Episode 0230

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

So, let's take a listen to this dialogue and we'll be back in a moment to talk more about it.

On the contrary, I've been reading a lot of books about the subject.

Well, first I need to buy some things such as fertilizer, seeds and tools.

What type of tools?

You know, the basics: a rake, shovel, spade and a hoe.

Right.

Well, it seems like you have all your bases covered.

What's next?

I'll till the soil and then sow the seeds.

All right, we're back. So a lot of vocab related to gardening. We mentioned a lot of tools and we're going to explain a lot of those now on Language Takeaway.

Okay, so gardening has some very special tools, like you said, Marco.

Uh the first one is one that I am not, well, it's actually not a tool, it's a part of gardening, something that we use to help the plants grow and I really don't like it because it smells bad.

Exactly, it smells kind of uh bad and it has a very strong smell and that is called fertilizer.

Fertilizer.

So basically, fertilizer is something that you use in a garden to help the plants grow better.

Right, I think it has a lot of vitamins and minerals that that the plant needs to grow better, faster, stronger.

Exactly. Fertilizer.

And well now we're going to mention four tools that we use in gardening, basic tools.

Uh the first one being a rake.

A rake.

Rake.

So, a rake is actually something that's very common in most houses, especially houses with a yard or a garden. Uh it's not just a gardening tool but it is something that has a long handle and we use it to clear the ground of rocks or leaves.

Right, so just imagine it's kind of like a a big brush for your garden.

It is.

It collects things, right?

Right, it's like a big brush that's it's pulling things out of the ground or away from the ground, especially in the fall like October or November when all the leaves fall off the trees and you have to, you have to take them off the grass, you use a rake to pull them.

So you can you use a rake to pull them and you also call the action of using a rake. You say, you rake the garden.

To rake.

That's right. So to rake the leaves. I hate raking the leaves.

And now the other tool that we have is very common, not only in gardening but for construction work, for many things, you have a shovel.

Shovel.

So a shovel is basically a big metal spoon. And you use it to to make a hole in the ground.

Exactly. So as we said, we use it a lot in gardening to make holes for maybe the plants, but also in construction if they want to make a hole in the ground and things like this, you use a shovel.

And now a smaller version of the shovel that you use only with your hand. This is called a spade.

A spade. So this is very small, like you said, and it's actually special because of its shape.

A spade has a point. A shovel is round and a spade has a point.

And what's interesting, Marco, is it's actually very common somewhere else.

In cards.

That's right, in cards. So cards have different shapes. One is a heart, one is a diamond. One of them is a spade.

So the one that's that's pointy, that's called a spade.

And it's used for for digging kind of precision holes.

Right, exactly. So maybe uh you don't want to use a big shovel if you want to make maybe a small hole in the ground, you would use a spade.

And now our last tool has a kind of a funny spelling, it's H O E, and it's pronounced hoe.

Hoe.

So again, this is a tool with a very long handle and you use it to maybe make the ground softer or to turn up the ground.

So, when you're first starting to plant a garden, the ground is very hard, it's very tough, right?

And this is a really important tool for that period because you can basically turn up the ground. You're not digging anything, but you're you're mixing up the dirt a little bit to make it softer.

Okay, very good. So that's when you use this tool. It's kind of a a dirt or a soil mixer.

You can also pull out those nasty weeds with a hoe.

So, four key tools that we just taken a look at now.

But uh now let's move on to two verbs that are basically very important when you're talking about gardening and all this.

Is uh as you mentioned, you talked about mixing the soil, and then the next line, we see it that it says I'll till the soil. To till.

To till.

Okay, so basically this is a way of turning up that soil, uh but you're doing it kind of in lines, right? So you're you're mixing up the soil and making it softer, preparing the soil for planting.

And so, you till the soil. Soil, of course, in this case, is that dirt, it's earth.

Right, it's earth.

So to till is to prepare it for planting.

Till the soil. That's right.

To till the soil. Okay.

And what do we do after the soil has been tilled?

Well, then we sow the seeds.

