Hello and welcome to the English Like a Native podcast. My name is Anna and you're listening to week 29, day 3 of Your English 5 a Day, the second season.
This is the series that's designed to be your daily dip into the English language.
Something that you can do during your daily routine, whether it's commuting, whether it's cooking, cleaning, dressing, something mundane that you do on a regular basis.
Just pop in your earphones or put me on your phone and I will keep you company and keep your English brain ticking over.
So today, as always, let's begin with a snapshot of what's to come.
When Claire inherited her grandmother's shabby cottage.
It was in complete disrepair with peeling paint and broken windows.
She decided to renovate the entire property methodically, starting with the roof and working her way down through each room.
Most importantly, she wanted to put her stamp on it by adding modern touches whilst whilst keeping the original character that made the cottage special.
OK, it's time to dive into our vocabulary.
Number one is a verb and it is to renovate, to renovate, renovate.
To renovate means to repair or improve something.
When I say something, it's usually a building.
But this is more than decorating.
It's not just giving something a fresh coat of paint or wallpapering or changing the carpets.
Renovating is much more hardcore.
We're talking about knocking down walls, taking out radiators, replacing the kitchen, those kinds of things.
A renovation is a big job.
Normally, you would have builders come in to help you to do a renovation.
So, if you're renovating, you're going to need some special skills or people with special skills.
Here's an example sentence.
We have to completely renovate our new apartment.
The previous owners left it in an awful state.
Next on our list is an idiom and it is put your stamp on it.
Put your stamp on it.
Now, to put your stamp on something is to affect or change something in an important way by using your own style and influence.
So you make it your own, you make it look like yours or feel like yours you influence it in such a way that it's noticeably yours just like if you were a farmer and you had lots of cattle and they were roaming free they were free roaming cattle you would put a stamp on that cattle you would mark it in some way to say this is mine.
So it's the same with this idiom.
It's a case of making something your own.
It might be that you take a standard gift, a cup, and you're selling cups, but you're going to put your own stamp on it.
You're going to do something special to the cup to make it seem like yours.
Here's an example sentence.
I'm so happy with our house.
It's so much more homely now we've put our own stamp on it.
Next on our list is the adverb methodically, methodically, methodically.
So, if you are methodical, then you will do things methodically.
Methodically means to do something in an ordered or careful way.
So, you are like, if I'm trying to organise organise my paperwork or if I'm doing my tax returns, I want to do my paperwork methodically.
So I work through it in a certain order and I'm very, very careful to make sure that I don't make a mistake or miss something that could end up causing a lot of trouble with the taxman.
Okay. So you work methodically, methodically.
Here's an example. We had to plan the house renovation methodically.
There was such a lot to do, we couldn't risk just jumping in.
The next word is a noun and it is disrepair.
Disrepair. We often talk about things being in a state of disrepair.
So if something is in a state of disrepair, then it means it's broken or it's old and it needs repairing.
It needs to be repaired because it's in a state of disrepair.
disrepair. Here's an example.
The kitchen was in such a state of disrepair, we had to strip it out completely.
Okay. Next, we have the adjective shabby.
Shabby. Now, shabby means that something looks old or worn out because it's not being looked after or used for a long time.
For example, or you might say, oh, the sofas are starting to look a bit shabby.
If we're decorating the house, we should get some new furniture too.
Okay, that was our five for today.
Let's just recap that list very quickly before I give you them all together in a little paragraph.
So we had the The verb, renovate, to renovate.
The idiom, put your stamp on it, put your stamp on it.
The adverb, methodically, methodically.
The noun, disrepair, disrepair.
And the adjective, shabby, shabby.
Alright, let's now revisit our snapshot.
When Claire inherited her grandmother's shabby cottage, it was in complete disrepair with peeling paint and broken windows.
She decided to renovate the entire property methodically, starting with the roof and working her way down through each room.
Most importantly, she wanted to put her stamp on it by adding modern touches whilst keeping the original character that made the cottage special.
Okay. It's story time.
I said story time. It's not actually a story.
It's just, it's just a paragraph.
I don't want to give you false expectations.
Right. Just lend me your ears for a few more minutes.
We'll get through this.
Listen out for those words from today.
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These days, it is so expensive to move house.
that many people are turning to DIY and take on the renovation of their existing home themselves.
When you do make the decision to renovate, there's a lot to take into consideration.
Do you need planning permission?
Do you need to hire specialist equipment?
Do you have the plans or blueprints for your house to check for structural walls, electrics, plumbing, etc.?
Are you able to do all of the work yourself?
And probably most importantly, how much will it all cost?
You really need to think and act methodically, as this is a huge project and getting it wrong could spell disaster.
The best thing about self -renovating a home is that you can really put your own stamp on it.
You could get rid of those shabby curtains, sofas, light fittings, you know, the ones with 20 years of dust settled on them, and turn your house into a home.
The property doesn't have to be in a state of disrepair.
Walls don't need to be crumbling down around your ears.
People often just need an extension as their family and needs grow bigger.
It may be an old house that is in need of modernising.
renovating your home can be great fun just make sure you have a step -by -step plan before you start and stick to it as much as you can little changes are bound to happen but that's when the money starts to disappear and that brings us to the end of today's episode i do hope you found it useful useful.
If you did, then please remember to recommend the English Like A Native podcast to your English -learning friends.
Thanks in advance. Okay, until tomorrow, take very good care and goodbye.
