Episode 0212

Hello everyone and welcome to English Pod. My name is Marco.

My name is Catherine and today we have a very serious dialogue for you.

That's right. We are going to talk about a will and testament, the last will and testament of someone.

All right, so what is a will and testament? Well, basically, this is a document that someone writes, usually with a lawyer, that explains what to do with the person's body and their possessions, their things after they die.

Right. So many people write these and the family will then use it to discover who gets to receive certain objects and what to do with this person's body.

Right. Exactly. So that is a last will and testament. We are going to take a look at an example of one so you would see more or less in English how one is written.

Now, obviously, there they can be very long and very complex. So we've taken one that's a that has some interesting words there that are a little bit more specific, very a lot of legal terms there.

So, uh, why don't we listen to this dialogue for the first time and we'll be back shortly.

Last Will and Testament of Luke Thompson.

I, Luke Thompson, residing in California, being of sound mind, do hereby declare this instrument to be my last will and testament. I hereby revoke all previous wills and codicils.

I direct that the disposition of my remains be as follows. I'm to be cremated and taken to the summit of Mount Everest where my ashes will forever remain at the ceiling of the earth.

I give all the rest and residue of my estate to my spouse, Betty Thompson, should she survive me for sixty days.

If my spouse, Betty Thompson, does not survive me, I give all the rest and residue of my estate to English Pod. If neither Betty Thompson nor English Pod survives me, I give all the rest and residue of my estate to my heirs, as determined by the laws of the State of California relating to descent and distribution.

I appoint Robert Porter to act as the executor of this will, to serve without bond. Should Robert Porter be unable or unwilling to serve, then I appoint Jason Smalls to act as the executor of this will.

I herewith affix my signature to this will on this, the twenty-third of May 2010, in the presence of the following witnesses, who witnessed and subscribed this will at my request and in my presence.

All right, we're back so now we're going to take a look at five key words on language takeaway.

Okay, the first word here in language takeaway comes from the very beginning of this, well, monologue. We're reading the last will and testament aloud.

I, Luke Thompson, residing in California, being of sound mind, sound as an adjective. What does this mean?

That's very interesting. So he says, I am in sound mind, and sound is an adjective to describe I am in a good state of mind.

That's right, so it means not having any problems or logical or unaffected. Basically, basically, I'm not crazy, right?

Right. I'm not crazy. I don't have any problems. We can say this about other things too. We can say he's of sound body.

Right, that means that he is healthy. He has no problems with his body.

Or I could say, Marco, that's a really good decision. It's a sound decision.

So, again, that's also a way of saying good or it will work. It will work. It's a good decision. Yeah.

So, you can use this adjective with sound body, sound mind, or a sound decision, or sometimes uh some people even say I think in Ireland, they say, oh, he's a really sound guy.

So, uh, sound body, sound mind, sound guy. Uh, moving on, he was talking about the will and he says, I hereby revoke all previous wills and codicils.

The verb here is to revoke.

To revoke. This is something that a lot of people hear in America when they they drive their car too fast. Yeah. The police catch them and the police revoke their driver's license.

And that basically means to take away. That's right. Or to, yeah, to take, right?

To take away from. So, this man here, Luke Thompson, what he's saying is, I revoke all previous wills. That means any other will that I wrote before, it's not good anymore. I'm throwing it away.

This is the only one that will exist.

So you can use this word revoke with many aspects. For example, sometimes employees will get their benefits revoked by the company because maybe they don't have enough money anymore.

Or maybe they're bad employees.

Or maybe they were bad employees.

All right, so to revoke. Now, moving on, he was talking about his estate. So this is very interesting because he says, I give all the rest and residue of my estate to my spouse.

Okay, estate. It sounds like a very fancy word. It is a fancy word. Sometimes we use this word to mean someone's property, their house. But in a will, this means everything the person owns, house, car, things, pets, stocks.

Yeah, investments. The estate is essentially everything the person owns as a kind of one unit.

Right. Exactly. So anything that is yours or you may have bought, just consider the estate is a big bag, right? That's your estate, and inside this bag is everything that you own.

You might see advertisements in fact, in America or in England for estate sales.

This means that when someone passes away, when they die, their family will sell their things and this is an estate sale. You can find beautiful, interesting things at estate sales.

Right. Exactly. Very interesting. So that is a person's estate. Now remember this is in the legal terms because you also have other things like real estate and as you mentioned, which would be a house, right?

Okay. Now apart from his from his estate, he was telling everyone as to how they should take care of his body or what they should do with it. And he said, well, I am to be cremated.

