Mind the gap, on the London Underground. Photo by Marcia Cabral de Moura/flickr In today’s podcast, I am going to talk about the English word “mind”, and about some expressions which contain the word “mind”. Your “mind” means the things which happen inside your head, or inside your brain – your thinking, in other words. We can say, for example, that someone has “a good mind” – that means, they think clearly and logically. Or we can say that someone has a mathematical mind – they are naturally good at maths. Or we can say about someone “she has a mind of her own” – that means, she thinks for herself, she does not just accept what other people say. We also use “mind” as a verb. To mind something means to be aware of something, to be careful about something, to “have it in your mind”. If you have visited London, I am sure you have travelled on the Underground and seen the signs or heard the loudspeaker announcements which tell you to “mind the gap”. There is often a gap between the railway carriage and the station platform. If you “mind the gap”, you think about the gap and take care when you get on or off the train. If you don’t mind the gap, you may trip or fall and hurt yourself. You can mind other things as well – children, for example, or animals. Joanne has a friend called Susan. Susan looks after small children in her own home while their parents are at work. She plays with the children, she feeds them, and she takes them for a walk to the park and to the shops. She is what we call a “childminder”. If we say “mind out” to someone, we mean “be careful”. When Susan takes her group of little children for a walk, they need to cross the road. She holds the children by the hand and says to them, “Mind out, in case a car is coming”. Kevin, you may remember, is into 1980s punk rock. One of his favourite bands is playing at a gig on Saturday. He asks Joanne if she would like to go to hear them. “No way“, says Joanne, who thinks that listening to 1980s punk rock is a form of torture. “Do you mind if I go with George?” asks Kevin. He means, does it cause you any problems if I go to the gig with George? And Joanne says, “No, of course I don’t mind”. And then there is the expression, “to make up your mind”. This means, simply, to decide to do something. If I make up my mind to sell my old car, it means that I have decided to sell my car. Joanne’s friend Susan, the childminder, is always dithering. She cannot decide what to do. Should she wear a red jumper or a blue jumper. Should she read a book or watch television. Should she take a bus or walk. She cannot decide. Joanne sometimes says to her, “For goodness sake, make up your mind!” That means, “Stop wasting time – just decide what to do and do it!” And finally, let’s meet the expression “to change your mind”. If I decide to do something, but then I decide to do something else instead, I “change my mind”. Kevin has saved up some money and has made up his mind to buy an iPod. It is exactly what he needs to listen to his collection of 1980s punk rock music on the train. But on his way to the iPod shop, he passes a shoe shop. In the window there is a pair of green suede shoes. They are, thinks Kevin, the finest, the most beautiful green suede shoes in the whole world. Suddenly, he is in love with the shoes. He decides to buy the shoes and not the iPod. He “changes his mind”. Quiz – how well did you understand the podcast? :: File Download (5:21 min / 3 MB) Less
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Mind the gap, on the London Underground. Photo by Marcia Cabral de Moura/flickr In today’s podcast, I am going to talk about the English word “mind”, and about some expressions which contain the word “mind”. Your “mind” means the things which happen inside your head, or inside your brain – your thinking, in other words. We can say, for example, that someone has “a good mind” – that means, they think clearly and logically. Or we can say that someone has a mathematical mind – they are naturally good at maths. Or we can say about someone “she has a mind of her own” – that means, she thinks for herself, she does not just accept what other people say. We also use “mind” as a verb. To mind something means to be aware of something, to be careful about something, to “have it in your mind”. If you have visited London, I am sure you have travelled on the Underground and seen the signs or heard the loudspeaker