Learn English Vocabulary Daily #14.1 — British English Podcast

Hello, and welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast.

My name is Anna and you are listening to Week 14, Day 1 of Your English Five a Day,

the series that aims to expand your active vocabulary by five pieces every single

day of the week from Monday to Friday.

And today we are kicking off our list with the adverb magically, magically.

This is spelled M A G I C A L L Y.

Magically.

Magically.

If something is done magically, or if something happens magically,

then it happens in a way that uses magic or seems to use magic.

We often couple this with 'appear' or 'disappear'.

It magically appeared.

It magically disappeared.

This is the common collocation that you'll hear.

"Oh, look, my phone just magically reappeared exactly where I'd

left it, but it disappeared for three hours, so who had it?

Who took it?"

Here's another example.

"No one owned up to eating the last piece of cake.

I guess it must have magically disappeared."

Alright, moving on to our next word.

This is a noun and it is illusion.

Illusion.

We spell this I L L U S I O N.

Illusion.

Illusion.

Now an illusion is something that is not really what it seems to be.

So, it's like a trick of the eye.

We often create illusions on stage.

So, we make the stage appear to be something that it's not.

And we use, I say 'we', because I used to work in the theatre.

And the very clever people who work in the theatre will use tricks of lighting and

scenery and distraction to perform tricks on stage, to trick your eye into thinking

it's seeing something that it's not.

I think one of the best examples of this was when I went to watch

Ghost, the musical on stage.

Now, you might be familiar with the film Ghost.

I'm not going to assume that everyone has seen it, but for me, it's an

iconic film, a very classic film with Patrick Swayze and was it Demi Moore?

Yes, I think so.

A fantastic film.

You must go and watch it.

And I saw it on stage and I wondered how they would perform some of the scenes

where there's a ghost on stage and they did a fantastic job using mirrors and

lights and creating reflections and there were a few that I couldn't work out.

I'm looking at these images on stage and thinking,

"Wow, this is so clever.

It looks like a ghost and I have no idea how they've done it.

That's amazing."

So, they created a wonderful illusion that I couldn't work out to be honest.

So, here's another example.

"The new mirror I bought is great, it gives the illusion of this room

being much bigger than it really is."

OK, moving on to our next word, or rather, phrase.

You can use this as a noun and it is sleight of hand, sleight of hand.

Now the spelling here is a little bit different to what you might expect.

We spell the first word S L E I G H T, sleight.

Of, O F.

Hand, H A N D.

Sleight of hand.

Sleight of hand.

Now, sleight of hand is the speed and skill of the hand when performing tricks.

So, think about magicians who work with cards or with coins, and they're able to

move them around and make them disappear.

And they do this by being very manipulative with their hands,

being able to move and hide these objects in a very clever way.

Here's an example sentence.

"I wanted to be a magician, but I was never very good at sleight of

hand; I kept dropping the cards."

Next on our list is an idiom and it is second to none.

Second to none.

We spell this S E C O N D, second.

To, T O.

None, N O N E.

Second to none.

Now this means you are as good as or better than all others.

So, you don't come second to anybody.

You are the first.

You are the best.

You are the top.

This is second to none.

It cannot be beaten.

Okay.

So, second to none.

Here's an example sentence.

"That magic show was the best I've ever seen, it was definitely second to none."

What would you describe as being second to none?

You can describe an experience, a product, a service or a person as second to none.

Let's move on to our last word, or rather phrase, of today.

This is a phrasal verb and it is blow away.

Now there are a few meanings to blow away, but in this particular context

that we're using today, it means to surprise or please someone very much.

We spell blow away, B L O W A W A Y.

So, that's two words, blow B L O W.

Away, A W A Y.

Blow away.

Now, if you are blown away by something, it's something

that just makes you go, "Wow!"

Or, "Oh!

Wow!"

It's that reaction.

So, if I hear some incredible news, like, my mum phones me and says,

"Anna, I didn't tell you, but I started a new online business and it's taken

off and I've been invited to be on television talking about my business."

Then I'm going to be blown away by that information.

I'll be surprised.

"I'm really pleased.

Wow, mum, that's amazing!

Wow, I'm so surprised!"

I'm blown away by that information.

Here's another example.

"I don't want to spoil it for you, but the final trick of the show

will absolutely blow you away."

It's going to surprise and thrill you.

It will blow you away.

Okay, so, that's our five.

Let's recap.

We had the adverb magically, magically.

When something is done in a way that uses or seems to use magic.

We had the noun illusion, illusion.

When something is not what it seems to be.

We had the noun sleight of hand.

Sleight of hand, which is the speed and skill of the hand when performing tricks.

We had the idiom second to none, meaning you are as good

as if not better than others.

We had the phrasal verb blow away, which means to surprise

or please someone very much.

Alright, let's now do this for pronunciation.

Please repeat after me.

Magically.

Magically.

Illusion.

Illusion.

Sleight of hand.

Sleight of hand.

Second to none.

Second to none.

Blow away.

Blow away.

Brilliant.

Okay, quiz time!

What phrasal verb would I use to say that I was surprised and really

pleased by something that I heard?

I was...

blown away.

Alright, how about if I want to describe the skill and

speed of the magician's hand?

I would say, he had good...

sleight of hand.

He had good sleight of hand.

How about if I want to describe the thing that is something that is not

really what it seems, but it tricked me?

It was an...

illusion.

An illusion.

And the adverb that I would use to say that something was done in a way that

uses, or seems to use magic, is...

magically.

Magically.

And finally, the idiom to say that something is better than all the rest.

I would describe it as being...

second to none.

Second to none.

Brilliant.

OK, let's bring everything together in a little story.

I remember the time I saw a magician perform a sleight of hand trick that had

me convinced he possessed real magic.

It was a warm summer evening, and my friends and I decided to check

out a local magic show at a small, dimly lit theatre in the city.

The magician, Max Mystique, was renowned in the magic

world for his unmatched skill.

His reputation for illusion was second to none, and I was eager

to see if he lived up to the hype.

Max Mystique began with some card tricks, effortlessly shuffling and

manipulating the deck, leaving us in awe.

But it was his final act that truly amazed us.

He placed a silver coin in his palm and, with a flick of his wrist,

made it disappear into thin air.

Gasps filled the room as we all struggled to comprehend the illusion.

Magically, the coin reappeared behind an audience member's ear.

Ha-ha-ha.

We were all blown away.

I watched closely, trying to catch his secret, but Max Mystique's

sleight of hand was flawless.

He moved with precision, leaving us all in wonder.

Throughout the show, Max Mystique performed one mind-bending

illusion after another, each more astonishing than the last.

Objects levitated, vanished, and reappeared in unexpected places.

It felt like he had tapped into a hidden dimension of magic.

When the curtain fell, the audience erupted in applause.

Max Mystique had taken us on a magical journey, and I left the

theatre that night with a new appreciation for the art of illusion.

Even now, I can't help but smile at the memory of that evening and the brief

belief that magic was real in the hands of a true wizard like Max Mystique.

And that brings us to the end of this episode.

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