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Hello listeners and welcome back to Luke's English Podcast, a podcast for learners of English around the world.
My aim with these episodes is to help you get plenty of English input into your life on a regular basis, in the form of listening, in this case.
Doing plenty of listening I think is vital to help you develop the proper broad range of English skills which incorporates your familiarity with the spoken word, English as it is spoken.
So this episode today is called Questions of English and Listener Comments, Bits and Bobs, Part 4.
And in this episode, I'm going to continue the Bits and Bobs series, which I started last year.
Do you remember Bits and Bobs parts one, two and three?
Of course you do. How could you forget? So this one, as I said, is called Questions of English and Listener Comments.
The idea behind the Bits and Bobs title... So what does Bits and Bobs actually mean?
Well... The idea behind this title is that the episode is going to include a variety of different questions, language points and topics.
So it's a collection of bits and bobs, okay?
This one is going to include things like this, so a bit of grammar, Specifically, how to identify the difference between had and would when they are contracted because I'm sure you've noticed both of those words. are contracted to an apostrophe D in written English.
Also in spoken English, when we say them quickly, they get contracted in pronunciation and they can be indistinguishable sometimes, and that can be more complex than you might think, so we'll deal with that.
Also, some vocabulary, I'm going to talk about the curious origins of the word podcast. and also I'll give you a mini vocabulary lesson about the word cast with various collocations and also words formed with this morpheme.
And if you don't know what a morpheme is, if you think it's like some sort of alien, does sound a bit like an alien or something from a science fiction film.
If you don't know what a morpheme is, I will explain in due course.
I'll talk about some audience data. and a featured country.
So that means some more insights into the far-flung countries where people listen to this podcast. including a focus on one particular place where you might live.
Accents. There'll be some stuff about different regional accents.
The reason for this is that on this podcast, people often comment on how clear my...
RP British accent is, but I believe you also need to be familiar with the wide variety of different accents we have in English not just standard British RP or general American in American English but You need to be fully familiar with the wide variety of different accents that exist in the world of spoken English.
I've done lots of episodes about accents in the past which you might want to listen to but which ones are they?
I'll tell you. Shadowing. There'll be some comments about the language learning technique of shadowing and an opportunity to do it yourself. with this episode, so that means a chance to practice some sentence stress, pausing and intonation with a funny speech from one of my favourite comedy films.
As well as all of that, there'll be some further reflections on fatherhood in response to a comment from a listener.
I'm going to share some moving and heartwarming thoughts about what it means or what it's like to bring up small children.
And it's not all nightmare train journeys and dealing with tantrums in restaurants. and all of this comes via various comments from listeners, and I'll correct a few of their errors while I read them out, if that is necessary.
Let me close the window here, just in case...
There is too much background noise with people doing weird things outside in front of my building here.
I don't know what they're doing. Hello, sorry, let me just interrupt myself.
This is Luke from the future, just interrupting here.
This is me from about an hour and 15 minutes into the future.
I've just finished recording this episode and I'm adding this little interruption just to say, actually, I decided that I would divide this episode into several parts and And so those other bits, the bits about the audience data, accents, shadowing and fatherhood, those are actually going to come up. in the next part of this series, Bits and Bobs 5.
So in this one, I will be focusing on grammar and vocabulary mostly.
So grammar and vocab, and a bit of rambling.
That's what you're going to get in this one.
Just wanted to clarify that now, if I can actually speak my own language.
Now, let's continue. Here we go. So anyway, that's just an overview of what's coming up on the podcast in this episode.
There is an episode PDF. and you'll find a link in the description.
On the PDF, you will find the full episode notes that I'm reading from here. and also a detailed vocabulary list at the end.
And that should be very helpful for all you dedicated learners of English out there.
You can use it to check what you've heard or to gather new words and phrases.
And of course, as we all know, I think the best ways to really push your English as much as possible is to be sort of dedicated to apply yourself to it in a variety of ways. to be consciously focused on expanding your vocabulary, developing your ability to use different grammar forms and all that stuff.
You know, there's a lot of things you can be doing.
You could use the PDF to help you. But basically, at a minimum...
Just relax and enjoy listening to another episode of the podcast.
But you'll find a link in the description if you want to get the PDF.
And I'm not asking you for your... I'm not asking you for your, what, for your email address or anything like that.
No, not this time. So, yes, I need to just set a reminder for myself.
Siri, 30 minute timer. That is to make sure that I drink water in 30 minutes.
Siri is asleep already. Siri has already become a skeleton with headphones on.
30-minute timer has been started manually.
So let's get started then, shall we, with this grammar point.
When the apostrophe D... that you might read, when is this wood and when is it had?
And this is from a comment written by Nancy-DP4ON. which makes Nancy sound like a robot.
Anyway, this is from Nancy who said, hello, Luke, I have a question.
How can I recognise the letter D after I'd... read or I'd read.
How do I know if it's would or Right, so this is a question from Nancy on YouTube about knowing whether apostrophe D is a contracted form of wood or had.
And I'm sure listeners, Anyone who's focused themselves on learning English, anyone who's read English, anyone who just started looking at English at any point, you must have noticed this and asked yourself the same question.
So what do you think? How would you answer, Nancy?
How do you know if that apostrophe D, how do you know if it's would or had?
And it might be pretty simple. You just look at the grammatical context, but there are some cases when it might be more difficult.
Like, for example, with the word read. And if you see that in written form, I apostrophe D, and then the word read, or is it read? that might make it more difficult.
So let's get into this then. So this actually involves a few things.
Understanding language in context, grammar, but also pronunciation.
So there's a variety of things. Let's start with the situation.
Let's say that you're reading a text and you see this phrase.
And the phrase says, either it says, I'd read that book or it says, I'd read that book.
But of course, when you're reading it written down, you can't hear it, so you don't know if it's read or read.
Now, if you heard it, it might be fairly obvious because of the pronunciation, I suppose.
So it would be either, I'd read that book, or I'd read that book, right?
I'd read that book would be, I would read that book.
It sounds good, I would read that. I'd read that book.
I didn't borrow that one because I'd read it already.
That would be I had read that book. So hearing it would make it obvious because you would hear the grammar.
Because if it's had... then you're going to be using the past participle of read, and it's read, read, read.
Okay, so if it's I'd read, then you would know.
It was had because had is followed by the past participle, of course.
So that would make it easier being able to hear it, unless of course it was this line, I'd cut the pizza.
I'd cut the pizza is that I would cut the pizza or I had cut the pizza.
I'd cut the pizza. Well, it could be either, couldn't it?
So how would you know if the D is would or had?
And going back to the one with the word read, or read, if you saw it written down, how would you know?
Because read can be pronounced several ways.
So context is obviously really important and That, as well as grammatical clues and pronunciation, should tell you everything you need to know.
But sometimes working this out is more tricky than you think. when you consider that some verbs have the same spelling or even pronunciation across their different forms. like the case with read, read, read, which can make it difficult in written form.
Anyway, let's go through this properly. and probably, not probably, definitely, let's definitely go through this properly starting with the main issue, which is, how do you know when D is had or would?
