Learn English Vocabulary Daily #18.5 — British English Podcast

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

My name is Anna and you're listening to Week 18, Day 5 of Your English Five a

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

day of the week from Monday to Friday.

Today we start the list with a noun and it is mortality, mortality.

We spell this M O R T A L I T Y.

Mortality.

Mortality describes the state of being, or the subject of death.

Okay.

So, not a happy topic, really, death, is it?

But that's what mortality is.

It's the state of being dead or the subject of death, mortality.

So, here's an example sentence of how you would use it,

"After suffering from a sudden heart attack, my uncle became

conscious of his own mortality."

Right, moving on to a brighter note, we have the verb ingest, ingest.

We spell this I N G E S T, ingest.

To ingest something means to absorb something or take something in.

You can ingest food, but in this case, we're talking about absorbing

information or absorbing an experience, taking it in ourselves,

into our brains, into our memories.

When was the last time you ingested something?

When we use ingest to talk about food, ingesting food, then it's

usually used to talk about taking something in that you shouldn't.

So like if you ingest some poisonous mushrooms or something like that then

we would more often use the verb ingest rather than eat or consume, which are

the more common verbs to talk about food, taking food in, to ingest.

So, here we're talking about ingest, meaning absorbing information.

Here's an example

"I spent hours ingesting the history books at the library when I was a

kid, I still love going there now."

I used to love the library too.

I don't visit the library much anymore.

I've always had a thing about books, just being surrounded by

hundreds and hundreds of books.

There's a smell to books, isn't there?

Do you know the film Beauty and the Beast, where Belle discovers the library?

And she just turns around, the Disney film.

She turns around and around and just sees these huge walls full

from floor to ceiling of books.

So, she's like,

"Wow, this is heaven."

I mean, she doesn't say that, but that's her reaction,

"Ahh, wow!"

That was me.

That's how I feel about books.

I used to collect so many books.

I had to give many of them away.

Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked.

Let's move on from ingest to an adjective detrimental or detrimental, depending

on how you treat that T, that second T.

Detrimental.

So, detrimental, spelt D E T R I M E N T A L.

Detrimental.

If something is detrimental, then it is harmful or causing damage.

So, I often use this word when talking about things that are bad for your health

or bad for your relationship, it damages or harms your health or relationship.

Allowing stress to build up and sit with you for a long time is detrimental

to your health, to your mental health, and then to your physical health.

Too much screen time for children is detrimental to their development.

Sugar and ultra-processed foods are detrimental to your health.

Can you think of any other sentences using detrimental?

Here's another example,

"My grandmother wants to move out of the care facility and back to her own home,

but the doctors have said this will have a detrimental effect on her health."

Moving on to an adverb, now we have the word rationally, rationally.

Spelt R A T I O N A L L Y, rationally.

If something is done rationally, then it's done in a sensible

and logical way or manner.

So, it's sensible, it's rational, you've thought about it.

That's good.

Here's an example sentence,

"We need to think rationally about this move, Australia is a long way

from home so we all need to agree that it's the right thing to do."

Next on the list is an idiom and it is pretty much, pretty much.

This is two words and we spell them pretty, P R E T T Y, pretty.

Much, M U C H.

Pretty much.

Pretty much means nearly or almost completely, not quite.

Nearly.

Here's an example sentence,

"I've pretty much finished packing for the holiday.

Did you get the money and the sun cream?"

So, in that example, I would imagine that the majority of the packing has

been done, but there's just a few more items that need to be put into the

suitcase at the very last minute, like toothbrushes and things like that.

Okay.

It's pretty much done.

Pretty much done.

Alright.

So, that's our five for today.

Let's do a quick recap.

We started with the noun mortality, which means the state

of being or the subject of death.

Then we moved on to the verb ingest, ingest, which means to

absorb something like information.

Then we had the adjective detrimental, which is harmful or causing damage.

Detrimental.

Then we had the adverb rationally, rationally, which is in a

sensible or logical manner.

And we finished with the idiom pretty much.

Pretty much, which means nearly, almost completely.

Alright, let's do this for pronunciation purposes.

Please repeat after me.

Mortality.

Mortality.

Ingest.

Ingest.

Detrimental.

Detrimental.

Rationally.

Rationally.

Pretty much.

Pretty much.

Very good.

Alright, let me test you now.

If I wanted to warn you that something is quite bad for your health, what adjective

could I use to describe that thing?

That is so negative, that causes so much damage.

Detrimental.

Yes, it is very detrimental.

A lack of sleep is detrimental to your health.

And if I think that you are making a good, sensible decision and that you're

thinking about it in a very sensible way, I'd say that you're behaving quite what?

What adverb would I use to describe your behaving?

If it's very sensible, logical.

Rationally.

And if you ask me,

"Anna, have you finished your tea?"

And I look at my cup and I say,

"Hmm, it's mostly gone.

It's nearly finished."

What idiom could I use instead?

Pretty much, pretty much.

And then for some reason, I start talking about the fact that I'm very

aware that I'm going to die soon.

What noun could I use instead?

I'm very aware of my own...

mortality.

Mortality.

And once I finished reading a book, a very important book full of lots

of great information, you might ask me whether I have absorbed all the

information, if I've taken it in.

What other verb could you use?

Have you...

ingested that book?

Have you ingested all the information?

Hmm, I might have to re-read it, make some notes.

Okay, I think that's all of them.

Did you get them all right?

Hopefully.

Right, let's bring them all together now in a little story.

John's life looked perfect on the outside: a solid job, a

loving wife, and a bright future.

But beneath the surface, he was battling a serious gambling addiction.

It started off as harmless fun, but quickly spiralled out of control, becoming

detrimental to every aspect of his life.

The consequences of his actions hit hard when he lost his job.

The reality that his career was over due to his addiction forced him to

ingest the harsh truth of his situation.

This was a wake-up call about his mortality, highlighting how

quickly things could go downhill if he didn't change his ways.

His wife's departure was the final straw.

He was faced with financial ruin.

His savings were pretty much wiped out and now the collapse of his marriage.

It was a stark reminder that his choices had real consequences, not just

for him, but for the people he loved.

Realising the gravity of his situation, John knew he had to turn his life around.

He sought help, joining support groups where he learned the importance

of thinking rationally, making carefully considered decisions.

It was a tough journey, filled with introspection and accountability, but

it was necessary for his recovery.

Now, John is on a better path.

He has a new job and is rebuilding the trust he lost with his friends and family.

His experience taught him the hard lesson that while it's easy to let

addiction take control, fighting back and making responsible choices

is crucial for a better future.

John's story is a powerful reminder that it's never too late to change

direction and take control of your life.

It underscores the importance of living rationally and recognising the

detrimental effects of addiction, not just to oneself but on loved ones as well.

Well, I really hope you enjoyed today's episode.

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Thank you so much for your support and for lending me your ears today.

Until next time, take very good care and goodbye.