Reading Practice (Improve Your FLUENCY in English in ONE HOUR)

Welcome to this one hour.

English lesson Today you're going to learn English with the news.

We're going to read two different news articles together so you can learn a lot of advanced

vocabulary, complex grammar, and correct pronunciation.

Let's get started.

So let me start with our title, Sam Askari responds to rumors he's controlling Britney

Spears social media.

So this of course is Sam Askari and hopefully needs no introduction.

Britney Spears, let's continue on.

Sam Askari is addressing whether he is overstepping when it comes to his wife Britney Spears.

Alright, let's look here.

Of course you know what an address is, right?

If someone asked you, what's your address, What's the company's address?

You know what that is?

But this is not the same, right?

Because address.

What's your address?

That's a noun.

And this here is a verb, A verb.

And I know it's a verb because one it's conjugated, it's in the continuous form.

And here's my verb to be in the present continuous.

So this is the verb to address to address.

And this means to give attention to or to deal with a matter or problem.

So in this case, you can think Sam Askari has a problem.

The problem is other people are saying that he's controlling Britney Spears.

That's the problem.

So he's going to address that.

He's going to deal with it.

He's going to give it attention.

Now this is a.

Very useful verb in a business context and in an everyday context as well.

In a business context, you might say, let's schedule a meeting to address why our sales

are falling.

So this is.

Your problem sales are falling.

It doesn't necessarily have to be a problem that you address, but generally it's some

sort of situation that needs attention, and most the time if a situation is positive,

it doesn't really need attention.

So just naturally we use this to address in a more.

Problem based situation.

So this is the problem.

Sales are falling and we simply need to discuss it.

We need to deal with it.

We need to give attention to it.

So let's schedule a meeting to address why our sales are falling.

Or perhaps you're giving a summary of a meeting or a conference you attended and you can say

the conference addressed.

Marketing trends for 2023.

So in this case, it isn't necessarily a problem.

They're just talking about the overall subject that the conference was.

Giving attention to marketing trends for 2023 the conference addressed.

So in this case it isn't a problem based, so it is absolutely possible, but you'll see

it more in problem based situations.

And of course address is a verb so you have to conjugate it.

Here I have it in the past.

Simple okay.

So Sam Askari is addressing whether he is overstepping to overstep.

This is very useful.

When you overstep, it means you involve yourself in matters that you shouldn't.

So in this case, Sam Asgari, why would he decide what Britney Spears posts on her social

media?

Is her social media, right?

So he is.

Involving himself in a situation that he has no right to involve himself in that is overstepping,

so we see this.

Again, a lot in a business situation.

For example, I know I'm only a junior employee and I don't want to overstep.

But I have a suggestion about how we can improve our sales.

So let's say you're in this meeting, you're a junior employee.

You should only really be listening, taking notes and the executives or the more senior

people are discussing this sales issue.

And then, but you have an idea, but.

You might be involving yourself when you have no right to based on your position within

the company, so you can see that a lot when there's some sort of a hierarchy and perhaps

people in the lower.

Part of the hierarchy should not be involving themselves, and if they do, we could use the

verb overstep.

But remember, there's a hierarchy in families.

There's a hierarchy even in friendships, so you can use this in everyday situations as

well.

So here's the definition for you to involve yourself when you have no right to you shouldn't.

I'll give you one other example, because we do commonly see this, for example with.

The police or government, they have power and authority, right?

But there's certain things they should and shouldn't do, right?

So maybe someone might say the police overstepped when they searched.

The residence without a warrant, a warrant in North America is a legal document that

gives the police the authority to search someone's personal property.

So if they don't have that warrant, they are overstepping.

So that's another example for you.

Okay, so Sam Askari is dealing with.

Addressing whether he is overstepping when it comes to his wife Britney Spears when it

comes to this is good as well.

This is another way of saying regarding regarding.

We use this a lot at the beginning of a sentence, so that's how I'll show you how to use it,

because I think this will help you sound quite advanced.

You might say when it comes to our sales strategy, just because we've been talking about sales

in my other examples, when it comes to our sales strategy, we need to involve the marketing

department, Okay.

When it comes to our sales strategy, so this is how I can.

Introduce what topic I'm going to be talking about.

Remember it's the same as saying regarding regarding our sales strategy.

So it's exactly the same it seems a little.

Bit longer, which it is, but it is a very nice expression.

It's a very advanced expression.

It will sound very natural.

So you can use it at the beginning when you want to state the topic and then you can state

your opinion.

You might say for example, we use this a lot with opinions, so you might say when it comes

to social media.

I prefer YouTube.

So you're stating your opinion and what's your opinion on the topic is social media

and you're using when it comes to to identify that topic when it comes to.

All right.

