English Teacher John Show 39 (Q & A Show) – Transcript
[download podcast 39]
File size: 9.54mb Duration: 23:37
Hola, konnichiwa, ciao, sawadee kap,
Hey, it’s CHERRY BLOSSOM SEASON HERE IN MATSUMOTO, JAPAN BUT … right now it’s time for the English Teacher John Show Number 39, a special English Question and Answer Show. C’mon, let’s get some answers to your questions …
Welcome everyone. I’m John Koons and I’m your host for this 39th episode of the English Teacher John Show. Today’s show is a special one – it’s an ‘ASKJOHN Q&A Show.’ Yes, that’s right, we’ll answer your questions about English grammar, idioms, slang and anything else that might be troubling you in your English studies. You can always send your questions to: ‘askjohn – AT – English teacher john . com. That’s A-S-K-J-O-H-N -at- english teacher john.com. Hey, send us an mp3 audio recording with your question and I’ll try to include your voice on our Ask John Q & A show.
Okay, before I get started, let me say a few words about Japan’s CHERRY BLOSSOM SEASON. The white and soft pink blossoms are really beautiful, and it’s a lovely and exciting time to be in Japan. Japanese people have picnics with family and friends at any place where there are the famous cherry trees – along rivers, in parks, and here in Matsumoto, many of us go to Matsumoto Castle to celebrate this spring festival. In Japanese, the cherry blossoms are called SAKURA and the activity that we all do is HANA-MI. Hana-mi means “flower viewing.†It’s a great time to be in Japan and it usually happens in the month of April, though different parts of the country bloom at different times in April.
Okay, well that’s enough about the cherry blossom season. Let’s get on with our English questions and answers.
===============
[Question 1]
Our first question comes from Paul in Wiesbaden, Germany, and he sent his question by email. Paul asks: Could you please explain “getting”? It’s very often used, but sometimes a little confusing. Getting dressed, getting dark, getting started and so on.
Well, Paul, that’s a very good question! GETTING is really one of those mushy words in English – it’s very hard to define it clearly because it’s used in so many different ways. I think the most common usage of GETTING is BECOMING. This use is about CHANGE. Something is changing:
It’s getting late. We’re all getting hungry. If it gets dark, we won’t be able to find the trail home.
Your English is getting better every day.
When Paul asked this question, he also mentioned GETTING DRESSED. I think I would put this one here in this group because GETTING DRESSED really means becoming dressed.
Let’s look at other uses and meanings of the word GET or GETTING:
GET is also used as a simple verb to mean RECEIVE, as in the example:
He always gets a few letters from his girlfriend. It means he always receives a few letters from his girlfriend.
Okay, GETTING can also mean ACQUIRE, which is a more formal word. Acquire, A-C-Q-U-I-R-E. More common words that are similar to ACQUIRE are: BUY, PURCHASE and PICK UP, and of course, GET.
I forgot to get new batteries for my flashlight.
Did you get any fruit at the market?
So, here, GET means acquire, buy, purchase or pick up.
Okay, for today’s explanation of GET, we’ll look at just one more use of the word GET:
GET is used in many PHRASAL VERBS. PHRASAL VERBS are verbs that have two or more words – the root verb and the particle. Particles can be adverbs or prepositions, words like up, against, to, for, over, through, out. These are particles. With a PHRASAL VERB, the root verb and the particle form a unit, and usually that unit has a different meaning than the root verb alone. PHRASAL VERBS are a kind of idiom because you can’t, you cannot figure out their meaning by looking at the individual words. GET BY is a phrasal verb, and you can’t get its meaning by looking at the individual words GET and BY. Instead, you need a special PHRASAL VERB dictionary to find the meaning. GET BY means manage.
Here are some phrasal verbs that use GET as the root verb:
get along, get up, get back (at someone), get back (to a place), get by, get down (to something), get out (of something), get (something) over, get over (something), get over (someone), get through (something), get through (to someone).
Well the list goes on and on with GET and GETTING. GET is used in many, many ways in English and its meaning can be difficult to understand. You’ll just have to start using it and hopefully you’ll GET comfortable with it. Hopefully, you’ll GET comfortable with it. Did you GET it?
Okay, well Paul, I hope that answers your question.
===============
[Question 2]
Our next question was sent in by Ken in Ibaraki City, near Osaka, Japan, and it’s related to the previous grammar question. Ken asks: Which is correct? “It is getting warmer” or “It is getting warm”. A fine question indeed, Ken.
It is getting warmER. It is getting warm. Hey, they’re both correct. They just have a slightly different meaning. If it was already warm when we started this day, activity or time period, then you can say: it’s getting WARMER. It means that before it was warm, and now it’s becoming even warmer. IT’S GETTING WARMER. From warm to warmer. It’s getting warmer.
