TWO HOUR ENGLISH LESSON - Learn English Through Stories And Improve Your Fluency

Welcome to JForrest English training. I'm Jennifer and today you're going to learn English

through stories. We're going to review four different news articles. And through this

review, you're going to learn a lot of advanced vocabulary, advanced grammar, and even the

correct pronunciation. Let's get started.

As you can imagine, we're talking about Twitter today. So let me read the headline for you.

Elon Musk is said to have ordered John putts across Twitter. Now let's clarify job cuts

because this is very important for the article. Job paths. This means job reductions when

you cut jobs, you reduce the number of jobs so here the word cut is being used as a verb

to cut but we're not talking about scissors with paper in this context of job cuts. Cut

means reduction cuts, so we use this specifically with jobs, job hunt. We can also use this

with finances. You hear this a lot with the government. They might talk about budget cuts,

which means reductions, they're reducing the amount of money available budget cuts you

can hear that in government but you can also hear it in the private sector. They might

have budget cuts, so you don't get a bonus that year. So job has reduction. And as an

example sentence you might say, my company cut jobs this year. You can include a number

you can say, my company cut 500 jobs this year. For example. Or the company might say

we need to cut jobs by 10%. Or you can have a specific number by 500 500 individual jobs.

So those are some example sentences you'll likely see. Let's move on Elon Musk, who if

you didn't know is the owner of Twitter. He recently purchased Twitter. I think it says

that in the article will soon find out. Elon Musk plan to begin laying off workers at Twitter

as soon as Saturday for people with knowledge of the matter sent with some managers being

asked to draw up lists of employees to cut okay, we already know what this is employees

to cut. So we know that those employees their job is going to be eliminated because they

need to reduce the number of jobs. Now, to draw up lists. You might be thinking of the

verb draw, draw a picture, but notice this isn't just the verb draw what is this because

we have draw up draw up so if we have a verb and a preposition up on in, then we know it's

a phrasal verb and phrasal verbs have different meanings. From the regular verb. So to draw

up in this context, to draw up lists, when you drop lists is simply is another way of

saying prepare, prepare. Well we use this phrasal verb to draw up in the context of

legal or business contracts, documents, proposals. So for example, if you are offered a draw

a job with a company they're going to have a contract between you and the company and

that is a legal contract or a business contract. Now they're going to draw up the contract

which simply means prepare and if you are starting a new project and you have this proposal,

you can draw up the proposal which just means prepare. So we use this phrasal verb in this

specific context and remember, it simply means prepare. So as an example sentences as as

an example sentence, we can say HR is the HR department HR is drawing up the contract

as we speak, so they're in the process of drawing up the contract. So you might ask,

Hey, do you know when the contract will be ready? And there's like, Oh, they're just

drawing it up, which means they're just preparing it now. Let's see anything else from here?

Oh, yes. I wanted to talk about layoffs. Because if we're talking about job cuts, well then

job cuts layoffs, they go hand in hand. Because if you have job cuts, it means you need to

reduce the number of employees. Now you can do that you can accomplish that objective

by laying off workers. Okay. So when you lay someone off, you end their employment, you

permanently end their employment, but it's very different from being fired. When you're

fired. You also end your employment by it's because of your performance. You were not

performing very well. You were not meeting the objectives. You were basically a bad employee.

But when you're laid off, it's because of operational reasons. They may might not be

able to afford you anymore, or they're no longer selling the product that you were in

charge of. So your position does not exist anymore. So to lay someone off this is to

permanently and one's employment because of operational reasons. So again, like I said,

they might not be able to afford you or simply the direction of the company has changed.

So as an example sentence, you can say, I got laid off, or you can say I was I was laid

off. So you can use to be laid off. This is the passive form of the verb to lay someone

off. So the active form is to lay someone off, but you as the employee are receiving

the action your company is doing that action. So my company laid me off. This is the past

simple of the verb lay, this is the active and the passive is I was laid off by my company

pass. So you're receiving the action, which is why it's very common to use this in the

passive form. I was laid off now my original example I said get laid off I got laid off.

We can use the verb get just to talk about that transition I got sick is that transition

from not sick to sick. So I got laid off is the transition from not laid off, to laid

off but to start get is a more advanced verb in English. So to start, you can simply use

the verb to be. Let's move on. Mr. Musk who completed a $44 billion dollar deal to buy

Twitter on Thursday, has ordered the cuts across the company with some teams to be trimmed

more than others said three of the people who declined to be identified for fear of

retaliation. Okay, so notice here we're using cuts again and what are cuts, reductions reductions,

in this case the number of employees, but I want you to look at this and think what

is this is this, a subject an adjective? And adverb, a verb or a noun? What is this? What

part of speech is this? And how does it differ? Because here you'll notice above we were looking

at the verb, we know it's a bird because it's conjugated. It's used next to a subject, and

in this case, it's the infinitive. But what do we have here? An article which tells me

it's not a verb. This is a noun. So this is talking about it as a something, the cuts

the job cuts, it's a something so this is a noun. And it's very commonly used as the

noun form, the cuts. Notice how it's in plural because it's more than one. Technically, you

could use it in the singular and say we cut one job there was our job cut our job cut,

that's a something there was one job cut at our company. So this is a now has ordered

our verb here is order has ordered the cuts across the company. So here, I mentioned that

Elon Musk purchase Twitter. Well, he did it for $44 billion, maybe a good deal. Maybe

not. I don't really know. All right. Let's move on here. This scale of the layoffs could

not be determined. Twitter has around 7500 employees. All right, the same thing we saw

before with two paths, and cuts verb and noun we saw to lay off is the verb commonly used

in the passive form to be laid off. But here what is this the part I have? highlighted?

What part of speech is this? Well, it should be easy for you. It's on noun on now, the

scale of the layoffs. So we're just talking about the layoffs. So those are the positions

that are permanently eliminated because of operational reasons. And this scale. The scale

is just talking about how big is it is it big, is it small, that would be the scale

and they're saying it could not be determined, which is a formal way of saying they don't

know they don't know what the scale is. So will there be a lot of layoffs, a lot of cuts,

or a small number of layoffs a small number of cuts. Now notice how I pronounced this

I said 7500 employees, the plural is on my s here on my now employees we add that as

because there's more than one there's 7500 7500 You could also say 7500 7500 The choice

is yours 7500 or 7500. Both of them are correct. Commonly used. You can choose which one you'd

like to use. Let's move on. Report of layoffs at Twitter has swirled since Mr. Musk agreed

to buy the company in April, the billionaire who also leads the electric carmaker Tesla

and the rocket company SpaceX has told investors that he would take Twitter private, reduce

its workforce roll back its content moderation rules and find new revenue streams. So here

we have a report of layoffs Is this a noun or a verb? Report reports of something it's

a now another way you can tell it's a noun is because it's one word. As a verb, it is

two words you have to lay is your verb. And off is the preposition to lay someone off.