Let's continue on.

The fitness trainer 28.

This is his age.

He is 28.

The fitness trainer, 28, touched on speculation that he's controlling what the Grammy Award

winner 41.

This is of course, Britney Spears.

She's the Grammy Award winner.

What the Grammy Award winner 41, post on Instagram after she previously admitted that her social

spots were a lie.

During her 13 year conservatorship as she accused father Jamie Spears of controlling

much of her life.

Basically what this is saying is previously Britney Spears father Jamie Spears was.

Controlling her social media.

And Britney Spears admitted that a lot of her posts were actually not written by her,

so it's easy.

To think that maybe now her husband is doing the same thing that her father did.

Let's take a look.

At this, this is a very useful phrasal verb.

The phrasal verb is to touch on when you touch on a topic a situation.

It means you talk about it briefly.

Briefly means for a short period of time.

And this is a phrasal verb, to touch on something, to touch on something, to something being

the topic.

So let's say you're in a meeting and there's only.

10 minutes left and you want to talk about the sales strategy.

But it's a big topic.

You can't talk about it in 10 minutes.

You might say something like, let's quickly touch on the sales strategy before we wrap

up, Wrap up.

This is a phrasal verb as well, and this is.

The most natural way to say before we end the meeting, you can say end the meeting,

but that's really more of a literal translation.

Native speakers don't really say let's end the meeting.

Well, we do, but we more commonly say let's wrap up, let's wrap up.

That's the natural way to, say, end a meeting.

Let's wrap up.

So that's what.

That means before we.

End the meeting before we wrap up.

So let's quickly touch on.

So let's just talk about it briefly.

I'm not going to talk about everything.

I'm just going to talk about a few areas.

So you can do that when you have a big topic and you only want to talk about it a little

bit.

So that's a very useful phrasal verb.

Now you may be wondering what?

Speculation is touched on speculation.

So speculation is a noun, but we also have it as a verb, which is to speculate.

So this is the noun form.

The verb form is to speculate.

When you speculate, you guess possible answers to a question, but you don't actually have

all the information to be certain.

So let's say that there's a problem at work and I have some information I might say.

If I had to speculate, I'd say that and then I would guess the cause of the problem.

So when we use to speculate, if I had to speculate, we're letting the person know.

This is just what I think happened, but I'm not 100% sure so.

Here, using it as a noun is talking about speculation.

It's his guess.

It's his guess about what happened.

So the fitness trainer touched on speculation that he's controlling.

So notice the speculation is about him.

So other people are guest saying that he's controlling, but they don't actually know.

So it's saying that they don't have evidence that her husband Sam Askari is controlling

her.

They're just speculating.

They're just speculating.

So that's what how we use it.

I might say, I think Jane.

Wrote the report, but I'm just speculating, so I'm letting you know that I have some evidence

to support that, but I'm not 100% sure.

Another sentence structure is.

If I had to speculate, I'd say I would say that Jane wrote the report.

Is another way of saying if I had to guess, if I had to guess.

So really it's a fancy way of saying guess, but it's very common.

And get comfortable with it in the noun form and the verb form because we use it in both.

All right, let's continue on.

Okay.

Now this is quotation mark, so somebody is saying this and this is what Sam Askari, her

husband, said, he said.

I don't even control what we have for dinner, as Gary recently joked to photographers, according

to Just Jared Just.

Jared, this must be some sort of online magazine, or maybe it's a social media channel.

I don't know what it is, but it's the name of some sort of company or publication.

Now this is a joke.

A joke is of course.

Funny, haha.

And it's funny because he's saying.

How could I control her social media?

I can't even control what she eats for dinner, so he's making a joke out of it, which is

actually kind of funny.

I laughed a little, at least.

All right, in the past there has been a lot of stuff going on, so I understand where some

fans are coming from, he explained of the accusations.

They're just being protective if.

They're being good friends.

So Sam Asgari is explaining why people are speculating, are guessing why people are speculating

that he is controlling Britney Spears.

Media.

This is his.

Explanation, so he could say if I had to speculate.

If I had to guess why people think I'm controlling Britney Spears, if I had to speculate, I'd

say it's because and then you could continue right here.

I'd say it's because there has been a lot of stuff going on.

So that's what he is saying.

He's guessing this is the reason.

But remember it's not 100%.

He has some evidence, but he's not 100% certain.

I don't think there's anything else I need to explain here.

If I'm missing things that you don't understand, feel free to share in the comments so I know

in future lessons what to talk about, because I don't see any grammar concepts or necessary

vocabulary that I think needs to be explained in this paragraph.

But if I'm wrong, let me know in the comments section.

They're just being protective.

If anything, they're being good fans.

I guess the only thing I'll point out is what does this mean when you have a square bracket?