announcements which tell you to “mind the gap”. There is often a gap between the railway carriage and the station platform. If you “mind the gap”, you think about the gap and take care when you get on or off the train. If you don’t mind the gap, you may trip or fall and hurt yourself. You can mind other things as well – children, for example, or animals. Joanne has a friend called Susan. Susan looks after small children in her own home while their parents are at work. She plays with the children, she feeds them, and she takes them for a walk to the park and to the shops. She is what we call a “childminder”. If we say “mind out” to someone, we mean “be careful”. When Susan takes her group of little children for a walk, they need to cross the road. She holds the children by the hand and says to them, “Mind out, in case a car is coming”. Kevin, you may remember, is into 1980s punk rock. One of his favourite bands is playing at a gig on Saturday. He asks Joanne if she would like to go to hear them. “No way“, says Joanne, who thinks that listening to 1980s punk rock is a form of torture. “Do you mind if I go with George?” asks Kevin. He means, does it cause you any problems if I go to the gig with George? And Joanne says, “No, of course I don’t mind”. And then there is the expression, “to make up your mind”. This means, simply, to decide to do something. If I make up my mind to sell my old car, it means that I have decided to sell my car. Joanne’s friend Susan, the childminder, is always dithering. She cannot decide what to do. Should she wear a red jumper or a blue jumper. Should she read a book or watch television. Should she take a bus or walk. She cannot decide. Joanne sometimes says to her, “For goodness sake, make up your mind!” That means, “Stop wasting time – just decide what to do and do it!” And finally, let’s meet the expression “to change your mind”. If I decide to do something, but then I decide to do something else instead, I “change my mind”. Kevin has saved up some money and has made up his mind to buy an iPod. It is exactly what he needs to listen to his collection of 1980s punk rock music on the train. But on his way to the iPod shop, he passes a shoe shop. In the window there is a pair of green suede shoes. They are, thinks Kevin, the finest, the most beautiful green suede shoes in the whole world. Suddenly, he is in love with the shoes. He decides to buy the shoes and not the iPod. He “changes his mind”. Quiz – how well did you understand the podcast? :: File Download (5:21 min / 3 MB) Less
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Better buses, better service, better catch one I am sorry that there was no podcast last week. I was unwell. But now I am better. That means, I am not unwell any more. I have recovered. I am better. And today’s podcast is about the word “better”. “Better” is of course the comparative form of the adjective “good”. Good – better- best. We can say: “This is a good restaurant. But the restaurant over the road is better. And the restaurant round the corner is the best restaurant in the town.” We can use “better” in other ways, too. There is an English expression “I had better” do something. It means “I must” do something, or “it would be a good idea” to do something. Here are some examples: Kevin and Joanne are having breakfast. Joanne looks in the fridge. There is no milk. “I had better buy some milk this morning,” she says. Kevin looks at his watch. It is nearly 7.30am. “I had better go now,” he says. “I have to go to a meeting at 8.30.” “Yes,” says Joanne. “You had better hurry, otherwise you will miss the train. And it is raining. You had better take an umbrella”. In Birmingham, where I live, there is a bus company. Actually, there are lots of bus companies, because our government believes that competition in public transport is a good thing. Our government is wrong. Britain has some of the worst public transport in Europe. But that is different podcast. One of our competing bus companies has a slogan on the side of its buses. It says: “better buses, better service, better catch one”. This is what it means. Better buses… “Better buses” – the company has better buses. But better than what? Better than the buses of the other bus companies? Better than the old buses which it used to have? I suppose that “better buses” is OK as an advertising slogan, but if you want people to understand exactly what you