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Hello and welcome to the English Like a Native podcast. My name is Anna and you're listening to week 24, day 2 of Your English Five a Day, the second season.
With this series, you are expanding your vocabulary by having a daily dunk into the English language.
Episodes are are released from Monday to Friday and I record all of the vocabulary for you in a vocabulary vault.
A database that includes not just the vocabulary from today's episode, but every single episode in the entire series.
You can access this for free by clicking on the link in the description.
So, let's begin as we always do with a snapshot.
The two puppies were virtually inseparable, always cuddling and playing together, enough to melt your heart.
Watching them share a blanket was so touching that tears began to well up in my eyes.
Even their petty squabbles over toys were adorable.
Alright, let's start with the idiom melt your heart.
To melt your heart.
Melt, we spell M -E -L -T.
Your heart. H -E -A -R -T.
To melt your heart means that someone makes you feel warm and affectionate emotions.
It's basically when you see something that makes you go, aww, then your heart has been melted.
It might be the way that a child looks at you with their big goo -goo eyes and tells you you're an angel, or it could be the way that a cat curls up on your lap or puts their little paw on the back of your hand.
It could be the way your dog nuzzles his face into your neck when he comes for a cuddle.
These things melt your heart.
So, what has melted your heart lately?
Here's an example sentence.
The puppy's big eyes will melt your heart.
Next, we have the adjective phrase virtually inseparable.
Virtually inseparable.
Virtually, we spell V -I -R -T -U -A -L -L -Y.
Inseparable, we spell I -N -S -E -P -A -R -A -B -L -E.
Virtually inseparable.
This means that two people or animals are almost always together, as if you are unable to separate them.
They are virtually inseparable.
For example, the twins are virtually inseparable.
They do everything together.
Do you know anyone like this?
Two people who are always together as if they're literally attached, as if they're connected at the hip.
They're always doing the same things at the same time.
They're virtually inseparable.
Next, we have the adjective touching.
Touching. We spell this T -O -U -C -H -I -N -G.
Touching. Touching.
If something is touching, then it's emotionally moving or sweet.
Again, Again, it's the kind of thing that makes you go, oh, for example, if somebody is struggling to carry their heavy shopping bags down the road and it's raining and someone drives past and they see this person and they think, oh, goodness, they are obviously struggling.
struggling, it's raining, their shopping bags are heavy, and they stop the car and they get out and they offer to help this person by carrying their bags or giving them a lift or giving them an umbrella, though they might struggle to carry an umbrella with all their shopping.
But in some way, they go out of their way to help this person.
That's quite touching.
I remember when I had my my first child.
And it's an overwhelming experience when your first baby comes into the world.
It's exhausting and frightening and incredible.
And there's just so much going on, as well as your body trying to heal and dealing with breastfeeding and everything else.
And I remember the wife of one of my partner's work colleagues who had only met a few times baked me some cookies that were specifically to help me with lactation.
And she sent them in the post to me with a nice card and some flowers.
And I was so touched.
It was a very touching gesture.
She didn't just send a card. And I didn't know her that well.
So she didn't have to go to any effort to congratulate me on my first child.
But she went to all that effort to make me these special cookies because she knew, as she was a mum, how hard that initial transition into parenthood can be.
So she went out of her way to do something so lovely for me.
and I found that quite touching.
So I was emotionally moved by that gesture.
It was very sweet. Here's another example of touching.
The film's ending was really touching.
I nearly cried. Now, can you think of anything that you've experienced that you thought was touching, something that moved you emotionally or you thought was very sweet?
Next, we have the phrasal verb well up.
To well up. Well up.
Well we spell W -E -L -L up.
To well up is to fill with emotion or to have tears come to your eyes.
You well up. It's like you're about to cry.
You well up. And it could be tears of happiness or tears of sadness.
It's just that overwhelming feeling emotion.
You fill, you well up.
Here's an example. Tears began to well up in her eyes as she read the letter.
When I hear sad news, then that might make me well up.
For example, I heard recently about a young man that I've known for a very long time who's losing his battle with cancer.
And when I heard the news, I welled up.
I was filled with emotion.
I was close to tears.
I welled up upon hearing the news.
Equally, I welled up when my mum told me some really positive news, news that made me feel incredibly proud of her and what she's achieved.
I welled up with pride.
Next, we have the noun phrase, petty squabble.
A petty squabble. Petty is P -E -T -T -Y, petty, squabble, S -Q -U -A -B -B -L -E, squabble.
A petty squabble is a silly or minor argument, not something that you take too seriously.
