This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2574.
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Are you looking for an emphatic way to say that something happens way before or way after something else?
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Hello, Michelle.
Good to see you on the mic.
How's it going?
Good to see you too, Lindsay.
Everything is good over here.
How are you?
I'm feeling great today, Michelle, but I have a question for you.
So do you typically wake up well before you start working, or do you just get out of bed in pajama pants, go to your laptop and start working?
That's funny that you say that.
So Um, it, it depends on the day.
It depends if I'm working, um, at home or if I'm going out to my husband's office.
Yeah.
And so it.
It depends like, but I am not one of those people that wakes up and has a peaceful morning and wakes up before my kids.
That I don't do.
It's like.
It's like you see in commercials, like sitting in your picture window with your coffee, staring at the sunrise.
That's not you, Michelle.
That is not me.
I wish you could see it.
I wish you could see what my mornings are like.
It's not peaceful.
It's not good.
But we get out the door and then once my kids get dropped off, then I can go and move on.
Yeah.
I think a lot of our listeners have kids and families, so they get what you're saying.
You know, chaos in the home between 6 and 8 a.m., right?
I mean, that's crazy.
So what are we getting into today?
So today we are going to teach something that came from a role play that we did on the Business English podcast.
And we're going to give you the number for that later.
But Business English podcast, guys, if you haven't checked it out yet, you were missing out.
Yes.
We we teach so much over there relating to business.
But one of the things is that we don't say this is only business English, because business is real life and you're real people even when you're at work.
So this is not.
You know, we teach things that can be good for out of the office as well, with a focus on what's important for work.
Yeah, exactly on that show our main.
So you guys know, our main idea is connection, not perfection, and what that means in business is it means relationships.
So we'll show you how to build relationships in business over there.
So guys, open up your search bar right now, wherever you're listening, type in business english.
You'll see the yellow pop-up.
Hit that follow button right away and we'll let you know which episode it was at the end.
So Michelle, what should we do here?
We have a little mini role play we want to show our listeners.
Let's do the role play.
So this is actually how it was used on that Business English episode.
So let's read it.
All right.
Yes.
He said the shipments will be in early.
Wow, that's great.
Before the deadline?
Well before.
Okay.
That gives our listeners a little context, right?
Yes.
So that is how it was used.
And it's one of those situations where I didn't plan it for, you know, with the idea of doing another episode on it.
Sure.
But we realized when we were reading it, oh, my gosh, this is so useful.
And that we should do a whole episode on it.
So, Lindsay, what did you mean by well before?
Yeah.
So, as our listeners probably can see from the context, what I mean by well is what I meant is a lot like way before the deadline.
It's not like it's going to be happening right before the deadline.
We have a lot of buffer time.
Right.
Yes.
Before I like that buffer time.
Yeah.
So, I mean, Lindsay, do you would you say that you typically might use the word well like this?
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, that's why we picked it out of that role play.
And we said, you know, that feels very natural.
So that is meant to be a, you know, one of our episodes on business English.
Exactly.
Yeah.
That's why we were like, ding, ding, ding.
We're going to take that one because it is so common.
Yes.
So to me it shows it's very emphatic.
Okay right um, and you know you also have to use the proper stress right.
Well before, and we actually spoke about this on the business english podcast, because when we were um reading it, i didn't i, i didn't write it in a way that stressed Yeah.
And I misunderstood.
I think I misunderstood it when I read it.
And I almost said the other intonation, which is like, well, I think dot, dot, dot.
Right.
Is that what happened?
Something like that.
Something like that.
There was some sort of so but something where the meaning could have been impacted.
And so we were saying how important that is intonation that stresses with this word, so that you can understand what the person is trying to say.
So again, it would be well before, right?
Yeah.
And we exaggerate intonation a little bit on this show just to show you guys.
But there does need to be a bit of a punch on this word, right.
Again, just to repeat that last line.
You said before the deadline, and I say well before the deadline.
So that well needs to be punched just a bit.
Okay.
Yes, exactly.
So let's do some more examples here.
Lindsay, you want to do the first one?
Here we go.
We can say, I bought a new car well before the year ended, so I missed all the good details.
