Learn English Vocabulary Daily #9.2 - British English Podcast

Hello, and welcome to the English Like a Native Podcast, the listening

resource that's designed for intermediate to advanced level English learners.

My name is Anna and you are listening to the series called Your English

Five a Day, where I introduce you to five new pieces of vocabulary

from Monday through to Friday.

Today is Week Nine, Day Two.

And to start today's list, we have a noun, dropshot, dropshot.

How do we spell this?

D R O P S H O T.

All one word, dropshot.

A dropshot is, in tennis or squash, it's a shot that is very softly hit.

And because it's so softly hit, it tends to be quite low and

drops very quickly to the ground.

So, if you were to do a dropshot in tennis, you would just very gently

knock it over the net so it very quickly drops to the ground, just over the net.

Or in squash, you'd be hitting it quite low on the front wall, maybe just above

the bottom line, and it just taps the wall and falls straight to the ground.

So, the opponent.

doesn't have much chance of getting there and hitting it back.

So, that is called a dropshot.

Here's an example sentence.

"Whoa, what a dropshot.

The perfect way to win a game!"

Now personally, as I am a avid squash player, I'm not a fan of dropshots.

It's good to have dropshots in your toolbox because a mixture of shots

is what makes you a good player.

But I don't like playing someone who does a lot of dropshots because it means that

you have to twist and turn and accelerate very quickly, which always causes me many

problems in my knees and in my ankles.

So, it's not good for my joints.

And as I've suffered in the past with bad knees, which at times

has taken me out of the game for months, I'm not a fan of playing

with people who do lots of dropshots.

And some people like to play that way, but not me.

Okay, so moving on to a verb.

We have congratulate, congratulate, to congratulate.

How do we spell this?

C O N G R A T U L A T E.

Congratulate.

To congratulate.

To congratulate someone is to praise them.

To say that you approve of or you're pleased about a special achievement or

something unusual that they've done.

You congratulate them.

"Oh, well done.

That's amazing!

Good on you, buddy."

Here's an example sentence.

"Have you congratulated Jim and Maya on their win yet?

I know you're disappointed you lost, but they did play a great game."

It can be very hard to congratulate your opponent when they've absolutely

thrashed you in a game, but it is very much the done thing to congratulate

them, even if they beat you.

You have to have to say, "Well done.

Congratulations," no matter how hard that may be.

OK, so next on the list is an adjective and it is crucial, crucial.

We spell this C R U C I A L.

Crucial.

Crucial.

If something is described as crucial then it's extremely important or necessary.

Here's an example sentence.

"It's crucial that you get a good night's sleep tonight, you need to

be on top form for tomorrow's game.

The championship is riding on it."

Now, I know it's crucial to get a good night's sleep, whether you're

playing a game tomorrow or not.

But can I get a good night's sleep?

Often, the answer is no.

Oh, if only!

If only I could get a regular good night's sleep.

If anyone has any advice on how to make children sleep through the

night, I would gladly welcome it.

Alright, next on the list is an idiom and it is on top form.

On top form.

Let's spell it.

On, O N.

Top, T O P.

Form, F O R M.

On top form.

To be on top form means to be feeling or doing things as well as possible.

So, if I haven't had a good night's sleep, then I will not be on top form.

If I'm well rested, well fed, and in the right environment, then I will

be on top form, I'll be able to do things to the best of my ability.

Are you on top form today?

Here's an example sentence.

"You were on top form at the tryouts, if you can play like that next week

the competition won't stand a chance."

And the final phrase on our list is to admit defeat, admit defeat.

We spell it.

Admit, A D M I T.

Defeat, D E F E A T.

Admit defeat.

This means to accept that you have failed and to stop trying, to give up.

You go, "Okay, you win.

I lose.

I am defeated."

Here's an example sentence.

"Don't admit defeat so soon, you still have the second half of the match to go.

Anything could happen!"

And it is important in life to not admit defeat too soon.

If you admit defeat and give up too soon, then you will never

achieve what you hope to achieve.

So, think about it in the context of learning English.

If you admit defeat, the moment you come across a difficult pronunciation,

a word that has a spelling that does not help you to understand how it's

supposed to be pronounced, then you're never going to achieve your goal of

learning English to a good level.

So, don't give up too early.

When things get hard, you have to knuckle down and work through it.

Okay, so let's recap our five phrases from today.

We had a noun, dropshot, which is used in tennis and squash to

reflect a shot that is very gentle and drops quickly to the ground.

We had the verb, congratulate, which is to praise someone for

something that they've done well.

We had the adjective, crucial, which means extremely important.

We had the idiom on top form, which means to be feeling and being able to

do things to the best of your ability.

And we had the phrase admit defeat, which is to accept that you

have failed and finally give up.

So, let's now do that list for our pronunciation practice.

Please repeat after me.

I'll say each word and phrase twice so that you have two attempts.

Here we go.

Dropshot.

Dropshot.

Congratulate.

Congratulate.

Crucial.

Crucial.

On top form.

On top form.

Admit defeat.

Admit defeat.

Well done.

Let's bring all of that together in a lovely little story.

The final round was going to be tough.

Mark's leg muscles were burning.

He was exhausted.

They had been playing for 50 minutes already, and yet his opponent

looked like he was just warming up.

To be fair, Alex was on top form today.

Mark had never seen so many extraordinary shots from this young lad before.

Alex stood up from the bench, grabbed his racket and sprang onto court.

Time was up.

Break was over.

This was the deciding round of the championship.

Mark was flooded with doubt, though he knew it was crucial that he clear his mind

and enter the squash court with a positive mindset if he had any chance of winning.

Mark stood up with a stretch.

He could feel his legs were heavy and tight.

"You can do this," he said to himself.

The game got underway and Mark got off to a good start with a few clever

dropshots that caught Alex off guard.

Unfortunately, cramp in his calf muscle halfway through the round allowed

Alex to get ahead and claim victory.

Everyone congratulated Alex, even Mark, who had always struggled

to admit defeat in the past.

"You thoroughly deserved it, Alex.

You were on top form.

Well done, mate."

Defeated and sore, Mark began to limp off the court.

"I look forward to our rematch," called Alex.

Mark turned and smiled, giving a little nod.

Unbeknownst to Alex, Mark would never again set foot on a squash court.

And that closes today's episode.

Did you spot all of the words and phrases in that little story?

I hope so.

If you'd like to take your listening and learning a step further with

the transcripts and word lists for these episodes, then you

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I'll put all the details in the description below.

Until next time, take very good care and goodbye.