So this is the verb okay? So again, they're talking because of the cuts, the job cuts

because of the layoffs. It's just natural that you're going to reduce the workforce.

The workforce is the total number of people in a company or you could talk about the workforce

of a city a country, an industry, so Twitter had 7500 or 7500 people so you could say that

its workforce. The layoffs at Twitter would take place before a November 1 date when employees

were scheduled to receive stock grants as part of their compensation. Such grants typically

represent a significant portion of employees pay by laying off workers before that date.

Mr. Musk may avoid paying the grant though he is supposed to pay the employees cash in

place of their stock under the terms of their merger agreement. So again, we see our layoffs

This is being used as a noun. It's our subject actually, in this sentence. The layoffs at

Twitter, take place is a great free is a great expression that just means happen. The layoffs

would happen take place. So that's just a more casual way of saying happen but it's

very commonly used by okay so here by laying off workers, so is this a noun or a verb?

laying off workers. This is a verb and what conjugation is this verb in this is our Geron

verb and we know that because it has the i n g, and it's in the gerund verb, because

do you know why? Because this word right here by by is a preposition. So we have preposition,

plus Geron that's our sentence structure, preposition plus Geron by laying off workers

before that date. And that is the end of our article. So you learned a lot of very useful

Business English vocabulary, grammar, we talked a lot about nouns and verbs and changing between

active and passive. So make sure you try some of these new expressions in the comment section

below. And feel free free to go through this article again, and if you have any questions,

you can just leave it in the comment section as well.

Amazing job with that article! Now feel free to hit pause take a break, go get a cup of

coffee or tea review the vocabulary you just learned. And when you're ready, hit play,

and we'll continue on with the next article.

Let me read the headline. Elon Musk says he will resign as Twitter CEO after securing

successor now let me read the sub headline so this is the main headline and then we have

a sub headline which is designed to give you a little more information about the topic.

The billionaire posted a poll over the weekend asking Twitter users if he should step down.

The majority voted yes all right, going back to our headline resign. This is very important

to the topic of the article. So to resign This is a verb and this is a way of saying

that you quit you voluntarily leave your position it's just a more formal way of saying that.

Let me write this for you. So it is to voluntarily which means you chose to Nobody said you must

leave your job. That means you're fired. When you say I don't want to work here anymore.

That means you quit or again more formally resigned to volunteer to voluntarily leave

your employment your position so in this case, his position as CEO, which is of course an

acronym for Chief Executive Officer, which is the top ranking position in a company now

notice here grammatically, we have the word after which is a preposition preposition.

Now what do you notice right here we have our gerund verb, secure to secure, that's

the base verb to secure and because to secure this is the base. Now because I have after

which is a preposition, my verb that follows must be in the gerund form, which is the ing

form. To secure in this context is a more formal way of saying find to find a successor.

Now, what is the successor already we reviewed a lot in this headline here, a successor hopefully

you can understand based on context, which is why reviewing articles is so helpful because

based on the context, well the successor is the person who will replace Elon Musk as CEO.

So it's the person who comes after you as a leader. So you have old leader, so leader

in the sense of a employment within the company, it could be a boss, a manager, a supervisor,

or it could be a politician or president or prime minister. So you have your old leader

and the new leader, and the new leader is the successor, the successor, right up here

and the old leader is the predecessor predecessor. I don't think you need to worry about it too

much, but successor is more common. All right. So that's the headline here. So basically,

Elon Musk is leaving his position. He's resigning, but they need to find someone new the person

who will act as CEO and thus the successor. The billionaire posted a poll over the weekend

asking Twitter users if he should step down, the majority voted yes. All right. Let's look

at this. This is a nice phrasal verb to step down. Now again, based on the context, he's

going to resign, leave his position quit they all mean the same thing. So step down is the

phrasal verb to mean resign from a position. So to voluntarily leave a position now notice

I included title title could be for example, the coach of a sports team, or the leader

of a community organization. And maybe in that case, the leader of a community organization,

maybe you're the leader of your church group, or just a community group and you don't get

paid for that. It's just a volunteer position, but you could still step down you could leave

it so I want to show you the grammar here because we will say Musk Elon Musk musk. Step

down assuming it's complete past simple set down as CEO as CEO, so we use the preposition

as and then we state the title as CEO as manager, as Captain captain of a sports team, for example,

is the leader so you can have the title there so in our case, it CEO stepped down. This

is our our phrasal verb, verb conjugated plus our preposition and then we have as job title.

Let's continue on. Elon Musk on Tuesday claimed he will resign as CEO of Twitter once he has

found a replacement. Now what's the alternative word for replacement? The one we learned it

right here in the headline, successor. So they're seeing the exact same thing as this

headline. They're just choosing to use different vocabulary because we have resigned, well

we use that before and now we have replacement instead of successor. So you could say here

successor and remember once a successor has been appointed, Elon Musk will be the predecessor,

the person who previously had the position. So replacement can be successor. Okay, let's

continue on. I will so notice it's in a quote which means these words are coming from Elon

Musk's mouth. He said these words, I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish

enough to take the job. After that, I will just run the software and servers teams the

billionaire tweet it. Okay, so he tweeted this but it's still coming from him directly.

In this case. It's coming from his fingers instead of his mouth but it's still a quote

because it's reporting what he said. So resign as notice we're using the preposition as with

the job title as well. Now take the job. This is the same as finding a replacement finding

a successor. So again, it's just a different way to say the same thing. Notice how he says

foolish or not foolish. When we describe something as bullish, this is a negative adjective because

foolish means unwise, stupid or not showing good judgment. So this is a negative adjective.