So this is a really common question among learners of English and something that catches people out all the time.
I noticed this among my students in class.
And whenever we're reading something with an apostrophe D, I always ask, so is this had or would?
How do you know? I'm always trying to encourage them to be aware of this.
Now, of course, both would and had get contracted to apostrophe D.
Right? So to demonstrate, let's do a quick quiz.
Now, if you are looking at the PDF, you will see two sentences.
They both have apostrophe D contracted forms of... an auxiliary verb of some kind, either the modal auxiliary verb would, or the standard auxiliary verb had.
So if you're reading it, have a look at them and tell me what you think.
Yeah, it'll be pretty obvious. Let me read them out now.
So, I'd never eat chicken that's been left out of the fridge all of...
I can't speak my language what Luke? I'd never eat chicken that's been left out of the fridge all night.
And I'd never eaten chicken before because I was raised by my parents to be a vegetarian.
Okay, so the first one, I'd never eat chicken that's been left out of the fridge all night.
That should be would. I would never eat chicken that's been left out of the fridge all night.
Are you mad? because of food poisoning, right?
And the other one is, I'd never eaten chicken before.
That's had. I had never eaten chicken. Clearly, past perfect.
The dead giveaway being eaten. So the way to identify whether would or had is being used is through the context and general meaning, the grammar...
So words which follow this apostrophe D, as well as other surrounding grammar clues, like, for example, there it's eat or eaten. had eaten, and some pronunciation clues.
So let's start with general meaning. Basically what is being expressed If it's something related to time, then it's probably had because it's probably past perfect.
If it's something related to possibilities, desires or habits, it's probably wood.
So to be clear about that, possibilities, for example...
If the weather was good, we'd go for a picnic.
That's about possibilities. About desires, meaning what you want to do.
I would never eat cooked chicken that's been left out overnight, meaning I would never want to do it, right?
Or habits. When I was a kid, we would always...
We'd always go to the swimming pool on Saturday mornings.
So that's about past habits. So if it's one of those things, ideas rather than time, then it's probably wood.
I'd never eat chicken that's been left out of the fridge all night.
This is about desires or what you would want to do.
So it's wood. I'd never eaten chicken before, blah, blah, blah.
This is about time. It's never before. So it's had its past perfect.
Now, this is pretty obvious when you look at the general meaning of the context around the phrase.
So usually it's not a problem, I suppose.
And some of you are thinking, yes, Luke, of course, this seems to be so obvious.
But things become a little bit trickier when you're dealing with language out of context, such as in grammar exercises or language tests, or perhaps just short emails or texts in which there isn't that much context, then you need to pay attention to the grammar.
So in terms of grammar, Of course, had as an auxiliary verb in past perfect is followed by a past participle.
Not just past perfect, it could be in third conditionals.
If you had told me earlier, I would have been on time.
Right, that's not past perfect technically.
That is a third conditional. But typically past perfect.
I had never been to New York before. I'd never been to New York before.
So it's followed by a past participle, been in this case, of course, being the past participle of be. sometimes used as the past participle of go, which is another story for another time, like this, I'd never been to New York, which is actually equivalent to saying, I never went to New York.
I mean, slightly different in terms of meaning, but anyway.
You go to New York. Have you ever been to New York?
Have you ever gone to New York? Anyway, been is sometimes the past participle of go, as you can see from that example.
Anyway, it's been, it's a past participle, therefore it's had.
So there's your big grammar clue. Another one, we'd always gone to France for our holidays.
We had always gone. Gone is clearly a past participle, and so this is had.
Whereas would is followed by a bare infinitive.
I would never eat chicken that's been left out overnight.
Are you mad? Would you like some chicken that's been left out overnight?
Don't be ridiculous. I would never eat chicken that's been left out overnight.
So here, would is followed by a bare infinitive.
This is just the bare infinitive base form of the verb, but without to.
I would never eat chicken. Right, so in most cases, this, along with the general context, is enough to show you which word it is, right?
Now here's another quiz. Is it wood or is it had?
How many contracted woods or hads are there here?
So I'm going to just read you a little bit.
I want you to tell me how many... There are three contracted words with just, you know, represented by a D sound or an apostrophe D.
How many of them are wood? How many of them are had?
All right, here we go. War and Peace. Yes, the book.
If I had time, I'd read that book. I'd definitely read it if I had time.
I asked my wife about it but she said she'd never read it.
To be honest, the first two are kind of like repetition of the same thing.
I'll just say it twice. But anyway, if I had time, I'd read that book.
So that is Wood. Right. And it's I mean, it's obvious from the context, but we would read.
Right, I'd read, that's the base form of the verb, you can hear it in my pronunciation, easier. in listening this exercise than in reading.
I'd definitely read it if I had time. That's basically the same thing again.
I asked my wife about it, but she said she'd never read it.
So that is That's past perfect. She had never read it.
So two woods and one had. OK, what about this next one?
Let's try. Try it with this, which is about films.
How many are there and are they had or would?
So films. My wife and I wanted to watch a film last night, but we just couldn't decide what to watch.
She wanted to watch Gladiator, but I'd seen it loads of times before.
She said she'd never seen Schindler's List, but I wasn't in the mood.
We both wanted to watch the new Beatles documentary, but then I remembered that I'd cancelled my Disney Plus subscription.
Then I said I'd watch anything she wanted to watch.
So we chose the latest series of The Crown on Netflix.
But by the time I'd got the projector set up, she'd fallen asleep.
I watched it while she was sleeping and I thought it was good.
I'd recommend it for sure. Okay, so this is a case where listening is actually probably harder. because it can be difficult to spot those contracted words.
You're basically trying to hear a little D sound...
But as you know from spoken English, these little auxiliary verbs get squashed and they get connected to other words, especially D sounds.
D and T sounds are notorious for kind of joining up with other consonant sounds. when you find them at the ends of words like this, they do tend to join up with consonant sounds at the beginning of following words and they sort of just disappear.
So here are the answers. So my wife and I wanted to watch a film last night, but we just couldn't decide what to watch.
She wanted to watch Gladiator, but I had seen it loads of times before.
So I'd seen it loads of times before. Right, now if you're listening, it's difficult to hear that had.
I'd seen, I'd seen it. Yeah, we don't always say, I'd seen it.
You don't always get a gap between the d and the next word.
I'd seen it. I'll go into that in a bit.
I've got some stuff about the pronunciation of it in a minute.
But anyway, there was one. I had seen it. seesaw scene, of course, she said she'd never seen Schindler's List.
OK, there's the same thing again. She had never seen Schindler's List.
But I wasn't in the mood. We both wanted to watch the new Beatles documentary, but then I remembered that I'd cancelled my Disney Plus job.
I had cancelled my Disney Plus subscription.
It's a little bit harder, a little bit easier to hear there, Because the der in I'd cancelled.
I'd cancelled. Nah, I don't know actually.
I'd cancelled. There it is. I'd cancelled.
Yeah, it's really hard to notice, isn't it?
I'll give you some practice in a minute of hearing the difference between I'd cancelled and I cancelled.
