English Recordings

I, my, the, snake, arm, aeroplane, when, watch, tennis, game, mouse, hear
The snake is in the grass.
Ants on my arm.
When I watch the tennis game.
Inky the mouse is my pet.
The pink pig cake.
Hear the aeroplane.
A red apple.
The tap on a tent.
A spider is an insect.
A blue pen.
The sun and a star.
The map with a hat.
The stick is brown.

The nutmeg tree, Myristicufinrgmns, is a large evergreen tree native to Southeast Asia. Until the late 18th century, it only grew in one place in the world: a small group of islands in the Banda Sea, part of the Moluccas — or Spice Islands — in northeastern Indonesia. The tree is thickly branched with dense foliage of tough, dark green oval leaves, and produces small, yellow, bell-shaped flowers and pale yellow pear-shaped fruits. The fruit is encased in a fleshy husk. When the flnit is ripe, this husk splits into two halves along a ridge running the length of the fruit. Inside is a purple-brown shiny seed, 2—3 cm long by about 2 cm across, surrounded by a lacy red or crimson covering called an ‘aril’. These are the sources of the two spices nutmeg and mace, the fomer being produced from the dried seed and the latter from the aril.
Nutmeg was a highly prized and costly ingredient in European cuisine in the Middle -Ages, and was used as a flavouring, medicinal, and preservative agent. Throughout this period, the Arabs were the exclusive importers of the spice to Europe. They sold nutmeg for high prices to merchants based in Venice, but they never revealed the exact location of the source of this extremely valuable commodity.
The Arab-Venetian dominance of the trade finally ended in 1512, when the Portuguese reached the Banda Islands and began exploiting its precious resources.
Always in danger of competition from neighboring Spain, the Portuguese began subcontracting their spice distribution to Dutch traders. Profits began to flow into the Netherlands, and the Dutch commercial fleet swiftly grew into one of the largest in the world. The Dutch quietly gained control of most of the shipping and trading of spices in Northern Europe. Then, in 1580, Portugal fell under Spanish rule, and by the end of the 16th century the Dutch found themselves locked out of the market.
As prices for pepper, nutmeg, and other spices soared across Europe, they decided to fight back. In 1602, Dutch merchants founded the VOC, a trading corporation better known as the Dutch East India Company. By 1617, the VOC was the richest commercial operation in the world. The company had 50,000 employees worldwide, with a private army of 30,000 men and a fleet of200 ships. At the same time, thousands of people across Europe were dying of the plague, a highly contagious and
deadly disease. Doctors were desperate for a way to stop the spread of this disease, and they decided nutmeg held the cure. Everybody wanted nutmeg, and many were willing to spare no expense to have it. Nutmeg bought for a few pennies in Indonesia could be sold for 68,000 times its original cost on the streets of London. The only problem was the short supply. And that’s where the Dutch found their opportunity.
The Banda Islands were ruled by local sultans who insisted on maintaining a neutral trading policy towards foreign powers. This allowed them to avoid the presence of Portuguese or Spanish troops on their soil, but it also left them unprotected from other invaders. In 1621, the Dutch arrived and took over. Once securely in control of the Bandas, the Dutch went to work protecting their new investment. They concentrated all nutmeg production into a few easily guarded areas, uprooting and destroying any trees outside the plantation zones. Anyone caught growing a nutmeg seedling or carrying seeds without the proper authority was severely punished. In addition, all exported nutmeg was covered with lime to make sure there was no chance a fertile seed which could be grown elsewhere would leave the islands. There was only one obstacle to Dutch domination. One of the Banda Islands, a sliver of land called Run, only 3 km long by less than 1 km wide, was under the control of the British. After decades of fighting for control of this tiny island, the Dutch and British arrived at a compromise settlement, the Treaty of Breda, in 1667.
Intent on securing their hold over every nutmeg—producing island, the Dutch offered a trade: if the British would give them the island of Run, they would in turn give Britain a distant and much less valuable island in North America. The British agreed. That other island was Manhattan, which is how New Amsterdam became New York. The Dutch now had a monopoly over the nutmeg trade which would last for another century
Then, in 1770, a Frenchman named Pierre Poivre successfully smuggled nutmeg plants to safety in Mauritius, an island off the coast of Africa. Some of these were later exported to the Caribbean where they thrived, especially on the island of Grenada. Next, in 1778, a volcanic eruption in the Banda region caused a tsunami that wiped out half the nutmeg groves. Finally, in ISO9, the British returned to Indonesia and seized the Banda Islands by force. They returned the islands to the Dutch in 1817, but not before transplanting hundreds of nutmeg seedlings to plantations in several locations across southern Asia. The Dutch nutmeg monopoly was over.
Today, nutmeg is grown in Indonesia, the Caribbean, India, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and Sri Lanka, and world nutmeg production is estimated to average between 10,000 and 12,000 tonnes per year.

