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"Talk to people in their own language. If you do it well, they'll say, 'God, he said exactly what I was thinking.' And when they begin to respect you, they'll follow you to the death.." - Lee Iacocca Daily Doses of English...Give you a daily English lesson in a short, easy to digest format. Once you get your first taste of a Daily Dose of English, I guarantee you will be addicted. |
Some figures of interest...There are 167 Daily Doses of English covering many areas of everyday English. They have been watched more than 1,059,667 times. Here are 10 random Daily Doses of English... |
Catch
Catch is an irregular verb. An irregular verb is a verb that does not add -ed to the root verb to form the past simple and the past participle. You have to learn each irregular verb individually.
The infinitive form is to catch. The past simple form is caught. The past participle form is caught.
Catch, caught, caught.
Catch has several meanings.
This video has been watched more than 2130 times
Kill
My moustache is killing me today. I don't normally have a moustache, but I thought I’d have one today. What do you think? Handsome, hey? Well, other things can kill us, besides moustaches. My feet are killing me because I’ve been for a long walk. My back’s killing me because I picked up some heavy weights. And we can kill anything that’s alive. We can particularly kill two birds with one stone. Which means to do something... or to do two things with only the effort of one thing. We can also figuratively kill things, too. Like a light or an engine. Kill the light. Kill the engine. It means to turn them off. We can kill time, which means to use up time. I’ve got a lot of time to kill. We can be dressed to kill. Very stylish and fashionable. A bit like me. If looks could kill... When somebody gives you a really nasty look. If looks could kill. And we could kill for something, too. I’d kill for a Nobel Peace Prize. If you move in for the kill, you’re preparing to do the final part of something. The salesman moved in for the kill. And you can make a killing. Which means to make a lot of money, or be very successful in something.
This video has been watched more than 2691 times
Frequency
Today’s request comes from Alex in Moscow, Russia. She asks: Could you make a video about words we use to say how often something happens? Well, a good way to begin would be for me to tell you about the making of these Daily Doses of English. I have to manage my time carefully. A lot of my time is spent teaching English to students around the world, but I don’t teach students all the time. I’m not teaching on Skype the whole time. I also have to find time to make these videos.
This video has been watched more than 6529 times
Would or Used To
Whether to use would or used to to talk about the past confuses many students. This Daily Dose of English is an attempt to explain it as concisely as possible. It uses some examples to help you understand when to use would or used to.
This video has been watched more than 24777 times
Bloody
This Daily Dose of English is for Gerardo in Argentina. We were talking about the word sod this morning. Sod is a mild expletive. Expletives are swear words. Gerardo suggested that I make a Daily Dose of English about those expletives that aren’t too offensive. I thought, for crying out loud, what a great idea! Because people swear all the time, don’t you? Swearing is a way of releasing tension in a non-aggressive, non-violent way. Interestingly, 3% of conversations at work and 13% of day-to-day conversations involve swearing to some degree. Then I thought, I’m going to bloody well make this video. Interestingly, bloody is the most frequently used expletive by women and the second most frequently used by men.
This video has been watched more than 3488 times
Just Say No!
How do you say "No!" firmly yet politely so that you don't cause offence? It's partly down to tone, and partly down to vocabulary. This video will show you how to do it successfully.
This video has been watched more than 5063 times
Meat of Flesh
One of my online Spanish students has sent me a voice request for a Daily Dose of English. Hello Richard. I'm Rebeca from Águilas in Spain. Hello Rebeca. Thanks for sending me your photograph and your request. How can I help you? Could you explain the difference between the words flesh and meat? Thank you. Well, Rebeca, originally, in English, meat meant food in general. It was spelt mete. Nowadays meat refers to the parts of animals that we normally eat and the types which butchers normally sell. Human beings are made of flesh, but we don't eat human beings. Therefore the flesh of people is not considered to be meat.
This video has been watched more than 3610 times
Alaska
A lot of humour in English comes from the way words can mean more than one thing, or the way that words can seem to change their meaning depending on their pronunciation. This Daily Dose of English shows how this happens in an old joke about Alaska.
This video has been watched more than 4515 times
Sorry
Sorry seems to be the hardest word, but this Daily Dose of English will make it one of the easiest.
This video has been watched more than 5992 times
Higgledy-Piggledy
English has many compound words that are loved by children because they're easy to remember and they're enjoyed by adults because they have a funny sound about them because both the words in the compound sound very similar. For example, higgledly-piggledy. This is used in a popular children's nursery rhyme.
This video has been watched more than lots of times but YouTube has not updated the figures yet
Request a Daily Dose of English
Linguaspectrum Members can request as many Daily Doses of English as they want. They can also keep track of their requests and see which ones get turned into Daily Doses of English.
You need to become a member of Linguaspectrum in order to request a Daily Dose of English.
When you make a request, you can also include a photograph of yourself to be included in the Daily Dose of English. You can also record your request so that your voice will appear in the Daily Dose of English. If you want to, you can even record a short video of yourself making the request and this video will also be included in the Daily Dose of English.
Get famous today, and see your request made into a Daily Dose of English that will be watched by thousands all over the world.