発音練習 desert VS dessert - WITH AUDIO!!!

Has the pronunciation of these 2 words ever been difficult for you?

desert 砂漠

dessert デザート

Let's practice today! The good news is context will help you be understood, even if your pronunciation is strange.

If you said "After dinner can we have ice cream for desert (砂漠)?" I know what you mean even if your pronunciation is incorrect.

Here is the sound each word makes:

dessert デザート DIZ-ZURRT

desert 砂漠 - DEZ-IRT

Here is the audio:
"After dinner can we have ice cream for desert?"  DIZ-ZURRT

"My student used to live in California, and he often went to the  Mojave desert with his family."  DEZ-IRT

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hope VS wish (期待する) WITH AUDIO! (リスニング練習!)

hope VS wish (verb)

WISH and HOPE can mean 期待する. 
In English there is a small nuance.

英語ではちょっとニュアンスが違う。

hope verb - to want something to happen and think that it is possible

hope (for something) We're hoping for good weather on Sunday.
All we can do now is wait and hope.
‘Will you be back before dark?’ ‘I hope so, yes.’
The exam went better than I hoped.

‘Do you think it will rain?’ ‘I hope not.’

...but I brought my folding umbrella just in case!

wish verb - to want something to happen or to be true even though it is unlikely or impossible

wish (that)… I wish I was taller.

I wish I hadn't eaten so much.

‘Where is Alex now?’ ‘I only wish I knew!’

I wish you wouldn't leave your clothes all over the floor.

Definitions from http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/

Lately and Hardly (最近 and ほとんど)

Lately and Hardly 

Lately is an adverb that means recently. 

“Have you been to the shopping mall lately? 4 new stores opened last week.”

“I lost 3 kilograms! I stopped eating chocolate and lately I have been riding my bicycle to work.”
What have you been doing lately? ~ 最近何してたの？

Hardly is an adverb that means only just, almost not.

“Jerry must not be feeling well. He hardly ate anything at lunchtime.”

“I’m not sure why Chris told me such a personal story, we hardly know each other.”
There's hardly any difference ~ ほとんど差がない

Do you study English hard? = Do you try your best?

Do you hardly study English? = Do you do very little studying?

AUDIO listening!

"I need to study."

"I'm too tired to study."

English - Reported Speech pt.3 (間接話法)

Reported Speech pt.3

*Remember we also use this grammar when we explain something we heard from the TV news, Internet or read in the newspaper. Even if we read the information, we still use the verb said to report information. Look at these examples:

"The news last night said it was going to rain today."

"The I listened to the radio last night. It said it was going to rain today."

"I read the paper (newspaper) this morning at breakfast and it said it was going to rain today."

*I get most of my weather information from the Internet. 

"I looked at Yahoo weather last night for my area, it said it was going to rain today."

"The newspaper says that it will be sunny all week."

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English - Reported speech pt.2 (間接話法)

Reported speech pt.2

When we report what someone has told us remember that can becomes could and will becomes would.

For example:

Daniel: "I can meet you at 5:30." 

Daniel said he could meet us at 5:30.

Brenda: "I won't be in town next weekend."

She said she wouldn't be in town next weekend.

"Carrie said she couldn't come to the amusement park with us today. She doesn't feel well."

English - Reported Speech (間接話法)

Reporting what others have said:

There are two ways to talk about something that someone told us.

1. We can quote of the person.

Cheryl said "I'm busy."

or

2. We can change the verb tense and change the pronoun (I becomes he/she)

Cheryl said she was busy.

*#2 is the most natural way to use reported speech. It's the way I use almost every time!

Here are some more examples.

Mark said "I only have $20."

Mark said he only had 20 dollars.

Kevin said "I'm not worried about it."

Kevin said he wasn't worried about it.

Philip said "I'm going to leave."

Philip said he was going to leave.

"The research team said they weren't happy with the results of the test."

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Irregular VERB Break - Broke - Broken

Break - Broke - Broken
折る/破壊する

From Weblio:

動詞の活用形：

breaking(現在分詞) broke(過去形) broken(過去分詞) breaks(三人称単数現在)

When you install a mirror you must be careful not to break it.

____________________

Who broke the window? だれが窓を壊したのか.

_________________________

Greg has broken his arm twice.

__________________________________

I've broken my watch again. また時計を壊してしまった.

There is VS There are

There is VS There are

The verb "To be" has many uses. One use is to show that something exists or doesn't exist. Today let's look at There is VS There are

We use There is with singular nouns (only 1 単数)
"There is a new shopping mall on Main street." *Shopping mall is a singular noun. (1 mall)

We use There are with plural nouns (more than 1 複数)
"There are many stores in the mall." *Stores is a plural noun. (many stores)

Singular examples:
"There is a nice hotel near the airport." 空港の近くに素敵なホテルがあります
"There's an big game on TV tonight!"
"There isn't a parking lot close to the stadium so I't's better take the bus."
We use There is... with uncountable nouns:
"There is some paper in the photocopier."

Plural examples:
"There are 4 students waiting in your office." あなたのオフィスで待っている4学生があります。
"There are many ways to solve this problem."
"There aren't many cafes near my office so I always bring coffee from home."

Asking questions ~

"Are there many people in your office?"
"Is there a cafeteria at your school?"

We use Is there...? with uncountable nouns:
"Is there any coffee left?"

*Make some example sentences talking about things around your office, school or neighborhood practicing there is and there are. Ask questions too!

Use - 2 meanings, 2 pronunciations - 使う and 用途

USE can be a verb or a noun and the pronunciation is slightly different.  Look at these examples:

The word 'USE' can be a verb (使う) ~ "May I use your telephone? I have to call my Mom." The verb form has a Z (zee) sound at the end. YOUZ


The word 'USE' can also be a noun (用途) ~ "Studying English is a great use of your time." The noun form has an S (ess) sound at the end. YOUS

Listen to the English audio below:

To For So

Learn how to use 'TO' 'FOR' and 'SO' in natural conversation.

CLICK the image!

CLICK the image for the presentation!

Go out for a drink ~ VS ~ Go drinking

Here is a natural English sentence: “Last night I went out for a drink with some friends.” The main point is spending time with friends, we had a drink together.

We don’t  say “Last night I went drinking with my friends.” It sounds too serious. The main point here sounds like drinking, your main mission is to drink alcohol! 危ない！

"I went out with some coworkers for a few drinks last night. 
We had a great time!"

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English study tip! Preparing English to tell your own story

変な趣味がありますか？英語で話しましょう！

• 語彙を増やします
• 新しい単語を覚えています

Do you do anything that's unusual? Do you have an odd hobby? Prepare to talk about these things in English! This is a great way increase your vocabulary and remember new words. It's also a great chance to talk about yourself with others! Let me explain what I mean with an example.

I gave blood! 献血やりました！

"On Wednesday I went to a Red Cross center to give blood. I used to give blood in Canada and now I want to give blood again in Japan."

At the blood donation center they use a lot of medical Japanese, so I had a lot of help! But after my visit I learned some new words and sentences that I can use to talk about my experience with others in Japanese! It was great! I learned new Japanese and it is very easy to remember because I can use it to talk about a real thing that happened to me!

Try to describe your own activity in English by finding a few new words and make some sentences you can use to tell others what you have done :)

Some translation sites ~ 翻訳ウエブページ

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