So Elon Musk is seeing that it isn't a wise decision to become my successor to take over

as CEO. You could say it was foolish of me to step down as as captain. It was foolish

on me it was unwise, stupid, it didn't show good judgment. So I it's a way of saying I

regret my decision. Now a lot of students have this fear of speaking because they think

that they're going to sound foolish or look foolish.

I'm afraid of looking foolish when I speak. Which means you're afraid of looking stupid

to be honest, or people judging you negatively because if you use the wrong vocabulary or

your pronunciation isn't very good, then it could look negative right? Now this is a fear

that a lot of students have I'm afraid of looking foolish when I speak. So a very common

adjective but remember it is very negative as well. All right, let's continue on. After

that, I will just run the software and servers teams, the billionaire tweeted. So the verb

run in this context, and this is what's important about learning with the news because you understand

the context because if you just see the word run, will does it mean to run? Or does it

mean run the software team, which is another way of saying leading to just lead to match

the verb tends to just lead, manage the software and servers teams so you could say, I ran

the marketing team for five for five years. Now notice my verb is in the past simple right?

Run, ran, run. If I say I've run the marketing team for five years, what's the difference

between I ran the marketing team and I've run the marketing team. Well, of course it's

our verb tense because this is the past simple, which means it's a completed action. I no

longer do this action. Let me make this a little bit smaller. I no longer do this. It's

complete. It's in the past but if I say I run the marketing team for five years, this

is the present continuous, sorry, the present perfect, present perfect. And it means this

is an action that started in the past, but continues until now. So today, I run the marketing

team. The action is still in progress, but I use the present perfect simply to show that

it started in the past I see lots of mistakes with these two verb tenses, so pay attention

to this part of the lesson. Let's continue on. On Sunday, Musk posted a hole on the social

media platform, asking users if he should step down as its head and said he would abide

by the results. So we already learned this phrasal verb to step down to voluntarily leave

the position again, this same as resign or quit resign is more formal. And as its head

so head of means the leader we use the the word head to mean the leader the boss, the

CEO, the head is is Twitter. It's they're talking about the company Twitter. Okay, now

a bye bye. This is a phrasal verb because we have the verb to abide and then we have

the preposition by and this simply means to follow the rules to follow the rules or regulations.

When you travel and a foreign country you must abide by its its rules, its rules. It

being the country you're traveling to so if you go to the US a you have to follow the

traffic rules and all the other rules and regulations you have to abide by. So to follow,

abide by it's a more formal phrasal verb we tend to use it with rules and regulations

from the government or from a large company as a whole. So basically, Musk said that he

will follow the results of the poll. So if the majority say you should leave and he will

follow that abide by that and leave his position he will resign and find a successor replacement

which will make Musk the predecessor the old leader of the position. More than 17 point

5 million votes were cast. Did you vote? I didn't vote because I didn't know about this.

I don't really use Twitter. Do you use Twitter? What do you think? Should Elon Musk resign

as CEO share your opinion? In the comments below? So you cast a vote. That's just the

verb we use to cast. This is pretty specific to voting. But if you want to talk about voting,

then you can use this to cast a vote. Majority 57.5 voted yes. So of course majority is just

plus 50%. Right? plus 50%. So 50.5% or more, that's the majority if it's 5050. Well, then

it's there. Isn't a majority it's even but the second it becomes 50.5 then that is a

majority. I'm sure you know what a majority means but it is useful to have in your vocabulary.

Let me give you an example of how we commonly use it. The majority of people voted yes.

The majority of employees want to work from home. So you can use the majority of and then

you have your now you have all plural noun people is plural person is one, one person,

one person two. People, people is plural. Employees has an ass. So it's plural, because

if it's the majority, the noun has to be more than one. So that's our sentence structure.

Let me be more space, the majority off and then you need a plural noun. And then after

that you can have many different verb tenses depending on depending on the sentence structure

so that can be flexible, but you want a plural noun with this. Okay, so that's a useful sentence

structure for you. Shortly after, what did we learn about after already? What is it a

preposition so we need our verb and ing. Shortly after posting the poll, Muscat said he did

not have anyone lined up to take over. All right. So lined up this is a way of saying

that someone is ready and available for the position. Okay, it's a phrasal verb to line

up. Now. This is the difficult part I will say about vocabulary and especially phrasal

verbs they have more than one meaning depending on context. So to line up is when you get

in a row of people to line up the people lined up at the entrance but in this case, to line

someone up means to have somebody ready, able prepared available to do something. Okay,

so you might say we use this a lot in a work context. Do you have anyone lined up to present?

So this is what they're going to do present. So do you have any one? Ready, available to

present? That would be how I would translate it. Do you have any one ready to present do

you have any one available to present? You could also say we have a great presenter lined

up. Okay. So we have a great presenter ready. We have a great presenter available we have

a great presenter lined up Musk had said he does not he does not have anyone ready to

become CEO to take over is so Musk has the position now to take over is when someone

else becomes the CEO, so to take responsibility or something and in this case, it's the position

to take responsibility. We commonly use this in a employment situation, but you could say

can you take over this project while I'm on vacation, which means can you take responsibility

while I'm on vacation? All right, let's continue on. Musk appointed himself. CEO less than

two months ago, I didn't know that only two months. He's been in the position shortly

after finalizing his 44 billion takeover of Twitter at the end of October. That's a lot

of zeros 44 million. He immediately dissolved the company's board of directors fired top

executives and laid off around half the company's workforce. I created a nother lesson specifically

on Learn English with the news talking about Elon Musk becoming CEO of Twitter and I reviewed

some of the vocabulary right here. So I'm going to leave a link to that lesson in the

description. And you can learn more of this vocabulary in that separate lesson. I don't

want to explain it again. Alright, let's continue on. Since then, the self avowed free speech

absolutist has made a long list of our Radek changes to the company's policies, including

those pertaining to content moderation, suspended users and promotion of competitors. Let me

explain this adjective. I think it's quite useful, erotic, we use it enough. Now this

means okay, erotica is an adjective adjective and is is moving or behaving in a way that

is not regular certain or expected. So again, it's more of a negative adjective. We use

it to describe one's behavior or actions in a negative way. So you could say my boss is

very erratic. Yesterday, he hired a marketing firm, and today he fired them. So one day

he wants them yeah, they're great. Let's hire this marketing team. But then the next day

after one day, he fired them. So yes, no, yes. No. It's not the way you would expect

him to behave. So his decision making can change very frequently. You can describe that

person as erratic. We often use this in specifically for driving. My husband is an erratic driver.

