VOA · Everyday Grammar
Advanced · C1learner speed4:122024-06-03public domain
Everyday Grammar digs into one grammar topic per episode — verb tenses, prepositions, sentence patterns — with plenty of spoken examples. Because you are listening to language about language, it doubles as grammar review while you train your ears.
Hit "Start dictation practice" — all 4 minutes are already sliced into sentences, so practice starts immediately. No wait.
Expect longer sentences and richer vocabulary — replay freely, and slow the speed if a sentence runs away from you.
Switch to Dictation mode, type each sentence, and get a word-by-word diff with your accuracy score.
01In many places where our readers and listeners live, the weather is getting hotter because of the changing seasons and weather-related events.
02This week on Everyday Grammar, we will discuss ways to talk about hot weather in English.
03One common way to talk about hot weather is with phrasal verbs.
04A phrasal verb is a group of words that acts as a verb and is made up of a verb and a preposition, an adverb or both.
05Let us begin with an American pop song from 1979.
06In the song Too Hot, the group Cool and the Gang sang about finding shelter in the shade.
07Note that the singer uses the expression run for before the words shelter and shade.
08The phrasal verb run for something means to work towards a goal.
09You may have heard of people who run for a public office.
10To run for shade is to move into an area where the direct light of the sun is blocked.
11Usually it is cooler in the shade.
12Another phrasal verb we use is heat up.
13Like other phrasal verbs with the preposition up, it means there is an increase in something.
14Here the increase is in the temperature.
15For example, The day started cool in the morning, but heated up in the afternoon.
16Another way of speaking about hot weather involves collocations.
17A collocation is a particular combination of words that we hear at the same time.
18For example, one collocation is sweltering with heat or summer.
19The southern half of Japan gets sweltering summers.
20We go to the pool to escape the sweltering heat.
21A third way is to describe the weather with words we use for cooking.
22We are making a metaphor when we compare the effects of heat on us to cooking methods.
23To sear meat, for example, is to heat the surface quickly.
24We might say, To scorch is to slightly burn something.
25So it is not surprising that we hear this word used in the summer.
26Usually we talk about roasting meat or cooking it with dry heat.
27In that case, roast is a transitive verb that needs an object.
28But when we use it to say how hot we feel, it is an intransitive verb that does not need an object.
29For example, you can simply say, I'm roasting.
30Give me a cold drink.
31The same is true of the verb boil.
32Usually we boil foods like eggs.
33But in hot weather, we might say, I'm boiling.
34How about having ice cream?
35One last hot weather expression.
36It's so hot that...
37A common statement with this is...
38It's so hot that you can fry an egg on the sidewalk.
39How do people talk about the heat where you live?
40Do you use phrasal verbs, collocations, or metaphors?
41How about intransitive verbs?
42Write to us at learningenglish at voanews.com and we will share your messages in another story.
43And that's Everyday Grammar.
44I'm Jill Robbins.
45I'm Jill Robbins.
46I'm Jill Robbins.
47I'm Jill Robbins.
48I'm Jill Robbins.
49I'm Jill Robbins.
// transcribed with Whisper AI — reading it is easy; catching it by ear is the skill
Practice it by ear
