Learn 17 homophone pairs in English: be/bee, know/no, hear/here…

458,697 views ・ 2019-10-13

English with Ronnie


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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Homophones, homophones, homophones.
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More homophones.
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Have I told you?
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Do you know what "homophones" are yet?
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Maybe you've watched other lessons about homophones, but they're the coolest things ever.
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"Homophones" are two words that have the exact same-exact same-pronunciation, but two completely
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different meanings.
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So, the homophones I have selected today for you are present tense verbs.
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So, maybe you have a whole list of verbs you have to remember.
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It's crazy to be able to remember all of these verbs.
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Sometimes I don't remember the verbs; I'm like: "What was it?"
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So, homophones are really, really, really amazingly helpful for a hundred reasons; one
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of them being it helps you remember verbs visually.
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Two, it helps you with pronunciation - yes, or confuses you with pronunciation.
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And the third thing is we do these crazy things called making jokes.
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So, maybe you see something written down in English on Instagram, or Facebook, or Twitter,
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or whatever you're on, and the word is spelt wrong, and you show it to your friend, and
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your friend says: "Hahaha, that's funny."
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Why is it funny?
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Because the spelling is wrong.
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Maybe you're looking at a joke that has a homophone is it... is it?
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Innit.
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What?
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A homophone innit.
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So, let's check out these ones.
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The verb "hear", right?
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Similar to listen.
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The homophone of "hear" is "here".
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Uh-oh.
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Did you hear that?
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"Hear", "here".
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So, we know that these meanings are different because "hear" as a verb means to listen to
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something, and "here" is talking about an adverb of place.
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So, "hear", "here".
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Are you with me?
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Do you get this?
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It's easy because I teach you the one pronunciation and the other pronunciation is the same.
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"Be".
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You guys know this verb.
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Don't you hate this verb?
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You've conjugated this verb until you're blue in the face, and the verb is "be".
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And then-buzz-we also have "bee" that is an insect.
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Now, bees are fascinating creatures.
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Do you know what they do?
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They're crazy.
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How do they do this?
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They make honey, so they go to flowers, they collect pollen, they bring it back to the
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next and I don't know what they do with their bums-I don't know how they make honey-and
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then we eat it.
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I'd like to know who the first person was that found honey and decided that we should
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steal it from bees.
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So, "bee" is an insect.
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So, maybe you can see things like: "Bee.
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Will the bees be?"
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Something.
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You make a joke; go ahead.
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Write it in the comments.
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If it's funny, I'll laugh at it.
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Next one: "wait".
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So, "wait" means you have to stay still or do... not do something for a little bit.
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We also have the homophone... how do you say it?
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It looks like: "wei-g-h-t".
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Doesn't it?
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You read it, go: "wei-g-h-t", but it's actually the same pronunciation of this verb "wait".
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This "weight" means a measurement.
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So, people might ask you: "What is your weight?"
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And you go: "I have to wait?
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What am I waiting for?"
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But they want to know how many pounds-by the way, this is the short form for pounds-or
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kilograms you are.
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So, "weight" is a measurement, "bee" is an insect, and "here" is an adverb of place.
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Dunh-dunh-dunh-dunh.
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Next one.
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Don't you hate it when people chew loudly?
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If we put an "s" on the verb "chew", it becomes "chews".
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And we also have another verb that's a homophone.
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So, "chews", as in when you're eating something, and "choose" as a verb means to pick something.
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Now, the problem with this is a lot of people are going to use the noun "choice".
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Hey, that's wrong.
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You want to make sure that you're saying the present tense "choose".
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So, I can say: "I choose to chew gum."
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Not funny.
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Not a homophone.
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"Chews", "choose".
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The next one is "bare".
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Some people... you might hear people say: "You have the right to bear arms."
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That's funny.
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Not these kind of arms.
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"You have the right to bear arms" means carry a gun.
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So, "bear" means to carry something; it also means the absence of a cover.
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So, if I do this, my arms are bare.
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And then you think: "Hey, hey, hey, hey, Ronnie.
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I know what a 'bear' is.
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A 'bear' is: Rawr."
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A "bear" is an animal, but these, again, are homophones.
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So, I can say: "Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear.
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He was a... he had no hair.
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He was a bare bear."
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So, he was a bear with no hair.
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Funny?
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Yes.
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These are hilarious.
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Laugh; it's great.
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The next one is the verb "hire".
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If you hire someone, it means that you give them a job.
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The opposite of "hire" is to "fire" someone.
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If you get fired, it means that your boss... they don't kill you, sorry.