Or sorry, I missed all the good deals.
Details.
Deals, not details.
Yeah.
Or I knew her well before she applied to the position.
Mm-hmm.
Or trust me, we will be there well before the wedding.
We don't want to miss the bride walking down the aisle.
Oh my gosh Michelle, have you ever?
That's a good example of when you want to make sure you are there well before the time the ceremony starts.
Have you ever walked into a wedding, a ceremony late?
Has that ever happened to you?
I've walked in like really just like right on the edge, you know, and where you're kind of sneaking past.
What about you?
Um, i haven't done it.
At my own wedding there were a couple couples that snuck in um, and i i, in my mind those couples are always like fighting with each other right, because there's been something that's happened.
Yes yes exactly yeah, not a good thing.
Yeah, yeah.
So guys yeah, it's Um I, you know, I try to be there well before it starts.
Um, that way you don't miss it.
And it's, yeah, that's a, that's a time when you really don't want to mess it up because you don't want to be walking down with the bride.
Oh my gosh.
Can you imagine?
Yeah, there's.
Uh, you know, If we want to build a good life, that includes a little less stress, right?
There are certain deadlines we want to make sure we are well before.
Maybe filing taxes, but I don't always do that on time either.
Arriving at weddings.
I don't know.
There are other key things where you know you'll feel embarrassed if you do show up late or if you miss a deadline or you're too close to a deadline.
That you'll stress out.
So this is a personality thing. right?
Oh yeah.
I would say also like doctor's appointments.
Um, because if you're, if you're, if you push it too much and I've done this.
I mean, I remember there was a I had a doctor's appointment and it was in.
It was for like an ENT and it was in a.
I didn't realize it.
It was in a giant building, a giant hospital where you had to drive all around.
And I was so confused and I was running around outside trying to find it.
And I call.
I ended up calling them and they said well, we were about to just like get rid of your appointment.
So that's the thing is with doctors, sometimes then they just have to move on.
So that's the one you want to get there well before your appointment, or at least, or or at least a few minutes, because you don't want to, You don't want them to take away your slot.
Right, because sometimes it can take six months to get it for certain specialists, right?
Yeah.
Michelle, could we also use the word way in this context too?
Way before, well before.
Is there any difference here?
Yeah, it's a very similar idea.
In my mind, I would say that way is slightly less formal sounding.
Yeah, I would agree.
What do you think?
Yeah, I totally agree.
It's kind of like the casual version of well.
Now you can still say well before, that's still casual, but way does make it a little more spoken English a little more casual, just brings it down a notch in terms of formality, right.
Yes.
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Okay, so then I bet our listeners are wondering, can we put well in front of any other words?
Do you have this same meaning, Michelle?
What do you think?
Right, right.
Well, one is if we can do before we can do after.
There you go.
So you could say well after.
So that's significantly after.
So she submitted this well after it was due.
So I'm not going to give her points.
That's when this is when we have arrived late or we have missed a deadline.
Right.
The concert started well after the time on the ticket.
It was really irritating.
That's always hard when you go to a concert or a comedy show and they have the opening act.
Or especially at a concert when they're playing music.
They're playing background music and you think every time a song ends that the show is gonna start.
It's true, and especially if you're really excited.
I went to see Madonna a couple years ago here in Denver and I think she came on pretty late, actually possibly like 45 minutes late, if I remember correctly, and you're kind of you're waiting and you're like it's well, after the time this was supposed to start.
You know, I'm ready to see Madonna.
Come on, let's go.
Yeah, exactly Yeah.
So but yeah, you could also just you could do it also in a conversation.
Yes.
Like this here.
Let's show how it would be not just a one liner.
Okay.
Did she call you by eight?
She called me well after eight.
It was too late for me.
So there you go.
So it's the same meaning.
You're conveying the same feeling as when we put it before, but you have some options here.
There's another option too, Michelle, which is well ahead of, right?
So similar to well before.
Yep, exactly.
So Well, since we, well, I didn't realize that I wrote well.
Okay.
Since we're running well ahead of schedule, let's head out early.
And let's show our listeners the intonation difference between the first.
Well, which is just conversational.