When you have a square bracket which is highlighted here, it means that the actual words that

Sam Askari or whoever said this, the actual words have been changed slightly.

So remember, this is a quote.

When you see quotation marks, it means those exact words came out of the person's mouth.

So Sam Asgari in an interview perhaps, Or he wrote it on his Instagram.

He said in the past there has been.

Now he said all of this except Sam Asgari did not say some fans are, He probably said.

I understand where they are coming from.

Usually when we have square brackets, the journalist or the interviewer change the words

for clarity.

Because Sam Asgari probably said I understand where they're coming from.

They are coming from.

I understand where they're coming from.

But who is they if we only have this one bit of his?

We don't know who they are, so the interviewer or the journalist changed it to some fans

so we understand who they represents.

That is what is usually the case when you see square brackets.

Okay.

Hopefully that was helpful.

Was that?

Interesting for you to learn Again, I'm trying to understand what you want me to teach you

from these articles, so please let me know in the comments if I'm explaining parts that

are useful or if there are other parts of the lesson you would have liked me to explain,

please let me know because it will help me improve for future lessons.

Okay, let's continue.

Suspicion around Britney's social media activity grew earlier this month when she celebrated

her birthday with a tribute to her younger sister, Jamie Lynn Spears, with whom she had

previously been feuding.

So let's take a look.

Here, she had previously been feuding.

This is the past perfect.

Continuous and we use it for a past action that happens before another past action, so

on our timeline.

Let's say she feuded with her sister.

Feud is another way of saying fighting.

Perhaps you don't know this and let me point this out.

It's not as common.

So honestly I would stick with the word fighting.

It's way more commonly used than feuding, but it means the same thing, feuding, fighting.

So she and her sister had a fight.

They were feuding, but something else happened.

What is that something else?

She celebrated her birthday with a tribute.

So this is in the past.

Simple, but it happened after the feud.

So we have, let's say on Monday, feud with sister, Wednesday, celebrate birthday with

tribute, Okay.

So this action is in the past.

Simple and this action is in the past perfect.

The continuous can also be used.

The continuous is used when you want to focus on the duration of the action.

The past perfect is used when you just want to more focus on the action, the result of

the action, not the actual duration of the action.

So I could say we had feuded before I made that video tribute for her birthday.

We had feuded before I made that video tribute for her birthday.

So notice past perfect.

I could have said we had been feuding if I want to focus on the action in progress, which

is fine, Both of them are grammatically correct.

It just shifts where you want to focus.

I'm just focusing on the results of it.

We had feuded before I made that video.

So notice past simple because the action is the later action and past perfect for the

earlier action, okay.

So that's a very good grammar concept.

It's one of those concepts all students kind of know.

The past perfect and how it relates.

But most of them don't really know how to use it in their speech.

So try a few examples.

Just think about your week.

What did you do on Monday?

What did you do on Wednesday or Tuesday?

Thursday doesn't matter.

And then just try to form sentences.

I had gone to the mall before I watched the movie and just make some examples based on

your day.

It's good practice to do a few few examples every single day and you'll get really comfortable

using the past perfect.

Askari previously defended his wife's social media activity after she began posting some

risque content following the termination of our conservatorship last November.

Let's just take a look at this word.

Notice the pronunciation?

You might notice this little accent.

Obviously the English alphabet does not have this accent, so we pronounce it according

to French pronunciation rules, which is when you have this accent to pronounce it as a

risque, risque, risque.

So that's how you pronounce it.

Just remember that is not English pronunciation.

We borrow the pronunciation from the French okay.

Now what does this mean?

Risque content is an adjective.

When you describe something as risque, is something that it shocks you a little.

It's not like, Oh my God, it's just like, oh it's.

Just a little bit shocking, little bit shocking.

Usually because of sex.

There's something related to sex, so a little bit shocking.

So maybe you're watching a movie with your kids and there's a scene in the movie that

is risque.

So maybe there's some, you know, certain attire or some scenes involving some kissing, but

it's a little risque.

There's more than you would expect, but it's not like close your eyes, it's just a little

bit risque.

So let's say your friend is on vacation at the beach and she posts some photos of herself

in a bikini in a a very certain pose, right?

And she puts that on social media.

You might say, wow, your photo was a little risque, meaning, you know, there's a slightly

shocking I didn't expect you to post that photo.

Let's continue on the only person in the world that gets bullied for posting things like

this, Asgari wrote on his Instagram story earlier this month.

I personally preferred.

She never posted.

These, But who am I to control someone that's been under a microscope and been controlled

for most of her life?

So I guess he's saying I personally preferred she never posted these.

These being, I assume, risque photos.

Risque photos.

I don't follow Britney Spears on Instagram, but I imagine she could post risque photos.

