could say i'm from vietnam for a country i'm from vietnam or from a city i'm from bangkok so you can choose either one your city or your country both are fine to use so if you want to choose something different or if you want to explain in a little more detail specifically you can use an expression like this i was born in a city or in a specific country i was born in another mistake i see with students is they forget this was i often see comments that say i born in which is incorrect i was born in city or country i was born in brazil in the case of a country i was born in cambodia so you can use your country name here of course if you want to use a city for example i was born in bangkok and you want to give more information maybe for some reason the person you're talking to doesn't know that city or maybe it's a really small city you can say it's in country so for example i was born in bangkok it's in thailand so you can explain the country as a follow-up with this expression it's in where it is your city it is in thailand in this case it's in country then if you want to share some information about your hometown these are some expressions you can use to do that these are very open so i hope that you can find something that helps you the first one is it has a lot of noun phrase it has a lot of noun phrase here it means your city or your country it's probably best to talk about your city here though if you live in a really small city maybe you can share about your country maybe your country is small too so it's good to share about something that's maybe easy to understand if you're introducing your city or your country so you could say it has a lot of something so some examples would be it has a lot of traffic like if your city has a lot of traffic you can mention that it has a lot of good food or it has a lot of nature so there's some kind of simple noun phrase here that you can use to describe something in your city please note we use has it has the city has so not is we use is for adjectives we're using has here because these are noun phrases so you could say it is busy city or it is a windy city for example but when you're using a noun phrase you need to change your verb here it has a lot of traffic it has a lot of nature so please be careful about this point let's go to the next point it's famous for it's famous for so in some cultures each city or each country maybe has some specific thing that that city is really well known for you can use this expression to describe that thing it's famous for again it is your city or maybe your country it's famous for something so again there's some noun phrase some maybe activity some famous item for example it's famous for spicy food like my country is famous for spicy food for example or it's famous for entertainment or nightlife maybe so think of something that your city is well known for so like for example las vegas maybe it's famous for entertainment that's something we could say about las vegas in the usa okay another expression you can use that's very similar to it has a lot of is this one here i've made two sentences or two expressions you can use there is or there are a lot of something so there is or reduced theirs or there are a lot of something so this is kind of a different way to say this very similar let's look at some examples here this is kind of a negative point but there's a lot of crime so maybe your hometown is rather dangerous and you want to talk about that you can say there is a lot of crime crime is like activities or actions that are against the law they are illegal so to describe that you can say there's a lot of crime in my hometown or there are a lot of animals maybe in your city that's really closely connected to nature you can say there are a lot of animals so just be cautious here there is a lot of crime um so crime is a mass noun or a plural noun rather so we can use this is form but here when we have there are we need to use this s at the end of the word there are a lot of animals the plural form there are a lot of animals so just pay attention if you're using um a singular noun or you're using this like plural or mass noun that has no s at the end you can use this is form if you're using a plural noun there are is fine so there are a lot of animals okay let's go on to the next one lots of people like to do something lots of people like to and here we'll do we'll have like an activity some kind of verb phrase probably lots of people like to go out at night so for las vegas for example lots of people like to go out at night or lots of people like to do outdoor sports so you'll notice i've got a verb here lots of people like to verb and then some other information to tell us about that lots of people like to swim in the river something that is like an activity that's kind of unique or that's particularly interesting for your city okay finally the population this is another one people like to talk about if you want to be specific you can say of course my hometown is very small or my home city is really big you can talk about it like that yes if you want to give the specific number how many people you can use this expression population means the number of people in your city or the number of people in your country so the population is and follow it with the number the population is about 20 000 people or about 150 000 people i have people in parentheses here because we don't really need to use it but you might hear people say people at the end of this expression we don't need to include people here because we have population we know population means the number of people though sometimes we include this you don't need to really the population is about twenty thousand is perfect okay let's go on then to the last couple points the last points i marked here these