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Your boss that takes your job away.
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This is a bad thing.
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But if you are hired for a job, it means that you get the job; someone gives you a job.
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Then we have the homophone "higher".
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Hmm.
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Which one makes more sense?
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I think, for me, this one makes more sense because, again, why is there a "g"?
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It's not "hi-g-her"; it's "higher".
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So, this "higher" tells us about the space of something.
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So, I can say: "Put your hand higher" or "Raise up your hand".
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So, give someone a job; make something go up.
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Do you like homophones yet?
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Are they easy?
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Do they help you remember verbs?
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We've got more.
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Okay?
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Okay?
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Hold on.
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So, this one's fun.
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No, this one's fun; this one's not fun.
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This one's fun.
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"Waste".
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To "waste" something means that you do not use it and maybe you throw it in the garbage.
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We also have a part of our body, which is called the "waist".
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The "waist" is the middle section of your body.
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I'm not very good at drawing, but I will attempt to draw a waist.
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Well, this is a very skinny waist.
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So, in the middle of your waist maybe you have a bellybutton.
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So, the "waist" is the middle part of your body.
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Some people's waists look like this, and that's fine, but it means the middle part of your
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body.
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Do you have a waist?
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Don't waste your waist.
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No, it's not a joke yet.
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Come on, write some jokes; I'm dying up here.
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Next one.
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This one's fun.
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This is the fun homophone.
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This word looks like "write", and this one looks like "rig-h-t", but actually "write"
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and "right", being homophones, sound exactly the same.
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So, this verb "to write", what I'm doing right now.
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And this "right" has two meanings; one, it means a direction - turn right or turn left,
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and the other meaning means it is correct.
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So, I can say: "Is it right to write left?"
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What?
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Is it right to write this?
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"Ronnie, why are you saying 'write' twice?
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What's going on?
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Oh, it's a homophone."
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Next one, we have: "break" and "brake".
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This "brake" you probably, hopefully have on your car.
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Your car probably has two pedals.
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Now, "pedals" are the things that you hit with your feet when you're driving.
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Most cars, automatic cars have a gas pedal-woo-and a brake pedal.
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So, a brake pedal is going to make your car stop or slow down.
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This "break" as a verb means that you destroy something.
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"Don't break the marker, Ronnie."
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So, again, homophones: "break"/"brake" - one means to put something in half or damage something,
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and this "brake" means to stop or slow down when you drive as a pedal.
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I like this one.
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-"Do you know?"
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-"No, I don't know."
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In English, a lot of the time when we have a "k" at the beginning of the word, it's silent,
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like a "knife".
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We don't say: "k-nifey"; we say: "knife".
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This is not an exception to this rule.
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So, "know" as the verb, we don't say the "w" at the end either.
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I'm telling ya, people that made English, I think they were drunk and they said: "Let's
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just put in some extra letters here to make it fun for the people and give Ronnie a job."
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Oh, thank you, drunk people.
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So, "know" is the same as the word "no", which is the opposite of "yes".
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So: "I know.
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No."
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That's a funny joke somehow.
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Even if we put an "s" on this, so we... it becomes "knows"... hey, do you have a "nose"?
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It's the thing on your face.
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So, you can say: "My nose knows."
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These are how a lot of old-man jokes, or dad jokes, or grandfather jokes are made.
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Ronnie loves these jokes; I think they're the best.
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My Dad used to tell me them, too.
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Do you have a good dad joke?
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My nose knows.
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The next one.
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This looks really, really strange, but believe me and trust me when I tell you it's a homophone:
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"bury", "berry".
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Now, some people might say: "burry", but that's wrong; it's actually "bury" and "berry".
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So you guys probably know strawberry, blueberry, raspberry - that's a berry.
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But this verb "bury" means to put something under the ground.
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So, a dog buries his bone; not a strawberry, but a berry.
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So, this verb "bury" means to put underground.
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Sometimes when people die we bury them in the ground; sometimes we burn them and then
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bury them.
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This just got so morbid - I love that.
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So, "bury" means to put something under the ground.
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So, you can bury a berry.
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So, you can take a strawberry, go outside, dig a hole, and put it under the ground.
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And your friend's like: "What are you doing?"
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And you say: "I'm burying a berry.
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Leave me alone."
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Next one we have: "die"-oh, look how morbid it got-and then "dye".
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So, this verb "die" is what I just explained.
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When you die, it means you no longer are alive.
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Rule number one in life of Ronnie is: Don't die, because everything else is irrelevant
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if you die.
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The next word "dye" means to change the colour of something.
