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Small, ‘easy’ words

A lot of English learners want to learn new vocabulary. They want to learn as many words as they can. And that’s great! Keep learning them 👍

What I would suggest is to also pay attention to the small, ‘easy’ words that you already know. For example, a lot of English learners don’t pay enough attention to the small words, ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘the’. The rules are easy, but there are so many exceptions! If you already know the basic rules, pay attention to when native English speakers use these small words and listen out for these exceptions.  

‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘the’ – Part I
‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘the’ – Part II

And then you also have words like ‘run’ or ‘get’ that are used VERY often in English, and they have a lot of different meanings. Can you use these words in more of your own sentences? Listen out for small words like these as well when talking to native English speakers. You will also start to see just how often these small words are actually used. (And ‘see’ is another small word that is used very often. So listen out for this as well 😉)

And lastly, phrasal verbs are used ALL THE TIME. So continue learning as many of these as you can. I am working on a fun video at the moment all about phrasal verbs, so keep an eye out for that in the next few weeks! 😊

Try and spend more time on words and phrases that are used a lot. It will really help you with your English speaking and listening skills.

Happy studying! 💪

Small, ‘easy’ words – at a slower speed
Small, ‘easy’ words – at a more natural speed

Vocabulary

Here are a few words and phrases that I used in today’s post. I have highlighted them in bold above ⬆

Pay attention (to something) [phrase]

“To watch or listen to something carefully, or to think or consider something”

You need to pay attention to the teacher. Stop looking out the window!

Make sure you pay attention to the warning signs in the area.

Exception [noun]

“Something or someone that is not included in a group or a rule”

All my students are very good, but Jim is the exception. (This is just an example and NOT true at all! 😂)

There are a lot of exceptions to the grammar rules in English, unfortunately. (And unlike the previous sentence, this one is true and NOT just an example!)

Listen out for something [phrase]

“To listen carefully for a sound; to be ready to hear something”

I’m expecting my mum to arrive soon. Can you listen out for her car?

While you’re listening to the story, listen out for any new words that you don’t know.

Keep an eye out for something [phrase]

“To watch carefully for something”

I always keep an eye out for good books to read.

I’m expecting my mum to arrive soon. Can you keep an eye out for her?

Vocabulary – Listening Practice

Vocabulary – At a slower speed
Vocabulary – at a more natural speed
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How often?

When someone asks you how often you do something, they’re asking you how many times a day or week (or month etc.) you do it.

Firstly, ‘often’ can be said in two different ways. You can say the T or it can be silent. I don’t say the T because I find that saying it with the T takes more work 😂

‘Often’ can be said in two different ways

Let’s have a look at this question and practise a few different ways that we can answer it.

How often do you play tennis?

“How often?”

Let’s say that you play tennis on the days that are ticked on this calendar.

You can say “I play tennis once a week”. But you can also give more information and say, “I play tennis every Wednesday”.

“I play tennis once a week”
“I play tennis every Wednesday”

Or maybe your calendar looks like this.

Here, you would say, “I play tennis twice a week”. So every week, you play tennis two times.

“I play tennis twice a week”

But what if your calendar looks like this?

Then you play tennis once every two weeks, and you can also say once a fortnight.

“I play tennis once every two weeks”
“I play tennis once a fortnight”

Or maybe your calendar looks more like this.

So you’re playing tennis maybe two or three times a week.

“I play tennis maybe two or three times a week”

And what if you’re really serious about tennis and your calendar looks like this? 😱

Then you’re pretty much playing tennis every day.

“I play tennis pretty much every day”
“I play tennis almost every day”

Questions

Answer these questions for more practice:

  1. How often do you study English?
  2. How often do you exercise?
  3. How often do you go shopping?
  4. How often do you go out for dinner?
  5. How often do you go to the movies?
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What are you doing this weekend?

There are a number of ways that you can ask this question! In this post, I’d like to practise saying a few of these different ways, so that you have a few different options to choose from next time you want to ask this question. And I’d also like you to hear a few different ways that people may ask you this question!

After each question, I will say it twice: once at a slightly slower speed, and then again at a more natural speed. And I’d like you to practise saying each question with me.

  1. What are you doing this weekend?

2. What are your plans for the weekend?

3. What have you got planned this weekend?

4. Do you have any plans this weekend?

5. Have you got much on this weekend?

And what about your answer?

Of course you can answer this in sooo many different ways! Here are a few common answers that I’d like you to practise with me.

I don’t have anything planned, I’m just going to watch TV.

Not much. I’m just going to go over to a friend’s place on Saturday.

Nothing much. I have a lot of homework to do, so I’m just going to work on that.

A few grammar points

Two things that you can practise when you’re talking about your weekend:

  1. Try to use “… going to…” to show what you have planned:
    – I’m going to go shopping with my friend.
    – I’m going to go to the beach.
    – I’m going to do my homework.
    – I’m going to work on my assignment.
    – I’m going over to a friend’s house. We’re just going to hang out* there for a while.
    (* hang out – an informal phrasal verb that is used more by younger people. It means to ‘spend a lot of time at a particular place or with someone’)

  2. You can also use this “going to” to talk about the weather:
    – “They said that it’s going to be sunny tomorrow, so I’ve decided to go to the beach.”
    – “It’s going to rain all weekend, so I think I’m just going to stay home.”

  3. When you’re talking about a particular day of the week (e.g. Saturday or Sunday), you use the preposition ‘on’.
    – I’m going to go to the museum on Saturday.
    – I’m going to go and visit my sister on Sunday.

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