are about the weather so a really common topic when you're talking about your hometown is the weather these are a few expressions you can use to talk about what the weather is like in your hometown for example it rains a lot it rains a lot or you could say it's very rainy it's dry you might say for example in the summer it's dry or in winter it's dry so it here refers to weather like weather patterns it rains a lot it's dry another one the weather is sunny year round so this is a word or a hyphenated word year round which means all throughout the year so non-stop the weather is sunny year-round another good word to know is humid it's humid so this is when like um a good example might be like a tropical situation a tropical city or a tropical country so maybe the temperature it's not so hot maybe sometimes but the water content the moisture content in the air is very high so we call that humid it's humid it's very humid you might also hear the word muggy muggy muggy is a little bit less formal than humid it sounds a little more negative too it's humid it's so humid so these are a few weather related words like climate related words here you can replace this word rains with something else like it snows a lot for example it rains a lot it snows a lot maybe it hails where you're from hail is like a ball of ice so when you want to talk about precipitation like things coming from clouds you could use this pattern all right so this is just a quick introduction to a few things that i hope can help you as you try to explain your hometown or your home country to other people if there's something else that you would like to know how to say or if you have any questions or comments or if you want to practice making an introduction to your home city please feel free in the comment section of this video of course if you like this lesson don't forget to give the video a thumbs up subscribe to our channel if you haven't already and check us out at englishclass101.com for some other things that can help you with your english studies jam okay hi everybody welcome back to know your verbs my name is alicia and in this lesson we're going to talk about the verb jam let's get started let's start with the basic definition of this verb the basic definition of jam is to cause something to be blocked to cause something to be blocked examples i jammed the printer somehow we jammed the shredder with paper now let's look at the conjugations for this verb present jam jams passed jammed past participle jammed progressive jamming now let's talk about some additional meanings for this verb the first additional meaning is to push or force something into a space examples he jammed himself onto the packed train the moving company is jamming boxes into trucks so here we see examples of someone or something being pushed or forced into something it's like something that's difficult to get into or maybe there's not enough space in the first example we see he pushed himself into a packed train that means that the train is full of people already but he pushes himself he jams himself in forcefully pushing in order to get on the train in the second example sentence we see it in reference to boxes a moving company is jamming boxes into trucks which means there's maybe not a lot of space in the truck however he needs he or she the moving person needs to get these boxes in so they're forcefully pushing we use jam to talk about that to describe that act all right let's go on to the second additional meaning for this verb the second additional meaning is to play music informally or to improvise music in a group examples the group jams a few times a month i think the neighbors are jamming again so this use of jam refers to practicing music or playing music in a group of people so there's a group of people usually different instruments and there's no song specifically there's no like goal really they're just making music together so you might have heard this called a jam session actually to me it sounds a little strange to use the word jam if you yourself are not a musician like it feels strange to me to say they're jamming because i'm not really the kind of person who uses that word but it might sound more natural coming from a musician so if you're a musician and you like to improvise music with people you might be able to use this word quite naturally to talk about your practice sessions so again it's just practice it's just kind of enjoying and feeling the music it's not really playing with a goal in mind you're improvising improvising so you can also use it in general kind of to talk about other ways of enjoying music like with dance or even just enjoying music and kind of moving your head a little bit too we sometimes use the word jam to mean just like improvising and enjoying music in some way um so that's another way kind of related to this meaning that we can sometimes use jam the third additional meaning for this verb is to cause a part of the body to be crushed or injured somehow usually crushed examples my friend jammed his finger in a door a few years ago i jammed my toe on my bed okay so jammed in these cases usually refers to some kind of like crushing motion or some like like hard impact something like this so in the first example sentence my friend jammed his finger in a door a few years ago it means in the open door so maybe there's the door and the space between the door and the wall this person's finger went in between those two and the door closed that's a perfect example of when we would use jam this actually happened to my friend this is true and his finger was jammed in the door so this crushing motion this crushing injury we use jam to refer to that we can also use it to refer to other kind of similar small injuries usually to like fingers and toes as in the second