Learn how you can use an English noun as an adjective
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chihiro: Hey, everyone! I’m Chihiro and I’m joined here by Ryan! |
| Ryan: Hello, everyone, and welcome back to EnglishClass101.com. Can You Equate Price with Quality in America? |
| Chihiro: So Ryan, what are we learning today? |
| Ryan: In this lesson, you'll learn about shoe sizes. |
| Chihiro: This conversation takes place at a shoe store. |
| Ryan: This conversation is between Drew and the sales representative. |
| Chihiro: Drew will be speaking casually, and the sales representative will be speaking formally. Okay, let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Sales Rep: Can I help you today sir? |
| Drew: Umm…yeah, I'm looking for a black pair of shoes for work. |
| Sales Rep: What size are you sir? |
| Drew: I'm a size ten. |
| Sales Rep: Okay, would you like shoes with laces or no laces? |
| Drew: Umm…ones with laces. |
| Sales Rep: Well, here are some shoes here…umm...how about this pair? |
| Drew: Hey, they're nice! How much are they? |
| Sales Rep: $527.00. |
| Drew: $527.00? Whoa! That's not exactly a bargain! What are they, Prada? |
| Sales Rep: No, Dolce &Gabbana. |
| Drew: Well, tell both of them that I can't afford their shoes. |
| Sales Rep: Mmm... how about this pair sir? They're only $109.95. But you have to remember, a lower price means quality compromised. |
| Drew: I think a $110-quality shoe is a compromise I'm willing to make. |
| English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Sales Rep: Can I help you today sir? |
| Drew: Umm…yeah, I'm looking for a black pair of shoes for work. |
| Sales Rep: What size are you sir? |
| Drew: I'm a size ten. |
| Sales Rep: Okay, would you like shoes with laces or no laces? |
| Drew: Umm…ones with laces. |
| Sales Rep: Well, here are some shoes here…umm...how about this pair? |
| Drew: Hey, they're nice! How much are they? |
| Sales Rep: $527.00. |
| Drew: $527.00? Whoa! That's not exactly a bargain! What are they, Prada? |
| Sales Rep: No, Dolce &Gabbana. |
| Drew: Well, tell both of them that I can't afford their shoes. |
| Sales Rep: Mmm... how about this pair sir? They're only $109.95. But you have to remember, a lower price means quality compromised. |
| Drew: I think a $110-quality shoe is a compromise I'm willing to make. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Chihiro: So, Ryan, have you ever gone shopping for shoes in a different country and been confused about the sizes? |
| Ryan: All the time, you Chihiro? |
| Chihiro: I have, I remember feeling weird when I told them that I didn't know my shoe size! |
| Ryan: Shoe size readings are different for different countries, so make sure you look at the shoe chart before you buy shoes online. |
| Chihiro: Shoe stores will have a measuring device so you can measure the length and sometimes the width of your foot. Drew's shoe size is a ten in men's, which is a nine and a half in England, a forty-four in Europe, and a twenty-eight in Japan. |
| Ryan: There are different types of shoes stores in the United States, but the common way is that you tell the sales representative what size you want from a shoe on display, and they bring it out for you. Other shops just have shoes in boxes, and it's more of a self-serving style. |
| Chihiro: And you know what? Some shoes tell you the sizes in different countries, if you flip the tongue oo some shoes, especially for running shoes, you might have the whole range of sizes for different countries. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Ryan: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| : The first word we shall see is: |
| Chihiro: lace [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: string used to tie things |
| Chihiro: lace [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: lace [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Chihiro: exactly [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: perfectly, not more or less |
| Chihiro: exactly [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: exactly [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Chihiro: bargain [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: buy or sell something at a price that is lower than the value |
| Chihiro: bargain [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: bargain [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Chihiro: Prada, Dolce &Gabbana [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: names of high-end fashion brands |
| Chihiro: Prada, Dolce &Gabbana [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: Prada, Dolce &Gabbana [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Chihiro: to afford [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: to be capable of paying |
| Chihiro: to afford [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: to afford [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Chihiro: quality [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: good or bad character or nature of something |
| Chihiro: quality [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: quality [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Chihiro: to compromise [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: to come to an agreement in which both parties are satisfied |
| Chihiro: to compromise [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: to compromise [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Chihiro: pair [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: two things that are usually together |
| Chihiro: pair [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: pair [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Ryan: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the phrases used in this lesson. |
| Chihiro: The first phrase is, "That's not exactly a bargain" |
| Ryan: Drew says this when the sales representative mentions the price of the pair of shoes. What Drew means to say with the phrase is simply "that's expensive." This kind of expression using "not" + noun/adjective is common, so the statement is softened. By adding the word "exactly," the statement even has a tint of humor to it. |
| Chihiro: Here are some other examples using this construction. "He wasn't exactly happy about it." |
| Ryan: Which means "he is upset or dissatisfied." |
| Chihiro: "They weren't exactly quiet." |
| Ryan: Which means "They were causing some noise." |
| Chihiro: "I wasn't exactly polite." |
| Ryan: means "I was rude." |
| Chihiro: This way of saying something is very common, and is used when the direct statement seems too straight forward. That's why it's used often with negative ideas. So you don't have to say the negative idea so directly. |
Lesson focus |
| Ryan: The focus of this lesson is nouns used as adjectives. In a previous lesson of the first Lower Intermediate Series, we talked about nouns we use as adjectives. In this lesson, we will review the subject by taking a look at more examples. |
| Chihiro: We can use nouns as adjectives to describe other nouns. You may find some standard combinations, such as "paper airplane," in which "paper" modifies "airplane." |
| Ryan: In that particular example the two nouns are separate, but there are common noun combinations that are written as one word. For example... |
| Chihiro: "headache" and "haircut" |
| Ryan: But be careful, because a word like "stomach ache" is written separately. |
| Chihiro: Good point, there's seems to be no clear rule for this, so remember them one by one. |
| Ryan: Starting with those two. |
| Chihiro: It is also common to make up a noun combination yourself to add description to the thing you're talking about. |
| Ryan: Drew says the phrase, |
| Chihiro: "$110-quality shoe," |
| Ryan: in which he uses the price of the shoe to describe it. Note that he doesn't say "dollars" but rather just "dollar." When we use a noun as an adjective, we drop the "-s" in plural forms. Here are some other examples. |
| Chihiro: "The course is three years long" this becomes "a three-year course." |
| Ryan: "She hunted the Easter eggs" becomes "an Easter egg hunt." |
| Chihiro: "A wave that is twenty feet high" this becomes "a twenty-foot wave." |
| Ryan: In all of these, we change the noun back to its singular form by dropping the "-s." This is a very simple concept; however, it's also a common error because it's sometimes hard to switch to a singular form after using the plural form so often! |
| Chihiro: Yes, that's true, so you have to be flexible when you're learning English. Also, these nouns are usually written with a hyphen in the middle. |
| Ryan: A hyphen is the small horizontal line. |
| Chihiro: What kinds of compound words do you find around you? |
| Ryan: let us know by leaving us a comment! |
Outro |
| Ryan: That just about does it for today. Bye for now! |
| Chihiro: See you all soon! |
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