ONE HOUR ENGLISH MASTERCLASS: Improve English Skills, Become FLUENT and Speak Like A Native!

Welcome to this English master class  to help you become fluent in English.

Of course.

I'm Jennifer from JForrest English.

Now let's get started.

First, in this master class, we're going  to review 5 very common jokes in English.

Jokes can be so difficult  for students to understand,  

so don't worry, I'm going to explain these  jokes so you can improve your fluency.

Let's get started.

This lesson is all about jokes, which is, of  course something humorous to make you laugh.

Another name for a joke is a pun,  a word play, or a play on words.

All three of these are the same, and  they're a joke about the English language,  

about how words can sound the  same but have different meanings.

And that makes it humorous.

It makes it a joke.

And maybe you've heard of a dad joke.

This is also a pun, and it's a very typical  stereotypical joke, an obvious joke that almost  

makes you roll your eyes when you hear it,  something that your dad might share with you.

So here's our first joke.

Are you ready to laugh?

Did you hear about the cheese factory explosion?

There was nothing left but debris.

Get it?

Do you get it?

Now when I say get it, that  means do you understand?

Do you understand why this is funny?

Do you know what Brie is?

Brie is a specific type of cheese.

It's a soft cheese and it's delicious.

Now what about debris?

Do you know what debris is?

This is a noun, and debris represents  broken or small pieces of something whole.

So let's take an example.

There was a storm, a really bad storm.

So you have something whole, maybe a barn.

But after the storm, that whole barn is in  tiny pieces, and those pieces are everywhere.

Those pieces are debris.

For example, there was a lot  of debris after the storm.

And notice my pronunciation compared to the  spelling debris E Do you notice that debris?

Brie sounds exactly like Brie cheese.

That's part of the joke.

We'll come back to that in a second.

So let's review our joke again.

Did you hear about the cheese factory explosion?

There was a lot of debris.

So explosion.

What happens after an explosion?

There's debris.

But this is at a cheese factory.

And remember, Brie is a a type of cheese.

So you can imagine there's tiny bits  of Brie, Brie cheese everywhere.

So the Brie cheese is the debris.

So now you understand this joke and  you can share it with your friends.

Our next joke Why did the Scarecrow win an award?

Because he was outstanding in his field.

Get it?

Do you get the joke?

First you need to know what a scarecrow is.

A scarecrow is a model of a person that you put  in a field, and its purpose is to scare birds.

A crow is a type of bird, so  you want to scare the birds.

Scare the crows away from the  field so they don't eat the crops.

Now what does a scarecrow do?

It stands in a field.

So notice this part from our joke.

Because he was outstanding in his  field, he was outstanding in his field.

Now native speakers will use  the word out to say not at home,  

and we often use out plus  gerund verb being the activity.

For example, my dad's out, my dad's  not at home, My dad's out shopping.

It's explaining the activity  that he's doing away from home.

My dad's out shopping.

So technically you could say the  scarecrow was out, not at home.

And what was he doing?

The scarecrow was outstanding in his field.

Are you with me so far?

But there's an expression to  be outstanding in one's field.

This is an expression that means that you're  exceptionally good at your occupation.

My occupation is teaching  English as a second language.

So if you think I'm doing an amazing job, you can  say, Jennifer, you're outstanding in your field.

The field being teaching, teaching English.

Jennifer, you're outstanding in your field.

Put that in the comments.

If you think that's true, if you  if you want to like this video,  

of course press that like button too and put  Jennifer, you're outstanding in your field.

But let's say that I live on a farm and  there is a big field on my property.

Technically you could say  Jennifer's out not at home.

Jennifer's out standing in her field.

So this is literally what I'm doing.

So now you know why that scarecrow won an award?

Because he was outstanding in his field.

Get it?

Get it?

Yes, you do.

Our next joke.

I used to be a Baker because I need a dough.

Get it?

Do you get the joke?

When you need dough, you press dough, which  is a mixture of flour, water and eggs.

You press dough repeatedly  and firmly with your hands.

And of course, a Baker is someone  who bakes bread, cookies, cakes,  

and other desserts as their occupation.

So a Baker of course needs dough  every single day as part of their job.

Now notice the pronunciation of need.

What does it sound like the verb to need?

And did you know that dough is  a slang expression for money?

So if you said I need some  dough, it means you need money.

The Baker kneaded dough.

This is literally what the Baker did.

The Baker kneaded dough.

The Baker needed money.

So now you understand why I used to be a Baker.

Because I needed dough.

Get it?

Now you do.

Our next joke.

Let's see if you can get this one.

I only know 25 letters of the alphabet.

I don't know why.

Get it.

Do you get the joke?

I like this one, actually.

How many letters are there  in the English alphabet?

Of course there are 26 letters.

The person in this joke knows 25 letters,  

so it means that they don't know  one letter of the English alphabet.

