Your English Five a Day #26.4

E253: 🎙️ Welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast with me, your host, Anna! Join us for Week 26, Day 4 of Your English Five a Day, where we provide your daily dose of English vocabulary to enrich your language skills.

🌟 Today's list kicks off with the noun "anticipation". Next up is the idiom "on the ball" and the adjective "elaborate". Then, we delve into another adjective, "impending", and finish off with a final adjective, "frantic".

🏦 🕵🏾‍♂️ After some pronunciation practice and a quick quiz,  we wrap up with a captivating story featuring a private detective's encounter with an unexpected turn of events at a local bank.

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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're listening to Week 26, Day 4 of Your English Five a Day, your healthy dose of daily English vocabulary to grow your overall vocabulary. So, let's start with today's list. We have a noun and it is anticipation. Anticipation. We spell this, A N T I C I P A T I O N. Anticipation. Anticipation. Anticipation describes the act of expecting something, eagerly expecting something or looking forward to something. So, you would anticipate something happening. And if that's the case, you have a sense of anticipation. Now, sometimes anticipation is a little bit unnerving. It's not always a positive or enjoyable sensation. I always find that if I have a live lesson or a session with students at the weekend when I would normally relax and spend time with my family, if the session is later in the afternoon or in the evening, I have this sense of anticipation for that particular session all day. So, I'm always keen to hold the fact in my mind that the session is coming up. It's like I'm worried that I might forget about it or I'm concerned that my day's activities will run over and mess up my schedule and then I won't be home in time to start the session on time. And so, I have this kind of anxiety or nervousness around that particular session. So, all day, I have a sense of anticipation for the session that I have booked. Am I alone in that? Does anyone else have that sensation when they have an important meeting booked in, or if you're a teacher and you have a private lesson later in the afternoon, do you feel the weight of it on your shoulders all day? Like you're anticipating it coming. Do you have that or is it just me? Here's another example,"The sense of anticipation in the room was noticeable as the students waited for the results of the competition to be announced." Alright, next on the list is an idiom and it is on the ball. On the ball. Ball being B A L L. To be on the ball is to be able to respond quickly to something, to react fast, to understand and be able to react to something almost immediately. It's like you're focused. If you are on the ball, you are focused and you know what's going on. Some days we are really on the ball. Some days we are super organised. We know what's happening and we can react to every inquiry, every change in circumstance we can react quickly to it. But other days, we are not on the ball. Other days, we wake up late, we feel groggy, our mind is clouded, we have no idea what's going on. When people ask questions and inquire about today's schedule, we are like,"I dunno, ask somebody else." If things suddenly happen, we don't know how to deal with the situation. I'm sure everyone has experienced a day when they were not on the ball. Here's another example,"Did you have a late night last night? You're definitely not on the ball today. Look at all these mistakes." Okay, next on the list is an adjective and it is elaborate. Elaborate. We spell this E L A B O R A T E. Elaborate. Elaborate means that something is detailed, very thorough and intricate. So, if you describe someone's story as being quite elaborate, then it's a very detailed story. Or an excuse if you give an excuse for something but you over-egg the pudding. There's another phrase. If you over-egg it, if you give too much detail, if you make the story too big, too intricate, too thorough, then people might not believe you because your excuse is far too elaborate to be true. Here's another example,"The artist's elaborate brushstrokes created a stunning masterpiece." Sometimes design is very elaborate, isn't it? And it's beautiful. Alright, so moving on, we have another adjective and it is impending. Impending. Impending, we spell I M P E N D I N G. Impending. Impending. Something that's described as impending is something that's about to happen. Or it's looming in the near future. Just when I talked about that sense of anticipation that you have for a meeting that's coming up, then you could say,"The impending meeting was weighing heavy on my mind.""The impending meeting left me with a sense of anticipation all morning." Here's another example,"The impending storm caused everyone to rush indoors for shelter." Alright, last on the list is another adjective and it is frantic. Frantic. We spell this F R A N T I C. Now, you're probably already familiar with this word. Not long ago, we covered the word frantically, the adverb frantically, to do something in a frantic way. So, frantic means the state of being wild and frenzied. So, if you do an activity in a wild frenzied way, then it's not orderly. It's not calm. It's not well thought through. I always imagine a mass of sharks all attacking a poor defenceless victim. If something is in the water, like a seal or a person and all the sharks are going for it. That attack would be a frenzied attack and they do go into a frenzy when they start attacking. They just go biting and splashing and twisting and thrashing around. It's just a frenzied attack. So, you could describe that as quite frantic. It's wild and it's frenzied. Here's another example,"The mother was frantic with worry when she couldn't find her young child in the crowded park." Now that's an example that I can hugely relate to. Anyone listening that has young children when you are in a park or in a busy area and you look around to see if you can spot your child just to check in and make sure they're all right. And you can't see them, but you keep scanning the scene and you still can't see them. And you start scanning with even more urgency, back and forth, up and down, looking at every single face, checking, checking, checking, looking all around you. This rising level of anxiety, this frantic sense starts to build and build and build. And then you start to shout and you become even more frantic. And it's just an awful feeling. And I've been there several times. My youngest son, Caspian has a habit of walking off. He doesn't seem to mind going off on his own. He doesn't worry about being on his own. And he particularly gets distracted when we are in busy town centres, or if we're ever at a theme park or somewhere where it's really busy. If I dare let go of his hand, then he's off. And I actually have taken to putting a wristband on him that has my phone number on because I get so concerned about losing him and I do get frantic. If I can't spot him within 10 seconds, I become a frantic mother. Okay, so that's our five for today. Let's do a quick recap. We started with the noun