Coffee Break English, season one, episode four.
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Coffee Break English.
My name's Josie. And I'm Mark, and we are very happy to be here today.
Josie, what are we talking about today?
Today, we are in the USA with Kate, and she's telling us all about where she lives.
And are there any language points that we need to listen out for?
Yes. Today, we are focusing on adverbs of manner.
Hmm, what does that mean?
Hmm, so an adverb is basically a word that describes a verb, so it describes how you do something, like I walk slowly.
Slowly describes the way that I walk.
OK, let's listen to our text, and then we'll talk about it afterwards.
Hey, I'm Kate, and I live in Colorado Springs in the USA.
Colorado Springs is a city in the state of Colorado, and about 470 ,000 people live here.
In general, the people who live here are quite friendly, and people in shops and restaurants always talk to you politely.
The city is next to the Rocky Mountains, so you always have an amazing view of them.
In fact, there is a limit on how tall buildings can be, so that everyone can see the mountains easily from anywhere in the city.
Because we are so close to the mountains, a lot of people love doing activities like hiking and skiing in their free time.
We work hard during the week, so that at the weekend, we can escape into the mountains and enjoy nature.
But it's not just the locals who enjoy being outside and exercising.
The US Olympic team comes to Colorado Springs to train, because it is high above sea level.
Once, I saw some athletes training in the mountains.
They were running up and down them so fast!
Colorado Springs is a good place to be if you like being outside, because it is often sunny here.
There are usually around 300 days of sunshine each year, and it rarely rains.
It's not very easy to get around in Colorado Springs, because the public transport doesn't work well.
A lot of people have motorbikes, but they drive very dangerously, because Colorado is the only state in the US where it isn't a law to wear a helmet on a motorbike.
I prefer cycling or going by car to get around safely.
The food here is delicious, but we don't eat very healthily.
We love burgers and barbecued meat, and you can easily find Tex -Mex food, because there are a lot of Hispanic people here.
I love living in Colorado Springs.
Seeing the sunrise over the Rocky Mountains every morning is the perfect way to start the day.
Do you like your town or city?
Are people friendly?
What's the weather like?
Lots of questions from Kate there at the end.
Yes, that's right. I hope our listeners can answer them on Facebook after this episode.
Okay, let's go back through the text now.
Yes, can you read the first phrase, Mark?
Okay, so Kate said, hi, I'm Kate, and I live in Colorado Springs in the USA.
Colorado Springs is a city in the state of Colorado, and about 470 ,000 people live here.
Good. So this number, 470 ,000 people.
You said 470 ,000, but Kate said 470 ,000.
So both of these are correct.
It depends where you're from.
Mm -hmm, okay. In general, the people who live here are quite friendly, and people in shops and restaurants always talk to you politely.
Yes, so Kate says people always talk to you politely.
This is an example of an adverb of manner, and it comes from the adjective polite.
Polite means someone who is nice, kind, they say please and thank you.
So we could say people are polite, and the adjective polite describes the noun, people.
Or people talk to you politely.
Politely describes the verb talk, the way that people talk to you is polite.
Okay, the city is next to the rocky mountains, so you always have an amazing view of them.
Good. So an amazing view is a very, very good view.
Okay, let's continue.
In fact, there is a limit on how tall buildings can be so that everyone can see the mountains easily from anywhere in the city.
Good. So there is a limit, there is a maximum of how tall buildings can be so that everyone can see the mountains easily.
Easily is another adverb, an adverb of manner.
The adjective is easy, and the adverb is easily.
We can see the mountains easily.
Okay, Josie, so we saw politely and we've seen easily.
Do you always add ly to the end of the adjective?
Good question. To make an adverb usually we add ly, that's the regular way to do this.
And in the case of easily, the adjective easy, it ends in y.
So when we add ly, we change the y at the end of easy to i.
Okay, let's look at some further examples in the rest of the text.
Because we are so close to the mountains, a lot of people love doing activities like hiking and skiing in their free time.
Good. So the people in Colorado Springs, they like hiking, walking in the mountains and skiing.