I cancelled. That is just I cancelled. And I cancelled that I had cancelled.
I'll give you some practice with that. Noticing when it's past simple, I cancelled, and past perfect, I cancelled.
We'll practice that in a moment. Anyway, there was another had.
I said I would watch anything. I said I'd watch anything.
I'd watch. I said I'd watch anything. That's would, isn't it?
Because it's watch. I would watch is the base form of the verb.
I said I'd watch anything. It's also about desires and what you want to do. anything she wanted to watch, so we chose the latest series of The Crown on Netflix.
But by the time I'd got the projector set up, by the time I'd got the projector set up.
In terms of meaning, this is obviously had, because it's by the time, so we're dealing with time, it's past perfect again, by the time I'd got, You might be able to hear it, but it's got as well.
Get got got in British English. Get got gotten in American English.
Why they say gotten, I mean, I don't know, really.
Completely unnecessary. I don't mind. I'm just being silly.
By the time I'd got the projector set up, she'd fallen asleep.
She'd fallen asleep. Fallen, fall fell, fallen, writes, she had fallen.
There you go, there's another had. I watched it while she was sleeping and I thought it was good.
I'd recommend it for sure. I would recommend it for sure.
So that's about... Possibilities, desires, intentions.
I would recommend it. I'd recommend it. Right, so let's continue.
Irregular verbs, as we've seen, can make things difficult.
They can make this difficult. Sometimes identifying the word is made more difficult when the main verb has the same infinitive and past participle forms. like the word set, for example, because of course it's set, set, set.
And you probably know there are a few words in English like this where the main verb and the past participle form are all the same.
And the language still functions well. I mean, it does make it a little bit difficult for you to identify when someone is saying would or had. although the general meaning definitely helps.
And I think native speakers never get confused with this, by the way.
And you kind of think, with these verbs where it's the same form each time, you kind of think, that does make you wonder why all verbs don't do that.
Why don't we just have the same form for the infinitive past and past participle for all verbs If it works for these ones, why not just simplify everything?
That's not how language works, of course.
Anyway, it does make it difficult for you. because you can't spot the grammar when the base form, the infinitive form, and the past participle form are the same, like with the word set.
For example, I said I'd set my alarm for 7am, but then I forgot to do it.
I said I would set my alarm for 7am. That's would set.
I said I'd set my alarm for 7am, but I meant 9am.
That's had. I said I had set my alarm. Okay, so set, set, set, it's always the same.
So this is a bit confusing, isn't it? Again, the larger context would help. in those situations.
For example, giving you a bit more context, I said I'd set my alarm for 7am but then I forgot to do it.
She's always so annoyed when I don't do what I promised to do.
So that's wood. I will set my alarm for 7 a.m.
Don't worry. I said I would set my alarm for 7.
So, you know, the context shows it's would there. and this one, she had an important meeting in the morning.
I set the alarm clock before we went to bed but then she was late because my alarm didn't go off early enough.
I said I'd set my alarm for 7am, but I meant 9am.
Wow, what a fascinating story, Luke. They should make the new Mission Impossible film should be based around this situation.
Close-up shot of someone setting an alarm.
But it's the wrong time. I said I'd set my alarm for seven, but I meant nine.
I said I had set it. Showing that the setting of the alarm happened before we had the conversation.
Yeah, okay. So basically the point there is that the more details, more context helps you understand.
Now that can be confusing I suppose because set has the same form across these verb conjugations.
It's necessary always to be aware of what the other person understands.
By the way, this is just a general point about... the importance of being aware and avoiding ambiguity so that you don't make your wife angry by either setting the alarm clock at the wrong time or not doing what you said you would do.
So it's always necessary to be aware of what the other person understands.
Pay attention to others and make sure you stay aware of these possible misunderstandings and to keep things clear.
And this is about being aware that, yes, apostrophe D, there's a chance it could be ambiguous, so you've got to... make sure there's no room for doubt, right?
If you remember... that contracted had or would can be ambiguous, especially with certain verbs.
Keep things clear. Add context. Always think about the other person and what they might be understanding.
Awareness and mindfulness are important in communication, aren't they?
And this is where you go, yes, they are, Luke. because I used that powerful technique called the tag question.
Awareness and mindfulness are important in communication, aren't they?
And you are then compelled by grammar to go, oh, yes, yes, Luke, definitely, yeah.
So, but yes, when you're reading or listening, it can be tricky when there isn't enough context and when grammatical clues are hard because the verb has the same form across infinitive past and past participles.
However, there are only a few verbs that have the same infinitive and past participle forms – namely these, and these are the most common ones.
So bet, cut, hit, hurt, let, put, set, shut, and read. except in pronunciation.
So bet, I mean, I don't need to repeat the forms.
Bet, because it's just bet, bet, bet. Do I need to say them three times each time?
Probably not, but I'm going to do it anyway.
Bet, bet, bet, cut, cut, cut, hit, hit, hit, hurt, hurt, hurt, let, let, let, put, put, put.
Set, set, set. Shut, shut, shut. Read, read, read.
Obviously that's the exception because the pronunciation changes, but the spelling is the same.
So those ones are harder to identify, but again, the general meaning around the sentence should help you work it out, right?
And this is where you go, yeah, yeah, right.
Another quiz for you, is it would or is it had?
And we're going to use those verbs. Here we go.
Number one is, the first one is with bet.
So if I were you, I'd bet some money on that.
I don't know, you're about to see a horse race or a football game or something and you think, you know what?
It's Chadwick FC versus Paris Saint-Germain.
And you'd say, I'm sure that Chadwick FC are going to win.
If I were you, I'd bet some money on that.
And then another one is, I was devastated because I'd bet a lot of money on the losing team.
Right, so if I were you, I'd bet, I'd bet.
Now about the pronunciation, I'm afraid we don't always signal that D sound.
As I said before, it does get swallowed by the other consonant sound that comes after it.
I'd bet. But what happens is when I say I'd bet, my tongue does go into that D position.
So when you do D, D, D, D, D, which is how you pronounce that D sound, duh.
What happens in your mouth when you go, duh?
This is why I love being a language teacher, because I get to ask weird questions like that.
What happens in your mouth when you go duh?
I don't know, what happens in your brain?
Nothing. So when you go duh, your tongue, first of all, lifts. and the tip of your tongue sort of presses against the... that sort of like little ridge there of flesh just behind your front teeth at the top.
So there are your teeth at the top. You have teeth at the top, right?
The front teeth. Right behind those teeth, you've got the front of the teeth, you've got the edge of the teeth, you've got the back of the teeth, and then there's like a sort of gum, fleshy bit of gum, that ridge there. your tip of your tongue sort of presses against that, and then it pushes forward, and then the sound comes out.
And it's either d or it's t. Right, which is a T sound.
Right, so there's two stages to that. There's lifting the tongue into that position, And then there's making it come forward and away.
So what happens is... when we say a sentence with that D sound, but the D sound sort of seems to disappear, what actually happens is your tongue does go into the position to make the sound, but then you end up making a different sound, the first sound of the next word, in this case, bet.