It might be something that you do with your nearest and dearest. You might have a petty squabble about somebody not doing their household chores, or it might be a petty squabble over the way someone looked at you and you were feeling oversensitive and you had a petty squabble about a minor thing.
Here's another example.
Ignore their petty squabbles.
They'll be friends again soon.
Okay, so that's our five.
Let's do a quick recap.
We started with the idiom melt your heart, which is when something makes you feel warm and affectionate emotions.
So if something melts your heart, it's an aww moment.
It melts your heart.
We have the adjective phrase virtually inseparable, which describes two or more or people or animals who are always together, or almost always together.
They are virtually inseparable.
We had the adjective touching, which describes something that is sweet, or emotionally moving.
It's touching. We had the phrasal verb well up, which is to fill with emotion or tears, to well up.
And we have the noun phrase, petty squabble, which is a minor or silly argument.
A petty squabble. Okay, let's do this now for pronunciation purposes.
Please repeat after me.
Melt your heart. Melt your heart.
Virtually inseparable.
Virtually inseparable.
Touching Touching Well up Well up Petty squabble Petty squabble Fantastic.
OK, let me ask you a few questions.
What phrasal verb would you use if you filled with emotion?
Well up. Yes, to well up is to fill with emotion or tears.
And if two people are almost always together, what adjective phrase would you use to describe them?
They are virtually inseparable.
And if something makes you feel warm and affectionate emotions, what idiom could you use?
It melts your heart.
And it melts your heart because it's very sweet.
Maybe someone has said something that's so sweet it melts your heart.
What adjective could you use to describe this sweet phrase that you just heard from this very sweet person?
Touching. Yes, it's a touching thing that this person said and it melted your heart.
And if two people have a silly argument and they have many silly arguments, what noun phrase would you use to describe these silly minor arguments.
Petty squabble. Yes, they have many petty squabbles.
Fantastic. Let's listen to our snapshot once again.
The two puppies were virtually inseparable, always cuddling and playing together, enough to melt your heart.
Watching them share a blanket was so touching that tears began to well up in my eyes.
Even their petty squabbles over toys were adorable.
Okie dokie, let's move on now to my favourite part of the episode.
I want you to listen carefully for our target vocabulary once more as we head into story time.
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The sun was just beginning to set as I stepped onto the lawn.
The soft music playing in the background and the fairy lights hanging from the trees.
Claire and James were standing under a white arch, holding hands and smiling, like the world had finally clicked into place.
I felt my chest tighten in that good, warm way that can only mean one thing.
You're about to cry at a wedding.
They'd met in our second year at university.
At first, no -one thought much of it.
Just two people from the same lecture group walking to the library together.
But before long, they were virtually inseparable.
They'd finish each other's sentences, swap snacks during study breaks and laugh at jokes no one else understood.
It used to drive our friend group slightly mad, to be honest, but in a way that made us smile behind our moans.
Now, seeing them here, all dressed up and glowing with happiness, could melt your heart.
Claire looked stunning in her simple white dress, her hair swept up with a few soft curls falling around her face.
James, in his navy suit, looked like the proudest man alive when he saw her walking down the aisle earlier.
He actually teared up.
I saw it. And I saw Claire well up too, though she tried to blink it away.
The ceremony was short but touching.
Their vows were full of little things.
Jokes about their morning coffee routine.
Promises to keep each other warm on cold nights and memories from our shared uni days.
When James promised to never let a petty squabble last longer than five minutes, we all laughed.
we'd seen them argue over everything from burnt toast to whether a penguin could outrun a chicken.
But they always made up quickly, usually with a cuddle and a cup of tea.
Now the speeches had started and I could feel the emotion rising again.
Their friend Michael was up first, telling stories from our old house share.
He reminded everyone how Claire used to write little notes and stick them on our mugs just to cheer us up before exams. And how James once walked 30 minutes in the rain to bring her a lemon tart after a bad day.
He could have just text, Michael said.
But no, James knew that dessert says more than words sometimes.
I wasn't the only one wiping my eyes.
I looked around the table at our old university crew, all a bit older now but still laughing and rolling our eyes in the same way.
Life had taken us in different directions.
New cities, jobs, families.
But this wedding had brought us back together, even if just for a night.
As Claire and James danced their first dance, swaying slowly to a song they used to hum in the kitchen.
I felt something stir inside me.
Not sadness, not envy, just a deep, quiet joy.
The kind that makes you believe, if only for a moment, that love really does win.
And that brings us to the end of today's episode.
I do hope you found it useful.
form. If you did, then remember to come back again tomorrow for your daily dose of English.
Until then, take very good care and goodbye.
