Animal sound vocabulary, Part 1 in our series about passive verbs, a lesson about how to accept help, the Joke of the Week, a listening quiz, and more.
Episode 133 of the Everybody ESL podcast has good animal sound vocabulary, a lesson about accepting help, Part 1 in our series about passive verbs, the Joke of the Week, a listening quiz, and more. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions (or if you’d like to record an introduction for future episodes), send an email to EverybodyESL@gmail.com!
Episode 133 rundown:
Vocabulary (words for animal sounds): 1:20,
Grammar (Part 1 in the series about passive verbs): 7:40,
Small talk (accepting help): 13:45,
The Joke of the Week: 15:55,
Listening quiz: 17:20
Vocabulary: words for animal sounds
For this episode’s vocabulary list, I want to do something a little bit different: I want to talk about animal sounds. Now, as you know, animals sound the same all over the world. A dog here in the United States makes the same sound as a dog in Russia. And a cat in Japan makes the same sound as a cat in Australia. But the words that people use to stand for those sounds are often very different in different countries and in different languages. Now I'm not talking about the sounds that we make to imitate animal sounds. I'm not talking about things like “Rrrf! Rrrf!” to sound like a dog. I'm talking about the words that languages use to stand for animal sounds. Now, some of these might sound very familiar to you. They might be very similar to the words in your first language. But some of them might sound very strange, and you might wonder, “How can English speakers think that that's what that animal sounds like?” Well, these aren't really what we think the animals sound like. These are just the words that we use to represent animal sounds. Do you understand the difference? I think as we get into this list you will understand what I'm talking about.
And the first word on the list is the word for the sound that a dog makes. In English—believe it or not—dogs say, “Bow wow.” Bow wow. B-o-w w-o-w. Bow wow. That's what a dog says. Now, I don't really think dogs say, “Bow wow.” I think dogs say things like “Rrrf! Rrrf! Rrrf!” But the word that we use to stand for the sound that a dog makes is bow wow. Or that's the main one that we use.
The next one is the word for a cat’s sound. And that word is meow. M-e-o-w. Meow. Now this one I happen to know is very similar in many languages. I think this one is much closer to the sound a cat really makes than "bow wow" is to the sound that a dog makes. So, anyway, in English cats say, “Meow.” M-e-o-w.
All right, how about this one? What do you think cows say in English? What does a cow say? A cow says, “Moo.” Moo. M-o-o.
This next one I always think is a little bit funny. This is what pigs say in English. In English, pigs say, “Oink.” Or “Oink-oink.” And oink is spelled o-i-n-k. Pigs say, “Oink” in English.
All right. The next one is horse. Now, what does a horse say in English? I think there are two different things horses say in English. The first one is “neigh,” which we spell n-e-i-g-h. Neigh. And the second one is “whinny.” Whinny. W-h-i-n-n-y. Now, maybe if I knew more about horses, I would be able to tell you if there was a difference between a neigh and a whinny. But I don't really know very much about horses, so I'm just going to say those are two words that we use to represent the sound that horses make.
All right, how about this one? A rooster. Do you know what a rooster says in English? I know that many languages’ words for rooster sounds are very long, and some of them are very musical-sounding. And the English word is long, and I think it's a little bit strange. First of all, do you know what sound I'm talking about when I talk about a rooster sound? I'm talking about a sound like this. {Rooster crowing sound} Okay, well, how do we say that in English? What do we say roosters are saying in English? We say that roosters say, “Cock-a-doodle-do.” Cock-a-doodle-do. We usually spell that c-o-c-k-hyphen-a-hyphen-d-o-o-d-l-e-hyphen-d-o. Cock-a-doodle-do.
All right, what about owls? What do owls say? Do you know what owls are? Owls are a big group of birds that hunt at night, and they often have very big eyes. And some owls make a sound like this. {Owl sound} And the way we say that in English is “hoot.” Hoot. H-o-o-t. Owls hoot.