The one letter that they  don't know is the letter Y.

This explains the I don't  know why part of the joke,  

but of course the letter Y  sounds like the question.

Why?

Why?

It's exactly the same pronunciation.

So said another way, I don't know why  I only know 25 letters of the alphabet.

So now you know joke #4.

This is probably a dad joke.

I don't know if it was very funny.

It probably made you roll your eyes a little bit.

But I like this joke.

I like dad jokes.

Are you enjoying this lesson?

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

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You can look in the description  for the link to learn more.

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Now let's continue with our  lesson and our final joke.

This is the most popular joke in English.

Let's see if you know it.

What did one plate say to the other?

Dinner's on me tonight.

Get it?

This is a good joke.

You have to share this with your  friends after you understand the joke.

So let me explain it to you.

Of course you know what a plate is.

And in our joke, we have one plate saying  to another plate dinners on me tonight.

Now, this is a joke because there's a  literal meaning and a figurative meaning.

So the literal meaning you eat dinner on a plate.

So of course dinner is on the plate tonight  because that's where you eat dinner.

But let's talk about the figurative meaning.

Let's say I'm out for dinner at  a restaurant with my friends,  

and towards the end of the meal, when the  bill comes, I say dinner is on me tonight.

That means I'm paying for dinner tonight.

So you definitely want to go out for dinner with  me because I always say dinner is on me tonight.

So that's why this is a funny joke,  because there are two separate meanings.

There's the literal meaning you eat dinner on  a plate and there's a figurative meaning where  

when you say dinner's on me tonight,  it means you're paying for dinner.

Now, you don't only have to use this expression  with meals, you can use it with other things.

For example, the movies on me tonight.

I'm paying for the movie, The movies  on me Tonight You can get the next one.

Amazing job.

Now make sure you share those  jokes with your friends.

And if you could only share one  joke, which one would it be?

What's your favorite joke?

Share that in the comments.

And now let's move on and keep  expanding your vocabulary.

You're going to learn common phrasal verbs.

Now in this next section, 1st I'm going to quiz  you to see how well you know these phrasal verbs.

But don't worry, because after the quiz,  I'll explain each phrasal verb in detail.

So let's start the quiz now.

Question one, we should the  party with some karaoke.

Now, I'm only going to give you 3 seconds to  answer, so feel free to hit pause, take as  

much time as you need, and when you're ready,  hit play to see the answer we should kick off.

Question two, you don't need to your team.

I've heard great things about them.

Talk up Question three.

Make sure your team doesn't while the  CEO is here, horse around question four.

It really, when Jeremy took credit  for my work, ticked me off question 5.

He's been since he lost the  contract, moping around Question 6.

We're on a tight budget, but  we have enough to to get by.

Question 7, the expense reports, have  been since Sarah left, piling up.

Question eight.

I've learned to my mother when she  gives me relationship advice, tune out.

Question nine.

She used to be very serious,  but she's a bit loosened up.

Question 10 my boss is going to when she  learns we lost the account, flip out.

So how did you do with that quiz?

Don't worry if it was difficult, because now I'm  going to explain every phrasal verb in detail.

Let's get started.

Number one, to tune out.

This is a very useful phrasal verb because  it's used to say you stop listening to someone,  

you stop paying attention to them because you  don't like what they're saying, basically.

So you tune someone out.

This is something that kids do all  the time with their parents, right?

If your parent is giving you advice and you  don't want to hear it, you just tune them out.

So your parent is talking, but  you're just not really listening.

So you might say, I always tune out my  mom when she gives me relationship advice.

Now, this can also happen a  lot in a workplace situation.

Let's say the Co worker that sits beside you is  just a very negative person and complaints a lot.

You might just simply tune them  out so you stop listening to them  

because you don't want to hear all  that negativity and complaining.

So you just tune them out.

They're talking, but you're  not listening #2 to tick off.

This is a useful one because it means  to annoy, to anger, or to irritate.

Now we use this in two very  specific sentence structures.

It ticks someone off.

It ticks me off when my coworker  doesn't help, so it ticks someone off.

And then you explain the situation that causes  the anger, the frustration or the irritation.

Now the other sentence structure is just  to say someone or something ticks me off.

John really ticks me off.

He's so negative.

John really irritates me,  frustrates me, annoys me.

John really ticks me off.

He's so negative.

But I just tune him out.

Number three, to talk up and you  talk someone or something up,  

and that means you speak in a way that makes that  someone or something sound really, beneficial,  

really positive, really amazing,  maybe even more so than the reality.

So let's say you're in sales and you're trying  to sell this piece of software to a company.

Well, you're going to talk up that software.

You're going to talk about that software  in a way that really highlights all of its  

positive features, and you probably  won't mention any negative features.

You're going to talk it up, or let's say that your  

really close friend applied  for a job in your company.

Well, you're probably going  to talk up your friend.

