Improve Your English Fluency FAST | Reading and Listening Method

Did you hear that the Sahara Desert has  flooded for the first time in decades?

That's what we'll review in this  Learn English with the news lesson  

so you can improve all areas of your English.

You'll improve your vocabulary,  grammar, pronunciation and speaking.

Welcome back to JForrest English.

Of course, I'm Jennifer.

Now let's get started.

Our headline, The Sahara Desert  flooded for the first time in decades.

Have you seen these images online?

First, let's look at the grammar here.

What verb tense is this?

The Sahara desert flooded.

It's the past.

Simple, right?

But notice we have for the first time in decades.

What does this tell you grammatically  that we generally use for verb tenses?

To me it sounds that we need  the present perfect has flooded.

Now in headlines they generally omit auxiliary  verbs or subjects when they're not necessary.

So although you see flooded, it is possible that  

the writer used the present perfect  but just omitted the auxiliary verb.

The Sahara desert has flooded, so  this is a completed pass action.

As you can see, it's complete, but  there's a result in the present.

So has flooded for the first time in decades.

How long is in decades?

If you had to say a specific number  of years, what would you say?

Well, it would be a minimum of 20 years,  but it could be more but in decades.

1 decade is 10 years.

So if we have a plural on this,  we know it must be 20 years.

But we also use this for more, so  it can be 20-30, forty, even longer.

In a longer full sentence, you might make  a statement like this is the first time.

Don't forget the because it's  required when you use ordinal numbers.

First, of course, is written as  this, which is an ordinal number.

This is the first time.

And then you can have whatever action  you want in the present perfect.

For example, I've studied English and then  you can say in and you can you have your  

time reference in hours, minutes, seconds,  even in days, in weeks, in months, in years.

Now hopefully you don't say this is the  first time I've studied English in years,  

but even if you do, at least you're here now.

So this is a very common sentence structure in  the present perfect combining your time reference.

Notice you have an S on all the time  periods and you use the preposition in.

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Striking images from the Sahara Desert show  large lakes etched into rolling sand dunes.

Let's take a look at striking as  an adjective, a striking image.

This is one that attracts a lot of attention.

It could be because it's  very unique or very unusual,  

but either way it attracts a lot of attention.

Now let's look at etched into so something,  

the large links are edged into something  else, in this case rolling sand dunes.

So this means carved, engraved or marked deeply.

So in this case, it means the water.

If the water is etched into the sand dunes,  

it means the water is there very deeply and  it suggests a sense of permanence as well.

Now we use this expression etched into you  can etch something into a rock or a carving  

to say that your initials or your  design will be there permanently.

But we also use this for a memory.

You could say the striking images of  the Sahara are etched into my memory,  

which means they're there permanently.

So we use this if something  is etched into your memory.

You could use this for a very vivid or  strong event or image or experience,  

positive or negative, that is  just there permanently or lasting.

Let's continue after one of the most  arid, barren places in the world.

So this describes the Sahara Desert, arid and  barren, was hit with its first floods in decades.

So here again, this in decades.

How long is this now?

You know it's a minimum of 20 years.

Exactly two adjectives  specific to desert climates.

Arid, Extremely dry.

You would describe it as arid.

The desert is arid now.

Barren means unable to produce life.

Now obviously life is produced  because you see plant life here,  

but it says one of the most arid, the most barren.

So it doesn't mean there is zero life, but it is  saying that out of all the places, this is where  

the least amount of life is possible because of  the conditions, the arid conditions specifically.

And another thing, notice this verb hit.

But remember, this is an irregular verb.

All three conjugations are hit.

So the base verb hit, the past simple  hit, and the participle is hit.

Let's continue.

The Sahara does experience rain.

What do you notice about this part?

Grammatically, the Sahara does experience rain.

Well, this is in the present simple verb tense.

And as you know, you just need your  verb and then you would conjugate  

it with the subject the Sahara is it  so you add the S or ES to your verb.

You don't need the auxiliary  verb do in the present simple.

So because this isn't required,  it means it's there to emphasize.

This is called the emphatic do.

You can use it to emphasize the fact  that even though it's the most arid  

and barren place in the world,  or 1 of it does experience rain.

It sounds stronger than simply saying  the Sahara experiences rain because  

remember as the normal present simple, you  would add the S to your verb experience.

But here, because you're using the  emphatic, do you add the conjugation,  

in this case ES to do, and then  you leave this as as the base verb.

The Sahara does experience rain.

It emphasizes the fact, but remember  it's not grammatically required.

Is just a way to add more  information to your sentence.

The Sahara does experience rain, but usually just  a few inches a year and rarely in late summer.

So you can say all year per year or every  year to mean one all year is very common.

You can say I study English once a week,  once a week, once per week, once every week.

So those are the three options available.

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Now let's continue with our  lesson over two days in September.

So notice we use the preposition  for a month in September and using  

over over two days in September  over represents the entirety of.

So you could say I studied  English over the weekend,  

and it sounds like the entirety of  your weekend was devoted to English.

