Let s Master English Podcast Episode 14 dictated by M.G. Hello everybody, you're listening to Let's Master English and my name is Coach Shane. I have missed you all so much. It's great to be back in the podcast, on the podcast and I thank you so much for listening to this podcast, for downloading the podcast. Oh, I really have missed you. I've missed you in the podcasts and I can safely announce that in the future, on Mondays, every Monday, unless I have a previous announcement, I will have a new podcast. That's right, we're gonna go once a weak. And who knows, in the future maybe I'll go twice a weak, but right now my plan is every Monday I will upload a new podcast. Now, remember, right now I'm in the USA, so my Monday is actually almost, I think, Tuesday for Asia. So, uh, so if you're in Japan or Korea or China, Vietnam you might have to wait till Tuesday, but if you're in America, South America or in Europe by Monday evening you should be able to get my podcast and maybe I'll try to get it so that it starts on Monday morning. Anyway, I hope that you are excited to, uh, about that news and I promise to do the best I can in these podcasts. Now, I'm a listening coach, my real skills are teaching listening skills and pronunciation and explaining things, American culture, stuff like that. So, what I'm going to do with Let's Master English is similar to the past. We're going to have a news section in the beginning and then we'll have some Country Shane caught a lot of his facts and then there will be a Q&A section, question and answer, and you can ask any type of question you want. But I prefer pronunciation questions or the way we use English, English usage questions. Don't ask me grammar questions. I'm not a prescriptive English teacher. I'm a descriptive English coach. But, anyway, you can ask any question you want. And at the very end of each podcast I'm going to introduce some of those ipad reviews and give you some statistics. So, anyway, thank you so much for downloading the podcast and I think it's time for some news. American kids are finally foregoing fizzy refreshments but their new beverage of choice might be worse. Energy and coffee drinks are fast becoming favorites. Both drinks are loaded with caffeine and pediatricians agree - keep your kids off caffeine. Unfortunately, 63% of kids between 2 and 5 are regular caffeine drinkers. That was a little fast. Let me slowdown. (reads the text again) Alright. So, this is sad news, especially for America, but maybe in your country too, because these trends tend to mimic each other in different countries. So, what happens in America usually happens in Europe and Asia and everywhere else too; it's not a good thing. Let's go ahead and look at the first sentence, the first part. American kids are finally foregoing fizzy refreshments. American kids - so, when we say kids, it's the same thing as children, but the age range goes all the way up to seventeen, eighteen, maybe even nineteen, twenty years old. It depends on how old you are. The perfect image of a kid would be eleven, twelve, thirteen years old. But once again, two years old is a kid and I'm an old guy, I'm like a forty-six years old, so if I see a twenty-two years old, that person is like a kid to me. OK? So, American kids, children under eighteen, thing like that. American kids are finally- so, the word is F-I-N-A-L-L-Y, but most of the time we say /fainli/. American kids are finally foregoing fizzy refreshments. Forgoing, F-O-R-E-G-O-I-N-G. In this case foregoing means to give up, to pass up, to turn down; so, foregoing, what are they turning down? - fizzy refreshments. Well, refreshments just
means drinks, beverages, beverages B-E-V-E-R-A-G-E-S, and these drinks are usually non alcoholic, there is no alcohol in them, refreshments. Fizzy, fizzy, F-I-Z-Z-Y, that's the effervescence in soda, the fizz sound in soda, shh, the constant bubbles in your Coca-Cola, the carbonation in your drink. So, fizzy drinks would be something like Coca-Cola, 7-Up, even beer and champagne have fizz in them. So, in this case I said fizzy refreshments, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Fanta, 7-Up, this is what you should be thinking of. OK, so now hopefully the first sentence makes sense, the first part. American kids are finally foregoing fizzy refreshments. Lots of f sounds. But that sounds like a good news, right? Children are giving up Coca-Cola, that's good. Coca-Cola tastes delicious, but it's not very good for children. But we must continue. American kids are finally foregoing fizzy refreshments but their new beverage of choice might be worse. Their kids - their new beverage of choice, very good expression - beverage of choice - favorite drink - but their new favorite drink might be worse. Oh no, worse than soda? What could be worse than soda? Energy and coffee drinks are fast becoming favorites. Energy drinks. Have you heard of energy drinks like Red Bull and Monster? Oh yes, energy drinks and coffee drinks, you know, Kent Coffee, Starbucks, those types of drinks. Energy and coffee drinks are fast becoming favorites. Another great expression. Something is fast becoming something. So, for example, Shane is fast becoming stronger, hmm, I hope so. That means - very quickly I'm becoming stronger. That's true, these days I'm running, swimming and cycling and exercising a lot and my muscles are getting stronger, So, I'm fast