mean, remember to use the word “than” – “better buses than our old buses”, for example. “Better service” – This means more frequent buses, more reliable buses. Perhaps the company means that they now run buses late in the evening and on Sundays. And “better catch one” is short for “you had better catch one”. In other words, it would be a good idea to catch one of our wonderful better buses. Remember that in English, we can take a bus or a train or a plane; or we can catch a bus or a train or a plane. Now you know all about “I had better”. There is a quiz with the podcast today. You can find it on the website. Now it is late. I had better stop now. I had better go to the supermarket. I had better cook supper for the children. I had better say goodbye. You had better do this quiz! :: File Download (3:57 min / 4 MB) Less
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Mind the gap, on the London Underground. Photo by Marcia Cabral de Moura/flickr In today’s podcast, I am going to talk about the English word “mind”, and about some expressions which contain the word “mind”. Your “mind” means the things which happen inside your head, or inside your brain – your thinking, in other words. We can say, for example, that someone has “a good mind” – that means, they think clearly and logically. Or we can say that someone has a mathematical mind – they are naturally good at maths. Or we can say about someone “she has a mind of her own” – that means, she thinks for herself, she does not just accept what other people say. We also use “mind” as a verb. To mind something means to be aware of something, to be careful about something, to “have it in your mind”. If you have visited London, I am sure you have travelled on the Underground and seen the signs or heard the loudspeaker announcements which tell you to “mind the gap”. There is often a gap between the railway carriage and the station platform. If you “mind the gap”, you think about the gap and take care when you get on or off the train. If you don’t mind the gap, you may trip or fall and hurt yourself. You can mind other things as well – children, for example, or animals. Joanne has a friend called Susan. Susan looks after small children in her own home while their parents are at work. She plays with the children, she feeds them, and she takes them for a walk to the park and to the shops. She is what we call a “childminder”. If we say “mind out” to someone, we mean “be careful”. When Susan takes her group of little children for a walk, they need to cross the road. She holds the children by the hand and says to them, “Mind out, in case a car is coming”. Kevin, you may remember, is into 1980s punk rock. One of his favourite bands is playing at a gig on Saturday. He asks Joanne if she would like to go to hear them. “No way“, says Joanne, who thinks that listening to 1980s punk rock is a form of torture. “Do you mind if I go with George?” asks Kevin. He means, does it cause you any problems if I go to the gig with George? And Joanne says, “No, of course I don’t mind”. And then there is the expression, “to make up your mind”. This means, simply, to decide to do something. If I make up my mind to sell my old car, it means that I have decided to sell my car. Joanne’s friend Susan, the childminder, is always dithering. She cannot decide what to do. Should she wear a red jumper or a blue jumper. Should she read a book or watch television. Should she take a bus or walk. She cannot decide. Joanne sometimes says to her, “For goodness sake, make up your mind!” That means, “Stop wasting time – just decide what to do and do it!” And finally, let’s meet the expression “to change your mind”. If I decide to do something, but then I decide to do something else instead, I “change my mind”. Kevin has saved up some money and has made up his mind to buy an iPod. It is exactly what he needs to listen to his collection of 1980s punk rock music on the train. But on his way to the iPod shop, he passes a shoe shop. In the window there is a pair of green suede shoes. They are, thinks Kevin, the finest, the most beautiful green suede shoes in the whole world. Suddenly, he is in love with the shoes. He decides to buy the shoes and not the iPod. He “changes his mind”. Quiz – how well did you understand the podcast? :: File Download (5:21 min / 3 MB) Less
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Learn English for free with podcasts.
