Okay.
Welcome to the POV Mini Stories, Point of View Mini Stories for the Longtime Affair
lesson-- same story different versions.
Let’s start.
First, we go to the past- ten years ago.
Ten years ago there was a very small man named Jim.
Jim was only one foot tall.
Even though Jim was forty-eight years old, people always perceived him as a child.
In the eyes of the public, Jim was just a cute little boy.
Jim hated this.
He said "I want people to accept me as I really am.
I want them to give me unconditional respect.
I don’t want people to go on treating me like a child."
So Jim went to the gym and exercised every day.
He became very strong.
He also learned kickboxing.
One day a tall man saw him, laughed and said "you’re such a cute little man, ha ha ha."
Jim got angry.
He yelled and said "I’m going to kick your ass."
He kicked the man.
They started to fight.
The fight lasted for twenty hours.
The men’s’ hands and legs became intertwined and they fell down.
Jim finally broke free from the man.
Then he jumped up and kicked the man in the head.
Jim won the fight and he yelled "no matter how you slice it I just kicked your ass."
Alright.
That’s our past version.
Now let’s move to the perfect version, we call it, I guess.
Here we go.
Since last year -- okay.
There’s a very small man named Jim.
Jim is only one foot tall.
Even though Jim is forty-eight years old people have always perceived him as a child.
In the eyes of the public, Jim has always been just a cute little boy.
Jim has always hated this.
But since last year he has become very upset.
Every day he has said "I want people to accept me as I really am.
I want them to give me unconditional respect.
I don’t want people to go on treating me as a child."
And so, since last year, Jim has gone to the gym and has exercised every day.
He has become very strong.
He has also learned kickboxing.
Well, one day a tall big man saw him and laughed and said "you’re such a cute little man,
ha ha ha."
Jim got angry.
He yelled and he kicked the man.
They started to fight.
The fight lasted for twenty hours.
The men’s’ hands and legs became intertwined and they fell down.
Jim finally broke away from the man.
Then he jumped up and kicked him in the head.
Jim won the fight and he yelled "no matter how you slice it I just kicked your ass.
" Alright.
In that version you noticed that we used the, we call it the present perfect, it doesn’t
matter, you don’t need to know the name of the grammar.
But we used that form that "have gone" "have been" form-- because it’s something that
has continued through the past for awhile -- started in the past, kept going for awhile.
For example, people have always perceived him as a child.
That’s been happening for a long time-- starting when he was young until now, people
continue to perceive him -- have continued to perceive him-- as a child.
Alright.
It started in the past and it kept going for awhile.
And then again we talked about going to the gym.
Since last year Jim has gone to the gym.
He has exercised every day.
Alright?
Starting last year, up until now.
And then finally we changed to the past tense because we’re talking about one specific
event, the fight.
Right?
That happened in the past, it’s over, it was just a short event in the past started,
finished in the past, it’s done.
It’s not a long time period, it’s very short and complete.
So we use the simple past for that.
That’s all you need to know about grammar.
Don’t think too much about the grammar.
Alright.
Onto version number three-- into the future.
Okay this is -- we can imagine this is my idea for a movie.
And I’m telling you the story-- what I think should happen, what I think will happen in
this movie.
Here’s my movie idea, in the future ten years from now.
Ten years from now, there will be a very small man named Jim.
Jim’ll only be one foot tall.
Even though he’ll only be forty-eight years old, people will think he’s a child.
People will perceive him as a child.
In the eyes of the public, Jim’ll be a cute little boy only.
Jim’ll hate this.
He’s going to say "I want people to accept me as I really am.
I want them to give me unconditional respect.
I don’t want people to go on treating me like a child."
Jim’ll go to the gym and exercise every day.
He’ll become very strong.
He’ll also learn kickboxing.
One day a tall man’s going to challenge him and laugh and say "you’re such a cute
little man, ha ha ha."
Jim’ll get angry.
He’ll yell and he’ll kick the man.
They’ll start fighting.
The fight is going to last twenty hours.
The men’s’ hands and legs will become intertwined and they’ll fall down.
Jim’ll finally break away from the man and then he’ll jump up and kick him in the head.
Jim’ll win the fight and he’ll yell "no matter how you slice it I just kicked your
ass."
Okay.
The future is fairly simple.
It’s pretty easy.
You guys have learned going to and will; however in normal speech we do not say going to and
will we change the pronunciation.
We say ull instead of will we say ull -- Jim’ll -- the man’ll -- the man’ll challenge
him.
Jim’ll fight him.
We don’t say Jim will we say Jim’ll.
We just add the ull sound to the subject.
And the other thing we do instead of "going to" we say gonna.
Jim’s gonna get angry not Jim is going to get angry.
Jim’s gonna.
Jim’s za za you need the za sound there.
"Jim’s gonna" equals "Jim is going to."
Jim’s gonna.
Alright.
And that’s how we actually use the future in normal speech.
So when you hear "gonna" when you hear "ull" that means the future.
Okay.
Please go back, listen to each section, pause, and try to tell that version yourself.
Try to tell the story using the past- ten years ago.
Try it ago with since last year.
And then try it again in the future.
If you have trouble, if it’s difficult, relax- this takes time.
Just relax, go back, listen again.
Go back listen again.
Listen, listen, listen very carefully.
Hear how the verbs change.
Hear how the vocabulary changes sometimes.
Listen carefully- that’s the most important part.
Don’t get upset if you can’t tell the story yourself, it’s okay.
That will take time- listening is the most important part.
Alright.
I will see ya next time.
Go on and listen to the commentary.
Bye-bye.