I studied English over the weekend.

So over two days in September, however,  

intense rain fell in parts of  the desert in southeast Morocco.

Now notice here they're using.

However, this is to show a contrast.

The contrast is the fact that  it rarely rains in late summer  

and September could be considered late summer.

So they're using this to say, although we just  said it rarely rains now, it got intense rain.

So this, however, is used to show that  contrast to connect those two ideas together.

However, intense rain fell in parts of the desert  

in southeast Morocco after a low pressure  system pushed across northwestern Sahara.

And here instead of saying pushed across,  

you could simply say moved  across a low pressure system.

This is a weather event that can  cause rain or other types of weather.

A low pressure system pushed  across moved or traveled across.

But these alternatives exist because they add they  communicate a meaning when you use pushed across.

This is a strong term because when you push  it's more intentional and it sounds forceful,  

where and then in this case you have intense  rain, so this also sounds forceful as well.

So adding these words can really  help you understand or create a  

more vivid image to help etch this into your mind.

Let's continue preliminary NASA satellite data.

OK.

Preliminary means that it's the  first available but not complete.

So this is commonly used with  data, information studies,  

research, analysis, debates, ideas, decisions.

So it's the first one, but it suggests  that if more data comes about,  

then the the information or  the decisions may change.

So this is the first piece of data that they have.

And this preliminary data showed nearly 8  inches of rain in some parts of the region.

So because it's preliminary, it means  that this number could decrease or it  

could increase when they do further analysis.

One desert city in southeast Morocco  recorded nearly 3 inches of rainfall,  

most of it across just two days last month.

In this case, you could also  say over two days last month.

Remember we talked about over being the  entirety or the totality of two days?

You could use a cross to  mean the exact same thing.

Sometimes they're not interchangeable though.

In terms of rain, we often talk about  rain across a city or across an area,  

across a country even, and that  means from one side to the other.

It doesn't necessarily have to be  from left to right or right to left,  

it just means across a country.

So it rained across Morocco  from one side to the other.

So in this case you wouldn't  say it rained over Morocco.

It's the wrong word choice.

We use across to mean one side to  the other, but for over 2 days you  

could use over or across and it would have  the same meaning to mean the entirety of.

That's more than four times the normal  rainfall for the whole month of September.

Notice this grammar here.

I see a lot of mistakes with  this specific time reference.

The is required the whole  month of and then in this  

case September because that's the  month the whole month of September.

You could also say all of September,  but in this case there's no the in  

front of it for all of September,  for the whole month of September.

Both are correct, but the grammar is different and  

equates to more than half a  year's worth for this area.

Now you could absolutely say equates to  more than half a year's worth for this area.

Instead you could simply say equals.

But if you use equals, there's No 2.

So notice equals replaces equates and the  preposition 2 and equals more than half a years  

represents again, no preposition represents more  than half a years, or you could say amounts 2.

So for this specific 1, you  do need the preposition 2.

So when you are learning  synonyms or any expressions,  

is really important that you  learn all parts of it as well.

Specifically any auxiliary verbs  or prepositions that are required.

It's been 30 to 50 years  since we had this mantrine.

In such a short space of time.

You can say space of time, a short space of time.

It's very common, perhaps more common to use span.

I'm sure you've heard lifespan,  so that's where it comes from,  

a short span of time, which  means also you could say.

A short period of time period.

So span, space.

All alternatives.

I would say span is probably the most common.

Now, this made me think of a common  expression as well, which is unseasonably,  

unseasonably, which is your adverb.

And then you can have whatever adjective you want.

So you can say it's been unseasonably wet.

This means more than normal for that time of year.

This should be just of year for that time of year.

So right now, if it is late summer like it is  for the Sahara desert, that is the time of year.

If it's winter, if it's January, if it's summer,  

spring, whatever time of year it  is, it means more than normal.

So it's been unseasonably wet.

It's been more wet than normal,  unseasonably dry, hot, cold, humid,  

rainy, snowy, whatever specific expression  you want to use to describe the weather.

So that's a great one to have in your vocabulary  because everyone loves talking about the weather.

As the rain flowed over the desert terrain,  

it created a new watery  landscape amid the palm trees.

And scrubby flora amid means in the middle of  or surrounded by and flora means plant life.

I didn't know what scrubby flora  meant, so this word is new to me.

Scrubby and I love plants,  so I'm happy to learn this.

Maybe you'll never use this in your vocabulary,  but scrubby means that is low growing.

So if this is the ground, maybe it  only grows an inch or a few inches.

I don't know how high or how low it  would be to be considered scrubby,  

but let's just say low growing.

Growing low to the ground is scrubby.

Plant life.

That's an interesting adjective.

New one for me in desert  communities frequented by tourist.

Four by fours.

So notice you say this times  as by 4 by fours, 4 by fours.

You don't say 4 * 4 in math.

If this were a mathematics equation,  

you would represent this as times  4 * 4 is noted in the comments.

Can you do mental math?

4 by 4, So 4 * 4 in math.