Do you like hiking or skiing, Mark?
I love both hiking and skiing, but I don't often get the chance to ski unfortunately.
Yes, me too. I love hiking, so I would love to visit Colorado Springs.
Good. Kate goes on.
We work hard during the week so that at the weekend we can escape into the mountains and enjoy nature.
Good. So you asked me before Mark if we always add ly to make an adverb.
And now we have an example of an irregular adverb.
We work hard. In this case, it's quite an easy irregular adverb because the adverb is the same as the adjective.
So I could say, my job is hard.
There, it's an adjective describing my job.
Or, I work hard. There, I'm describing the way that I work.
OK. So we escape into the mountains and enjoy nature.
Yes, we get away from the city.
We escape, we run away into the mountains.
OK. But it's not just the locals who enjoy being outside and exercising.
Good. So the locals, the locals are the people who live in a place.
Is local always a noun?
No. In this case, local means a person.
But it can also be an adjective.
For example, the local area, where I live.
That's the area which is around where I live.
It's an adjective in that case.
So who else enjoys being outside and exercising?
Well, Kate says, the US Olympic team comes to Colorado Springs to train because it is high above sea level.
Good. So it's high above sea level.
What is sea level, Mark?
Sea level is the level of the sea where the land meets the sea.
Exactly. Yes. And the US Olympic team comes to Colorado Springs to train.
They come to exercise, to prepare for their Olympic competition.
OK. And the word train, that is the same word as the transport.
So I take the train to work.
It's the same word with a completely different meaning.
OK, Kate says, once I saw some athletes training in the mountains.
They were running up and down them so fast.
Yes. So Kate says she saw some athletes training.
Saw is an example of an irregular past simple verb, and it comes from the verb see.
We learnt about the past simple in the previous episode.
OK. And at the end of this phrase, Kate says the athletes, the Olympic team, were running up and down the mountains so fast.
Fast in this case is another adverb.
It describes the way that they were running up and down the mountains.
But the adverb is the same as the adjective in this case.
That's right. We could see my car is fast.
That's the adjective form.
And I drive fast using the adverb.
Exactly. And is that true?
Do you drive fast, Mark?
No, I drive very carefully.
Good. And a good example of an adverb.
Carefully comes from the adjective careful.
OK. Let's take a short break there.
Each episode of the Coffee Break English podcast is free, and you can use our podcast to help you improve your English.
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We have a full course available on our website, which will help you make faster progress and understand everything much better.
For every lesson, we offer videos, bonus audio recordings, lesson notes with exercises, and vocabulary lists in lots of languages.
All this is available on the Coffee Break Academy, so visit coffeebreakacademy .com OK.
Today we are in Colorado Springs with Kate.
Let's continue the text.
Colorado Springs is a good place to be if you like being outside, because it's often sunny here.
There are usually around 300 days of sunshine each year, and it rarely rains.
Wow. I would love to live in Colorado Springs if they have 300 days of sunshine of sun.
It sounds perfect. Very different from Scotland.
That's true. Josie, can I ask you about the word rarely?
It ends in L -Y. Is that an adverb?
That's a really good question.
It is an adverb. Rarely is an adverb, but it's not the same type of adverb that we're focusing on today.
It's not an adverb of manner, because it doesn't describe the way that we do an action.
Rarely is actually an adverb of frequency.
That's right. It's the opposite of often, which we saw in the previous sentence.
It's often sunny here.
Exactly. Let's continue.
Now, this next part is Kate's opinion.
She thinks that the public transport doesn't work well.
Let's listen to what she says.
It's not very easy to get around in Colorado Springs, because the public transport doesn't work well.
Yes, so Kate thinks that it's difficult to get around, to move, to travel in the city, because the public transport, so the bus, the trains, doesn't work well.
And well is also an adverb of manner, but it's a very irregular adverb of manner.
Well comes from the adjective good.
It's very different.
Very, very different.
So, for example, we can say, your English is good, their good is an adjective, or you speak English well, and well is an adverb describing the way that you speak English.
