This mini episode is about an interesting way to use the word “like.”
Episode 251 of the Everybody ESL podcast is a mini episode that teaches you an interesting way to use the word “like.” 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
“Hello. This is Katherine, from South Korea. And you’re listening to Everybody ESL.”
Welcome to episode251of 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
In this episode, I am going to talk about a word that I’m sure you know. But I’m going to talk about a very strange way that we use this word. The word is like. Like. L-i-k-e. Like is usually a verb, but it can also be an adjective or an adverb. We also use like in some strange ways that are very hard to explain.
And it’s one of those ways that I will try to explain today. Let’s consider this situation:
A school soccer game is happening. And soon after the soccer game begins, it starts to rain. Imagine that all of the kids playing soccer are very upset. They’re very disappointed because it has started to rain, and they will have to stop playing soccer.
Okay. Now imagine that someone says this:
“When it started to rain, all the soccer players were like, ‘Oh no!’” When it started to rain, all the soccer players were like, “Oh no!”
What does like mean in that sentence? All the soccer players were like, “Oh no”? That use of like is not one of those regular uses of like. It’s not a verb there. It’s not an adjective or an adverb. What is it? What is it doing in that sentence? “All the soccer players were like, ‘Oh no!’” This is the part that can be difficult to explain.
You will often hear native speakers use like as a way of describing somebody’s reaction or somebody’s attitude or the words somebody says.
In this example—the soccer players were like, “Oh no!”—it is setting up the idea that the soccer players had this reaction.
It could mean that they said those words—they said the words “Oh no.”
Or it could mean that was their reaction. That was their attitude when it started to rain. They had that kind of feeling. They had an “oh no” kind of feeling. That was how they felt about the situation. That was their reaction or their response to the rain.
You see what I mean when I say this is hard to explain.
Let me give you another example of this use of the word like.
The cat came into the kitchen, saw there was no food, and was like, “I will just leave now.” The cat was like, “I will just leave now.”
We don’t mean that the cat said, “I will just leave now.” What we mean is this was the cat’s attitude. This was the cat’s reaction.
It’s almost like we are describing a scene in a movie. We are saying, “And then the cat left with this attitude: the cat left with the same attitude as someone who says, ‘I’m just going to leave now.’” That was the cat’s attitude. That was the cat’s feeling.
The next time you are around native English speakers, and you are listening to what they’re saying when they are having a natural, normal conversation, you will probably hear them use the word like in this way, especially if they are younger. I think this use of the word like is more common among younger people. But I think most, or many, native English speakers use like in this way.
Outro
This is the end of episode 251 of Everybody ESL. Remember: if you have questions about English, or if you have comments or suggestions for the podcast, or if you would like to record an introduction that I can use at the beginning of future episodes—the same way Katherinerecorded the introduction you heard at the beginning of this episode—send an email to everybodyESL@gmail.com. I’ll be back soon with a new episode, and until then, keep going, keep practicing, and keep learning. Goodbye! I’ll see you soon.