Shadowing Practice: 382 - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Hello and welcome to English for Everyone, where we practice real-life American English.
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And today we're going to learn some real-life American English, so let's get started.
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First let's watch a clip.
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I want my teeth very white.
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So you want tooth whitening?
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Yeah.
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Wait, I want my teeth very white is wrong?
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And you have to say I want teeth whitening?
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This is not true.
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You can say I want my teeth white.
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not incorrect, it's fine.
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I want my teeth white.
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I want my belly flat.
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I want my hair curly.
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This is fine.
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Maybe it sounds a little better to say to be.
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I want my teeth to be white, but they're both correct.
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Example, she wants her teeth white, very white, or she wants her teeth to be white.
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Let's practice.
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Does she want her teeth to be very white?
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That's right.
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She wants her teeth to be very white.
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Let's watch another clip.
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I have pain in my tooth.
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You mean you have a toothache.
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Wait, you can't say pain in my tooth?
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You have to say toothache?
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They're both correct.
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Pain in my tooth is fine.
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Let's watch some clips.
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Then I had this pain in my tooth and I went to the dentist.
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The pain in my tooth is gone.
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I had this pain in my tooth.
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Yeah, you can say pain in my tooth.
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It's fine.
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Toothache is more common.
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A toothache.
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But pain in my tooth is not wrong.
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Let's watch another clip.
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Open really wide.
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I can't.
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I ate something with garlic.
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Oh, you mean you have bad breath.
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Wait a second.
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You can't say, I ate something with garlic.
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You have to say, I have bad breath?
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That's not true.
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You can say, I ate something with garlic.
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There's nothing wrong with it.
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I ate something with garlic is fine.
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Example, she ate something with garlic.
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Let's practice.
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Did she eat something with garlic?
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That's right, she ate something with garlic.
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And does she have bad breath?
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I have no idea.
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Let's watch another clip.
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I want you to listen to this video
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and then pause it every five seconds and try to repeat what I said with exactly the same intonation.
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I guess it describes Uruguayan culture before Spanish people from here.
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All right, I don't understand this one.
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describes Uruguayan culture before Spanish fo here?
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It sounded like he said before Spanish people fo here.
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I don't know what he's talking about.
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Let's watch it again.
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Look at the painting right there.
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I guess it describes Uruguayan culture before Spanish people fo here.
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So it sounds like he said it describes Uruguayan culture before Spanish people fo here.
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Fo here?
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What does that mean?
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I have no idea.
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Let me know in the comments.
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If you have any idea what this guy is trying to say, please let me know in the comments.
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Because what he said makes no sense at all.
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Faux is not a verb.
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I don't get it.
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So let's watch another clip.
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The majority of people from Uruguay, from Montevideo, they're fighting against each other to call it a river.
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And majority of people from Uruguay?
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When you use the word majority, you have to say the and the majority of people from Uruguay.
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We cannot say and majority of people from Uruguay.
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So example, the majority of people from Uruguay speak Spanish.
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Let's practice.
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Do the majority of people from Uruguay speak Spanish?
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That's right.
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The majority of people from Uruguay speak Spanish.
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When you say majority, say the majority.
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We need the.
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Let's watch another clip.
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This is how we do it.
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I almost never take escalator if there are stairs.
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I almost never take escalator if there are stairs.
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I almost never take escalator.
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We need an article.
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An escalator.
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The escalator.
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But we cannot just say I almost never take escalator.
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This is wrong.
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So let's use the.
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The escalator.
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The idea he almost never takes the escalator.
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if there are stairs let's practice does he almost never take the escalator
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that's right he almost never takes the escalator if there are stairs let's watch another clip
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no matter how heavy your bag is you can get a lot of workout.
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And that's my goal.
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You can get a lot of workout and that's my goal.
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You can get a lot of workout.
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We don't say this.
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You can say a lot of exercise, but not a lot of workout.
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When you describe your workout, it's not about quantity.
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How much?
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A lot?
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A little?
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It's about quality good bad great so we say a good workout a great workout but not a lot of workout
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so the idea is he wants to get a good workout not a lot of workout but a good workout
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let's practice does he want to get a good workout
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that's right he wants to get a good workout that's his
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goal let's watch another clip we're taking off right now literally
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and not only literally we're departing and leaving uruguay behind literally
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and not only literally we're departing
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and living uruguay okay first pronunciation living uruguay the word is
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not living it's leaving we have two words here living has the short sound That's the first word.
