Let s Master English #21 Dictated by: Gulya, Alex and Azin Hello everybody. You re listening to Let s Master English and my name is Coach Shane. Hello everybody. Welcome to Let s Master English podcast 21. Yes! Thank you so much for downloading this Let s Master English podcast. Share it with your friends. I sincerely appreciate that. Now, today s fodcast, pod, what? Today, this week s podcast will be fun, I think I said funcast or fodcast! Whatever! This week s podcast will be fun, because I have a challenge. Now, in order to really understand this podcast you need to know what a pun is, P- U-N. A pun. So, I ve talked about puns in my DDM lessons. And I think even in E Cubed (E³) we talked about puns before. Ah, but I want you to check the dictionary, understand what a pun is. Why? Because in today s news story there are 5 puns. And in Country Shane s fact section, there are two puns. So all together in this podcast there are 7 puns. And all the puns are related to eggs, E-G-G-S. Chicken eggs, turtle eggs, ah, dinosaur eggs, eggs for breakfast. So, now, the challenge is, and here is the challenge everybody: the first three people to email me all 7 puns will get one month of DDM open for free! Free DDM. Yeah, I ll give you a month, maybe I give you two months, yeah. I think I ll give you two months. 7 puns, should I do 7 months? No, 7 months is too much. Ah, 2. Well I don t know. Anyway, so, ah, that s the challenge: there are 7 puns in the news article and Coach Shane s fact. You tell me all 7puns, you get DDM open for free. Two months for free, is that cool? Yeah, it s not easy. Good luck everybody! And, ah, well enough chit-chat. Let s begin. Officers are scrambling to find who poached 15,000 dozen eggs. An 80-foot semi-truck was stolen with all 180,000 eggs inside. No security cameras were in the vicinity of where the truck was parked and then whisked away. The thief may have gotten over everyone easy for now, but police are sure they'll crack the case. Hum, okay. Maybe you understand that the story is about many, many, many, many eggs that were stolen. Aha, well, you re right. That s that is the story. Let me read it again, a little bit slower. Officers are scrambling to find who poached 15,000 dozen eggs. An 80-foot semi-truck was stolen with all 180,000 eggs inside. No security cameras were in the vicinity of where the truck was parked and then whisked away. The thief may have gotten over everyone easy for now, but police are sure they'll crack the case. That was really slow.
Alright, so let s go to the first sentence. Officers are scrambling to find who poached 15,000 dozen eggs. Now, in America when we say officers we usually mean police officers, cups. Some people say pigs, but pigs is not a nice word! Excuse-me! Ah, officers, officers, Police. So remember, police, a police man is singular, the Police or Police refers to the organization or the entire group, ah, The Force is the idea. So, officers are scrambling. To scramble means to, to hurry, to do something very quickly. So, officers are hurrying to do what? What are they hurrying to do? To have coffee and donuts. No, no, no, no, officers are scrambling to find who poached 15,000 dozen eggs. So they re trying to find somebody. Who? Who are they trying to find? The person who poached, P-O-A-C-H-E-D. To poach something mean to steal something, S-T-E-A-L. So, officers are scrambling to find who poached, who stole, S-T-O-L-E. What did they steal? 15,000 dozen eggs! Oh my goodness! So, in America when we buy eggs at the supermarket, we usually buy them in a carton C-A- R-T-O-N, and they are various carton sizes, but typically a carton of eggs is 12. They are 12 eggs inside, and a dozen a dozen, a single dozen means 12 eggs. So here is not just one dozen eggs, it s 15,000 dozen eggs! How did they steal so many eggs? That s incredible! So the first sentence again: Officers are scrambling to find who poached 15,000 dozen eggs. The next sentence: An 80-foot semi-truck was stolen with all 180,000 eggs inside. Okay, now you understand. So, where were these 15,000 dozen eggs? They were in a truck. But not just a regular truck this was an 18-foot semi-truck. So, an 18-foot. Why don t we say 18 feet? It s a distance, well we using it as an adjective so we have to say 18-foot. So, 18, -, foot. So, 18-foot semi-truck. 