OK, risque photos.

So again.

A little bit shocking, right?

I'm going to highlight two words and I want you to think about why did I highlight these

two words?

There's something grammatically odd, perhaps incorrect, about the 2 words that I highlighted.

Do you know what that is?

Well, your clue is person and someone.

Because we should.

Grammatically, we should use who, who that is for objects, things who is.

For people who's been now, this apostrophe as represents has, so we need that with who

who has equals as a contraction.

Who's okay?

So yes, technically this is incorrect grammatically.

And if you are taking your IL's or submitting a formal Business Report or an academic report,

you should absolutely use who for people and that for objects.

But I'll be honest, native speakers make this mistake and we use that instead of who all

the time.

Is just something we do in more casual speech.

You'll see it all over the place on social media.

And if you're wondering why are they doing this, it's grammatically incorrect.

Yeah, it is grammatically incorrect.

And yet we do it anyway, so just.

For you to be safe, just remember who with people that with objects.

I'll just This is a expression to be under a microscope, and I think you can imagine

what that means.

So you put something under a microscope so you can see it every single detail very clearly,

right?

Scientists put something under the microscope and they examine it and they get to see every

single detail.

We use this as an expression to say that we feel like we are being examined too closely

and we use it as a negative.

So you might say my new boss makes me feel like I'm under a microscope.

He always checks up on me.

So to check up on someone is just imagine you're working and then all of a sudden your

boss, what are you doing?

What are you doing?

How's it going?

Did you finish that report?

Did you do this every five, every 10 minutes?

Or you get, you know, the person might not be there, but they might send you a message.

How's it going?

What are you doing?

Are you working on that report?

When's it going to be done?

That is, to check up on someone to inquire about their status, basically.

But you can imagine you feel like you're being watched very closely if somebody is constantly

doing that right?

So generally we use this expression as a negative to say we're being watched too closely.

You can use it with a work situation, a coworker, a boss.

You can use it in a family situation.

A parent, even a friend, could make you feel like you're under a microscope.

OKI wrote out the definition here for you.

So I'm sure there's someone in your life.

Maybe.

Maybe not.

That makes you feel like you are under a microscope.

All right, let's continue on.

Spears and Askari tied the knot in June during an intimate ceremony with 60 guests in attendance.

And here are the people in attendance through some celebrities, of course.

Drew Barrymore.

Selena Gomez.

Madonna.

That's cool.

All right, to tie the knot.

What does this mean based on the context?

What do you think?

To tie the knot is an idiom to say to get married, To get married.

Now obviously you know what that means.

But notice my verb to get married, because that is when you're having the ceremony Spears

and Askari got married, Got married.

Remember, we use the verb get when we're talking about the transition from not married to married.

But once you are married, once the ceremony takes place and you get the ring on your finger,

then you simply say we're married.

We've been married for 10 years.

Years.

Now I'm putting it in the present perfect because the action started in the past and

continues until now.

So I'm using the verb be married because I'm talking about the current state.

Now I am married, but if I want to talk about that transition from not married to married,

I use get.

So now I can say we got married in Hawaii, a destination wedding.

We got married in Hawaii.

So this is where you transitioned from, not married to married.

So that's why I used get married.

And that's what tied the knot means to get married.

So you could say we tied the knot in Hawaii, we tied the knot in Hawaii.

It's a fun, casual way of saying get married.

So someone might ask you when are you going to tie the knot?

They're asking when are you getting married?

When is the date of your wedding?

When are you going to tie the knot?

Now you could.

Put Where are you going to tie the knot?

How are you going to tie the knot?

Just asking about the details so you can use a different WH question.

Our final paragraph.

The couple began dating in 2016 after he appeared in her slumber party music video and they

announced their engagement last September.

So to be engaged.

So engagement is a thing.

It's the noun.

But the verb is to be engaged, To be engaged.

This is when you have an engagement ring, right?

You are going to get married at a specific date in the future, but you are not married

right now to be engaged.

Now remember, we can use to get engaged, to talk about the transition from not engaged,

to engage.

Engage.

Just when when someone says will you marry me, right.

OK to get engaged.

So again, I could say we got engaged last month, we got engaged last month.

So technically that means we've been engaged for one year, right?

They mean the same thing.

If somebody asks you how long have you been engaged, you could say we got engaged last

month or you can say we've been engaged for one year.

They mean exactly the same thing.

Just remember, get focuses on that transition and be focuses on that current state.

So that could be a useful thing to practice married and engaged with.

Get and be in the comment section below.

And that's the end of our article.

So 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.

So let's do that now, Sam Askari responds to rumors he's controlling Britney Spears

social media.

Sam Askari is addressing whether he is overstepping when it comes to his wife, Britney Spears.