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Living.
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I'm living in California.
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Use the short I like this is.
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Living. And leaving.
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Leaving.
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Use a long E sound like green beans.
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Leaving.
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He's leaving Uruguay.
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He's not living Uruguay.
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Let's watch that clip again.
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We're taking off right now.
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Literally, and not only literally, we're departing and leaving Uruguay behind.
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Littally, and not only literally, he means literally.
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The word is not pronounced literally.
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It's pronounced literally.
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Literally.
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Literally.
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Four syllables.
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Not literally, three syllables, but four syllables.
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Literally.
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Literally. So what is literally?
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He didn't use it correctly, but let's talk about it.
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originally literally was opposed to figuratively.
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For example, if I use a figure of speech, an expression, and I say, I told you a hundred times.
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If I mean it figuratively, it's an expression.
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It's not real.
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But if I mean it literally, that means it's real.
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It's not an expression.
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I told you a hundred times, literally.
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But now people use it all the time.
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Now it just kind of means actually.
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Like I literally just told you.
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There's no expression.
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There's no figure of speech.
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It's saying I actually just told you.
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It's not really the correct usage but everybody does it.
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So what are you gonna do?
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That's how people use the word.
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I literally just told you or I actually just told you.
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That's how people use it now.
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But remember the pronunciation literally literally.
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It's a very common word now.
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Let's watch another clip.
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The wind is crazy.
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I want to ask you guys.
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Describe this.
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stunning.
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Let's look at this.
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He's teaching the word describe and he writes, I want to ask you guys describe this stunning.
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What?
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Stunning what?
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We need an object.
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I cannot say I want you guys describe this stunning.
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We also need to.
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I want to ask you guys to describe this stunning image, Picture, something like that.
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We need an object.
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So I can say he wants you guys to describe this stunning image.
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Stunning in this case means beautiful.
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Impressive.
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He wants you to describe this stunning image.
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Let's practice.
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Does he want you to describe this stunning image?
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That's right.
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He wants you to describe this stunning image.
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Let's watch another clip.
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How come you speak English?
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I learn by videos, watching videos and studying.
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Watching videos on YouTube?
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Yes.
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How come he's smiling?
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How come he's smiling?
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This is what he writes.
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He's smiling.
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We cannot say this.
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How come he's smiling?
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He is.
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Contraction.
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He's.
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How come he's smiling?
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This is correct.
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And the answer?
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Because he's happy.
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Let's practice.
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How come he's smiling?
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That's right, he's smiling because he's happy.
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Thank you for watching and keep watching for more.
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Today we're going to avoid learning complete nonsense, so let's get started.
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The verb to buy can also be used in the stative form.
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For example, this watch buys well.
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I am not talking about the action of buying the watch.
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That just means that this watch is popular.
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This new restaurant buys well.
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They're always packed.
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This watch buys well?
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This restaurant buys well?
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Don't say this.
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It doesn't mean something is popular.
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It doesn't mean anything.
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It's not a stative verb.
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It doesn't exist.
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That's right.
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It doesn't exist.
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Nobody says this.
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If you say this to someone, they won't know what you're talking about.
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Don't say, by as well.
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It doesn't mean anything.
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This is also not correct.
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However, the verb to ride can be used in a stative way, especially if you are being transported or carried.
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For example, the train ride was nice.
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Here, ride describes the state of being transported by the train, not the act of riding itself.
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Thanks for the ride.
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Oh my gosh, the car ride was terrible.
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If I say the train ride was nice, or thanks for the ride, or the car ride was terrible,
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ride in these sentences is not a state of verb.
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It's not a verb at all.
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It's a noun.
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These are not examples of ride as a stative verb.
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These are examples of ride as a noun.
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It's a countable noun.
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You can say, a nice ride.
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Or, thanks for the ride.
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Use the article the.
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These are not stative verbs.
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An example.
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If I need a ride, I can ask you, hey, can you give me a ride?
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These are examples of ride as a noun.
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Let's practice.
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Can you give me a ride?
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Thanks, I appreciate it.
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This is also not correct.
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I love listening to music with my headphones.
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Those are not headphones.
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Those are earbuds.
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There's a clear difference.
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Let's look at the difference.
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These are earbuds.
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If they're Apple, you can say AirPods, because that's the brand name.
