This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 257.
You'll get to the next level as long as you listen.
Welcome to the all ears English podcast where you'll finally get real native English conversation and fluency for business and life.
We believe in connection, not perfection when it comes to learning English.
Now here are your hosts.
Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl, coming to you from Boston and New York City, USA.
In today's episode, you'll find out how to stop using if all the time and start using as long as when it's appropriate, by listening to two real conversations with Lindsay and Michelle.
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Hey, Michelle, how are you doing today?
Pretty good, Lindsay.
How are you?
I am excellent because we just had our official All Ears English photo shoot in New York, which was super fun.
Yeah, it was awesome.
That was crazy.
We were dancing and everything.
Dancing and having our photos taken.
So you guys are going to see some photos of the two of us very soon.
So today, Michelle, is a Tear Up Your Textbook Tuesday.
Ah.
But first, I want to go ahead and thank our reviewers, our listeners who have taken time out of their precious day to go ahead and leave a review on iTunes for All Ears English.
So I specifically want to name out some people.
I want to say thank you so much to Ansrej from Poland, Molly Tai.
Anatoly from Moscow, Fernando Calheiros from Brazil, Timur and Kato Claus.
I think he's from Germany.
I want to say thank you to you guys.
You took the time to go and write us a review and thank you to other people who also wrote a review.
And Michelle, did you know that our listeners can actually get a personal email from one of us if they go ahead and write a review?
Really?
That's cool.
That is very cool because you know, we want you guys to know that when you leave us a review in iTunes, it helps our show.
It moves our show up in the rankings so that more people can find All Ears English.
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All right.
Yeah.
Thank you so much, guys.
Really.
That's so nice of you.
We appreciate it.
We totally appreciate it.
We work hard for you guys.
We love you guys.
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All right.
Here we are with A Tear of Your Textbook Tuesday.
How are you feeling, Michelle?
Feeling good?
I'm feeling great.
I'm so ready for this.
All right.
So today we're going to go into how to use the phrase as long as.
Oh, that's a good one.
That's a good one.
It is a good one.
And it's another good way for you guys to move to become that to that fluent level.
Right.
We know, as we say all the time on these tear up your textbook Tuesdays.
We're here for you guys who want to move from the upper intermediate to the advanced level.
And this is a connecting word that'll help you do that.
Exactly.
Yeah, this is a really, really important one.
I think I completely agree, Lindsay.
This will really help you bump up your level.
Yeah, because we know that you guys want to sound more dynamic, right?
You don't always just want to use the phrase if.
You want to use something else and you want to really say what you mean, right?
The word if is just a little too general.
So again, Michelle, what does as long as actually mean?
So as long as can mean if or it can mean provided that.
Kind of like you give certain conditions and you emphasize that these conditions are important.
Okay, you mean when we use as long as, right?
Exactly.
Okay, good one.
So provided that, though, is much more formal, isn't it?
Right, provided that is way more formal.
But yeah, it's a good way to understand the meaning of, as long as
As long as is definitely, definitely more frequently used.
Yeah, I think I've seen provided that used more often in written form, maybe in a contract, for example.
Absolutely.
Yeah, perfect.
So we're mostly here to give you guys conversational English, spoken English.
So as long as is a really fantastic phrase to start using.
So, Michelle, what do you think?
Should we jump into a couple of role plays to demonstrate how to use as long as for our listeners?
I would love to, Lindsay.
All right.
We know our listeners love role plays, so let's do it.
All right.
So, let's see.
I'm going to be in this role play.
I'm going to be the kid and you're going to be the mother, Michelle.
Okay.
Okay.
All right.
I have to think like a mom.
Yeah.
Think like a mother.
A strict, scary mother.
Okay.
You have to put on like a little girl voice.
Oh, God.
I don't want to do that.
That's too weird.
Okay.
So, Mom, what time is my curfew tonight?
Oh, we won't set a specific time.
I think that you're old enough to make your own decisions.
You can stay out as late as you want as long as you bring the car back in good condition.
Oh, so as long as I don't do anything dangerous, I can come back anytime?
Is that what you're saying, Mom?
Yeah, pretty much.
Great.
You are the best mom in the world.
Oh, thanks, sweetie.
That was great.
Okay.
So where did we use as long as?
And we used it in two places, right, Michelle?
Right.
So the first one was I said you can stay out as late as you want, as long as you bring the car back in good condition.
Okay, so in this case again, it's taking the place of if, but it's not exactly the same as if, right?
I mean, in this case, I could substitute this and put if in that sentence.
But how does it change, Michelle, when we say as long as?
When you say as long as, it's kind of like putting the conditions out on the table.
It's like there's you know you can do X if you do Y, but as long as makes it more like depending on X.
Do you know what I mean?
Yeah, I know what you mean.
And the conditions are important.
I think that's the key, right?
Yes.
