Review inversions
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Braden: Is Romance Blooming in this American Office? |
| Braden: In this lesson, you’ll learn about Review of inversions and Free time. |
| Barbara: This conversation takes place behind the customer service desk after the interview with Big John. |
| Braden: And it’s between Cody and June. |
| Barbara: The speakers are now good friends so they’ll be speaking casually. |
| Braden: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Cody: June, are you okay? |
| June: I just had a vision of what the rest of my life is going to be like, and only now do I realize that it takes place in the same outfit, behind the same desk, at the same store. |
| Cody: Wow! Never have I seen you so depressed. Is Big John: on your back again? |
| June: No it's just...I just thought I'd be going somewhere. Not just getting a promotion but physically, getting out of this town. To...to... |
| Cody: The suburbs. |
| June: Ha ha! |
| Cody: All right, listen. Look at me. Scarcely had I met you when I became of the mind that you are destined for great things. Okay? Whatever you want to do, you just go ahead and do it. You understand? |
| June: Thanks, Cody. That was almost poetic of you. |
| Cody: Anytime. |
| June: Why are you smiling? |
| Cody: Just wondering whether you have some free time this weekend. |
| June: Cody, you have a girlfriend, remember? |
| Cody: Not anymore. |
| June: Oh! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Braden: So, we wanted to talk a little bit about Free time. |
| Barbara: In an academic sense, free time and leisure are merely synonyms. To the average American, at least to the Americans we know, free time is a period of time that has not been appropriated to a specific task. |
| Braden: In other words what you will be doing during your “free time” has not been determined yet. |
| Barbara: A lively discussion was once started in an economics class about the notion of free time” and whether not time was really "free.” |
| Braden: The economics professor insisted that nothing was "free” and that all people's time was traded them for a commodity called leisure. The class disagreed with the economics professor. |
| Barbara: In the dialogue when Cody asked June, “Just wondering if you have some free time this weekend.” He was asking, indirectly, if she were willing to spend some of that free time with him. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Braden: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is: |
| Barbara: desk [natural native speed] |
| Braden: a table-like piece of furniture usually with drawers |
| Barbara: desk [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Barbara: desk [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| realize [natural native speed] |
| Braden: become fully aware of something |
| realize [slowly - broken down by syllable] realize [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Barbara: depressed [natural native speed] |
| Braden: to be in a state of general unhappiness |
| Barbara: depressed [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Barbara: depressed [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| promotion [natural native speed] |
| Braden: the action of raising someone to a higher position or rank or the fact of being so raised |
| promotion [slowly - broken down by syllable] promotion [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Barbara: somewhere [natural native speed] |
| Braden: some unspecified place |
| Barbara: somewhere [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Barbara: somewhere [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| physically [natural native speed] |
| Braden: of or relating to the body |
| physically [slowly - broken down by syllable] physically [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Barbara: suburbs [natural native speed] |
| Braden: the typically residential area of a city that lies beyond the city center |
| Barbara: suburbs [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Barbara: suburbs [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| anytime [natural native speed] |
| Braden: at whatever time |
| anytime [slowly - broken down by syllable] anytime [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Barbara: scarcely [natural native speed] |
| Braden: almost not |
| Barbara: scarcely [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Barbara: scarcely [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| wondering [natural native speed] |
| Braden: used to introduce a polite statement or request |
| wondering [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| wondering [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Braden: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Barbara: In the dialogue, we heard the noun "deliverables." |
| Braden: “deliverables” Refers to the output that an individual or organization produces. By definition, a “deliverable” is generic. It could refer to a new product, specific improvements to a product, a service, a service improvement, a system modification or a number of other possibilities. |
| Barbara: it’s also business jargon. This is not a word you would use when talking about academic assignments or personal matters. |
| Braden: Could you break this down? |
| Barbara: deliverables (slowly) |
| Braden: And one time fast? |
| Barbara: deliverables (fast) |
| Braden: Perfect! What’s next? |
| Barbara: Our next phrase is "destined for great things." |
| Braden: “Destiny” is not something that many Americans believe in anymore. However, this phrase “destined for great things” is still very common. In the dialogue, it was used as a compliment. This is an indirect way of saying “You are very talented.” |
| Barbara: or “You have a lot of potential.” Be careful how much you use this because it can be a bit cliche. |
| Braden: Could you break this down? |
| Barbara: destined for great things (slowly) |
| Braden: And one time fast? |
| Barbara: destined for great things (fast) |
| Braden: Excellent! |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Braden: Let’s take a look at the grammar point. |
| Braden: Barbara, what’s the focus of this, the last lesson in the series? |
| Barbara: The focus of this lesson is inversions |
| Braden: In the dialogue, we heard the phrase... |
| Barbara: Scarcely had I met you when I became of the mind that you are destined for great things. |
| Braden: The term inversion refers to an uncommon verb placement structure - |
| Barbara: To form an inversion, you must use the question Form, In this case, the question form (auxiliary + subject + main verb) takes the place of the standard positive sentence structure. |
| Braden: So, “He goes to work every day” would become “To work he goes everyday.” |
| Barbara: For those of you familiar with Star Wars, inversions are an integral part of Yoda speech. |
| Braden: Another example would be “Seldom has the boss been so upset!” instead of “The boss has seldom been so upset!” |
| Barbara: In this case, the question form is substituted for standard sentence structure in a statement. Generally, an inversion is used to stress the uniqueness of an event and begins with a negative. |
| Braden: Now let’s look at Negative Adverbials. These Negative adverbials can use several time expressions. Such as never, rarely, seldom. |
| Barbara: For example, “Never have I been more insulted.” and “Rarely has he seen anything stranger.” |
| Braden: Some other Time expressions – such as, hardly, barely, no sooner, or scarcely – are handled differently. These time expressions are used when a there are a succession of events in the past. |
| Barbara: For example, “Scarcely had I got out of bed when the doorbell rang.” and “No sooner had he finished dinner, when she walked in the door.” |
| Braden: There are also “only” expressions. 'Only' is used with time expressions such as 'only after', 'only when', 'only then', etc. |
| Barbara: For example, “Only then did I understand the problem.” and “Only after understanding the situation does the teacher make a comment.” |
| Braden: Now, let’s look at “little” being used in a negative sense. For example, “Little did he understand the situation.” and “Little have I read concerning nanotechnology.” |
| Barbara: Next we have Inversions after 'So', 'Such', and 'That.” Starting with “so” we get 'So + adjective ... that' combines with the verb 'to be'. |
| Braden: For example, “So strange was the situation that I couldn't sleep.” and “So difficult is the test that students need three months to prepare.” |
| Barbara: Such is handled very similarly. The structure is 'Such + to be + noun." |
| Braden: For example, “Such is the moment that all greats traverse.” and “Such is the stuff of dreams.” |
| Barbara: To finish things up, let’s look at inverted conditional forms. Sometimes conditional forms are inverted as a means of sounding more formal. In this case, the conditional 'if' is dropped and the inverted forms takes the place of the 'if clause'. |
| Braden: For example, “Had he understood the problem, he wouldn't have committed those mistakes.” and “Should he decide to come, please telephone.” |
Outro |
| Braden: That just about does it for today. Thanks for listening. |
| Barbara: See you later! |
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