example sentence i jammed my toe on my bed that refers to like against a hard object you're walking walking walking and you touch or you jam your finger or you jam your toe into an object like a table or sofa or a bed or something it's quite painful and it feels like you just pushed it forcefully into that object we can say jammed another verb we use in this case is stub i stubbed my toe but you can say jammed or stub depending on what you like people use both okay let's go on to the next additional meaning the next additional meaning is to interfere with a broadcast to interfere with a broadcast let's go to some example sentences they're jamming our signal the signal from the satellite has been jammed so this means that some thing or someone or some kind of like machine or data or something is blocking some signal so this could be blocking like a wi-fi signal like satellite tv radio signal something is causing the signal to be disrupted the broadcast to be disrupted there's some problem there so we use the word jam to talk about this you will see this a lot in like spy and police and suspense movies relating to technology like you can jam your enemy's signal and they can't get any communications out for example so you block someone's communication or you block someone's ability to broadcast information we use jam to refer to that okay now let's look at a variation for this verb this variation is to jam on the brakes to jam on the brakes quite specific this expression means to push quickly and with force on the brakes of a vehicle examples he jammed on the brakes when the child stepped into the road don't jam the brakes so to jam the brakes or jamming the brakes is usually like a very quick and fast and very uncomfortable motion very uncomfortable like results actually so you push the brakes and the car quickly comes to a stop where the car jerks very fast so the people inside the car feel uncomfortable and it can be bad for the car's braking system maybe it can also like damage items in the car so it's considered typically to be not a good thing to do so it's typically not recommended to jam the brakes you'll hear jam the brakes and also jam on the brakes both of them are in use so you can choose which you prefer they have the same meaning okay so those are a few different ways that you can use the verb jam i hope that you found something new of course if you have questions comments or other ways to use the word jam please let us know in the comment section of this video hi everyone i'm gabriella how are your english listening skills in this video you'll have a chance to test them out with a quiz first you'll see an image and hear a question next comes a short dialogue listen carefully and see if you can answer correctly we'll show you the answer at the end are you ready a man and a woman are talking about banks which bank is the woman going to choose [Music] i'm starting a part-time job so i'm thinking about opening a new bank account which bank do you recommend well it depends on what you're looking for for example both bank a and bank b have plenty of locations and atms to choose from this is very convenient but bank a charges atm fees for every transaction bank b allows me to use their atm at no charge during business hours on weekdays that's true speaking of atm fees bank c never charges fees but they don't have as many atm locations that is nice but i don't like the fact that it would be more difficult to find atms with bank c by the way bank d is the best when it comes to high interest rates are they but i'm only planning to use this bank account for money i'll be making from my part-time job which won't be that much then you should choose the bank with the most convenient atms and lowest fees alright thanks for the advice which bank is the woman going to choose a man and a woman are talking about banks which bank is the woman going to choose i'm starting a part-time job so i'm thinking about opening a new bank account which bank do you recommend well it depends on what you're looking for for example both bank a and bank b have plenty of locations and atms to choose from this is very convenient but bank a charges atm fees for every transaction bank b allows me to use their atm at no charge during business hours on weekdays that's true speaking of atm fees bank c never charges fees but they don't have as many atm locations that is nice but i don't like the fact that it would be more difficult to find atms with bank c by the way bank d is the best when it comes to high interest rates are they but i'm only planning to use this bank account for money i'll be making from my part-time job which won't be that much then you should choose the bank with the most convenient atms and lowest fees alright thanks for the advice a man and a woman are planning their sightseeing route in which order will they visit the sites around town which route should we take tomorrow i'd really like to go see the museum the castle and the observatory i also want to buy some souvenirs along the way the museum is open from 8 to six the castle is open from nine to four then the observatory seems to be open from nine in the morning until nine in the evening the castle has a special guided tour twice a day starting at noon and two o'clock i think we should catch one of those i think you need to book the tour in advance can you check that online sure oh the one starting at noon is already booked should we book the one starting at two sure we can take that tour right after lunch all right where do we want to go first the museum or the observatory i would love to see the night view what if we stay at the castle until 4 and then go to the observatory after dark good idea okay let's have lunch at the restaurant inside the museum then we can go souvenir shopping