Shadowing Practice: Learn English with a Book | The Great Gatsby | Deep Work Session | Part 2 - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Hey guys, welcome back to English is Easy with Connor.
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Today we are reading chapter 2.
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Chapter 2 from this famous novel, The Great Gatsby.
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But don't forget that we are reading my easy English version of this novel.
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It's a little bit different with more useful vocabulary, vocabulary
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simpler language and more modern language So
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if you want to get your own copy you can find that on Amazon Or you can become a channel member first.
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Let's have a quick refresher Yeah a refresher let's jog our memory Let's remember what happened in chapter one
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Our main character, Nick Carraway, moves to a place called West Egg.
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We can see that right here.
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In the chapter, Nick takes a trip to East Egg and visits his cousin Daisy,
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who is married to a man named Tom, a very big, strong, showboaty, cocky man.
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Nick discovers that Tom is having an affair.
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He's cheating on Daisy.
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And then at the end of the chapter, Nick sees his mysterious neighbor,
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Mr. Gatsby, reaching towards a green light across the bay.
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That was the end of chapter one.
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And that's where we're going to begin with chapter two.
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So go ahead, click the like button to support me as your YouTube English teacher.
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Maybe tell me in the comments where you are watching from.
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And let's jump in using the story line by line to improve our English in the way
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that children and young adults do with a story.
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Let's jump in.
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Halfway between West Egg, where Nick lives, and New York was a strange place.
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Hmm, strange place, a weird place.
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Maybe we could also say bizarre place.
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It was called the Valley of Ashes.
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Hmm, we know what ashes are, right?
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Like when you burn something and some lightweight material is left behind, maybe floating in the air.
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We call those ashes.
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I passed it whenever I traveled into the city.
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So whenever Nick goes from West Egg to New York, he will encounter this place.
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Encounter he will come across this place, this valley of ashes.
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The valley was covered in gray dust.
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Ashes seemed to cover everything.
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Or maybe we could say coat everything, right?
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There was a heavy coat of ash all over everything.
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The buildings looked old and dirty.
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the people who lived there seemed tired.
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What's another way we could say this?
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They seemed tired.
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Maybe they seemed worn out.
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Worn out.
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Like they didn't have any more energy, right?
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Above the valley stood a huge advertisement.
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Maybe it's a billboard.
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a billboard, a big advertisement that you can see as you drive.
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This advertisement, it showed the eyes of Dr. T.J.
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Ekelberg.
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The eyes were enormous and blue.
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So if this is Nick driving in a car and, you know, here's the road, there's this big billboard, right?
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And on the billboard is a pair of eyes.
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Ooh, okay.
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That's a little bit strange, right?
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I mean, he did say this place is weird.
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He did say that it's bizarre.
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So yeah, that checks out, right?
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These eyes, they looked through large yellow glasses.
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Okay, we better draw some glasses here.
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these eyes looked through large yellow glasses there was no face around them okay
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so only eyes the eyes are just hovering there floating there the eyes seemed to watch the people below
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Hmm.
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Near the valley was a garage owned by George Wilson.
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George was a poor man who repaired and sold cars.
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Okay.
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So George is a car.
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What's this word?
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Do you guys know it?
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A car mechanic.
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mechanic.
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He's a mechanic.
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He fixes cars.
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He works on cars.
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If your car is broken down, something is wrong, you take it to George.
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Okay?
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So anyway, near this valley, there is a garage, a business owned by George.
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He lived there with his wife, Myrtle.
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Myrtle.
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Okay, so George and Myrtle.
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I met Myrtle because of Tom Buchanan.
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Remember, guys, that Tom is the husband of Daisy.
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And Daisy is related to Nick.
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Okay.
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One Sunday, Tom and I were traveling toward New York.
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Okay, they were going that way.
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The train stopped near the Valley of Ashes.
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Ooh, okay.
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Okay, Tom suddenly told me to get off.
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I want you to meet my girl, he said.
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I understood what he meant.
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Okay, what did he mean here?
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What was his meaning?
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What was the implication, the implication, the true meaning here?
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I want you to meet my girl.
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He's not talking about his wife, Daisy, right?
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Tom had been having an affair with Myrtle.
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Oh, this is the woman that Tom is cheating on Daisy with.