Okay, this is important. When a person dies, there are generally two options. Uh, their body can be buried in a casket in the ground. Uh, that means they're they're put in the earth. But a lot of people choose to be cremated.

All right. Okay, that means that their body will be burned and their ashes, that means the things that are left after they are burned, they will be taken somewhere else. Right. Like in a bowl or a pot.

Right. And uh, in this case that's what the person wants, he wants to be cremated. So that would be the verb to cremate and the noun would be a cremation.

Cremation. And what is going to happen to all this stuff? Basically, it's going to be given away to his wife, to English Pod, and to his heirs. This is our next word. What is an heir?

Now, if you notice the H is silent there, so his heirs. And that though those are basically his children, his daughters or his uh his sons.

Right. My heirs are the people who are related to me who in this case will receive some of my things.

Now, is it only their the children or also it could be maybe any other relatives?

It could be any other relative. You could say, I'm his heir, he's my great uncle. Means we're related, but we're not necessarily father and daughter or grandfather and granddaughter. An an heir is someone who is related to the family. Uh, it doesn't have to be a certain relationship.

And now it's interesting because from this word we can get inheritance. Now, we didn't find it in the dialogue. So it's very interesting because it comes, they're very similar in spelling, right? Inheritance and air.

Right, good to remember. Yeah, good to remember. You can you switch the E and the I's, right?

That's right, so inheritance, it's a thing. Um, you can receive this. So I received an inheritance from my great-grandmother. That means I received some money or some things.

That means you were the that person's heir.

That's right. Okay.

Or, you know, in his inheritance, he, he received a large house. He was the heir to a great fortune.

Okay, interesting. So again, inheritance wasn't in the dialogue, but I think it's worth mentioning.

And uh I think now we can move on to four very interesting uh items that we have for you on fluency builder.

Okay, these first two are words that we normally read or hear in legal documents and I want to place emphasis on the fact that we don't really say them in spoken English.

So remember that these are more formal terms. Uh the first one is hereby.

Hereby.

Hereby.

I hereby declare.

Right. That means now. With this word, with this spoken sentence, this will happen.

I think we've seen it like in movies sometimes where it's like, I hereby declare this country in the name of England.

I hereby declare you man and wife.

Exactly.

Okay. That means in this moment, this happens.

Okay. And a very similar word that we also saw in the dialogue is herewith.

So in the will and testament, we hear Luke Thompson who says, I herewith affix my signature.

That means, um, with the action of signing my name, signing my signature, this will be completed.

Okay. Okay. So I herewith, you have to have an action, not just a word.

That's the difference.

I herewith I herewith attach my seal.

Okay. A seal is like a stamp. Um, very common in in the old days when you had real letters. But I herewith, you know, I herewith attach my seal and give my approval to this document.

Okay, so it has to be something physical.

Yeah, right? So if maybe you're writing like this very classic letter and you say, I herewith include a lock of my hair.

Okay, that's kind of creepy, but here it you you're including or attaching physically, right?

I guess I guess the modern version of herewith would be attach. Yeah. Okay. Good.

Herewith, hereby.

We've got another phrase here that you might hear more commonly. At the beginning of the will and testament, there's a phrase as follows.

Okay. Um, I direct that the disposition of my remains be as follows.

So, with my body, do as follows.

So, basically this is a very common way of putting this in a sentence to indicate that you're going to start to list items.

That's right, or give instructions. Give instructions.

So, for example, to make a loaf of bread, do as follows. Number one, get some flour, number two, add some water.

So, this is a way for us to to say, listen, I'm going to give you instructions or a list, pay attention.

So, please do as follows. Please act as follows.

And our last word that we have here going back to herewith, he said, I herewith affix my signature. What does it mean when you affix?

Okay, affix is a word we have a number of other words for these days, so you rarely hear it. It means to attach or to include.

Okay. So I herewith affix my signature would be attach my signature.

Right, I provide my signature, or I herewith affix my address, or I herewith affix something.

Okay, very good. Really interesting stuff. Uh, you'll obviously see this very commonly with uh legal documents such as these, even though it is like older English, it's still very commonly used. I guess because the law is so old.

Absolutely. That's right, definitely. And I think that uh it's worth listening to today's monologue one more time, think about some of the words that we've just discussed and we'll be back in a moment.

Last Will and Testament of Luke Thompson.

I, Luke Thompson, residing in California, being of sound mind, do hereby declare this instrument to be my last will and testament. I hereby revoke all previous wills and codicils.