before the castle tour starts sure sounds like a perfect plan in which order will they visit the sites around town a man and a woman are planning their sightseeing route in which order will they visit the sites around town which route should we take tomorrow i'd really like to go see the museum the castle and the observatory i also want to buy some souvenirs along the way the museum is open from eight to six the castle is open from nine to four then the observatory seems to be open from nine in the morning until nine in the evening the castle has a special guided tour twice a day starting at noon and two o'clock i think we should catch one of those i think you need to book the tour in advance can you check that online sure oh the one starting at noon is already booked should we book the one starting at two sure we can take that tour right after lunch alright where do we want to go first the museum or the observatory i would love to see the night view what if we stay at the castle until four and then go to the observatory after dark good idea okay let's have lunch at the restaurant inside the museum then we can go souvenir shopping before the castle tour starts sure sounds like a perfect plan hey everyone welcome to the monthly review the monthly show on language learning [Music] where you discover new learning strategies motivational tips study tools and resources by the way all the lessons and bonuses you're about to see can be downloaded for free on our website so click the link in the description right now to sign up for your free lifetime account okay today's topic is how to get back on track after language learning failure if you've ever made language learning a goal you've also likely experienced failure maybe you quit studying for some time maybe you came back to try again later but how do you bounce back after failing well it might be easier than you think in this episode you'll discover one the key points to consider after failing a goal and two the steps to getting back on track with language learning [Music] but first listen up here are this month's new lessons and resources first the cooking conversation cheat sheet learn all the must-know cooking phrases with this new cheat sheet download it for free right now second are brand new visual flash cards want to speak more of the language you'll need to learn more words and with our new printable visual flash cards you'll learn over 1 500 words just download and print them out third can you talk about your favorite shows learn how to say no spoilers what are you watching right now and other useful words and phrases for video on demand fourth what's your new year's resolution with this bonus phrase list you'll learn to say read more save money learn a language and other common goals fifth must know words and phrases for the new year if you're learning the language and can't yet talk about the new year then access this one minute vocabulary lesson to get your free resources click the link in the description below right now they're yours to keep forever okay let's jump into today's topic how to get back on track after language learning failure so how do you get back on track with language learning after failing think back to your school days did you ever miss a homework assignment most of us did you'd have to make it up and do the next one you had to double up on your work so if you've ever missed a goal you might be tempted to do the same thing finish your old goal and achieve a new one however that might not be such a good idea a key point to remember after failing a goal is don't set the same goal again let's explain why one if you've failed the goal before there's a good chance that the goal might be too much for you in that case you want an easier goal two you need to give yourself a chance to succeed and if that requires setting a super easy goal that you actually can reach then so be it do that for example if you tried to learn 100 words in one month and failed but you want to try again go for something smaller like 20 words between trying and failing the 100 word goal again or reaching a smaller 20 word goal you're much better off with the 20 word goal it'll be better for your motivation to hit a super easy goal instead of failing multiple times in a row it'll get you back in motion with language learning now that you know how to get back on track here are some steps you can take one think back to the last language goal you set and failed was it last year's new year's resolution and was it something like i just want to be fluent or i want to speak the language you can let us know what your old goal was in the comments two aim for a smaller more realistic goal with that last goal in mind think about how you might make a new easier goal remember your goal should always be one small two measurable for example one minute of conversation 100 words 10 grammar rules 10 lessons etc and three have a small time frame with a deadline in other words it's a goal for the week or for the month and the deadline is january 31st for example so if your failed goal was to just speak fluently aim for something smaller set a goal like i want to speak for one minute this month or i want to be able to introduce myself by the end of this week or i want to master the alphabet by the end of this week and schedule a deadline for yourself all of these goals are small measurable specific and easy to achieve you'll easily know if you've reached one minute of speaking if you've learned the alphabet or learned how to say my name is in the language you're studying so now that you have a goal three find a way to fit language learning into your life instead of creating new routines that you may have trouble sticking with work with which you already have your existing routines if you already spend 10 minutes