becoming stronger, I'm exercising a lot. We could say, uh, once again, Shane is becoming stronger quickly. We could say for you, if you are listening to these podcasts, you are fast becoming good at English, you are quickly becoming better at English. Oh, that's the hope anyway. Once again, I do my best to be weekly and then you really really fast become a great English listener. OK? So, here, once again- Energy and coffee drinks are fast becoming favorites. Next sentence. Both drinks are loaded with caffeine. Both drinks, energy drinks and coffee drinks are loaded with caffeine. Caffeine, C-A-F-F-E-I-N-E, I think everybody knows what caffeine means, if you don't know, check your dictionary. Loaded with, L-O-A-D-E-D with, loaded with, to be loaded with means- to contain a large amount of something, crammed full of something, packed with something. My pockets are loaded with money. I wish. It's not true, right now in my pocket I have $6. That's enough for a coffee. Muahahaha. Loaded with- very good expression. Both drinks are loaded with caffeine, both drinks have lots of caffeine. And pediatricians agree - keep your kids off caffeine. Pediatricians, now that's a tough word - P-E-D-I-A-T-R-I-C-I-A-N, pediatrician - and then add the s for plural, pediatricians. Pediatricians are doctors that specialize in children, in children care; so, whatever sicknesses or problems that children have when they go to the hospital, they usually visit the pediatrician. So, both drinks are loaded with caffeine and pediatricians agree, so most pediatricians agree what do they agree about? They agree that you, a parent, should keep your kids off caffeine. Keep A off B, keep someone off something, don't allow someone to have something, don't let A to consume B. Keep your dogs off chocolate, don't let your dogs have chocolate; chocolate for a dog is not healthy. Keep your cats off milk, keep your kitties off milk. If you have adult cats they may like milk, but water is much better for them. Keep your kids off caffeine, don't give your children caffeine. Pediatricians agree you should not be giving your children caffeine. Let's go to the last sentence. Unfortunately 63% of kids between 2 and 5 are regular caffeine drinkers. Oh my goodness! Unfortunately - this is bad news so, when we hear the word unfortunately, we must prepare to listen to some bad news. What's the bad news? 63% of kids between 2 and 5 that
means between 2 years old and 5 years old, those little tiny kids, 63% of them are caffeine drinkers; not just caffeine drinkers but regular caffeine drinkers. And when we say a regular caffeine drinker that means - very often, very common, like every day. A regular costumer is a costumer that goes to the same store every time they go shopping. I exercise regularly, that means I exercise probably every day, maybe every other day. So, regular can be a good word but in this case it's very terrible. Regular caffeine drinkers - as an adult I am a regular caffeine drinker, but kids should not be regular caffeine drinkers, especially kids between 2 and 5. Oh my god, how are these children dating this energy and coffee drinks? I think it's really sad, really terrible. I remember when I was a child my dad drank coffee every day and I though it was really cool and my mom for lunch she would always have some Coca-Cola, oh it looked so delicious. But my mom and dad never let me have coffee and rarely let me have Coca-Cola. It was terrible but now I'm a man and in my refrigerator I do have Coca-Cola and right here, in my hand I have coffee. Muahahaha. Sorry. But children should not. So, anyway, are you a kid, are you a young gay or a young girl, are you drinking those energy and coffee drinks? Yeah, I know, it's cool, maybe it tastes good, maybe it gives you that extra energy, but believe me, it really isn't good for your bodies, because as a kid you're still growing physically, you're growing mentally, you're growing. So, for your health, for your future try drinking something else and not Coca-Cola, just drink water. I know it's boring but it's for your health and it's gonna make you smarter and it's gonna help you master English. I know most of my podcast listeners are adults, are older like me, so if you have kids or if you have grandchildren and you see them drinking an energy drink or a coffee drink try get them off it. It's just not good, at least for children, but do they taste good. So, that's the story today and you can get the full script on my website, which is once again letsmasterenglish.com. It sometimes takes a day or two to get up there. And don't forget, people do dictate these sections, so check out our community at Google+, its also called letsmasterenglish. I'm going to read the news story two more times; the first time slow and easy, the second time normal. Are you ready? Here we go. (reads the text twice) How are you doing everybody? This is Country Shane and I'm here to bring you the facts. Kissing is good for your teeth. It's true. Anticipating a kiss it's the saliva in your mouth flowed and that saliva helps remove plaque. In other words, before you kiss, your mouth gets extra wet and that cleans your teeth. I'm not gonna brush anymore, just give me a kiss. This is been Country Shane bringing you the facts. Ah, yes. Great facts from Country Shane. He had a couple of words there that might be a little tough. Saliva, S-A-L-I-V-A, saliva