Learn how to use adjectives and numbers to talk about what you need
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| INTRODUCTION |
| David: How Many Eggs Do You Need to Make a British Omelette? David here. |
| Kellie: Hello. I'm Kellie. |
| David: In this lesson, you’ll learn to use adjectives and numbers to describe what is needed. The conversation takes place at a supermarket. |
| Kellie: The speakers are friends. |
| David: So they will use informal English. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Katrina: I want to make an omelette for tea, so I need eggs. |
| Phil: The eggs are over here, in this aisle. |
| Katrina: Hmm, I think I need medium-sized eggs. |
| Phil: Free-range eggs? |
| Katrina: Yeah! I think half a dozen will be enough. |
| Phil: How about these? |
| Katrina: Perfect! Thanks! |
| David: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Katrina: I want to make an omelette for tea, so I need eggs. |
| Phil: The eggs are over here, in this aisle. |
| Katrina: Hmm, I think I need medium sized eggs. |
| Phil: Free range eggs? |
| Katrina: Yeah! I think half a dozen will be enough. |
| Phil: How about these? |
| Katrina: Perfect! Thanks! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: In this lesson, Katrina went to the supermarket. That’s an important place, I think! |
| Kellie: Of course you do! I know how you love your food! Supermarkets are very popular in the UK. There used to be smaller grocery stores but these have become less popular, as they are more expensive than supermarkets. |
| David: Yeah, big supermarkets can use their buying power to get goods cheaper. |
| Kellie: Exactly. There are several supermarket chains in the UK, but the so-called Big Four are Tesco, ASDA, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons. |
| David: Are there many supermarkets around? |
| Kellie: They’re everywhere! Sometimes they’re in easy to reach locations, near housing or in the centre of towns and villages, but some of the larger ones are out of towns. |
| David: People in the UK shop big, right? |
| Kellie: Yeah, people usually shop for several days, or even a week or so, at one time and then just get fresh stuff like milk and bread as needed. |
| David: What foods are popular? |
| Kellie: The UK loves meat and vegetables, but “foreign” foods such as pasta and rice are popular too. And for those that are either really busy, or really lazy, there is a wide range of ready meals. |
| David: Ready meals? |
| Kellie: Frozen meals that you microwave for a few minutes and then voila - dinner is served! |
| 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: to make [natural native speed] |
| David: to bring something into existence by creating or changing materials |
| Kellie: to make[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: to make [natural native speed] |
| David: Next we have.. |
| Kellie: omelette [natural native speed] |
| David: a dish made from eggs that is cooked until the eggs set |
| Kellie: omelette[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: omelette [natural native speed] |
| David: Next we have.. |
| Kellie: egg [natural native speed] |
| David: hard-shelled edible thing that is commonly from a chicken |
| Kellie: egg[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: egg [natural native speed] |
| David: Next we have.. |
| Kellie: medium [natural native speed] |
| David: neither large nor small |
| Kellie: medium[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: medium [natural native speed] |
| David: Next we have.. |
| Kellie: to need [natural native speed] |
| David: to be in a state or condition that requires something |
| Kellie: to need[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: to need [natural native speed] |
| David: Next we have.. |
| Kellie: dozen [natural native speed] |
| David: twelve of an item |
| Kellie: dozen[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: dozen [natural native speed] |
| David: Next we have.. |
| Kellie: enough [natural native speed] |
| David: as much or as many as required |
| Kellie: enough[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: enough [natural native speed] |
| David: And last we have |
| Kellie: perfect [natural native speed] |
| David: fitting well to an existing circumstance or occasion |
| Kellie: perfect[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: perfect [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: be enough |
| David: meaning "to be adequate", “to be suitable” |
| David: Let’s break this one down a little. |
| Kellie: Okay. “Be” is the verb “to be”, which we use for existence. “Enough” means as many as needed, so together they mean that the amount is exactly right. |
| David: So it’s not too much, and not too little? |
| Kellie: Yep. It’s just right. |
| David: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Kellie: Sure. For example, you can say.. I bought some snacks for the meeting but I hope there will be enough. |
| David: ..which means "I bought some snacks, and I hope that everyone will be able to have one." Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Kellie: How about these? |
| David: meaning "I suggest that these would be good" |
| David: How is this phrase put together? |
| Kellie: First there is “how about”, which is a nice and easy phrase to ask if something is suitable for a purpose. “These” is just a generic word for the thing we are asking about. |
| David: We can switch “these” with “this”, if it is just one thing. |
| Kellie: That’s right. And we can add the specific name instead, as in “how about these shoes.” |
| David: So, we use this phrase to give a suggestion. |
| Kellie: Yeah. It’s pretty informal and can be used for almost anything. |
| David: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Kellie: Sure. For example, you can say.. “How about this blue dress?” Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| David: In this lesson, you'll learn how to describe things using adjectives and numbers. |
| David: Let’s start with the basics. What’s an adjective? |
| Kellie: It’s a word that is used to modify a noun or a pronoun. So, words such as “small,” “large,” “fast,” “slow” and also colours are all adjectives. |
| David: How do we use them to modify nouns? |
| Kellie: You just put the adjective in front of what you are modifying. |
| David: It’s that easy? |
| Kellie: Yes! Let’s try with the noun “book” and the adjective “long”. |
| David: Adjective goes in front… “long book” |
| Kellie: That’s right! |
| David: Let me choose an adjective and noun now… Hm, let’s see. Let’s make a sentence with “I have” and use the noun “cat” and adjective “pink”. |
| Kellie: “I have a pink cat.” Why did you give me something strange to say?! But, what if I don’t have one cat, but I have seven? |
| David: You’re a crazy cat lady? |
| Kellie: I’m trying! You can put the number in front of the noun too, just like we did with adjectives. “I have seven cats.” |
| David: What if you have so many cats that you can’t count them? |
| Kellie: In that case, you can use general quantity adjectives. These are words like “a lot of,” “most,” “many,” “few” and “a little.” They give a general idea of how many, but don’t use specific numbers. Again, the word goes before the noun. |
| David: “I have many cats.” |
| Kellie: “I have some cats.” |
| David: In the dialogue, Katrina said she needed half a dozen eggs. |
| Kellie: Right. There are a few words used to describe specific quantities. A “dozen” is probably the most well known and it means 12, so half a dozen is 6. |
| David: Eggs are usually sold in dozens, or half dozens, right? |
| Kellie: That’s right. Other common words are “a couple,” for two, or “trio,” for three. |
| David: How about several? It sounds a bit like seven, but doesn’t mean seven, does it? |
| Kellie: No, it doesn’t. That one’s a bit of a grey area. It means more than two, but less than many. You can use that if you don’t want to be too specific but want to show that there aren’t too many. |
| David: And how about a baker’s dozen? |
| Kellie: That’s “thirteen.” |
| David: Okay. Maybe bakers can’t count! (laughs) |
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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