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A listener to these podcasts who lives in Brazil has sent me an e-mail to say, please can I make a podcast about when we say “if” and when we say “whether”. I have thought very hard about this, because it is not easy to explain. The trouble is that you do not think about grammar rules for your own language. You just know what word is correct and what word is wrong. At one time, perhaps 50 years ago, there were clear rules about when we should use “if” and when we should use “whether”. I shall explain these rules first, because if you stick to these rules, your English will be correct. But I will also tell you that, unfortunately, we English often do not obey the rules. Here are some sentences where we use the word “if”. If the sun shines tomorrow, we will go for a picnic. If the train is late, I will miss the meeting. If I have time, I will drink some coffee and read the newspaper. If I had remembered my umbrella, I would not have got so wet. Now here are some sentences with “whether”. Whether the sun shines tomorrow or not, we will have a picnic. Whether or not the train is late, I will still miss the meeting. I go for a walk every day, whether it is summer or winter. Now do you see the difference between “if” and “whether”. “If” introduces a single condition. It talks about only one possible thing that might happen – if the sun shines tomorrow, if the train is late and so on. A sentence with “whether” talks about two or more different things that might happen – maybe the sun will shine tomorrow, maybe it will not, but we will go for a picnic whether or not the sun is shining. Very often “whether” sentences contain the words “or not”; or they say “or not” indirectly, like the last example I gave you. We also use the word “whether” to begin a noun clause that describes a question or a problem or an issue. Let’s look at some examples, so that you can see what I mean. John asked me whether I could go to a party on Saturday. (“Whether” tells us that there is a question or problem – can you come to the party?) I told him that it depended on whether I finished my homework in time. (“Whether” tells us that there is a question or problem – will I finish my homework in time?) I do not know whether the train goes at 3pm or at 3.15pm. (“Whether” tells us that there is a question or problem – what time does the train go?) I need to find out whether my mother is coming at the weekend.(“Whether” tells us that there is a question or problem – is my mother coming at the weekend?) Joanne asked her boss whether she could go home early. (“Whether” tells us that there is a question or problem – can I go home early?) So – here is our simple rule. “If” introduces a single condition. “Whether” introduces alternatives, and is often followed by “or not”. And “whether” starts noun clauses that tell us that there is a question or a problem. The trouble is, however, that in modern English, particularly spoken English, people often say “if” when they should say “whether”. In particular, people often start noun clauses about questions or problems with “if” instead of “whether”. It is very common to hear people say for example “He asked me if I could go to his party on Saturday”. In some languages, like French, there is a central institute or academy which decides what the proper rules for the language are. We do not have anything like this for English. Good English is simply the English that educated and intelligent English people speak. So if people say “if” instead of “whether”, then “if” is correct! I hope this is not too confusing. I have made a little quiz so that you can practice “if” and “whether” – you will find a link on the website. Finally, here is a little poem about “whether”. You will have to listen carefully, because there are two words in English that we pronounce “whether”. There is the word “whether” which we have been talking about in today’s podcast, and there is the “weather” – rain, wind, sunshine and so on. Whether the weather is fine Or whether the weather is not Whether the weather is cold Or whether the weather is hot We’ll weather the weather Whatever the weather Whether we like it or not. Picture of stormy weather by Robert Voors/flickr Quiz – which is right, “if” or “whether”? :: File Download (6:33 min / 3 MB) Less
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Maureen O Hara starred as Godiva in a 1955 Holywood film. Do you know the English word “to peep”? If I “peep” at something, it means that I look at it quickly and secretly, and I hope that no-one notices. For example, I buy a birthday present for my daughter. She wants to know what the present is. But it is not her birthday yet, so I do not tell her. Quietly she goes upstairs and peeps into the bag, to see what the present is. Or, I hear someone walking up the path to my house. Is it the postman? I peep out of the window to see who it is. However, peeping can be bad for you, as we hear in today’s podcast. Not far from Birmingham, where I live, is a town called Coventry. My grandmother was born in Coventry, and she lived there until she was married. Coventry is an industrial town, but it is also an old town, much older than Birmingham. In the 11th century, the powerful Earl Leofric imposed taxes on the people of Coventry and on the market which took place there. The people complained that the taxes were too high. The wife of Leofric, whose name was