18 feet everybody is about 24.4 meters. So, 20, a 24 meter long truck, that s a BIG truck. And BIG trucks in America are typically called semi-trucks or semis. Semi-tractor trucks, tractor trailers. There s many expressions, but semis or semi-trucks is very common. So, semi, S-E- M-I, semi, -, truck. A semi-truck is a large truck with a large trailer behind the truck, used to haul things H-A-U-L, to haul, to carry things. Now, these semi-trucks can hold a lot of things. In this case this semi-truck was holding 15,000 dozen eggs. Semi-trucks are also called 18 wheelers, 18 wheelers, W-H-E-E-L-E-R-S, because these trucks typically have 18 large wheels. So they re huge, they re very very common in America. You see, big, now I used to live in Korea and I saw big trucks in Korea, but not like in America. America has some unbelievably huge trucks. HUGE! These trucks are so big that the truck part actually has a bed inside so the man or the driver, you know if he s driving across the America, he can stop some place and sleep in his truck. I wonder if they have showers. Anyway, ah, the best thing to do, go to google, google and search images and just type S-E-M-I-T-R-U-C-K, semi-truck and you ll see some pictures and, ah, they re huge, they re cool. So, once again: An 80-foot semi-truck was stolen Okay, so the thief stole the truck with all 180,000 eggs inside. So, in the truck s trailer, in the back of the truck that s where the eggs were. But before I said 15,000 dozen eggs, and now I said 180,000 eggs. How that make sense? 15000 12, 15000 times 12 = 180000. Now, many Americans will actually say a hundred eighty thousand, even more Americans will say a hundred and 80,000. So in daily English they re all correct. Now, actually you should just say one hundred 80,000 but ah, everybody says it, most people say with an and, one 100 AND 80,000 so that s fine, you can say that. That s, that s
not exactly right but everybody does. So, since I teach descriptive English roles not prescriptive English roles, and is acceptable. Ok, so I read the two sentences again. Listen carefully. Officers are scrambling to find who poached one hundred, oops, 15,000 dozen eggs. An 80-foot semi-truck was stolen with all 180,000 eggs inside. No security cameras were in the vicinity of where the truck was parked and then whisked away. So I think you can guess the meaning here. No security cameras, cctv, those camera s that look for you know, crime. No security cameras were in the vicinity of where the truck was parked. In the vicinity, V-I-C-I-N-I-T-Y, to be in the vicinity means to be near something, to be in the area of something. So, no security cameras were near the truck where was parked. No security cameras were in the vicinity of where the truck was parked, and then whisked away. W-H-I-S-K-E-D, whisked, whisked away. Now we have a phrasal verb; if something is whisked away, it is taken away somebody took it away and this can mean stolen. And that s what it means stolen, S-T-O-L-E-N. So, that sentence again: No security cameras were in the vicinity of where the truck was parked and then whisked away. Oh boy! So, no security cameras that can be difficult for the police. So, the next sentence: The thief may have gotten over everyone easy for now, but police are sure they'll crack the case. So, the thief, the burglar, the criminal, the bad guy, may have, might have gotten over, somebody. To get over somebody has lots of possible meaning but in this case deceived. The thief may have deceived everyone for now. But I didn t say that, I said the thief may have gotten over everyone easy for now. Now, now grammatically it should be gotten over everyone easily not just easy, but easily but yeah for this time I said easy. So, just to remind you, if you want to say he got over everyone easy that s actually wrong, you should say gotten over everyone easily. Why do you think I intentionally made a mistake? Hum, maybe it wasn t a mistake, what could the reason be? Good luck! I m not going to tell you. But once again the meaning is the thief may have deceived D-E-C-E-I-V-E-D, deceived everyone easily for now, but police are sure they will crack the case. Crack, C-R-A-C-K, in this case crack means to solve. Police are sure they will solve the case, and the case in this case means the incident. Ah, the incident of the thief stealing the truck with the 15,000 dozen eggs inside. Got it? So, we have some interesting words, once again; scrambling, poached. Ah, scrambling, let me give you the spelling for scrambling, S-C-R-A-M-B-L-I-N-G, scrambling, officers are scrambling, police are scrambling. Poached, P-O-A-C-H-E-D, past tense, so it means stole, S-T-O-L-E. Dozen, D-O-Z-E-N, 12 of something. 18-foot that is an adjective form 18,-,foot. 18 feet is equivalent to approximately 24.4 meters. Semi-truck, S-E-M-I,-,T-R-U-C-K. A semi-truck is a large truck with a large trailer used to haul things, H-A-U-L, to carry things.