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And it doesn't matter if they have a wire or if they're wireless.
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still earbuds.
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They go inside your ear.
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They're called earbuds.
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I don't wear earbuds.
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What about you?
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Do you wear earbuds?
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Very good.
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I prefer these.
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These are called headphones.
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There's a band that goes over your head connecting the speakers.
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These are called headphones, and I prefer headphones.
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What about you?
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Do you wear headphones?
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Very good.
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I think headphones are much more comfortable.
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I don't like things sticking inside my ear.
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That's not comfortable.
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This is also not correct.
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I hate when they don't have any battery.
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Like, they don't work right now, so I can't use them.
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I cannot say they don't work right now.
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Because it's right now, I have to use a continuous action.
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I have to say they're not working right now.
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I cannot use the simple verb.
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The simple verb is a routine.
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So remember, if you say right now, use a continuous verb, working.
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They're not working right now.
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They're broken.
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Best practice.
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Are they working right now?
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That's right.
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They're not working right now.
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They're broken.
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This is also not correct.
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So when I say the verb to buy, that is the action of me wanting to buy a new phone.
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When I say the verb to buy, That is the action of me wanting to buy a new phone.
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This is not correct.
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The verb to buy does not mean I want to buy a new phone.
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It means I'm buying a new phone.
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The action to buy means you pay for something and you receive something.
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That's the action to buy.
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It's not about wanting to buy something.
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It's about buying something.
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Example, she wants to buy a new phone.
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She's not buying a new phone.
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She wants to buy a new phone.
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It's a different idea.
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Let's practice.
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Does she want to buy a new phone?
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That's right.
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She wants to buy a new phone.
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It doesn't mean she's buying it.
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She just wants to buy it.
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Now in this example, she's buying a new phone.
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She's paying for it and she's receiving it.
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She's getting it.
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She's buying a new phone.
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Let's practice.
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Is she buying a new phone?
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That's right.
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She's buying a new phone.
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Not the same as wanting to buy a phone.
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This is also not correct.
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I will eat and drink my meal outside the restaurant.
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I cannot say I will eat and drink my meal.
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You can say I will eat my meal, but you cannot say I will eat and drink my meal.
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So what do you say?
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We use the verb have.
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Have is the verb we use when we want to talk about eating and drinking together.
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You can say I will have my meal.
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You can say I will have donuts.
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I will have coffee.
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See, you eat the donuts and you drink the coffee.
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You can use have for both.
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This is the verb we need.
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So I cannot say she is eating and drinking her meal, but I can say she's having her meal.
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She's having a meal.
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Let's practice.
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Is she having a meal?
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That's right, she's having a meal.
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And she's having breakfast.
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Let's practice.
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Is she having breakfast or lunch?
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That's right, she's having breakfast.
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I cannot say she's eating and drinking her breakfast.
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Use have.
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This is also not correct.
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But before that, I need to go in line and order over there.
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I cannot say go in line.
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We use a different verb.
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We say get.
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Get in line.
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We hear the pronunciation of T change to a fast D because it's between vowels.
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Not get in line, but get in line.
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We say get in line.
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We do not say go in line.
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They need to get in line in order to buy lunch.
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They can't just sit down at the table and wait for someone to bring it to them.
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They have to get in line.
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Let's practice.
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Do they have to get in line in order to buy lunch?
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That's right.
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They need to get in line in order to buy lunch.
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This is also not correct.
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The verb to give can be an action because you are giving something to somebody.
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You can make it available for something else.
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Give doesn't mean to make it available for something else.
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To make it available for some other use?
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I'm not sure what she's talking about.
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Give means to give.
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You can say give means to make something available to somebody else, to somebody else, another person, but not for something else.
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You're not creating a different use for the thing.
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You're giving it.
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Give.
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Simple.
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Let's talk about give.
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I can say he gave her flowers.
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Pronunciation.
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He gave her flowers.
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You don't hear the H in her because her is not a stressed word.
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He gave her flowers.
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Give in the present, in the past gave.
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He gave her flowers.
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Can I say he gave flowers to her?
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Sure, if you want to emphasize the person, but normally we don't.
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We say he gave her flowers.
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Let's practice.
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Did he give her flowers?
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That's right, he gave her flowers.
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It was her birthday.
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But if there's some confusion about the person, like, did he give the money to me or did he give the money to him?
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Then we say it like this.
