Hi there, everybody and welcome back to my English lessons where I try to help
you to get a better understanding of English. How to use it in that certain
conversations, either business or personal. And also aspects to do with English expressions,
idioms, all sorts of aspects that you might have some difficulty with.
So what am I going to talk to you about now? We want to look at the word 'due'.
So first of all, just the spelling d u, e. and pronunciation is almost with the
J sound like j. So, due, okay, due, d-u-e but sounds like j, due.
The Americans in American English they pronounce it duː?
Yeah, it is duː. So you might hear that in movies or in Netflix type programmes.
But in terms of British English, we will pronounce it d u. e. Due.
So how do we use it? Well, first of all, let's look at it as an adjective because of course,
it can be used in that context. So let me give you a couple of examples of that.
The assignment is due on Tuesday. The assignment is due on Tuesday. Now what that means is that
the time when you have to submit your assignment or the time when you have to hand in
your assignment is Tuesday. So it might be a particular time. So the assignment
is due on Tuesday. You might not have completed it by Tuesday, and you might
miss the deadline but before that the assignment is due on Tuesday.
She revealed that she is due to have a baby in the summer, okay, she revealed her due date is in the
summer. So have a friend or some family member is going to expect a happy event or the birth of
a baby. So she announced her due date is in the summer. Okay, so the due date is the date when
the baby is expected to be born. But of course we all know as as fathers and parents that it doesn't
always happen that way. And it might be a little early or it might be a little late. So the due
date is 20th of July or the 10th of August. But of course, it might arrive early, or indeed it might
arrive late but the due date, the date and when it is expected. So using it there as an adjective.
He was driving without due care and attention. Often when we see some court case in the local
Magistrate's office where somebody has been fined several hundred euro or lost their driving licence
because they were deemed or appeared to be driving without due care and attention. Due care means
not being careful, being reckless or careless with his driving. So without due
care and attention to other road users. And as a result, he's been stopped by the police.
He's been charged with this particular road offence, and he has to appear before
the magistrate and he gets a fine, or perhaps his licence suspended. Due care and attention.
With all due respect, Sir, I think you are wrong. So we would use it in this way when
we want to be very, very polite with somebody but we want to disagree with them. So somebody makes
a statement, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And you say, well, with all due respect,
Sir, I think you are wrong. So when we use with all due respect,
we are paying respect to somebody who perhaps is a little older than we are. Somebody with a
little bit more knowledge than we are perhaps it's the boss, perhaps it's the head of the family,
whatever it might be, we believe that we should give them some respect. So we say with all due
respect to you, Sir. Okay, so these are four examples when we reduce due as an adjective.
So let's look at the construction. We can use it as
due to with the infinitive, okay. So due to as the infinite and when we use it in this particular
situation, mostly to do with timetables, unexpected times, or indeed fixed times.
Okay, she is due to give birth any day now. She's due to give birth late in the summer.
She is due to give birth in the next few weeks. So there's a time aspect, a timetable
or indeed a schedule. For example, the plane is due to arrive in 20 minutes. The train is
due to arrive at 5:30. Again, we're looking at due plus that infinitive, and then that specific
time. Due to arrive, due to be delivered, due to have the baby. Yeah, so all of those are talking
about times scheduled. And in that situation, we're using due to with the infinitive, okay?
We can also use due as a phrase to modify nouns. And when we talk about modifying nouns,
we really mean giving the reason why we use it. Okay?
So for example, the road has been closed for two days due to a traffic accident. So there's a bad
traffic accident and some cars have crashed, or several cars that crashed or a tree had fallen
across the road. So the road is closed due to a serious traffic accident.
Okay, so this is the reason we're modifying the noun with the reason why the road is closed.
Or a famous footballer has been forced to retire due to a serious knee
injury. So one of your star players on your favourite football team
plays a couple of games, then he's injured, plays a couple of games, and he's injured for a longer
period or he's out for a complete season. And then suddenly, you hear an announcement that,
due to this serious injury, or the series of injuries, he has been forced to retire. Due to.
I'd like to transfer my work from daytime to nighttime
due to family reasons. So you have some family issue, perhaps your partner is sick, and you
have to take kids to school or prepare meals. So you'd prefer to work on the night shifts,
rather than the day shifts. So you could ask somebody that I'd like to transfer my
particular work schedule or my time of working from a daytime to nighttime. And this is due
to family issues, due to family concerns, due to some family commitments. But again,
we're modifying the noun to say why we are looking for that particular change. Okay?
Then we also use due to when something is owed to somebody. Okay, so perhaps you've booked
some tickets for a concert or a show, and the concert or the show has been cancelled,
because the star performer is sick, so you want to get your money back. Okay, so
you get told by the organisers, we will refund the money due to you by the end of the week.
Or indeed, as has happened in lots of situations recently, flights have been cancelled here,
there and everywhere. So the airline may announce that they will refund the money due to you
in 10 days, or when you complete an application form, or when you make the
choice whether you want your money back or you're happy to accept some form of credit.
Special thanks are due to our teachers who provided our students with wonderful assistance
that they all pass their exams successfully. So special thanks are due to somebody.
Or when somebody is retiring, we'd like to honour the person who's retiring as a special thanks
due to him for all the work and dedication hours and months and years that he has put
into this company to make it the success that it is and that it has been. So these
thanks are due to the person who has decided to retire after a very illustrious and long career.
We can also use due to with a lot of collocations or expressions. So let me give you
a few of those that we talk about due diligence. So if you're ever involved in some form of a
takeover or a merger or an acquisition of another company, what they tend to do,
is there a series of exercises called due diligence. So you examine the books or the
accounts or the records of the company that you have targeted. Okay, so due diligence.
We can use the expression in due course,
means that sometime in the future, they're not going to be specific with a date. So,
as we mentioned before about refunds, the refunds will be made in due course.
Or if you apply for a particular job, and you
submit your CV and your cover letter, you might get a holding letter back from the company or the
employment office that have come to you to say that, thank you very much for your CV,
thank you for your interest in this job, you will be hearing from us in due course. So
not being committed in terms of when they will get back to you but they've given you some indication
that they have received your application but it may be a little time before you hear from them.
So the results of the exam will be given to the students in due course. Okay, so lots of ways and
sort of telling people Yep, we are aware of it. Yes, we are aware of your interest,
but it won't be immediate. So it will happen in due course, okay.
And we can also use the word overdue. So when something is overdue, it's past the date.
So we mentioned earlier on about the pleasant experience of a family friend
or partner who's going to have a baby. And if the due date as we call it was the
10th of June, but come the 10th of June, no baby has arrived on the 12th of June,
we're still sitting out on the edge of our seats. So the baby is then overdue, meaning it was due
on the 10th. But then the 12th, the 13th, the 14th, no sign of baby, okay. So overdue.
Or if you borrow a book from the library, and you're supposed to return it within a couple
of weeks, and you forget about it, you may get a little notice on your email from the library
telling you that the return of the book is overdue. It should have been returned to the
library several weeks ago, but you went away on holiday and forgot about it. I must take it back
because it is now overdue, okay. So just different ways in which we can use those particular words.
So remember the pronunciation, due. Okay, it's the sound of the J sound and you will hear it as
I said, from Americans who pronounce it, du:, okay. But try from an English British English
point of view, due. The due date. The train is due at the date of the arrival of the baby
is due at this particular time. Okay, so that's all I have to say about the word due.
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