In the vicinity of, in the area of, near, near something. There is a Starbucks in my vicinity, near me there is a Starbucks. Yey! Whisked away, W-H-I-S-K-E-D away. Whisked away means to be taken away. It can also mean to be stolen, S-T-O-L-E-N. To get over somebody. To deceive somebody, gotten over, deceived D-E-C-E-I-V-E-D. And finally crack. To crack a case, solve, S-O-L-V-E. Those are the key vocabulary words. I will read the story two more times. The first time a nice, moderate, NPR style speed, and the second time NORMAL, normal American speed. You guys ready? Here we go: Officers are scrambling to find who poached 15,000 dozen eggs. An 80-foot semi-truck was stolen with all 180,000 eggs inside. No security cameras were in the vicinity of where the truck was parked and then whisked away. The thief may have gotten over everyone easy for now, but police are sure they'll crack the case. Second reading. How re you doing everybody? This is Country Shane and I m here to bring you the facts. Eggs are loaded with cholesterol, especially the yolk. Your brain is made of cholesterol; therefore, eggs are good for your brain. (Laugh) Study showed that eating eggs regularly does not increase your risk of heart disease. Ooh! That s exactly what I wanted to hear,. More eggs please! Well, it s time for me to exit! This has been Country Shane bringing you the facts. Ah, thank you very much Shane! Yes, eggs are loaded with cholesterol, that s right. Eggs do have a lot of cholesterol. Cholesterol, C-H-O-L-E-S-T-E-R-O-L, and he said that most of the cholesterol is in the yolk. That s right, Y-O-L-K. Now, many Americans do not pronounce the L, they just say yok, yok, yok. But some areas of America do pronounce the L, yolk, yolk, with an L sound. The yolk is the yellow part of the egg. And, ah, eggs are good for the brain. Hmm, yeah that make sense; your brain is made of cholesterol, uh, there s lots of cholesterols in eggs. So, do you research? Don t trust Country Shane. Always do your research. And remember, ah, we do send this information if you sign up for our email. Alright, so, Country Shane made his exit, E-X-I-T. It s time for us to exit this section and enter the Q & A section. That s Question and Answer section. Our first question comes from Kimi in Iran, and she said: That s my jam, that s my jam, what does it mean? That is my jam, J-A-M. Ah yes, this is very common in pop songs, and I m thinking of the Black Eyed Peas. I do like the Black Eyed Peas. With their Will I am, he s pretty cool. That s my jam, that s my jam, that is my song so the word jam, J-A-M, means song. Let s jam means let s make music or let s play music. That s my jam, so if you re listening to the radio and your favorite song comes on the radio you can say : Oh,
that s my jam. I love that song. Oh yeah. Kimi what s your favorite jam? For me, my favorite jam is, uh boy, uh, Rubber Ducky by Ernie, I m serious. Next question; this question is from Lilli: Thank you for making this wonderful video. Uh, I have one problem. What is the difference between this, podcast, and your Daily videos, E³, and which should I start with? So I, I think Lilli wants to study English, she wants to study English with us, that s great. And I think she is asking should I start with Daily English, E cubed, or should I, s, sorry a motorcycle just went by, or should I start with the podcast. Well Lilli, I think you should start with everything. Now, if you really want to study the language studying every day is the best. So I have many Youtube channels, and I highly recommend if, especially if you re busy. If you only have ten minutes, ten minutes a day. I highly recommend you study DD, DD stands for Daily Dictation. And you can go to www.youtube.com/dailydictation it s D-A-I-L-Y-D-I-C-T-A-T-I-O-N, Daily Dictation and I have over 250 free lessons, and they re all short. It s a good introduction. And if you have a little more time then, listen to E Cubed. E³ is another channel on Youtube, as you know, and those videos introduce a phrase or an expression that is very common in daily English or, it s sometimes funny and common and movies. So that s a great place. And the podcast, it s only once a week, and the idea for the podcast what I really hope people do with my podcast is listen to it when you go to work or go to school. Listen to it as you exercise or wash dishes. Listen to it when you go to bed or when you wake up. That s what I want you to do. So when you re doing something else I want you to listen to the podcast, and don t just listen to the podcast once, listen to it several times. Me, I love podcasts, and I listen to several podcasts, I have a couple of favorites, and