is, uh,well, the water in your mouth; an other word for saliva would be spit ; And plaque, P-L-A-Q-U-E, plaque, plaque is the staff that you try to get rid of when you brush your teeth. It's the bad stuff. Check your dictionary. Now it's time for our Q&A section. We've got a great question today. Listen up. Today's question comes from Hussein Abdul K... Hussein's question is: What's the difference between presume and assume? Presume, P-R-E-S-U-M-E, assume, A-S-S-U-M-E. So, first of all, presume usually we say /pr'sum/ and assume we don't say /asum/, we say /asu:m/. Well, now, actually, Hussein, in daily English most people use these words as the same and presume, assume and suppose are basically the same thing and they just mean to guess. Now, there are different meanings - for example, you can assume a job. But use your dictionary for different meanings. Let's stick with presume and assume when we are basically guessing. So, if you presume something you are quite certain about the event. There is a high probability that it will
occur, it's very likely to happen, your guess is based on some sort of facts or statistics. We could say it's an educated guess. On the other hand, assume is just simply a guess. You don't really have very clear evidences or statistics, you are not certain, there is doubt, you are not very certain. Now, when we make a presumption that's the noun form of presume we usually sound confident, it's a statement; but when we make an assumption that's the noun form of assume often the sentence kind of sounds like a question, it has a raising tone. So let me give you some examples, Hussein. - I presume you'll be back tomorrow. - I assume you'll be back tomorrow. So, the same sentence, except presume and assume we've used. So, for example, uh I go to a coffee shop everyday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. And I go there on Monday, I go there on Tuesday, I go there on Wednesday, at this point the guy says: Hi, welcome back. I go there on Thursday, we become a kind of friends, I go there on Friday and he can say: I presume you'll be back tomorrow. Statistically I have been there everyday, so he can presume that I will be back tomorrow. More then likely, most likely I will be back tomorrow. Now, in another situation, I go to a coffee shop and on Thursday I get my coffee and I taste the coffee. Oh, this coffee is really good. In this case the owner of the coffee shop, he would say: Oh, thank you. I assume you'll be back tomorrow?. And it is the question : I assume you'll be back tomorrow? You've never been there before but since you like the coffee may I guess that you will be back tomorrow? Perhaps you will become a regular customer. Does it make sense? Well, I have some more examples for you. Let's say you see a person and the person is wearing a soccer t-shirt and they're from Brazil. You could say to this person: I presume you like soccer. Now, remember, soccer, S-O-C-C-E-R is also call football around the rest of the world. But when you see a guy from Brazil with a soccer t-shirt we can presume that he likes soccer because as most of the world knows soccer is very popular in Brazil and lots of Brazilians like it. So, if you're wearing a soccer t-shirt and you are from Brazil we could presume you like soccer. Statistically the chances are very high. But maybe the person is not from Brazil, maybe the person is from America and they're wearing a David Beckham t-shirt. Now, many Americans do like David Beckham but they don't really follow soccer, they are not too familiar with soccer. Anyway, he's wearing a David Beckham t-shirt. We could say: I assume you like soccer? It's much more a question. You are not certain, but because this American is wearing a David Beckham t-shirt we could assume he likes soccer. But a Brazilian person wearing a soccer t-shirt, we can presume that person likes soccer because in Brazil soccer is so popular. Another example. You walk into a travel agency where they sell plan tickets and hotel reservations. And, I'm from America, so I go to a travel agency and I say: I'd like to book a hotel room in Paris next week. And the person who works there would say: OK, I presume you have a passport and airplane tickets I presume you have a passport and airplane tickets. Of course, I should. Because I'm still in America but I'm reserving a hotel room in France, then I must already have a passport and plane tickets. But in another situation I walk into a travel agency in America, I'm American and I ask the travel clerk, I say: Uhm, what is it like to travel in Europe, maybe in a couple of months I will visit Europe. And the travel agent could say: OK, well, I assume you have a passport. They don't know if I have a passport because it sounds like I don't really have any experience traveling overseas but I do need a passport, so then they can say: I assume you have a passport. Does it make sense? OK. I'm gonna give you too more examples, sentences using presume and assume and I would love it if you could explain why in one situation we could say presume and why in another situation we might say assume. OK? And you can leave these comments on my YouTube channel under this podcast or on our website letsmasterenglish.com. OK, listen carefully. - I presumed you would pay for dinner. - I assumed you would pay for dinner. And the second group: - I assume you're married. - I presume you're married. So, this is kind of tricky knowing when to use assume and presume perfectly. But like I said,
