Learn English Vocabulary Daily #14.2 — British English Podcast

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

My name is Anna and you're listening to Week 14, Day 2 of Your English Five a

Day, a series that aims to increase your active vocabulary by five pieces every

day of the week from Monday to Friday.

Let's kick off today's list.

We start this list with the noun camping.

Camping.

This is spelled C A M P I N G.

Camping.

This always brings a smile to my face because it brings back so many memories.

Camping, if you're not familiar with the word, describes the activity

of staying in a tent on holiday.

I actually did a really fun podcast about a year ago all

about the activity of camping.

So, camping, something that I did a lot as a child, I haven't done

enough of as an adult because I'm a bit of a wimp if I'm being honest.

Camping is hard work and especially in this country it's hard to know

what the weather's going to do and camping is great if it's dry.

It's not so much fun if it's really wet and windy.

Anyway, here's an example sentence for you.

"Have you got all the equipment we need for camping?

There aren't any shops locally, so we can't afford to forget anything!"

Are you interested in camping?

Have you done much camping during your lifetime?

Do you plan to go on a camping holiday in this coming year?

Alright, let's move on to the next word.

This is a verb and it is to pitch.

To pitch.

We spell this P I T C H.

Pitch.

Pitch.

To pitch is to put up a tent and make it ready to use.

So, you pitch your tent.

You actually pitch your tent on a pitch.

So you might take the pitch nearest to the road or the pitch next to the stream or

a pitch right in the middle of a field.

So, that's an easy one to remember.

The verb and the noun pitch and pitch.

You pitch your tent on a pitch.

Here's an example sentence.

"Oh, it's going to take ages to pitch this tent, why couldn't

you just buy a pop-up one?"

Next on the list is an adjective and it is alight, alight.

So, this is spelled A L I G H T, alight.

Alight.

If something is alight, then it is burning.

It's on fire.

It's alight.

Hopefully you'll never hear someone say,

"Oh no, your hair is alight!"

Which can sometimes happen if you're leaning over a candle or a

lit stove and you have long hair.

Sometimes it can just catch fire, can't it?

It can catch fire.

And then you are alight.

Now, let's move on to our example sentence.

"Please don't charge your phone on the bed, didn't you hear, Tony's phone

caught alight due to a faulty charger."

Next on our list is an idiom and it is neck of the woods.

Neck of the woods.

Now we usually say this neck of the woods, your neck of the

woods, his neck of the woods.

So, we need to know which neck of the woods you are talking about.

But let's get the spelling right first.

We spell this idiom N E C K, neck.

Of the, O F and T H E, of the.

And woods, WOODS . Neck of the woods.

This means a part of a particular area.

So, the part of town that you live in is a very particular part, it's your part,

so we call that your neck of the woods.

And if I'm walking in your area, the particular area of town that you live

in, and you see me, you might say,

"Anna, what are you doing in my neck of the woods?"

Or,

"What are you doing in this neck of the woods?

I've never seen you here before."

So, it's just referring to a particular area.

Here's an example sentence.

"Hi there Joanna, I haven't seen you in this neck of the woods before!

Are you visiting someone?"

OK, let's move on to our last word for today.

It is a noun and it is wilderness.

Wilderness.

We spell this W I L D E R N E S S.

Wilderness.

Wilderness.

Wilderness describes an area of land that has not been used to grow crops or

it's not had towns or roads built on it.

It's just a very natural area.

And usually it's not been used because it's very hot there or cold there,

or it doesn't have suitable terrain.

The earth isn't good for building on.

So, this is usually the wilderness.

It might be a very rocky area or a very sandy area, or it

might be dense with forest.

So, that would be the wilderness where there is nothing but

the wild, the wilderness.

Here's an example sentence.

"There's nothing better on a Sunday morning than taking a stroll in

the wilderness to clear the mind and get ready for the day ahead."

Alright, that's our five for today.

Let's do a quick recap.

We had the noun camping, which is the activity of staying in

a tent, usually for a holiday.

We had the verb pitch, which is the act of putting up your

tent and making it ready to use.

We had the adjective alight, which describes the burning of something

or something being on fire.

We had the idiom neck of the woods, which is your, this, our, area.

And then we had the noun wilderness, which is an area of land that

hasn't been used for anything.

It is just wild.

So, let's do this now for pronunciation.

Please, repeat after me.

Camping.

Camping.

Pitch.

Pitch.

Alight.

Alight.

Neck of the woods.

Neck of the woods.

Wilderness.

Wilderness.

Fantastic.

Now, let's just test your memory on that.

What is the idiom that we use to talk about a particular area?

Neck of the woods.

And what adjective would I use to describe something that's on fire?

Ah, it's

alight.

What's the verb that would describe the action of putting up my tent?

Pitch.

Pitching my tent.

And what's the activity of then staying in that tent for a little holiday?

Camping.

And if I were to camp in an area that has remained wild, has never been

built on or used for farming, what would I call that particular area?

Wilderness.

The wilderness.

Fantastic.

Alright, let's now put everything together in a little story.

One of my favourite childhood memories is the camping trips

we used to take with friends.

We often drove into the desert, or found a local area of mountains and waterfalls

to make our home for the weekend.

On one trip, we went to a place called 'Fossil Rock'.

We hadn't been to that neck of the woods before, so everyone

was excited as it is said to be one of the best locations around.

Its name comes from the amazingly preserved fossils

that are found on its slopes.

The mountains were formed around 70 million years ago, so we

really were surrounded by history.

Anyway, the first job when we arrive at the campsite is always to pitch our

tent, and this time was no different.

However, we hadn't thought about the wind and how difficult it would

be to put a tent up in this dry, open, hot and windy wilderness!

It did take twice as long as usual, and a few of us had to run after ground sheets

and ropes that were blowing away, but eventually we managed to get everyone's

tents up and we settled down to enjoy our first evening under the stars.

The best thing about camping is the bonfires we have at night.

We make a big pyramid with sticks we've collected or brought with us and

once the fire is alight, we all sit around it toasting our marshmallows,

playing games and sharing stories.

There's nothing better than just being out in the open, among nature and

history and most importantly, making memories with family and friends.

And that brings us to the end of today's episode.

As always, I hope you found it useful.

Until tomorrow, take very good care and goodbye.