Learn about English words that we don't use in the progressive tense
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Braden: It’s Time for Plan B in the USA. In this lesson, you’ll learn about Words not used in the progressive tense and How to talk about your personal life at work. |
| Barbara: This conversation takes place in the morning at work. |
| Braden: And it’s between Cody and June. |
| Barbara: The speakers are co-workers, but they are starting to |
| develop a friendship so they’ll be speaking semi-professionally. |
| Braden: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Cody: Are you going to the concert tonight? |
| June: It was canceled. |
| Cody: Really? What for? |
| June: The report said that the band members prefer to wait a night to avoid a snowstorm. They're holding out in their tour bus until tomorrow. |
| Cody: I'm so sorry. But you're still going out with Luke, right? |
| June: Yeah. I suppose we'll go to that new Brazilian restaurant downtown. |
| Cody: Oh! I hear it's great! |
| June: I hope so! Brazilian food is amazing. |
| Cody: I love it too. So full of flavor, yet not spicy at all. |
| June: It's good stuff. So, what've we got on the agenda for today? |
| Cody: Big John wanted us to inventory the entire store. |
| June: The entire store? What did we do to deserve that? |
| Cody: Apparently, corporate changed the inventory system about two years ago, but for some reason, our store never put the new system in place. |
| June: So now, we need to make up for two years of slacking in two days? |
| Cody: Something like that. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Braden: So, we wanted to talk a little bit about How to talk about your personal life at work |
| Barbara: The American workplace is typically not a place for discussing your personal life. In general, if you are "on the clock" you are expected to be doing things that benefit the business and talking about your personal life is typically not one of those things. |
| Braden: Especially while the boss is around. Typically, most of our inquiries about the health and well-being of a coworker takes place during the daily greeting. |
| Barbara: For example, did you notice how Cody asked nonspecific, open-ended questions? "How was the concert?" and "What for?" and "How was that?" |
| Braden: And how June answered with short, succinct answers? "it got cancelled." "We went to that new Brazilian restaurant." and "Really good food." |
| Barbara: Most conversations about personal life are kept under 3 minutes. Remember, you're on the companies time, not your own. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Braden: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word we'll look at is... |
| Barbara: concert [natural native speed] |
| Braden: a musical performance given in public |
| Barbara: concert [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Barbara: concert [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Barbara: cancelled [natural native speed] |
| Braden: announce or cause that something not happen |
| Barbara: cancelled [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Barbara: cancelled [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Barbara: prefer [natural native speed] |
| Braden: like something better than another |
| Barbara: prefer [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Barbara: prefer [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Barbara: avoid [natural native speed] |
| Braden: keep away from something |
| Barbara: avoid [slowly - broken down by syllable] avoid [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Barbara: go out [natural native speed] |
| Braden: leave one's home for entertainment or social interaction |
| Barbara: go out [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Barbara: go out [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Barbara: downtown [natural native speed] |
| Braden: an area of a town or city |
| Barbara: downtown [slowly - broken down by syllable] downtown [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Barbara: agenda [natural native speed] |
| Braden: a list of items to be discussed at a formal meeting |
| Barbara: agenda [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Barbara: agenda [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Barbara: inventory [natural native speed] |
| Braden: a complete list of items |
| Barbara: inventory [slowly - broken down by syllable] inventory [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Barbara: suppose [natural native speed] |
| Braden: guess, assume that something is the case |
| Barbara: suppose [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Barbara: suppose [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Barbara: slacking [natural native speed] |
| Braden: to work slowly or lazily |
| Barbara: slacking [slowly - broken down by syllable] slacking [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 phrase spicy. |
| Braden: Which means something like “burns the tongue.” or some food that is “hot.” “Spicy” is an interesting word that confuses even native English speakers. |
| The word comes from the noun “spice” which is a synonym for “seasoning.” However, the adjective “spicy” doesn’t mean “well seasoned.” It means “hot.” |
| Braden: Could you break this down? |
| Barbara: spicy (slowly) |
| And one time fast? |
| Barbara: spicy (fast) |
| Braden: Excellent! What’s next? |
| Barbara: Our next phrase is to inventory. |
| Braden: Which is a verb that means “to take an inventory of” or “to make a list of various items.” Barbara: An inventory is a large list of various items. This word is typically used at stores that sell large volumes of similar merchandise. For example at an electronics store. |
| Braden: Could you break this down? |
| Barbara: to inventory (slowly) |
| Braden: And one time fast? |
| Barbara: to inventory (fast) |
| Braden: Great! |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Braden: Let’s take a look at the grammar point. |
| Braden: So, Barbara, what’s the focus of this lesson? |
| Barbara: The focus of this lesson is verbs that are not used in the progressive tense |
| Braden: In the dialogue, we heard the phrase… |
| Barbara: The report said that the band prefers to wait a night to avoid a snow storm. |
| Braden: If you haven't noticed, English uses progressive (or continuous) tenses frequently. For example, “I'm working at the moment.” |
| Barbara: Generally, progressive (or continuous) tenses are used to describe what is happening at a particular moment in time. Progressive tenses always focus on an action in progress. |
| Braden: However, there are a number of common, everyday verbs that should never or rarely be used in progressive forms. These verbs fall into a few categories, namely - mental and emotional states, the senses, and miscellaneous states. |
| Barbara: First, let's take a look at verbs that fall into the category of mental and emotional states. These would be verbs like, doubt, imagine, know, like, realize, remember, suppose, want, and wish. |
| Braden: The verbs are not conjugated in to the progressive tense. For example, "I want to be able to view the Mac's screen on my TV." |
| Barbara: It is incorrect to say, "I am wanting to be able to view the Mac's screen on the TV." |
| Braden: Our second category is verbs that deal with the senses. These are verbs like appear, seem, sound, taste, hear, and see. |
| Barbara: Some example sentences would be "She appears to be happy." It is incorrect to say, "She is appearing to be happy." |
| Braden: There is a possible exception with the verb "see." For example, "She is seeing someone." While technically in the present progressive tense, the word "seeing" in this sentence refers to dating someone and not to your physical sense of sight. More on this later. |
| Barbara: Last of all, we have a miscellaneous category with words like consist, deserve, fit, matter, need, possess, own, hold, cost, and contain. |
| Braden: Some example sentences would be, "It depends on how much it costs." It is incorrect to say, "It is depending on how much it is costing." |
| Barbara: A phrase I often hear is, "It isn't mattering.” Which is incorrect. It should be “It doesn't matter.” |
| Braden: As we pointed out with the verb “see,” there are also a number of verbs that can't be used in the progressive form in one meaning but can be used in another meaning. |
| Barbara: Some of the most common verbs of this kind are feel, see, think, appear, look, and touch. |
| Braden: So for the Non-Progressive Meaning, “feel” would mean 'to have an opinion' For example, “He feels he should get a second chance.” |
| Barbara: And for the Progressive Meaning “feel” would mean 'to feel physically.” For example, "I'm feeling great this morning." |
Outro |
| Braden: That just about does it for today. Thanks for listening. |
| Barbara: See you later! |
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