Hi there, this is teacher Harry back again with another lesson. Hopefully,
you've enjoyed the previous lessons. And today we're going to look at some small talk issues.
So we're going to look at talking about the weather because it's an ideal, and a really good
topic for small talk, particularly with British and indeed, Irish people, when they are living in
islands that are surrounded by water, the weather is a really, really important topic,
it's the centre of attention every day you wake up, you have to check outside the window to see
what is happening because you want to know what to wear. So it's not like living on the
continent when you know, it's going to be sunny, or you know, it's going to be wet. So we have to
check it all the time. So as I said, it makes an ideal small talk conversation piece. So what I'm
going to try and do for you is to give you some situations that you will find useful,
and then give you an explanation as to what those weather conditions mean. So that you will be able
to join in those sort of conversations at ease. Okay, so let's work on with this.
So first of all, I'm going to give you
four situations where which will be questions you can ask about weather conditions.
So for example,
what's it like outside?
What's the weather like?
What's the weather forecast?
How's it looking outside?
These are just the questions that people would normally ask their
partner or somebody in the house or in the office when they get up first,
or they haven't been out. So what sort of answers will we give? What?
What's it like outside work? Well, it looks like it always does
wet and dull, or wet and rainy, okay?
Or what's it like inside? Actually, it's not so bad today, the sun is shining. So, you know,
give you an indication that you can go out, perhaps without the heavy coat or a light jacket?
What's the weather like? Well, the response to that would be what, what do you think?
Can you hear the rain? It's hitting off the roof of the house? So it's a bit obvious?
Or what's the weather like?
It looks the same as it's been for the last few days, it looks a little bit
settled there. So perhaps it's not so bad. After all.
What's the weather forecast? So this means, you know, have you heard
or have you read? Or have you seen? What are they forecasting?
Well, it's the forecast is today for rain about
midday or wind or sunshine or whatever you've heard, but you know, yourself,
you can't believe that the weather forecast, they always get it wrong.
So that, again, is a very typical reaction we'd get so if somebody says, Have you heard the
weather forecast, but I don't bother listening to that, because it's always wrong. So again,
another reaction that you typically hear in the conversations in Ireland and the UK.
And then as I said, How does it look means well, when you pull back the curtains or you
lift the blind, or you look out of the window, is it How does it look? Meaning
what's the weather like. Where the wind is blowing, it looks a little bit cold to me. So
I think you need to put your jacket on or it looks a little bit wet To me, it could be
a day for the umbrella or if it's really raining and really heavy. You could I think it's a day for
the wellies and the wellies or the Wellington boots, the rubber shoes that we have to put on to
protect our feet from getting very very wet and in our wet conditions.
Okay, so it could be a day for the umbrella or it could be a day for the brolly abroad is another
word we use in English. So the umbrella is what we put up to protect ourselves
from the rain and the brolly is exactly the same.
And in England, we have these little folding brollies that you can put
inside a pocket in your jacket. Or a woman can put it into a handbag.
Or the old fashioned umbrella that you can hang down with that wooden handle from your arm,
You're walking down the street with your umbrella. So it's a day for the brolly day
for the umbrella. Or if it's really bad, as I said, a day for the wellies, or what we call the
Wellington boots, the rubber boots that we wear to protect our shoes and our feet.
So those are the typical questions that you might ask or somebody might ask you
when they're looking to find out what the weather conditions are.
So let's look in more detail of what some of those weather conditions, in fact,
really are. So we talked about rain first, because,
indeed here in the UK and Ireland, the rain falls quite a lot. So different ways of describing rain.
It's lashing.
It's drizzling.
It's spitting.
It's pouring down, or there's a downpour case or different ways of describing rain.
So when we say it's lashing, it means the rain is really heavy and it could be
rain driven by the wind so the umbrella is completely useless because the wind will
drive the rain under the umbrella and you're going to get wet anyway and if it's a windy day,
push the umbrella is just going to turn inside out or disappear completely so lashing really heavy
rain and usually, before you even look outside the window, you can hear it against the window pane
shore on the roof of the house or wherever you happen to be living.
It's drizzling is slightly better drizzling means it's the rain is falling but it's not
so heavy and but you're still going to get wet but perhaps the umbrella then
will protect you or a hat or a raincoat. So drizzling is light rain that still falling
quite continuously, but not so bad. And something you can get used to.
When you say it's spitting rain Well, when we spit with like this,
okay, but so this gives you an indication when it's spitting rain, it's not continuous. Okay,
so maybe it's the beginning of a rain shower, or they're just some light clouds around and
occasionally some rain begins to fall so well it's spitting rain usually means it's
beginning to rain and perhaps Yes, it would be a good idea to bring that umbrella or to bring
the rain cord even if you don't have to wear it. You might carry it for some protection.
pouring down and downpour while these bolts suggest that the rain is really really heavy,
so you look outside the window hot, it's pouring down with rain or it's just pouring down in
the rain is coming down really heavily on the windows in the puddles on the street outside,
whatever it might be. It's pouring down like taking a glass of a toothpick, my glass of water
and I pour it out pouring downs the the the action that you get, or if it's a downpour means it's a
sudden heavy fall of rain like a tropical cloudburst and a downpour means it happens for
quite a long period of time. But then it stops. So there's a downpour. And then yet you can go
out as we used to say run between the rain clouds and it stops and you can run to the
shops and come back before. Hopefully there's another downpour and you get very very wet.