anticipation, which is the act of eagerly expecting or looking forward to something. Then we had the idiom on the ball, which means that you can quickly respond to something. You understand and you're able to react almost immediately. Then we had the adjective elaborate, which describes something as detailed, intricate, or thorough. Then we had the adjective impending, which describes something that is about to happen, or it's looming and coming in the very near future. Then we had the adjective frantic, which describes someone as being in a state of wild or frenzied activity. So, let's now do this for pronunciation purposes. Please repeat after me. Anticipation. Anticipation. On the ball. On the ball. Elaborate. Elaborate. Impending. Impending. Frantic. Frantic. Very good. Okay, let me test your memory now. Just a few days ago I was in a wild state, rushing around the house cleaning in the most crazy way. What adjective could I use to describe this wild, frenzied state that I was in trying to do my cleaning? Frantic. Frantic. I was in a frantic state. I was frantically trying to clean the house and all because there was something about to happen. My mother and father-in-law were about to arrive. So, there was this arrival that was looming in the very near future. What adjective could I use to describe this about-to-happen arrival? Impending. So, I was frantic trying to clean the house because of the impending visit that I was about to receive. My mother-in-law and my father-in-law were about to arrive. Now, when they finally rang the doorbell, I opened the door with a big smile, trying to wipe the sweat from my brow and try to welcome them with all the airs and graces that they expect. However, it transpired that I had really missed something. My mother-in-law presented me with a cake stand and told me that she was so excited about tasting the wonderful cake that I promised to make. But I, of course, had forgotten all about it. And I just responded with,"Huh?" And looked completely stupid, to be honest. What idiom could I use to describe my lack of understanding and inability to read the situation? I wasn't on the ball. I wasn't on the ball. I didn't understand what she was talking about. I didn't know how to react. I just looked at her with a very stupid look on my face and went,"Huh?" And then I remembered that only yesterday on the phone, I had promised to make her my signature cake. I'm absolutely fantastic at making carrot cake, but my mother-in-law has never tasted it and I promised I would make one, especially for her when she arrived on this particular day. And I had completely forgotten because I was frantic. I was trying to clean the house and get everything else ready that I'd completely forgotten. I just wasn't on the ball. So, instead of being open and honest about the fact that I was anxious about her arrival and so busy cleaning the house that I'd forgotten, instead I made up a very detailed excuse. I went into all sorts of detail about our dog being very poorly and needing to take him to the vet and it was all complete nonsense of course. But what adjective could I use to describe a detailed story? A very detailed story. Elaborate. Yes, I made up this elaborate story that was completely fabricated. And of course, she didn't believe me and so the atmosphere between us during her visit was just terrible. We were not seeing eye to eye whatsoever. And so I was very, very eagerly awaiting her departure. I was counting down the hours until she had to leave and I could not wait to see the back of her that particular day. What noun could I use to describe this act of eagerly looking forward to her leaving. Anticipation. There was a great sense of anticipation for her departure and a huge sense of relief when the door finally closed on the back of her."Ahh, phew! She's gone!" Okay. So, there we go. There's my off-the-cuff story. It started with me frantically cleaning my house because of the impending visitor that I was about to receive. Well, visitors, my mother-in-law and father-in-law, although my father-in-law is very easy. It's my mother-in-law that I feel most anxious about hosting. Anyway, she turned up and evidently I was not on the ball because she presented me with a cake stand and said she couldn't wait to taste the cake that I'd baked for her. I'd completely forgotten that I'd promised to bake her a cake, and I didn't react to the situation very well. I just looked at her with a stupid look on my face and said,"Huh?" Instead of saying,"Thank you so much. And I can't wait to show you the cake that I'm going to make for you right now." Instead, I just made a right mess of everything. And that led to a huge rift between us because what I actually did was go into an elaborate excuse as to why I hadn't made a cake and she could see right through it. She knew I was lying. It was just far too elaborate. And so I spent the next day in great anticipation of her departure. And when she did leave, I felt a huge sense of relief. Okay, so let's revisit those items one last time in today's storytime. As a private detective, I have seen my fair share of strange and mysterious cases. But nothing could have prepared me for the events that would unfold on a seemingly ordinary day. It was a warm summer morning and I was sitting at my desk, sipping a cup of coffee and going through some paperwork. But just as I was starting to feel the mundane routine settle in, my phone rang, interrupting the quietness of my office. Ugh! The voice on the other end was frantic and urgent. It was my old friend, John, who worked as a security guard at a local bank. He told me that he had overheard a suspicious conversation between two men, who were planning to rob the bank later that day. Without wasting any time, I got in my car and headed towards the bank, my mind already racing with the impending danger. When I arrived at the bank, I could see that everything was calm and there was no sign of any potential robbery. But I knew I had to stay on the ball and not let my guard down. I decided to go inside and look for John, who was helping out at the front desk that day. As I walked towards him, I couldn't help but notice the nervous anticipation on his face. I asked him for more details about the conversation he overheard and he informed me that the robbery was supposed to take place in the afternoon. Just then, a group of men entered the bank, their faces covered with masks. I stayed calm, trying to blend into the crowd and observe their every move. I could feel the adrenaline rush through my veins as I anticipated their next move. But to my surprise, the men didn't make any sudden moves. In fact, they casually walked up to the front desk and handed John a bouquet of flowers, along with a note. John's face lit up with disbelief and joy as he read the note. It turns out that it was all just an elaborate plan to surprise him on his birthday. What's the best birthday surprise you've ever had? And that brings us to the end of today's episode. If you enjoyed it today, please don't forget to give it a like, rating or review. And as always, please remember to recommend The English Like a Native Podcast to your friends. Until tomorrow, take very good care and goodbye.