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Ooh, that's a complicated sentence.
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That's a difficult sentence.
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How about you practice saying that with me?
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Myrtle is the woman that Tom had been cheating on Daisy with.
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Myrtle is the woman that Tom had been cheating on Daisy with.
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Ooh, no good.
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We walked toward George Wilson's garage.
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George came out to meet us.
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He was a pale, tired man.
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So the husband of Myrtle, Myrtle is the woman who was having an affair with Tom, right?
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This guy comes out of the garage and meets them.
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He has no idea that his wife has been seeing Tom, seeing him, right?
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In a romantic way.
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And he looks terrible, right?
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Pale.
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Maybe we could say he looks sickly.
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or unwell or unhealthy.
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Yeah, he does not look great.
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We could also say he's looking rough or rough around the edges, okay?
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His skin is very light.
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He looks sick.
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He looks tired.
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He looks beaten down.
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His clothes were covered with dust.
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Of course they are.
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I mean, he's a mechanic, right?
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And he also works in the Valley of Ashes, so probably everything is covered with ash and dust.
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He seemed unhappy with his life.
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I bet he does.
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Tom spoke to him about a car.
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George wanted to buy one from Tom.
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Ah, you see, Tom is very rich.
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He probably has lots of cars. so he asked
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when the car would be ready Tom told him it would
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be ready soon okay interesting George seemed nervous around Tom hmm I noticed the difference between them immediately okay
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so there's contrast between these two men one is this way the other is
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that way there is a difference between them Tom on one hand was strong
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and confident confident how do you think someone
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that is very confident might act maybe a loud voice he talks very loudly okay even in places
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where maybe you shouldn't talk so loudly.
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Maybe he puffs his chest out.
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Maybe he looks you right in the eyes, directly in your eyes.
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Maybe he doesn't just walk.
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Maybe he struts.
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What does it mean if you strut?
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That means you walk with style
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and confidence okay
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so on the one hand we have Tom on the other hand we have George who seemed weak
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and hemmed in what is hemmed in
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that means unable to escape difficult circumstances in other words you can't get away from a bad situation.
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Of course he feels hemmed in, right?
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His wife is cheating on him.
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He lives in a terrible, dusty, ashy place.
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It sounds like maybe he's not doing that well with his business.
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Then Myrtle came downstairs.
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Remember, she was George's wife.
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Myrtle was in her 30s.
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So she could be 30 years old or 35 or 39, right?
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Between 30 and 39 in her 30s.
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She was not especially beautiful.
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Oh, that's interesting, right?
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You would think Tom has Daisy.
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He has all this money.
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He's so confident.
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And maybe he would go for a beautiful woman if he was going to cheat on his wife.
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But in fact, she was not especially beautiful.
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I think that means she was just average looking.
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I'll teach you guys a funny expression.
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She was nothing to write home about.
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Have you guys heard this expression before?
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Nothing to write home about.
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That's kind of an old-fashioned expression, but sometimes people still use it.
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It means, you know, you wouldn't write a letter to your parents talking about it because you were so excited, right?
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You know, I don't think he's very excited by her looks, but she had a strong charisma.
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Say that word with me.
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Charisma.
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Charisma.
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Okay.
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In other words, she's very charismatic.
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People are attracted to her naturally.
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She's very good with people.
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People are drawn to her.
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drawn to her like a magnet, right?
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They can't get enough of her.
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When she saw Tom, her face changed.
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Oh, in a good way.
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She looked happy.
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She and Tom clearly had a secret relationship.
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So they're not being very subtle, subtle.
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They're not being very low-key about it, right?
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They're not trying to hide or we could say conceal their relationship.
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They're not trying to cover it up.
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They're being pretty what?
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What word am I thinking of?
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They're being pretty obv...
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Do you know it?
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Obvious.
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Nice.
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They're being pretty obvious.
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You know, her face totally changes when she sees her secret boyfriend, Tom, right?
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I'm sure George notices.
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George asked Myrtle to bring some chairs, okay?
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She told him what to do.
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George obeyed her.
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Oh, so George says, hey, Myrtle, can you get some chairs?
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She says, how about you get the chairs?
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So she's really, here's another funny expression.
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She's really wearing the pants.
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Oh, guys, we're learning some great expressions today.