In this case, it might mean you know, if you're driving on the highway, you expect the behavior

to be certain expected, you're going to go straight, right, but erratic with the earth.

You go this way and then you speed up and then you slow down and you change lanes, and

then you change lanes. And then you drive slow, you drive fast. So it's constantly changing

is not what you would expect a driver to do. So we use that a lot with driving traffic.

The traffic was very erratic. It was very busy. One second and then no traffic and then

and then traffic and then no traffic, so it kept changing. So when something changes a

lot, decision making for behavior, we do it a lot with decision making. Then you can describe

that person or that action like driving as a Radek, which is the adjective. Okay, let's

continue on. He has repeatedly made and then reversed decisions seemingly on personal whims

and enacted major changes on the platform based on yes or no Twitter polls. Like right

now. He's basing his decision to stay as CEO or leave as CEO stepped down as CEO based

on this poll. Maybe you could say that's very erratic. Only two months ago, he became the

CEO he paid $44 billion and now he's stepping down as CEO that could be described as erratic.

I really like this a whim a whim on a personal whims. Let me explain what this means. This

is an idiom on a whim. Now, this means so a whim This is a whim a sudden wish or idea

especially one that can not be reasonably explained. And we often use this and well,

let me give you an example sentence. I quit my job on a whim on a whim. We don't commonly

use it with personal I don't see this quite a lot because whims are personal. So I don't

think it adds anything to say personal because that's generally where they come from yourself.

So I don't think that word is needed. You can get rid of it. And notice on all whim,

now they have on they don't use the article off. Do you know why? In this example, because

WIMS is plural, so you don't use the article. If there's a plural, but it's more commonly

used like this on a whim, so I recommend adding it like this. So we use it, you do an action,

I quit my job. Now if you want to suggest that you didn't think about it very much,

and you can't even really explain why you quit. It's like I just had this feeling I

was out work. And I just, I decided suddenly, I can't even tell you why I don't have a good

decision. I quit my job on a whim. Some might consider that a good thing. Some might consider

that a bad thing. It just It depends on your preferences. I guess. For me, to be honest,

I tend to travel on a whim. So I can say I booked a trip to Germany on a whim. I don't

generally think too much about the trips I take. It's just one day I decide I want to

go to Germany and the next day I booked a ticket. So I tend to do that on a whim. So

what about you do you do things on a whim more impulsively? Or are you the type of person

that really thinks things through? I'm sure it depends. It depends on the situation, right?

Maybe there are some things you would do on a whim. For example, let's say cake, so I

have long hair. Let's say one day I wake up and I say I want to cut my hair to here and

I get my hair cut. And then someone could say wow, oh my gosh, you cut your hair, and

I can see ya. I did it on a whim so I didn't think about it too much. I just I had the

idea. I want to cut my hair and I did it on a whim. So I think it's a really great expression.

So remember, you do an action, and then you can add on a whim. Try one in the comment

section. Try an example. Okay, finally, last week he attracted enormous backlash after

Twitter suddenly and without explanation suspended several prominent tech journalists who have

reported on him he leader accused them of effectively sharing his assassination coordinates

by reporting on a Twitter account that tracked his private planes flights.

All right, this an assassination is when someone murders someone and it was planned. Like President

JFK was assassinated. He was murdered and somebody planned that. So Elon Musk is seeing

that this journalist gave his his flight plan. So basically, they posted Elon Musk is going

to be in Germany on this date at this time. So if somebody wanted to attack Elon Musk

and kill him, well, now they know where he's going to be when he's going to be there. So

it would be easy to plan that. So that's what it means by assassination coordinates. I'm

just explaining that because you're probably curious.

All right, so that is our article you learned a lot from this article. Now what I'm going

to do is I'm going to read the article from start to finish so you can focus on my pronunciation

and you can imitate my pronunciation.

Elon Musk says he will resign as Twitter CEO after securing successor. The billionaire

posted a poll over the weekend asking Twitter users if he should step down. The majority

voted yes. Elon Musk on Tuesday claimed he will resign as CEO of Twitter once he has

found a replacement. I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to

take the job. after that. I will just run the software and servers teams the billionaire

tweeted. On Sunday, Musk posted a poll on the social media platform, asking users if

he should step down as a tenant and said he would abide by the results. More than 17 point

5 million votes were cast. A majority 57.5% voted yes. Shortly after posting the poll

must have said he did not have anyone lined up to take over. No one wants the job. Who

can actually keep Twitter alive. There is no successor he tweeted. Musk appointed himself

CEO less than two months ago, shortly after finalizing his $44 billion takeover of Twitter

at the end of October. He immediately dissolved the company's board of directors fired top

executives and laid off around half the company's workforce. Since then, the self avowed free

speech absolutist has made a long list of erratic changes to the company's policies,

including those pertaining to content, moderation, suspended users, and promotion of competitors.

He has recently made and then reverse decisions seemingly on personal whims, and enacted major

changes on the platform based on yes or no Twitter polls. Last week, he attracted enormous

backlash after Twitter suddenly and without explanation suspended several prominent tech

journalists who had reported on him he later accused them of effectively sharing his assassination

coordinates by reporting on a Twitter account that tracked his private planes flights.

Amazing job with that article! Now feel free to hit pause take a break, go get a cup of

coffee or tea review the vocabulary you just learned. And when you're ready, hit play,

and we'll continue on with the next article.

You probably recognize these two celebrities. Will Smith and Chris Rock. Let me read the

headline of our article. Will Smith says bottled rage led him to slap Chris Rock at the Oscars.

