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ESL Podcast – Previous Episodes

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I went to the gym for a workout today. I try to go there at least three times a week. The best time to hit the gym is mid-morning or mid-afternoon. Most people are working at those times, so the gym is pretty empty. People go to the gym for different reasons. Some people want to lose weight. Other people want to build up their muscles. Most people who go want to improve their health. I’m in that category. I spend half my time on a treadmill. The idea is get my heart working hard. The other half of the time I work out with weights. There are about 10 to 12 exercises I do with weights. On days I feel strong I do a higher number of repetitions. Some days I don’t feel like going to the gym. But I go anyway. I always feel better after a session in the gym. I went to the gym for a workout today. I got to the gym for a workout today. I try to go there at least three times a week. I try to make it there a minimum of three times a week. The best time to hit the gym is mid-morning or mid-afternoon. The best time to visit the gym is mid-morning or mid-afternoon. Most people are working at those times, so the gym is pretty empty. That’s when most people are at work, so the gym is quite empty. People go to the gym for different reasons. There are different reasons why people go to the gym. Some people want to lose weight. Some people want to get their weight down. Other people want to build up their muscles. Others go for strength training. Most people who go want to maintain their health. Most are concerned with staying healthy. I spend half my time on a treadmill. The treadmill takes up half my time. The idea is to get my heart working hard. The goal is to get my heart rate up. The other half of the time I work out with weights. The other half of the time I do weights. On days I feel strong I do a higher number of repetitions. On days I feel strong I increase the number of reps. Some days I don’t feel like going to the gym. Some days I don’t feel up to going to the gym. But I go anyway. But I go in any case. I always feel better after a session in the gym. A session in the gym always leaves me feeling better. Focus on Vocabulary I don’t get it. I don’t get what the movie is all about. I get mail every day. I get that magazine every two weeks. I got to the gym today. I got to do some shopping. I get tired around 4 o’clock. I get depressed when I read the news. What are you getting at? What is she getting at with that remark? Get out of here! Let’s get out of here. Less

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ESL Aloud

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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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Today’s sentence Hello again. How are you doing? Here’s today’s instalment in the theme on how-are-you-type questions and answers. Pretty well. Pretty badly. Notes How’s it going? How are you doing? Pretty well / pretty badly. Well and badly are adverbs. Pretty means quite. It means “it’s going / I’m doing quite well / badly.” Not really well, but close. How are things? Pretty good. How’s life? Pretty bad. With these questions we must use adjectives – things are good / life is bad – not adverbs. OK, that’s all for today. We’ll look at the last in the series tomorrow. Bye for now! Search Linguagum for more English tips, check out our very useful links and our shop! And please, tell us what you think of us! Text and audio © linguagum.com 2006-2008 Less

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Learn English for free with podcasts.
Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

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Learn English for free with podcasts.
ESL Podcast – Previous Episodes

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I talked with my parents last night. They are not very happy. She bought three chairs. They were very expensive. Look at those mountains. They are so beautiful. They say it’s going to rain tonight. They eat a lot of fish in Japan. They don’t let you bring food into the theater. There was a fire at the university. They had a fire at the university. Smoking is not allowed in that restaurant. They don’t allow smoking in that restaurant. I have heard that airfares are going up. They say that airfares are going up. The staff in that store are not very pleasant. They are not very pleasant in that store. People eat dinner very late in Spain. They eat dinner very late in Spain. The road was closed because of the storm. They closed the road because of the storm. Outdoor fires are going to be banned. They are going to ban outdoor fires. Will this bridge ever be repaired? Will they ever repair this bridge? Someone from the bank will call you. They will call you from the bank. A terrorist was arrested in Rome. They arrested a terrorist in Rome. The prices in that store are low. They have low prices in that store. My car was recalled because of a steering problem. They recalled my car because of a steering problem. Less

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ESL Aloud

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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.
Linguagum – Learn English faster!

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