Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 766, Describing Shapes and Sizes.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 766.
I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you.
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This episode is a dialogue about describing how big something is, as well as the shape of that thing.
Let's get started.
Your apartment is going to look fabulous once I'm finished decorating it.
I really appreciate you taking the time to help me choose some furniture, but I'd really like to keep the look conservative and traditional.
Nonsense.
You have a fabulous new apartment, and I'm going to help you make the most of it.
Look at that oval mirror.
It'll look fantastic in your hall.
That mirror is gigantic.
I don't think I want anything that size.
How about this rectangular one?
That's too puny for that space.
Oh, look at this triangular bookcase.
It would really complement the fireplace in the den.
I don't think that bookcase is very functional.
The shelves are so narrow, and it's an odd shape.
It really looks nice, but I need furniture that I can actually use.
I like this one better.
How boring!
You need something that makes a statement.
How about this chair?
It's fabulous.
It's a humongous circle on the floor with a cushion on top of it.
I don't think anyone would ever sit on it.
Yes, but in design you have to consider form before function.
That's where we differ.
I actually have to live in this apartment, remember?
Carson begins by saying to Brooke Your apartment is going to look fabulous or wonderful once I'm finished decorating it.
To decorate, D-E-C-O-R-A-T-E, means to make something more attractive, especially a room in a house.
People sometimes talk about redecorating.
Taking a room and changing it, decorating it again, putting different colors on the walls, maybe different furniture all this could be part of decorating a room.
You could also decorate a tree like a Christmas tree by putting things on it, making it look pretty.
Brooke says I really appreciate you taking the time to help me choose or select some furniture, but I'd really like to keep the look conservative and traditional.
Brooke is saying that she wants the room to look traditional, traditional and conservative.
She says
Here, it would mean not something with bright or wild colors or crazy-looking chairs.
She wants something that is more like you would typically find in someone's home nothing too wild, nothing too crazy, something more conservative, safe.
Carson says, nonsense, meaning I don't agree with you.
You have a fabulous new apartment and I'm going to help you make the most of it.
The expression to make the most of something means to do something in order to get the most benefit, the maximum benefit from something.
I'm going to London and I want to make the most of it.
I'm going to... the British Museum.
I'm going to see all of the great historical sites.
I'm going to have lunch with the Queen.
Well, probably not lunch with the Queen, but I'm going to make the most of it by doing as much as I can.
That's what Carson means here.
He says to Brooke, look at that oval mirror and Oval, O-V-A-L, is a shape.
It's like a circle, but a long circle.
It's sort of the shape of an egg.
It's circular, it's round, but it is a little longer.
It's not a perfect circle.
That's oval.
Carson and Brooke, I guess, are at some sort of store looking at things to buy for the apartment.
Carson says that mirror will look fantastic, wonderful in your hall.
The hall is a place in a house usually to get from one place to another, from one room to another.
You go through a hall.
We sometimes call a hallway.
A hall might actually be a small room, especially when you first walk into a house.
That's probably what Carson is talking about here.
I'll have to ask him.
Brooks says that mirror is gigantic.
Gigantic means very large.
We might also say enormous or huge.
There's a funny word that people have started using more recently, which is ginormous.
That's not a real word in English.
It's a combination of gigantic and enormous to mean really, really big.
Brooke says, I don't think I want anything that size, meaning that big.
How about, or what do you think about, this rectangular one?
Rectangular is is in the shape of a rectangle, which is something that has four 90-degree angles in each corner.
So it's like a square.
A square is a rectangle, but a rectangle could also be like a longer square, where the four sides are not equal.
In a square, all four sides are equal.
In a rectangle you have two sides that are equal and then two other sides that are equal, but they don't necessarily equal each other in length.
That's a rectangle.
Carson says that the rectangular mirror is too puny for that space.
Puny, P-U-N-Y. is the opposite of gigantic.
It's a way of describing the size of something that is very small.
It could also mean something that isn't very important or some person who isn't very important.
But here it just means too small.
It's too small for that space, meaning that area.
He says, oh, look at this triangular bookcase.
A bookcase is a place where you put books.