on chores in the morning you can listen to a lesson and learn a bit of language if you take a walk you can listen to a lesson then if you watch youtube for an hour in the evening you can spend five or ten minutes watching one of our lessons piggybacking off of your existing daily routines is the easiest way to introduce language learning into your life okay now let's talk about learning material four get back on track with easy learning material an easy way to restart learning is with our audio and video lessons all you have to do is hit play and follow along and if you have to you can multitask for example as we mentioned you can be doing chores and listening in taking steps like these can help you form study habits it's a lot easier to listen and do what you usually do as opposed to buying a textbook setting aside time sitting down and trying to go through it especially if you're not used to learning a language finally another very easy thing you can do is take advantage of our word of the day lessons these are daily emails that teach you one new word a day the goal of these emails is to get you used to learning and create a simple routine if you can stick with spending one quick minute every day learning a new word then you can grow to stick with almost any other routine so to recap we often fail and give up on our goals because we overwhelm ourselves whether it's with an unrealistic goal a heavy routine or complicated resources you want to do the opposite avoid overwhelming yourself if you failed a goal before aim for a smaller goal avoid heavy learning routines and piggyback off of your existing daily routines if you take a walk then use that time to listen to audio lessons and finally use easy learning material such as our audio and video lessons on our website so thank you for watching this episode of monthly review next time we'll talk about how to adjust your routine and learn language from home if you enjoyed these tips hit the like button share the video with anyone who's trying to learn a language and subscribe to our channel we release new videos every week and if you're ready to finally learn language the fast fun and easy way and start speaking from your very first lesson get our complete learning program sign up for your free lifetime account right now click the link in the description see you next time bye what if you could go from struggling to speak to speaking with confidence reviewing is a huge part of achieving this in this video you'll learn six ways our language learning program helps you review number one replay your lessons if you're using our language learning program you can download lessons and review them at a later date and since lessons are 3 to 15 minutes long your preparation and review sessions won't take a lot of time the easiest way to review is to simply replay past lessons of course make sure you pay attention number two read the lesson notes imagine you've finished reading a big book or watching a video course do you remember everything you've learned of course not when you get a lot of information at one time it's normal not to be able to recall all of it immediately but you can refresh your memory by going back to reread re-watch and take notes it takes effort this is why you get lesson notes with every lesson these notes give you the lesson in writing so you can review the conversation the vocabulary grammar and cultural points quickly number three listen to lines from the lesson conversation with the dialogue tool the dialogue tool is a premium feature that our users love because you get line-by-line breakdowns of conversations for every line of the conversation you get audio the transcript and the translations this tool helps you master entire conversations speak faster and improve your listening you can listen to each line one by one read along and repeat out loud repeating out loud will help your speaking skills and because you can listen as much as you want you can also use this tool to work on your listening skills number four the vocabulary slideshow with this you can review words and phrases from a specific lesson just press play and watch the slideshow for each word you'll hear the native pronunciation you'll also get the meaning the text and translations right there on the screen you can even put the slideshow on loot to review as much as you want number five practice your speaking skills with the voice recorder with the voice recorder tool you can record yourself and compare your speech to that of native speakers this can help you find out where you can improve your speaking skills it's a great way to practice speaking and perfect your pronunciation number six review conversations with the dialogue audio track the dialogue track gives you just the conversation it's purely the target language no translations you get it for every lesson listen to it again and again until you completely understand every single word this is a great way to see how much you understand and it's a great language immersion tactic want to learn new words and phrases fast so you can speak and understand more of your target language in this video you'll learn all about space repetition flash cards you'll learn about why this particular study tool is so useful and how using it can help keep vocabulary words fresh in your mind first here's what's new with our flashcards you can now access your flashcards on any mobile device they're mobile responsive so visit the site on any device iphone ipad android or any tablet access the flashcards and learn anywhere anytime but what if you're a new language learner and have never seen this tool before second what are spaced repetition flashcards what are they and how do space repetition flashcards teach you words and phrases better than regular flashcards first imagine