Everyday English with E2

English speakers love a rhyme! We like to use them all the time. In fact, English is full of rhyming phrases that we love to whip out at every opportunity! In this episode of Everyday English with E2, we are going to look at 6 of the most common rhyming idioms in the English language.

At E2, there are always students asking ‘how can I improve my grammar?’ or ‘How do I extend my ideas on a speaking test?’ Well, I’ve got one word that can do just that. It’s a common word that I’m sure you all know, but it’s very versatile and underused. That word is ‘which’. And today, I’m going to show YOU how to use it well to help you express your ideas clearly.

Ok… Articles… the… an… a… or nothing… what article do I use, and when and why! We get these questions from everyone! Beginners, intermediates, OET and IELTS students, and even students doing a masters degree! Today is episode 2 of an E2 DEEP DIVE into articles.

Hello and welcome back to another episode of Everyday English with E2. My name is Mark. Each week, we focus on English grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation or spelling, and this week it’s all about the definite article, which you all know as the word ‘the’.

Hello and welcome back to another episode of Everyday English with E2. My name is Mark. Each week, we focus on English grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation or spelling, and this week it’s all about the construction and pronunciation of contractions: can not/can’t, do not/don’t. Let’s have a look!

Silent letters. English is full of them. And they’re the worst, right? I mean, why does ‘February’ need that R in the middle? Wouldn’t we be better off if ‘could’ didn’t have an L? And don’t get me started on the S in ‘island’. But there is one silent letter that is actually extremely useful, and that letter is… the Magic E.

Welcome to another episode of Everyday English with E2. Each week, we have a look at a different aspect of English grammar, vocabulary or pronunciation. And this week it’s all about spelling! In fact, this E will cast a spell on you! Because it’s magic.

One of the most common words in English is the word ‘get’. Seriously, we use it so much. In fact, if you look in the dictionary, the word ‘get’ has 37 ways that it can be used. And beyond that, there are dozens, probably over hundred ways we can use the word ‘get’ in a sentence. We could be here for hours talking about it. But for now, we’re just going to review just a few ways you can use the word ‘get’.

One of the most common challenges students face when trying to improve their grammatical or pronunciation accuracy is the regular past tense: I attended. I watched. I lived.  So listen now as this one little sound at the end of a verb can make or break your English test score.

Hi and welcome to another episode of Everyday English with E2, where each week we focus on English grammar, vocabulary or pronunciation. This week, we’re looking at spelling, and focusing on a type of word that can be really challenging when learning English - the homophone. But what is a homophone?

Well, if you’ve been learning English for a while, you’ve probably come across quite a few words that sound the same but are spelled differently. Like here - as in, ‘come over here!’ - and hear - as in, ‘can you hear that music playing?’. These words are called homophones, from ‘homo’, meaning ‘same’, and ‘phone’, meaning ‘sound’.

Hello and welcome back to another episode of Everyday English with E2. Each week, we focus on English grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation or spelling, and this week it’s all about vocabulary and the adjectives that you can use to describe people.

Hello and welcome back to another episode of Everyday English with E2. Each week, we focus on English grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation or spelling, and this week it’s all about grammar and the indefinite article, which you all know as ‘a’ or ‘an’.

What article do I use, and when and why? We get these questions from everyone! Beginners, intermediates, OET and IELTS students, and even students doing a masters degree! 

Hello and welcome back to another episode of Everyday English with E2. My name is Mark. Each week, we focus on English grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation or spelling, and this week it’s all about the pronunciation of numbers. Thirteen, thirty, fourteen, forty… and so on.

So a common point of confusion, even for highly proficient speakers of English, and even for native speakers who speak ONLY English, is numbers. The teen numbers and 10 digits can sound very similar. So keep listening to find out how you can master the pronunciation of numbers in English.

Let’s face it. English spelling is weird. Sometimes you spell a ‘ch’ sound with a C-H, like in cheese, and sometimes you spell it with a T-U, like in Tuesday. If bird is spelled B-I-R-D, why isn’t word spelled W-I-R-D? Have you had enough of all these unusual spellings? But what if I told you that there is a list of the 100 most commonly misspelt words in English, and once you’ve learnt them, you’ll be able to spell pretty much anything? Well... Take a listen of this week's Everyday English with E2 episode to find out!

Hello and welcome back to another episode of Everyday English with E2. Each week, we focus on English grammar, vocabulary or pronunciation, and this week it’s all about vocabulary. So many students think they need to learn new words to improve their English. And they’re not wrong. New words are great! But you’d be surprised how much easier and more meaningful it can be if you just learn slightly different meanings that come from words you may already know.

