Hello and welcome to the English Like a Native podcast. My name is Anna and you're listening to week 23, day 2 of Your English Five a Day.
The second season. With this series, you are indulging in your need to daily dip into the English language in order to build that strong habit that will help you to slowly but surely feel more like yourself when communicating in English.
Let's begin today's episode, as we always do, with a snapshot of what's to come.
Thanks to her perseverance, my sister -in -law managed to sell her old flat at market value.
She had hung on to the place for years, even when things got tough.
Remarkably, It was still intact after all that time.
OK, let's dive into today's vocabulary, starting with the adjective intact.
Intact. We spell this I -N -T -A -C -T.
Intact. Intact means not broken, damaged or changed.
It's complete and in good condition.
Intact. If you buy something secondhand, then you'll want to know, is it in good condition?
Is it intact? Yes, it's all intact.
Oh, fantastic. Then I'll buy it.
Here's an example sentence.
The vase fell, but luckily it was still intact.
Next, we have the noun perseverance, perseverance.
Perseverance. We spell this P -E -R -S -E -V -E -R -A -N -C -E.
Perseverance. Perseverance is continuing to try to do something, even when it is difficult.
Perseverance is something that I encourage with my students, particularly my fluency program students who come on board to study with me long term.
They need perseverance to continue working towards their goal of fluency.
It's not a quick fix.
They won't join and be fluent in a month.
They need to work and turn up week after week.
And over time, that's when they achieve their goal if they have perseverance.
Here's another example.
Success often comes from hard work and perseverance.
Next, we have the phrasal verb hang on to, to hang on to something.
Hang, we spell H -A -N -G.
Hang on to something.
So, this means to keep something and not give it away or or throw it away.
You hang on to it. When I borrowed a book from my grandmother, a valuable book, a wonderful book about language because my grandmother was a language teacher.
I had it for a few weeks and then I said, I must give you the book back, grandma.
And she said, no, no, you hang on to it for a while, my darling.
I'm sure that you'll enjoy referencing pages in the the book.
So you hang on to it, you keep hold of it.
Here's another example.
I'm going to hang on to these books in case I need them later.
Next, we have the noun market value.
Market value. Market, we spell m -a -r -k -e -t.
Value, v -a -l -u -e. Market value.
Market value is the amount of money something would sell for on the open market.
So for example, you may have bought a house for £300 ,000.
But now, because of inflation and the rise in demand and the lack of supply, the market value of your property is £500 ,000.
So the market value has come up is higher than than what you paid for it.
Here's another example.
Before selling your car, check its market value online.
This is something I often do if I'm selling an item, usually an old toy or game or a coat or a pair of shoes that my children no longer need or use.
I will first look online to see what other people are selling similar items for.
So what is the market value of this item?
And then when I know what it generally goes for, then I'll decide the price that I'm going to put on it.
Next, we have sister -in -law.
Sister -in -law. Three words.
Sister, S -I -S -T -E -R, hyphen, in, in, I -N, hyphen, law, L -A -W, sister -in -law.
This is the sister of your husband or wife or the wife of your brother, your sister -in -law.
So here's an example.
She gets along very well with her sister -in -law.
Do you have a sister -in -law?
Do you get on with your sister -in -law or are you a sister -in -law to somebody else.
Okay, let's now do a quick recap of those five items. We started with the adjective intact, which means not broken, damaged or changed.
It's in good condition.
It's intact. We had the noun perseverance, meaning to continue to do something even when it's hard. I spoke about students needing perseverance.
We had the phrasal verb hang on to, which is to keep something and not give it away or throw it away.
To hang on to something.
We had the noun market value, which is the amount of money something would sell for on the open market.
The market value. And finally, the noun sister -in -law, which is the sister of of your husband or wife, or the wife of your brother, your sister -in -law.
Okay. Let's now do this for pronunciation purposes.
Please repeat after me.
Intact. Intact. Perseverance.
Perseverance. Hang on to, hang on to, market value, market value, sister -in -law, sister -in -law.
Fantastic. OK, I'm going to test your memory now.
What do we use to describe something that's in good condition?
It's not broken or damaged in any way.
It is what? what? Intact.
That's it. Fantastic.
And if you are required to work hard to achieve something, you have to keep trying to do something even when it's difficult.
What is this? What noun would you use?
This is what perseverance is.
Yes, continuing to try.
And if I tell you to keep something, don't throw it away or give it away.
Keep it for now. What phrasal verb could I use?
Hang on to. Yes, hang on to it.
And if we want to understand how much something might sell for, on the open market, what noun do we give to this amount of money?
Market value. Fantastic.
Finally, what is the name that we give to the wife of your brother?
Sister -in -law. Fabulous.
Okay. I'm going to repeat the snapshot now, so listen carefully.
Thanks to her perseverance, my sister -in -law managed to sell her old flat at market value.
She had hung on to the place for years, even when things got tough.
Remarkably, it was still intact after all that time.
Fabulous. Let's now listen out for our target vocabulary once more as we head into storytime.
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Celeste stared at the small wooden box on her kitchen table.
It was nearly a hundred years old, yet somehow still completely intact.
intact. The brass hinges gleamed in the morning light, and the tiny jewels that decorated the lid sparkled as if they were new.
I know you don't want to sell it, her sister -in -law Angela said softly, placing a cup in front of her.
But you should at least find out its market value.
Celeste ran her fingers over the smooth wood.
This box had been in her family for generations.
her grandmother had given it to her mother and her mother had left it to her now three months after her mother's death celeste was still trying to decide what to do with it i just don't know if i can part with it celeste whispered it's all i have left of her angela sat down across from her i understand when my father died i wanted to hang on to everything of his even his old fishing hat that smelled terrible.
Celeste smiled faintly.
Did you keep it? I did.
But I also learnt that keeping everything doesn't make the pain go away.
Angela touched Celeste's hand gently.
The memories are in your heart, not in the things they leave behind.
Celeste nodded, tears forming in her eyes.
Her flat was tiny and the bills were piling up.
She knew that selling the box could solve many of her problems. An antiques dealer had seen a photo of it and had been ringing her daily, eager to make an offer.
Mum would want me to be practical, Celeste said after a long silence.
She always was. Yes, she was, Angela agreed.
But she also valued perseverance.
She'd want you to fight for what matters to you.
Celeste lifted the box and opened it carefully.
Inside was a folded piece of paper she hadn't noticed before.
With trembling hands, she unfolded it to find a note in her mother's handwriting.
My dearest Celeste.
This box has watched over five generations of our family.
Some kept it because of its beauty or value.
Others because of the memories it holds.
I am leaving the choice to you.
Whether you decide to hang on to it or let it go, know that I am proud of you.
What matters is not the box, but what you do with your life.
Choose wisely, but choose for yourself.
All my love, Mum. Celeste wiped away her tears.
She thought of her tiny flat and her growing debts.
She thought of her mother's practical nature, but also her belief in holding on to what truly matters.
I need more time to think, she told Angela.
I need to decide what this box really means to me, beyond its market value.
Angela squeezed her hand.
That's fair. There's no rush.
Celeste closed the box, feeling somewhat lighter.
her. Whatever she decided, she knew her mother would understand.
And that brings us to the end of today's episode.
I do hope you found it useful.
Until next time, take very good care and goodbye.