It's just an opening of a thought, right guys?
So don't get confused between these two wells.
They're very different.
So we could say, well, since we're running well ahead of schedule, let's head out early.
Did that feel right, Michelle, to you?
Yep.
Yeah.
It sounded great.
Yeah.
Two different wells, two different ways of saying it.
Yeah, exactly.
And then there's still one more, one more option.
What is it?
Well above or well below.
Okay.
So, um, I mean, yeah, the idea of much more or much higher or much lower, right?
So there are well above 50 people here.
Yeah, or this fell well below my expectations, right?
The work fell.
And this is when, Let's say, at work you're responding to someone's what they've done, their project.
This fell well below.
You don't want to hear that from your boss, right?
Not good.
Okay.
Because they're taking the time to say the well.
It means it's really bad.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yes.
It's more, more intense.
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
So let's do a role play.
So here I put us at a wedding.
Oh, surprising, right?
Not surprising because this is one of the key moments, right?
Yeah.
All right.
Here we go.
Oh, my goodness.
I was almost late.
Did you leave before rush hour?
Well before.
That's odd.
So much traffic.
I was planning on getting here well ahead of the ceremony, but it was almost impossible.
Are you staying late?
Yes, of course.
Are you going to be here after the party ends?
Well after.
I'm staying at the hotel.
Nice.
Okay.
All right.
So let's see what we did here for our listeners.
Break it down.
So I asked you, did you leave before... This must be an evening wedding, right?
Did you leave before rush hour?
And I said, well before.
So...
I could have also said way before, but it basically means I left.
I'm trying to say I left with plenty of time.
I shouldn't have hit traffic.
Right.
Exactly.
This can happen, especially in certain cities, Los Angeles, Boston, the traffic's gotten really bad.
I think where you're from, Michelle, Baltimore, Washington area, supposed to be famous, the Beltway.
The Beltway.
Yep.
Yeah.
What else?
What else?
So then, I said so much traffic.
I was planning on getting here well ahead of the ceremony.
Right.
So much more before it started.
And you could have also said I was planning to get here well before the ceremony, but you already said well before.
So you might switch it up there.
Right.
Right.
And then I said, you said, of course, are you going to be here after the party ends?
And then I said what?
Well, after so you're staying at the hotel, so you don't need to head out right away.
Maybe there's an after party yeah, that you can attend.
And this is kind of a fun conversation our listeners could get into with uh, with our friends or native speaking friends, is you know, what kind of person are you like?
Are you a late person?
Are you an on-time person?
Are you an early person?
I think people tend to fall into – and that's why it can be really disturbing if you're an on-time person and you show up late, like to a wedding.
That could be really awful.
Yeah.
But like people tend to fall in these three camps, right?
Yeah.
And it – yeah, just –
It's interesting.
It's really interesting.
It's personality, right?
Yeah, it's true.
It's true.
Guys, remember, this came from the Business English episode we were talking about.
So that is episode 527.
That was called Are You Right on Time or Running Behind?
So as you can tell, this is a really great one to listen to. now that you've heard this episode.
So these kind of work together.
All right, Michelle, what's our final thought for our listeners today regarding connection?
What do you think?
This is just a really great way to be emphatic.
I mean, instead of just saying, Oh, I left before rush hour, right?
Well, you know, it's just, you're adding a little something more, a little something extra to the meaning.
We also talked about the intonation here and how to stress it.
So it's just a way of showing your personality and showing kind of a little bit behind the scenes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I like that idea.
Yeah.
Without, you know...
Just with by adding that one word, a little spark, maybe a little drama.
Maybe you're showing a bit of your frustration, like you are on the I-5 for way longer than you expected to be.
I left well before I needed to, but I still sat in traffic.
I sat in a parking lot and we call heavy traffic a parking lot.
Right, Michelle?
Yes, a parking lot.
Yep.
All right.
Good stuff.
All right.
We'll come back to the concept of traffic another day, I'm sure.
But for now, Michelle, you have a good rest of your day.
Guys, don't forget to go and find the Business English podcast and hit the follow button.
All right.
All right.
Bye, Lindsay.
Bye, guys.
Thanks for listening to All Ears English.
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