I listen to the same podcast over and over again because I don t really concentrate when I m listening. I m usually doing something else. And sometimes you miss something interesting. So I like listening again. So, Lilli, do it all. My first recommendation: Daily Dictation. If you have more time, E³ (E cubed). And absolutely listen to the, ah, weekly podcasts, which is this, Let s Master English. And if you really want to master English, if you really serious and you ve done DD, then of course I recommend you join DDM, but you have to pay, (laugh). But that s my job. I mean, I need, you guys need to support me. I don t have many students (laugh), but, ah, maybe one day, maybe one day. Ah, OK. Next question is from Mikhael in Moscow. The question is about the words: COMPLIMENT and COMPLEMENT. What do the mean? How are they pronounced? And how are they used? Well, COMPLIMENT and COMPLEMENT. Ok. So, these two words are different, they're homonyms, they sound the same. The first word COMPLIMENT. C-O- M-P-L-I-M-E-N-T, COMPLIMENT. The second word COMPLEMENT. C-O-M-P-L-E-M- E-N-T, COMPLEMENT. They sound the same but the meaning is different. So, COMPLIMENT, with an I means to say nice things to somebody. So it's easy to remember I say nice things to you, I compliment you. So, the COMLIMENT with the I is I say nice things to you, You can remember it like that. Ok? So, COMPLIMENT- saying nice things. Mikhael, you are a very handsome young man. I complimented Mikhael. I said something nice. I praised Mikhael. Now, COMLEMENT with an E is also easy to remember. COMPLEMENT in this case means TO COMPLETE something, to make
something whole, to make something better. So, TO COMPLETE, C-O-M-P-L-E-T-E, complement, C-O-M-P-L-E...So, with the E COMPLETE, COMLEMENT it makes something whole, W-H-O-L-E. It, it makes something better. So, for example: I am wearing a...a nice suit and then I put on a perfect tie. And the tie is a perfect combination. And you can say: Oh, Shane, that tie T-I-E, neck tie, that tie really complements your suit. The tie and the suit fit together and become one. It makes your clothing one. It completes your clothing, it looks great together. Oh, Shane, that tie really complements your suit. That tie looks good with your suit. Ok? So, once again it's easy. COMPLIMENT with an I - I say something nice. COMPLEMENT with an E - it completes the ensemble, it makes something whole. Ok? By the way, the last word there ENSEMBLE, E-N-S-E-M-B-L-E. I think I was right. Ok. And we had now...last week I had an E-cubed expression, where I taught the word SAVVY S-A-V-V-Y. Great expression, very very good expression. And in my lesson, ooh, I was, I was being mean. Sometimes I said SAVVY AT something, SAVVY AT S-A-V-V-Y AT something. Sometimes I said SAVVY IN something. And sometimes I said SAVVY ABOUT something. Oh...so, Shane how do we do these- SAVVY AT, SAVVY IN, SAVVY ABOUT? When do we know which one to choose? Oh boy! Yeah, this is a tough question. So, I m going to give you a basic rule. This is not the perfect rule, but this is the basic rule which will help you in almost every case. SAVVY ATdoing something, I-N-G. Savvy at programming, savvy at cooking. Just get that gerund in there, ing. Savvy at doing something. SAVVY...now another case would be SAVVY AT this. Oh, you're SAVVY AT this. You're SAVVY AT this. That's it. Ok, that's possible. And we can also say: I was SAVVY AT 25. When I was 25 years old, I was savvy. So SAVVY AT ages possible too. So, SAVVY AT- three situations: 1- SAVVY AT -ING, 2- SAVVY AT this- I'm s...oh you re SAVVY AT this, or SAVVY AT that. That's possible too. 3- And SAVVY AT age, a certain age. Now, SAVVY IN. Now, when we say IN, I want you to think like INSIDE- that's the idea. SAVVY IN a deep subject. Ok, so a subject that has a lot of levels. So, for example: SAVVY IN listening skills. Listening skills a huge area: you've got the linking, cancellation, dialects. Hmmm...It's tough, you have got different types of English: academic English, daily English, you've got Country English, you've got the news, it's very deep subject. SAVVY IN business negotiations. Somebody who can negotiate very well is SAVVY IN that area. SAVVY IN that area of business negotiations. It s a big field. People write books about business negotiations. SAVVY IN the kitchen. SAVVY IN the classroom. The person really knows the kitchen: knows how to cook, knows how to organize, knows how to use utensils. SAVVY IN the classroom. The person is good at student management, is good at writing, ah, lessons, is good at teaching, is good at decorating classroom. It's a deep subject, has many areas. SAVVY INdeep subject.