So this is very important to understand our article. So slab, this is slap it's a verb

to slap. It's very commonly associated with violence so in a negative way, however you

could slap a mosquito or a fly on your arm for example so you can use it in other contexts

but more commonly use in violence fighting between two people. Okay, let me explain this

because I believe this is mentioned again, bottled rage bottled rage. So rage, of course

is an emotion it means to be very very, very, very angry. Okay, that's rage. Now. What does

bottled rage mean? Models? Imagine here we have a bottle right and the water is in the

bottle and it can't get out right so if you have a bottled emotion, rage, anger, jealousy,

hatred, generally a negative emotion it means that emotion is inside of you and can't get

out just like the water can't get out of this bottle. So it's when you have an emotion and

you do not express it. You keep it inside of you. So if you keep anger, rage, jealousy,

hatred inside of you, eventually a can come out and you might do something violent like

slap someone. Let's continue on. Will Smith has said his bottled rage led hand to slap

comedian Chris Rock. Here's our comedian Chris Rock onstage at the Oscars in March. The actor

has been interviewed for the first time since the incident which he described as a horrible

horrific night. Horrific This is a great adjective. A lot of times students will use very common

adjectives good or bad because it's the ones they know. But adding more advanced adjectives

will make your English sound more advanced and will give you more color to your language

as well. A horrific night. So this is a very very, very bad night. That's how you can think

of it as a very, very bad night. So if somebody asks you, how was your day, you could say

I had a horrific day, which means very very bad. Or you can describe an event that was

horrific. That was very very bad. When I saw Will Smith slop Chris wrong. That was horrific.

So you can say I had I had a horrific day. All right, let's move on. appearing on The

Daily Show with Trevor Noah. He said I was going through something that night you know

now are he is Will Smith. So just remember that through this story he unless said otherwise

is Will Smith. I was going through so I Will Smith. I was going through something that

night, you know. So he's describing what happened that night when he slapped the comedian Chris

Rock that horrific night. I was going through something to go through something. This is

an expression and we use this faith to experience something difficult in our lives. And we use

this more as a general expression when we don't really want to specify what it is. So

when somebody asks you what's wrong, you seem upset. You can just say I'm going through

a lot right now. I'm going through a lot right now. And that's just general but it lets the

person know you're experiencing something difficult. Now they might follow up and say

well what Tell Me More and then you can say I lost my job. I my car was in an accident.

My mom got sick so you can list the difficult things in your life. So we use this as a general

statement. What's wrong I'm going through a lot right now. I'm going through a lot right

now. Now notice it's our verb to be. So or sorry, not our verb to be our verb is go.

So that's the verb you're going to conjugate. Now here it's in the past continuous that's

why we have I was going I was going and here it's in the Present Continuous on going because

you're experiencing the difficulty right now. Not that that justifies my behavior at all.

So Will Smith is saying the fact he was experiencing something difficult. That's not an excuse.

If something justifies something is an excuse. It says it's okay that I slapped him because

I was going through something but he's saying that doesn't justify it. That's not an excuse.

So you can think of this as an excuse. But remember, they're using it in the negative

and excuse not that that justifies my behavior. It's not an excuse. Smith added that there

were many nuances and complexities to it, but added I just, I lost it. I lost it. Now

notice here I lost it. What do you think that it is? I lost it. What what did he lose his

keys his wallet? No. When we use this in a general sense, I lost it. And I know what

the context of the story is. He slapped someone I know that it means his sense of control

over himself, his emotions, his actions, I lost it. So we use this in the sense I lost

it yesterday in the meeting. So maybe you're in this meeting, and your coworker said she

couldn't finish the project and you lost it. What do you mean you couldn't finish the project?

That's unacceptable and you get really really angry you lose control of your emotions, your

actions. You get taken over by the emotion maybe the bottled the bottled emotion, your

bottled anger, your bottled rage, so I lost it. This is an expression. Hopefully you don't

have to use it too often because it's not a positive expression. So to lose it. This

means to lose control over your emotions or your actions as well because you might just

start yelling at your coworker, but you didn't really want to you feel really bad after but

in that moment, you just couldn't control it. You lost control. Smith storm the stage

at the Hollywood award ceremony after rock made a joke about Smith wife Jada has shaved

head. Ooh, that's kind of a tongue twister. She has the hair loss condition, alopecia.

Now notice how in the article they explain what alocasia is because it's not a very common

condition. They explain it's a hair loss condition. And it's a hair loss condition for women because

men unfortunately, lose their hair and we call that bald to be bald to be bold. To be

bald. This describes a man with no head hair, no head hair right to be bald, but we don't

usually associate that with women. So there's a condition when women lose their hair is

called alocasia. Now I want to point out these apostrophe assets in the in this case, the

apostrophe s is used to show possession, possession. So, Smith wife, the wife belongs to Smith

to Will Smith, and then they're saying her name Jada. That's his wife's name. Jada. Now

but the shaved head belongs to Jada. So that's why there is an apostrophe as the shaved head

belongs to Jada and shaved head is when you would go like this. And then you get rid of

all your hair that would be a shaved head. I believe. It looks like his head is shaved

here. So he would go like this and then the hair is very close to his his scalp. That's

a shaved head. Now, very common for men but not that common for women. And the comedian

Chris Rock he made a joke about Will Smith Weiss shaved head so shaved head we talked

about what this is shaved head hurt people hurt people. I understand how shocking that

was for people. He told Noah Noah is the TV show host remember he went Will Smith went

on The Daily Show with the host Trevor Noah so Will Smith is saying this to the TV show

host No. I understand how shocking that was for people. So shocking. This is a great adjective.

Just look at my face right now. That is shocking. What so when you receive news and it causes

you to go what you lost your job what? But shocking is generally used in a negative context

because we might go in more of a positive. You just got engaged. That's amazing. Oh,

but that's more surprise, which is can be a more positive emotion but generally shocking

when we describe something as shocking there's a negative emotion in there. So when Will

Smith slapped the comedian? Imagine what the audience did. They would have gone Oh, shocking.

How shocking that was. I was gone. That was a rage that had been bottled for a really

long time. So again, that emotion it's inside and you're not letting it out. You're not

expressing your emotion. So because we've seen this for a few times, we do have some

common expressions generally we say you shouldn't bottle your emotions. Sometimes we add the

optional preposition up to create a phrasal verb to bottle up. You shouldn't bottle up

your emotions, which means you shouldn't keep your emotions inside of you. You should express

them so to express your emotion is when you might say to someone, hey, you hurt my feelings

today. Or I felt really sad today. Instead of just keeping it inside of you and not expressing

it bottling it up inside of you. He said he also understood the pain he had caused and

recalled the reaction of his nine year old Matthew that night. So Will Smith nine year

old Matthew watched the award ceremony and saw his uncle slap someone and the reaction

is when you go and that's the shock that could be the reaction now nephew. This describes

a boy is used for males and it's your siblings child. So your siblings child. Your siblings,

male child, it has to be for a male. Now notice I have my apostrophe s because the child belongs

to your sibling and sibling is your brother or sister sibling is gender neutral. It can

be for brother or sister it does not matter sibling, but nephew is only used for the male

child of your sibling. Now we have a separate word for the female child. Do you know what

that is? Your siblings. female child this is nice. Nice, nice. Your siblings, female

child Nice. So you might have a niece and a nephew or just a nephew or just a nice he's

the sweetest little boy Smith said. We came home and he had stayed up late to see his

uncle will. And we're sitting in my kitchen and he's on my lap and he's holding the Oscar.