You're going to speak about your friend  very enthusiastically, very positively,  

because you want your friend to get the job.

You're going to talk up your friend #4 to pile up.

This means simply to increase in amount,  and we generally use this with work.

So in general you could say  work is really piling up.

Work is increasing in amount.

You can use this with specific work.

So you might say my expense reports are  piling up, or even with household chores.

You might say the laundry is piling  up, The Dirty dishes are piling up.

They're increasing in amount #5  to mope around, to mope around.

This is when someone moves from one location to  another, but they do it in a very unhappy way.

A lazy way.

A disappointed way.

And it's generally because something is wrong.

Something specific is wrong.

So maybe they just lost their job or  they just broke up with their girlfriend.

So they mope around the house all day.

They go from the couch to the  kitchen, back to the couch,  

but they look really upset and lazy and no  energy, so this isn't really a positive thing.

We generally say stop moping around.

You need to stop moping around  and start looking for a job.

If that's the reason why you're moping  around because you lost your job,  

stop moping around and look for  a job number six to loosen up.

This is a great one.

It means to be more relaxed, more  comfortable, or less serious.

So you might say she was very shy at first,  

but then she loosened up so she  became more relaxed, more comfortable.

Now we often use this as advice to someone.

If someone is just being too serious,  you might say loosen up, loosen up.

It's similar to saying relax a  little, relax a little, loosen up.

You need to loosen up.

Oh, just loosen up #7 to kick off.

This is a great one because when you  kick something off it means you start.

We use this in the context of a sports event,  a meeting, a conference or even a party.

So some sort of event with people.

So when sports is very common to say the game the  match kicks off at and then you save the time.

The match kicks off at 3, the game kicks off  at 7, and that's just when the game starts.

Now you could also say let's  kick off the meeting by.

And then you can explain how  you're going to start the meeting.

Let's kick off the meeting  by introducing the new CFO.

Or let's kick off the meeting  by sharing the good news #8.

This is a fun one to horse around.

When you horse around, you  behave in a silly or noisy way.

So basically what children do all the time.

They horse around, but you might say the kids were  horsing around and they broke my favorite vase.

Now, although this is commonly used in children,  it can of course be used for adults as well,  

because adults act in silly and  noisy ways all the time, right?

Even in workplace context.

So you might be talking about how your  team is constantly horsing around,  

and as a bonus you can also say goof around.

It's an alternative, but  they're both very commonly used,  

so horse around or goof around #9 to get by.

This is when you have just enough money  to live on, but not very much extra,  

so you can basically pay all  your bills and that's about it.

So you might say, sense our twins were  born, it's been more difficult to get by.

You have two new babies in the house.

Well, first, congratulations.

But of course, that's very expensive.

So now you only have enough money  to pay your bills to buy the food,  

buy the diapers, buy the groceries,  pay your mortgage, things like that.

We're getting by, We're getting by.

You're just surviving.

So if someone knows you're going  through a tough time financially,  

maybe you lost your job and  they ask you, how's it going?

Is everything OK?

You could say, well, I'm getting by, I'm getting  by, which lets them know you're surviving.

You have enough to pay all your core  expenses, and finally #10 to flip out.

Now this can mean to become very excited, but it  can also mean to become very angry or agitated.

O It's when you have a very strong emotion.

But that emotion can be positive  excitement or it can be negative anger,  

and it will be obvious based on context.

So if you just won a competition  or a prize or the lottery,  

you might flip out and become  very, very excited, right?

The sports team flipped out  when they won the gold medal  

or the team flipped out when they lost the game.

The team became very angry.

So you can use it in both situations and for  

this expression you can also say  freak out, freak out, flip out.

They mean the same.

And again, positive excitement or negative anger.

So now that you're more comfortable  with these phrasal verbs, how about  

we do that exact same quiz again so  you can see how much you've improved.

So here are the questions.

Hit, pause.

Take as much time as you need.

And when you're ready, hit  play to see the answers.

Here are the answers.

Go ahead and hit pause and figure  out how you did amazing job.

Share your score in the comments.

And now let's move on and  review a news article together.

Reading is one of the best ways to  improve all areas of your English,  

so let's read the article together right now.

First, I'll read the headline Man Who Likely  Stole X's Cryptocurrency found Not guilty,  

but Judge urges Him to Help Recover funds.

First, let's talk about exes.

A man's ex is the romantic partner he is  no longer with but was previously with.

This is short form for either ex-girlfriend,  

ex-boyfriend, or of course you can  have an ex-wife or an ex-husband.

Now all of these start with X.

So instead of saying my ex-girlfriend, you  can just simply shorten it and say my ex.

Let's take a look at this example.

I ran into my ex at the mall.

When you run into someone, run  is simply in the past simple.

When you run into someone, this is  when you see someone unexpectedly.

So I did not plan to see my ex at the mall.