I'd bet you see rather than I'd bet because you don't we don't go instead of going I'd bet which admittedly would be a lot easier for everyone, for those people out there such as yourselves who are learning English.
That would be easier wouldn't it in fact it would be easier if we said if I were you I would bet some money on that that obviously would be easy, but That's unfortunately not the way the world works.
And anyway, we wouldn't want the world to be like that, would we?
If everyone was going around the place, speaking to each other, other like this first of all we would all go completely insane and we would want to kill each other because it would be so annoying.
That's why we don't speak like that. So anyway, your tongue goes into that position, but then you just make the next sound of the beginning of the next word.
I bet. I'd bet. So my tongue is actually going into that position.
It's very hard to hear, isn't it? I'd bet. compared to I bet, I bet, I bet, I bet, I bet.
The tongue is not going into position because there's no D.
I bet. And I'd bet is probably completely inaudible.
Except there's maybe a slight pause. So is it I'd or I?
Ready? Here we go. I bet. So D or no D. Let's do it like that.
D or no D. I bet. No D. I bet. D. Next, I'd bet.
D, I bet. No D. So you can hear the difference, can't you?
It's very subtle. It's a subtle... sort of black bit of black magic going on there but that's what that is if i were you i'd bet some money on that that is that is uh would because it's about in it's about intentions isn't it and possibilities.
I was devastated because I'd bet a lot of money on the losing team.
This is had, I had bet, that's past perfect, telling us when you bet before you were devastated.
Next one is cut. When I came into the room, I fainted.
I fainted because she'd cut her finger and there was quite a lot of blood.
If there's one thing I just can't stand, it's the sight of blood.
Makes me faint every time. Like that. When I came into the room, I fainted because she'd cut her finger.
She'd cut her finger. She... She'd cut.
She had cut her finger. meaning she cut her finger before I came in the room.
When I came in the room, I fainted because she'd cut her finger and there was quite a lot of blood.
I'd cut my finger if I chopped carrots like that.
Too fast for me. You're watching someone in a kitchen.
It's Jamie Oliver or Gordon Ramsay. cutting carrots.
Have you ever seen a professional chef cutting carrots?
It's very impressive. They've got a special way of doing it where they don't cut their fingers off.
Because generally, it's a good idea not to cut your fingers off.
So... Cutting carrots, hold your thumb behind your fingers, make sure the fingernails are the only parts that could come into contact with a knife.
See, I know how to cut a carrot professionally.
I used to cut carrots professionally. I used to work in a kitchen.
And then, you know, cut the carrot really fast.
If I, I'll tell you what, I'd cut my finger if I chopped carrots like that.
Too fast for me. I'd cut my finger. I'd cut my finger.
I would cut my finger, of course. Let's move on to the word hit.
If he said that to me, I'd hit him. I'd hit him.
I'd hit him. The D is easier to hear there because of the H.
In hit, which comes from a totally different part of the mouth, it's at the back of the throat.
So you do end up making a little dirt sound.
I'd hit him. If he said that to me, I'd hit him.
Right. If he said that to me, that's wood, isn't it?
If he said that to me, I'd hit him. It's often part of an if clause, right?
Although you could have, if he had said that to me, I would have hit him.
But it's no, it's if he said that to me, I'd hit him. which is a second conditional.
I moved my arm up. I moved my arm up instinctively to protect my face.
And it was only when I saw him on the floor that I realised that I'd hit him with my elbow.
What's that? Oh, God. Oh, gee, sorry. Did I hit you?
It was only when I saw him on the floor that I realised I'd hit him with my elbow.
I realised I had hit him with my elbow. Right, so let's go back to the pronunciation thing, which I did mention earlier.
So in most cases, this is the same as the grammar, right?
Being able to identify. because you're identifying the pronunciation.
You're hearing the sound of the verb either in the past participle form or the present form.
Unless it's one of those difficult ones that we just had.
So I'd read it before. That's I had read it before.
I'd read it. Again, that I would read it again.
You just identify the form of the verb by hearing it, right?
Read is perhaps the only verb I can think of which has the same spelling in the infinitive and past participle forms, but the pronunciation is different.
It's a homograph. So in the infinitive it's read, the past participle read, if she asked me.
If she asked me, I'd read that book to her.
If she asked me, I would read that book to her.
I was quite confused because I'd never read Shakespeare before, had never read Shakespeare.
But noticing the D sound, perhaps the bigger challenge is hearing a contracted D sound in spoken English.
There's my water timer. Sometimes it's extremely hard to notice when it's been used, making it difficult to hear the difference between a sentence in past simple... and a sentence in past perfect, particularly with regular verbs, where the past participle and past forms are the same.
That's with "-ed ending". So this is going back to what I said earlier.
So, for example, the difference between I wanted to go there and I'd wanted to go there.
I wanted to go there. I'd wanted to go there.
So the first one is past simple, I wanted, and the second one is past perfect, I'd wanted.
And just like before, you can, if you're honest with yourself, you can hear a difference.
Let me do that again. I wanted... Past simple.
I'd wanted. Oh, well, that was quite clear.
I'd wanted. I'd wanted. That's past perfect.
I wanted. Past simple. I'd wanted. Past perfect.
It's subtle, but... Come on, be honest.
You can hear it. Here's another one. I'd lived there for 10 years.
And I lived there for 10 years. I'd lived there.
I'd lived there for 10 years. I lived there for 10 years.
The first one is past perfect. I lived there.
That happens because the tip of the tongue is in place.
The sounds are coming out of the side of my tongue.
I'd lived there. Whereas I lived there. I lived there.
You don't get that sound. I lived there for 10 years and I'd lived there for 10 years.
Okay. I've written in my notes now. You're probably wondering about the difference between the two verb forms now.
Are you? Are you wondering about the difference between I lived there and I'd lived there?
Past perfect and past simple? I don't know if you are, but I'm going to tell you.
Mainly it's that Past Perfect emphasises that an action happened before another moment in the past.
For example, yesterday we were trying to decide where to go on holiday.
I wanted to go to Ireland, but she didn't.
I'd wanted to go there for a long time. And so it was really important to me.
This emphasises that wanting to go there was something that happened before this moment.
That's why it's I'd wanted I'd would would would would do I'd wanted Yeah, the difference is subtle and nuanced, but sometimes this level of detail is important.
For example, this... When I arrived, they'd decided to leave.
So when I arrived, they decided to leave.
They decided. Wow, that does sound so similar.
They decided. They had decided. They decided.
They decided. They decided. It's really just very subtle.
Anyway. When I arrived, they had decided to leave.
That means they decided before I arrived.
And when I arrived, they decided to leave.
This means... They decided to leave when I arrived, maybe because I arrived.
Like, oh God, Luke's here. Time to leave.
Before he starts talking about grammar for half an hour.
So in summary, use the context as the meaning and the grammar and little pronunciation clues to work out whether duh, if you can indeed hear it at all, if it means had or would.
It's subtle but essential for understanding and expressing time and possibility accurately. in English.
And that is that. Now it's time for me to have a water break and you can just have a breather, safe in the knowledge that we're not going to talk about grammar now.
