This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 1484.
What are you lacking in life?
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In today's episode, we answer a question from our listener, Jo.
She asks us how to use the word lack.
Do you always need a preposition?
Plus, find out today how to get a chance to reflect on what's missing or what's abundant in your life as we get ready to enter 2021.
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Hey, Lindsay, how are you?
I'm doing well, Michelle.
How are you?
What's going on?
I am good.
I am good.
Nothing is really lacking right now.
You know, everything's pretty good.
Oh, it's good to take a moment and feel gratitude, feel a sense of gratitude.
We're so lucky right in this world that we're able to podcast and provide this for our listeners and, just in general, like everything that we have.
We're lucky for it.
Yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
For sure.
And we are lucky to have listeners that send us really, really great questions.
And we have a really great question from Joe today actually about this word lack, which I just used.
We are going to get into that today.
I'm excited for today's episode, Lindsay.
And we also wanted to tell our listeners who are in China about something special.
Right, Lindsay?
I know, guys. are now on WeChat in China.
Okay.
So we want to find new ways for you guys to listen to the show.
Connect with us, leave comments and hang out in a new place, right?
A place where you're already hanging out anyways.
Okay.
So go over to WeChat and look for All Ears English Official is the name of our account.
And you can definitely connect with us over there.
Very, very cool.
And tell your friends about it.
Awesome.
Yes.
For sure.
Great.
Okay.
So WeChat.
That's exciting.
So like I said, we have a question from Joe today.
Lindsay, do you want to read the question?
Sure.
All right, here we go.
So Joe says, Dear all, I really love your show and I've been listening to your podcast for a year.
It is the best language learning resource.
Hey, thanks, Joe.
Great compliment.
I just have a quick question regarding the usage of lack.
I know lack can be used as a verb or a noun and needs to be used with some preposition, such as of, depending on the context.
I'm wondering if you can elaborate a bit more on this based on the usage of lack.
Thank you very much, Joe.
Okay.
Yes, I love it.
Yeah.
So, Jo, yeah, you're right.
You know, lack can be used as a verb or a noun, right?
So we are going to talk about, you know, this more in this episode.
So great question.
So, Lindsay, I mean, what is it?
What is lack?
So it generally means not having something. yeah something is missing something is not present Yeah.
Do you use this word a lot?
Yeah, I think so.
Yeah, I use this is lacking a lot, right?
Something is lacking.
There's a lack of.
Yeah, I use it in a lot of different parts of speech.
Absolutely.
What about you, Michelle?
I think it's very smart sounding.
I like this word lack.
I mean, it's kind of a sad word in a way.
Yeah.
I mean, something's missing, right?
But I think it's a smart sounding word.
Yeah, I think it's pretty smart.
Yeah, for sure.
Yeah.
So, yeah, let's get into it.
So, first of all, you don't always need a preposition.
We're going to go over a couple of uses of this word.
This isn't to say there aren't more, but we're going to focus on a couple today.
So don't always need a preposition.
Right, Lindsay?
Yeah.
All right.
Let's give our listeners some examples of that and to show them exactly what we're talking about here.
Absolutely.
So as a verb, you don't need to say of, right?
Yeah.
So you can just use an object.
So for example, I could say something like, I lack the patience needed for this line of work.
Right.
Or she is lacking.
So that progressive form.
She's lacking some of the qualifications for the position, but she's really great in so many ways.
Okay.
Nice.
Both are good.
And I don't see any proposition at the end of that, Michelle.
Do you?
I don't see anyone there.
Yes.
Or I could say, can we get more materials in the stockroom?
We're lacking staples and pens.
Yeah.
Or his work lacks what we need.
Okay.
Or one more because I'm having fun.
These French fries lack flavor.
Yeah.
By the way, I know you're a big French fries girl.
Do you do ketchup or do you do like some kind of a hot sauce on your fries?
Or do you do like a white base sauce?
Um, i do, i do catch up.
Primarily, i will happily dunk it in whatever's there if, if i so desire.
I'm not really a mayo person, but like it's like kind of like if i have 100 french fries in front of me and there's mayonnaise, i'll probably put like three of them in there to be like oh yeah, do i like this?
Oh, not so much.
Okay, You like to try a bit of everything?
In that case,
I see.
Yeah.
What about you?
I like ketchup.
Good old ketchup.
Sugar-packed ketchup.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, I love it.
I love it.
It's so good.
Anyways, I just wanted to know.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Good question.
Yeah.
Okay, so now let's talk about as a noun.
So this one is generally with of, right?
So for example, can we get more materials in the stockroom?
There is a lack of staples and pens.
So this is the same thing, right?
I'm saying the same thing as above, but using it as a noun a lack of something.
Yeah, there's a lack of staples and pen.
I do think that at times, in terms of the tone, just to insert something, it can sound a little overly formal if you're not careful.
You know what i mean.
Yeah yeah, i.
I would probably just say can we get more materials?
Uh, we don't have any staples or pens.
Yeah, or we're missing.
I mean, maybe that's another episode for another day.
Yeah yeah, Yeah.
Something's not there.
This would be good to write, right?
A lack of.
And you could say it.
I just think it could sound a little stiff and disconnected if you use it too much.
Okay.
Just to let our listeners know that.
Yeah.
Yeah, I think that's a good point.
I mean, or what about the next example, Lindsay?
Could you read that?
Yeah, so there's no lack of fun going on in this room.
