Learn how to use multiple adjectives to describe something
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Jonathan: English Congratulations are in Order. I’m Jonathan. |
| Dede: And I’m Dede! Today is kind of a sad day… |
| Jonathan: Why’s that? |
| Dede: This is the last episode of Upper Intermediate Season 1! |
| Jonathan: You’re right! This is already lesson 25! |
| Dede: It really flew by, didn’t it? |
| Jonathan: It did! Anyhow, in this lesson you’ll learn how to use multiple adjectives to describe something. |
| Dede: Sheila calls Dave to congratulate him over the phone; he’s in Oregon with Isabel while she is back home in Washington D.C. |
| Jonathan: Of course, as we already know, they will be speaking casually. They are both very happy! |
| Dede: OK… This is the last time we get to do this… You ready? |
| Jonathan: Let’s listen to the conversation… |
| DIALOGUE |
| Sheila: (on the phone) Congratulations! I just saw they called the race for your candidate! |
| Dave: Thanks! I am so relieved! It's been a crazy, long night. |
| Sheila: I imagine so! How do you feel? |
| Dave: Sheila, you can't imagine how pumped I am. I bought a 300-dollar bottle of fantastic old French champagne. |
| Sheila: Woah! Big spender! You deserve it though; you have been working so hard. |
| Dave: Thanks! We popped it open and sprayed it everywhere. I wish you could have been here! |
| Sheila: You silly little boy! That’s such a pointless waste! |
| Dave: Haha, it was great! Straight out of the movies! |
| Sheila: I guess I am a bit jealous… |
| Dave: Anyhow, I have to get back to the festivities! |
| Sheila: Enjoy your special night! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Dede: Yay! Dave’s candidate won! That sounds like a fun party |
| Jonathan: Winning is fun. Celebrating your victories is fun. In the US, everyone celebrates in different ways, and later we’ll learn about how some Americans celebrate their victories by spraying each other with champagne. |
| Dede: What? Spraying each other with champagne? So that is what Dave was talking about… |
| Jonathan: Later, Dede, we’ll discuss that… |
| Dede: Okay! |
| Jonathan: Regardless, that is not that common of a practice. While most people do not usually spray it, champagne is the traditional drink of celebration; we use it for toasts on New Year’s, at weddings, and when we have a big personal or team victory. Because champagne is more expensive than other types of drinks, it is usually reserved for these types of special happy occasions. |
| Dede: I think we should have some champagne for this lesson then! |
| Jonathan: Not a bad idea at all! |
| Dede: How about after the lesson? |
| Jonathan: Sounds good! Let’s go onto the vocab first. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Dede: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| Jonathan: to call [natural native speed] |
| Dede: to declare someone the winner of something |
| Jonathan: to call [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jonathan: to call [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Jonathan: relieved [natural native speed] |
| Dede: relaxed after experiencing a lot of stress |
| Jonathan: relieved [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jonathan: relieved [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Jonathan: pumped [natural native speed] |
| Dede: excited |
| Jonathan: pumped [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jonathan: pumped [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Jonathan: to pop open [natural native speed] |
| Dede: to open something under pressure (like soda or beer) |
| Jonathan: to pop open [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jonathan: to pop open [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Jonathan: to spray [natural native speed] |
| Dede: to squirt, to drive liquid through the air |
| Jonathan: to spray [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jonathan: to spray [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Jonathan: pointless [natural native speed] |
| Dede: without meaning or purpose |
| Jonathan: pointless [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jonathan: pointless [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Jonathan: festivity [natural native speed] |
| Dede: celebration |
| Jonathan: festivity [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jonathan: festivity [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Jonathan: jealous [natural native speed] |