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We want to emphasize the person.
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He didn't give the money to me.
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He gave the money to him.
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Let's practice.
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Did he give the money to you, or did he give the money to him?
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That's right.
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He gave the money to him, not to you.
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But I can also say, he gave him money.
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You're not emphasizing the person.
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You're just saying what happened.
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He gave him the money.
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We hear the pronunciation, not him, but gave him, gave him.
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The H in him is silent because the word's not stressed.
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He gave him the money.
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Let's practice.
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Did he give him the money?
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That's right, he gave him the money.
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This is also not correct.
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There are so many different people on the mural.
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I cannot pronounce the word mural.
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It's not pronounced mural.
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It's pronounced mural.
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Mural.
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Use the y sound like yes and yesterday.
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M-y-y-r.
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Plus the er sound like burger, mi-er.
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Not mu-er-al, but mi-er.
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Mui-er-al.
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Plus the short sound ull, like in table and bottle.
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Mui-er-al.
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Connected with the R.
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Mui-er-al.
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This is a mural.
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Not a mural, but a mural.
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This is a beautiful mural.
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It's a painting on a wall.
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That's a mural.
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Let's practice.
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Is this a beautiful mural?
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That's right, this is a beautiful mural.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
The speaker keeps coming back to these words: verb, practice, ride, gave, describe. This video has 432 sentences and 2817 words to shadow. The speech runs for 18:15. The speaker talks at a natural 154 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 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 |
|---|---|---|
| verb noun | /vɝb/ | A word that indicates an action, event, or state of being. |
| workout noun | /ˈwɝk.aʊ̯t/ | An exercise session; a period of physical exercise. |
| mural noun | /ˈmjʊɹəl/ | A large painting, usually drawn on a wall. |
| clip noun | /klɪp/ | Something which clips or grasps; a device for attaching one object to another. |
| escalator noun | /ˈɛs.kə.leɪ.tɚ/ | Anything that escalates. |
| stun verb | /stʌn/ | To incapacitate; especially by inducing disorientation or unconsciousness. |
| tooth noun | /tuθ/ | A hard, calcareous structure present in the mouth of many vertebrate animals, generally used for biting and chewing food. |
| headphones noun | /ˈhɛdfoʊnz/ | A pair of cushioned speakers worn over or in the ears so only the wearer can hear the sound. |
| garlic noun | /ˈɡɑɹlɪk/ | A plant, Allium sativum, related to the onion, having a pungent bulb much used in cooking. |
| earbud noun | /ˈiɹ.bʌd/ | A small earphone designed to be placed in the ear canal for use with portable sound systems. |
| stative adjective | /ˈsteɪtɪv/ | Of a verb: asserting, generally intransitively, that a subject has a particular property, quality or status. |
| pronunciation noun | /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/ | The formal or informal way in which a word is made to sound when spoken. |
| pronounce verb | /pɹəˈnaʊns/ | To declare formally, officially or ceremoniously. |
| toothache noun | /ˈtuθˌeɪk/ | A pain or ache in a tooth. |
| noun noun | /naʊn/ | A word that functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as person, animal, place, word, thing, phenomenon, substance, quality, or idea… |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| take off verb | To remove. |
| go over verb | To look at carefully; to scrutinize; to analyze. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Wait, I want my teeth very white is wrong?
- Wait, you can't say pain in my tooth?
- You have to say toothache?
- You have to say, I have bad breath?
- Does he want you to describe this stunning image?
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 | is not pronounced · was opposed · being transported |
| Verb + -ing enjoy, keep, stop… + -ing — verbs that are followed by the -ing form | keep watching · avoid learning · love listening |
| Present continuous am/is/are + -ing — something happening right now or around now | is trying · they're fighting · we're taking |
| Obligation: must / have to / need to saying that something is necessary | have to say · have to use · need to go |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 57 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, they're, doesn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: tooth /tuθ/, toothache /ˈtuθˌeɪk/, breathe /bɹiːð/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, contraction /kənˈtɹækʃ(ə)n/, intonation /ɪntəˈneɪʃən/, gosh /ɡɑːʃ/, confusion /kənˈfjuːʒən/
- Long words — get the stress right: escalator /ˈɛs.kə.leɪ.tɚ/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, continuous /kənˈtɪn.juː.əs/, intonation /ɪntəˈneɪʃən/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like verb, workout, mural.
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.