So you can stay out as long as you want, as long as you bring the car back in good condition, right?
Right.
So you mean you don't want me to get into an accident, right?
Right.
Exactly.
Like I probably wouldn't say like you can stay out as late as you want as long as you chew gum.
You know, like it's something important.
Right.
It's pretty.
Right.
So the conditions are important.
That's a good point.
Right.
And then I responded.
I said, oh, so as long as I don't do anything dangerous, I can come back any time.
Right.
Right.
So again, if I don't do it right.
So it just makes it clear that the conditions are a key piece in what you're saying in your conversation.
Right, right.
It's something important.
And yeah, the conditions are just really important in these situations.
Like I said, you're not going to say as long as you wear pink socks, you know like that's not important.
Maybe it is important to you.
I don't know.
For some mothers, maybe.
Right, I don't know.
But you know, in this situation obviously doing anything dangerous like that's important to not do.
Yeah.
Michelle, did you have any.
So we talked about the word curfew.
Right.
My question was, you know, what time is my curfew tonight?
What is a curfew?
Curfew is kind of like your deadline for coming home.
Like what time can you stay out until?
Yes, the time you have to go.
So when you were a teenager, did you have a curfew, Michelle?
I actually I didn't have a specific curfew.
The only time I was kind of a bad girl with that was when I worked at a restaurant one summer and I wouldn't get off work until like two in the morning.
And I was friends with my coworkers.
So after work, we wanted to do what most people do after work, which is hang out.
And so it would be, like, I wouldn't get home until, like, 7 in the morning.
Whoa, you crazy party girl.
Yeah, and not even.
I mean, it was just because it was natural.
Like, after work, we hang out.
So my schedule was totally thrown off.
So I would come in when my parents were leaving for work.
And they would not... That's...
That's the only time I was really bad about curfew.
But other than that, I was okay.
How about you?
Yeah, I think I remember having like a midnight curfew or something.
But then later, you know, when I was a senior in high school, I could stay out as long as I wanted, as long as I called.
Ah, as long as I called to let them know that I was coming home late.
So there's another example of how to throw in as long as in the conversation.
Perfect.
So yeah, curfews can be kind of a pain in the butt, but sometimes they're necessary to keep kids under control.
I mean, it can't be easy raising a teenager, right?
Yeah, I'm terrified of having a teenager one day.
I imagine that's no fun, but eventually it gets better, I'm sure.
Absolutely.
So let's jump into one more situation here Michelle, to show our listeners how we're using, as long as in a slightly different context here.
So, all right, here we go.
So we're talking about my landlord.
What's a landlord, Michelle?
Landlord is the person you rent from.
Yeah, right.
So if you're a renter, if you're a tenant, then your landlord is the owner of the building or the person who rents it to you.
Okay.
Right.
Let's roll.
Okay.
So I heard your rent is really cheap.
What's your landlord like?
Oh, he's great.
He hasn't increased the rent in years, Michelle.
Wow, Lindsay, that's awesome.
Well, why is that?
I don't know.
I guess he just cares about having clean tenants.
Wow.
Do you think he'll raise it in the future?
I think that as long as we keep the house clean he won't raise the rent.
Ah.
And actually that is the case.
That's my situation.
Oh.
Well, that's good.
Yeah.
Luckily my landlord is very cool, very kind.
And, you know, he hasn't raised the rent in years.
So we appreciate that and we hope it continues.
Little shout out to your landlord.
Yeah, absolutely.
So in this case, how did we use as long as?
Right.
So you said, I think as long as we keep the house clean, he won't raise the rent.
So in this situation, yeah, we're talking about the rent will stay the same.
If we keep the house clean and it's important, right?
Emphasis on that is something that's important.
It's important that your rent doesn't get raised and it's important that the house is clean.
Right.
So the key condition here is that we keep the house clean.
And that's a challenge for me because I don't like to clean.
Oh, me either.
Yeah, so that's it.
Okay, so we've had some really good examples here of where we can use as long as.
Michelle, do you have anything else you want to say before you finish up today's episode?
I think as long as you guys study, your English will be perfect.
I love it.
All right.
So guys, don't be intimidated.
You are at the right level now to start mixing in connectors like this, right?
Phrases, interesting ways of making your language more nuanced.
It's time to do it.
If you guys can understand 90 80, 90 of what we're saying, you're at the right level to use, as long as
So please go ahead and experiment with this.
Just experiment.
Connection, not perfection.
Right, Michelle?
Exactly.
That's the key phrase.
Go out there and try to use it instead of using if.
Come back to our website.
Come back to allearsenglishcom, slash 257, and write us a sample sentence if you want to practice with us before you go out and use it in a conversation, okay.
All right, Michelle, thanks for hanging out with me today.
Thank you.
Thanks, guys.
See you soon.
Bye.
Have a good one.
Bye.
Bye.
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