How to use articles: another look (2)
By Liz Walter

Last month I looked at some of the questions raised in response to my 2015 post on articles. This post continues to answer some of these interesting points.

1) Plural nouns
Someone asked why we can say ‘Books are important’ without an article. Obviously, we can’t say ‘a’ or ‘an’ in front of plural nouns because they are only used for singulars. For ‘the’, the rule for plurals is the same as for singular nouns: we use it when we are referring to something specific, for example something that has already been mentioned. In the sentence ‘Books are important’, we are talking about books in general. But we would need ‘the’ for a sentence such as ‘I read all the books in the library.’ because in that case we are speaking about specific books.

2) The following
Similarly, someone asked why we use the phrase ‘the following’ before a list of items, even though it’s the first use of ‘following’. It is because, again, we know the specific things we are talking about: the items in the list we are about to read. It is useful to learn ‘the following’ as a phrase because (with that meaning) that is how it always appears.

3) ‘The’ for superlatives
This was a very good point raised by one reader. Remember that you need ‘the’ to form superlative adjectives in English, especially when they come before the noun: ‘the biggest house’, ‘the most important person’, etc. When the adjective is after the noun, ‘the’ is sometimes omitted: ‘His house is (the) biggest’, ‘This person is (the) most important.’

4) Ellipsis
Another interesting question was about whether or not you need articles for every item in a list, for example in a sentence like: ‘You can catch a train, a plane or a ferry.’ It is not incorrect to repeat the articles, but it is not necessary. We call it ‘ellipsis’ when you miss out a word that would otherwise be repeated, and this would be completely normal and correct: ‘You can catch a train, plane or ferry.’

5) President/CEO/queen, etc.
For positions that can only filled by one person, it is possible to omit ‘the’. So we can correctly say either ‘He is the president’ or ‘He is president.’ However, this only applies after the verb ‘to be’, so ‘the’ is needed in sentences such as ‘I met the president.’

6) Lunch/dinner, etc.
Someone correctly pointed out that I had been too general when I said that we don’t use articles before meals. I was thinking of the most common examples, e.g. ‘Is it time for lunch?’ or ‘I had chicken for dinner.’ However, if we use an adjective before the meal or a phrase after it, we do use articles: ‘It was a delicious lunch.’ ‘The dinner was burnt.’ We also use articles when we think of the meal as an event: ‘She is hosting a dinner for the president.’

7) Wh- questions
Remember that question words such as ‘which’ and ‘what’ are determiners themselves, so you do not need an article as well: ‘What language do you speak best?’

Articles cause so many problems for learners, but I hope that these posts have explained them a bit more. Do let me know if you have any other questions!

How to use articles: another look (1)
By Liz Walter

Back in August 2015, I wrote a post about using articles – the words ‘a,’ ‘an’ and ‘the’. That post has had the most hits of any published on this site, so it is obviously an area that learners of English are interested in. You can read the post here:
https://dictionaryblog.cambridge.org/2015/08/19/a-an-and-the-how-to-use-articles-in-english/.

If you are not sure about using articles, do go and read it, as it contains all the most important rules. However, looking back over it now, I’m struck by the number of interesting comments and queries, so in this post and the next one, I am going to follow up on some of these because I think (hope!) a lot of people will find the answers useful.