I direct that the disposition of my remains be as follows. I'm to be cremated and taken to the summit of Mount Everest where my ashes will forever remain at the ceiling of the earth.

I give all the rest and residue of my estate to my spouse, Betty Thompson, should she survive me for sixty days.

If my spouse, Betty Thompson, does not survive me, I give all the rest and residue of my estate to English Pod. If neither Betty Thompson nor English Pod survives me, I give all the rest and residue of my estate to my heirs, as determined by the laws of the State of California relating to descent and distribution.

I appoint Robert Porter to act as the executor of this will, to serve without bond. Should Robert Porter be unable or unwilling to serve, then I appoint Jason Smalls to act as the executor of this will.

I herewith affix my signature to this will on this, the twenty-third of May 2010, in the presence of the following witnesses, who witnessed and subscribed this will at my request and in my presence.

All right, we're back. So this is a very interesting topic. Now, I wonder, within the will or within the estate, do you also acquire a person's debts?

Oh, that's a good question. I know in some countries you do and some countries you don't.

Um, I know in like some cases, some heirs have have found themselves in some legal problems because all of a sudden they inherited that person's uh debts and stuff like that.

Well, I think that does happen, especially for people whose properties are mortgaged.

For example, if uh if your uncle has a house and he didn't pay for it with cash, he has a mortgage, and he dies, and you inherit this house, you also inherit the mortgage.

Yeah. So, sometimes inheritances are not always a good thing. Um, I think this happened more in the past. There are more protections and safeguards for people today.

But definitely, I I mean what is it like in Ecuador? Do people inherit debt?

Um, yeah, I think most, well, obviously most banks when they give out loans or a mortgage, you are, they they have somebody that will kind of co-sign on these things.

And I imagine, I'm not really very sure, but I know that if you inherit an estate that has a mortgage, you are forced to pay it, and if you can't, then they will make that other person who co-signed it responsible if he still exists. I don't know. In these legal systems, it's sometimes very strange because it seems like there would be a lot of gaps.

That's right, and everyone wants to protect themselves.

Yeah, exactly. So we've got the bank that wants to protect its its itself, it gives a loan, it wants the money back. And a person who wants to protect himself from maybe a relative who who dies and has debt. Yeah.

Yeah, so I'm curious to know what our users have to say. What is the situation in your country? Do most people have a will and testament?

What happens with debt? Or what happens if somebody dies and they don't have a will and testament?

That's a good question too. I don't have an answer for that one.

All right, so let us know and we'll uh give you guys some uh information on that as well. Englishpod.com. We'll see everyone there.

The English Pod Audio Review.

Listen to the meaning, then say the vocabulary word.

Live in a place permanently.

Reside.

Free from disease or injury in good condition.

Sound.

By means of or as a result of this.

Hereby.

A paper made to settle property after one's death.

Last will and testament.

The body of a dead person.

Remains.

The highest point, top.

Summit.

Everything you own, all your assets.

Estate.

Choose someone to do a particular job.

Appoint.

Add or append.

Affix.

To sign at the end of the will or contract.

Subscribe.

A person's partner in marriage.

Spouse.

Cancel.

Revoke.

Let's try that faster.

The body of a dead person.

Remains.

Cancel.

Revoke.

Choose someone to do a particular job.

Appoint.

A person's partner in marriage.

Spouse.

To sign at the end of the will or contract.

Subscribe.

Add or append.

Affix.

A paper made to settle property after one's death.

Last will and testament.

Free from disease or injury and good condition.

Sound.

The highest point, top.

Summit.

By means of or as a result of this.

Hereby.

Live in a place permanently.

Reside.

Everything you own, all your assets.

Estate.

Now say the word and hear it in a sentence.

Revoke.

His driving license was revoked by the police.

Revoke.

My parents revoked my phone privileges.

Revoke.

The court decided to revoke the terrorist's citizenship.

Remains.

The remains were transferred to the morgue.

Remains.

A cemetery has the remains of many people.

Remains.

The police covered the remains with a white sheet.

Estate.

Bill Gates' estate is valued at over one billion dollars.

Estate.

A person's estate is comprised of all assets which are held in the descendant's name alone.

Estate.

The family divided the estate equally among everyone.

Hereby.

I hereby declare you husband and wife.

Hereby.

I hereby resign as President of the United States.

Hereby.

We hereby commit to obeying the laws of this country.

Appoint.

The president appointed me as the vice president.

Appoint.

My teacher appointed me as the classroom monitor.

Appoint.

He was appointed as the child's legal guardian.