It was a surprise I ran  into the my ex at the mall.

Now obviously that can be an  awkward situation potentially.

Maybe even more awkward if you say  and I was with my new boyfriend.

Because remember your axe is the  previous romantic relationship.

It doesn't necessarily mean  the immediate previous.

It could have been 3 boyfriends  or three girlfriends ago.

It is just all previous romantic relationship.

So this man was accused of stealing his ex  girlfriends cryptocurrency, so cyber currency.

Now notice how it says who  likely stole, who likely stole.

Likely is an adverb, A probability, and it is  when something is more certain than not certain.

But it's still not 100% certain,  so there is some doubt in it.

To me, likely sounds about 80% certain.

It's more certain then uncertain.

So a man who likely stole X's notice that  pronunciation XSXSX's cryptocurrency.

It's possessive because the  cryptocurrency belongs to his ex.

Stole X's cryptocurrency.

Found not guilty, but judge urges him  to help recover funds, To urge someone.

When you urge someone to do something,  you simply strongly suggest so.

A judge has the authority to  order you to do something.

But to say the judge urged him, it isn't  an order, It's not something he must do.

He is required by law to do.

It is a suggestion, but it's a strong suggestion.

For example, my teacher urged  me to find a speaking partner  

so I can practice my public speaking skills.

This is something I always urge my students to do.

Notice that sentence structure you urge.

This is the verb to urge someone  and then infinitive to do something.

That's the sentence structure the judge urged him  to do to help something, to help recover funds.

To recover funds means to get the funds back.

When you recover something,  it means you you get it back.

I wrote that as a note for you.

And don't worry about writing this down  because I summarize everything in a free  

lesson PDF and you can look in the description of  the video for the link to download the free PDF.

Let's continue a man accused of  stealing thousands of dollars  

in cryptocurrency from an ex-girlfriend.

So this is basically what they said at the title.

But notice here they used  ex-girlfriend instead of just X.

And also notice how they have the  article in front of man Ah man.

But here they just started with man.

In the titles of articles they want to keep it  

as short as possible so they will omit  words that are grammatically required.

In this case, they omitted the article  the article all is required in front of  

man grammatically, but because  it is the title of an article.

The headline it's acceptable to do.

But you should include the  article because it is required.

All man accused of stealing thousands of  

dollars in cryptocurrency from an  ex-girlfriend, an ex likely did it.

We already know what this means.

There's an 80% chance.

But that also means on the flip side.

On the opposite side, the flip side,  there's also a 20% chance he didn't do it.

Likely didn't, according to a BC judge.

BC stands for British Columbia,  which is a province in Canada.

So this judge is located in British  Columbia, which is shortened to BC.

But the challenges of tracking those virtual  coins mean he has avoided a conviction.

The conviction is when a judge or a  court officially says you're guilty,  

that means you've been convicted of a crime.

So to be convicted, that's the verb form.

And then conviction is the noun.

Here's an example.

He was convicted of stealing his ex's  car, so he received the conviction.

Somebody said, the judge said you're  guilty of stealing your ex's car,  

so to be convicted and then  this is a completed past action.

So I conjugate my verb to be he was  convicted and you're convicted of something.

Now, because of is a preposition,  the verb is in the jaron form.

Speaking of jaron verbs, we also have  the verb avoid, which is a jaron verb.

A noun follows it.

In this example, he has avoided A conviction.

If we used the verb form,  it would be he has avoided.

Do you know what we could say?

He has avoided being convicted because the verb is  to be convicted Ed On convicted, our verb is be,  

and because avoid is a gerund verb, the verb  that follows it is going to be in the ING form.

So you could also say he  has avoided being convicted.

Or you can use the noun conviction.

Let's continue, though.

Orion Alexander Holtby was found not guilty.

So this is the name of the man  who was accused of stealing his  

ex's cryptocurrency, Orion Alexander Holtby.

Though Orion Alexander  Holtby was found not guilty,  

the judge said you didn't  do it of fraud and theft.

BC Supreme Court Justice Ward  Branch urged him to find.

Remember, you urge someone to do  something, urged him in the past.

Simple, listen to my pronunciation.

Urged So it ends on a very soft D sound.

Let me write that for you.

So you remember, urged,  urged, urged him, urged him.

Ward Branch urged him to find a  way to help the alleged victim.

The alleged victim?

Who is that?

That's Holtby's ex.

Holtby's ex-girlfriend.

The word alleged means that some people say this,  

some people say that she's a victim,  but it has not been officially proven.

So that's why she's just an alleged victim.

There isn't enough proof to say  that she is in fact a victim.

And same thing with the pronunciation  notice this alleged alleged victim,  

alleged victim to help the alleged  victim reclaim her digital investment.

Reclaim is the same as recover  that we saw in the headline.

So again, it simply means to get the  funds back, to reclaim her investment,  

to get her investment back, reclaim her  digital investment, valued at about $92,000.