Godiva, agreed with the people. She went to her husband and begged him to reduce the taxes. Leofric refused. Godiva continued to plead with him. Eventually, Leofric said that he would reduce the taxes if Godiva would ride naked on a horse through the town and market place of Coventry. Godiva was astonished. But she was a woman of strong character, and she agreed. So Godiva called for her servants to bring her horse, and she rode naked through Coventry. The people of Coventry all went into their houses and closed the doors and the shutters on their windows so that they should not see her. All the people? Well, no, there was a man called Tom, who peeped through a hole in the window-shutters when he heard Godiva’s horse coming. And because he peeped, he was struck blind – that means, he became blind immediately. According to the story, Leofric did indeed reduce the taxes. To this day, the people of Coventry celebrate Godiva’s ride through the town. And, in English, we have a special name for someone who spies secretly on other people. We call him a “Peeping Tom”. So if you think that taxes are too high in your country, you know what to do. Find a horse, and take your clothes off. But don’t peep! File Download (3:43 min / 2 MB) Less
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This car is being broken up in a scrap yard. Photo by Olly Clark/flickr There is an English phrasal verb “to break up”. It means to break into pieces. Here are some examples of ways in which we can use it. Imagine a storm at sea. The wind and the waves drive a ship onto the rocks. The waves smash the ship into pieces. The ship breaks up. Or, think about the great ice sheets in the Arctic and the Antarctic. Many scientists say that, because the world’s climate is getting warmer, the ice sheets are starting to break up. Or, think about a really old car. You have had it for many years. You and it have had some fine adventures together. But now the engine does not start. And when, eventually, it does start, there are horrible clunking sounds and a cloud of black smoke comes out of the exhaust pipe. The car is finished. You take the car to the scrap yard where they break it up, so that the metal and some of the parts can be re-used. And sometimes we say that a relationship breaks up. For instance, Joe and Mary have been going out together for a few months. They are boyfriend and girlfriend. But then they disagree and argue. Joe starts to think that he really doesn’t like Mary very much. Mary starts to think that Joe is selfish and boring. They break up. They decide that they are not going to be boyfriend and girlfriend any more. You may be thinking that “break up” is a rather sad expression. We use it to talk about shipwrecks, and cars that have reached the end of their lives, and relationships which come to an end. But there is at least one really happy use of “break up”. We can say that a school breaks up. That means, simply, that it is the end of term. It is the beginning of the holidays. There is a primary school behind my house. The school breaks up today. Today is the last day of the school term. The children are very happy. They are making even more noise in the school playground than they usually do. After today, there will be six weeks with no school. Six weeks to stay late in bed. Six weeks to play in the garden. Six weeks to watch rubbish programmes on daytime television and to play on the computer. Six weeks to visit your grandparents, or to go on holiday. Six weeks to argue with your older sister. Six weeks to drive your parents mad. Listen to English is going on holiday too. This will be my last podcast for this term. But don’t worry – I will be back with a new podcast on 10 September. I am going to spend part of the holiday in Wales, so here is some Welsh music for you to listen to. It is played on the Welsh harp by Cheryl Ann Fulton. I will put an extra posting on the website with a flash player where you can listen to more of her music if you like it. Until September, goodbye. File Download (6:59 min / 3 MB) Less
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A discarded drinks can. Photo by Joanna Young/flickr There was a story in the newspapers recently about a couple called John and Ann Till. They live near a town called Petersfield in south-east England, and earlier this year they got married. They wanted to go on a honeymoon to the United States after the wedding. The difficulty they had was that it was going to cost too much. They could not afford it. The cost of their air fares, of hotels and travel and car-hire while they were in America – all of these things were too expensive. What could they do? Then they saw that their local supermarket had started a scheme to encourage people to recycle cans and bottles. For every four cans or bottles that you returned to the recycling centre at the supermarket, the supermarket would give you 1 reward point. What is a reward point? Well, some supermarkets, garages and other shops give their customers reward points every time they buy things at the shop concerned. You can collect these reward points, and when you have enough, you can exchange them for, for example, a weekend break in a country hotel, or a new MP3 player. I have been collecting reward points from my local supermarket for years. Soon I will have enough to get an electric toaster! So, John and Ann decided to collect cans and bottles, and take them to the