Learn how to describe people and possessions
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| INTRODUCTION |
| David: With British Friends Like These, Who Needs Enemies? David Here. |
| Kellie: Hello. I'm Kellie. |
| David: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to describe people and possessions. The conversation takes place at the gym. |
| Kellie: The speakers are friends. |
| David: Therefore, they will use informal English. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Phil: I need to start weightlifting. My wife said I'm becoming too skinny. |
| Katrina: You are quite slim. |
| Phil: I bought some new exercise clothes. |
| Katrina: Those? They look too big and cheap. My workout clothes are nice and they do men's clothes too. |
| Phil: They do look good. By next year, I will be a bodybuilder. |
| Katrina: I think you will still be skinny. |
| Phil: Thanks for your support. |
| David: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Phil: I need to start weightlifting. My wife said I'm becoming too skinny. |
| Katrina: You are quite slim. |
| Phil: I bought some new exercise clothes. |
| Katrina: Those? They look too big and cheap. My workout clothes are nice and they do men’s clothes too. |
| Phil: They do look good. By next year, I will be a bodybuilder. |
| Katrina: I think you will still be skinny. |
| Phil: Thanks for your support. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: Phil is worrying about his personal appearance. |
| Kellie: I think that’s pretty common. It started from a comment his wife made about his appearance. |
| David: Talking about personal appearance is dangerous. |
| Kellie: It can be! It’s so easy to offend people! |
| David: But sometimes we do need to describe people, so how do we do it without causing offence? |
| Kellie: Well, the safest things to describe are things like height, hairstyle, and clothing style. But even then, try to use nice words. If it’s a friend you can maybe get more personal. |
| David: But not with a stranger. |
| Kellie: It’s best not to get personal unless you know the person well and that they won’t take offence. |
| David: How about when you’re describing yourself? |
| Kellie: Most people see themselves in a negative light, and this is the safest way to describe yourself. People don’t like arrogance, so even if you look like Angelina Jolie, or whoever else is seen as famous and beautiful these days, don’t describe yourself in that way. |
| David: Unless it’s a dating site. On those, everyone describes themselves as supermodels. |
| Kellie: I never use dating sites so I wouldn’t know! |
| David: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| David: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Kellie: weightlifting [natural native speed] |
| David: a type of exercise that involves picking up heavy objects in order to gain muscles and strength |
| Kellie: weightlifting[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: weightlifting [natural native speed] |
| David: Next we have.. |
| Kellie: to become [natural native speed] |
| David: to change, to grow to be |
| Kellie: to become[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: to become [natural native speed] |
| David: Next we have.. |
| Kellie: slim [natural native speed] |
| David: slender, thin |
| Kellie: slim[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: slim [natural native speed] |
| David: Next we have.. |
| Kellie: exercise [natural native speed] |
| David: something done in order to practice or train |
| Kellie: exercise[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: exercise [natural native speed] |
| David: Next we have.. |
| Kellie: to look [natural native speed] |
| David: to appear, to seem |
| Kellie: to look[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: to look [natural native speed] |
| David: Next we have.. |
| Kellie: will [natural native speed] |
| David: about, going to |
| Kellie: will[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: will [natural native speed] |
| David: Next we have.. |
| Kellie: body [natural native speed] |
| David: the physical structure of a plant or animal |
| Kellie: body[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: body [natural native speed] |
| David: Next we have.. |
| Kellie: skinny [natural native speed] |
| David: very lean or thin |
| Kellie: skinny[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: skinny [natural native speed] |
| David: And last.. |
| Kellie: support [natural native speed] |
| David: help during a tough time |
| Kellie: support[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: support [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| David: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Kellie: work out |
| David: meaning "to exercise" |
| David: I’m noticing a bit of a gym theme to the vocabulary in this lesson... |
| Kellie: Of course! We know that “work” can mean a job or to do a task, but if you combine that with “out”, it is a generic phrase for exercising. |
| David: You can use it in place of “exercise” or “train”. |
| Kellie: That’s right. It’s a good phrase if you know that somebody exercises, but you don’t know exactly what they do. |
| David: Because it’s just a general term. |
| Kellie: Right. |
| David: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Kellie: Sure. For example, you can say.. “I go to the gym to work out everyday.” |
| David: ..which means "I go to the gym to exercise everyday." Okay, what's the next word? |
| Kellie: body builder |
| David: meaning "somebody who weightlifts in order to increase their muscle mass" |
| David: So “work out” was quite general, but this is quite specific. |
| Kellie: Yes, it is. A body is the physical structure of an animal or plant and a builder is someone who builds things. |
| David: So it’s literally someone who builds a body. |
| Kellie: Yeah. Not a body from scratch though, because that would be like the plot of a horror movie! This is someone building up their own body. |
| David: Using weights and exercise. |
| Kellie: Yes! |
| David: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Kellie: Sure. For example, you can say.. His diet is very strict because he is a body builder. |
| David: .. which means "His diet is very strict because he is increasing his muscle mass through exercise." |
| David: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| David: In this lesson, you'll learn how to describe people and possessions. |
| David: We spoke about it earlier, now let’s do it! |
| Kellie: When we describe things, we use adjectives. There are many, many adjectives and some of them can be used to describe people and objects. |
| David: Let’s go through some examples. |
| Kellie: We can describe height using “tall” or “short”. |
| David: Or age, using “young” or “old”. |
| Kellie: We can describe size, using “big”, “small”, “skinny” or “fat”. |
| David: And those are just a few. |
| Kellie: An easy way to expand your adjective vocabulary is to remember opposites. |
| David: Like “tall” and “short”, or “young” and “old”. |
| Kellie: Yes. If you remember them in pairs like that, it makes it easier. |
| David: How about some example sentences? |
| Kellie: Okay. “The man is tall.” “That is a small dog”. The adjective can either go before the noun it is modifying or after a conjugation of “be”. |
| David: In the dialogue, Phil makes a promise that next year, he will be a bodybuilder. |
| Kellie: Yeah, I don’t quite believe him. |
| David: Neither did Katrina. |
| Kellie: We can use “will” to explain what you will do in the future. It is the simple future tense. |
| David: How do we make these sentences? |
| Kellie: The pattern is pronoun plus will plus base verb. An example is “I will eat cake tomorrow”. |
| David: I’m sure you will! How about “I will write a book.” |
| Kellie: Good one, and good luck too! We can talk about things we won’t do by adding “not”. |
| David: So “will not” or “won’t”. |
| Kellie: Right. “I won’t go to space.” What won’t you do, David? |
| David: I won’t forget my house keys. |
| Kellie: That’s an important one! I won’t buy a dog. |
| David: But I think you should buy a small, cute dog! |
Outro |
| David: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Kellie: Bye. |
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