And he's just like, Why did you hit that man? Uncle will Oh, that's really sad. Why did

you hit that man? Now hit can be a slap. It's the same thing. So when I slap you, I would

never do that. When I slap someone, I also hit them. It's the same thing. bullet hits

is more general. So this is also hit but this is also called a punch. So hit is a category

and then within that category, you have a slab you have a punch and other forms as well.

So we have I'll just write the ones I shared so we have slab this is when your hand is

open. I don't necessarily like teaching these violent words. Hopefully you don't use them

but I guess you'll see them on movies and stuff slab and then punch is when your fist

is closed punch. It was a mass mass. So to describe something as a mess, this is a negative.

It's saying Well imagine your room you might know this from a room in your house your kitchen

is a mess. There's things everywhere. It's the opposite of clean. So we use this to describe

a situation that is the opposite of an ideal situation. That's how I would describe it.

It being the situation. So the situation in this case, the incident at the Oscars when

he slapped someone, this situation was a mess. So it's the opposite of ideal opposite of

ideal, which is a good situation right? So I might say the meeting was a mass the meeting

was a mass which describes the meeting as negative many negative things happened. But

you would have to ask me what happened because it's not clear. So it's just a general nonspecific

term to say that something negative happened but you have to say why what happens and then

and then you could explain the client lost it when we told her were over budget. Remember?

Remember we talked about to lose it the client cannot control her emotions or her actions.

What do you mean you're over budget This is unacceptable and the client lost it. So the

meeting was a mat. You can also use this for a room in your house, the kitchen. My Kitchen

is all matte. Now in this case, it's saying it's dirty or not organized. That would be

the definition of when you describe a room a room as dirty or not organized. The interview

on The Late Night US TV talk show was the first time Smith had been publicly challenged

about the attack. Smith told Noah he understood the often quoted theory that hurt people hurt

people discussing the background to his Oscars assault. That actor said it was a lot of things.

It was the little boy that watched his father beat on his mother You know, all of that just

bubbled up in the moment. That's not who I want to be. So to beat someone up. This means

to violently attack someone so it has a very negative meaning especially when we're talking

about a father violently attacking a mother. Right? So to violently attack. And you can

do that obviously by hitting someone slapping someone punching someone to violently attack.

Now notice it's a phrasal verb to beat up. So we have this preposition up is formed with

the verb beat would you conjugate and then you add the preposition up. Okay to bubble

up. Think back to our when our emotions were bottled up right there inside you're not expressing

them. Now imagine this is a fizzy drink, like Coca Cola, or sprayed or something like that.

If I shake it, and that's Coke, when I open this what's going to happen? If I shake a

carbonated drink and I open it is going to explode. That is the meaning of bubble up

because remember, your emotions are bottled up but then they bubble up. They all come

to the surface at once. So it's another way of seeing explode. All of that just bubbled

up so you can say it's loaded. In that moment and notice bubble up is also a phrasal verb

we have our verb bubble and our preposition up. That's not who I want to be. Well I'm

glad to hear that Will Smith. Smith has opened up before about growing up in an abusive home.

So an abusive home. This is a home where you either witnessed violence like he witnessed

his father beat up his mother or he also could have received violence himself. So it's possible

that his father also beat him up. That is what we would describe an abusive home. Now

grow up. I find a lot of students notice or know how to use this but often I see mistakes

because they forget that it's a phrasal verb you need the verb grow and the preposition.

So when you grow up in a home or you can grow up in a specific city, that means that is

where you were raised. That's where you were a child and then you became older and older

and older and became an adult. So you might say I live in Florida now, but I grew up in

Texas. So this means I spent most of my time when I was a child and when I was becoming

an adult that time when I grew up I spent it in Texas. Now remember our verb is bro

so this is in the past simple I grew up in Texas don't forget that preposition up. Now

the last thing I will share with you is our phrasal verb open up to open up

so to open up about something is when you share information about a a negative or simply

a personal events in your life so Will Smith is saying he bottled up his emotions he kept

them inside. But then eventually he decided to open up he decided to share that information.

So he maybe he told his close friends. Maybe he told some a therapist even or he told some

family members about the abuse that he experienced as a child so he shared that personal information.

So that is another great phrasal verb. So now you have a lot of new vocabulary from

this article. I am going to read this article from start to finish so you can focus on the

pronunciation on interrupted so I'll do that now. Will Smith says bottled rage led him

to slap Chris Rock at the Oscars. Will Smith has said his bottle rage led him to slap comedian

Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars in March. The actor has been interviewed for the first

time since the incident, which he described as a horrific night. appearing on The Daily

Show with Trevor Noah he said I was going through something that night you know not

that that justifies my behavior at all. Smith added that there were many nuances and complexities

to it. But on it I just I lost it. Smith storm the stage of the Hollywood award ceremony

after ROG made a joke about Smith's wife Jada has shaved her head. She has the hair loss

condition alocasia hurt people hurt people. I understand how shocking that was for people.

He told Noah I was gone that was a rage that had been bottled for a really long time. He

said he also understood the pain he had caused and recalled the reaction of his nine year

old nephew that night. He's the sweetest little boy Smith's son. We came home and he had stayed

up late to see his uncle will and we're sitting in the kitchen and he's on my lap and he's

holding the Oscar. And he's just like, Why did you hit that bell and Uncle Well, it was

a mess. The interview on The Late Night US TV talk show was the first time Smith had

been publicly challenged about the attack. Smith will know if he understood the often

quoted theory that hurt people hurt people discussing the background to his Oscars assault.

The actor said it was a lot of things. It was the little boy that washed his father

beat up his mother You know, all of that just bubbled up in that moment. That's not who

I want to be. Smith has opened up before about growing up in an abusive home.

