Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 387, Describing Talent and Ability.
This is English as a Second Language podcast number 387.
I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you.
Transcription by CastingWords talking about how good certain members of a sports team are.
Let's get started.
Thanks for inviting me to see your team.
Who's your best player?
That would be Sarah.
She's a natural.
No one comes close to her speed and dexterity.
She has good instincts and a flair for getting out of difficult situations.
Molly is a good player, too.
In terms of scoring points...
She can almost do it in her sleep.
She's also very good at being a leader to the other players and she has a knack for getting along with even the most difficult teammates.
As you know, we recruit only first-rate players for the national team and this year we hope to be head and shoulders above any of the other teams.
The days of making do with mediocre players are over.
I understand that.
We have a game this Saturday.
Why don't you come out and judge for yourself?
I think you'll be impressed with the talent you see.
I'm sure I will.
I'll be here on Saturday, ready to be dazzled.
In our dialogue, Brad has invited Kathy to come to see his sports team.
We assume Brad is the coach of the team.
Kathy begins by saying, And then she asks, Who is your best player?
Brad says, that would be Sarah.
Brad could also say, Sarah, or Sarah is the best player.
But he says that would be Sarah, which is sort of what we might call a conditional use, as if he were saying, if I had to pick, the best player would be Sarah.
This is actually quite common.
People say, that would be me.
That would be her.
It really means the same as that is me or that is her.
But it is very common to hear that would be.
Brad says, that would be Sarah.
She's a natural.
A natural means a person who has... natural ability, who is born with a certain skill.
We sometimes use this expression with the preposition at.
He's a natural at ice skating.
He was born to ice skate.
Not me, of course.
I was a terrible skater when I was young.
But some people are naturals.
They are born to do that.
They have this natural talent.
Brad says no one comes close to Sarah's speed and dexterity.
No one comes close to means that Sarah is much much better than any of the other players.
She is faster.
No one comes close to her speed and And she has the ability to do things quickly and skillfully.
That's the meaning of the expression dexterity.
It is especially used when talking about your hands.
She has great dexterity.
She can move quickly and accurately and do things very skillfully.
Brad says If you say someone has good instincts, you mean that they are able to think and behave quickly and naturally.
It's almost similar to the expression, he's a natural or she's a natural.
It means that they are born with or they seem to have acquired, they seem to have learned how to do things very quickly and without having to even think about something.
To say someone has a flair for something means they once again have a natural ability.
They're able to do something very well.
I have a flair for making my wife mad at me.
I'm very good at that.
It's my natural talent.
Kathy says, Sarah sounds promising.
When you say someone sounds promising or something sounds promising, you're saying that it is likely to be successful or enjoyable.
You think that it will have a good result.
That movie sounds promising means I think it's going to be good.
It sounds like it will be good.
I expect it to be good.
Kathy asks.
To keep an eye on something means to pay attention to something, to watch something carefully.
Brad says, In terms of scoring points, She can almost do it in her sleep.
Brad is now talking about another player.
He says that Molly, when it comes to or in terms of scoring points if we are talking about her scoring points on the team she can almost do it in her sleep.
To be able to do something in your sleep means to do it very easily, without even thinking about it, without much effort.
Brad says Molly is also very good at being a leader to the other players.
To be good at something means to have a certain ability to be able to do something well.
Brad also says that Molly has a knack for getting along with even the most difficult teammates.
To have a knack K-N-A-C-K means to have a skill, to have an ability, to be able to do something well.
Molly is able to get along with, to be friends with all of the other teammates, even if they are difficult to get along with normally.
Kathy says, as you know, we recruit only first-rate players for the national team.
So now we learn that Kathy is there to recruit or to find people to join the national team.
We're not sure what sport this is, but that's what Kathy is there for, to find first-rate players.
When we say someone or something is first-rate players, We mean of the highest quality, the very best.
Kathy says this year, we hope to be head and shoulders above any of the other teams.
The expression to be head and shoulders above something or someone means to be much, much better than anyone else.
Your head, of course, is what's on the top of your body, for most of us.
Your shoulders are the tops of your arms.
To be head and shoulders means in some ways to be taller, but really to be better than other people.
In this case, the other team's.
Kathy says, The days of making do with mediocre players are over.
The expression to make do means to use what you have even if it's not the best.
To manage to do something but not to have the best things to do it with.
Mediocre means There are several uses of that expression.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations.
Someone who is mediocre is someone who is not very good.
Medium to poor in quality.
He's a mediocre piano player.
He's not a very good piano player.
So the days of making do with mediocre players are over, meaning we're not going to do that anymore.
Brad says, I understand that.
We have a game this Saturday.
Why don't you come out?
Why don't you go to the game?
And To judge for yourself means to evaluate for yourself, to get your own opinion by looking at or observing something.
Brad says, I think you'll be impressed with the talent you see.
To be impressed means that you think very highly or have a very good opinion of someone or something.
Talent is, once again, your skill or ability, often skill or ability that you are born with or that you don't have to be taught by someone else.
Kathy says, I'm sure I will be, meaning I'm sure I will be impressed.
I'll be here on Saturday ready to be dazzled.
To be dazzled means to think something is extremely good or exciting, to be very impressed with a person or a thing.
I'm ready to be dazzled means I expect this is going to be very, very good.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Thanks for inviting me to see your team.
Who's your best player?
That would be Sarah.
She's a natural.
No one comes close to her speed and dexterity.
She has good instincts and a flair for getting out of difficult situations.
She sounds promising.
Anyone else I should be keeping an eye on?
Molly is a good player, too.
In terms of scoring points, she can almost do it in her sleep.
She's also very good at being a leader to the other players and she has a knack for getting along with even the most difficult teammates.
As you know, we recruit only first-rate players for the national team and this year we hope to be head and shoulders above any of the other teams.
The days of making do with mediocre players are over.
I understand that.
We have a game this Saturday.
Why don't you come out and judge for yourself?
I think you'll be impressed with the talent you see.
I'm sure I will.
I'll be here on Saturday, ready to be dazzled.
The script for this episode was written by a woman with a flair for writing, Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thanks for listening.
Come back and listen to us next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2008.