The fitness trainer, 28, touched on speculation that he's controlling what the Grammy Award

winner 41, posts on Instagram after she previously admitted that her social spots were a lie

during her 13 year conservatorship as she accused father Jamie Spears of controlling

much.

Of her life.

I don't even control what we have for dinner, Askari recently joked to photographers, according

to Just Jared.

In the past there has been a lot of stuff going on, so I understand where some fans

are coming from, he explained of the accusations.

They're just being protective.

If anything, they're being good fans.

Suspicion around Britney's social media activity grew earlier this month when she celebrated

her birthday with a tribute to her younger sister, Jamie Lynn Spears, with whom she had

previously been feuding as Gary previously defended his wife's social media activity

after she began posting some risque content following the termination of her conservatorship

last November.

The only person in the.

World that gets bullied for posting things like this, Ask Ari wrote on his Instagram

story earlier this month.

I personally preferred she never posted these, but who am I to control someone that has been

under a microscope and been controlled for most of her life?

Spears and Ask Ari tied the knot in June during an intimate ceremony with.

60 guests in attendance.

Including Madonna, Paris Hilton, Drew Barrymore, Selena Gomez, Donatella Versace, Ansel Elgort

and Maria Menounos.

The couple began dating in 2016 after he appeared in her slumber party music video and they

announced their engagement last September.

Amazing job with that article.

Now we're going to move on to the next article.

Feel free to take a pause, get a cup of tea if you like and let's continue.

On 1st I'll read the headline.

Gwyneth Paltrow faces backlash after listing guest house on Airbnb.

To make the world a little less lonely, some commenters called Paltrow's partnership with

Airbnb out of touch.

So here is Gwyneth Paltrow.

She's a famous actor but I cannot think of 1 movie she is in.

So what about you?

Do you know any movies Gwyneth Paltrow's in?

If so, share in the comments below.

And this is the guest house that will be available on Airbnb.

So if you're interested, you could stay here and some pictures of the guest house.

So let's review this headline here.

So first, let's start with backlash.

Backlash is a noun.

It's a something, and it's a strong negative reaction to a decision, announcement or change.

So in this case, Gwyneth Paltrow announced that her.

Guest House will be available on Airbnb and apparently people were not happy about that.

There was some sort of a negative reaction.

I know that simply because of the word backlash, so I don't even need to read anymore of the

article.

I know that people were not happy, so a company might receive backlash for implementing a

new policy, like a dress code for example.

So you can receive backlash.

You can face backlash.

So this would be the verb that goes with the noun backlash.

Receive, face.

Those are common verbs.

After listing guest house in headlines of articles, they will omit certain grammatical

structures like articles.

So this is a news article, but an article in the English language is the ah or an.

So in this case, guest house.

This is a singular countable noun.

So grammatically, I actually need to have an article after listing her guest house because

it belongs to her.

That would be the correct choice.

You could say all guest house if it was any guest house, but it's not just any guest house,

it's a specific guest house and it belongs to her.

You can also say the guest house to represent a specific guest house.

But you would also have to specify what that guest house is, the guest house that belongs

to her.

So rather than doing that, you can just say her guest house.

So you do need an article grammatically.

But in the headlines of newspaper articles, it is very common to omit the grammatical

structure of an article.

OK, so Per Guesthouse on Airbnb and the reason why is to make the world a little less lonely.

I don't know why people are reacting negatively towards that.

I'm not sure.

We'll find out some commenters.

A commenter is a person who comments.

OK, I'll write that for you.

A person who comments and this could be a text based comment to a social media post

or it could also be an oral comment at a presentation, conference or meeting.

So if you comment on my videos by saying Thanks Jennifer, I love this video.

If you think so, put that in the comments then you.

Are a commenter, so you can say I'm a commenter, so put that in the comments and then automatically.

You are a commenter because you put that in the comments.

So put this in the comments right now so you can become a commenter.

Some commenters called Paltrow's partnership with Airbnb out of touch.

Let's take a look at out of touch.

This is a very common idiom.

If you describe someone or something as out of touch, you're saying that they're not informed.

They're not informed with the latest, the most recent about something specific.

Or simply they don't have the same ideas as most people, usually because they're not informed.

For example, the company wants you to fax them, the invoice, fax, fax them.

Seriously, that's so out of touch.

Today, nobody uses fax machines.

So if you are suggesting that someone should use a fax machine, well then you were just

not informed and you don't have the same idea as most people who.

Would obviously suggest e-mail and you can specify what they are out of touch with.

So out of touch with technology for example, you don't have to, you can just say that's

so out of touch and then it's obvious that is technology because that's the topic of

the example.

I don't know why announcing this on Airbnb cause backlash and cause people to say she's

out of touch.

