Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Lesson 395. The title of today's lesson is the
difference between weep, sob, and whimper. All right.
Now of course they all have to do with like either crying or being unhappy, so
it can be confusing to try to clearly see the difference between these.
Hopefully after today's lesson you'll have a much better idea when we would
use one rather than the other. Okay. So let's look at the first one here. If we
say that someone weeps, it means that he or she cries by shedding tears. So tears
will definitely be running down their face and showing an overpowering
expression of sadness or sorrow.
It could be over a death or a serious breakup or something else that caused
very hurtful feelings. If you tried to compare the three I'd probably say weep
tends to last longer. This could be something that you know almost could put
somebody into like depression or something. It could take days. It could take
weeks to get over. Probably a lot of nights where you were crying for you
know, for a period of time. So weep is more intense in that sort of sense in
comparison to the other two. Okay. Good. All right well this is also good to note.
this." Weep" was always concerned with deep emotions like I said but one could also
weep for joy or weep for appreciation. So you could weep for something positive
too. Now that's the only one here that seems positive . It could have a positive use
as well. All right. Let's continue. When someone sobs, he or she cries with a
convulsive catching of the breath. So it's kind of like where they were like (sobbing sounds )
Kind of like that. That's what we mean by a convulsive catching of the breath
where it's repeated over ... like every five or ten seconds or something like that.
Anyone could sob of course but we especially associate it with children.
The emphasis is on is the continuous breathing sound. That's more like sobbing.
When somebody (sobbing sounds) Again that's more like sobbing. All right. Let's continue.
If someone whimpers he or she is making unhappy and frightened sounds as if what
is about to cry . Like , oh no ! What did I do that ? Oh. Something along that line. Feeling
pain, frightened , especially showing weakness too. And often expressing it in
a whining way. Remember when we say whining that's, that's when somebody
speaks like at a high nasal sort of a voice. Like ... what are you doing ? No.. I didn't do that. No !. Kind
of like that. This is more like on the whimpering sound and whining is that
annoying nasal sound that somebody says. What ? Oh no , no . You know kind of like that.
That's more like whimpering. All right . Let's continue. So let's just give several... a
number of examples here to cover all these. She wept for many nights grieving over
his death. Yeah. That would be more like weep . All right number two here. Jane wept
in a pillow for days after breaking up with her boyfriend . It could be. Again very
deep feelings, very deep emotions usually with weep. She wept for joy when she
learned they found her missing son. Yeah. Maybe the son was missing for several days. Oh my God !They found him. Oh.
You know kind of like that. So we could say it in that way.
Okay. Let's look at number four. That child sobbed for two hours because her mother
would not buy her a particular toy. So she knows maybe like sitting in the
backseat of a car. (sobbing sounds ) You know, going for a long time. It could be for a while. You
probably not more than that because it actually gets tiring to be crying like
that. Because you're breathing in that air. You know, eventually of course, it
will stop or they will forget about it. It could be less time . It doesn't have to be
that long, but that's again... the convulsive breathing sound is what
really makes it a sob. Okay. Let's continue. She sobbed, I'm sorry. So this is
like you know (sobbing sounds )I'm sorry. Kind of like that. Okay. And number six. He sobbed like a baby. Yeah. A
lot of times we say this too. Like comparing it to a child because it's often
the way a children may sob. So he sobbed like a baby when they told him he would
be going to jail . Okay. All right. Let's continue. Number seven . Don't
touch me she whimpered. Leave me alone. Don't touch me .Leave me alone. You know , kind of in a ... again. Maybe in a high
nasal tone. Maybe a little bit of weak sounding. Yeah. That would be a whimper. We
could use it with an animal too. You know, We often hear that. You know that animal
whimpered away. Maybe it got ... it hurt its leg or something. So we could use whimper
with that. Again usually frightened , weak scared , a little bit annoying. With the
high sound whimper. All right. If anybody remembers the old ... well most people do
remember it. Because it was always showed on old reruns. But it's from a long long time
ago. Laurel from the comedy duo Laurel & Hardy. They used to be in black and white
and it was one big fat comedian and went all you know thinner comedian or smaller
thinner comedian ... But he would always be the one (whimpering sounds Oh no. Hardy. )And sometimes you can't even
understand what he was talking about. But he was a perfect example of whimpering.
That's exactly what whimpering is. So if you a little confused you can kind of
look up Laurel and Hardy. It's actually kind of funny It's all slapstick. Some
scenes are still pretty funny. Okay. Let's continue here. So he was
often whimpering and here the last one we might tell somebody. Stop whimpering. I
can barely understand what you are saying (whimpering sounds) kind of .,, A
little bit like that. That might be whimpering. Okay. Anyway, I
hope you got it. I hope it's clear. I hope you can now get a
better feel of when you might use one of these vocabulary words instead of the
other. Okay. Thank you for your time. Bye- bye.