This mini episode teaches you an interesting way to use the word “nice.”
Episode 217 of the Everybody ESL podcast is a mini episode that teaches you an interesting way to use the word “nice.” Send your questions about English and your suggestions for future episodes to EverybodyESL@gmail.com! (And let me know if you’d like to record the introduction to a future episode.)
Intro
“Hi, everyone! This is Gayatri, from India. And you are listening to Everybody ESL.”
Welcome to episode 217 of Everybody ESL, the podcast for everybody who wants to improve their English, practice their English, or just learn more English. My name is Ben, and I have a mini episode for you today, where I am going to teach you about one English topic. You can subscribe to the Everybody ESL podcast at Apple podcasts, on the Stitcher app, and wherever you find your podcasts. If you like Everybody ESL, leave it a good review so other people can find out about it too. And if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for me, please send an email to everybodyESL@gmail.com. Okay! Let’s get on with this mini episode.
The episode
The topic for this episode is an interesting construction that uses the word nice. Nice: n-i-c-e. The construction that we’re going to talk about today is “nice and” and then an adjective. “Nice and (an adjective).” For instance, “nice and warm.” “Nice and soft.”
What does the expression “nice and” mean?
I’m sure you are familiar with the word nice. Nice usually means “pleasant” or “friendly.” And it means something very similar in this construction, in “nice and.” We use “nice and” to emphasize a positive adjective. Let me give you some examples, and I think this will be very clear.
I can say, “It is cold outside today, but her apartment is nice and warm.” It is cold outside today, but her apartment is nice and warm.
And what I mean when I say, “nice and warm” is “pleasantly warm” or “very warm in a good way” or “very warm in a comfortable way.”
I could also say, “This new chair is nice and soft.” This new chair is nice and soft.
In other words, this new chair is pleasantly soft, or it’s very soft in a pleasant or comfortable way.
I could even say a sentence like this: “The fresh brownies are nice and chewy.” The fresh brownies are nice and chewy.
That means the fresh brownies are pleasantly chewy. They are chewy in a good way, in a pleasant way. It feels good to chew them because they have that kind of sticky or stiff feeling that food has sometimes, but in a good way. They are pleasantly chewy. They’re nice and chewy.
That is “nice and,” a very useful construction that I think you should know.
Outro
We have reached the end of episode 217 of Everybody ESL. Remember: if you have any questions about English, or if you have comments or suggestions 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 Gayatri 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. Goodbye! I’ll see you soon.