But in a moment, we're going to move on to talk about some vocabulary.
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Okay, it's time to carry on then. Let's move on to the next bit, which is all about the word podcast.
And a mini vocab lesson about the word cast.
This is based on a comment that I got from a listener called Jiri. which went like this.
Hi, Luke, what does the word podcast mean, actually?
Thank you for your answer in advance. Cheers, Jerry.
OK, well, first of all, let's spell this word again, because so many of my listeners in comments and emails spell it wrong.
The word podcast. Jiri got it right, by the way.
Well done, Jiri. Ten gold stars for you.
But here's the word spelled. Podcast. P-O-D-C-A-S-T.
Okay? Podcast. Not postcard. Not postcard.
That's a thing that you'd send to your loved one when you go on holiday.
You go on holiday to London, you find a postcard on the back, you say, London is fantastic, just like in Luke's video.
Wish you were here. Bye. That's a postcard.
No, this is podcast. And it's not postcast.
This doesn't mean anything. Although people do write that in comments.
Thank you so much for your postcast. Sorry.
And not potcat. I don't know what that is.
Is this a cat that lives in a pot? Or maybe a cat that smokes pot?
Or even a cat that's made of pot. I don't know how that would be possible.
That's a pot cat. No. And then people do write that to me.
Luke, I love your pot cat. Mm, do you? No, it's podcast.
Now, I think you know what a podcast is, don't you?
Do you? In fact, wait a minute, maybe you don't know.
Because I feel like the word is always a bit vague, which might account for why so many people spell it wrong.
And perhaps understanding the origin of the word will help people to spell it right in the future.
And also, I want to say, I want to just clarify what a podcast is. once and for all, because I do hear the word podcast being used for all sorts of things, which are definitely not podcasts.
It seems in some countries, people are more au fait with what a podcast actually is.
And in other countries, not so much. I live in France and I regularly hear people talking about Oh, I've listened to a podcast and they definitely did not listen to a podcast.
Or they talk about a YouTube channel as a podcast.
A YouTube channel is not a podcast either.
Anyway, what is a podcast exactly? I don't know if it's necessary to explain this, but I'm going to.
So according to my definition, A podcast is a recurring, episodic audio or video programme published online via an RSS feed.
There you go. Does that help? So it's the RSS feed that is the most important part, actually.
Now, my definition might be a bit complex.
Let me break it down. So just to repeat, a recurring episodic audio or video program published online via an RSS feed.
So let me break that down. An audio or video program, I think you know what this is.
I think you understand this. Recurring, so a recurring audio program.
Recurring just means it happens again and again, right?
Sort of like repeating. episodic, an episodic audio program means it's published in parts or published in episodes, right? published online, that's easy to understand, via an RSS feed.
So this is a bit technical, but an RSS feed is the system that is used for publishing podcast content online.
It's the kind of medium through which podcasts are published.
The RSS feed is like a podcast channel which is published by the podcast host.
In my case, that is Acast. A podcast host is a service where... the podcaster, in this case that's me, uploads the audio file to the podcast host and the podcast host then distributes it via the RSS feed.
So I upload my episodes to Acast, and Acast then publishes them to my RSS feed.
And as a podcaster, it's really important that you have ownership of your RSS feed.
So if you want to move to a different podcast host, like Acast or other podcast hosts will say, okay, we will release your RSS feed and allow your new host to take control of it, essentially allowing you to have ownership of your own RSS feed.
It's rare that other publishing platforms will do this.
Like YouTube, for example, they won't let you transfer all your subscribers and all your videos to a totally different platform and just let you carry on.
They will never do that, but podcasting is nice, and podcast hosts generally will allow you to own your own RSS feed.
So I upload my episodes to Acast. Acast then publishes them to my RSS feed.
Then podcast apps like Apple Podcasts or Spotify. then connect to this RSS feed and receive the episodes.
So when you subscribe to my podcast in a podcast app, and I highly recommend that you do that, by the way, not just on YouTube, but... listen in a podcast app.
When you do that, your app saves the RSS feed, it kind of links to it, and then catches all the new episodes when they're published there. and then lets you listen to them conveniently whenever you want.
It's a wonderful thing. These podcast apps are also called podcatchers.
That's another term for these things. So when a new episode is published, the podcatcher automatically saves or downloads the episode file to your app.
Most people these days stream episodes in their apps, directly from the RSS feed, but the audio file can also be downloaded and transferred to a device such as an iPod or MP3 player which is originally how people used to listen to podcasts.
They would download the files onto their computer and then had to connect them a device to the computer, transfer the files, and then they could listen, right?
So what kind of device? It would typically be an iPod.
Remember them? They're just gone now, aren't they?
An iPod or MP3 player. So did you ever, did you, yes, you.
Did you ever used to listen to podcast episodes in this way?
By downloading them first, then transferring them to an iPod or... mp3 player did you do that do you remember connecting your mp3 player of choice to your laptop or your computer finding the cable, connecting it up and then doing that transfer, transferring the files onto it, waiting for half an hour for everything to transfer, realising you've run out of space on your iPod, so you have to decide which things you need to delete.
About 15 to 20 years ago, such a long time.
I used to have an iPod, which I used for listening to my podcasts.
Not my podcasts, but for my favourite podcasts.
I used iTunes on my computer as my podcatcher.
So I searched for podcasts in the iTunes podcast directory and then subscribed to them.
The first podcasts I ever listened to included the Ricky Gervais podcast.
Shout out to you if you ever listened to it too. with Stephen Merchant and of course, Kyle Pilkington, the idiot who had a perfectly round head like an orange.
I've featured Carl in episodes of this podcast, not personally, but anyway.
So the Ricky Gervais podcast and also Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo's film reviews.
Those were the podcasts I used to listen to in that way.
When new episodes of my favourite podcasts were published, iTunes automatically downloaded them onto my computer.
Then I'd connect my iPod to my computer and sync it with iTunes.
This is my chance to tell that joke. I changed the name of my iPod from Luke Thompson's iPod.
I changed it to the Titanic. so that when I connected it to my computer, it said the Titanic is sinking.
Okay. The new podcast files would be transferred from my computer to my iPod.
And then I'd be able to listen to them whenever I wanted.
This is fascinating stuff, isn't it, listeners?
Just like, oh, this is so great, Luke. as you sit on a bus or whatever just listening to me reminiscing about the old days of iPods.
These days... Most people just stream podcasts.
They stream podcast episodes directly using their mobile internet connections rather than downloading them.
That's probably you right now. Just streaming, just go ahead and stream the podcast directly.
Because mobile internet these days is way faster and cheaper than it used to be.
How is that possible? I'm asking people who know.
How is it that back in the old days, your mobile data connection and the amount of data that you were able to use every month was like a precious commodity.
It was more valuable than gold or saffron. or diamonds or gold saffron.
It was like the most precious thing. No, I've got to protect my data.
But these days, we're just like, yeah, I'll just stream Netflix on the bus.
We don't seem to worry about that. I don't know why.
The idea of streaming gigabytes of data online over a mobile connection used to horrify us, right?
