If you don’t look well – you should see a doctor / go to your doctor. And for that, you may need to make an appointment with your doctor.
The two expressions see a doctor and go to the doctor can be used to indicate a need to consult a doctor, that is, to obtain medical advice and any necessary treatment.
Now let’s look at a simpleconversation between doctor and patient. This is an interactive listening and speaking practice. Please listen and then repeat after Mark. Have fun learning to talk with a doctor and speak English now.
How are you feeling today?
Not very well, Doctor.
Tell me about it.
Well, I have a terrible headache.
How about your throat?
It hurts a little.
Do you have a cough?
Yes, I have a cough, too.
Do you feel weak?
Yes, I get tired very quickly.
Let’s take your temperature.
Your temperature is 39.1 degrees Celsius.
You have a fever.
It seems the you have the flu.
Oh, that’s terrible.
Don’t worry.
Take this medicine and rest.
OK. I understand.
Please come back next week for a checkup.
I will.
Thank you Doctor.
Find a few more useful sentences below. Listen carefully and write them down.
Start by watching the video to listen to the introductory explanation. Pause it, finish reading the post, and then go back to the exercises in the video.
Have/get + object + past participle
We use this structure, the Passive Causative form, to talk about services that we receive, about things which we don’t do by ourselves but someone else does for us.
I had/got my hair cut.
I got/had my car repaired.
I am going to have/get my house painted.
If you’re doing the action, you can simply use “cut”:
I cut my hair.
When someone cuts your hair for you, you have/get a haircut,
He got a haircut and did/ran other errands during the lunch hours.
I was planning to finish work early today, get a haircut, and maybe do some shopping.
Did you know that the vowel sound in SAYS is different than that in SAY?
Many English learners get surprised when they realize that this very common verb, SAY, has slightly different pronunciation in the different forms of this word.
Listen carefully and practice.
Now, do you know what IF YOU SAY SO means?
“If you say so” can have several meanings, depending on context and tone.
It can mean a very respectful “Okay, I accept your word as an expert,” or “I don’t know, but I’ll take your word for it.”
It can imply that the listener is not interested in what the other person has to say. Rather than give his/her input, he or she ignores the matter with a remark like this.
Also used to indicate a weak agreement, it means I won’t argue with you, or I won’t contest your opinion. Unsaid, but implied: “I’m not at all sure you are right,” “It’s only your opinion,” and “I don’t want to fight.”
A: “Eating eggs has made me super-intelligent!” B: “If you say so.” (the person doesn’t necessarily agree)
More examples:
If you say so , I won’t insist.
“I’m fine, don’t worry about me.” ” If you say so .”
Well, if you say so , Shelley, I’ll make sure he sees a therapist.
The tone of voice would make the meaning clear. 😉
Note:
I did some further research on the pronunciation of “says”. /seiz/ used to be the standard pronunciation of “says” which was gradually replaced by the shorter /sɛz/. The former appears to have survived as a non-standard dialectal form:
As the linguist Fidelholtz wrote back in 1975 — ‘Frequent words can do exceptional things’. The verb to ‘say’ is a good example of a mundane verb that is used a lot and that does exceptional things. ‘I say, you say, we say, they say’. There’s nothing peculiar here. It’s the so-called third person form that is the problem — this is where the verb falls out of kilter. In Standard English this is pronounced as ‘he/she/it sez’, and not ‘he/she/it says’. So it’s the shortened version ‘sez’ that is standard; the full form ‘says’ is now considered non-standard, dialectal.
Do you have a big family? What do you like doing when you spend time with your family?
Talking about family could be a good way to start a conversation in English, so it’s useful if you know what to say and if you have some questions to ask.
First, let’s review the vocabulary by looking at the family tree:
Watch the video to listen to examples of simple sentences.
Now gradually add more details and be more specific. Listen carefully and take notes.
So, are you now ready to talk about your family? Introduce them. Say who they are. Add details to make your answer longer and interesting.
1. Introduce your family and say who these people are:
There are four people in my family: my wife, my two sons and myself.
2. Talk about Brothers and Sisters:
I have two brothers and one sister.
I just have one sister.
I’m an only child.
Make it more interesting by adding more information:
I have two older brothers and one older sister. I’m the youngest in the family.
I just have one sister, who’s five years older than me.
I’m the middle child: my brother is two years older, and I have a younger sister who’s finishing university this year.
3. Immediate and Extended Family
In English, we sometimes draw a line between your immediate family (or nuclear family):
Immediate family –> you, your husband/wife, your children, parents, brothers and sisters
And your extended family:
Extended family –> uncles, aunts, cousins, nephews, nieces, grandparents, grandchildren
There are six people in my immediate family: my parents, my brother and his wife, my sister and me. I have a lot of other relatives, but they live in Canada so we don’t see them often.
If you want to be more specific, you can mention who is part of your paternal side of the family and maternal side of the family, the relatives on/from your dad’s side, and on/from your mom’s side of the family.
4. Talking about Your Children:
I have three kids: two girls and a boy.
We have a newborn son.
We have one daughter, and my wife’s expecting our second child.
Add details to make your answers longer and more interesting:
I have three kids: two girls and a boy. Our eldest daughter has just started secondary school, and the two younger ones are still in primary school.
5. Talking about Your Relationship with Your Family
Finally, let’s add some information about how often you see your family, and what you like to do together:
I’m very close to my family. We have lunch together every weekend.
I see my older brother once a week; we play tennis or basketball together.
I try to spend as much time as possible with my kids.
There are more details you can still add!
I’m very close to my family. We have lunch together every weekend at my grandmother’s house. She always cooks something delicious!
I see my older brother once a week; we play tennis or basketball together. I don’t see my other brother so often, because he lives overseas, although we talk on Skype every so often.
I try to spend as much time as possible with my kids. We play cards, watch films, or go to the park if the weather’s nice.
6. Making a Longer Answer:
There are five people in my immediate family, although my extended family is quite large. I have two sisters, both younger, so I’m the oldest child. I don’t have kids yet but I’d like to have a big family one day. I see my parents and my sisters quite often, because we all live near each other, although I don’t see my other relatives that much.
What about you? Try to make a longer answer talking about your family. Use the vocabulary and ideas from the lesson to help you. Next time you talk about your family in English, hopefully you’ll have lots to talk about!
A cold frontreached southern Brazil from the 26th, Monday, causing rain. In its rear, a mass of cold air of polar originadvanced into the country.
Temperatures fell/dropped to below zero, with rare snowfall overnight in some places – as the polar air mass advanced toward the center-south. Ice and snow accumulated on the streets of cities where the wintry phenomenon was rarely seen.
Many cities in the mountains of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, the two southernmost states, registered either snow or freezing rain late Wednesday. The unusually extreme weather in the country’s south kept the thermometers between 0 and 5° C in the early hours of Wednesday and during Thursday. Some places still hadbelow-freezing (sub-zero) temperatures.
The relative humidity, the gusts of wind, the frost, and, consequently, the wind chill factor made us feel the cold even more intense.
Cars, streets, and highways were blanketed in ice while people took the opportunity to take pictures and play in the snow, building/making snowmen.
Snow is uncommon in Brazil, even in its southern region during the Southern Hemisphere’s winter. Brazil’s last blizzard (a severe snowstorm) was in 1957 when 1.3 meters of snow was recorded in a city in Santa Catarina state.
So, what can we do about it? Here are some tips.
Note: It’s the first time I decide to raise the issue of “ice safety.” Well,I guess change is everywhere. ?
Don’t miss out on the previous lessons on the weather!
