Say and Tell - 16/17 ep.2

Welcome

Rich: Hello my name’s Rich and welcome to this week’s Premier Skills English podcast.

Jack: Hi everyone. I’m Jack and every week we talk about football and help you with your English.

Rich: The new Premier League season kicked off with a bang last weekend and in this week’s podcast we are going to talk about some of the most exciting moments in last week’s Premier League action.

Jack: On top of this, we also have some more football words for you to learn, and our main language focus this week is on the difference between say and tell.

Rich: We also have our pronunciation section to help you with some tricky sounds, our fantasy football section with news of our points after Gameweek 1 in the Premier League, and, of course, our football phrase and football prediction sections for you.

Jack: Let’s start  by talking about what’s been happening on the website this week.

Social

Jack: We’ve had some great comments on the website this week. In last week’s podcast we asked you if you were looking forward to the new season.

Rich: Aragorn1986 from Montenegro said that through the Premier League he learns about British culture, traditions, history, geography as well as fair play and respect.

Jack: That’s a great comment. It really is true that through football you can learn about so much.

Rich: And Davilillons told us that he loves the passion that he sees in the Premier League.

Jack: It’s true. Players, fans and managers are all very passionate about their football.

Rich: It was also good to see that lots of you helped us choose the Premier Skills Fantasy Football team for Gameweek 1, using our voting buttons on our Fantasy Football page.

Jack: The page for Gameweek 2 of Fantasy Football is already on the website. There Is a link on the side of this page. Choose the team you want, select the captain and let us know who to buy in the comments section. We’ll talk more about this later.

Rich: And you made lots of Premier League predictions using the vote on the podcast, too. We’ll have an update and a new prediction for you later in the show.

Language focus

Jack: I noticed in the last section that you used two different verbs to talk about the comments from Aragorn1986 from Montenegro and Davillions from Spain. You said that Aragorn1986 said something and Davillions told us something. You used the verbs say and tell to talk about their comments.

Rich: Yes I did. Say and tell are the most common verbs to use when we want to tell someone what someone said. They are called reporting verbs.

Jack: But they are used in different ways. Listen to these examples: Davillions told us that he loves the passion of the Premier League. Davillions said that he loves the passion of the Premier League. Did you spot the difference?

Rich: When we use the verb tell to report speech, we have to include an object: we always tell someone. So Aragorn1986 told us that he learns about British culture from the Premier League. So here’s another example: Jose told Wayne that he played very well.

Jack: The verb say is a bit different - it’s more about the words. So: Jose said that Wayne played very well.

Rich: Tell is less about the words and more about the message. We use the verb tell with a story or a joke. So I could say Tell me a joke.

Jack: You can also tell someone a secret or a lie.

Rich: You can tell people to tell you the truth.

Jack: And you can ask people to tell you the time. Can you tell me the time?

Rich: Learners often make mistakes with these expressions and use the verb say. So be careful here.

Jack: There are lots of other verbs that you can use to report speech. Some of them are the same as tell and take a person as an object. Two examples are persuade and remind.

Rich: For example you would say: Can you remind me to tell John?

Jack: Some of them follow the same pattern as say and don’t take a person as an object. Some examples are explain, agree and admit.

Rich: But we don’t have time here to explain all about all of these verbs. You can find out more by looking at the English Grammar pages on Learn English.

Pronunciation

Jack: Last week, we looked at some weak forms. This week, we’re going to continue with the same theme, but focus on questions.

Rich: The thing about questions is, they get used a lot. The words ‘What do you...” or “What are you” are really common and the more common a phrase is, the more it gets contracted.

Jack: Let’s look at three different questions. In each of these questions, there is an auxiliary verb and a subject. These are the words that get very heavily contracted. Number one: What do you want?

Rich: In natural fast speech, the ‘do you’ becomes dya or even je. Listen to how I might say it naturally, but slower and then at normal speed.

What do you want?

What do you want?

What do you want?

Jack: Question number two: Where have you been? Again, it’s the auxiliary verb and subject that get squashed. Have you becomes evje or even vye. Listen to how I might say it naturally, but slower and then at normal speed.

Where have you been?

Where have you been?

Where have you been?

Rich: OK question number three: What are you going to do? I really like this one because there are lots of contractions. The auxiliary verb and subject are you become eje or even je and going to becomes gonna so when you say it naturally, it becomes. What are you going to do? Listen to this last one, how I might say it naturally, but slower and then at normal speed.

