VOA · Everyday Grammar
Advanced · C1learner speed8:032024-07-03public 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.
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01The Paris Olympic Games will begin later this month, with the opening ceremony set to take place on July 26th.
02You are likely to see and hear discussions about the Olympic Games, the athletes, the events, and the results of the competitions.
03For today's lesson, we will explore this question.
04What are three important words to know when we talk about the Olympics?
05There are many possible answers, but we are going to take a close look at these three words.
06Host, compete, and expect.
07The Olympic Games are held every two years and take place over two to three weeks.
08Thousands of athletes take part.
09Thousands of workers, volunteers, and others prepare for and run the event.
10Millions of people from around the world gather at the Olympic Games to watch the athletes perform.
11Cities around the world request to hold these huge events.
12They seek to host the Games.
13Or, we can say that cities seek to be the host of the Games.
14The word host can act as a noun or as a verb.
15When we talk about the Olympic Games, we use host, the noun, to mean the city that holds the event.
16Paris is the host of the 2024 Olympic Games.
17Paris is hosting what?
18Paris is hosting what?
19Paris is hosting the 2024 Olympic Games.
20So, we have the noun host and the verb host.
21Which of the two is more commonly used, you might ask?
22Google's Ngram Viewer has data that comes from thousands of books.
23We can look at how common different words are and see how the usage numbers have changed over time.
24We should keep in mind that the data and results are not perfect.
25Still, we can take away general ideas that can help us.
26When we compare the noun and verb forms of host in Google's Ngram Viewer, we find that the noun form is more commonly used.
27And what is the most commonly used word after the noun host?
28It is the short word of.
29Let's think back to our earlier example.
30Paris is the host of the 2024 Olympic Games.
31Our next important word is at the center of Olympic Games action.
32Compete.
33Compete is a verb.
34It means to try to win something that someone else is also trying to win.
35We might use the verb compete to describe the athlete's purpose for going to the Olympics.
36So, we might say this.
37The athletes are competing for a medal.
38Note that we often use the verb compete without an object.
39In other words, we often use it in an intransitive sense.
40For example, we might say, Seven athletes are competing today.
41Still, we often use the verb compete with other short words.
42Google's Ngram Viewer suggests that with is the most commonly used word after compete.
43Athletes go to the Olympic Games to compete with other top athletes.
44However, we often use the verb.
45However, we can find other short words commonly used after compete, such as for, in, and against.
46You might hear, Athletes are competing for gold medals.
47Overall, the main idea is that the verb compete is central to discussions about the Olympics.
48Compete may be followed by a short word.
49With is the most common of these short words, but you should probably learn the other common short words as well, for, in, and against.
50Our final important word is expect.
51It is used to express our predictions.
52People might expect an athlete to do well.
53They watch the Olympic Games to see if the expectation is correct.
54This is part of what makes the Olympic Games exciting, and partly explains why people enjoy talking about the Olympic Games.
55We have expect, a verb, and a related noun form, expectation.
56Google Ngram Viewer suggests expect is more commonly used than expectation.
57We often use the verb expect with an object.
58In other words, in a transitive sense.
59The object could be a noun or noun phrase, as in, The trainers expect hard work.
60Or we might see a structure that acts like a noun or noun phrase in a sentence.
61The structure, two plus verb, is one such structure, as in, The swimmer expects to win.
62Or we might use a more complex structure, like this.
63Fans expect that runner to win gold.
64Today we explored a few words that connect to the Olympic Games.
65Of course, there are many other choices.
66We will end this lesson with a call to action.
67Write to us a short description of N Olympic Games, Either in the past, present, or future.
68Be sure to use some of the words we have explored today.
69Send your writing in an email to LearningEnglish at VOANews dot com.
70In a future lesson, We will give feedback on some of the messages that we receive.
71I am John Russell.
72I am John Russell.
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