Amazing job with that article! Now feel free to hit pause take a break, go get a cup of

coffee or tea review the vocabulary you just learned. And when you're ready, hit play,

and we'll continue on with the next article.

Should cats be allowed on airplanes? So this is an opinion based article. And the topic

is cats on airplanes. Now let's say you're going to provide an answer to this question

because it's a question right? So if you want to sound more advanced, more professional,

you can add an opinion word you can say in my opinion, and then you can state your opinion,

cats should or shouldn't be allowed on airplanes. So you can say in my opinion, that's a very

common one. You can also say from my perspective, now notice it's from, from my perspective,

in my opinion, from my perspective, these are the two most common opinion words that

you can use. You can also see simply, I think, I think that has should or shouldn't be allowed

on airplanes. Now notice here I included that a lot of students get confused about when

you need to use that and when you don't. Generally in written English we include that. I think

that cat should generally you can absolutely just say I think cats should now in spoken

English, we generally do not include it just to make it shorter and we say I think cats

should. So if you're writing, you can include it's more common, but if you're speaking it's

more common to omit it exclude it. So here are some opinion words you can start adding

to your speech. You can start right now and share your opinion about cats on airplanes

in the comment of this video and use in my opinion, or from my perspective they will

both help you sound very advanced. All right, let's continue on at the Bogota airport. As

passengers were placing their carry ons, laptops and purses in bins inching their way on the

conveyor. Belt or inspection. Okay, let's stop here. carry ons. This is absolutely must

know for travel vocabulary. Most commonly planes but you can also use this on trains

buses, most likely boats as well. Now a carry on is simply a bag that you carry on to the

airport onto the airplane. Excuse me, not airport air plane. Now a suitcase is generally

larger and you would check that so when you get to the airport, you check your suitcase

and it goes under the plane. But then you take your smaller suitcases, your smaller

bags on to the airplane with you, you carry it on to the plane. So here on Google images,

you can see the carry on bags. Now this right here that this man is opening. This is called

the overhead bin the overhead bin and your bag must fit in the overhead bin or go under

your seat in order for it to be a carry on bag. So let me just write that here. So overhead

bin so your carry on. bag or suitcase must fit in the overhead bin or under your seat

and then we have larger suitcases. Larger suitcases are called checked. bags or luggage

and they go under the plane so they do not go on the plane with you they go under the

plane. All right. Now let's move on. And look at this inching their way so an inch is a

very small amount. So if I say I'm inching my way, it means I'm making slow progress.

So if you said I'm inching my way towards the exit, it means the mind is going very

slowly. So you could use that when you're at a grocery store or when you're going through

security at the airport. So you might say I inched my way through security and it took

me almost one hour so if you use inch my way the person understands you're making progress

slowly. All right, one item stood out stood out. This is a great phrasal verb to stand

out. And this means to be noticeable to to stand out to be noticeable. So it's something

that you notice more than other things. So let's say I have these two black pens, and

maybe I'll take this one this purple one because it's darker, right? And then I can take this

one. Well, if I get one, this is a better example if I have these three pens which one

in your opinion, from your perspective, which one stands out, stands out which one is more

noticeable? Well, the yellow one stands out, obviously because it's a bright color. So

this item, this item in the all the suitcases there's one item was more noticeable because

there was a cat in the suitcase. That's why it stood out. One item stood out was more

noticeable. It was a cat and its owner was putting it into a cabin ready case. So a cabin

is what I showed you in the picture. That's where all the passengers go when they're on

a plane. They just call that the cabin. So that cat is going on the plane. Okay, let

me just write out that example sentence with the yellow pen for you. The yellow pen stood

out. So remember this is a phrasal verb you need your verb stand, which you conjugate

in this case is conjugated in the past simple and then you need your preposition out the

yellow pen stood out. For most travelers, this would hardly be noticeable. Yet for me,

alarm bells rang. Okay, let's take a look here hardly. This is an adverb hardly be noticeable

when you use hardly it means a small amount. So for most people, they wouldn't notice the

cats. It's a small amount that they would notice. So not very much a small amount there

is another word that means the exact same thing another adverb you can also say hardly

or barely, hardly. Barely.

They mean the same thing in this specific context. A small amount this would barely

be noticeable. This would barely hardly be noticeable. And remember instead of be noticeable,

you can say stand out. This would hardly stand out. This would barely stand out. Yet for

me alarm bells rang. So just like your phone rings, right? That's the verb we use to rain

when you get a phone call. Well, that's the verb we use with alarms. That's ring the alarm

rings and rang is just in the past simple alarm bells rang. I am severely allergic to

cats vulnerable to allergic asthma. And a cat was going to be sharing my cabin during

the six hour Air Canada flight. Now remember, cabin is just used to describe the interior

of the plane. That's it. So the interior of the plane they call it a cabin I don't know

why. Interior of the plane so it's where you sit where your bags are where the pilot is

everything on the inside of the plane All right, what else Oh severely. So severely

This is an adverb and it seemed to have a large degree. So remember, hardly was small

but then severely is to a large degree. So in in certain contexts you could think of

them as opposite. So this is to a large degree to a large degree All right, let's move on

here. Why are cats allowed? Yes, dogs are also permitted in the cabin. Yet, twice as

many people are allergic to cats as two dogs. According to the American College of Allergy,

Asthma and Immunology. Let's take a look at yet because I noticed they also used it here

yet for me so yet, yet. Yeah, it is one of those words in English that has many different

meanings depending on the context. And that's why it's so useful to study from articles

because you see the context that the word is being used in this specific context yet

is being used as a conjunction. is a conjunction. And it has the same meaning as VOD, or however,

so it's used to show a contrast. So here let's look at our first example. Most travelers

wouldn't notice a cat. I would notice a cat. Do you see the contrast? Most travelers would

not? I would. So we have a yes and a no there's a contrast. We use a yet to help us transition

from the one contrast point to the other contrast point. So you can equally say but for me however

for me yet for me, in this specific context, and it's the same thing here. So cats are

allowed, dogs are allowed, but twice as many people are allergic yet. So we're setting

up another contrast and we're using yet as a conjunction. Now just as a reminder, all

of these notes are available as a PDF download. So you can look in the description of this

video to get this download. Let's continue on yet twice as many people are allergic to

cats as two dogs. Here they chose to use as two dogs. Honestly, I would say them so we

have twice as many people are allergic to cats, then dogs. That's what I would say.