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This is very funny.
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She's really wearing the pants in this relationship, okay?
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We could also say she's calling the shots.
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She's calling the shots.
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She's making all the decisions.
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she's ordering George around and he is great word obeying her okay so
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while George is busy Tom quietly arranged for Myrtle to meet
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him in New York George did not know about their plan Tom
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and I left the garage
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so this is pretty bold of Tom to do I would
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even say brazen it's very brazen of him to do
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that means it's it's so confident and so bold
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that I think it's over the line it's too much right
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right under George's nose right under his nose Tom is making arrangements with Myrtle, right?
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Right in front of him.
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That's not cool, man.
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That's next level disrespectful, right?
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Myrtle soon joined us.
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When we reached New York, Myrtle bought some things for herself.
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she also bought a dog whoa she's on a we can
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say spending spree she's on a spending spree spending lots of money she bought a dog
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and i bet it's tom's money of course okay she seemed excited by everything around her.
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Yeah, eager to get out of the valley of ashes and into the city, right?
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Everything is exciting to her.
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I bet her eyes lit up at the sight of New York.
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I noticed that she behaved differently in New York.
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At the garage, she seemed like a tired working class woman.
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yeah just like George maybe she seems beaten down worn out
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right like the life has been drained out of her like a working-class woman right
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but in the city she acted as if she were rich.
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She wanted to feel important.
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I mean, it's totally understandable, right?
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Imagine how exciting that would be.
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You get to hang out with confident, fun, rich Tom, go on a spending spree in the city,
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get out of the Valley of Ashes.
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Yeah, that would absolutely feel great.
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We took a taxi to her apartment.
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The apartment was small.
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Okay, so maybe Tom has a secret place in the city where they hang out, right?
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It had a living room, a dining room, a bedroom, and a bathroom.
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Okay, not too bad.
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There was too much furniture for such a small space.
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So it's jammed with furniture,
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or we could say jam-packed with furniture right tiny space
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lots of furniture like chairs couches tables right Myrtle acted as
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if the apartment were much more important than it really was okay she's kind of pretending she's kind of let's see cosplaying.
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Yeah, she's kind of cosplaying.
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A cosplayer is somebody who dresses up in costume of their favorite character from a video game or a movie, right?
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Like if you love Pokemon, maybe you cosplay as a Pokemon trainer or Pikachu,
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but she loves the idea of being a rich person.
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So just for the day, she's cosplaying as a wealthy woman,
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pretending that the apartment was really fancy schmancy, right?
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Fancy schmancy and important.
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She immediately began making plans.
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She wanted to call her sister, Catherine.
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Okay, so Myrtle has a sister named Catherine and Myrtle wants to call her.
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She also wanted to invite other people.
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Ooh, okay.
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Looks like we got a party starting here.
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Tom opened a bottle of whiskey.
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Some liquor, some strong liquor will make you drunk, right?
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I drank with them.
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I, and remember, I is talking about our main character, Nick, okay?
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I have only been drunk twice in my life.
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the second time was that afternoon.
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Oh my gosh.
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So Nick is getting pretty, here's a funny word, turnt,
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turnt, or we can say turnt up.
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If you get turnt up, then you are drinking a lot of alcohol, right?
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You are getting loose because of the alcohol.
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My memories, what I remember of the party are not completely clear.
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Everything is a bit fuzzy.
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Maybe we could say a bit blurry, right?
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A bit unclear.
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At first, Myrtle sat with Tom.
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Then they disappeared into another room.
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I stayed in the living room.
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I tried to read a book, but the words did not make much sense.
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Poor Nick.
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He's not used to drinking, right?
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Maybe he doesn't even know what to do with himself.
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He's like, how do I enjoy drinking?
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Do I read a book?
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But, you know, it all seems very convoluted.
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convoluted the words in the book seem convoluted they don't make
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much sense right they're confusing in other words soon guests began
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arriving okay people are showing up here comes Myrtle's sister Catherine
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she got there first she was about 30 years old and wore a lot of makeup and jewelry
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Then Mr. McKee arrived with his wife.
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Mr. McKee said he worked in the artistic business.
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Ooh, the art world.
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I later learned that he was a photographer.
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So that's his line of work.
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That's kind of a native way of saying job, a line of work.
