Learn how to use adjectives
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Natalie: Good afternoon! |
| Braden: Braden here. Are you Having a Good Time in Miami? |
| Braden: In this lesson, you'll learn about using adjectives. |
| Natalie: This conversation takes place on the plane during the shift. |
| Braden: And it’s between David and Ashley. |
| Natalie: David and Ashley are friends and are speaking casually. |
| Braden: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| David: Finally a bit of warmth! Miami is such a wonderful city. |
| Ashley: Enjoy it while you can. We're scheduled to take off in an hour. |
| David: Why couldn't we have two days off here instead of in Denver? |
| Ashley: Don't worry about it. We have a 12 hour layover at our next stop so you can enjoy the warmth a bit more there. |
| David: Our next stop is Atlanta, right? |
| Ashley: Right. |
| Braden: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| David: Finally a bit of warmth! Miami is such a wonderful city. |
| Ashley: Enjoy it while you can. We're scheduled to take off in an hour. |
| David: Why couldn't we have two days off here instead of in Denver? |
| Ashley: Don't worry about it. We have a 12 hour layover at our next stop so you can enjoy the warmth a bit more there. |
| David: Our next stop is Atlanta, right? |
| Ashley: Right. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Braden: So, we wanted to talk a little bit about Miami |
| Natalie: That's right. Miami has a population of 400,000 but the Miami metropolitan area has a population of over 5.5 million. This makes it the 5th largest urban area in the United States. |
| Braden: Miami is a major financial and commerce center and has the largest concentration of international banks in the United States. |
| Natalie: Beyond that, Miami is a port city and is ranked as the 11th largest economy within the United States. Many large companies are headquartered in or around Miami including Bacardi, Burger King, Carnival Corporation, CompUSA, Perry Ellis International, and Univision. |
| Braden: It also has headquarters for the Latin American divisions of American Airlines, Disney, Exxon, FedEx, Kraft Foods, Microsoft, Yahoo, Sony, and Walmart. |
| Natalie: Miami is often referred to as the capital of Latin America. It has a large Spanish-speaking population as well as a large Brazilian Portuguese speaking population. |
| Braden: It's surprising but in 2010, 2011, and 2012 the largest spenders in the Miami region where tourists from Brazil, even though there are many more Spanish speakers. |
| Natalie: Many came to see professional football games of the Miami Dolphins and professional basketball games of the Miami Heat. |
| Braden: I'm sure they did. Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Braden: The first word we shall see is... |
| Natalie: finally [natural native speed] |
| Braden: after a long time |
| Natalie: finally [slowly - broken down by syllable] finally [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: warmth [natural native speed] |
| Braden: the quality, state, or sensation of being warm |
| Natalie: warmth [slowly - broken down by syllable] warmth [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: wonderful [natural native speed] |
| Braden: excellent; great; marvelous |
| Natalie: wonderful [slowly - broken down by syllable] wonderful [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: enjoy [natural native speed] |
| Braden: to have a good time |
| Natalie: enjoy [slowly - broken down by syllable] enjoy [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: while [natural native speed] |
| Braden: during the time that |
| Natalie: while [slowly - broken down by syllable] while [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: layover [natural native speed] |
| Braden: a period of rest or waiting before a further stage in the journey |
| Natalie: layover [slowly - broken down by syllable] layover [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: scheduled [natural native speed] |
| Braden: describing something that has been planned |
| Natalie: scheduled [slowly - broken down by syllable] scheduled [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: take off [natural native speed] |
| Braden: the action of becoming airborne |
| Natalie: take off [slowly - broken down by syllable] take off [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: instead [natural native speed] |
| Braden: as an alternative or substitute |
| Natalie: instead [slowly - broken down by syllable] instead [natural native speed] |
| Natalie: rather [natural native speed] |
| Braden: used to indicate preference |
| Natalie: rather [slowly - broken down by syllable] rather [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: spend [natural native speed] |
| Braden: pay out (money) in buying |
| Natalie: spend [slowly - broken down by syllable] spend [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: our [natural native speed] |