Okay, so seeds are baby plants, basically.

And we sow the seeds, uh when we sow the seeds, we're putting the seeds into the ground.

Mhm. So, uh that's basically planting the seeds. You can say we plant the seeds or we sow the seeds.

Okay. And the opposite of sowing?

The opposite of sowing is reaping. R E A P, to reap.

So we actually have a phrase in English. This is very, very famous, very common. We say, you reap what you sow.

You reap what you sow.

That's right. So you basically collect what you planted and that's kind of what you do in life.

So we say if you haven't planted anything good, you're not going to reap anything good.

So we've covered a lot of vocab here. Why don't we go back, listen to the dialogue again and we'll be back with Fluency Builder.

On the contrary, I've been reading a lot of books about the subject.

Well, first I need to buy some things such as fertilizer, seeds and tools.

What type of tools?

You know, the basics: a rake, shovel, spade and a hoe.

Right.

Well, it seems like you have all your bases covered.

What's next?

I'll till the soil and then sow the seeds.

All right, we're back and we have four phrases for you on Fluency Builder and we're going to take a look at those now.

Fluency Builder.

This first phrase is useful in any conversation, I think, uh especially if you're trying to to impress somebody.

Uh so basically, one person in this dialogue says, you know what, you don't know the first thing about gardening. That means you don't know anything about gardening.

And what does he say in response? On the contrary.

On the contrary.

On the contrary. So the contrary means the opposite.

So basically this means the opposite is true.

Right. You're basically saying, I disagree, what you are saying is false. It's actually the opposite.

So maybe, I have a feeling, Marco, that it's going to rain tomorrow.

Actually, on the contrary, I saw in the news that it's going to be very sunny tomorrow.

So that's uh a way of maybe politely disagreeing with someone or saying to someone that, well, you're wrong. It's actually the opposite of what you're saying.

Right.

Okay. Moving on to our second phrase, uh it's actually a colloquial way of kind of making fun of someone.

When you say, all right then, smarty pants.

Okay, smarty pants. Uh don't think about this too much. We're not talking talking about pants, actually.

But this is a way of saying, okay, if you're so smart, then tell me that it's it's sarcasm.

It's sarcasm, exactly.

So this person says, oh, actually, I know a lot about gardening.

And the other person says, oh, really, smarty pants?

So you can actually describe a person in this way, maybe a a person that uh thinks they know a lot or or or sometimes what you say, a Mr. Know-it-all. You also say it's a smarty pants.

Right, so someone who thinks they know a lot or everything even.

Right. Mr. Know-it-all or a or a smarty pants.

All right, and our third phrase is interesting because we have a setup here.

When the person says, how will you go about setting up your garden? Right?

Okay, so to go about doing something.

There's two important parts of this. So, Marco, the first part is how how you you go about. This means how you do.

Right, so you're basically, how will you do this?

What's your approach?

What's your approach?

So, how will you go about plus and then the verb in ing. So how will you go about setting up your garden?

How will you start or what is your approach to creating your garden?

So maybe, Marco, you want to write a book and I can ask you, well, how will you go about starting your book?

Right. Or if I'm writing a book, you can say, how will you go about investigating for your book?

Mhm. So what is the approach you're going to take? How will you do it?

How do you plan on how do you plan on doing something?

Exactly.

And our final phrase here is uh very commonly used for all sorts of situations.

Basically, if a person is prepared, you say, well, you have all your bases covered.

Okay, this is a great phrase. It comes right from sports, very common in English to have sports phrases.

Um this comes from the sport baseball.

Right. So in baseball, um the field is a diamond. There are four corners or four bases. And the runners have to go from one base to the other, one, two, three, four, and then they get a point.

But in this case, we're saying, the other team, they have their bases covered. That means they're protecting their bases.

And in speech, we say, um if you have your bases covered, like you said, Marco, you're very well prepared.

Right. So you're you're ready, you're prepared. You have really planned out and thought of what you're going to do. So you have all your bases covered.

So, Marco, for example, you just told me that it's going to be sunny tomorrow, but I think it still might rain.