a regular flash card imagine a teacher is quizzing you with paper flashcards on the front you see the word in the target language the meaning of the word is on the other side your teacher shows you the target language word and asks you what the word means if you get the answer right your teacher puts the card in a pile of correct answer cards if you get the answer wrong your teacher puts the card in a pile of wrong answer cards spaced repetition flashcards are like a digital version of this but a computer sorts your answers into correct answers and wrong answers and then chooses which cards to quiz you on accordingly with a spaced repetition flashcard you see a word you mark whether you know it or not you learn whether you are right or wrong then you get the next word but what exactly is spaced repetition third how spaced repetition works this is the part of the tool that makes the flashcard so powerful if you get a word wrong you'll see that card more often until you get it right the card will keep popping up until you remember the answer spaced repetition flash cards help you focus on the words you don't know yet or the words you're weak with instead of asking you to review words you already know well if you get a word right you'll see that word again in perhaps two days if you get the word right again after waiting two days you might see the word four days later then 16 days later and so on as you study and remember words the flash cards will appear less frequently this is because you're remembering the vocabulary and don't need to spend time studying the words you already know spaced repetition flashcards help you study words at the right time the flashcards will track your progress this means you don't have to remember which words you got right or wrong the flash parts you are twist on will be customized to your knowledge level every time you study and the quizzes will also help you keep your memory fresh remember we don't learn things simply by seeing them once by repeating our studies over a period of time we remember things better and the best part is that you can study vocabulary and phrases in just a few minutes a day so if you're on the train or bus going to work you can put that time to use take out your phone and learn new words just a couple minutes every day will help you learn new words fast a common question that first time language learners ask is where do i begin classically the answer to this is with guidance finding the right teacher can be tricky especially online there are a lot of options to choose from we've got one we'll tell you about in this video we'll show you how our premium plus learning option can provide you with guidance to help you reach your language learning goals our premium plus study tools are designed to support and guide learners there's access to thousands of lessons a voice recording tool and spaced repetition flashcards most importantly premium plus users get a personal language instructor who can provide weekly assignments let's talk about these items in detail number one gain unlimited access to audio and video lessons as a premium plus member you'll have full access to the lesson library and other premium features best of all you're not limited to one level and you can learn to your heart's content with upper level courses there are lessons on various topics that tackle crucial language learning elements like reading writing listening speaking and conversation more specifically there are pathways pathways are collections of lessons that focus on a specific topic some pathways are even geared towards proficiency tests there are also pathways in the lesson library to help you prepare for certain events such as speaking at a restaurant buying a ticket or making friends one of the most helpful is the top 25 questions you need to know pathway which can help you in your everyday life each lesson has lesson notes to read while you listen to the audio lesson this will help you follow along with key points lesson notes generally contain the dialogue new vocabulary the target grammar points and cultural insights based on the dialogue podcast and lesson notes are available on the innovative language app so you can also learn on the go number two practice speaking with the voice recording tool pronunciation is an important part of language learning proper pronunciation ensures understanding during conversations with native speakers many learners think speaking is one of the most challenging components of learning a language to help with this the voice recording tool is a great way to improve speaking skills lesson dialogues are spoken by native speakers so you can record yourself repeating after them to practice speaking naturally your premium plus teacher can assign you tasks to help you progress with any new sounds you might be learning for these assignments your teacher can listen to your voice recordings of the sounds and help you learn how to pronounce them completing these tasks under the guidance of your teacher can help you boost your confidence in speaking this feature is also available for vocabulary words and sample sentences being able to hear these recordings improves pronunciation skills especially when incorrect intonation can change the meaning of a word entirely the voice recorder examines your speed and tone don't forget to also follow up by sending a recording to your premium plus teacher for feedback number three increase your vocabulary with spaced repetition flashcards and more one of the best ways to learn vocabulary is with spaced repetition flashcards spaced repetition is a system designed for learning something new and reviewing it in varying time intervals you can create and study flash card decks whether from your word bank or a specific vocabulary list for example if