If you accidentally tapped download on a video, ah, stop, stop it.
But people still use podcatchers to subscribe to podcasts a day, receive each new episode and then listen.
These days, the most popular podcatchers are podcast apps. which you can get on your phone, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, etc.
Right? Hello, I just feel the need to interrupt myself here at the moment.
This is me. I'm actually standing in my bathroom at home while recording this bit of audio. professional podcasting.
Anyway, what you're about to hear is... You're about to hear me say these words.
You're going to hear me say, a YouTube channel is not a podcast.
And I say that twice. I say, a YouTube channel is not a podcast.
And then I go on to explain why a YouTube channel is definitely not a podcast.
But I've just realized, of course, that my channel on YouTube is called Luke's English Podcast.
And I don't know what to do about this. I mean, obviously, I'm right that a YouTube channel isn't a podcast, but I still don't know how I'm going to deal with the fact that...
Despite that information, my channel on YouTube is called Luke's English Podcast.
I don't know what to do about this. I think the only way for us to progress from this point is just for us all to accept that this is, yeah, it's just a contradiction, isn't it?
It is, it's just a contradiction. And it's just one of those things.
And we just have to accept in life that there are contradictions And we just have to just keep going, don't we?
We have no choice. We can't just stop and say, sorry, can you stop the earth from spinning?
I'd like to get off now. You can't do that.
You have to just keep going, accepting that there are certain contradictions in this world.
So I'm sorry, everyone. But now let me say what I need to say, which is that a YouTube channel is not a podcast despite all of this.
I know. All right. Here we go. Let's do it.
Now, a YouTube channel is not a podcast, although confusingly, YouTube uses the word podcast to describe certain playlists. which you can subscribe to on YouTube, but...
Let's be clear, YouTube channels are not podcasts because episodes published there are only available within the YouTube system.
Whereas true podcasts, including true crime podcasts, are available across many different platforms. and different podcatchers.
I don't know why it's so important for me to point this stuff out.
So that's what a podcast is. So no one ever needs to wonder ever again.
Couple of questions for you at this point.
How do you, yes you, listen to podcasts?
What podcast app do you use? What is your podcast app of choice?
Why do you like it? And do you prefer watching on YouTube or listening to the audio version?
I realise that the landscape of podcast land...
When I ask questions like this, the general landscape of podcast land dictates that I will get answers on YouTube. because if you're listening in a podcast app on the bus or something, you've got your phone in your pocket or whatever, and you're just listening and you're not there, and maybe there's no comment section either.
On Spotify, there is a comment section. You can write comments quite conveniently now. in Spotify.
Just open up the episode you're listening to.
You should find a comment section there where you can leave your comments, which would be very welcome.
I love getting comments from listeners. YouTube, it's just so easy.
There's the comment section. You can just... write any old stuff you want in there, people do much more easily.
Whereas if you're listening on Apple Podcasts or Pocket Casts or this or that or the other, it might be more difficult for you to write to me.
So I've asked those questions. How do you listen to podcasts?
What podcast app do you use? Why do you like?
I'm sure the answers will be, I use YouTube, I use Spotify.
But you can get in touch on the website.
You'll find a link in the description of this episode in your podcast app of choice.
Go to the link. That'll take you to the website page for the episode.
And at the bottom, there is a comment section there.
Right, so anyway, which podcast app do you listen through?
Why do you like it? Do you prefer watching on YouTube or listening to the audio version?
And why? Obviously, on YouTube, you get to see my glorious face.
I don't know if that is an advantage to you.
Whereas in the audio podcasts, you can just listen without being distracted by, you know... whether there's hair on my chin, or whether you can see my eyebrows or not, or indeed whether there are eyebrows actually there on my head.
People do get distracted by those sorts of things.
Anyway, sorry, Jiri, I still haven't actually answered your question.
You're probably well aware of what a podcast is.
But you just want to know about the word podcast and where the word podcast comes from, right?
Sorry for not just giving you the answer straight away.
This is a bit like when I have a conversation with my dad. who has a habit of going into lecture mode and just telling you everything he knows about a subject except for the answer, the specific question that you've got. which is something like, so who do you think will be the next manager of Manchester United?
And then he goes on to explain the history of Premier League football.
And you just say to him, why don't you just tell me the answer instead of just telling me it?
You know, this is why we call him Rickipedia.
Anyway, origin of the word podcast. Let's get straight to the point then, fine.
Let's get straight to the point after 50 minutes.
So the word podcast, this is from Wikipedia, not Rickipedia, this is Wikipedia.
The word podcast is a fairly new word, and most people say it was originally created by Ben Hammersley. a British consultant, broadcaster and systems developer who casually suggested that this word could be used to explain this new method of audio publishing.
The word podcast is a portmanteau. That's a combination word or blend word. a word that blends several other words together.
So the word podcast is a portmanteau of iPod, which you know, the brand of media player on Apple that no one seems to use anymore – and the word broadcast.
So iPod combined with the word broadcast, you end up with podcasts.
Ben Hammersley coined the term podcast in an article he wrote for the Guardian newspaper.
In 2004, it was declared Word of the Year by the New Oxford American Dictionary... in 2005, reflecting the growing trend in new audio publishing via this innovative new system.
So like podcasting has really its origins in around the year 2004, 2005.
LEP was started in 2009, in fact. Early adopter I was.
Why did I go all Yoda there with my sentence structure?
Early adopter I was, yes. Podcasting since 2009 I've been, yes.
Hammersley, Hammers me, Hammersley, has said that he made up the word To pad out an article he was writing that was a little too short, to pad it out, he needed to add padding to the article, meaning he had to make the article longer.
So he just... This is an interesting way of, if you've got a word count that you've got to reach, Why not just invent some new words just to extend the word count?
That's what he did. He made up the word podcast.
Here's a short extract from a BBC interview he did about this.
Let's listen to it. It's on BBC Sounds. Let's see if we can listen to this. from about... It's disappeared.
Ah, great. The article has disappeared. What is it?
Ben Hammersley. Let's see if I can find it.
No, no, it's gone. It's disappeared. Oh, well, never mind.
It was amazing. It was just so brilliant.
But it was basically Ben Hammersley saying, yeah, well...
I just made up the word. It was a portmanteau word, which means a combination of two other words between the word iPod and broadcast.
And to be honest, I just made it up in order to... to sort of pad out an article I was writing for The Guardian, which I thought was a little bit too short.
So I thought, I'll just include this new word in it.
That's basically what he said. Anyway, podcast is usually a noun, but it can be a verb.
To podcast, meaning to do a podcast. For example, I really enjoy podcasting.
I've been podcasting since 2009. Early adopter.
I was. Yes. Yeah, too young you are, too old you are to begin the podcast.
That's not what he said. Anyway, pod plus cast.
It's interesting to see how the word podcast is made up of these two other words, two other, in this case, morphemes.
There's that word again. A morpheme is a part of a word.
Okay, so, you know, we go from... large to small.
Large is like a paragraph, a text which is divided into paragraphs.
Paragraphs are divided into sentences with a capital letter at the beginning and a full stop at the end.
