BOX SET: English In A Minute 18 – TEN English lessons in 10 minutes!

I'm going to show you some different examples  of how we can use the word 'process'. As a noun,  

'a process' describes a set of actions, which we  do in order to achieve a result. The process of  

making tea is quick. There are three steps. We take  tea, add boiling water and leave it for a short  

time. We can add other nouns to 'process' to give  more information about a particular procedure.  

For example, the production process of popular  films can take years. The healing process for a  

broken arm is long and painful. We can also use  'process' as a verb. This focuses on the actions  

that we do as part of a procedure. It takes six  weeks to process passport applications. Remember  

all of these examples relate to procedure.

I'm going to teach you some meanings of the word  'draw'. The most common use is the verb form that means creating a picture or image. My cousin drew  

our family using different coloured pencils.We  can also use the verb 'draw' to mean 'attracting  

attention' - someone wanting to look at something.  For example, the singer is amazing. She will draw  

a big audience. 'Draw', as a noun, is used to  describe competition results that are equal,  

like 1:1, or 2:2. For example, the football match  ended in a draw - it was 1:1. So you can draw art,  

draw attention and draw in a competition result.  I hope our videos will keep drawing you in for more English lessons.  

Certain. Let's learn about this word. Certain is an adjective - a describing  

word. It's like sure, but stronger. We use certain  to say that we are a hundred percent sure about  

something. I am certain that Tuesday is the day  before Wednesday. We can also say 'for certain'.  

This means the same as 'definitely'. Tuesday comes  before Wednesday, for certain. We can be certain  

about something, too. I am certain about the  length of this video. It's one minute long. We can  

also use certain to mention someone or something  specific, without giving exact details. Hello?  

Boss? For certain personal reasons I can't come to  work today. Certain foods are easier to buy than others. 

Practice has a lot of different meanings  that you can use in many situations. Remember,  

this is practice with a C, not an S because it's a  noun. One. Practice can be the reality of actually  

doing something, not just the idea or theory of  it. It sounded like a good plan but in practice,  

it was terrible. Two. It can be used  to describe a custom or tradition,  

like typical traditions in a country. In the  UK, it's common practice to tip taxi drivers  

and hairdressers. Three. We use it to describe an  activity that we do regularly. Especially if we do  

it to improve our skills. I enjoy football  practice because I love football and I see  

my friends. I hope you enjoyed this English  practice.

What's an issue? Let's look at some of the main uses of this word. An issue can be an important topic that people are talking about.The  

environment is an important issue. The energy  crisis is a big issue for many people. An issue  

can also be a problem. If you find any issues  with our videos, please let us know. As a verb,  

we can use 'to issue'. This describes something  being ready or available, often for official  

purposes. I'm waiting for reception to issue my  work pass. My new driving license has finally  

been issued. We can call a newspaper or magazine  an issue if it belongs to a certain title. This is today's issue. Get today's issue now!

Give me one minute and I'll give you four meanings of the word  

'essential'. As an adjective, 'essential' can mean  'necessary, or needed, or extremely important'. We  

can't live without water. It's essential. We  can also use 'essential' to talk about 'the  

most important or basic qualities of someone or  something'. It's a beautiful old house. We don't  

want to change its essential character. As a noun,  'essential' can mean 'a basic thing that we cannot  

live without'. It's a countable noun and often  used in the plural. When we go camping, we only  

take a few essentials with us. And 'essential'  can also mean 'the basic or most important part  

of something'. With this meaning, it is again used  in the plural and often with 'the' before it and  

'of' after it. Now you have all the essentials of  the word 'essential'.

Let’s learn some common uses of the word contact. Firstly, contact can be used as a verb to mean 'speak or write to someone',  

often when someone wants to give or receive  information. The doctor contacted me this morning  

to tell me the results of my tests. Contact can  also be used as a noun to talk about speaking  

or writing to someone. As a noun, it's often  used with other words such as in, lose or make. 

In contact with means 'speak or meet regularly'.  Make contact means 'try to speak or write to  

someone after finding where someone is', while  lose contact means 'no longer communicate'. Stay  

in contact when you go away. Contact can also be  used to refer to a person who can help or give you  

information in work or socially. My contacts told  me there's a job opening at the business. Contact  

as a noun refers to people whose names, numbers,  and/or email addresses you have stored on your  

mobile phone. I’ll add you as a new contact on  my phone.

'Fall' can be a verb and a noun and has many meanings. Let's look at the most common together now. As a verb, 'fall' can mean 'to  

come down from a high position'. In the autumn (or  the fall in American English) the leaves start to  

fall. A similar but slightly different meaning is  'to suddenly go down towards the ground, probably  

by accident'. The noun form describes this act.  When learning to walk, toddlers fall a lot but  

they're usually not bad falls. 'Fall' also means  'to become lower in size, amount, or strength'.  

The noun form describes this change, and is often  followed by the preposition 'in'. There has been  

a fall in house prices recently but no one knows  why they have fallen. And one more useful meaning  

of the verb 'fall' is 'to change condition'.  People can fall asleep, fall ill, fall silent 

Let's learn some common uses of the word 'period'.  Firstly, period can be used as a noun to refer  

to a specific length of time. It is often used  in expressions such as 'over a period', 'during  

a period', and 'a period of time'. We'll observe  the patient's weight for a period of three months.  

'Period' can also be used to talk about a time  in a person's life or in history. When using  

period in this way, this time is often defined  by certain conditions or characteristics. The  

word 'period' usually has an adjective before it. I  went through a difficult period when I returned  

to the UK. In school, we can use 'period' to refer to  a part of a day when a specific subject is taught.  

I have maths in the second period on Tuesday.  Finally, 'period' in American English refers to  

the punctuation mark which shows the end of a sentence. In British English, we refer to this as a 'full stop'. Is that a period or a comma?   

Let's learn the noun character. Now, the meaning that  

you already know is a person in a book or a film,  but there's more to it than that. Character is the  

quality that makes a person who they are - part  of their personality. He has a friendly character.  

If we say that someone has a lot of character  or a strong character. We mean that they are  

mentally strong. It takes a lot of character to be  a good leader. The way you dealt with that showed,  

strong character. If someone is a good person,  we can say they're of good character. You need  

to prove you are of good character. With places  and things, it's what makes them interesting,  

different or attractive. The original furniture  is what gives that house character. The attention  

to detail in these clothes is what gives them  character. So, a character is a person in a  

book or a film or those qualities that  make people, places and things special.