And the last word on our list of animal sound words is the word for the sound that a duck makes. Do you know what sound a duck makes? {Duck sounds} I mean, do you know what sound a duck makes when it speaks in English? When a duck speaks in English, it says, “Quack.” Quack. Q-u-a-c-k. Quack. That is what a duck says in English.
Why are there so many words for the sounds that different birds make? I don't know. That's a good question. Well, that is how some animals talk in English. You can send me a recording and tell me how animals talk in your language.
Grammar: Part One of the series about passive verbs
Today's grammar lesson is going to be Part One of a new series. It is a series about passive verbs. Passive verbs. Have you heard about passive verbs before? Well, before we can talk about passive verbs, we need to talk about active verbs. That's because active verbs are the more common kind of verb, and passive verbs are a different form of verb. And I think it will be much easier for me to explain passive verbs if we can talk about active verbs first.
Let me give you an example of a simple sentence that uses an active verb:
The puppy drinks the water. The puppy drinks the water.
That's a very simple sentence. Where is the verb in that sentence? The puppy drinks the water. What's the verb? The verb is drinks. Drinks. That is the action. That's what is happening in this sentence. Okay. Now. What is the subject of this sentence? The puppy drinks the water. What's the subject? Who are we talking about? Who is doing something in this sentence? It is the puppy. The subject of this sentence is the puppy. The puppy is the thing that is doing the action. The puppy is the thing that is doing the verb. The puppy is drinking. In this sentence the thing that is doing the action is the subject. The subject (the puppy) is doing the thing (drinking, or drinking the water). The puppy is drinking the water. This is called an active sentence. Why? What makes something an active sentence? What makes it an active sentence is that the subject (the puppy) is doing the verb (drinking, or drinking the water). This is how active sentences work. This is a regular, common kind of sentence. Probably, most sentences you hear will work this way, where the subject is the thing that is doing the verb. That's the relationship between the subject and the verb. The subject does the verb.
Here are another few examples that will show you what I'm talking about with this kind of regular active sentence.
The student reads her textbook. The student reads her textbook.
What's the verb in this sentence? It’s reads. What's the subject? The student. And who is doing the action? The subject. The subject does the action. The student reads her textbook. This is another active sentence, where the subject of the sentence is the thing that does the action of the verb. The student reads her textbook.
Here's another one:
I’m so sorry to tell you, but I broke the window. I'm so sorry to tell you, but I broke the window.
What is the verb in the main part of this sentence? It is broke. And what is the subject of broke? It is I. I broke the window. The subject is the thing that did the action. I am the thing that broke the window. So here, it is another regular, common kind of active sentence, where the subject is the thing that does the action.
Okay? One last example, just to make sure that you get this point, because it's important.
My friend always drives too fast. My friend always drives too fast.
What is the verb in this sentence? It’s drives. My friend always drives too fast. What's the subject of this sentence? My friend. My friend is the subject, and drives is the verb. And the thing that is doing the verb is the subject. My friend is the thing that is doing the action of driving, or driving too fast. “My friend always drives too fast” is another active sentence where the subject of the sentence is the thing that is doing the action of the verb.
Does that make sense? Maybe you've never thought about sentences this way, or maybe this is all review to you. Either way, this is an important first step in understanding passive sentences, which use a different kind of verb form. But I think before we can get to passive verbs, we need to make sure that we understand active verbs.
That is all we're going to do for Part One in our series about passive verbs. In future episodes of the podcast we will have more lessons about passive verbs. But this is Part One in our series, so stay tuned for more parts in the series about passive verbs.
Small Talk: accepting help
Today’s small talk topic or social situation is a common one and a simple one: What do you say if you need help from somebody, and they offer to help? What do you say? How do you accept help from somebody?
For example, let's say you are on your way inside a building, but your hands are full. It's hard for you to open the door. And somebody notices this and comes over to you and says. “Can I help you with the door?” or “Can I get that for you?” (In other words, “Can I open the door for you?”)