I'm not sure, so let's keep reading and find out.

Now, first of all, don't worry about writing all these notes because I summarize everything

in a free lesson PDF.

So you can look in the description for the link to download the free PDF.

Let's continue.

Very nice guest house, isn't it?

American actor and businesswoman Gwyneth Paltrow faced swift social media backlash.

OK, you already know what backlash is, and now they're saying social media backlash.

So the negative reactions were on social media.

So that's where you saw the negative reactions in the comments section by the commenters.

And you are now a commenter as well, hopefully with something positive, not backlash.

Hopefully notice how they use actor, but in this case they use business.

Woman actor in the past was only used to describe males and then actress was used for females.

But that is not something that in modern usage of English people continue to use.

So she is an actress, but you can also call her an actor.

But the opposite does not work.

So you can't call a man an actress.

That doesn't sound correct.

But now actor has become gender neutral in the English language and it refers to men

and women, men, women.

So is gender neutral.

So if someone keeps referring to someone as an actress, you can say Well, actually that's

a little out of touch because in modern usage you don't need to specify actress, You can

simply use actor for both men and women.

All right.

American actor and business woman Gwyneth Paltrow faced swift social media backlash.

Again, remember this verb here, face receive and now swift.

If something is swift, it means it happened quickly.

So as an alternative, you can say thank you for your swift reply Instead of thank you

for your quick reply, thank you for your swift reply.

So now you've added that to your vocabulary, swift social media backlash and was called

out of touch.

You know what this idiom means now, after announcing a new partnership with Airbnb that

she said will make the world a little less lonely?

So this basically repeated the headline.

But repetition when you're learning something is always beneficial.

So I want to see if you're enjoying this lesson, if you enjoy learning from the news.

Because if you do, then I know you'll love the finely fluent Academy.

This is my premium training program where we study native English speakers from TV,

movies, YouTube and the news so you can improve your listening skills of fast English and

add the most common and advanced vocabulary and grammatical structures to your speech

so you can sound fluent and natural just like a native speaker.

And you'll have me as your personal coach, so you can look for the link in the description.

For more information on how to join, let's continue in a video posted on Instagram.

Earlier this week, the Oscar winning film and television star said she's listing her

guest house in Montecito, California on the popular homestay site, which is Airbnb.

This is the popular home state site Airbnb, and I know that because they previously mentioned

Airbnb.

Airbnb.

What about you?

Do you like staying at Airbnb's?

Put that in the comment.

I love to know.

I personally love Airbnb.

I generally don't stay at hotels anymore.

I always stay at Airbnb's because I love having a kitchen so I can make my meals and I find

it's just more.

And notice here you list something on and then a site.

So let's say you're selling a cell phone, an old cell phone, or a car or anything.

You could list your phone on Craigslist or on Facebook Marketplace, for example.

Here's an example.

And this is a true example.

You may have watched my short where I talked about selling my car.

Well, I listed my car on Facebook.

The Facebook marketplace.

I listed my car on Facebook and it's sold in one week.

Now if I list an item somewhere on a specific site, it means I make it available for purchase

or for use.

So I did that.

What about you?

Have you listed any items on any websites?

Now in this case, she says hosting up to two guests up to.

In this case, up to represents the maximum amount.

So if you were writing your IL's or any kind of exam, they might say you have up to 20

minutes to complete the writing section, up to 20 minutes.

This is a maximum of 20 minutes.

A maximum of is the more formal way.

So honestly in the instructions for a test, most likely it will say a maximum of because

this is the more formal way.

And just an alternative, perhaps more casual way is you can say up to you have up to 20

minutes.

So this house will host up to two guests.

A maximum of two guests for a one night stay.

Loneliness.

Now pay attention because quotation marks are here.

So I know that someone is saying this, This is a quote.

And I know that because of the quotation marks, loneliness is a human condition.

But in the past few years, increased isolation and our lack of community has made our lives

even more fragmented.

Fragmented is an adjective, and it means consisting of several separate parts.

So she's saying, has made our lives even more fragmented.

So in the past perhaps you had one part that represented an entire family unit and you

had these large families that live together.

But now if your lives are fragmented, it means this one family unit is in separate parts.

So there may be the parents are here in one house.

And or one city, one country, one child is studying abroad, another child is working

in a different city.

The grandparents live somewhere else, the brothers, the aunts the uncles.

So this family unit that was together is now fragmented which means separated into different

parts, she wrote in the post.

So remember, this is quoting and the she is Gwyneth Paltrow.

So these are the words that she said.

But it sounds like she said she wrote it in a post.

So she didn't actually say them out loud.

She wrote them in the post and then she goes on because there's another quotation mark.

So I know she's continuing.

