Hello and welcome back to Practicing English and today it's a B1 recording.
I'm continuing with the linking words.
Not a particularly fascinating subject, is it?
Linking words.
I wanted to continue from last week to complete the list of B1 words level linking words so that you have well, nearly all of them.
I would say that you need to know for B1 English exams, for example the Cambridge PET exam.
As it is quite a dull subject, what I've done.
I've asked a friend of mine to come in and his name is John John Smith, and John Smith is from the north of England.
He's from Middlesbrough.
He speaks differently, of course.
And it is important, as you know, to be able to recognize and understand different accents.
So it would be good for you to listen to a northern accent, because the accent from the north of England is very different from mine, which is really from the south of England.
Okay, so let's get going then with our study, part two of B1 linkers.
Here we go.
Hello and welcome to Practicing English.
My name is Mike Bilbre and these are podcasts for students of English at B1 or B2 levels.
For transcripts, please go to practicingenglish.com.
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Check it out today.
Right.
Well, John, thank you very much for coming around and helping me with this podcast.
That's all right, Mike.
Anything I can do to help you with these wonderful podcasts that you produce every week for all those people learning English.
I think you're doing a splendid job, Mike.
Well, thank you very much, John.
And I thought today it would be nice if you could read the text.
It's not a particularly inspiring text, but it's very important because it has a lot of B1 linkers in it.
What you could do actually John is, when you're reading, could you emphasise the linking words by saying them a little bit more loudly?
All right then, Mike, I'll do as you say.
So here we go then.
It's quite short, isn't it?
So it was part two of the best way to learn a new language.
Here we go then.
If you want to build confidence in English language speaking, rather than silent study, choose conversation activities instead.
And try writing short messages instead of only memorizing vocabulary lists.
Practice speaking whenever you find someone willing to talk, and use new words wherever you go.
It does not matter Whether the conversations are long or short, every moment helps.
Keep studying unless you are feeling extremely tired, because rest is also important for learning.
You will improve since your brain becomes more familiar with the patterns over time.
Continue your daily habits until you You can hold a simple conversation.
You will notice real progress as soon as you use the language in real-life situations.
Your pronunciation should also improve as long as the speakers you listen to speak correctly.
You know, like me, for example.
Well, that was wonderful, John.
Thank you very much.
I'm sure that my listeners will appreciate hearing a different accent.
It's always me, you see, usually.
Well, I do sometimes invite other people, but I haven't for quite a while.
So I appreciate that, John.
That's all right, Mike.
So are you going to pay me now or are you paying me later?
Oh, John, I just thought that I would buy you a pint in the pub.
Oh, I see, I thought it might be a bit more than that, you know.
You know, seeing that you're making all this money selling these books and everything, I thought maybe you could well, you know, 50 quid or something like that.
50 pounds?
But John, that's a lot of money.
Oh, never mind, we'll talk about it afterwards.
Oh dear, I don't know if I ought to invite people on the programme, really.
I can't pay those sort of costs.
£50?
Right, I'm going to read the text again and I'll unpack it as I say, which means that I'll look at those linking words and explain them a bit to you.
Here we go.
If you want to build confidence in English language speaking, Rather than silent study.
Rather than.
So that is really what that means is instead of.
OK, instead of which I think you should know, which means something different.
So not silent study, but something different.
And if you can use rather than instead of instead of.
Well, then it would sound better in your speaking and it will look better as well in your writing.
So rather than silent study, choose conversation activities instead.
Well, really, I've got the same thing there.
It means the same.
But notice how in English we can put instead at the end of the sentence.
So that's instead full stop the end of the sentence.
I can't do that with rather.
So instead of can go in the middle of a sentence, instead of silent study, or it can go at the end of the sentence.
Rather than silent study, choose conversation activities instead.
And try writing short messages instead of only memorizing vocabulary lists.
So I'm repeating actually there, aren't I?
I have instead, which would go at the end of the sentence, and then instead of in the middle.
Practice speaking whenever you find someone willing to talk.
Whenever.
I think really the best way to think of this word is that it means when.
Really?
But it's just a little more emphatic.
Practice speaking whenever.
Whenever.
Whenever means at any time or every time.
In fact, there's a family of words which are very similar.
You have whenever, which means every time.
Wherever is every place.
For example, wherever you go in Seville, there's always something interesting to see.
Every place that you go to.
And another one, whatever.
What would you like to do this weekend?
Well, I don't mind.
Whatever you like.