How do you accept their offer to help? What do you say? Well, of course you can always say the most simple and most basic thing, which is “Yes, thank you” or “Yes, thank you very much.” That will work in just about every situation. But are there any other things you can say if somebody offers to help you? Sure! You can also say, “Thanks. That would be great.” Thanks. That would be great. Or “Thanks. I appreciate it.” Thanks. I appreciate it. Or you could say, “Thanks. That would be a big help.” Thanks. That would be a big help.
So if somebody offers to help, and you would like to accept their offer for help, you can say, “Yes, thank you,” or “Thank you. That would be great,” or “Thanks. I appreciate it,” or “Thanks. That would be a big help.”
So now if you are in that situation where somebody is offering help—help that you need—now you know what to say.
The Joke of the Week
And now it's time for the joke of the week! A joke that is probably not going to be very funny, but maybe it will show us something interesting or fun about English. Here is this week's joke:
Why are fish so smart? Why are fish so smart?
Did you know that fish are smart? I don't know. Maybe they're not, but this is the joke: Why are fish so smart? Let me tell you the answer. Why are fish so smart? Because they spend so much time in schools. Because they spend so much time in schools!
Do you get it? Do you see why this is supposed to be a joke? Well, it’s because school has two different meanings. It has the regular, common meaning that you already know: a place where people go to learn something. But it has a second meaning too. The second meaning of school is a big group of fish all moving together.
So why are fish so smart? Because they spend so much time in schools! Yeah!
Listening Quiz
It's time for the listening quiz. I have five sentences here, and I'm going to read them at a normal, natural, conversational speed. And it might be a little bit difficult for you to understand everything that I'm saying. But try your best. If you want to listen to these sentences over and over and over again, trying to understand everything, that's fine. That's great. Just do your best to understand everything that I'm saying. After I read the sentences in this quick, natural, normal speed, I will read them again much more slowly. And I think you will have an easier time understanding them when I read them at that slower speed. But first, here we go with the fast speed.
Sentence number one: “We saw many colorful fish when we went swimming.” We saw many colorful fish when we went swimming.
Sentence number two: “My neighbor's new puppy is so cute.” My neighbor's new puppy is so cute.
Sentence number three: “Can I get the door for you?” Can I get the door for you?
Sentence number four: “I wish the bus driver would go faster.” I wish the bus driver would go faster.
And sentence number five: “The ducks in the park never stop quacking.” The ducks in the park never stop quacking.
Okay. How was that? How was it when I read the sentences so quickly? Were you able to understand everything? Well, if you weren't, I think you will have a much easier time understanding them when I read them much more slowly, starting with sentence number one:
“We saw many colorful fish when we went swimming.” We saw many colorful fish when we went swimming.
Sentence number two: “My neighbor's new puppy is so cute.” My neighbor's new puppy is so cute. That is neighbor’s: n-e-i-g-h-b-o-r-apostrophe-s. My neighbor’s new puppy is so cute .
Sentence number three: “Can I get the door for you?” Can I get the door for you? That means “Can I open the door for you?” “Can I take care of the door for you?”
Sentence number four: “I wish the bus driver would go faster.” I wish the bus driver would go faster.
And sentence number five: “The ducks in the park never stop quacking.” The ducks in the park never stop quacking.” Do you remember that word quack? That is the word that we use in English to represent the sound that a duck makes. Quack. Q-u-a-c-k.
All right. That is this episode’s listening quiz. How did you do?
The Ending
We have reached the end of episode 133 of Everybody ESL. Remember, if you have any questions about English, or if you have comments or suggestions for me about the podcast, or if you would like to record an introduction that I can use at the beginning of future episodes (the same way Juhee recorded the introduction you heard at the beginning of this episode), send an email to EverybodyESL@gmail.com.
I'll be back soon with another episode. And until then, keep going, keep practicing, and keep learning. Good-bye! I'll see you soon.