Learn how to use the conditional in positive and negative forms
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Jonathan: Hi everyone! Jonathan here. |
| Dede: And I’m Dede! The White House is meeting with the Capitol to Talk about Wall Street. |
| Jonathan: In this lesson, we will learn to use metonyms. Metonyms are words that are used to represent something they are related to. We’ll hear a conversation inside a hallway in the US Capitol building. |
| Dede: This conversation takes place between Dave and Sheila. They’re discussing their work. |
| Jonathan: Since Dave and Sheila are friends, they’ll be speaking very casually. |
| Dede: Let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| SHEILA: Oh hey Dave, I'm so sorry to hear that you got mugged. That's terrible. |
| DAVE: Yeah, I'll be OK though. The police officer was actually really cute - I think I am going to ask her out. How's your work going? |
| SHEILA: You dog! Work is all right. I'm super busy though, I'm on my way to the meet with the Congressional Research Service right now. |
| DAVE: Really? You're going over to the Library of Congress? What for? |
| SHEILA: I'm writing this big memo for next week's hearing about Wall Street. The White house is coming over to meet with us and K-Street keeps trying to sneak their way in to the discussions. |
| DAVE: Geez, sounds crazy! |
| SHEILA: It is. Ugh, I am so stressed out. If I had a bit more time, it would be so much easier |
| DAVE: If I were you, I wouldn't whine. It sounds like really interesting work. |
| SHEILA: I know... But if I didn’t have so much work, I wouldn't be so annoying! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Jonathan: Oh those lobbyists from K Street… Always trying to get into meetings and doing anything to meet with Congresspeople… |
| Dede: Speaking of K Street and lobbyists... can you explain what both of those are for our listeners? |
| Jonathan: We’ll get to that more in the Vocab section, but lobbying is a huge industry in Washington, D.C. Lobbyists are people paid by interest groups like industries, organizations and unions to try and convince US Congresspeople to pass laws that they support and block legislation they oppose. |
| Dede: Hmm… So what exactly do they do? |
| Jonathan: They do this by meeting with US Congresspeople and their staff. Lobbyists have usually worked as government staff members so the Congresspeople and staff they want to meet with are often their previous coworkers and friends. They try to meet them to present their proposals and convince them to support their ideas. |
| Dede: Hmm… That sounds… Difficult. |
| Jonathan: Haha, it is… Large industries, like pharmaceutical companies or the financial services sector spend tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars every year on lobbying. |
| Dede: That’s a ton of money! |
| Jonathan: It is, and it’s a big point of controversy for those who believe the money is corrupting politicians and feel that politicians can be “bought”. |
| Dede: I can definitely see that… |
| Jonathan: One thing that they can’t corrupt though is… Vocab! Ready? |
| Dede: Okay, let’s go! |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Jonathan: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| Dede: The first word we shall see is: |
| Jonathan: to ask out [natural native speed] |
| Dede: to ask someone on a date with you |
| Jonathan: ask out [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jonathan: ask out [natural native speed] |
| Next is: |
| Jonathan: hearing [natural native speed] |
| Dede: a meeting of a Committee were experts on an issue are questioned |
| Jonathan: hearing [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jonathan: hearing [natural native speed] |
| Next we have: |
| Jonathan: to sneak in [natural native speed] |
| Dede: to gain access to something secretly |
| Jonathan: sneak in [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jonathan: sneak in [natural native speed] |
| Next is: |
| Jonathan: the Library of Congress [natural native speed] |
| Dede: the national library of the United States and the largest library in the world, also the home for all Congressional research |
| Jonathan: the Library of Congress [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jonathan: the Library of Congress [natural native speed] |
| Next we have: |
| Jonathan: Congressional Research Service [natural native speed] |
| Dede: a governmental organization that provides unbiased research requested by the Congress to see the potential impact of legislation, it is based in the Library of Congress |
| Jonathan: Congressional Research Service [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jonathan: Congressional Research Service [natural native speed] |
| Next is: |
| Jonathan: annoying [natural native speed] |
| Dede: bothersome, troublesome |
| Jonathan: annoying [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jonathan: annoying [natural native speed] |
| Next we have: |
| Jonathan: to whine [natural native speed] |
| Dede: to complain |
| Jonathan: whine [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jonathan: whine [natural native speed] |
| Next is: |
| Jonathan: K-Street [natural native speed] |
| Dede: A street in Northwest Washington D.C. famous for being the headquarters of many lobbying firms. Lobbying firms try to influence Congresspeople on behalf of their clients' interests. |