Sentences are divided into phrases or clauses, in fact, clauses.
A clause is a part of a sentence which has a verb and a subject.
Clauses are made up of words or phrases, phrases are just little groups of words, and themselves are made up of parts, right?
These parts are called morphemes. These are like the smallest...
Parts, meaningful parts of words. For example, if you look at the word player, a football player, that's obviously two parts, isn't that?
Play and the "-er". part which is a suffix which often is used in words for a person a word for a person who does something baker teacher programmer, player, right?
So that E-R, play plus E-R Player is not considered a portmanteau word because E-R isn't a word, but it is a morpheme.
It's a meaningful part of a word. So anyway, let's break down this word into its two parts, pod and cast.
So a pod is something small. We know it as an iPod.
But generally, a pod is a small, often narrow and rounded thing that contains something.
For example, a bean pod. You know, beans come in pods that contain maybe three beans or something. an escape pod, which on a spaceship would be the thing that you would climb into if, let's say, there's a horrible carnivorous alien, which has somehow got onto your ship and you need to escape from it, you would get into the escape pod and...
off you would go into space going, ah, finally got away from the alien.
And then you realise, oh my God, it's in the escape pod with me.
Oh no. Well, at least I'll make a good film about it.
So an escape pod. And then... then you also have an iPod, of course, a small rounded container of MP3s and so on.
So that's Pod. A Cast... or to cast something.
So this word cast comes from Old Norse casta meaning to throw.
So cast is a bit like throw. So whenever the word cast is used, it means sending something, throwing something, making something go through the air.
We'll see more examples in a moment. Let's look at some words and phrases with cast.
Let's look at other words that also contain cast and consider how cast contributes to their meaning.
So here are some common collocations with the word cast.
So you... We cast what? What do we cast?
Well, you might cast a spell. right, to invoke magic or enchantment.
The witch cast a spell that turned the prince into a frog. to cast a spell in magic, cast a shadow, which is basically to make a shadow appear, to project or create a shadow, And it can be used metaphorically.
For example, the presence of Voldemort cast a long shadow over the evening.
Or literally, the dark clouds cast a shadow over the entire valley, giving it a gloomy appearance.
Or the bad news cast a shadow over the rest of the day.
You also might cast a vote in an election.
To cast a vote means to submit a vote in an election or decision-making process.
For example, citizens went to the polls to cast their votes in the national election.
Also, cast doubt. Something might cast doubt on something else. meaning to create uncertainty or suspicion about something.
For example, the new evidence cast doubt on the defendant's alibi, raising questions about their whereabouts.
Um, cast a glance or cast a look, meaning to look quickly or look briefly at something.
She cast a glance at her watch. hoping the meeting would end soon.
That is the sound that happens when you cast a glance at something.
You, in the exam, you cast a glance at the clock to see how much time you've got left.
You cast a glance at your watch. Cast a glance at your classmate who casts a glance at you and then you cast a glance at the teacher.
And the teacher goes, can you stop making that noise with your mouth?
It's very distracting. And you cast your glance back at the exam paper Just cast a look in her direction.
Oh me, oh my, ain't that perfection. From a song.
Just cast a look in her direction. Oh me, oh my.
Ain't that perfection? Ain't she sweet? That's it.
That's the song. Cast light. To cast light on something.
Meaning to clarify or reveal information about something.
For example... The new evidence cast light on the case.
New evidence has come to light. New evidence has cast light on the case, revealing new things.
The documentary, the TV documentary cast light on the company's questionable environmental practices.
So in all of those phrases, cast means throw or send out in some way, just like in the word broadcast. which is used in media, meaning sending out a wide signal in all directions.
That's broadcast. For example, a radio broadcast or a TV broadcast.
Broadcasting live from the BBC. This is the British Broadcasting Corporation broadcasting live over the airwaves.
And in podcast, it means to send or broadcast something to your iPod. through the internet in this case.
So a TV broadcast, a radio broadcast, a broadcast to your iPod or podcast. so that this basic idea of throwing or sending out is included in most words containing caste, even if only metaphorically.
Let's have a look at some other words which contain this morpheme cast.
Yes, a chance for you to expand your vocab just a little bit further, step by step.
Word by word, I bring you further and further into this deep jungle of English vocabulary and you broaden your range.
I mean, imagine yourself in a computer game where you start the game, you've only got...
You've only got like a map of the game area.
And the map, only a little bit of it is uncovered.
There's a whole dark area of the map that's not been uncovered, that's still dark and not visible to you.
Like when you play GTA. And then when you visit the different parts of the map, those parts become visible to you.
That's essentially what you have to do for your vocabulary.
You have to go out and explore Right? You need to go out and explore and find, you know, read a lot, listen a lot.
The more stuff you actually visit and encounter... the more you get a global overview, overall sense of this whole language.
And so that's what I try to do with you.
I try to bring you to these different parts of the map. in order to introduce you to some other words.
So let's look at other words which contain the morpheme cast.
Can you think of words which have the word cast in them.
We've had phrases, as I just said, cast shadow, cast doubt, cast light on something.
What about words? So we've got broadcast.
Can you think of any other words that contain the word cast?
Here are some examples along with how cast contributes to their meaning.
So broadcast is the first one. To cast broadly or widely... in this case, cast a radio signal far and wide, but really this means sending out information like radio or TV signals across a wide area. via some kind of media, so broadcasting, a TV radio or radio signal, making a TV radio show.
It's also a noun. For example, the news of the invasion was delivered via a live radio broadcast.
Also, we've got forecast. This means to cast forward, and it refers to predicting or throwing a vision of future conditions, often weather, the weather forecast.
It could be a noun or verb. So it's basically predicting.
Have you checked the weather forecast? Rain is forecast for this afternoon.
The financial forecast is... is optimistic, okay?
Then we've got outcast. Okay, this means to be cast out.
So it's a verb or noun. It's often a noun, in fact.
It describes someone. an outcast, who is thrown out or cast out, there's the verb actually, to be cast out.
So a person is an outcast who's been thrown out or cast out or excluded from a group or society.
So it's usually a noun. After the scandal, he felt like an outcast among his peers, shunned by those he once called friends.
Shunned meaning rejected. The novel tells the story of an outcast who struggles to find acceptance in a society that values conformity.
Next we've got Cast Away. So that's a noun.
The verb is to be cast away. So cast away literally means cast away or thrown away to a distant place.
And it's often used for someone stranded, especially on a deserted island.
So he is a castaway. he ends up becoming a castaway living on a desert island.
So the phrasal verb is in two parts, to cast someone away or to be cast away.
It's usually in the passive form. He gets cast away on a desert island.
Okay, of course, this makes us think of that wonderful Tom Hanks film.
What's it called again? It's about a guy who gets cast away on a desert island.
Just can't remember the name of it though.
Castaway, that's it. Next, number five is overcast, to describe the sky.
The sky is cast over or clouds have been thrown over the sky.
It describes cloudy, dull weather where you can't see any blue sky.
England, basically, in February or March or April or May or June.
July, August, September, October, November.
