LEARN real ENGLISH LANGUAGE & CULTURE

Free English language and alternative guide to British culture

In LESSON 8 you will learn about dependant prepositions.

We will explain which prepositions are used with which verbs

Next, we will explain some typical grammatical rules and standard practices. 

Finally, students will practice with communication activities, quizzes and games.

Vintage British Reliant Robin three wheel vehical from the early 1970s.

ZAK WASHINGTON: A very good morning to you students! We’re on the way to meet a foreign gentleman who is going to be staying with me for a couple of days. His name is Ali Fred.

FRANÇOIS: Ali Fred. Where’s he from?

ZAK WASHINGTON: He’s from the The Free People’s Republic of Zangonia.

FRANÇOIS: Hey isn’t he famous? He’s the son of Raji Fred, the most important businessman in the country! And he’s going to stay with you? He’s supposed to be marrying Lady Winthorpe, the Queen’s niece (SP: sobrina IT: nipote) ! He can’t come and stay with you! Don’t you live in a disgusting (SP: asqueroso IT: schifoso) house, with a lot of dirty hippies?

ZAK WASHINGTON: Shut up! They’re not hippies, they are respectable people, and they all wash regularly.

FRANÇOIS: But he’s going to be staying in that disgusting place ...with those dirty friends, and the filthy[1] rubbish... and the drinks... and those girls....and....

ZAK WASHINGTON: Hold on. Hold on [2]! He is coming here because he wants to learn about how to live and speak as the English do. I’m merely going to show him real English culture… or the lack (SP: la falta de IT: la mancanza di) of it. It’s not my fault (SP: culpa IT: colpa) if English people are dirty and disgusting. It’s not my fault if England is a nation of fat people. It’s not my fault if English people are always drunk, or violent, have bad teeth or eat horrible food… I’m just offering a genuine reflection of how the country really is. So shut up!

[1] filthy (SP: inmundo IT: sporco) (adj.) like dirty, unclean or disgusting, but worse! Can be used to describe places, people, senses of humour, clothes etc. Note that the phrases filthy rich and stinking rich don’t mean ‘millionaires who don’t wash’ but rather, ‘very, very rich people’, or people who are rolling in money.

[2] (to) hold on is a synonym of to wait. Very useful for the telephone. ‘Just hold on one moment and I’ll put you through.’

(On the telephone.)

ZAK WASHINGTON: Hello. Is that Ali Fred?

ALI FRED: Yes, hello, it is me.

ZAK WASHINGTON: This is Zak Washington here.

ALI FRED: چ٭⅏₳æ₻⁇

ZAK WASHINGTON: Now listen…

ALI FRED: þÿἶﻵﭨﭨйↇ

ZAK WASHINGTON: …tonight I’m taking you to see my very good friend Lady Forbsworth.

ALI FRED: ⁂ῤᾂ٣ۯ⁇'Lady٭₳⅏æ₻

(TEXT VERSION)

ESSENTIAL BAD ENGLISH

BRITISH SLANG 6

CHIN-WAG [tʃɪn wæɡ]

CHAT

KNACKERED ['nækəd]

EXHAUSTED / TIRED

'I went out late last night. I'm completely knackered.'

TO BARF [bɑːrf]

TO VOMIT

'Stop barfing and get back to work!'

ZIT [zɪt]

ACNE / PIMPLE

'Squeeze that zit!'

BONKERS [bɒŋkəz]

CRAZY

'That guy is totally bonkers.'

RUG RAT [rʌɡ ræt]

CHILD

'What are the rug rats getting up to?'

IT SUCKS! [ɪt sʌks]

IT IS BAD

'I hate France. It sucks'

WHIZZ

[wɪz]

TALENTED PERSON:

'She's a bit of a computer whizz.'

BOO-BOO [buː buː]

MISTAKE:

'That was a major boo-boo. 'Yep. Very embarrassing.'

ZAK WASHINGTON: He doesn’t seem to remember that he’s religious.

He doesn’t seem to remember anything at all. My flatmates Ruby and Georgina have spent the whole afternoon putting vodka into his tea.

They have told him that it is a ‘Traditional English Refreshment’… and, of course, he has never tasted alcohol before, so he doesn’t know what it is.

He has drunk loads of (SP: un montón de IT: un sacco de) it.

When I left the house he had a girl on each arm, a gin and tonic in each hand and he was smoking from a silver pipe whilst telling dirty jokes….

Welcome to England!

Missed the pronunciation videos?

Here is the third video in the series Learn English Pronunciation with ZakWashington video.

We explain the most important concept if you want to speak British English like a native speaker.

You will also learn the phonemes and the symbols of the International Phonetics Alphabet (IPA). 

(TEXT VERSION)

What is a squat?

What are the arguments for and against squatting?

Do they exist in your country?

What kind of people normally live in these type of places?

Is there a problem of homelessness in your city?

Where do the homeless sleep? How do they survive?

In London there are an estimated 70,000 homeless people and the town council has 100,000 empty flats and houses.

In the E.U. there are 11,000,000 empty houses and 4,100,000 homeless. Discuss.

Imagine that you find yourself homeless, jobless, friendless, penniless [1] and without a family.

How would you feel?

What could you do to reconstruct your life?

How would you begin?

Is there a solution to the homeless problem?

Does giving homeless people money help?

Students should now get into two teams.

(Larger groups can divide themselves into smaller pairs of teams.)

One team will be Team Ape, and the other Team Baboon.

 - Each team will use the questions in the list below to ask the other team. You must cover up the other team’s questions.