Okay, so everyone's having a good time.
Or what about the next one, Michelle?
If you are in China, there's a new way to experience All Ears English, and that's on WeChat.
We're on WeChat.
All Ears English Official is the name of our account, so go over and interact with our community over there.
Again, go and look for the All Ears English Official account on WeChat.
Thanks, guys.
His lack of good judgment got him in trouble in school.
Ah, okay.
So that one's good.
Is there any other way to rephrase it, would you say?
Yeah, right.
So, I mean, so like I have a lack of patience.
So like I'm talking about the ones that we already did.
Some of them we've already, you know, done.
But so I lack the patience needed for this line of work.
So how could you rephrase that with a noun?
Okay.
So I have a lack of patience.
Right.
Something like that.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Exactly.
Right.
Or she is lacking some of the qualifications.
I could say she has a lack.
Right.
But that one doesn't sound as natural to me.
Yeah.
It kind of seems annoying to say that.
There's a lot to say.
That's why, you know, you guys should have other options, too.
And we'll cover that in another episode.
But I think the point is like, just to understand, you don't always have to use that preposition after lack.
There are other ways to say it.
Mm hmm.
Right, right, right.
Exactly.
Exactly.
So, I mean, less formal ways.
I mean, like you said Lindsay, you know this can sound a little bit.
I guess that's what I meant in the beginning.
It sounds very smart.
So in that way it can sound very formal, informal and you want to think about.
Sometimes you don't always want to sound that formal.
So you might want to say something like, I mean, Lindsay, you used we're missing this.
That's a really good one.
Yeah, I think that one's very natural.
We're missing something.
Yeah.
Or you could say, yeah, oh, yeah, yeah, that's a good one.
So yeah, we could use, right?
Like, oh, we could use some more napkins at the table, right?
Like, I wouldn't say to a waiter, like, oh, we're lacking napkins.
Exactly.
Or we need, you need something also very, very common.
We need napkins.
We don't have any.
Yeah, you're right.
We're lacking napkin.
That would sound so weird.
Exactly.
Exactly.
So, yeah, I mean, it's just it's just kind of one of those, you know, small, big words.
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
But yeah, I mean for a conversation.
I mean Lindsay, is there anything you're lacking in life right now?
Oh, Michelle, that is a great question.
You know, when I, yeah, I don't know.
No, it's okay.
When I think about life in general again, like I said in the beginning, I feel very fortunate, very lucky.
I have a roof over my head.
I have enough food to eat.
I have the basic.
I have everything I need and more.
I have family.
I have love in my life.
I feel so lucky that I have all of those things.
So really the only thing I would point to is the.
You know it's such a shame what's happened with the year, with the pandemic.
That's what I was thinking.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think that everybody can identify with what you're saying.
I was going to say that I'm lacking in that same way.
The lack of variety, the lack of I mean, everybody with the pen.
I mean, not to get too depressing, but like everybody I think is missing out on something now.
Right.
Oh, yeah.
You know, sometimes I think of like my son and like he's in such these special years and, like you know, I can't take him certain places.
I can't have the regular experiences that I would have.
That's really I mean, I'm very I'm very fortunate.
That's nothing really big to complain about.
But I think that everybody is kind of like mourning something that they can't.
They aren't able to do that they would have.
Yeah, completely.
I mean.
Another example is this week I should be in, where I think, Texas for the podcast conference, podcast movement, that every year that is always such a fun conference to go to.
You meet all these thousands of podcasters from around the world.
You connect with friends you met last time.
It's just part of life, part of business and life that's fun.
Conferences are just really fun.
And that's obviously happening online, which makes it very one-dimensional.
It's just not the same.
It's not the same.
Not the same.
But, you know, these things happen.
So hopefully we'll be moving through this in 2021 and we'll get our get a variety back.
Yes, absolutely.
I mean, and you know, in general.
I think it's a good idea though, to kind of take inventory of like, what you might be lacking in your life.
Right.
Yeah.
Not focus on it too, too much because you don't want to get down, right?
And sometimes life is just life and you can't control everything.
But I think it's good to kind of know like, okay, well, you know, this area is great.
This area is great.
This area is, you know, I could improve such things.
And maybe you can plan for those improvements.
Maybe you can't.
Good point, Michelle, especially because we're getting towards the end of the year.
I mean, today's December 9th.
You guys, before you know it, it is going to be the new year, at least the new year in our calendar.
So write down some things. that you wanna work on in the new year?
Is it your finances?
Is it your career?
Do you need to take an exam for something, to get qualified, to get a I don't know a raise or something?
Whatever it is, get a promotion.
Think about what you need in the new year and start making a plan for it, for sure, for sure.
Love it.
Yes.
It's a good thing we're doing this episode now, because people have time before the end of the year to think, to really start to think about this, because I generally don't think about it until the very end of the year.
And I'm like, oh, New Year's Eve, you're writing your journal.
You're like, oh, no.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Oh, my gosh.
Anyway, this was a great question from our listeners.
Remember, guys, if you are on WeChat, find us there now.
Yeah, for sure.
Go over there and find All Ears English Official is the name of the account and sign up, follow us, share it with a friend and do all that good stuff over there guys.
All right.
Very cool.
Thanks to our listener.
Was it Joe?
Joe asked the question, I think.
Joe, thanks to Michelle for planning today's episode.
Great job today.
Thank you.
Thanks guys for listening.
Have a good one.
Bye.
Bye.
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