In March 2021, the judge explained,  the Crown hadn't convinced him.

The Crown represents the people who say,  

who allege, remember, allege  that Holtby stole the money.

That group of people would be known  as the Crown, the judge explained.

The Crown hadn't convinced him.

Him being the judge, the judge explained,  the Crown hadn't convinced him beyond a  

reasonable doubt that Joelle oh  man, this is the ex-girlfriend.

That Joelle oh Man's cryptocurrency  had been stolen at all.

So this is interesting because  the judge isn't convinced.

When you're convinced, it means that you  

accept something as factual or  accept something as the truth.

But the judge hasn't been convinced  that the money is missing.

That the money, the cryptocurrency  just represents money.

That the money had been stolen and notice  they use the past perfect had been stolen.

So here the sentence structure  is to be stolen, be stolen.

So then we take our verb BE and  we put that in The past perfect  

had been stolen because a past perfect is  a past action before another past action.

So first the money is stolen, then the  girlfriend, the ex-girlfriend correction,  

the ex-girlfriend goes to the police and  says my ex-boyfriend stole my cryptocurrency.

And then the Crown takes this to the court to  try to convict the ex-boyfriend of this crime.

So the fact that it had been stolen  is a past before another past action.

Here's an example that clearly  shows the sequence of events.

We had gotten married before we moved in together.

So we have two past actions.

This action happened first.

It's the older action, so  it's in the past perfect.

Now we had gotten married.

The verb is to get married.

So if you see married as an  Ed and you're wondering why,  

that's the expression to get married.

So I keep married as an Ed verb.

I take my main verb, get, and I  conjugate that as the past perfect,  

and then we before we moved in together.

This is also in the past, but it's  more recent and it's the past simple.

So this is the past simple here, Past simple.

Let's continue.

Were this a civil matter, I would most likely  have found you liable to the plaintiff.

Notice this conditional structure.

Were this a civil matter,  

you may be more comfortable hearing  it as an if statement, which is fine.

You can absolutely say if  this were a civil matter.

And to be honest, it is more common to use  if statements if this were a civil matter.

Notice the slight difference here.

Were this a civil matter and this is a  conditional Because this is hypothetical,  

this isn't the reality of the situation.

But notice the judge is still saying  I would most likely most likely.

Well now because he said most likely I might  increase the probability to 85% or 90%.

Cause before it was I would  likely now it's most likely.

So maybe 85%, maybe 90% as well, more than likely,  and here found you liable to the plaintiff.

Liable is a legal term that simply means  responsible, but legally responsible.

Legally responsible.

So companies, for example, are  liable for the products they sell.

They're legally responsible for them.

Parents are liable for their children.

They're legally responsible  for the children as well.

So found you liable to the  plaintiff simply means that  

you would be legally responsible to the plaintiff.

The plaintiff is the ex-girlfriend.

However, this is a criminal matter  with a far more demanding burden,  

so suggesting that because it's a criminal matter,  

the amount of evidence you need to provide  is a lot higher compared to a civil matter.

The decision highlights how the criminal justice  

system is struggling to address  crime in the cryptocurrency world.

Now notice here Struggle to do something.

Just make a note of this sentence structure.

Struggle to do something where high profile  frauds like those committed by the founder  

of the Canadian exchange Quadriga CX  have cost investors millions of dollars.

Here a high profile fraud.

The adjective high profile simply means  one that attracts a lot of attention.

So we could say that this legal  case was a high profile case.

It attracted a lot of attention, Sean  Tweed, a cryptocurrency investigator, said.

These crimes are both harder and easier to  investigate than traditional theft and fraud.

The issue is that the blockchain doesn't  provide personal identifying information,  

so you can't decipher who specifically owns coins.

Decipher is a verb, and it's used to say that  you can discover the meaning of something.

So here you can't decipher who  specifically owns the coins.

So you can't understand who owns the coins because  maybe the platform they use to to store the coins  

to keep the coins is really difficult because it  doesn't have the personal identifying information.

It's in this blockchain which can  be really difficult to decipher.

To understand the meaning of this blockchain,  the cryptocurrency where the coins actually are.

Another example is, can you  help me decipher this contract?

Let's say you were starting with a company  and they gave you this contract to sign.

But contracts are generally written in a  confusing way, even for native speakers it  

they use a lot of legal terminology that  the average person does not understand.

So maybe you ask a friend who's a lawyer to help  you decipher the contract to understand, OK,  

I understand these words, but what does it mean?

Will I be liable for something?

Liable, remember, means legally responsible.

If you sign a contract, you might be liable for  something because a contract is legally binding.

So it's important that you decipher the  contract fully so you know if you're liable.

Let's continue the judgment makes it clear  

the truth of the matter has  been difficult to sort out.

Let's take a look at sort out.