But in this case, this isn't a math equation.

Thankfully not a math teacher.

So 4x4.

This represents by 4 by 4.

Do you know what A four by four?

Well, this might give you a clue.

Motored through?

Motored through puddles.

Maybe this tells you that it's a vehicle.

A4 by 4 is a vehicle that has four wheel  drive, also referred to as all-wheel drive.

Personally, I generally think of SU VS or  Jeeps when I think of four by fours, but I  

don't know that much about vehicles and cars, so  I don't know the specifics of this to be honest.

So 4 by fours motored through the puddles  and residents surveyed the scene in awe.

So in awe.

Imagine you're in this Jeep and you're motoring  through, you're going through all these puddles  

splashing everywhere, everywhere, but this is  the desert and you're just wow, that's amazing.

So that would be in awe.

That's literally the image that you would have.

So an image like that would be  etched into your memory for sure.

Let's continue the bounty of rainfall.

Bounty sounds like a large amount  of the abundance of rainfall.

And in all three cases, you need this  preposition of so it's the abundance  

of something large amount of bounty  of rainfall will likely help refill.

So likely means it's possible but not guaranteed.

So maybe 80% will happen, but there's  still that 20% chance it won't happen.

I'll likely go to the party  means 80% I'll be there but  

still 20% I'll stay home and watch Netflix.

So I'll likely go to the party isn't guaranteed.

The bounty of rainfall will likely help  

refill the large under large groundwater  groundwater aquifers beneath the desert.

So this is just the the area that  stores the water, the groundwater.

So the water from the ground aquifers beneath the  

desert that are relied upon to  supply water in desert communities.

The region's damned reservoirs  reported refilling at record rates.

So reservoir would again be an  area that stores water and refill.

When you add re in front of the  verb, it means to do it again.

So if the reservoir is empty, you need  to refill it, Just like if your water  

glass is empty and you're at a restaurant,  they'll ask you would you like a refill?

Would you like more water?

Because I already filled your glass once,  

so I'm asking if you want me to fill  it again, would you like a refill?

And they'll ask that for any beverage,  coffee, tea, water, soft drinks.

Would you like a refill?

Our last sentence.

However, it's unclear how far September's  rains will go toward alleviating drought.

So alleviating means making the drought  less severe or reducing the drought.

If you have a headache, you would take some sort  of pain reliever pill to alleviate your symptoms,  

to make them less strong, to reduce  them or to eliminate them entirely.

And notice again, we're using this word, however,  to connect ideas that are contrasting because  

they just talked about getting a large amount of  rain and refilling the reservoirs and aquifers.

But then they're saying that they're not sure.

It's unclear if it will alleviate drought, if  it will reduce the severity of the drought.

So this, however, introduces a contrasting idea.

Let's take these two contrasting ideas.

I love learning English with the news.

Do you, do you love learning English  with the news like we just did?

Now hopefully you're thinking  yes, yes, yes I do, yes, yes, yes.

So put yes, yes, yes.

If you do.

I love learning English with the news.

I haven't subscribed to Jennifer's channel.

So this is a contrast, but right now  it sounds like just two separate ideas.

I don't understand really  the connection between them.

So to show that connection,  we can use a connecting word.

And because it's a contrasting idea, we can  just put however at the beginning, however,  

and then your idea to show the connection.

I love learning English with the news, However,  I haven't subscribed to Jennifer's channel.

Well, change.

Just subscribe like this lesson, because then  you're notified every time I post a new one.

And I post lots of Learn  English with the news lessons.

So that's the end of this article.

So what I'll do is I'll read the  article from start to finish,  

and this time you can focus on my pronunciation.

The Sahara Desert flooded for  the first time in decades.

Striking images from the Sahara Desert show  large links etched into rolling sand dunes  

after one of the most arid, barren places in the  world was hit with its first flood in decades.

The Sahara Duns experience rain, but usually just  a few inches a year and rarely in late summer.

Over 2 days in September, however, intense  rain fell in parts of the desert in southeast  

Morocco after a low pressure system  pushed across northwestern Sahara.

Preliminary Nassau satellite data showed nearly  8 inches of rain in some parts of the region.

1 desert city in southeast Morocco  recording nearly 3 inches of rainfall,  

most of it across just two days last month.

That's more than four times the  normal rainfall for the whole  

month of September and equates to more  than half a year's worth for this area.

It's been 30 to 50 years since we had this  much rain in such a short space of time.

As the rain flowed over the desert terrain,  it created a new watery landscape amid the  

palm trees and scrubby flora in desert  communities frequented by tourists.

4 by fours motored through the puddles  and residents surveyed the scene in awe.

The bounty of rainfall will likely  help refill the large groundwater  

aquifers beneath the desert that are relied  upon to supply water in desert communities.

The region's damned reservoirs reported  refilling at record throughout September.

However, it's unclear how far September's  rains will go toward alleviating drought.

So do you want me to make more lessons  where we learn English with the news?

If you do, put yes, yes, yes, put  yes, yes, yes in the comments below.

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