| Dede: feeling of envy toward someone or their achievements |
| Jonathan: jealous [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jonathan: jealous [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Dede: That’s it for our vocab. Let’s take a look at the last two phrases we have from this dialogue. |
| Jonathan: Sure thing. This is what you’ve been waiting for… |
| Dede: "to spray", which means to drive liquid through the air. So Dave said “We popped it open and sprayed it everywhere.” Some of our listeners may be wondering why he’d want to do that! |
| Jonathan: Well, a strange tradition in the United States and some European countries is to pop open bottles of champagne and spray them into the air to create a fountain. It is a bit wasteful but considered fun to do after a big victory or special event. Probably the most common time is on New Year’s Eve. |
| Dede: Hmm… Seems like a waste… I’d much rather drink it than have it sprayed all around! |
| Jonathan: You know… I’d have to agree with you! What’s our next phrase? |
| Dede: "Pumped", meaning "to be extremely excited." |
| Jonathan: Dave says “You can’t imagine how pumped I am”. Last lesson we learned about adrenalin, and this phrase also comes from the idea of being “pumped full of adrenalin” meaning that we are so excited because we are full of adrenalin. |
| Dede: I’m so pumped this is our last lesson! |
| Jonathan: Me too! Are you pumped for the grammar? |
| Dede: You better believe it! |
| Jonathan: Then let’s get started! |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Dede: The focus of this lesson is the order of adjectives. |
| Jonathan: In this lesson, we will learn that when we describe something, that the adjectives we use follow a specific order. |
| Dede: Dave says… |
| Jonathan: “I bought a 300-dollar bottle of fantastic old French champagne.” |
| Dede: Why does he say “fantastic old French champagne” and not “French old fantastic champagne”? |
| Jonathan: Great question. Let’s look at how we put our adjectives in order. The first place will always be taken if we use an adjective that describes what you think about the object. |
| Dede: So a cool car or an interesting book. |
| Jonathan: Exactly. Next come adjectives that describes the size or scale of the object. |
| Dede: Like a huge building or a tall giraffe. |
| Jonathan: Right! And after that comes any adjective that describes the age of the object |
| Dede: Like an ancient pyramid, or a new dress. |
| Jonathan: After that come adjectives that describe the shape of the object. |
| Dede: Like a circular box or a rectangular building. |
| Jonathan: Yup! And then come adjectives that describe the color of the object. |
| Dede: Like brown shoes or a white shirt. Geez there are a lot! |
| Jonathan: There are, but we are almost done. Next to last come adjectives that describe the location where the object is from. |
| Dede: Like an African instrument or a Russian doll. |
| Jonathan: And finally, use adjectives that describe the material of the object. |
| Dede: Like a metal bell or a cotton rag. |
| Jonathan: Phew! That was a lot of work. |
| Dede: Yeah it was! Check out the lesson notes for a written explanation. |
| Jonathan: I think it might be easier to see this as a chart rather than just hear them! |
| Dede: Anyhow though, let’s look at some examples. |
| Jonathan: OK. If you wanted to describe a violin, and it was made of wood, from Italy, and beautiful, what could you say? |
| Dede: Uhm, a beautiful Italian wooden violin. |
| Jonathan: Right! "Beautiful" is your opinion so it goes first. |
| Dede: Then, "Italy" is where it's from. |
| Jonathan: And "wooden" is its material. |
| Dede: OK, let’s look at what Dave said! |
| Jonathan: He described the champagne as fantastic, old, and French |
| Dede: Well "fantastic" is what he thinks about it, so it’s first. |
| Jonathan: And then the age of it is "old", so that's next |
| Dede: And "French" describes its location so it’s last! |
| Jonathan: Great job! |
Outro |
| Jonathan: And with that, I hate to say, we are just about finished. |
| Dede: It has been a pleasure being your host for Upper Intermediate Season 1. |
| Jonathan: We hope that we’ll be back in the future. So, for the last time, I’m Jonathan. |
| Dede: And I’m Dede. |
| Jonathan: We wish you the best in your future learning. |
| Dede: Thanks for listening, everyone! |
| Jonathan: Until we meet again! |
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