Your English Five a Day #24.2

E237: 🎙️ Welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast with me, your host, Anna! Tune in to Week 24, Day 2 of Your English Five a Day, where we embark on a journey to enrich your vocabulary with five carefully selected words or phrases every weekday.

🌟 Today, we start with the verb "serving", particularly used when talking about the armed forces. Then we take a look at the adjective "fervent", which is then followed by the noun "unease". Next up, we see the idiom "carry weight", and finally we dive into the noun "comrade".

🗡️ In today's moving story, we follow the heartfelt emotions of a spouse awaiting the safe return of their beloved husband serving overseas. Experience the fervent beliefs, unease, and camaraderie intertwined with the weight of duty and sacrifice.

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Transcript

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Hello, and welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast. My name is Anna and you are listening to Week 24, Day 2 of Your English Five a Day. This is the series where we aim to explode your active vocabulary by deep-diving into five pieces every day of the working week from Monday to Friday with extra episodes coming along on Saturday and if you're a Plus Member, a bonus episode on Sunday. So, we have something for you every single day. Let's get started with today's list. We begin with a verb and it is serving. Serving. I spell this S E R V I N G. Serving. Serving. This means to work for an organisation, normally the forces. So, if you say,"I am serving." Then you'd normally be working in the Army or the Navy or the Marines or the Air Force or something like that. So, you are a serving officer or a soldier serving your organisation or force. Obviously, you can also literally be serving if you are a waiter, you can say,"I'm serving right now, I'm busy." Or maybe if you work on the bars in a restaurant and there's a bar and you're a bartender, then you are serving customers. But this verb is also used when describing your work within the forces. Perhaps you have served at some point in your life. A funny little story that I don't think I've mentioned before. It's not funny actually, it's just a story. I tried to join the army when I was 16 years old. I felt very lost at that point in my life. I knew I wanted to be creative, but I hadn't had a very stable schooling. And so, I didn't have many options open to me. My mum wanted me to do something sensible. I wanted to do something creative, but I also had an interest in travel. And I thought one great way to travel is to be in the forces. And so, I applied and I went through the whole process and I was rejected. So, had I not been rejected, I would have had a very different path in life. Here's an example sentence,"I spent 27 years serving in the army. The experience shaped my life and made me the person I am today." Next on the list, we have an adjective and it is fervent. Fervent. We spell this F E R V E N T. Fervent. Fervent. Fervent describes usually beliefs or feelings that are very strong and sincere. So, you'll often hear fervent being coupled with beliefs and feelings, feelings or ideas. Here's an example sentence,"As an artist, I pour my heart and soul into my pieces and I'm a fervent believer in protecting the intellectual property of all artists." Are you a fervent believer in anything? I'm a fervent believer in'live and let live', in finding peaceful and balanced solutions to problems. That people should be treated fairly and that we should all try and find a way to live together harmoniously. I hate conflict. So, I'm a fervent believer in peace and harmony. Maybe that's because I'm a Libra. I like balance. Next on the list is a noun and it is unease. Unease. We spell this U N E A S E. Unease. Unease. This describes a feeling of discomfort or a feeling of uneasiness, not feeling comfortable like something's wrong. You can sense that you're anxious about something or something bad's about to happen. So, you have a feeling of unease. I have to be honest, when I'm alone at night if my partner is away and I'm alone in the house at night or with my children and it's just me, I'm the grown-up in the house, I always carry a sense of unease. I feel a little bit vulnerable and I find it hard to sleep because of this sense of unease that I've got. Here's another example,"The unease Lydia felt in the unfamiliar surroundings of her new job made her heart race." What gives you a feeling of unease? The next piece on the list is an idiom and it is to carry weight, if someone is described as carrying weight in this particular context, it means that they have a lot of influence or significance in a particular situation. So, celebrities and politicians, some of them are quite powerful and what they say has a big influence on people. So, they carry a lot of weight within certain circles. YouTubers, TikTokers, these modern-day influencers carry a lot of weight with a younger audience. Here's an example,"In politics, the recommendation of a popular figure can carry a lot of weight in swaying voters." The last item on the list is comrade. Comrade. We spell this C O M R A D E. Comrade. This is a noun that is pronounced quite differently in American English. They would say/ˈkɑːmræd/. Comrade. But we say/ˈkɒmreɪd/ with an/eɪ/ vowel at the end. Comrade. A comrade describes a fellow member of a group or an organisation, and it's usually someone who shares your beliefs or your goals. So, your friend within a group an organisation. So, for example, if you are serving in the forces, you will have friends within the forces who are also serving alongside you. They are your comrades. And this is where this particular noun is used more often than not within the forces. Okay, here's another example,"As a soldier, I consider my comrades to be my brothers in arms, always willing to fight for our country together." Fantastic. That's our five. Gosh, that's gone