English Rewind - Entertainment: Describing sounds

Hello, Catherine here from BBC Learning English.

Just so you know, this programme is from the BBC Learning English archive.

It was originally broadcast in May 2006 on our website.

Enjoy!

BBC Learning English dot com.

Hello, I'm Callum Robertson and this is Entertainment.

In the programme today,

I'm going to be looking at sounds and talking about sounds we like.

Sounds and noises are all around us,

from the sounds of nature, such as the wind in the trees,

to man-made sounds like traffic.

Often, we don't notice sounds, they are just there,

but we all have sounds we love to hear — like Carrie, what sound does she like?

My really, really favourite sound is the sound of waves.

I just love the sound of waves crashing on the beach

because it just reminds me of being on holiday,

being at the seaside, relaxing.

I just find waves really, really relaxing

and the sound of crashing waves is just really soothing.

Carrie likes the sound of waves: she loves the sound of waves crashing on the beach.

Describing sounds like this is very easy —

you can say the phrase 'the sound of' followed by a noun.

The sound of waves. The sound of waves.

Or, instead of using a single noun, like the word 'waves',

you can also use a group of words together, which make what we call a 'noun phrase'.

With a single noun, you describe the sound of something

and with a noun phrase, you describe the sound of something happening,

which is usually more descriptive.

These phrases will often use the I-N-G forms of verbs.

The sound of waves crashing on the beach.

The sound of waves crashing on the beach.

BBC Learning English dot com.

Here now are some other people describing the sounds they like.

Listen carefully and you will hear that they all use the same structures.

I’ve always liked the sound of champagne corks popping

and the sound of laughter

and also, very recently, the sound of my little baby boy cooing,

I find particularly nice.

A sound that I like is the sound of a cat purring.

My favourite sound at the moment is, er, are the sounds coming from my garden.

There’s a lot of birdsong out there and, particularly in the mornings,

I find that a really peaceful and a nice and pleasant way to wake up,

is birds singing and, you know, even children playing out there.

The sounds we heard described using a noun phrase were 'champagne corks popping',

'a little baby cooing', 'a cat purring',

'birds singing', 'children playing'. Listen again.

I’ve always liked the sound of champagne corks popping

and the sound of laughter,

and also, very recently, the sound of my little baby boy cooing,

I find particularly nice.

A sound that I like is the sound of a cat purring.

My favourite sound at the moment is, er, are the sounds coming from my garden.

There’s a lot of birdsong out there and, particularly in the mornings,

I find that a really peaceful and a nice and pleasant way to wake up,

is birds singing and, you know, even children playing out there.

That's all from this edition of Entertainment.

Don't forget to try the quiz on this topic on the webpage

where you can also download the script and an audio version of this programme.

BBC Learning English dot com.