If you say: It’s GETTING warm. Well, that means it was NOT warm before, and it’s NOT YET COMPLETELY WARM, but it is BECOMING WARM. It is almost warm now, and it wasn’t warm before. IT’S GETTING WARM. I think, in normal everyday English, these two sentences are very, very similar and you could hear people say either one: “It’s getting warm. “ It’s getting warmer.†Both are very common.
Okay, Ken, I hope that clears up your question.
===============
[Question 3]
Let’s take a look at our next question …
We received an email from Samuele in Pisa, Italy and he asked us: I would like to know something more about the use of present and past perfect continuous. I mean the form “have/had + been +verb(ing)”.
Yeah, the past and present perfect continuous tenses are difficult for sure.
Remember that we use CONTINUOUS tenses in English when we want to talk about an action or activity that takes some time to complete; we are interested in the ACTIVITY or ACTION more than the result. So, for continuous tenses in general, you can look at the difference between:
He’s been painting for three days. (We’re talking about the ACTIVITY, not really the result.
He’s painted three rooms. (We’re interested in the end RESULT – three rooms are now finished)
Okay, back to Samuele’s question; it’s about the present perfect continuous.
They’ve been swimming for two hours.
Pietro’s been renovating his house for a couple of years.
She’s been having problems with her boss.
In all of these present perfect continuous sentences, we’re talking about an action or activity that started in the past, it continues to the present, it hasn’t finished, and we’re interested in the activity more than the result.
Okay, as far as the PAST PERFECT CONTINOUS, we use it in the same way, except our time reference point is some event in the past.
For example, I saw my friend Romel two years ago and I talked to him for a while. So, I can use the past perfect continuous to talk about the things that he HAD BEEN DOING in the time leading up to our meeting two years ago. I’m not talking about the time period leading up to the present, but the time period leading up to our meeting two years ago. So I could say:
Romel had been living in San Francisco for a year. Romel had been living in San Francisco for a year.
It means that for one year before I saw him, and up to the period of meeting him, he lived in San Francisco. It also means that the activity wasn’t finished.
Here are some other things I can say now about Romel that use a time reference of our meeting two years ago:
He had been reading a lot about health and nutrition.
He had been looking for a new job for a few months.
Romel had been working a lot and he looked tired.
He had been taking evening classes for about a year.
Alright, Samuele, thanks for the question. Grazie mille!
===============
[IDIOM]
Here’s a quick idiom, and it’s one more use of the word GET or GOT. If I’m explaining something to you and you don’t need any more explanation; you understand the instructions or the meaning, you can say:
Okay, yeah, I got it. I got it.
It means that I understand. I understand your meaning and/or your instructions and I really don’t need any more explaining.
Now don’t forget. You have to go down the road, then turn right at the traffic light and then …
Hey, I got it. I got it.
In a more slang form, you can say: I gotcha. Okay. Okay. I gotcha! Yep, I gotcha.
It means: yeah, I got it. I understand.
Sometimes we say: “He just doesn’t get it.†or “She just doesn’t get it.†It means that he or she really doesn’t understand; doesn’t understand the situation. He just doesn’t get it. She just doesn’t get it.
For example:
You know, Ayaka should be a little nicer to people and then she’ll make more friends. I told her that but she just doesn’t get it. She just doesn’t get it. She just doesn’t understand the situation.
Okay, that’s it for the idiom.
===============
[message from listener]
I’d like to send out a special thanks to Egidio from Sardinia, Italy for sending us his comments in an mp3 voice file: [voice recording]
Egidio also talks about starting a YOGA PODCAST. I think that’s a good idea (magnifico!) but I don’t think I’m the right person to start it. First, I don’t have enough yoga experience, and second, I really don’t have the time. Hey Egidio, why don’t YOU try your own yoga podcast … in Italian and in English. Hey give it a try, and thanks for your message. Grazie!
===============
[frappr & signoff]]
Yes, we now have 76 members in the FRAPPR ‘englishtecherjohngroup.’ I always enjoy looking at your photos and messages. So thank you very much to our FRAPPR group members. Let’s see … I’m on our frappr page right now and it’s great to see photos of [[ … ]] Thanks to all of you. You can find the frappr link on our blog and also on our podcast page at englishteacherjohn.com.
Okay, I hope you liked this special edition ‘AskJohn Question and Answer Showâ€. I will put the TRANSCRIPT to this show on our website. Don’t forget to visit us at englishteacherjohn.com. Thank you everyone. See you later. Bye bye!
Oops, I almost forgot … Don’t forget to send your grammar QUESTIONS, idioms, slang, any questions about English. Send them to askjohn -at- englishteacherjohn.com. And for all other email – your comments, suggestions – please send them to podcast -at- englishteacherjohn.com.
===============
Music by Martin Chenhall.