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What's your line of work?
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Oh, I work in the art world.
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Oh, I'm a photographer.
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The apartment quickly became crowded.
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There are tons of people.
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There is a crowd.
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Myrtle had changed her clothes.
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Of course she did, right?
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Myrtle wants to feel like a princess, so she's going to have a wardrobe change.
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She's going to change her outfit.
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She now wore an expensive-looking dress.
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What's another way we could say expensive looking, maybe pricey, pricey looking.
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Her clothes seemed to change her personality.
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She became louder and more confident.
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She talked about money and complained about people who charged too much.
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She wanted everyone to know that she could afford expensive things.
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Okay, but I feel like she's making a mistake here, right?
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She talked about money.
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She's complaining about people who charged too much.
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If it were me and I was at this party and I was trying to cosplay as a rich person,
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I would not complain about people who charge too much.
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I would say, you can never charge too much.
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My money is endless.
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right?
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My pockets are bottomless.
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My pockets are bottomless.
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I have so much money.
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You can charge me whatever you want.
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Maybe she should have said that instead.
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I watched her carefully.
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So Nick is observing Myrtle.
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Myrtle believed Tom had moved her into a higher social world.
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the people around her encouraged this idea.
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Ah, okay.
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So it's kind of like they're feeding off of each other.
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Here's the other people.
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Here's Myrtle.
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She gives them rich energy.
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They take that rich energy and they like it, so they give it back.
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And she likes that, so she gives it back.
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And then they give it back.
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and they're getting more and more excited about the idea of being rich together.
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We call that an endless feedback loop when it just keeps going back and forth forever, right?
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So the others are encouraging her behavior, making her become more this way.
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everyone drank everyone talked the conversation moved from one subject
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or maybe we could say topic topic of conversation to another
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so they're drinking their chit-chatting they are conversing they are chewing the fat to
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the fat.
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Just talking, talking, talking, right?
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And they're talking about lots of different stuff, different topics.
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Someone mentioned Gatsby.
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Oh, okay, here we go.
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Somebody mentioned Gatsby.
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I was interested.
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Yeah, his ears really perked up.
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Nick's ears perked up.
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He started listening carefully because Gatsby was my neighbor.
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And remember, Nick saw him acting very mysterious.
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He's very interested in Gatsby.
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The guests had heard stories about him.
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Some said he was connected to criminals.
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Criminals, people who break the law.
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Maybe we could also say crooks, crooks.
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Others said he had been a spy.
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Ooh, interesting.
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A spy, maybe working for another country, a different country.
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Nobody knew the truth.
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The hearsay is a great word.
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The information heard from others that may be untrue.
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In other words, the gossip, the juicy gossip, right?
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The gossip made Gatsby seem even more mysterious.
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So now Nick is really intrigued.
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Intrigued, really interested.
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I listened without saying much.
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So he's rather taciturn.
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There's a $10 word for you.
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Taciturn, kind of quiet, keeping to himself, a bit serious, just listening and not talking.
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Then the conversation turned to Tom and Myrtle.
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Catherine said that Tom and Myrtle should get married.
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Boo, Catherine, boo.
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We don't like Catherine.
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She's a...
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I'm having fun with this episode, guys.
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She's a homewrecker.
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A homewrecker.
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What is a homewrecker?
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If you ruin somebody else's happy relationship, then you are a homewrecker.
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So because she is trying to destroy the relationship of Tom and Daisy,
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Tom's real wife, we can say she is being a homewrecker.
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She's saying they should get married.
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She said Tom's wife was keeping them apart.
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She's saying Daisy is the problem.
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I found the conversation uncomfortable.
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Of course he did, because maybe she doesn't realize that Nick is Daisy's cousin.
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Daisy has a family member sitting right next to her, and she's saying these horrible things, right?
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Tom was married to Daisy.
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Myrtle was married to George yet, but nobody seemed to care about the damage their affair was causing.
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This relationship they have, this affair, it's not a good thing for a lot of people.
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It's causing damage, especially to Daisy.
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Nick is probably apprehensive, apprehensive or worried about.
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his cousin getting hurt, right?
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Okay.
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Myrtle began talking about George.
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She said she had made a mistake by marrying him.
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Ooh, she is admitting that it was all a mistake.