In this episode, we look at different meanings from "colour" words such as red, blue and green.

So how do we compare things in English? We can use comparative adjectives like ‘bigger’ or ‘more delicious’, but what if you’re comparing two things that are exactly the same size and exactly the same level of deliciousness? Like a donut and a cupcake! That’s when it’s time for us to use a small but very useful word - as - to help us make a comparison.

In this episode, we’re focusing on a super important part of pronunciation called ‘sentence stress’, which has a big impact on how clear your ideas and feelings are. So it’s not just about the words you say that ensure you are understood, it’s the emotion you put into your words that helps you really express yourself.

One of the biggest questions we get at E2 is ‘how can I improve my vocabulary?’ and we get this from everyone! Beginners, intermediates, OET and IELTS students, and even students doing a masters degree! But did you know that sometimes one single word can be slightly changed to mean something slightly different? You don’t have to learn a new word to improve your vocabulary; just slightly modify one of the words you already use! Let’s take a look.

In this episode, we look at the root word "information" and other words such as inform, informative and uninformative, informed and uninformed, misinformed and more!

Hello and welcome back to another episode of Everyday English with E2. My name is Mark. Each week, we focus on English grammar, vocabulary or pronunciation, and this week it’s all about grammar.

One of the biggest questions we get at E2 is ‘how can I learn more phrasal verbs?’ and we get this from everyone! Beginners, intermediates, IELTS and even OET students! Now, the short answer is you learn them one at a time. But which ones? My advice is to start with language you can use to talk about your life and your experiences. Let’s start with 5 phrasal verbs YOU can use to talk about your weekend.

This week we’re focusing on a super important part of pronunciation that is part of ‘linking or connected speech’. It’s called ‘intrusion’

In a previous episode about pronunciation, we talked about linking, and how it allows you to speak slower or fast and maintain intelligibility. Intrusion is part of this. Sometimes, when certain words are linked together, some extra sounds appear. Today, we’re going to focus on what this sounds like.

One of the biggest questions we get at E2 is ‘how can I improve my vocabulary?’ and we get this from everyone! Beginners, intermediates, OET and IELTS students, and even students doing a masters degree! But did you know that sometimes one single word can be slightly changed to mean something slightly different? You don’t have to learn a new word to improve your vocabulary; just slightly modify one of the words you already use!

In this episode, we look at the root word "decide" and other words such as decision, indecision, decided, undecided, decisive, indecisive and more!

In this podcast, Andy will teach you how to use ‘the correlative comparative’. You don’t need to know the name. Think of it as ‘the more, the more’. This is a common sentence structure that helps us connect ideas in a fun way using comparative adjectives; it will help you give advice, talk about your feelings and goals, and you’ll be able to do it easily and enjoyably! 

Welcome to Everyday English with E2. Each week, we focus on English grammar, vocabulary, spelling or pronunciation. This week we’re focusing on a super important part of pronunciation called ‘linking or connected speech’, which has a big impact on how easily you are understood. And that’s your aim - to be EASILY understood.

We are back with another episode of Everyday English with E2! Each week we focus on English grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation or spelling. This week we will concentrate on a common English sound that can be quite tricky to spell correctly - the /k/ sound. You’ll learn a collection of quirky /k/ words with contrasting spellings, know a few spelling tricks, and quiz you as you go. By the end of this episode, you will be able to spell the /k/ sound quickly and confidently!

Australian English has some unique features including the ‘shortening’ of words. This makes Australian English fun and simple. But if you don’t know how these rules work, it will be very confusing. In this podcast, join Jay to learn some Australian slang words including ‘mozzie’, ‘postie’ and ‘avo’. You will also learn how Australians make nicknames based on your full name. It’s a fun and interesting podcast about Australian slang.

In this episode of Everyday English with E2, Louisa will teach you two ways to use the past continuous verb tense - one for how to tell stories about the past and one for how to answer the question: What were you doing? This is an important podcast that explains a challenging verb tense simply, easily and enjoyably! Listen up and learn to master English grammar with E2.

How well can you pronounce "ordinal numbers" in English such as FOURTH, FIFTH and SIXTH? These are some of the most difficult to pronounce words in English because that "TH" sound is particularly troublesome for a lot of people. In this podcast, Jay will teach you how to pronounce each of the various sounds from "first" to "thirteenth" giving you lots of opportunities to practice and refine the way you say these words and pronounce English words in general."

Welcome to another episode of Everyday English with E2 where every week we focus on English grammar, vocabulary or pronunciation - but this week we’re doing something a little different. We’re going to focus on English spelling and I’m going to try to convince you that English spelling is - mostly - logical, with maybe a few strange exceptions to the rules. I’ll be sure to quiz you as you go so you can get better at understanding the sound-letter relationships in English. It’ll help your English overall!