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So, for example, a lot of people dye their hair.
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Don't worry, their hair is not dead; it just means that they change the colour.
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Most of our clothes are also dyed.
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Oh, my God, my clothes are died, what can I do?
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No.
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It just means that they've colour... they've changed the colour of it.
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So, we have many beautiful colours of dye; you can dye anything, really.
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Just don't die yourself.
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This is "die", "dye".
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Next one - three.
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Oh, you guys get a super bonus, okay?
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You're lucky.
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I'm feeling generous today.
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"Do".
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The verb "do" is something that implies action.
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So, for example, I can say: "I do homework" or "I do the dishes".
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We also have the word: "dew" and then "due".
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This word "dew", do you know what it means?
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"Dew" is in the morning when you wake up, there is little bits of water on the grass,
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but we don't actually call this: "Oo, look at the little bits of water on the grass."
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We call it "dew".
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So, "dew" are tiny droplets of water that form scientifically somehow-magic; it's magic-in
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the grass in the morning.
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This word "due", you probably know this if you have to do assignments or you have to
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go take your library book back.
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You might have a due date; also if you're pregnant.
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If something is due, it means the time limit.
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So, for example, if you borrow a library book, you look at the due date and it says: "You
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must return this book by January 5th or you're going to pay the library ten cents."
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You got to get that book back because that's when it is due.
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So, that means that's when the time has finished.
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So, "do", "dew", "due".
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Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo.
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This is one of my favourite homophones.
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Okay, this is one of my favourite homophones, and this is one of my favourite homophones
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because they're fun; you can play with them.
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So, this is a noun: "meat".
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"Meat" means flesh of an animal.
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It doesn't mean beef; it means any kind of flesh of an animal.
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And the verb "meet", to meet someone: "Oh, hi.
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How are you?
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Nice to meet you.
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I'm Ronnie."
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These are homophones.
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So, if I am texting someone and they say: "Hey.
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What time do you want to meet?"
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I will always text them back with this homophone, and they go: "Ronnie, are you sure you're
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an English teacher because you have spelt 'meat' wrong."
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And I say: "It's a homophone, people; it's funny.
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Laugh."
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So, if you get a text from me and it says: "I'll meat you at 7", you better laugh and
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bring some steak; it's delicious.
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The next one...
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oh, see?
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Look at this.
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I've written: "mail", "mail" twice.
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This is wrong.
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Ronnie, you can't even do this.
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So, we have "mail" as a verb.
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Now, you probably know "mail" as a noun.
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For example: "I will send mail", like postage or post, but "mail" is actually also a verb.
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So I can say: "I mailed you the cheque."
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You didn't get it?
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Oops.
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So, this as a verb means to put something into the postal system.
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Don't do that; it will probably get lost.
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The second form of "male" is the opposite of "female".
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So, "mail", "male".
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So I can say: "I mailed a male a letter."
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If you're a male and you'd like me to mail you a letter, you can mail me money and then
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I will mail you a letter.
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It's like Santa Claus, but you have to give me money first and I don't give you any toys.
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This is a good deal, okay?
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Actually even if you're female, you want to write me a letter and send me money, I'll
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write you a letter back.
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Please put your return address.
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Okay?
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And the last one is "sew".
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Probably you do not know this verb.
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"Sew" means you take a needle and a thread, and you repair something.
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So, imagine I had a hole in my shirt.
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I would take a needle - dunh-dunh-dunh-dunh-dunh.
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That's a very big needle; they're usually smaller.
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And I would take thread, and thread would go through here.
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Thread looks like this.
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And I would sew the hole.
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So, this is the verb "sew".
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And you probably hear people say this all the time, they're like: "So, yesterday I went
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to the mall."
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But the pronunciation of these two words are exactly the same.
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So, I will sew the hole.
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I have an idea.
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I want you to choose your top three homophones-okay?-from this list, maybe from another list, and I
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want you to make jokes.
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Okay?
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And I want you to tell them to every single person that you meet and see how many people
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laugh.
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No, do it.
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Do it now.
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Okay?
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Pick three.
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18:38
Tell me a joke.
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I love homophone jokes.
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Also, if you see any homophones, write them down, message me.
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I want to know your homophones.
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Till later; I'm out of here.
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About this website

This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.

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