Episode 0365

Hello everyone and welcome to EnglishPod.

My name is Marco.

My name is Catherine and today we are cleaning, right, Marco?

That's right, today we are cleaning our house. It's not one of our favorite activities, but we have to do it.

And so we're going to take a look at a lot of great vocab related to, uh, you know, household chores.

That's right. So let's take a listen to today's dialogue.

Okay, dad. I will do it in a minute. Let me just finish this level of this game.

But I already mopped the floors, dusted the furniture, and vacuumed the rugs.

That's great, but you still have work to do so get to it.

So today on Language Takeaway, let's take a look at all the verbs and all the ways that we have to clean the house.

So, starting with the first one, we have to make the bed. Make your bed.

Make your bed. Okay, so this might sound quite strange because the verb to make is something we say for a lot of different things, like make a deal, make a mistake.

But here we're making the bed, that means we're putting the pillows on top of the bed and we're going to make sure the blanket is is even.

So, you know, when you get out of bed, if everything is very messy, when you when you make it, you put everything in order on your bed.

That's right, that's right.

And uh well, the it's also confusing because our next verb is to do the laundry.

All right, so you make your bed, but you do the laundry.

The laundry here means you clean the dirty clothes.

Right, right.

So, this is one of the the very, I would say, confusing parts of English where we it's kind of confusing when to use the verb make, when to use the verb do.

So, usually you make a you make a mistake as we say, or you make a cake, but uh you do your homework.

So, it's just in these cases you just kind of have to memorize that you make the bed, but you do the laundry.

Exactly, so um this is very common actually to do the laundry. Uh I have to go do the laundry today.

Because it's it's a an event, you know, you have to gather your clothes and put in the the detergent and wash it and dry it.

So, just remember, make the bed, do the laundry, but then how do we clean those floors?

All right, so the floor we have to do two things.

We sweep the floors, so the verb there is to sweep.

And uh how do you sweep?

You actually use a broom to sweep.

So the broom is like a straw, it's like a like a brush almost that you use on the floor.

And you collect all of the hair and the dust and these things, and you put it into the garbage.

Right.

Um but after you sweep, then you need to use water to clean.

Because obviously sweeping is just for dry things.

Mopping is actually how you you clean with water and soap.

That's right. So now the verb there is to mop the floors.

And usually you use water, you use soap, and uh you use a mop, so you use a mop to mop.

Exactly. The verb is to mop, the noun, the object is a mop, like you say.

So um I'm going to mop the floors, right? So please don't come into the kitchen.

Right.

Right, okay.

And uh well, now we need to clean the furniture.

And usually on the furniture we have a lot of dust.

So we need to dust the furniture, to dust.

To dust.

Yeah, this is something we don't use for the floors really because we have this great verb to sweep.

But with furniture and things like that, we say to dust, and this means we're going to to collect the dust off of the piano or the sofa or the table.

Right, exactly.

And now the floors were we clean, the furniture we clean.

But sometimes we have rugs or we have carpet in our house, usually in the bedrooms, uh or we have a large rug in the living room.

And uh we need to clean that as well, but we don't really mop it, we don't sweep it, it's best to vacuum it.

All right, so the verb is to vacuum, and what is the noun, the thing we use?

A vacuum cleaner.

A vacuum cleaner, or just simply a vacuum.

Now, this is something that uses air to suck up all of the dirt and garbage.

So it goes and it sucks up all of that bad stuff, and so we don't have to dust it.

And obviously, with carpet we can't really use water, so this is a great tool for cleaning fabric like carpets and rugs.

That, very good.

So, there that's all the ways that we can basically the verbs that we use to clean around the house.

Let's listen to the dialogue again and we'll be back in a bit.

Okay, dad. I will do it in a minute. Let me just finish this level of this game.

But I already mopped the floors, dusted the furniture, and vacuumed the rugs.

That's great, but you still have work to do so get to it.

All right, so now let's take a look at some phrases, three of them on Fluency Builder.

All right, now the first word here is pigsty.

The dad says, "Kevin, it looks like a pigsty in here. Clean this up."

Mhm.

Right, so a pigsty. It looks like a pigsty.

Now, a pigsty is where pigs live, right?

That's right.

So, is it really a pigsty?

It's not really a pigsty, there are no pigs living there, but to say that a room is like a pigsty means that it's very, very, very dirty.

Right, then it looks almost like the mud and the dirty place where pigs live.

Exactly. So he's saying you're you're living in a dirty room, you need to clean this.

Right. So a room or a house will look like a pigsty.

Now, uh the dad is actually making him do a lot of work because he says the kid is grounded.

You're grounded! You're not allowed to play video games.

Now, a parent will ground a child, it's a verb, when uh when the child does something bad.