When you sort something out,  

it means that you successfully solve  a problem or a difficult situation.

So they're saying that cryptocurrency  has been difficult to sort out.

It's been difficult to solve  the problems related to it,  

Holtby This was the man accused of  stealing the cryptocurrency from his ex.

Holtby did not testify.

When you testify, it's when you appear in court  

and are asked questions by  the lawyer and the judge.

And usually it's in front of an audience,  in front of a jury that's to testify.

So Holby did not testify.

And the judge said, oh man, the ex-girlfriend  

who lost the cryptocurrency, oh  man, was careless with evidence.

So you don't want to be careless  with evidence when you're careless.

That's the opposite of careful.

So you're not taking a lot of  measures to protect that evidence.

So the opposite of careful, careful, careless,  

oh man was careless with evidence  raising concerns about her credibility.

One's credibility.

It's similar to their reputation.

If someone is credible, it means  there's someone that you trust.

They have shown you that they are  deserving of respect and trust.

But here there were concerns  about her credibility,  

suggesting that she was less  credible, so less likely that  

you will trust what she says or respect  her and notice this sentence structure.

Here you raise concerns,  

which is another way of saying you you  make concerns known, you raise concerns.

The judge raised concerns about  her credibility in general.

Tweed says some police departments  still don't have the training or  

software to properly investigate crypto crimes.

Crypto is the short form of  cryptocurrency crypto crimes.

Crimes related to cryptocurrency  investigate crypto crimes.

But he's seen.

He has seen, he has seen now the contracted  form with an S it can be the verb to be.

For example.

He's happy, so he is happy he's seen.

Now in this case, I know it cannot  be the verb to be because he is seen.

It doesn't really make sense.

It's not grammatical, so it has to be.

The verb has he has seen and  this is the present perfect.

He has apologies, this should be has not had.

He has seen big improvements in the last  few years and that's the end of the article.

So what I'll do now is I'll go and  read the article from start to finish  

and this time you can focus on my pronunciation.

Man who likely stole Axis cryptocurrency found not  guilty, but judge urges him to help recover funds.

A man accused of stealing thousands of dollars in  

cryptocurrency from an ex-girlfriend  likely did it, according to ABC Judge.

But the challenges of tracking those virtual  coins mean he has avoided A conviction.

Though Orion Alexander Holtby was  found not guilty of fraud and theft,  

BC Supreme Court Justice Ward Branch  urged him to find a way to help the  

alleged victim reclaim her digital  investment, valued at about $92,000.

In March 2021, the judge explained  the Crown hadn't convinced him beyond  

a reasonable doubt that Joel Oman's  cryptocurrency had been stolen at all.

Were this a civil matter, I would most likely  have found you liable to the plaintiff.

However, this is a criminal matter with  a far more demanding burden, Branch said.

The decision highlights how the criminal  justice system is struggling to address  

crime in the cryptocurrency world, where  high profile frauds like those committed by  

the founder of the Canadian Exchange Quadriga  CX have cost investors millions of dollars.

Sean Tweed, a cryptocurrency investigator,  

said these crimes are both harder and easier to  investigate than traditional theft and fraud.

The issue is that the blockchain doesn't  provide personal identifying information,  

so you can't decipher who specifically owns coins.

The judgment makes it clear the truth of  the matter has been difficult to sort out.

Holtby did not testify and the judge  said oh man was careless with evidence,  

raising concerns about her credibility.

In general, Tweed says some police departments  still don't have the training or software to  

properly investigate crypto crimes, but he's  seen big improvements in the last few years.

Great job with that article.

Now you can look in the description  for the lesson PDF for that article.

Now let's continue on and improve  your listening skills so you can  

better understand native speakers the first time.

Here's how this lesson will work.

I'm going to say a sentence  at a fast pace three times,  

and you need to write down exactly  what you hear in the comments.

Are you ready?

Here's the first sentence.

We need to nip this in the bud.

We need to nip this in the bud.

We need to nip this in the bud.

Did you get this one?

I said we need to nip this in the bud.

Now let's talk about need.

Notice that I didn't pronounce  the D need because if I do that,  

it forces me to take a pause, which slows me down.

So if you don't pronounce that D at the  end, you'll be able to speak faster.

We need TA TA.

Notice how to becomes more of an unstressed TA.

We need to nip to nip to nip this sin.

So notice here we have this in and again  I can connect those together and I can  

take that S sound and I can add it to the  beginning of in because it begins in a vowel,  

this sin, and it sounds like one  word, this sin, this sin, the bud.

You need to nip this in the bud.

Now what does this mean when  you nip something in the bud?

It means you stop something before it  becomes serious or permanent and that  

something that you want to stop is a negative  behavior or a problem or some sort of issue.

I use this expression with my little Kitty Sasha.

When she was just a kitten, she  used to scratch at the furniture.