In this episode of Everyday English with E2, you will learn how to introduce yourself in English. When you introduce yourself in English, you need to consider the social context. Are you introducing yourself to one person, or a group of people? Is the person you’re introducing yourself to around the same age as you? Is the person you’re introducing yourself to in a higher social position than you? Why are you introducing yourself? What’s the purpose of your introduction? All of these factors determine how you can best introduce yourself in English.

Today we’re talking about something that might seem simple but is in fact quite complicated, and very interesting. We’re going to talk about ‘nouns’. Put simply, a noun is a thing. Right? But the problem is that in English there are different types of things and the English language changes depending on the type of thing you’re talking or writing about. If you listen carefully, this will help to improve your understanding and use of English and give you some interesting ideas to think about as well…

In this episode of Everyday English with E2, We are going to learn about all six of the changes that happen to spoken English – about how words transform so you can sound more fluent when speaking, and how you can understand spoken English much more easily.

In this episode, we’re focusing on an interesting and fun part of vocabulary - idioms.

I’m sure you’ve heard of idioms. Ya know: kicked the bucket. It’s raining cats and dogs. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. A picture paints a thousand words. These are all examples of ‘proverb’ idioms. But guess what? They’re NOT the type of idioms we’re going to talk about today.

Today we’re going to talk about “idiomatic phrases”.

Welcome to Everyday English with E2. Each week, we focus on English grammar, vocabulary or pronunciation, and this week we’re focusing on an important part of grammar called “modal verbs.”

But we’re NOT going to learn when to use can or could or how “should” means the same thing as “supposed to”. No, we’re going to learn how to make predictions using modal verbs and also how to express obligations.

In this episode we’re focusing on a super important part of pronunciation called ‘word stress’, which has a big impact on how easily you are understood. And that’s your aim - to be EASILY understood.

Join Jay in the final Everyday English podcast for 2021! In this podcast, Jay will teach you 5 fun words to talk about the holiday season. He'll talk to you about the meaning of these 5 fun words and also how to pronounce them correctly. Join Jay for the last episode of 2021!

In this episode, we’re going to focus on the meanings of the most common verb tense in English - the present simple. This verb tense is used all the time and very important.

The TH sound is unique to English and many people struggle to pronounce it correctly. Listen to this podcast, with Jay, to learn how to pronounce it perfectly!

In this episode, we’re going to learn 10 important adjectives that describe food, but also and more specifically, taste - but also how we can use these same words to describe people or events! For example, you can use “juicy” for gossip, or “rich” for an exaggeration, or “flaky” if someone is unreliable. These are all great words related to taste that we use in everyday conversation for other purposes.

Listen to this podcast to learn everything there is to know about "indefinite pronouns", those tricky little words such as "each", "fewer", "both and "neither". Jay will explain these words to you so you can understand and use them 100% accurately.

Can you hear the difference between the 'B' and the 'P' sound in English? Did he say "beach" or "peach"? Did she say "pig" or "big"? It's a very subtle difference... it's very hard to hear! It's also difficult to pronounce these two sounds clearly because of their similarities. In this podcast, Mark will take you through the B and P sound in depth. By the end of this episode you'll be comfortable to use these sounds accurately and you'll be able to understand them easily.

Do you like doing the dishes or mopping the floors? Who scrubs the toilet or irons the washing in your house? Whether you like it or not, everyone must do housework.

In this episode we’re going to look at important words and phrases related to housework. We’re going to learn 9 key words and Jay will quiz you as you listen – so make sure you pay attention and learn these words, or if you already know them, double check you know them perfectly.

In this episode expert teacher Mark will practise the present perfect verb tense with you. It's the third most common verb tense in English. We use it a lot! And it can be tricky. Mark will make you feel confident by talking to you about the meaning of the present perfect, when to use it and how to create the question, negative and positive forms of the verb in everyday English.

It's important to make sure your pronunciation is as clear and natural as possible. You want to be easily understood in the world when you speak English. One of the hardest parts of English pronunciation are what's called 'consonant clusters'. These are when two or more consonants are joined together without a vowel like FR as in friend or BR as in brown etc. In this episode, Jay will take you through all the possible 'R' clusters making sure that you can say each of them perfectly clearly. 

Welcome to our brand new English language learning podcast - Everyday English with E2. 

Each week there will be a brand new episode focusing on one of three English skills, grammar - the rules of English, vocabulary - the words of English and pronunciation, the sounds of English. 

Make sure you subscribe for brand new episodes each week and feel free to share this podcast with your friends if you find it helpful, which I’m sure you will.