| Jonathan: K-Street [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jonathan: K-Street [natural native speed] |
| Next we have: |
| Jonathan: Wall Street [natural native speed] |
| Dede: A street in New York City famous for being the headquarters of many US and world financial institutions. |
| Jonathan: Wall Street [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jonathan: Wall Street [natural native speed] |
| Next is: |
| Jonathan: the White House [natural native speed] |
| Dede: the house where the US president lives |
| Jonathan: the White House [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jonathan: the White House [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Jonathan: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Dede: What will we look at first? |
| Jonathan: We’re going to look at some of the business and government jargon that came up in the dialogue. Can you tell us what Sheila says about next week’s hearing? |
| Dede: Okay, here goes… Sheila says “I'm writing this big memo for next week's hearing about Wall Street. The White house is coming over to meet with us and K-Street keeps trying to sneak their way in to the discussions.” |
| Jonathan: Great! Remember in the vocab section when we talked about K Street, Wall Street, and the White House? |
| Dede: Yes! |
| Jonathan: We can use the names of the locations of some important businesses and government organizations to represent them as a whole. That is what it means when we say we are using metonyms. |
| Dede: Ahh, I see. So Sheila meant that… there is a hearing about the financial services sector next week and the President is coming over to meet with Sheila’s office, but lobbyists keep trying to get into the discussions? |
| Jonathan: Exactly! There are a huge amount of metonyms and jargon that are used in government. Let’s look at some other ones. |
| Dede: OK. |
| Jonathan: This is one that I think everyone knows. Hollywood. |
| Dede: Ah, that must be the movie industry. |
| Jonathan: That’s right! Can you figure out what we say when we are talking about the Pentagon? |
| Dede: Well, I know the Pentagon is a big building near D.C. I think the Army works there? |
| Jonathan: Yup! The Pentagon is the headquarters of the US military. So we can talk about the military as a whole by calling them the Pentagon. |
| Dede: Check out the Lesson Notes for even more examples of common metonyms that you can use! |
| Jonathan: I feel like we should be getting to the grammar though. |
| Dede: Me too, let’s do it! |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Jonathan: This lesson's grammar point is something most of you are probably already familiar with. |
| Dede: The conditional tense is used when we want to express what we would do if something were to be true. |
| Jonathan: There are three lines from the dialogue that use the conditional tense. |
| Dede: Let’s take another listen to them. Sheila says: "If I had a bit more time, it would be so much easier." |
| Jonathan: And then Dave says: If I were you, I wouldn't whine. It sounds like really interesting work. |
| Dede: To which Sheila replies: But if I didn’t have so much work, I wouldn't be so annoying! |
| Jonathan: In this example, we first see the conditional used for a positive statement. If something is true, then I would do something… |
| Dede: Right, Sheila says “If I had a bit more time, it would be so much easier.” |
| Jonathan: After that, Dave responds with a mixed statement. If something is true, then I wouldn’t do something… |
| Dede: Hmm, I see “If I were you, I wouldn’t whine” |
| Jonathan: And lastly, we see a negative statement. If something is false, then I wouldn’t do something. |
| Dede: Yeah- “If I didn’t have so much work, I wouldn’t be so annoying” |
| Jonathan: The negative or positive doesn’t really change the structure of this grammar though. |
| Dede: I think it’s just important for understanding what they are saying. |
| Jonathan: That’s right. It always follows the same pattern though “If” followed by a past tense verb and then “would” or “wouldn’t” followed by infinitive verb. |
| Dede: Right, let’s show some examples. |
| Jonathan: OK, If I got a million dollars I would eat sushi every day |
| Dede: If I didn’t have a job, I wouldn’t have to get up early. |
| Jonathan: If I didn’t like meat, I would be a vegetarian. |
| Dede: If I didn’t like you, I wouldn’t do this podcast. |
| Jonathan: Aww, so you do like me? |
| Dede: (laughs) there is one exception to this rule though. |
| Jonathan: That’s right, Dave said “If I were you, I wouldn’t whine” |
| Dede: Hmmm, why isn’t it “was” |
| Jonathan: Because it’s the conditional, for “to be” we always use "were." |
| Dede: Can you tell me an example? |
| Jonathan: Of course. If I weren’t so short, I would play basketball. |
| Dede: How about one more? |
| Jonathan: If lobbying were outlawed, Washington, D.C. would be a better city. |
| Dede: It's easy to understand. |
| Jonathan: Yup, it’s not too difficult, just remember to use “were” instead of “was” for "I" and "he/she/it" |
| Dede: Alright! |
Outro |
| Jonathan: Well listeners, it looks like we’re just about out of time for this lesson. Come back soon for the next lesson! |
| Dede: Bye for now! |
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