you need to visit a post office the post office vocabulary list for your target language would be beneficial to study prior to your visit premium plus offers various features to expand learners vocabulary including free gifts of the month such as the 400 everyday phrases for beginners ebook find opportunities to use them with your teachers friends or classmates for even more practice each lesson has a vocabulary slideshow and a quiz to review the lesson's vocabulary there's also the 2000 core word list which includes the most commonly used words in your target language starting from the 100 core word list you'll gradually build up your knowledge of useful vocabulary these lists can be studied with spaced repetition flashcards too with the flashcards you can change the settings to your liking the settings range from different card types to number of new cards per deck give yourself vocabulary tests by changing the settings after studying a number of flashcards change the card types to listening comprehension you can then test yourself by writing the translation of the word or the spoken word or phrase changing your settings allows you to remember vocabulary and learn how to identify the words this can be especially helpful when learning to recognize new characters in certain languages number four get your own personal language teacher your language teacher will work with you and your goals to create a personalized and achievable study path once you share a short-term or a long-term goal with your teacher you can establish a plan or pathway to lead to success coordinate with your teacher regularly to ensure the personalized learning programs are still working for you if not you can always change it up there are so many ways your premium plus teacher can help you if you have a speech you need to write they can help you come up with the right way to say what you want to say if there's something you need help translating your teacher can lend you a hand or if there is a specific movie or song you want to consume in your target language your teacher can gear your lessons to help you achieve your goal being in planes trains and buses can be an uncomfortable experience for many people often there are small cramped seats not many things to do and sometimes the experience is even scary despite this you often see people working in these environments how do they do it in this video you'll learn three tips to help you be able to study anywhere the first one is adjust to your environment most of us would probably agree that a plane or a bus is not the best place to study these environments are usually dark and cramped and you may have a crying baby next to you but the point is there's never a perfect time or place to learn the reality is that a lot of us use transportation every day we face environments that are typically considered unsuitable for study trains get crowded you can't do much in your car even in your own home you'll get distracted by the tv or facebook or something and some days you'll be sick you'll be tired you'll have dinner plans once you accept that there's rarely such a thing as the perfect time to study you can start thinking about how to make the best of the environment you have at that time for example if you ride a train you might stand up for a long time it might be difficult to focus on a book in a case like this you can use the innovative language 101 app to study listen to the audio lessons or do the word of the day by email there are ways that you can learn in just about any situation the point is you need to adjust your study method to your environment so take a look at your day and see where your time goes are there any gaps in between your activities where you feel like you can't study and is there any way you can adjust two take advantage of your limited time we've surveyed tons of learners over the years and every year we find that the number one reason most people don't learn a language is they say they have no time but there's a chance you may have some spare time to study you might just not recognize it yet let's say you commute for 30 minutes every day you can ask yourself how do i put these next 30 minutes to use or if you finish work at 7 pm and spend an hour doing nothing you can think about what you might do in that hour that will help you work towards your goals you don't have to use all 30 minutes of your commute or the full hour of your free time but you can definitely fit in a short lesson or take other steps towards your goals three have an on and off mindset when you work it can be really helpful to have a kind of on off switch for when it's time to work and time to rest you can apply the same idea to your language studies when it's time to study you can focus solely on that you don't spend time thinking about doing it you just do it it doesn't matter where you are or what kind of studying you're doing as long as it gets done and when you're done with a lesson reward yourself it can be as simple as telling yourself great job when you're finished with the time you promised yourself for studies feel free to focus on the next thing great work here's a reward speed up your language learning with our pdf lessons get all of our best pdf cheat sheets and ebooks for free just click the link in the description

Channel: Learn English with EnglishClass101.com

Views: 129,791

Keywords: englishclass101, learn english, english language, the United States, english alphabet, read, write, speak, school, teacher, tutorial, lessons, compilation, how to, fast, quick, easy, fastest, easiest, english pronunciation, english grammar, basics, english phrases, review, best of, monthly dose of english, comp, compilations

Id: cLX29nX7gig

Length: 77min 55sec (4675 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 24 2021