1) A or an? There seems to be confusion here between letters that are vowels or consonants and vowel or consonant sounds. We use ‘a’ in front of consonant sounds and ‘an’ in front of vowel sounds. So, for instance, someone asked whether to use ‘a’ or ‘an’ before the abbreviation ‘MBA’. The answer is ‘an’ because the sound of the first letter is /em/, so it begins with a vowel sound, even though the letter itself is a consonant.
Similarly, we use ‘a’ in front of a word such as ‘European’ because the initial sound /j/ is a consonant sound, even though the letter it starts with is a vowel.

2) A or one? There was a question about the difference between ‘There is a cat’ and ‘There is one cat’. The answer is that we would only say ‘one cat’ if the number of cats is important:
+ Tom has one cat and three dogs.

3) The + plural noun: One reader asked when to use ‘the’ with plural nouns. The rule is exactly the same as for ‘the’ with singular nouns: we use it when it is clear which things we are talking about, perhaps because we’ve already mentioned them or there is only one instance of them:
+ The oranges I bought were very juicy. (we are referring to specific oranges and the listener/reader knows which they are)
+ The stars are bright tonight. (there is only one set of stars in our sky so we know which stars are being talked about)

4) Pleasure or a pleasure? The question was about why we say e.g. ‘It was a great pleasure’, when ‘pleasure’ is uncountable. The answer is that in fact ‘pleasure’ – like many nouns – can be both countable and uncountable. In the dictionary on this site, such words have the label [C, U]. We would not usually use an article with the uncountable sense:
+ The emotion I felt was pleasure mixed with anxiety.
However, there is a wider and rather advanced point here, which is that many uncountable nouns can be used in a countable way in a somewhat literary or formal style if they are preceded by an adjective:
+ Her face showed a terrible sadness.
+ They displayed an ugly racism.

5) The cow = all cows? This is another advanced point. In rather formal situations, we can use ‘the’ + singular noun to refer to all things of that type:
+ The cow is a farm animal. (in less formal terms, we say: Cows are farm animals).

That’s more than enough for one post! Look out for my next post for some additional detailed information about articles.

I wish I’d studied harder: Expressing regrets and wishes
By Liz Walter

Nobody’s life is perfect, right? We all have things we’d like to change, or things we wish hadn’t happened. This post is about the way we express those feelings, and in particular the tenses we use, as learners of English (very understandably!) often make mistakes with them.

There are two basic phrases we use to express regrets and wishes: I wish … and If only …

When you are talking about situations that exist in the present, the strange thing you need to remember is that you talk about the situation in the past simple:

+ I wish I lived in a bigger house.
+ I wish my friends could be here.
+ If only I didn’t have so much work to do!

Students are often taught to use were instead of was after I wish or If only. This is correct (it’s the subjunctive), and it’s a good idea to write it in a formal situation, but in speech or informal writing, it is perfectly acceptable to use was:

+ I wish I were taller. (formal)
+ If only I was better at maths. (informal)

Another way of talking about wishes in the present, is to use I wish / If only + would + verb. We use this structure to talk about things we would like someone or something to do. We often use it when we feel annoyed about something:

+ I wish Hannah would stop complaining!
+ If only this computer wouldn’t keep crashing!

Remember that you can’t use this structure about yourself or a situation that you are in:

+ I wish I would have more money. (WRONG)
+ I wish I had more money.

Now let’s move on to regrets about the past. For these, we use the past perfect. A common mistake is to use the past simple instead:

+ I wish I studied harder. (WRONG)
+ I wish I had studied harder.
+ If only my car didn’t break down. (WRONG)
+ If only my car hadn’t broken down!

However, with the modal verb could, we use the present perfect:

+ I wish I could have spent more time with him.
+ If only she could have come with us.

I hope this makes this rather complicated subject a bit clearer!

Describe a TV programme that you have seen recently

What was it about?
When did you see it?
Why you did like it and what influence did it have on you?