Now obviously this is a negative behavior that  I want to stop and if I let her keep scratching,  

then it will become a permanent  habit, a permanent behavior.

So I needed to nip her scratching in the bud.

I needed to nip it in the bud.

So maybe there is an issue or a problem  that you want to nip in the bud.

For my students, I would say you need to  nip your fear of public speaking in the bud,  

which means you need to stop  it when it's just a small fear.

Because if you let it grow  and grow and grow and grow,  

it's going to be a lot more difficult to overcome.

So you need to nip your fear  of public speaking in the bud.

So if you're with me, put that in the comments.

Nip fear in the bud, nip fear in the bud.

Put that in the comments and I certainly hope that  my channel and these lessons help you do that.

I just want to nip any problems in the  bud and I nip this thing in the bud.

Going to nip this thing in the bud.

You need to nip this in the bud.

Let's try this again with  another listening exercise.

I'll say it three times.

Don't blow as common out of proportion.

Don't blow as common out of proportion.

Don't blow as common out of proportion.

Did you hear what I said?

I said don't blow his comment out of proportion.

Don't is a contraction of do not, don't.

It'll help you speak faster And again  drop that T so you don't take a pause.

Don't blow.

Blow is blow is so notice on his I dropped  that H and I combine those two together.

Don't blow is comment out of  You can reduce those into one.

Sound out of don't blow his  comment out of proportion.

You're blowing this way out of proportion.

Now let's talk about the meaning here.

When you blow something out of proportion,  

you make an event or a problem seem  more serious than it is in reality.

So let's say you have a job interview  and it's going to be in English.

But remember, you nipped fear in the bud.

So you're not afraid to speak in public, right?

But imagine that you didn't nip fear in the bud,  

and you're stressing and you're  anxious and you're nervous.

But the event is going to  a job interview in English,  

and you make it seem like this  big terrible, scary event.

So you could say don't blow it out of proportion.

Or if you're telling a friend how  nervous you are about this job interview,  

your friend could say to you, you're  blowing this way out of proportion.

Now notice here I added way out of proportion.

It's very common to add way  to make it sound stronger.

So to emphasize it, you're blowing  this way out of proportion.

Blow it way out of proportion.

You're blowing this way out of proportion.

Try this again.

I'll say it three times.

My client really chewed me out.

My client really chewed me out.

My client really chewed me out.

How'd you do with this one?

I said my client really chewed me out.

Now let's talk about chewed.

Notice this is an Ed verb, a past simple verb,  but the pronunciation is a soft D chewed the the.

Now again, we can drop that sound when we're  

connecting it to other words  so you don't really hear it.

My client really chewed me out and notice how  I Take Me Out and I combine them together.

Now I use a soft yeah sound to  combine 2 vowels, me, yot, yot.

So I add a yeah in front of out yot, but I combine  it with me so it sounds like one word meow meow.

So you don't hear it when  you're speaking at a fast pace.

But if you slowed it down, you  would hear the very slight.

Yeah, in front of out.

My client really chewed me out.

Your boss just chewed me out.

The expression is to chew someone out.

And this is when you tell someone angrily  that they've done something wrong.

So this is not a positive thing.

Now notice the difference between these sentences.

I chewed my assistant out.

The client chewed me out.

So notice the difference in the first one.

I chewed my assistant out.

I'm giving the angry comments.

The second one, my client chewed me out.

I'm receiving the angry comments now.

Sometimes my students, maybe even you.

Sometimes my students chew me  out in the comments section.

They tell me angrily that I've  done something wrong in the video.

So please don't chew me out.

Put that in the comments.

I won't chew you out.

I won't chew you out.

Please don't chew me out.

It's not very pleasant to read  negative comments, so don't do it.

Chew me out about something more like chewed out.

I've been chewed out before.

Wanted me to chew you out?

Let's try this one more time.

I'll say it three times.

We're not laying anyone off.

We're not laying anyone off.

We're not laying anyone off.

Did you get this one?

I said we're not laying anyone off.

Now notice where this is a contraction we are.

And notice how unstressed it is where  we're, where we're not, we're not.

Now, as a contraction, you  could also say we aren't.

So both of those contractions are common.

I just chose to use we're we're  not, we're not laying anyone off.

Now notice how I can combine anyone off.

Off starts with a vowel and anyone.

It ends on AN sound so I can take that  N and just add it in front of the vowel.

Anyone knowf knowf anyone off and it sounds  more like 1 sound to lay someone off.

This is when a company stops  employing someone because the  

company doesn't have the money or  the work to employ that person any.

So your manager or your boss could say to you,  sorry, our sales are down, so we have to lay you  

off, which means that they don't have the money to  keep paying you so they can't employ you anymore.

Talking about laying people  off, I had to lay them off.

I had to lay off 27 robots.

To lay someone off is the active form,  it's the subject doing the action.

But it's also very common to use the sentence  structure to *** **** off or to be laid off.

