Welcome to a new episode of English Vocabulary Booster.
My name is Lara and I'm a SALSA certified English teacher.
Learning new vocabulary usually takes a long time, but we'll do it in a way that's easy, quick and efficient.
In every episode, we'll learn how to use five new English words or expressions, so that you too can start speaking like a native.
So let's get learning.
This is week eight of this podcast.
This week's topic is family.
Let's listen to the story.
Oh my gosh, look at him.
He's adorable.
How old is he?
He can't be more than two months old.
Well, he's the spitting image of Brad.
Yeah, he definitely takes after his father.
Look, same eyes, same ears.
In reality, I better grow up to become a great football player, just like his daddy.
Yes, you will, won't you?
After all, you know what they say, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
The thing is, So what's his name?
I bet you've named him after his grandpa.
So what is it?
George or perhaps George Jr.?
Am I right?
Actually... I'm just looking... Janet!
Her name is Janet!
She's a girl!
So has that ever happened to you?
Because it happened to me probably two weeks ago, when I thought that there was this little boy, but I thought it was a girl because he had, like this, beautiful blonde hair.
And then the dad told me that it was a boy and I was like, whoopsie.
But it happens, especially with newborns.
You can't really tell.
Alrighty, let's begin with expression number one.
Be the spitting image of someone.
He's the spitting image of bread.
If you are the spitting image of someone, do you look like them or do you look very different?
To be the spitting image of someone means that you look exactly the same.
You're very, very similar.
So are you referring to a similarity in the character or in the looks?
In this case, we're only referring to the looks.
Are you the spitting image of someone?
I don't think so.
Like I have my dad's nose, but I wouldn't consider myself the spitting image of my dad.
So no, not really.
Expression number two, take after.
He definitely takes after his father.
If you take after someone, do you resemble that someone or not?
Yes.
Taking after someone means resembling someone, being similar to that someone.
And does the resemblance have to do with the behavior, the looks or both?
So remember we just said that to be the spitting image of someone means being very similar for what concerns looks.
But if you say you take after your father, for example, that means that you could either look like them physically or you could act like them, that your behavior is similar.
So do you take after someone in your family physically?
I definitely take after my dad in terms of looks, but I think in terms of personality, I take after my mom.
We're both kind of introvert and a little bit shy at times.
So yeah, I think I take after both my dad and my mom.
Expression number three, grow up to become.
I bet he'll grow up to become a great football player.
So I know this may sound like you know a common expression, but I want you to focus on the difference between these two sentences.
He grew up and became a football player versus he grew up to become a football player.
What is the difference between the two sentences?
So in the first one, when you use and he grew up and became a football player, it kind of sounds like okay first, this is what happened.
First, he grew up and then he became a football player.
When you use the expression to grow up to become something or someone, that means that the circumstances in your life have brought you to that place.
If you say he grew up to become a football player, it means maybe he was part of the high school team and then he was recruited by a famous football team.
And so all of those circumstances contributed to him becoming a football player.
So when you were younger, who did you think you would grow up to be?
I thought I was going to grow up to be a Hollywood star.
I promise you 100%.
I thought I was going to marry Brad Pitt.
This was when I was, what, seven years old?
So I thought I would grow up to become an actress.
That that's where my life was going to take me.
Uh...
Not sure if you can tell, but that's not how things went.
All right.
Expression number four.
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
You know what they say.
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
You use this expression to indicate a usual similarity between parents and children or between friends talking about family.
And if you say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, you mean that children often resemble their parents.
But what kind of similarity are we talking about?
The looks or the behavior?
In this case, you talk about the behavior.
So maybe he's very smart.
Well, in this case, it's not the behavior, but it's more like personality trait.
So he's very smart.
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree means his parents or his dad or his mom was also very smart.
Do you agree with this expression that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree?
I 100% agree.
Because I think you're like our parents influence you a lot.
And I wouldn't say I think anybody who raises you influence you a lot and you end up somehow resembling them in the way you act, at least.
So yeah, I totally agree with the fact that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
Expression number five, name someone after someone.
I bet you've named him after his grandpa.
So this does not mean that first you name the grandpa hey grandpa, you're going to be Charles and then you name the baby, because you've named him after him.
No, that means, well, actually you tell me what it means.
So if you name a baby after someone, Do you give them the same name as that someone or a similar name.
It means giving the baby the same name as that person.
So if the grandpa's name is, for example, Charles, then the baby is going to be named after him.
He's going to be named Charles as well.
In your country do you traditionally name children after their relatives or Um, I think so.
In the States sometimes they do that.
I think in Italy, not so much.
Um, it used to be done in the past, especially in the South, where the child would be named after their the grandma or the grandpa, depending whether it was a boy or a girl.
But I don't think it's done that much anymore.
Because I think parents like to choose their baby's name and have fun with them and come up with the craziest names ever.
And that is it for today.
And remember, if you want to access the transcript, as well as lots of other resources, visit enboocom.
That is E-N-B-O-O-O dot com.
Have a great day.