So, to have all my bases covered, I'm going to bring an umbrella anyway.

Just in case.

Just in case.

Or maybe you have a presentation at work, and you've prepared your PowerPoint presentation, you have your your drawings, your copies, you have everything ready. You have all your bases covered for that meeting.

That's right.

Okay. So, uh why don't we go back and listen to our dialogue for the last time and we'll be back to talk a little bit more.

On the contrary, I've been reading a lot of books about the subject.

Well, first I need to buy some things such as fertilizer, seeds and tools.

What type of tools?

You know, the basics: a rake, shovel, spade and a hoe.

Right.

Well, it seems like you have all your bases covered.

What's next?

I'll till the soil and then sow the seeds.

All right, we're back. So gardening is actually a very popular thing in many countries.

Um I know many people as well who prefer to have their own personal garden to grow their own vegetables, which they say tastes a lot different from the ones you buy at the supermarket.

They do. I think personally that homegrown vegetables, so vegetables that you grow yourself, tend to taste a lot better than the ones you get in the grocery store.

They also look different. They're not as pretty, but that's because they have less chemicals.

Yeah, I think it's a it's a very popular thing and well, not only gardening your own vegetables, but some people just enjoy it as a hobby to to have some plants and and different types of of things in their backyard.

Yeah, it seems like it's very relaxing. A little bit boring at times. It's basically your your waiting for your plants to grow.

Yeah, yeah. It's actually a very interesting hobby and we want to know if well, if in your country or in your town, do you have enough space for a garden? Do you like gardening or maybe growing your own food? I think that's a very interesting topic.

Yeah, let us know what you think. Do you do this? Do you have friends who garden?

The English pod audio review.

Listen to the meaning, then say the vocabulary word.

In opposition to what has been stated.

On the contrary.

To make ready for use.

Set up.

A hand implement consisting of a row of teeth.

Rake.

A tool with a long handle used for lifting and throwing.

Shovel.

A tool with a heavy metal blade used for digging.

Spade.

A garden tool that has a flat blade on a long hand.

Hoe.

Have all the things prepared.

Base covered.

A person who tries to show his so smart.

Smarty pants.

Prepare for growing plants.

Till.

Something used when something is being presented.

Voila.

Let's try that faster.

In opposition to what has been stated.

On the contrary.

A tool with a heavy metal blade used for digging.

Spade.

A hand implement consisting of a row of teeth.

Rake.

A tool with a long handle used for lifting and throwing.

Shovel.

To make ready for use.

Set up.

Prepare for growing plants.

Till.

A person who tries to show his so smart.

Smarty pants.

A garden tool that has a flat blade on a long hand.

Hoe.

Have all the things prepared.

Base covered.

Something used when something is being presented.

Voila.

Now say the word and hear it in a sentence.

On the contrary.

On the contrary, many Canadians do not speak French, especially in Western Canada.

On the contrary.

On the contrary, watering your plants every day will often kill them.

On the contrary.

On the contrary, I agree with you completely this time.

Smarty pants.

She thinks she's such a smarty pants just because she can remember all 50 states and their capitals.

Smarty pants.

If you're such a smarty pants, then what is 9 x 6.5 divided by 1.8 subtract 0.57?

Smarty pants.

So tell us, smarty pants, what should we do next, since none of our ideas seem good enough for you?

Hoe.

I grabbed my gardening hoe and started scraping the weeds out of my garden.

Hoe.

My neighbor always uses a scuffle hoe, but I prefer the heart hoe.

Hoe.

My mom's back problems went away as soon as we bought her a garden hoe, because she didn't have to keep bending over to take the weeds out of the garden.

Base covered.

We covered all the bases in the first meeting. Now let's get down to business.

Base covered.

As for financial security, she had all her bases covered.

Base covered.

Are you sure we covered all the bases or did we miss something?

Till.

The workers tilled the soil until sundown.

Till.

I grabbed my spade, garden fork and rake and went out to till my garden.

Till.

It's not good to till your soil more than once or twice per year.