So really, it means anything or everything that you like.
Another one, whoever.
So whoever means any person or every person.
When you go to the disco, who do you dance with?
Well, I don't mind really.
Whoever wants to dance.
Any person or every person who wants to dance.
Whoever.
Right, let's go on.
So, practice speaking whenever you find someone willing to talk and use new words wherever you go.
So, in Every place that you go to, use new words.
It does not matter whether the conversations are long or short.
Every moment helps.
Whether.
Now, the meaning of whether is if.
It's synonymous with if, actually, except that if can be used in conditional sentences.
So those are the typical phrases or sentences that you practice.
The first conditional, second conditional.
If I go out this evening, I'll have a coffee with friends.
Now we can say that's a conditional sentence.
You have two parts of it.
If I go out this evening, I'll have a coffee with friends.
Now, whether can't be used like that.
You can't say.
Whether I go out this evening, I'll have... You can't do that.
Whether is just used with the meaning if, but not with those two clauses.
So listen to the way it's used here.
It does not matter whether the conversations are long or short.
As you can see, it's just one sentence, not a conditional sentence.
But I could say if as well.
It does not matter if the conversations are long or short.
Okay, let's continue.
Keep studying unless you are feeling extremely tired.
Now, if you're doing the PET exam, this unless is used quite a lot in the reading part, for example.
Part one, those little messages that you have and you have to decide A, B or C first.
Which are they talking about?
And unless has the meaning of except if.
So the meaning of this sentence is keep studying unless you are feeling extremely tired.
So keep studying except if you are feeling extremely tired.
I'll go out this evening with some friends.
Unless it's raining.
Okay, except if it's raining.
If it is raining, I won't go.
Unless.
Let's continue.
You will improve since your brain becomes more familiar with patterns over time.
You will improve since.
Now, here the meaning of since is is different from the usual since, and for that we learn at a basic level in English, elementary level.
For example, since is used to talk about a time in the past and from that time until now.
I have been living in this flat where I live now in Seville since oh, I suppose 2015, so for about 10 years.
But notice the use of since here is different.
It means because you will improve since your brain becomes more familiar with patterns over time.
You will improve because your brain becomes more familiar with patterns over time.
Continue your daily habits until you can hold a simple conversation.
You will notice real progress as soon as you use the language in real-life situations.
As soon as.
As soon as has the meaning of at the moment when.
So when that moment happens, something happens. else will happen.
You will notice real progress as soon as you use the language in real life situations.
So when you start to use the language in real life situations, you will notice progress.
Your English will get better as soon as.
Your pronunciation should also improve As long as the speakers you listen to speak correctly.
So as long as means but only if, only on one condition.
Your pronunciation should also improve.
As long as, but only if, the speakers you listen to speak correctly.
So what I'm saying is then, that if you hear people around you who don't speak good English or don't pronounce properly, I should say well, then it will be difficult for you to improve your pronunciation.
I think that makes sense, doesn't it?
That's it then.
OK, what I'm going to do now.
I'm going to read aloud the text again, but I will stop.
Add some of the linking words, or rather, you will hear a bleep.
And then, when I stop at the end of the sentence or the end of the phrase, you can say the word which was missing.
Or words, for example, as soon as I will put with one Okay?
Right.
So here we go.
If you want to build confidence in English language speaking, silent study, choose conversation activities instead.
Rather than... And try writing short messages...
Only memorizing vocabulary lists.
Instead of.
Practice speaking.
You find someone willing to talk.
Whenever.
And use new words.
You go.
Wherever.
It does not matter.
The conversations are long or short.
Every moment helps.
Weather.
Keep studying.
You are feeling extremely tired.
Unless.
Because rest is also important for learning.
You will improve.
Your brain improves. becomes more familiar with patterns over time.
Since.
Continue your daily habits until you can hold a simple conversation.
You will notice real progress if you use the language in real life situations.
As soon as.
Your pronunciation should also improve The speakers you listen to speak correctly.
As long as.
Right, so I hope you learned a few new linking words and try to use them in your speaking and in your writing as well.
So that's all from me for today.
So thank you very much for coming in, John Smith.
It was a pleasure, Mike.
I hope they enjoyed my northern accent.
Yes, I'm sure they did.
So, that's all from us.
Until next time, goodbye for now.
Well, Mike, if you think 50 pounds is too much, what about 25?
I mean, really, you know...
It's not easy to find a person who speaks English from the north of England here in Seville.