Student: The TV programme that I have watched recently which I would like to talk about is called Mistresses. This was shown on the BBC on Tuesday evenings. It was a series of six episodes and the series, which has just finished was the second series. It is best described as a drama and is particularly aimed at women, however I think quite a lot of men watched it because it is full of extremely attractive women. Basically, there are four women who are close friends and the programme focuses on the relationships they have. Their relationships can be dangerous for example, Siobhan was a married woman who had an affair with a work colleague and got pregnant. Her husband agreed to bring up the baby as his own but Siobhan then embarked on a series of other affairs. She had a job as a lawyer, but when she started an affair with one of her clients, things got very messy. Her husband subsequently found out and said he wanted a divorce. Personally, I feel that the programme is slightly unrealistic, as for people to be having so many relationships and for so many beautiful people to be in one place is not normal. For me it was pure escapism. It is not a life I want, but it’s nice to escape into it for an hour every week. At the end of the last series there was a bit of a cliff-hanger so I can’t wait for another series to find out what happens. I don’t think it influenced me in any way other than being one hour’s worth of entertainment. The good thing as well is that it was on at 9 o’clock so it gave me chance to wind down after a stressful day.

Examiner: We have been talking about an invention and now I would like to ask you some more general questions relating to this topic.

EXPLAIN the qualities which a good inventor needs

Student: Actually, I’ve never invented anything or even wanted to so I’m probably not the best person to answer this question. But I suppose inventors need to have a good scientific or technical background. They need to understand how things work and how they can be combined. As well as that, I suppose good inventors need to be able to see a clear overall picture and not to get bogged down in specific details. There’s no doubt at all that they must be very dedicated and patient people, with the ability to concentrate for long periods of time. Most of them probably also have a desire to improve things. I suppose the reason they invent new things is because they see a situation which needs improving. Not many of us have that skill. Not many people can understand a problem and see a potential solution.

DESCRIBE a piece of modern technology which you dislike

Student: Personally speaking, I absolutely detest mobile phones. I’ve actually got one, and I do sometimes use it, and it is convenient at times, but, having said all that, I loathe them, especially when you are in the cinema or sitting quietly on a train or bus, and one of them rings. It is so frustrating to have to listen to the silly noise they make and then overhear half of the conversation. I have to say that I find it incredibly annoying and every time I hear one ringing my heart sinks. They are absolutely infuriating.

ASSESS how much modern technology affects your life

Student: It’s almost impossible to work out how much my life and the lives of everyone I know are influenced by the technological advances which have taken place over the last few decades. Just about everything these days is controlled by computer or at least by micro-chips. Computers play a major role in medicine, education, transport, leisure activities and just about everything else I can think of. The way people communicate nowadays is completely controlled by technology. You’ve got texting and the internet and mobile phones. I would say that one of the most interesting questions is how much technological change affects our attitudes towards each other. I think people interact in different ways and develop new skills. At the same time, they tend to lose the ability to communicate face-to-face.

DISCUSS whether people would have a better quality of life without modern inventions

Student: It’s quite easy to say that if we didn’t have all these things, time-saving devices and labour-saving machines, life would be so much simpler and more enjoyable. But in actual fact I think most of us would be lost without the ability to communicate easily, travel around quickly and get medical treatment which actually saves lives. I know it’s nice to get away from it all sometimes, just leave technology behind and get out into the country and breathe fresh air, but after a while you are bound to want to call somebody, find out what is happening around the world or just travel somewhere quickly, and to do that, you will need technology.

SPECULATE on whether technology will completely take over our lives in the future. Student: I’m a bit afraid that it might. I’ve recently read some really interesting articles in magazines about this, and what they seem to be saying is that as time goes by, it will become possible to transplant computer chips into the human brain and develop robots which will have forms of intelligence similar to human intelligence. The result of all this will probably be that it will be difficult to know what is human and what is machine. So in that sense, I am worried that technology might take over in the end.

Describe an important invention

What was it?
When was it made?
Why do you think it was important?