And this is when you are receiving the action.

So this is when you lose your job because your  company doesn't have the money or the work.

And remember, we use get for the  transition from not laid off.

So employed, too laid off.

So the transition from employed to unemployed.

That's to *** **** off now.

To be laid off, that's simply  talking about your current state.

So now you are unemployed.

I wasn't fired for my job.

I was laid off.

I got laid off.

Wait, we're going to *** **** off?

Now let's do an imitation exercise so you  can practice these pronunciation changes.

And you can practice speaking  fast, just like a native speaker.

So I'll say each sentence again three times,  

and I want you to repeat the sentence  out loud and imitate my pronunciation.

Here we go.

We need to nip this in the bud.

We need to nip this in the bud.

We need to nip this in the bud.

Don't blow his comment out of proportion.

Don't blow his comment out of proportion.

Don't blow his comment out of proportion.

My client really chewed me out.

My client really chewed me out.

Client really chewed me out.

We're not laying anyone off.

We're not laying anyone off.

We're not laying anyone off.

Think of everything you've learned  in this master class so far.

I have one more lesson for you.

My students frequently ask me about  the difference between CAN and ABLE.

When should they use CAN?

When should they use ABLE?

So let's review those rules now.

Today you're going to learn the  difference between CAN and be ABLE to.

Now both of these are used to talk about ability,  but the difference is in the sentence structure.

That's possible and also what type of ability.

So first of all, you need to know  that can is used for general ability.

So we use it in both the positive form and  the negative form in a very general context.

For example, I could just say I can swim.

I can swim just in general, anytime, anywhere.

Not specific to a specific pool or a  specific place or a specific type of water.

Just I can swim in general.

Now the opposite, of course.

The negative.

I can't swim, so it doesn't matter where I am.

It doesn't matter what type of pool  I'm in, what type of water I'm in,  

what time of day it is, where the location is.

It doesn't matter in any context.

In a general context, I can't swim, so can is  used in positive and negative for general ability.

Now let's compare that to  be able to so be able to.

This is used for a specific ability.

Now what does that mean?

If it's specific, you can think  of it as specific to a time,  

a location, a a specific type for example.

It's limited.

So I could say I'm not able to swim today.

I'm not able to swim today.

Now, I wouldn't just say I'm not able to swim  because that sounds like a general statement.

And if it's a general statement to all places,  all times, all situations, I would use can.

I can't swim.

But if I say I'm not able to, that means  it's a specific time or specific location.

So I might add to that sentence and say I'm not  able to swim today because the pool's closed,  

or because I have an important meeting,  or because I'm not feeling well.

So there's a specific reason  that's preventing that ability.

So that's the first important distinction.

Can general be able to specific?

Now, the other very important  thing you need to remember is  

that grammatically these are different.

And that's because can is a modal verb.

Modal verbs are limited.

They're limited in the sentence  structure that they can use.

Now, can, as a modal verb, is used  in the present and the future,  

be able to this is a verb expression.

The verb, of course, is the verb to be.

That's the verb that's conjugated with the subject  

and the time reference as  a regular verb expression.

We can use this in any sentence structure,  

any formation, any verb tense, anywhere on  our timeline, a past, present or future.

So this is very important because remember  

I previously told you that can  is used for a specific ability.

But let's say you want to talk  about a specific ability in a  

sentence structure where a modal verb is  not possible in that sentence structure.

If that's the case, even if you're talking about  specific ability, you would use be able to.

So you use be able to when can  is not possible grammatically.

Let me give you an example  to make this very clear.

So I could say a lifeguard needs  swim for 20 minutes without stopping.

So in this case, this is a general ability.

This is something that a lifeguard  needs any place, anytime.

It's just a general ability.

But what?

What about this blank here?

What do I need grammatically  to complete this sentence?

Well, we have to look at the sentence.

I have need as a verb needs.

The lifeguard needs now need is a verb.

The next verb has to be in the infinitive form.

Now can as a modal cannot be used in  an infinitive form, it doesn't exist.

Modal verbs are just the verb, they  don't change in different structures.

So in this case, I can't say  a lifeguard needs can swim.

No that grammatically doesn't work.

Even though I'm talking about general  ability, I need an infinitive.

Because of that, I have to use be able to and  

I'd say a lifeguard needs to be  able to in the infinitive form.

Now I have a correct sentence.

Congratulations, you've  completed the master class.

Think of everything you've  learned in this last hour.

Do you want me to make more  master classes just like this?

If you do, then put Yes, Yes, Yes, put  Yes, Yes, Yes in the comments below.

And of course, make sure you like this video,  

share it with your friends and subscribe so  you're notified every time I post a new lesson.

And you can get this free speaking  guide where I share 6 tips on how  

to speak English fluently and confidently.

You can click here to download  it or look for the link in the  

description and you can keep improving  your English with this lesson right now.