Right.

So maybe the child gets very, very bad grades at school, and the parent says, "Uh, you're grounded for one week."

That means you can't go out, you can't play video games.

They're different rules in every family, but um to say you're grounded means you're being punished for something.

Right. So the verb is to ground, and you can also be grounded. And if you're grounded, you can say, "I'm sorry, I can't go out today. I'm grounded."

Exactly. So, to be grounded is not a fun situation.

Uh but obviously the father's saying, "Listen, you're grounded, you have time to do all of this work."

Right. And well, uh this is something that my dad used to say to me, well, you have to pull your weight around here.

So, you have to pull your weight around here. What does that mean?

To pull your weight. Well, you think about it, uh if you're not carrying yourself, someone else is carrying you, that means that they're doing more work than they should be.

So, you're basically being asked to do your part, to be responsible for yourself, so that other people like your mom and dad don't have to be responsible for you.

Right. So you have to help out and collaborate.

Exactly. So, um say there's three people, mom, dad, and and a son.

If mom does all the cleaning, all the cooking, all the washing, then the other two, they're not pulling their weight.

So she says, "Pull your weight! Do some cleaning, do some washing."

Right. So if your mom cooks and then you wash the dishes, then you are pulling your weight, you're helping.

You're helping out. Exactly.

All right, a lot of great stuff. Let's take a listen to the dialogue one last time.

Okay, dad, I will do it in a minute. Let me just finish this level of this game.

But I already mopped the floors, dusted the furniture, and vacuumed the rugs.

That's great, but you still have work to do so get to it.

Okay, very good. So doing household chores, not a fun thing.

Um but also uh being grounded, why why do we consider chores to be kind of like a punishment?

Well, there's punishment where you sit alone in your room and you think about your actions, and then there's punishment that's more proactive.

Mom and Dad say, "Okay, well, he's grounded. Let's have him work."

Let's make him do something.

Let's make him do something so that, you know, we're we're benefiting from his punishment.

I think it's also good when children are grounded because it makes them realize that, you know, they need to help out around the house, that it's this work, it doesn't get done magically. There's actually someone doing it.

Right. And it's not like um well, in many cases, in many countries, people will have like we saw in our previous lesson, uh a domestic maid, a cleaning lady that will usually do everything, so maybe the kid will become very comfortable and not really do anything.

Or very lazy.

Very lazy. Even worse.

Yes. So, I definitely remember in my house we had chores. Um because when it's not punishment, when it's your parents' expectation normally, that's called a chore.

And they say, "Okay, Catherine, your chores this week, you need to take the garbage out outside, you need to wash the dishes, and you need to make your bed every day."

Right. And then maybe my brother had to help cook and clean the floor, mop the floors, and sweep. So, um we have different chores.

Right. And I guess this is more common especially if uh both parents work and everyone is collaborating or pulling their weight in the house, and if you don't have a a cleaning lady, for example.

Very interesting topic. Well, that's all the time we have for today. If you guys have any questions, any comments, you can find us at englishpod.com.

We hope to see you there.

The English part audio review.

Listen to the meaning, then say the vocabulary word.

Disorder.

Mess.

To be punished and not allowed to go outside.

Grounded.

To clean the floor with a broom or brush.

Sweep.

To help or collaborate in the household.

Pull your weight.

To remove dust and dirt.

Dust.

To clean the floor with water and a mop.

Mop.

To use an electric device to suction dust and dirt.

Vacuum.

Let's try that faster.

To help or collaborate in the household.

Pull your weight.

To clean the floor with water and a mop.

Mop.

To remove dust and dirt.

Dust.

To use an electric device to suction dust and dirt.

Vacuum.

To clean the floor with a broom or brush.

Sweep.

To be punished and not allowed to go outside.

Grounded.

Disorder.

Mess.

Now say the word and hear it in a sentence.

Grounded.

My parents grounded me for arriving home late.

Grounded.

Tom is grounded for a month because he got bad grades in school.

Grounded.

I think that it is necessary to ground your children when they misbehave.

Pull your weight.

I told my roommate he really has to start pulling his weight and help me with the bills.

Pull your weight.

I am tired of you not pulling your weight around here.

Pull your weight.

My parents told me that since I am 18, I have to start pulling my weight and pay rent.

Mess.

The house was a mess after the party Saturday night.

Mess.

Every time you cook, you always leave a mess in the kitchen.

Mess.

My hair is a mess. I should get a haircut.

Mop.

We need to get a new mop.

Mop.

I hate mopping the floors.

Mop.

Please be careful, the floor is slippery because I just mopped.

Vacuum.

Vacuum.

I need to vacuum the carpet.

Vacuum.

I don't like sweeping the floors, so I just use the vacuum instead.