 - Two points will be awarded for each correct preposition.

 - If the first attempt is incorrect, a second attempt can be made. This will be worth one point only. There will be a fifteen second time limit for each answer.

- Please consult other team members before shouting out the answer, as only the first and second answer will count and if the first two that you say are incorrect, you won’t get another chance.

 - What you need to do first is fill in the missing questions using examples of your own.

 - Your team must decide if the other teams answer is correct or not. 

INDIVIDUALS: COVER THE ANSWERS AND TEST YOURSELF

CLASSES: DIVIDE INTO TWO GROUPS AND ASK EACH OTHER THE QUESTIONS. 

 (TEXT VERSION)

Team Ape’s Questions

What is the preposition?

I’m completely addicted [______BLANK] those little English chocolate bars.

Can I borrow that copy of Sherlock Holmes stories [______BLANK] you please?

 I just can’t deal [______BLANK] people who fall asleep on my shoulder on the underground train.

My opinion about that girl who works in the fish and chip shop differs [______BLANK] yours.

I’m getting very tired [______BLANK] your complaining all day about tourist prices.

I think I’m allergic [______BLANK] that horrible brown sauce that they always have on the table in the café.

There’s no sun in this city. No wonder people suffer [______BLANK] such terrible skin.

How do you translate the sentence ‘take your guidebook and  put it where the sun never shines!’ [______BLANK] Spanish?

Can I confide [______BLANK] you that I’m really in love with Maria?

Will you both marry me and come and live with me in the Free People’s Republic of Zangonia? You’ll be amazed  [______BLANK] how rich I am.

Are you conscious  [______BLANK] the fact that you were snoring on the bus.

He is completely devoted  [______BLANK] that blond barmaid.

Keep those boys separate [______BLANK] those girls.

Are you pleased  [______BLANK] the progress you’ve been making recently?

We’re sick [______BLANK] always having to be the responsible ones whilst you’re out having fun.

(Make up your own questions.)

Team Baboon’s Questions.

What’s the preposition?

He’s always very generous [______BLANK] women, but very mean [ ______BLANK] men. Why?

Why do you always make fun [______BLANK] people with ginger hair?

Who does this Turkish/English phrase book belong [______BLANK] ?

We can’t decide [______BLANK] which will be the best film. ‘Confessions of a Window Cleaner’ or ‘Bimbos in Space 2’?

Congratulations [______BLANK] remembering my name. Nobody else ever does!

They are rumoured to be involved [______BLANK] the illegal immigration racket[1].

Although he is an obnoxious alcoholic, he has always been very helpful [______BLANK] the old people in this area.

The police accused him [______BLANK] selling cheap imitations of famous perfumes to gullible[2] people outside Oxford Street tube station.

If you eat junk food all day and never eat any fruit, you are bound [______BLANK] get spots and probably a cold too.

This crazy guy got on the bus and sat next to me, so I pretended to be concentrating [______BLANK] my copy of the Evening Standard.

Oh my God! He’s going to be late [______BLANK] the kick off!

Apart from the fact that I don’t have my own place, don’t have any money, qualifications or a job and all my friends hate me, I’d say that I’m satisfied [______BLANK] my life.

Due [______BLANK] a person under the train in Tooting Beck station, the next train will be fifteen minutes late.

He’s Irish and isn’t capable [______BLANK] spending more than two minutes in the sun without going red.

Do you think she’s rebelling [______BLANK] her parents or is it just that she likes men so much?

(Make up your own.)

(Answers on page two - bottom right-hand corner.)

GLOSSARY

[1] Tramp (noun) in Britain a tramp refers to a homeless, often alcoholic person, who lives in the street. This person could be male or female, and could also be known as a vagabond or a wino.

Interestingly in the USA a tramp means a woman who sleeps around, has a bad reputation, or a sex worker!

The homeless alcoholic American would be called a bum, which in Britain is a humorous way to refer to the part of your anatomy that you sit on. In America this body part is often called buns, or a fanny. Be careful. A fanny in Britain is a vulgar word for a woman’s.... you know!

Other words with double meanings in English: 

Buns in Britain mean ‘little cakes’. These little sweet cakes in America are called muffins. In Britain a muffin....

Which words in English don’t have sexual double meanings?

How can I know which words are safe, and which are not? That’s a difficult question.

But the intelligent student should realise that all the following words have a second, and potentially embarrassing double meaning (referring to women and their intimate parts): 

Pussy an affectionate word for cat; crumpet a type of breakfast food from the bread family eaten with butter; 

Fanny a woman’s name, common over fifty years ago; (referring to men) cock an adult male chicken; 

Dick a common nickname of Richard; 

Willy nickname of William; 

balls round things used for sports; 

ass a donkey. 

PART TWO

Before we start, I know that you’re saying to yourself. ‘This is getting really boring!’

It is. This means that you’re probably learning something!

There’s no point in continuing, unless we can completely dominate what we’ve been taught. If we keep going on to new things, all the time, it’ll be interesting, yeah, but you won’t really learn anything.

Think about those great dancers. They don’t say, ‘Oh yeah! That new step is quite difficult. Let’s get on to the next one.’

No. They practice the same step until it’s perfect... and then move on.

The basic idea is that two teams take turns, to try to work out what the dependent prepositions are, which follow these adjectives and verbs.

Two teams.

Two players in each.

Two coloured pens.

One game board per game.

Every time you answer correctly, you can colour in the relevant square.

When you have coloured all the squares in, add up the total.

The team with the highest number is the winner.