Student: Well, I’m not generally particularly interested in science and technology and that sort of thing so this is quite a tricky topic for me. Anyway, one invention I can definitely talk about is television. I believe it was invented at the beginning of the twentieth century, so about a hundred years ago, but I’m not exactly sure who invented it. If I remember rightly, they started off by just being able to show still images and obviously the quality of picture was extremely poor. After a while, they could transmit moving images and include sound and by about 1930, TV looked something like it does now, except it was in black and white. I don’t think television had a huge impact until after the Second World War. Then, particularly in America, ordinary people started buying TV sets. Obviously, these days, it has a massive influence on just about all aspects of our life. If it wasn’t for television, we wouldn’t know what was happening in the world, we wouldn’t be able to watch sport or much entertainment and a million and one other things. Television has helped turn the world into a much smaller place. For example, if there is an earthquake in India, a terrorist attack in South America or a financial crisis in Europe we will know about it almost immediately through the medium of television. In the past, say a century ago, it might have taken weeks for news to arrive. Also, we have an understanding of what life is like in other parts of the world. When there is famine or drought somewhere, TV pictures bring it into our living-rooms and, hopefully, persuade us to try to do something about it.

Examiner: We have been talking about music and now I would like to ask you some more general questions relating to this topic.

CONSIDER whether famous pop stars influence young people too much

Student: It’s true to say that pop stars influence young people, but it’s hard to say whether it is too much. And is being influenced by a pop star necessarily a bad thing? I suppose it depends on the pop star. Someone like Amy Winehouse who is addicted to drugs is certainly not a positive role model, but I don’t think the world’s drugs’ problems can be attributed to her. Certainly young girls may be influenced by skinny pop stars and want to emulate them and get eating disorders as a result.

CONSIDER whether famous singers are paid too much

Student: Again that depends on the pop star. If you are just a singer and don’t write your own lyrics or music, then the amount you get paid is probably not excessive. Singers who are also songwriters, however, make money from royalties and I think they deserve this money so no I do not agree that singer are paid too much.

CONSIDER whether it is fair that people can now often download music from the internet for free, without paying the writer or performer anything

Student: I totally disagree with people being able to download music from the internet and the writer or performer gets nothing. To me it is stealing. You cannot just walk into a supermarket and take something without paying for it so why should you be allowed to have music for nothing. Record companies should work with the internet to make it impossible to download music without paying for it. This would then solve this problem.

CONSIDER whether it is a good thing that “western” music seems to be popular all over the world

Student: For language students I think western music is a useful tool for learning a language. A large proportion of western music is sung in English, therefore for learners of English listening to songs in English can contribute to their language acquisition. However, if the popularity of western music means that indigenous music is lost then the dominance of western music is a bad thing.

Describe a piece of music that you like

What type of music is it?
When and where did you first hear it?
Why do you like it?

Student: It’s very hard to choose a piece of music that I like because there are so many genres of music that I like such as pop, rock, dance, R&B and classical. However, one of my absolute favourite pieces of music is Wonderwall by Oasis. This song was written quite a few years ago now and I remember that I first heard it when I was living in Italy. So that must mean it was released in 1995 because that is when I was working there. It’s quite a slow song, I suppose you could call it a ballad. I saw Oasis on tour in Italy and they sang an acoustic version of this song and it was absolutely incredible. I had goose pimples when I was listening to it. The song is about Noel Gallagher’s wife at the time and it describes her as his ‘Wonderwall’. They divorced a few years later though. I guess the thing I like most about the song is the lyrics. It’s a love song, but the lyrics aren’t all soppy. I can’t believe that the song is now fourteen years old because when I listen to it, it still sounds very contemporary. It’s quite difficult to categorise the genre for this song. Oasis have often been described as Britpop, which was a term to describe lots of British bands who emerged in the nineties. They are also described as rock, alternative and indie. The song was phenomenally successful and is still heard regularly on the radio today. Every time I hear it I am reminded of how much I love this song. They have released a lot of songs since this one, but I don’t think anything comes close to this standard.