Okay, so we've looked at rain. Now let's look at wind.
Well, when we talk about wind there are lots of ways we can describe it.
The wind can be blustery.
The wind can be a gale force wind or a hurricane.
It can be a breeze, a gentle breeze or
a gust and we often use with a sudden gust is let me explain those to you.
So when we talk about the wind being blustery, we're not quite sure which direction
the wind is coming from. Often we can say all the wind is coming from the west or
the wind is coming from the north or the wind is coming from the south. So we know
its direction. But when it's blustery, it's blowing around from east or west and
when we're not quite sure. So yeah, it's hard to know which way to walk or indeed,
it can be hard to know what to wear because of its blustery doesn't necessarily mean it's cold.
If it's wind from the north and you need a warm jacket, if it's wind from the south,
you might need a lighter jacket when is blustery. You're not quite sure what you need. If it's
gale-force or hurricane while you know then that the wind is really really strong. And so no matter
which direction it's coming from, it's going to be very, very strong, it's going to be hard for
you to hold an umbrella because it will certainly be blown away or turned inside out and damaged.
And if it's gale force, you got to hold your jacket around just so that the wind doesn't
whip it off and get you to be feeling cold. Okay, so gale-force winds head down and you're marching
into the wind to protect yourself. So those really strong winds that you see from pictures of America
where there are lots of hurricanes around this time of the year. So gale-force means blowing
very, very heavily so it could be 60, 70, 80 kilometres an hour or even higher and stronger.
And we talk about a breeze we often use a gentle breeze and the word gentle means light in case our
light breeze or a gentle breeze so yet the trees are moving a little bit the bushes are blowing,
but it's going to be a pleasant day. Yeah, yes, we can go out for a walk. It's just a gentle breeze.
It will keep us cool in that hot sun. So sometimes that gentle light breeze accompanies a warm
sunny day so you get the feeling of warmth and sun but you don't get burnt or you don't feel too
hot because there's a gentle breeze and you can feel the wind in your face. It's not so strong.
And then gusts. Gusts are sudden bursts of wind so they don't it's not continuous or a gust so
if you leave the door open or the wind or open a gust of wind will come
through the house and the door will bang on. Yeah, okay, so somebody has shot close
the window there's a gust so the gust of wind or if you're looking out the window
and suddenly the wind blows and all the leaves on the ground, blow up or that papers that may be
underground swirl around a little bit. That can be because of a gust of wind. So you can be walking
along quite pleasantly, and there's a sudden gust of wind that might be a little bit uncomfortable.
or indeed, if you're on a bike, and you're cycling along nicely, and then suddenly there's
a gust of wind in your bike wobbles a little bit or makes it a little bit difficult for you
to get up that particular hill or incline. So that can be a gust.
So hopefully then we can talk about hot weather. Yeah. And hot weather is that those wonderful days
of the summer when the sun is shining? So what are the different ways in which we can describe it?
Well, we can simply say it's hot. But often we use words like it's boiling hot.
Or it's scorching, or scorching hot, or we're having a heatwave. So when it's boiling hot,
it's a bit like water boiling and the pan on the oven bubble, bubble bubble. Yeah. So boiling hot,
you go inside, and within a few minutes, you're sweating or the perspiration is running down
your face, or you feel your clothes a little bit uncomfortable, particularly if you do any form of
exercise or walk or indeed a run. So it's boiling hot today, the temperature is over 30 degrees,
you know, you're looking for air or you're looking for something soft and cold to drink.
scorching is another form of boiling. It's just another way to describe it.
to scorch something means to burn it very badly.
So a fire, if there's a forest fire, for example, the earth and the ground can be scorched.
And you'll see the black marks of where there was a forest fire. So when we
refer to something as scorching hot, we mean, it's almost like burning. Scorching hot.
Like when you walk on hot sand at the beach, and you take your shoes off to go down to the
water's edge and you're on. The stand is scorching, it's been
under the direct sunlight for a couple of hours. And when you get to the beach,
it's not so comfortable. So you have to wear those flip flops. Yep, so it's scorching hot.
And then as you said, we could be having a heatwave and a heatwave is usually
several days or could even be weeks where you've got continuous hot sunshine without a break. So
you know, here in Ireland, we often have a heatwave for three or four days during the
summer and it's very pleasant to have it sometimes a little bit uncomfortable to sleep at nighttime,
but you know, it's not going to last too long. So we're in the middle of a heatwave or where
there's a heatwave has just started and it's expected to last for several days. So heatwave.
Okay, and finally we go back to Yes, unfortunately, the cold weather,
the cold weather of winter or early spring. So different words and ways we can describe cold
we can talk about a cold snap s-n-a-p. A cold snap.
Something can be bitterly cold, bitterly cold,
or just wintry.