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She should never have done it, right?
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She claimed that she had believed he was a gentleman, a good guy, a nice guy, a proper guy.
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Later, she discovered that he was not the man she thought he was.
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Hmm.
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So I guess she felt let down, let down by George.
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So Myrtle believed she deserved a better life.
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She wanted to escape the garage.
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She wanted money.
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She wanted riches, right?
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and to be influential probably like Tom.
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She wanted beautiful clothes.
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She wanted respect.
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She doesn't want people looking down on her or turning up their noses at her because she's working class, right?
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Tom seemed to represent or we could say stand for all of those things.
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The party became louder.
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People drank more whiskey.
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Okay, the night is really kicking off.
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Things are heating up.
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People are drinking more, talking more.
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They're loosening up.
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The small apartment seemed to fill with smoke and noise.
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This was back in the time, back in the day when people would smoke cigarettes all the time, smoke them indoors, right?
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I'm sure it was very smoky.
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Myrtle became increasingly pretentious.
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So increasingly pretentious, more and more trying to seem important.
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That's what pretentious is.
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You think you're better than everyone else.
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She talked as if she were already part of Tom's wealthy world,
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but she was still living in a small apartment with a poor husband.
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The difference between her dream and her real life was obvious to me.
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So Myrtle is not fooling Nick, right?
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He's like, I'm on to you.
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I'm on to you.
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That means you can't fool me.
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I'm on to you.
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At some point, people began talking about Daisy.
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That's Nick's cousin.
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Uh-oh.
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Tom immediately became angry.
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That ticked him off.
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He told Myrtle to stop.
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So she's going on and on about Daisy.
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She ignored him.
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Then she said Daisy's name again.
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Don't say her name, Tom warned.
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He's warning her, giving her a stern warning, saying, watch out, don't do this.
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Myrtle stared at him.
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Daisy, she said again, slowly this time.
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Oh, wow.
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So now she is taunting Tom.
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Tom said, don't say it again.
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And what did she do?
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said it again slowly.
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She's really twisting the knife.
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If this is a knife, right, and Myrtle sticks it into Tom, that's going to hurt, right?
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You know, this is saying the name Daisy.
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But if we use the expression, she's twisting the knife, that means she's making something painful hurt even more, right?
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Wow, that's intense.
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Sounds awkward.
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Catherine stopped talking.
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Even through the whiskey, I could feel the room tighten.
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Great word here.
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Kind of like a knot has been tied and pulled very tight.
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Things are tense and awkward.
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Oh no, what is he going to do?
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Tom shouted at her.
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Myrtle laughed.
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She laughed it off.
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She doesn't care she said daisy's name once more tom suddenly
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hit her oh no he hit her he struck her we could also say the room became silent
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so tom has gotten violent here oh no guys this
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fun party has taken a rather sinister turn things have taken
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a sinister turn things were fun now it's looking grim looking grim and dark it's scary the room
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became silent.
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Myrtle fell back.
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She stumbled backwards, right?
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Blood appeared on her face.
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Nobody seemed to know what to do.
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Then everyone began moving around.
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Maybe they're kind of shuffling, shuffling their feet, looking down at their feet awkwardly, right?
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They feel really uncomfortable.
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And remember that Tom, he's a big, confident alpha male.
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So probably none of the men want to confront him.
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Nobody wants to challenge him, right?
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Nobody's brave enough.
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Myrtle cried.
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The party was finished.
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I wanted to leave.
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I went downstairs with Mr. McKee.
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Remember him, the photographer.
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The quiet street felt completely different from the apartment.
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I had watched people drink and lie.
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They pretended to be more important than they were.
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I thought about George Wilson, Myrtle's husband, right?
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He was still at the garage.
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He had no idea what Tom and Myrtle were doing.
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He had very little money and almost no power.
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But Tom, Tom had everything.
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Yet, Tom still wanted more.
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Myrtle had less, but she also wanted more.
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This is so true.
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Nobody seemed satisfied.
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All of these people, Nick is realizing, whether they have nothing or they have a lot, None of them are happy, right?
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None of them are content.
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Content means I have enough.
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I am satisfied with what I have.
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As I left, I began to understand something about the world around me.
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Remember, this is all very new to Nick.