Triangular refers to the shape of a triangle.
It has three straight sides on it.
There are lots of different kinds of triangles.
If you think of The Pythagorean theorem, the notion that a squared plus b squared equals c squared, then you'll understand a little bit about triangles, or at least remember a little bit of your geometry, that part of the study of math that looks at things like triangles.
Carson says it would really complement the fireplace in the den.
He's saying that this triangular bookcase... would really complement the fireplace.
To complement C-O-M-P-L-E-M-E-N-T means to look good next to something or to look good with something.
It can here also mean to match.
It looks nice with something else, because it has a similar color or a nice color that goes with.
We might say that other color.
Compliment. has the word complete in it, and that's one way of remembering what it means.
It means that it goes with or completes something else.
There's another word, complement, sounds the same but has an I in the middle.
C-O-M-P-L-I-M-E-N-T.
That's when you say something nice to someone else about their shoes or their hair, or how well they did on their geometry test.
Brooks says, I don't think that bookcase is very functional.
To be functional means that you can actually use it for something.
Not just something that looks pretty, that looks nice, but you can have some practical use from that particular object.
Brooks says the shelves are so narrow.
To say something is narrow, N-A-R-R-O-W, means that it is very thin.
It's not very wide.
We sometimes talk about narrow streets, streets where it's very difficult to have two cars going in different directions because there isn't enough room.
That would be narrow.
Well, this is a narrow bookcase.
Brooke also says it's an odd O-D-D shape.
Odd here means unusual, strange, not common.
There are other meanings of the word odd.
Take a look at our learning guide for some of those.
Brooke says that this bookcase that Carson likes really looks nice, but she needs furniture that she can actually use.
I like this one better.
Carson doesn't like the other one better.
He says, how boring, how uninteresting.
You need something that makes a statement.
To make a statement here means to express yourself in some unusual way, especially when we're talking about fashion or design.
You're doing something that other people will notice.
They'll go, oh, wow, that's different.
They may not like it, but they'll pay attention to it.
That's making a statement.
Carson says, how about, what do you think about this chair?
It's fabulous.
Brooks says, it's a humongous circle on the floor.
Humongous.
H-U-M-O-N-G-O-U-S is a somewhat informal word meaning huge large enormous gigantic ginormous, very big.
A humongous circle, a circle you probably know as a round shape like an O, that's a circle.
Brooks says that this chair is a humongous circle on the floor with a cushion on top of it.
A cushion C-U-S-H-I-O-N is another word for a pillow, something that you would sit on on a chair or on a sofa.
Brooke says, I don't think anyone would ever sit on this chair.
Carson says yes, but in design, in the world of design and fashion, you have to consider form before function.
Form is the way that something looks, the way that it is designed, how pretty it is, for example.
Function is how useful or practical it is.
Brooks says that's where we differ.
To differ D-I-F-F-E-R means to have a different or opposing opinion or view of something, or simply to be different from someone or something else, usually in regards to your opinion or your viewpoint about something.
She says, I actually have to live in this apartment.
Remember?
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Your apartment is going to look fabulous once I'm finished decorating it.
I really appreciate you taking the time to help me choose some furniture, but I'd really like to keep the look conservative and traditional.
Nonsense.
You have a fabulous new apartment, and I'm going to help you make the most of it.
Look at that oval mirror.
It'll look fantastic in your hall.
That mirror is gigantic.
I don't think I want anything that size.
How about this rectangular one?
That's too puny for that space.
Oh, look at this triangular bookcase.
It would really complement the fireplace in the den.
I don't think that bookcase is very functional.
The shelves are so narrow and it's an odd shape.
It really looks nice, but I need furniture that I can actually use.
I like this one better.
How boring.
You need something that makes a statement.
How about this chair?
It's fabulous.
It's a humongous circle on the floor with a cushion on top of it.
I don't think anyone would ever sit on it.
Yes, but in design, you have to consider form before function.
That's where we differ.
I actually have to live in this apartment, remember?
You can make the most of our wonderful scripts by Dr Lucy Say, by looking at the wonderful, fabulous Learning Guides.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2012 by the Center for Educational Development.