And the final one, SAVVY ABOUT. And...it's very similar to SAVVY IN. But the subject, you can think that maybe it's smaller. SAVVY ABOUT a particular subject. So, for example: SAVVY ABOUT the latest research in global warming. Some people are very SAVVY ABOUT global warming. They know all about the latest research. Some people are SAVVY ABOUT social media. They know how to utilize social media. I wish I were more SAVVY ABOUT bicycles. But I know a guy who is very SAVVY ABOUT bicycles. Yeah...and he knows everything about bicycles. So, once again SAVVY ABOUT and SAVVY IN are very similar. Uhm, I guess the best way to check should you say SAVVY IN something or SAVVY ABOUT something is do Google search. Yeah...It's kind of tricky. But they re great, great questions, and I appreciate it. And if you leave the examples- I'll do my best to fix any mistakes that you have. Ok? Oh, It's time to say Goodbye everybody, but before I go I want to remind you of our challenge- free DDM open lessons and I also want to say Hello to some of our new listeners. And the first guy I must say Hello to is Eric Pinter: Hi Coach Shane, I'm your new member. I am so happy to become a member of LME. Eric joined our Google Plus Community. Our Google Plus Community is called Let's Master English and you can join too. Eric says: Please do me a small favor, please introduce me and my small country Slovakia in the next podcast. I listen to LME while fishing. Oh, Eric, I love fishing. I love fishing. Slovakia, beautiful country. I've seeing pictures especially of the lakes. It looks like a great place to go fishing, Eric. Ah...I'm very jealous! You know, we do have a listener, I can't remember where he s from. But, his grandma is a great catfish cook. She is a very SAVVY ABOUT catfish. She knows everything about catfish. She knows how to cook it, she knows how to clean it, she knows how to catch it, she knows how to raise it. Ah, but the yeah... What kind of fish do you catch, Eric? Personally I am not really a catfish fan, but I haven't had our listeners grandmother's catfish. I like walleye, perch, northern, especially pickled the northern, bluegills, ooh yeah, sunfish, oh pan fish are great! White bass, fantastic. You guys probably have no idea what I m talking about. Those are typical fish that we, ah, catch in Wisconsin. I do love fishing. So Erik, thank you very much for joining the Family and welcome. I also wanna say hi to Duang Hui, Duang Hui. I m guessing that Duang is from Vietnam. Uhm, he says: I got all of your 8 DDM lessons, and they re really useful. I studied them over and over! Thank you very much Duang. Everybody you can get the 8 free DDM lessons if you go to www.letsmasterenglish.com/tryddm T-R-Y-D-D-M. And Duang says: So, I wanna ask you where I can buy another 8 lessons, I just need 8 more. Well, Duang send me e-mail, and my e-mail address is dailydictationmembers@gmail.com that s dailydictationmembers@gmail.com. Send me a message Duang and, ah, I ll get back to your net. Thank you very much. Ah, we get some other stuff too, Mohammad Riza Madadi Hi Coach Shane, my dear English Coach. How is it going? Fine, thank you, and you? How can we say or write condolence to somebody? Ok, so. So, Mohammad s question is basically how do we,ah, say So somebody s, for example, somebody s mother died. What can we say to that person? Uhm, Mohammad the best thing to say in this situation is: My heart is with you. That s what I say My heart is with you. Uhm, and I just leave a short and simple like that. If you wanna add
something you can say: My heart is with you. If you need anything, please ask. And then leave it like that, keep it short and simple. That s what I do, Mohammed. But anyway, thank you very much for the question and thanks of course for listening to the podcast. And we have Rishab Vashisht. I hope my pronunciation was ok. He says. He? She? He? I m not sure, sorry! Ah, wonderful podcast. Keep it up like this. And can you head some direct and indirect sentences? It s useful for all of us. Thanks buddy. Well, thank you Rishab, I appreciate that. What do you mean by direct and indirect sentences? Be specific. If you asking for grammar No, ain t gonna do it, not gonna do it. Ah, there are so many excellent grammar podcasts and grammar websites and grammar books. So ah, those, those