Hussein, most Americans use them the same. I suppose, I assume, I presume; yeah, we just use them the same. Well, I hope I answered your question, Hussein and I'm sure other people wondered about those two words too. If you guys have a question, leave me a message somewhere. Now, Hussein is a DDM member and he gave me his question in our live hangout. So, I promised Hussein that I'd answer in this podcast. Alright. Thank you everybody for listening and once again, I'm so happy to be back. This is my first of 2014. Yay! Very very happy and, you know, it's been, Gosh, a month and two weeks, six weeks or almost seven weeks since I've been able to make a podcast. And there many reasons I had - unbelievable computer problems, I've moved etc, etc. There have been some serious problems, but once again, I'm back and I'm so glad that you are listening. We have a bunch of new ratings and I just wanna say thank you to everybody who left a rating, so I'm gonna take this time to introduce the recent five star ratings on itunes. Thank you very much first of all to E-M-A-S 1 from Mexico, Emas1: Great podcast. I'm learning English with Shane and it really helps a lot with pronunciation and listening skills. He is charismatic and you'll never be bored. Thank you, Coach Shane. Thank you Emas, I really appreciate it. We have Skyflotten. from Ukraine: Very good. Interesting and useful podcasts for those who want to master or improve their English. Unfortunately there is no new podcast in 2014. No, Sky flotten, we're back and thank you so much for that great review. From Mau, M-A-U, smiling face, also from Mexico: Great. What happened to you, Shane? Your podcast is great. I hope you'll be continue doing it. I'm back, Mau. I'm back and I'm happy. Another five star from Mexico. This is from R...:!!! More podcasts, please. I fallen in love with your podcasts. They are very useful. I'm learning a lot of English and I really wish you make more of them. I promise, I promise I will. From Alexey Lyubetsky, from Russia: More podcasts needed. Thank you. Great podcast. Truly 5 stars. Shane, don't stop it! Very useful, understandable, good sense of humor. Helps me in my daily job speaking with colleagues from abroad. Also use it as additional English lessons for my son Max. I wish you to grow that brilliant idea for NASDAQ IPO. Get rich and be happy. Hahaha. Wow, a nasdaq ipo. Yeah, wow, I've never though about that. That'd be cool. Thank you very much Alexey. Another one from Mexico, oh Mexico, grazias. This is from M.F. Rolden.. Greetings from Mexico. This podcast is incredible. It helped me a lot. Thank you Coach Shane, you're the best. Thank you so much. From Italy we have Jaberwok78: Wonderful. Great job, great podcast. I am Italian and this is pure gold. Grazie, thank you very much, Jaberwok. From Kazakstan Z...: Excellent, excellent podcast. I like the method, style and humor. And music is good. And it's good that you ask listeners questions to gain our attention. Thank you very much. Thank you Coach Shane. And I've just lost my screen, hold on a second. Thank you, Coach Shane. P.S. My favorite phrase is: enough chit chat. Hahahaha. Yes, I do like that, enough chit chat. Chit chat, C-H-I-T C-H-A-T, enough chit chat, when I say that, it means: stop talking about useless things, let's get to business. Then we have, uh, I'll introduce a couple more. This is Q..., it's a Vietnamese name, but this person is in the United States and he says: Awesome. Hello, Coach Shane, I'm Q... from Vietnam. I really enjoy your podcast. It's really awesome. Thank you very much. Thank you Q... From France, merci beaucoup to Tolsoan, T-O-L-S-O-A-N: Let's master English. You're doing a great job and it helps a lot. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. From Brazil, obrigado. This is from Marcelo or Marcelo Morera, Marcelo Morera from BH, Belo Horizonte, I'm just guessing. This podcast is amazing. I'm learning very much. Thank you Marcelo or Marcelo. Again from Russia. Spasiba. From Slayer1: Great lessons. The best of the best. I love these podcasts. Very fun and not boring. Truly.Thank you very much. From Japan. Arigatoo. T... Great podcast. This is the best podcast for all English learners. I you are looking for any good English material or teachers the answer is here. It is the best way to listen to
these podcasts. Thank you so much. Thank you Coach Shane. Your hard work makes listeners, makes us English listening masters. Thank you so much. Again from Italy. Gianfranco. That's a really good name. He should have a car company or a fashion company. Gianfranco: Very useful. This podcast is really well done and it's a very good way to spend your time! Thanks a lot Coach! Thank you. Also from Italy. Grazie. Kiko678: This is not a podcast for English learners, it's THE podcast for English learners! Thank you Shane! Yeah, Kiko, that's fantastic making me very happy. To everybody who leaves comments on YouTube, on itunes, on a website, I sincerely, I sincerely appreciate it. You guys motivate me and once again it's great being back, doing Let's Master English podcasts for you, because I truly, truly do want YOU to master English. So, you can take over the world and make the world a better peaceful place. That's gonna do it for this podcast. Take care everybody and Let's Master English!