What are you going to do?

What are you going to do?

What are you going to do?

Jack: Remember, the way that the question word and auxiliary verb and subject get squashed is the same in other questions. So if you can master these three, you’ll be able to pronounce loads of questions in a way that sounds natural.

Rich: What do you want to talk about now, Jack?

Jack: Let’s get back to the Premier League.

Rich: Good idea.

Latest news

Jack: What happened in the Premier League last weekend?

Rich: Well, the two Manchester clubs got off to a good start under their new managers. And Liverpool had a great result, too.

Jack: Yes, not so good for Arsenal.

Rich: But it was a great game. 4-3 to Liverpool! Philippe Coutinho scored a great free-kick and Sadio Mane scored a brilliant solo goal.

Jack: There was a big surprise at Hull. Hull City beat Leicester 2-1.

Rich: Yes, a big surprise. Maybe Hull can do what Leicester did last season!

Jack: And West Brom and Swansea City started with wins, too. And these were the only teams to keep a clean sheet last weekend! Lots of goals!

Rich: Let’s hope that continues, but this can make it difficult to choose defenders for our fantasy football teams!

Jack: Let’s talk a bit more about that now.

Fantasy Football

Rich: The Premier Skills Fantasy Football team got off to a good start last week. You picked Sergio Aguero as your captain and he scored 18 points for the team.

Jack: We also got goals from Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Alvaro Negredo and Riyad Mahrez.

Rich: 4 goals is a very good start and the Premier Skills team is doing well in our Premier Skills league, too. Better than my team.

Jack: Better than my team, too. Remember we have a special fantasy football page to discuss all things fantasy football.

Rich: We chat more about the fantasy football league and this is the space for you to tell us what to do with the Premier Skills team next and to tell us how your team is doing.

Jack: The link to the Gameweek 2 page is on this page and the homepage, so when you finish the podcast you know where to go!

Football Phrase

Rich: Last week’s football phrase was a bargain. A bargain is something you buy that is good value and is bought for less than it’s usual price. In football, we can say a bargain is a player who didn’t cost a lot of money but plays very well for his team. Clubs are looking for bargains in the transfer market.

.Jack: Well done to Davilillons from Spain, Kwesimanifest from Ghana, Abdullah Hussein from Egypt, AssemJuve from Palestine, Elghoul from Algeria and Aragorn1986 from Montenegro. All of you got the correct answer!

Rich: Have you got a new phrase for us this week?

Jack: This week’s football phrase is goal celebration. Different players have different goal celebrations. The goal celebration happens after a player scores a goal. He might do a little dance or a somersault. Usually, teammates join in with the goal celebration, too.

Rich: Liverpool’s manager, Jurgen Klopp, joined in the goal celebrations against Arsenal at the weekend. Did you see?

Jack: Thanks for reminding me, Rich.

Prediction

Jack: So, as you’ve just reminded me again. Last week’s prediction was Arsenal against Liverpool. You predicted the right result because you predicted that Liverpool would win but not the right score. You said 3-0 but it finished 4-3 to Liverpool.

Rich: And you predicted a 4-0 Arsenal win. Sorry but no!

Jack: We’ve put a little table on the page below to keep track of our predictions this season. We’re going to give 3 points for a correct score and 1 point for the correct result. So that’s one point for you, Rich.

Rich: Our Premier Skills listeners also went for an Arsenal win, too. So no points for you either! The Premier Skills listeners score will be the most common result we recieve from all of you. So if we get 50 votes for 2-1 and 40 votes for 3-0 we will use 2-1 as the Premier Skils listeners vote.

Jack: Which match shall we talk about this week, Rich?

Rich: Let’s go for your team again, Jack. Arsenal are away to the Premier League Champions - Leicester City. Both teams started with a defeat so will want to a win to get their season going. I think it will be very close and both teams will get a point. I think it will finish Leicester City 1-1 Arsenal.

Jack: I’m going to go with my team. I think it will be Leicester 1-2 Arsenal.

Rich: You’ve heard what Jack and I think now you make your predictions in the vote at the bottom of this page.

Rich: Right, well,  that’s all we have time for today!

Jack: Don’t forget to write your answers to our questions the football phrase and your predictions in the comments below. And remember to  take a look at our Fantasy Football section and join the discussions!

Rich: Bye for now and enjoy your football!