Now this was in the post, so she put at Airbnb.

So Airbnb was tagged in the post.

Airbnb had the brilliant idea of doing something to make the world a little less lonely, which

is why I'm inviting you to come stay at my Montecito guest house for a night.

So remember here for a night.

All represents 11.

So here it's for a night come stay.

For a night or for a one night stay.

So these are different ways of saying the exact same thing for a night for a one night

stay.

Now notice here, come stay, come stay at my place.

This is how a native speaker would invite someone.

So let's say your friend is coming from out of town and your friend says, oh, I'm just

going to get an Airbnb.

I'm going to get an Airbnb, which means they're going to book a Airbnb.

I'm going to get an Airbnb.

And you can say, don't be silly, come stay with me.

Come stay with me for a night and two nights your entire state, whatever that might be.

So I wrote this here.

Don't be silly.

Come stay with me.

This could be something that a native speaker uses to invite someone.

Now not necessarily.

The don't be silly.

That depends on context.

Why did I add this?

Well, it might be silly for my very good friend to spend money on an Airbnb in the city I

live in when I have an extra bedroom and would love to have that friend in my house so we

can spend time together.

So that's why it's silly for that friend.

So you don't necessarily have to include this part, but it is a common thing.

Don't be silly, come stay with me while we may begin as strangers.

Okay, notice the quotation continues.

These are still the words of Gwyneth Paltrow.

And remember, she wrote this in a post.

While we may begin as strangers, I hope we'll find connections and commonalities.

Commonalities.

You could also say things in common.

I hope we'll find connections and things in common.

So things in common.

Commonalities.

This is when two people or two things share the same interests, ideas, beliefs or features.

Now notice I said two people or two things, Because if it's things, then they could share

the same features.

For example, there are many commonalities between iOS and Android.

I don't know if that's true.

That's just an example.

And of course, I might say, Oh well, my friend and I, we have many commonalities.

We have many things in common.

And then I could talk about the things we have in common.

We went to the same school.

We are both English teachers.

We both love traveling, for example.

So she says, I hope we'll find connections and commonalities over a delicious meal.

When you do something over and then another activity, it means during.

So the duration of over a delicious meal, It's the duration of that delicious meal.

While we're having a delicious meal, we'll talk.

And as we're talking, I might say, Oh yeah, I really love yoga.

And then Gwyneth Paltrow, Oh my God, I love yoga too.

Well, we just found a commonality.

So over during while, it's the same meaning in the course of over a delicious meal, she

added.

OK, let's continue.

In the video, the actor remember gender neutral.

In the video, the actor gives a tour of her picturesque residence.

This is a very nice adjective, picturesque.

If something is picturesque, it means it's just very beautiful to look at.

It is a very nice sight.

So this would be a great adjective to describe a entire city or a town, or just a building

or house in a city or town.

But you can describe a whole a whole.

City or just one aspect of a city or place as picturesque.

A tour of our picturesque residence, noting guests will receive products from Goop, Paltrow's

modern lifestyle brand.

I have never heard of Goop, have you?

I guess it's Gwyneth Paltrow's modern lifestyle brand.

She goes on to share a video of her pool and cozy dining area.

Cozy is another great adjective, especially in the context of a house.

So you will see this a lot in real estate listings to describe a room or a house as

cozy.

To me, cozy means warm and comfortable.

So let me spell this correctly for you.

Comfortable.

So if this dining area is described as cozy, I picture really comfortable.

Couches, lots of pillows, maybe some blankets that I can get nice and warm with.

Maybe there's a fire going.

And all of that gives the image of warm and comfortable.

Cozy, so you can use it for real estate to describe an entire house, a room.

We also use it for clothing, say a sweater.

Most likely you have that one sweater you always put on after work or at the end of

your day because it's very cozy.

It's warm and comfortable.

So you could say this sweater is so cozy, warm and comfortable.

This sweater, this blanket.

The sheets are so cozy, for example.

But some social media users were having none of it.

Oh OK, here we get to the backlash.

Why are people angry about this?

Why are they having a negative reaction?

Because if they were having none of it, it means that they were not accepting what she

is singing.

So for example, let's say you were late to work and you tried to explain that your alarm

didn't go off or you were stuck in traffic, but your boss was having none of it.

Your boss was not accepting what you were saying.

So that's a good expression.

I wrote that definition there for you, but some social media users, some commenters,

we're having none of it, with some quick to point out when you point something out, you

just you draw attention to it, you identify it.

So I'll put that there to identify and then remember quick, we also learned what was the

other adjective that you can use with some Swift to point out.

Swift to point out, quick to point out that the initiative, her initiative of offering

her guest home for a one night stay, remember that's her initiative, her initiative, where

are we?