recycling centre. For three months, they went out every evening, looking for cans and bottles. At first they thought that they might not be able to find enough. But they were amazed by the amount of rubbish that people throw away – in the streets, in their gardens (or other people’s gardens), in the parks and in the countryside. John Till told the newspapers, “There was enough rubbish out there to fly us to the moon and back.” John and Ann spent hours putting cans and bottles into the machines at the recycling centre. Eventually, they found enough cans and bottles, and collected enough rewards points, to pay for their air fare to America, where I am sure they had a wonderful honeymoon, and went to lots of interesting places. John and Ann Till collect cans and bottles to pay for their honeymoon in America. Are you thinking to yourself, that’s a nice heart-warming story about two people who wanted to do what they could to help the environment? I am afraid that I do not feel that way, for three reasons. First, as I told you in an earlier podcast, we in England are really bad at recycling. We are better than a few years ago, but many countries in Europe recycle a lot more domestic waste than we do. On the other hand, we are very good at throwing things away and generally making a mess. We throw away newspapers in the street and on the buses; we throw away food packaging and beer cans in the parks, and plastic bags and bottles in the countryside. John and Ann were able to collect all those cans and bottles only because other people had so carelessly thrown them away. Second, the idea that it is good to pay people to recycle things is still very new in Britain. In other countries in Europe, it is normal to return cans or bottles to the supermarket and to get money in return. In Germany and Scandinavia, they have done this for years. But in Britain, we are only starting to experiment with them. John and Ann were lucky. Their local supermarket was one of only a handful of places where they pay you to recycle things. And finally, what did John and Ann do with the rewards points which they got for all those cans and bottles? They bought air tickets to America. Unfortunately, air travel generates large amounts of carbon dioxide, the main gas responsible for climate change. Trying to be green is not easy! Quiz – how well did you understand the podcast? :: File Download (5:05 min / 2 MB) Less
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It is 2008. Happy New Year, everyone. What did you do during the Christmas and New Year holiday? How did you celebrate New Year? Traditionally in England, Christmas was our big winter celebration. Scotland was different. In Scotland, New Year was the more important celebration. On New Year’s Eve, on 31 December, Scotsmen wore kilts, and had parties where they danced traditional Scottish dances and welcomed the New Year with bagpipes. And we English? What did we do? Well, we either watched television programmes about Scottish people having a great party on New Year’s Eve; or we went to bed early. But it isn’t like that today. The Scots still party on New Year’s Eve, but so do we in England. The Scots still have a huge street party in Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland, with bands and singers and fireworks. But so do we in many cities in England. In London, for example, 700,000 people watched a great fireworks display on the river Thames. Of course, not everyone went to a New Year’s Eve party. But many of those who stayed at home watched other people having a party on television. Millions of people watched the London fireworks on television, for example. It is as if we all want to be part of a big national New Year’s Eve party. Here are some other things which are typical of England at New Year. People visit friends and relatives. They go for walks in the country, or in the parks in towns. Some brave folk go for a swim in the sea or a river on New Year’s Day. People read books, or go to football matches, or write thank-you letters for the gifts they received at Christmas. Travelling at during the holiday is a particular adventure. There are traffic jams on the roads, and long queues at the airports, and our railway system is in chaos, because Christmas and New Year is the time when major engineering works take place. And we go shopping. Traditionally, all the big stores had sales in January. They cut the prices of many of the things they sold, especially things like winter clothes or goods which they had not managed to sell for Christmas. There were lots of special offers, and people used to queue all night outside some of the stores, in order to get to the bargains first when the store opened. So what is different today? Only that the sales now begin immediately after Christmas. Indeed some stores begin their sales before Christmas Day. And now we can hunt for bargains on the internet as well as in the shops. The newspapers have reported that we British spent £84m buying things on the internet on Christmas Day. But now it is January. The weather is dark and wet. The long Christmas and new Year holiday is over. It is time to go back to work. Time to lose some weight. Time to give up smoking. Time to pay our credit card bills. Happy New Year. Vocabulary note :: A lovely animated version of this podcast :: thanks to Renee Maufroid File Download (4:26 min / 2 MB) Less
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