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This is a new world to him.
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He's from the Midwest, and this kind of stuff doesn't happen there.
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Money could give people freedom.
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It could also allow them to avoid responsibility, okay?
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Get away from your duties, from the things you should do.
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Tom could hurt people and return to his wealthy life.
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Dang, that's so true.
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This is why I love this book.
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Look at this.
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Tom, look what he's getting away with.
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he's able to go out, cheat on his wife, assault her.
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He's able to assault this poor woman and then clap his hands,
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pretend like everything is fine and go home to his normal life.
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It's all pretend for him.
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That is the freedom that money gives him.
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And look at Myrtle.
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Myrtle could dream about becoming rich without facing the truth about her marriage.
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So she's in denial. In denial.
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She doesn't want to face the truth.
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That's in denial, right?
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You can be in denial about a lot of things.
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Maybe you are very overweight, but you don't see yourself that way.
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You are in denial about your weight.
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Maybe you're losing your hair, but you're pretending that you're not losing your hair.
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That means you are in denial about that, right?
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Maybe you are the worst player on the team.
540
You know, let's say a basketball team.
541
You're the worst, but in your mind, you are the best.
542
That means you are in denial about your abilities, right?
543
So Myrtle is in denial about her marriage.
544
George could do almost nothing.
545
Yeah, George is powerless in this situation.
546
In fact, he doesn't even realize this situation is happening.
547
The Valley of Ashes seemed to represent this difference.
548
The Valley of Ashes represents the difference, okay?
549
Some people lived in huge houses.
550
Others lived surrounded by dust.
551
There is a stark difference or a big difference.
552
And the Valley of Ashes shows you that difference.
553
Yet they were connected.
554
The wealthy people depended or needed a world that people like George worked to support.
555
So in other words, without George and his work, you cannot have somebody like Tom.
556
Tom needs George.
557
On my way home, I thought about the enormous eyes of Dr. Ekelberg on the billboard.
558
They seemed to watch everything, but nobody seemed to care about what they saw.
559
People simply continued with their lives.
560
They chose to turn a blind eye or deliberately ignore something wrong when something was wrong.
561
So in other words, people are not addressing their problems.
562
Everyone is avoiding the problems in their lives, right?
563
By the time I reached home, I was exhausted.
564
We could also say I was pooped.
565
That's kind of a funny word.
566
I was pooped.
567
I had no energy.
568
The events of the afternoon, everything that had happened had left me uncomfortable.
569
I had entered a world that looked exciting from the outside.
570
Inside, it was full of lies and unhappiness.
571
I knew that I had only seen one small part of it.
572
So he has barely scratched the surface.
573
We can say hardly scratched the surface, barely scratched the surface, only scratched the surface.
574
That means there is so much more to see, right?
575
Outside the apartment, the night air felt cold and clean.
576
Behind me, I could still hear voices through the windows.
577
Someone was crying.
578
Someone else was laughing.
579
The party had not ended neatly.
580
It had simply broken apart.
581
I sat by the window until West Egg appeared.
582
I had wanted the East because it felt exciting.
583
That night, it felt dangerous too.
584
I was still curious about this world, but I no longer trusted its bright surfaces.
585
Okay, fantastic.
586
So here is a chapter summary.
587
What happened?
588
Tom takes Nick to meet Myrtle, that's his mistress, and later they go to her apartment in New York.
589
Remember, they have a big party there.
590
the drunken party ends violently when Tom hits Myrtle.
591
Why does he hit her?
592
She is repeatedly saying Daisy's name.
593
So that's everything that happened in chapter two.
594
And guys, if you made it all the way through chapter two, take your hand and give yourself a pat on the back because you are doing amazing.
595
And as your YouTube English teacher, I'm very proud of you.
596
Now, let's take a quick look at the vocab breakdown.
597
Charisma, remember this?
598
Yeah, magnetism, that means the same thing.
599
Being charismatic, for example.
600
Myrtle had a charisma that made people notice her, okay?
601
She was charismatic, she had charisma.
602
Hemden means cornered, yeah, that's a great synonym.