And indeed, December and January, just England, the sky in England is often overcast.
So this is an adjective. It's typical British weather today with a grey overcast sky.
Next is to cast someone or the cast of a film.
So in the world of movies and TV and theatre.
When a play, a film or TV show is made, actors are given the different roles.
These actors are... given or placed or thrown into a particular role.
They are cast in that role. The producers cast them.
For example, Joaquin Phoenix was cast as the Joker in the recent Joker films.
We also talk about the cast of a film, play or TV show.
The Avengers series has an all-star cast. with Academy Award winner Robert Downey Jr. and some other guys, some other people.
Number seven, typecast, to be typecast. This is to cast someone, again in the sense of putting them in a movie. to cast someone in a particular type or role repeatedly.
So it's about pigeonholing. There's a nice word.
And pigeonholing is not as rude as it might sound.
Pigeonholing means putting someone into a category.
So it's about pigeonholing or repeatedly assigning someone to a specific character or stereotype.
Can you think of any actors who've been typecast?
They always play the same character. In fact, they are only ever given that kind of role.
Can you think of any examples? What about Mark Hamill, the actor who played Luke Skywalker?
After appearing in the Star Wars films, actor Mark Hamill... who played Luke Skywalker, found it very hard to get other acting roles in other films because everyone just knew him as Luke Skywalker.
He was typecast as Luke Skywalker. He later managed to find his place in the industry doing excellent voiceover work, such as playing the Joker, in animated Batman films.
Daniel Radcliffe, Harry Potter, has worked very hard to avoid being typecast. as Harry Potter.
And he's done a fairly reasonable job of doing that.
He's managed to avoid being typecast. He's appeared in lots of unconventional films. as well as stage plays, playing roles which are clearly very different to Harry Potter in an effort to clear his association with that role and avoid getting typecasts.
What about Liam Neeson from the Taken films?
When the film Taken became a huge success, a big success, Liam Neeson became quite typecast as an older action movie star, and he went on to make lots of other similar films. as a old gruff American with probably a Northern Irish background and a particular set of skills.
So it's basically taken on a plane. It's taken on a boat.
Taken in a frozen wasteland. And I don't know if he was happy about this because obviously he got a lot of work later in his career, or maybe he was unhappy to be typecast as this kind of character.
I don't know. That's typecast. Moving on, we've got recast, which is to cast again. which means reshaping or restructuring something.
Here we're talking about things made of metal, for example.
So, you know, recasting a statue made of metal, so making it again, or reassigning a role in a film or TV show, for example.
Like in Back to the Future... Obviously, the character of Marty McFly, everyone knows he's played by... What's his name?
Michael J. Fox, of course. but originally it was a different actor.
So in Back to the Future, the role of Marty McFly was recast after a few days of shooting.
The original actor, Eric Stoltz, was replaced by Michael J. Fox, the character the role was recast.
And number nine, again, in the same kind of category, we have miscast.
This is to cast incorrectly. It describes giving someone an unsuitable role Often in acting, in TV, theatre or films, it's a verb.
So if you imagine, I can't think of a good example of an actor who was really miscast in a movie.
I think the role, here's an example, it's not real.
I think the role of King Lear was miscast, to be honest.
I don't think Jim Carrey was the right actor for the role.
I appreciate he was trying to do something different with it, but he still isn't quite old enough, and there isn't really any comedy in the part of King Lear anyway.
And I think this is the last one, number 10, downcast, which is an adjective used which literally means cast down, thrown down, it implies being emotionally thrown down or dispirited.
So it's like, disappointed, sad, depressed, to be downcast.
It's your mood which is thrown downwards.
For example, when I walked out of the hospital on my own, I just felt so downcast.
So each of these terms retains that sense of throwing or giving or sending something out. sending forth an action, a quality or a role which shows the versatility of the word caste as a root word or morpheme.
So that is the meaning of the word podcast and a little trip into the world of the word cast and how it can be found in various places. other words and phrases.
You are welcome, listeners out there in podcast land.
You know what? You know something? I said earlier...
I said, we're going to cover this, that and the other, but we're going to stop here.
I've just decided we are going to stop here right now at this point and I'll carry on and do the rest of the stuff I had planned in Bits and Bobs episode part five, which will come soon.
Maybe it will be the next episode, but maybe it won't.
Yeah, whoa, I'd like to keep you... on your toes.
You just don't know because you know, life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get.
Luke's English Podcast is like a box of chocolates.
You never know what you're going to get, except you know you're going to get chocolates.
And you probably, often when you buy a box of chocolates often you know what's going to be in it.
It's going to be chocolates and you know what kind of chocolates. because it often has a little diagram on the side of the box, right?
I've never understood that. I've said this on the podcast before, in Forrest Gump, where he says, life is like a box of chocolates.
You never know what you're going to get.
Well, you often do know exactly what you're going to get when you buy a box of chocolates, but nevertheless, life is... unpredictable, let's say, which is, to be fair, it wouldn't be as good in the film.
Well, my mama always said life is kind of unpredictable.
You never quite know what's going to happen next.
Uh, you know, uh, uh, next and, uh, well, it would be, it's a, it's kind of like a box of chocolates, except that you do tend to know.
So life is not like a box of chocolates. but it is a bit unpredictable.
The film would never have won any Oscars. if I had written it.
So anyway, I will let you discover what the next episode is when it arrives through your RSS feed into your podcatcher.
But anyway, I hope you appreciated that.
A bit of grammar and a bit of vocabulary on the podcast this time.
Thank you for listening, everybody. Write into the comments section, please.
How do you listen to Luke's English podcast?
Do you have a particular, do you have a favourite way of doing it?
What platform do you use? Do you prefer the audio version or the video version and why?
And in what situation do you typically listen to the podcast?
In fact, if you're listening to this podcast right now. which I suppose you are, right?
You, yes, you. What is the situation in which you find yourself listening to this?
Are you outside somewhere? Are you in an interesting location?
Are you in a boring location? Are you listening when you perhaps shouldn't be listening?
Are you in a lesson at school? Are you at work?
Listening to this while trying to multitask, you think, well, I'm going to do this boring task at work.
I might as well listen to Luke's English podcast. at the same time.
Are you driving somewhere? Where are you going?
How's the journey? How's the traffic? Are you walking around?
What's the weather like? Where are you? Which incredibly fascinating part of the world?
Are you in at the moment and what's going on around you?
I would love to know. Please leave your comments wherever you leave your comments. and I will speak to you next time, okay?
Don't forget you can sign up to LEP Premium to get more stuff like this.
This is closer to the sorts of things I do in premium episodes where I do focus on teaching stuff. and obviously PDFs and loads of memory exercises and other tasks that you can do to really help you expand your vocab.
So premium content is constantly arriving all the time.
So don't miss out, teacherluke.co.uk slash premium.
But anyway, I'll speak to you next time.
I look forward to hearing from you in the form of comments in some way.
Check out the PDF. And that's it. Okay. All right.
Nice one. Cheers, everyone. Ta-da. Bye. Bye.
Bye. Bye. Bye. Thanks for listening to Luke's English Podcast.
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