| Braden: belonging to us |
| Natalie: our [slowly - broken down by syllable] our [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. |
| Natalie: In the dialogue, we heard the phrase “take off.” |
| Braden: okay so, This phrase is an interesting one because it can be both a noun and a phrasal verb. My dictionary lists over 15 meanings for this phrase. |
| Natalie: The meaning that we are looking at right now though, is “take off” as a noun. |
| Braden: When used as a noun, the idea here is the “action of becoming airborne.” |
| Natalie: At least in my head, I think of the airplane actually being picked up and taken off the ground. |
| Braden: Actually, that’s exactly what happens. The high air pressure on the bottom of the wings is what “takes” the airplane “off” the ground. |
| Natalie: Oh really? That's cool. |
| Braden: I thought so too. Could you break this down for us? |
| Natalie: (slowly) take off |
| Braden: And one time fast? |
| Natalie: (fast) take off |
| Braden: Perfect!What’s next? |
| Natalie: In the dialogue, we heard the phrase “right?...right.” |
| Braden: This is an interesting phrase structure in English. We're going to look at it from a very general perspective. |
| Natalie: So the basic idea here is that when someone asks you a question, whatever word they use to ask the question, you use that same word to answer the question. |
| Braden: For example, in the dialogue the entire exchange was, “Our next stop is Atlanta, right?" And then the corresponding answer was “Right.” |
| Natalie: Here, the word “right” was used in the question and therefore in the answer. |
| Braden: If David had said, “Our next stop was Atlanta, correct?” Then Ashley would have responded with, “Correct.” |
| Natalie: So it's a kind of symmetrical vocabulary, right? |
| Braden: That sounds about right. Could you break this down for us? |
| Natalie: (slowly) right?...right. |
| Braden: And one time fast? |
| Natalie: (fast) right?...right. |
| Braden: Excellent! Let’s take a look at the grammar point. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Natalie: The focus of this lesson is adjectives. |
| Braden: In the dialogue we heard the phrase... |
| Natalie: Miami is a wonderful city. |
| Braden: Okay so, adjectives are words that describe nouns. For example, the words quick, bad, or warm are all adjectives. |
| Natalie: English is full of adjectives and in this lesson we'll talk about 3 different adjectives and how to use them. |
| Braden: Also, remember that adjectives almost always come before the noun in English. |
| Natalie: That's right! Now, our last lesson was on adverbs. Adverbs are usually made from adjectives. |
| Braden: The adjective acts as the “base” or “root” of the adverb. So, in this lesson we're going to look at these "root" or the base forms of adverbs called adjectives. |
| Natalie: First let’s look at the adjective Happy. “Happy” describes a feeling of contentment. For example – |
| Braden: “Joseph has a happy smile.” |
| Natalie: Here, the adjective “happy” describes Joseph's smile. His smile transmits a feeling of contentment to people who see it. Remember, in our last lesson we looked at the adverb "happily" which described the verb. |
| Braden: Another example would be – “The happy bride is dancing.” |
| Natalie: Here, “happy” describes the bride. |
| Braden: Remember, adjectives describe nouns not action so “happy” describes the bride, not the way the bride is dancing. |
| Natalie: Next, let's look at the adjective “constant.” Constant means "occurring continuously." |
| Braden: For example – “Julie is a constant singer.” |
| Natalie: Here, the adjective “constant” describes "singer" and Julie as a person who continuously sings. |
| Braden: Last, let's look at the adjective “slow.” “Slow” means "moving or operating a low speed." |
| Natalie: For example – “Christian drives the slow car." |
| Braden: Here, the car is described as slow, not the way that Christian drives it. Again remember, that adjectives describe things not action. |
| Natalie: So, the car is being described, not the driving. Another example would be – “The bird has a slow glide.” |
| Braden: Here, the "glide" of the bird is described as “slow.” A “glide” is a "smooth continuous movement." |
| Natalie: Let's review this lesson. |
| Braden: Adjectives are special words that describe nouns, not verbs. English is full of adjectives. |
| Natalie: The reason adjectives are “special” is because they add meaning to nouns. No other part of speech can add meaning to nouns. |
| Braden: Adjectives are difficult to identify because there are so many and they do not have any base form. |
| Natalie: However, adjectives do form the base of most adverbs. |
| Braden: That’s right! So, if you know an adverb, you can often just remove the "-ly" ending and get the base adjective. |
Outro |
| Braden: That just about does it for this lesson. Thanks for listening. |
| Natalie: Have a good day! |
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