VOA · Ask a Teacher
Beginner · A2learner speed4:162024-07-30public domain
In Ask a Teacher, real learner questions about English grammar and usage get short, clear answers. Episodes are only a few minutes long and use simple classroom English — a gentle entry point if you are new to dictation practice.
Hit "Start dictation practice" — all 4 minutes are already sliced into sentences, so practice starts immediately. No wait.
Replay each sentence as many times as you need — beginner episodes use short sentences and simple vocabulary.
Switch to Dictation mode, type each sentence, and get a word-by-word diff with your accuracy score.
01Hello!
02This week on Ask a Teacher, we answer a question from Nora about how to describe food that is no longer safe to eat.
03Dear Teacher, would you please tell us the words we use to describe spoiled food?
04Now, I use only one or two words for all of food types, such as rotten or spoiled.
05However, in my native language, we use different words for different categories like spoiled vegetables, bread, beverages, and meat dishes.
06I wonder if it is the same in English, too.
07Thank you for writing to us, Nora.
08I'm happy to answer this question.
09Let's begin with the two words you mention, rotten and spoiled.
10We can use both words to talk about food in general.
11So, we can say either of the following.
12That food is rotten.
13That food is spoiled.
14But for some foods, we use rotten much more than we use spoiled.
15For example, we can say rotten eggs, rotten tomatoes, rotten apples, rotten vegetables, rotten fruit, and so on.
16The most common usage of rotten is with eggs.
17We use spoiled mostly when talking about meat or milk.
18Another general term for spoiled food or drink is the expression gone bad.
19Now, let's look at some other terms we use with certain foods and drinks.
20Rancid describes foods that contain fats that have started to go bad.
21These typically include nuts, seeds, and oils.
22Fish, meat, and poultry can also become rancid.
23We use the word stale to describe bread that has become hard and difficult to eat.
24And wilted describes lettuce or other greens that are no longer fresh.
25Mold is a kind of very small fungus.
26It makes food go bad and can be found on fruit, bread, and cheese.
27The adjective we use for mold is moldy.
28We use the adjective sour or the expression to go sour to describe milk or cream that has started to spoil.
29Note that there is also a food called sour cream, which is safe to eat and quite tasty.
30As you can see, a meal with rancid, stale, sour, wilted, moldy, rotten, and spoiled food is one to avoid.
31For our readers and listeners, do you have a question about American English?
32Send us an email at learningenglish at voanews.com.
33And that's Ask a Teacher.
34I'm Andrew Smith.
// transcribed with Whisper AI — reading it is easy; catching it by ear is the skill
Practice it by ear