Then dogs and you're probably more familiar with that wording. So for example, more people

buy dogs than cats more people. Why then travel by bus, for example. So just showing you that

that contrast that comparison with them. Alright, let's continue on. Dangers of exposure. So

what is a cat allergic passenger to do? So this person is allergic to cats. They get

a reaction but someone is taking a cat on the plane and they might be quite close to

each other. So they're asking for advice. What is that person to do? And this is the

advice take medications that help prevent symptoms. advises Randall, so notice here

advise. This is being used as our verb or verb and the noun form of advise. We can use

advice which is the now what advice do what advice do you have for me? Because this person

is asking for advice. What advice do you have for me? And I can say I advise you to take

medication advisor advice so notice the pronunciation difference. Advice, advise, advice, advice.

This is our noun and this is our verbs spelling difference and pronunciation difference as

well. This includes a non drowsy and to histamine taken an hour before the plant and two parts

of a rescue inhaler. 15 minutes before ordering. So drowsy, drowsy is when you feel sleepy

or tired views feel sleepy or tired. Sleepy, tired, but when you say non drowsy it makes

it negative because a lot of medication makes you feel sleepy or tired. It makes you drowsy.

So a lot of medication will say on their label. Do not drive after taking medication because

it may make you drowsy, which means sleepy. But generally drowsy is the vocabulary choice

when we're talking specifically about medication. Now, if I had a long day at work, or if I

didn't sleep very well, I wouldn't say I feel drowsy because drowsy implies the result of

some sort of medication because we use it with medication. So if you're just talking

about working hard or not sleeping well. You will use tired or sleeping I feel tired. I

feel sleepy. I am or I feel either one of those is fine. I am I feel tired or sleepy.

But if you're talking specifically about medication, then you can use drowsy. Alright, so that's

the advice, which is a now let's continue on. A mask used to protect against COVID-19

could help prevent the dander from getting into your airways dander that is something

from the cat Burr. So little particles from the cat's fur is called dander and that's

generally why people are allergic to cats. It's the dander

on there for airways is of course just how you get air into your body is through your

air ways. So your nose is one of your airways and your mouth Your throat is another one

of your airway. So how you get air into your body. Now notice how they're using could as

our modal verb because could is used to show possibility or potential possibility or potential.

So it's not saying that it will help you will is a more of an absolute this will work. It

sounds 100% Certain this could work. It's just a possibility. It's also possible that

it won't work. So could is used to show possibility. So this medicine could make you drowsy hood

there's a possibility the potential and that's a modal verb. And remember we always have

grammatically, we always have a modal clause, base verb, so you don't change your verb that

comes next. It's always the base verb and could doesn't change either this medicine

could make you drowsy. Let's continue on. Is anything being done? Is there any progress

in at least making the public and the airline industry aware of the cat allergy problem?

We have been trying to raise awareness a cat allergy and cabin since 1985 notes Tanya Winders,

president of the Virginia based global allergy airways patient platform, an 82 member network

of patient based groups including the Asthma and Allergy network. Winders points to the

Federal Aviation administration's Air Carrier Access Act, which is supposed to protect people

with disabilities, including severe allergies, but the only protection the website offers

is advice. Choose an airline that does not allow can't in cabins. Call ahead and check

with your doctor. Alright, so here this is the advice we have our noun here and you can

see those three points. That's what she advisors using our verb. That's what she advises you

do. Now let's go back here. There were a lot of very long names. Those are just the names

of these specific groups or this specific act. You can just ignore those pretty much.

What can I show you here? We have raise awareness raise is the verb you would use you can also

use increase awareness, increased awareness but raise is a very common verb with the word

awareness so you can add that to your vocabulary. Now notice we have since 1985. And when I

see the word sense, I can look back and I already know that my sentence is going to

be in the present perfect. Now What verb tense do we have here? We have been trying. We've

been trying we've been trying this is the present perfect, continuous present perfect

continuous and it shows an action that started in the past and continues until now. So when

did this action start? Well, it started in 1985. So that was the start point 1985. And

then it's continued all the way until now and it will continue until some unknown time

in the future. So not too much. On this last page because it was mainly those long groups,

those long organizations. So what I'll do now is I will read the article from start

to finish so you can focus on my pronunciation and you can imitate my pronunciation as well.

And remember, you can also look in the description of this video to get the link that summarizes

all the notes I made. So now I'll read the article from start to finish. Should cats

be allowed on airplanes at the Bogota airport. As passengers were placing their carry ons,

laptops and purses in bins inching their way on the conveyor belt for inspection. One items

stood up. It was a cat and its owner was putting it into a cabin ready case. For most travelers.

This would hardly be noticeable. Yet for me, alarm bells rang. I am severely allergic to

cats vulnerable to allergic asthma and account was going to be sharing my cabin during the

six hour Air Canada flight. Why are canceled out? Yes, dogs are also permitted in the cabin.

Yet twice as many people are allergic to cats as two dogs, according to the American College

of Allergy Asthma and Immunology, dangers of exposure. So what is a cat allergic passenger

to do? Take medications that help prevent symptoms, advises Randolph This includes a

non drowsy anti histamine taken an hour before the flight and two paws of a rescue inhaler.

15 minutes before boarding. A mask used to protect against COVID-19 could help prevent

the downunder from getting into your airways. A HEPA air filter which most airplanes say

they use could also help but not if a cat is sitting next to you. Is anything being

done. Is there any progress in at least making the public and the airline industry aware

of the cat allergy problem? We have been trying to raise awareness of cat allergy and Kevin's

since 1985 notes Tonia Winders, president of the Virginia based global allergy airways

patient platform and 82 member network of patient based groups including the Asthma

and Allergy network. Winders points to the Federal Aviation administration's Air Carrier

Access Act, which is supposed to protect people with disabilities, including severe allergies,

but the only protection the website offers is advice. Choose an airline that does not

allow cats in cabins. Call ahead and check with your doctor.

Amazing job with this lesson now what was your favorite new word from this lesson? Leave

that in the comments below and leave an example sentence practicing your new vocabulary. And

if you found this lesson helpful, please hit the like button, share it with your friends

and of course subscribe. And before you go, make sure you head to my website and get your

free speaking Guide. In this guide, I share six tips on how to speak English fluently

and confidently and until next time Happy studying