Okay, so when we talk about a cold snap, it's the opposite of that heatwave. Okay, so it's
cold weather that comes and lasts for several days. So you know, there's a cold snap expected
next week. So it could be the first days of winter and the last days of autumn when the
temperature drops quite suddenly, and you might have an overnight frost. And that will be followed
by several days of zero temperatures or even perhaps below zero, so that's a
cold snap. So it's something that happens quite suddenly. But it tends not to last so long.
But we can talk about bitterly cold when there's a wind of
the wind that comes from the north during the winter is bitterly cold bitterly. It's like
sitting in an icebox or sitting in the freezer so it's bitterly cold. So we hear
expressions of it's bitterly cold today I don't know how anybody can walk in that. Or it's
bitterly cold. It's too cold to go for my normal run or do my workouts at home. Bitterly cold.
And then wintry is just a general word to describe the conditions, how the conditions,
wintery conditions that you know the roads tend to have some ice, not every day there is frost,
not every day, you know the leaves are covered and a bit of frost. So these are the wintery
conditions that we expect. The wind is cold rain fears like ice when it falls all of the conditions
that we expect to have in the winter. So we refer to them generally as wintery conditions.
They were the conditions for drive, you know, very wintry, so you have to be careful either
you change your tires if you have to do those winter tires, or you just take extra care and
attention. When you're driving on the roads in case you occasionally come across some ice
or black ice that you just can't see until it's too late. So when should conditions
Okay, so I've covered their situations. The words that we use when we're asking about the weather,
we've spoken about the rain we've spoken about. When it's hot as a heatwave,
we've spoken about the wind. And then we spoke about when it's cold.
So now we're going to look at common or simple errors that people make when
talking about the weather. So let me take them one at a time, and I'll explain them to you.
The most common mistake that people make when they're learning English, and they're talking
about the weather is they confuse nouns and adjectives or even verbs when we've got the
terms that we're talking about. So let's give you the correct and the incorrect versions.
For example, How's the weather? Sorry, I ask the question. How is the weather? It is snow. That's
incorrect. It is snowy. Or it is snowing would be the correct answer. So how's the weather? It
is snowy adjective or it is snowing. Okay, but not it is snow. Okay, because snow is the noun.
What's it like out? Or what's it like outside? Again, this will be another question. What's it
like out? Meaning when you go out? Or what's it like outside? So simple question and the answers
could be, it is rain. Incorrect. It is rainy. Or it is raining. Again, the correct answer is it is
rainy. As an adjective, it is raining as the verb but not it is rain. Yeah. You can say
there is rain falling out, but that's a little bit too formal. So normally say it's rainy, or
it is raining. Yeah. Okay, so just be very careful to get the correct response. And you have to do
that with all of those nouns and adjectives and verbs. So it's the same if I asked you, you know,
How is the weather? Oh, it is sunny. S-u-n-n-y. Not, it is sun. Or, you know, if I said you or
the sun is shining, you don't say it is shiny? Yeah. Because that would usually refer to light
is very shiny, but the sun is shining. Yeah. Okay, or there is sunshine. There's lots of
sunshine. So be really, really careful how you use those nouns and adjectives and verbs and
not to fall into the trap of simple mistakes. So is sunny is the adjective. The sun is shining
is the verb, but it's not. It is shiny. Yeah, because, as I said, that refers to the light
for the car lights are very shiny, or the torch or I don't like your lamp, it's very shiny. So
the sun is shining, or it is sunny, or the sun is very hot.
Okay, so just make sure you use the correct terminology when you're talking about the
weather. And it'll sound or make your small talk sound much, much more professional,
much, much more like a native speaker, and you'll be able to join with those conversations with a
lot of confidence. Okay. Okay, so that's the small talk pieces in relation to the weather.
As I said at the beginning of this particular lesson, the weather is a very, very popular topic
with those people living in Ireland and the UK in particular, but also people on the continent,
because if they don't know what to ask you, or they don't know how to start a conversation,
whether they want something as we call it, an icebreaker. And that's usually about the weather,
because it's, it's non-committal, it's not going to upset anybody, but it gets somebody to ask a
question and answer it to start the conversation. So Oh, how's the weather today? Or what's the
weather like in your country? Or how's the weather where you are? Or what's it like outside or, you
know, is it really wet. So lots and lots of ways to get you involved in that conversation. And the
best thing for you to do is to practice not to be worried if you make a little bit mistake because
when you're talking about rain, or sun, or wind or hot or cold, it's hard to make too many mistakes,
but just try and remember, as I set out in this, the difference between the nouns, the adjectives,
and the verbs, and then try and practice the different ways in which you can talk about those
nouns like the rain, or how you can talk about the wind or how you can talk about the sun, or how you
can talk about the things that you need, like your wellies, or your brolly, or your umbrella or your
raincoat or your rain hat or whatever it might be. All of those words will add to your vocabulary and
will help you sound much, much more professional and is said to give you much more confidence.
Okay, well, this is teacher Harry. And as always, thanks for listening. And if you like this, and
you want to help me to continue the lessons, well try and support us and we'll join you again soon.