603
You are not free right so george seemed hemmed in by poverty being poor and his marriage that is unhappy okay
604
hemmed in what else hearsay remember gossip hearsay gossip information
605
that you hear
606
and it might not be true most stories about Gatsby were
607
only hearsay nobody knows the truth about Gatsby right he's
608
so mysterious he's so elusive elusive socially
609
and as a person you know he's hard to catch hard
610
to pin down hard to understand pretentious remember this word um
611
maybe we could say let's see the definition trying to appear more important or a fist or sophisticated than you are
612
affected or maybe cocky we could say a cocky person myrtle became cocky or pretentious
613
when she entered tom's city apartment last turn a blind eye
614
you ignore something on purpose you turn a blind eye the
615
guests turned a blind eye to Tom's cruel behavior remember he
616
hits Myrtle no one really confronts him they turn a blind eye guys thanks again thank you
617
so much for watching thanks for getting the book on Amazon
618
or becoming a channel member or even just liking this video
619
if you want to see part three of this series comment part three down in the comment section
620
and I'll see you next time
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Learn English with a Book”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: tom, myrtle, george, Nick, seemed. This video has 620 sentences and 4956 words to shadow. The speech runs for 45:10. The speaker talks at a steady 110 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 84% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| myrtle noun | /ˈmɝtl̩/ | An evergreen shrub or small tree of the genus Myrtus, native to southern Europe and north Africa. |
| ash noun | /ˈæʃ/ | The solid remains of a fire. |
| denial noun | /dɪˈnaɪ.əl/ | An assertion of untruth. |
| garage noun | /ɡəˈɹɑʒ/ | A building (or section of a building) used to store a car or cars, tools and other miscellaneous items. |
| cheat verb | /ˈt͡ʃiːt/ | To violate rules in order to gain, or attempt to gain, advantage from a situation. |
| charisma noun | /kəˈɹɪzmə/ | A gift or power of leadership or authority. |
| hem noun | /hɛm/ | The border of an article of clothing doubled back and stitched together to finish the edge and prevent it from fraying. |
| pretentious adjective | /pɹɪˈtɛn.ʃəs/ | Motivated by an inappropriate, excessive, or unjustified desire to impress others. |
| billboard noun | /ˈbɪlˌboɹd/ | A very large outdoor sign, generally used for advertising. |
| gossip noun | /ˈɡɑsɪp/ | Someone who likes to talk about other people's private or personal business. |
| affair noun | /əˈfɛɹ/ | Something which is done or is to be done; business of any kind, commercial, professional, or public. |
| pretend verb | /pɹəˈtɛnd/ | To speak or behave so as to give a false or simulated appearance. |
| cocky adjective | /ˈkɑki/ | Overly confident; arrogant and boastful. |
| hearsay noun | /ˈhɪəseɪ/ | Information that was heard by one person about another that cannot be adequately substantiated. |
| mechanic noun | /mɪˈkænɪk/ | Someone who builds or repairs machinery, a technician; now specifically, someone who works with and repairs the mechanical parts of a motor vehicle, aircraft… |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| wear out verb | To cause (something) to become damaged, useless, or ineffective through continued use, especially hard, heavy, or careless use. |
| get out of verb | To leave, exit or escape from; to become free of. |
| let down verb | To disappoint; to betray or fail somebody. |
| look through verb | To take a view of the contents of; search in, either with the eyes or by hand. |
| break apart verb | To dismantle something into its base components. |
| break down verb | To stop functioning. |
| check out verb | To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.). |
| come across verb | To change sides; to cross over to work for the opposition. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- What's another way we could say this?
- Do you guys know it?
- How about you practice saying that with me?
- He's like, how do I enjoy drinking?
- What's your line of work?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was called · is left · was covered |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | people who lived · man who repaired · woman who was |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has been drained · have only been drunk · has been |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 53 contractions and reduced forms, such as they're, doesn't, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: ash /ˈæʃ/, garage /ɡəˈɹɑʒ/, pretentious /pɹɪˈtɛn.ʃəs/, refresher /ɹɪˈfɹɛʃɚ/, shuffle /ˈʃʌfəl/
- Long words — get the stress right: mysterious /mɪˈstɪɹi.əs/, charismatic /ˌkɛɹəzˈmætək/, convoluted /ˌkɑnvəˈlutəd/, advertisement /ˈædvɚˌtaɪzmənt/, uncomfortable /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like myrtle, ash, denial.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.