Tag: Vocabulary

how to report an emergency in English
Intermediate
Jay

Emergency English – making a 911 or 211 call

This lesson’s about how to make English emergency calls such as a 911 or 112 call. You’ll learn how to report an emergency in English and how to report your location to get help fast. We give examples of different emergencies you might need to report like: – Someone’s choked on some food – I think someone’s trying to break into my home – There’s been a car accident – Someone’s walked into a glass

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disagree in English
Intermediate
Jay

How to Disagree like a Native Speaker

Disagreeing is tricky in any language. It means you’re saying someone else is wrong or different and linguists have found it’s a dispreferred response. In this lesson we look at some steps English native speakers often follow when they disagree: Hesitating Asking challenging questions Saying ‘yes but…’ and adding their objections We note how the phrases I agree and I don’t agree are explicit and formal and hence have limited uses in everyday conversations, namely

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SEVY speaking challenge awards with Vicki and Jay
Elementary
Jay

The SEVY Awards 2019 with Vicki and Jay

Vicki and Jay are very proud to welcome you to the 2019 SEVY (Simple English Videos, Yay!) Award Ceremony, where you’ll meet students from many different countries who are learning English. Speaking in English is a challenge. You’re bound to think, ‘Am I making mistakes?’ or ‘Am I saying this right?’ Now imagine you’re not just talking to one or two people, but you’re talking to the world! A few weeks ago we set our

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second conditional examples
Intermediate
Jay

The second conditional in action – English grammar

We use the English second conditional to talk about imaginary, hypothetical or unreal possibilities. In this video we’ll show you how to form the second conditional and when to use it. We look at: First vs second conditional First and second conditionals are similar because they’re both about present and future possibilities. The difference is the second conditional is more imaginary. We use it to talk about unlikely or unreal possibilities. Second conditional examples You’ll

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quite in British and American English
Intermediate
Jay

The trickiest word in English – Quite!

Is the meaning of the adverb quite, very or completely? It looks like a small difference but it can lead to big misunderstandings. Sometimes quite means the same thing in British and American English, but sometimes it’s used differently. In this video we show you – how to use quite to mean completely – how to use not quite (meaning not completely) to criticize someone gently or say you disagree. – how quite can mean

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british english slang
Intermediate
Jay

British Slang Words Quiz

Play along with a British English slang quiz. Vicki (who is British) tests Jay (who is American) with 10 British English slang words and he does very well! You’ll learn 10 slang words and colloquial expressions including: bloke, meaning dude quid, not quids bog and bog roll a tad meaning a little knackered and clapped out skint meaning broke hard cheese meaning hard luck – often ironic peckish meaning a little hungry cheeky meaning disrespectful

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useful english adjectives
Intermediate
Jay

7 useful English adjectives

Learn some adjectives while you’re shopping with us in Philadelphia. We’ll show you 7 useful English adjectives in action and also some common adjective + preposition phrases. We look at: – the adjective chilly and how we use it to talk about the weather and relationships – major, meaning large and important – financial vs economic – tall vs high – vague meaning not detailed or clear And we also look at some adjective +

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Elementary
Jay

Your English Goals – Speaking Challenge 2019

This is your invitation to practice speaking English with us and appear in one of our videos! Make a short video where you’re speaking in English, and we’ll share it with the world. Here’s how it works: 1. You make a short video of yourself speaking – just a few sentences. Tell us who you are and your English goals. 2. You send the video to us, or send us a link where we can

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can't and not c*nt
Intermediate
Jay

2 tricky vowel sounds in British and American English – AH and UH

We made a video a while ago on how we say can and can’t in British and American English. You can see it here. It was very popular but many of you wrote saying you were worried about saying the right the vowel sound in the word can’t. If you get it wrong you could say can’t and not c*nt – so a rude word in English. Some of you said you say cannot instead.

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plate or dish prototype theory
Intermediate
Jay

Dish or plate? Prototype theory and English vocabulary

What’s the difference between a plate and a dish in English? In some languages there’s just one word. It’s not a simple answer because the meanings of words often overlap. In this English lesson we explain when we say dish or plate and look at the features of: – plates, dishes, cups, mugs and bowls – different kinds of games We show how the meanings of words can be fuzzy at the edges and it

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