Her initiative will do little, do little to address loneliness for those most vulnerable.

What do you think?

About that.

Is that true?

Is that reason for the backlash others mentioned?

The listing will likely be unaffordable for many fans.

So obviously if something is unaffordable, it means they cannot afford it, cannot afford

it.

But I'll just show you that alternative to be and notice this is be unaffordable, not

able to afford it.

Will be unaffordable for many fans.

Okay.

So this is the reason for the backlash.

It won't address loneliness and it will be unaffordable.

Those two reasons?

There's no price listed for Paltrow's residents, which is open for booking starting August

5th.

Okay.

So on August 5th, you can go on Airbnb and see how much this is.

And it's unclear whether the stay is paid or.

Free through a competition.

OK, so not just free, it's free through a competition.

So maybe the competition could be that guests have to submit a video explaining why they

want to meet Gwyneth Paltrow, and the best video wins.

And the prize is they get to stay.

That's an interesting idea.

What do you think about that?

Shortly after announcing the partnership with Airbnb and receiving an onslaught of backlash?

We already know what backlash is.

Negative reaction.

Negative reaction to someone's decision?

Announcement.

Policy change.

Now notice here is.

An onslaught of backlash, An onslaught of and then something suggests that the something

came quickly and aggressively.

So she posted this at, let's just say, noon, and then by 12:05 or 12:15 there were already

a lot of negative reactions in the comments, people said I'm having none of this.

This is so out of touch.

Give me a break or some sort of negative reaction and came quickly, quickly and aggressively,

an onslaught of backlash.

Paltrow announced she was stepping back from social media.

Let's take a look at this phrasal vert to step back, she announced she was stepping

back from social media.

When you step back from something or from an activity, it means that you stop that activity

or you stop your involvement in that activity.

But is temporary, so you only temporarily stop, so for a period.

Of time.

I don't know how long.

Oh, day.

But she'll be back on social media after a period of time because she's just stepping

back from social media now.

A weekend, a week, a month.

I'm not sure she's going to stop using social.

If I said OK, OK everyone, I'm stepping back from my YouTube channel, then you would expect

you wouldn't see any new videos or you wouldn't see any new post.

But don't worry, I'm not announcing that is just an example.

And why did she step back?

Well, remember she received that onslaught of backlash.

So the backlash, negative reactions and the onslaught means it happened quite quickly

and it happened quite aggressively.

So maybe she was really excited about this initiative.

She thought it was a really good idea and then she posted it and.

It was like, oh, I can't wait.

And then she checks and it's just all this negativity.

So that could be why she stepped back from social media and that is the end of the article.

Now I want you to be a commenter.

I want you to comment.

So here are two things you can comment on.

Do you think the onslaught, A backlash was justified based on what you just learned in

this article?

So that's when you can comment on so you can be a commenter.

And the other one, the one I'm more interested in.

If I listed my home on Airbnb, would you come stay?

Would you come stay with me for a one night stay, have dinner and discuss our commonalities?

What do you think?

Would you say?

Put that in the comments so you can be a commenter.

Now what I'll do is I'll read this article from start to finish and this time you can

focus on my pronunciation.

Gwyneth Paltrow faces backlash after listing guest house on Airbnb.

To make the world a little less lonely, some commenters called Paltrow's partnership with

Airbnb out of touch.

American actor and businesswoman Gwyneth Paltrow faced swift social media backlash and was

called out of touch after announcing a new partnership with Airbnb that she said will

make the world a little less lonely.

In a video posted on Instagram earlier this week, the Oscar winning film and television

star said she's listing her guest house in Montecito, California on the popular homestay

site, hosting up to two guests for a one night stay.

Loneliness is a human condition, but in the past few years increased isolation and our

lack of community has made our lives even more fragmented, she wrote in the post.

At Airbnb had the brilliant idea of doing something to make the world a little less

lonely, which is why I'm inviting you to come stay at my Montecito guesthouse for a night.

While we may begin as strangers, I hope we'll find connections and commonalities over a

delicious meal, she added.

In the video, the actor gives a tour of her picturesque residence, noting guests will

receive products from Goop, Paltrow's modern lifestyle brand.

She goes on to share a video of her pool and cozy dining area, as some social media users

were having none of it, with some quick to point out that the initiative will do little

to address loneliness for those most vulnerable.

Others mentioned, the listing will likely be unaffordable for many fans.

There's no price listed for Paltrow's residents, which is open for booking starting August

5th and is unclear whether this day is paid or.

Free through a competition.

Shortly after announcing the partnership with Airbnb and receiving an onslaught of backlash,

Paltrow announced she was stepping back from social media.

Amazing job with this lesson.

If you're up for it, I have another lesson right here that I know you're going to love.

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