quickly, hasn't it? Let me do a quick recap. We started with the verb serving. Serving. To be working actively in an organisation, which is normally the forces. Then we had the adjective fervent. Fervent. Which means that you have very strong beliefs and very sincere beliefs or feelings. We then had the noun unease, which describes a feeling of discomfort or uneasiness because you're fearful or uncertain or anxious. We moved on to an idiom, to carry weight, to carry weight, which is to have significant influence or significance within a situation. And we ended with the noun comrade, comrade, which is a fellow member of a group or organisation who shares your beliefs or goals. Let's now do this for pronunciation. Serving. Serving. Fervent. Fervent. Unease. Unease. To carry weight. To carry weight. Comrade. Comrade. Fantastic. OK, let me test your memory. A long time ago, when I was working in the army, I had a little bit of an issue. Now, what verb could I use? Instead of saying working in the army, I could say when I was......serving in the army. That's right. So, a long time ago when I was serving in the army I had a little bit of an issue. I had a disagreement with my commanding officer. Now he would make us run for miles and miles, barefoot, in the rain, in the middle of winter, and he would do this every single day. Now, my father was a podiatrist, and I know that running barefoot in cold, wet conditions on a regular basis is not actually very good for you. And so, I have these very strong beliefs that him forcing us to do this barefoot running every day in the cold, wet winter was wrong. What adjective could we use to describe my strong beliefs? Fervent. I was a fervent believer that his actions were not benefitting us, but actually harming us. Now I wanted to tackle this head-on. I wanted to go straight to him and tell him that I disagreed with his method. But the idea of going to him and talking directly to him gave me a feeling of discomfort. I felt anxious about talking to him because he wasn't very approachable. What noun could I use to describe this feeling of discomfort or nervousness about speaking to him? Unease. I had this sense of unease, the idea of trying to talk to him about something that I disagreed with. So, instead, I went above his head to the next in line and put in my complaint. Now the person I spoke to has a lot of influence within the army and he really put his foot down. What idiom could we use to describe him having a lot of influence? He carries a lot of weight. Absolutely. His word carries a lot of weight within the forces. So, when he heard my complaint, he actually ended up giving my commanding officer a disciplinary for treating us so poorly. Now my commanding officer knew it was me that made the complaint, which was really awkward. And he made sure that everybody else knew that it was me as well. People were quite upset with me because most people actually really liked our commanding officer and didn't mind running barefoot on these cold winter days. But I did have a few fellow members of the group who supported me and made me feel more comfortable with my actions. What noun could I use to describe these fellow members? Comrades. Comrades. Yes, absolutely. In the end, it was all for the best because those barefoot runs that we had to do regularly stopped instantly. So, now my feet are in a much better state. So, I said that I was serving in the army many years ago, but I had a problem because I was a fervent believer that my commanding officer was being unfair by making us run barefoot in the winter, in the rain, and I felt a sense of unease at the idea of trying to talk to him about it. So, I went over his head and I went to the next in line, a man that carries a lot of weight within the armed forces, and when he heard my complaint, he actually gave my commanding officer a disciplinary. So, my commanding officer got into a lot of trouble. He was upset that I had dobbed him in, that I had gone over his head and made this complaint. And so, he made everyone else aware of the fact that I'd done this. Most people were unhappy with me, but my comrades stood by me and supported me in my actions. In the end, all was well. Okay, let's bring today's words together once more in today's story. As I sat on the front porch of my small farmhouse, I watched the sunset over the rolling hills of my family's land. It was a peaceful evening, but my mind was anything but calm. Today, I received a letter from my husband who is serving overseas. He writes about the fierce battles he is facing and how he longs to come home. I can't help but feel a sense of unease wash over me as I read his words. He describes in detail the work he is doing, and honestly, it is hard to read. My husband doesn't shy away from difficulty, he was born to serve. He has always been a fervent believer in fighting for justice and protecting those that are unable to protect themselves. He goes on to describe the intense cries of the innocent civilians caught in the crossfire and the passionate determination of his fellow soldiers to protect and serve. His words carry so much weight and emotion. As I continue to read, tears well up in my eyes. I can't imagine the horrors my husband and his comrades are facing on a daily basis. And yet, despite the danger, they all remain committed in their duty to their country. I am so grateful for their sacrifice and pray for my husband's safe return. I know that no matter the outcome, his dedication to his duty will never waver. And as the sun disappeared below the horizon, I held onto hope that one day, my husband would return home to me safe and sound. Until then, I will continue to pray for his well-being and for peace in the world. And that brings us to the end of today's episode. If you did find this useful, then I'd really appreciate if you could take a second to leave a like, a rating, or a review, so that others may find this podcast too. Until next time, take very good care, and goodbye.