men and women are so much better than me at teaching grammar. So I don t touch it. Ah, there is, and I ve talked about this before, there is two styles of language, there is prescriptive language methods, which they teach, they focus on grammar, proper structure. And there is descriptive methods of teaching a language, and that focus is on the typical daily usage, and that s what I do. I shy away from grammar. I, I... A grammar is really important everybody, especially when you re writing, grammar is essential, and of course, when you re speaking you need to have a proper grammar. But I m not the best person to teach it. So, so I don t, yeah sorry! That is just reality. Let s check out itunes. We ve got one message from Leen Weeeee Leen Wee Tee Thank you so much Shane! And we answered Leen s question last week about VERSION and VIRGIN. So, Leen I hope your pronunciation has improved. And we got two ratings; we got one from France and one from Italy. I don t know which is which Oh no, we got more two. There is another one from The United States. Anyway a couple 5 stars and a 4 star ratings, thank you so much. I appreciate that. On itunes the rating system is very important. Ah, it helps other people find our podcast. And I finally want to introduce some people from the youtube channel. This is ah, youtube.com/coachshanesesl. Ingrid Bacher says: Great podcast! Thank you very much. Mr. Arab says: Thanks Coach for everything that you re doing for us! My pleasure. Mohammed Ahmed says: My name is Mohammed. I m from Sudan. Cool!! Right in the heart of Africa! All what I can say is you are a fantastic teacher and I wish your dreams come true. Mohammed, thank you very much. I wish the same to you buddy. And we have Darman Sharma. Hi Shane, I m from India. I want to know is the [S] silent in specific? One more thing, what is the difference between specific and particular? I m wondering if you ll answer my question in your next podcast. And I might be the first person from my country who has asked you a question. Ha, ha, ha. You know what from India? Darman, I think you are the first person on the podcast to ask a question. I m not sure but I think so. So, specific, is the [S] silent? No, keep the [S]. The [S] might be very short, but keep the [S]. Specific, specific, specific. And what s the difference between Specific and Particular? Well, basically none, they are the same. They mean the same thing Darman. However, if you make them adverbs specifically and particularly, then the meaning is different. But the roots specific and particular they mean the same thing. But the trick is collocation. In some situations we use specific, and other situations we use particular. So, there are several collocation dictionaries
that are excellent. And I have one in these boxes behind me. I don t know the name of it, but I wanna dig that out. In the future I will recommend my favorite collocation dictionaries. Collocation dictionaries everybody, they teach you how.they teach you which words go with which situations. That s a terrible definition. Anyway collocation dictionaries- look at up online. Excellent, excellent things. So, once again Darman, specific and particular, the meaning is the same, and the usages, almost interchangeable, generally, but sometimes, they collocate differently. Let me see anything else here. That is it. Once again thank you so much everybody for listening to my podcast, and remember, this podcast LME 21 has 7 puns in it. Five puns in the news, two puns in Country Shane s facts. The first three people to e-mail me all seven puns will get not one month, but TWO months of DDM Open for FREE!!! Yey! It s pretty cool. I m excited. My e-mail address is dailydictationmembers@gmail.com. Send me an e-mail. Several people have access to my e-mail account, so send, I should say Send US an e-mail, but I m usually the one who opens all the mail. But send me an e-mail with your, with the seven puns. You don t have to give me an explanation. I want to know the seven puns. So, basically everybody what I m asking for is seven expressions or words. Ok? I hope you understand. I hope at least one person finds the puns. But I think we ll get three. I hope so. You guys have a fantastic week. Thank you again for listening to Let s Master English. And remember: let s master English!!!