Good. Okay. Kate says, a lot of people have motorbikes, but they drive very dangerously, because Colorado is the only state in the US where it isn't a law to wear a helmet on a motorbike.
Yes, a lot of people have motorbikes or motorcycles, but they drive very dangerously.
This adverb comes from the adjective dangerous and it's regular, because Colorado is the only state in the US where it isn't a law, where it isn't a rule to wear a helmet.
What's a helmet, Mark?
It's a thing that you wear to protect your head.
Exactly. This sounds very dangerous to me.
I hope that not many people ride motorbikes in this way.
Indeed. And if you, our listeners are in Colorado, we would suggest that you wear a helmet.
Yes, that is our recommendation to you.
Okay. So Kate continues, and she says, I prefer cycling or going by car to get around safely.
Good. So safely is the opposite of dangerously, and it comes from the adjective safe.
So if you wear a helmet on a motorbike, you are safe.
Okay, let's continue.
The food here is delicious, but we don't eat very healthily.
We love burgers and barbecued meat, and you can easily find Tex -Mex food, because there are a lot of Hispanic people here.
Good. So the food here is delicious.
It's very, very good.
But we don't eat very healthily.
Healthily comes from the adjective healthy.
And because it ends in Y, we remove the Y, and we add I -L -Y.
The word barbecued is interesting.
Yes, there are a few ways that we can spell barbecue.
In this case, it's spelled B -A -R -B -E -Q -U -E, and that's the British way to spell it.
How would it be spelled in America?
In the US, we would spell it B -A -R -B -E -C -U -E.
So C replaces Q. But many people just write B -B -Q, the letters, because it's quite a difficult word to spell.
Yeah. And B -B -Q is definitely easier.
Yes. Okay. Kate says, I love living in Colorado Springs.
Seeing the sun rise over the rocky mountains every morning is the perfect way to start the day.
Good. So she loves seeing the sun rise, the sun come up into the sky.
Okay. And then she asks us some questions.
Do you like your town or city?
Are people friendly?
What's the weather like?
Yes. And if you have access to our bonus audio for this episode, Mark and I are having a conversation and we're answering these questions.
Okay. You can look forward to that.
If you don't have access to that, then we'll tell you how to get access to that in just a moment.
For now, let's listen to Kate's text again.
The city is next to the rocky mountains, so you always have an amazing view of them.
In fact, there is a limit on how tall buildings can be, so that everyone can see the mountains easily from anywhere in the city.
Because we are so close to the mountains, a lot of people love doing activities like hiking and skiing in their free time.
We work hard during the week, so that at the weekend, we can escape into the mountains and enjoy nature.
But it's not just the locals who enjoy being outside and exercising.
The US Olympic team comes to Colorado Springs to train because it is high above sea level.
Once I saw some athletes training in the mountains.
They were running up and down them so fast.
Colorado Springs is a good place to be if you like being outside, because it is often sunny here.
There are usually around 300 days of sunshine each year, and it rarely rains.
It's not very easy to get around in Colorado Springs, because the public transport doesn't work well.
A lot of people have motorbikes, but they drive very dangerously.
Because Colorado is the only state in the US where it isn't a law to wear a helmet on a motorbike.
I prefer cycling or going by car to get around safely.
The food here is delicious, but we don't eat very healthily.
We love burgers and barbecued meat, and you can easily find Tex -Mex food, because there are a lot of Hispanic people here.
I love living in Colorado Springs.
Seeing the sunrise over the Rocky Mountains every morning is the perfect way to start the day.
Do you like your town or city?
Are people friendly?
What's the weather like?
So that's it for this episode.
As we said, there are extra materials available to help you improve your English more quickly.
And you can access them at the Coffee Break Academy.
That's coffeebreakacademy .com That's right, Mark.
And if you'd like to practice your English, you can also do so on social media.
Just search for Coffee Break English on Facebook and Instagram, where we post regular language challenges and cultural information.
And this week, we'll be asking you about your city.
We'll be back soon with the next episode of Coffee Break English.
For now, thanks and happy coffee breaking.
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