Intro: 

Rich: I’m confused.

Jen: Are you talking to yourself again, Rich?

Rich: Oh hiya, Jen … no, I’ve just seen that the cricket season has started.

Jen: I didn’t know you were a cricket fan as well as a football fan.

Rich: I’m not really. I find it confusing. How can a game that lasts up to five days finish in a draw?

Jen: Football matches often finish in draws.

Rich: I don’t think they would if they lasted five days.

Jen: Maybe not ...

Rich: And you can’t play in the rain. The season’s started but it hasn’t - all the games have been cancelled - rained off.

Jen: Well, I’d rather play and watch in the sunshine. Footballers have to play in all kinds of terrible weather - and the fans have to watch too - not for me. 

Rich: Erm … I suppose that’s true. I’d rather go to matches in the summer, too.

Jen: What are you doing, anyway?

Rich: I’m supposed to be doing this week’s podcast. It’s going to be about confusing words. 

Jen: Like cricket.

Rich: A bit like that I suppose but about words, words that learners find confusing. Maybe you could give me a hand? Are you busy?

Jen: No, not really. I suppose I could help.

Rich: Terrific!

Welcome - Confusing words

Rich: Hello my name’s Rich and I’m here with my special guest

Jen: Hi, I’m Jen

Rich: and welcome to this week’s Premier Skills English podcast

Jen: where we talk about football and help you with your English.

Jen: What’s happening this week, Rich?

Rich: In this week’s podcast, we’re talking about confusing words. We’re going to look at some words that learners often get mixed up. This confusion could be caused by a number of reasons.

Jen: One reason could be because the words look the same in your own language but have different meanings in English - these are called false friends.

Rich: Another reason could be that the words look similar and you think they mean the same but they don’t.

Jen: And a third reason could be that the words are used in different ways either lexically or grammatically.

Rich: There was a couple of examples in the opening conversation. Did you hear the words ‘terrible’ and ‘terrific’ they have very different meanings?

Jen: And we used the words ‘suppose’ and ‘supposed to’. These are very different and we will look at the difference in meanings in the next section.

Rich: Don’t forget to listen to the end of the podcast because we have a football phrase for you to guess and don’t forget to do the lesson below the podcast too. It has interactive activities, explanations, a task and some discussion questions at the bottom of the page.

Jen: We’re going to do five little roleplays that all contain words that can be confusing. After each conversation, we’ll look at the words that are often mixed up or confused.

Rich:  Ready, Jen?

Jen: Ready Rich.

Topic Focus

Rich: Roleplay one.

Jen: Who do you think will win the FA Cup, Rich? Tottenham or Chelsea?

Rich: I don’t think either of them will win it.

Jen: Neither of them? You think Southampton will win it.

Rich: No, I don’t think so. I think Manchester Utd’s name is on the Cup this season.

...

Jen: the confusing words here are neither and either or neither and either.

Rich: The key thing to remember is that when we use either we are talking about a choice between two options. In the example above, the options were Tottenham and Chelsea.

Jen: And when we use neither we are putting two negative ideas together. In the example above it was the idea of Tottenham not winning the cup and the idea of Chelsea not winning the cup.

Rich: For example, I might say Is one of these jackets yours? and you could reply

Jen:  Neither of them are mine. Which means not that one or that one.

Rich: But if the question was Which jacket are you going to wear tonight? You could reply by saying: 

Jen: I’m not sure, I think I’ll wear either my new blue one or my black jacket. 

Rich: This means that you are going to choose between the two.

...

Jen: Roleplay two.

Rich: That was a terrific result for Liverpool against Manchester City. A 3-0 win at home and a 2-1 win away. Did you watch it?

Jen: I thought it was a terrible result.

Rich: Oh, why?

Jen: I’m a Manchester City fan!

...

Rich: Terrific and terrible are two words that learners often get confused by but once you know the difference it’s quite easy to remember.

Jen: Terrible means really bad but terrific means fantastic.

Rich: But, it’s not the same for horrible and horrific. They both mean really bad.

...

Jen: Roleplay three.

Rich: Did you see that player run into the post last week? It was really funny.

Jen: That sounds horrible. I hope he wasn’t badly injured.

Rich: No, I don’t think he was hurt. I think the post got damaged though.

...

Jen: Injured and damaged are two words that are sometimes confused.

Rich: Injured is similar to hurt and is used for people and animals while damaged is for objects. 

Jen: That’s quite easy to remember. What about the word wounded? Like when you hear someone was wounded in an attack of some kind.

Rich: That confuses things more because wounded and injured are both used for people and animals.

Jen: One way to think about it is that wounds are a type of injury.

Rich: This is because wounds are usually connected to blood. A broken leg would be described as an injury but someone who had been stabbed with a knife would be described as wounded.  

Jen: So, injured is a more general term. OK, let’s leave that one for now.

...

Rich: Roleplay four.

Jen: What are you doing on Saturday night?

Rich: Well, I’m supposed to be visiting my grandma …

Jen: I don’t suppose you want to come to the match with me? I’ve got tickets!

Rich: Brilliant! Erm … is it a cricket match?

Jen: No, Manchester City! 

Rich: I suppose I could tell her that I’ll visit on Sunday. 

...

Jen: In this example, suppose means to think or imagine. It’s common in negative sentences when it’s an invitation or request to do something. When we say I don’t suppose you … we really want or hope that the other person responds positively and say yes.

Rich: But supposed to is different. It’s used to talk about obligations or something that is planned. When I said I’m supposed to be visiting my grandma, supposed to means should. I should visit my grandma or I’m planning on visiting my grandma.

Jen: Got it. Let’s move on to the last one.

...

Rich: You must be happy with Manchester City winning their latest Premier League title?

Jen: Yes, very. I missed the match the last time we won the Premier League because I was on holiday so it’ll be a great atmosphere at the stadium next week!

Rich: The last league title Liverpool won was in 1990 but we could win the Champions League this season.

...

Rich: Last and latest are two words that are often confused. Last usually means the final thing or the end while latest means the most recent but sometimes last can mean the most recent too.

Jen: In the example, Rich said: You must be happy with Manchester City winning their latest Premier League title? Here latest means their most recent as they could win more titles in the future.

Rich: Then I said the last title Liverpool won was in 1990. This is also the most recent but here I’m emphasizing the final thing in a list rather than the most recent thing in a list. 

Jen: That is quite confusing. We have some more examples and activities in the lesson below to help you.

Task

Rich: Our task for you this week is to complete five sentences using one of the confusing words that we’ve just looked at. Jen … can you read out the five sentences, please. 

Jen: Oh, in each sentence I will say the word banana. That’s not the correct word, you need to decide which word to replace it with.

Rich: Let’s go bananas then …

Jen:  Number one: Sergio Aguero has been out _______ for a month now.

Number two: That was a _______ game. I wish I’d been there.

Number three: I can’t go on Wednesday because I’m _________ to be in class.

Number four: You can choose ________ of them. It’s your choice!

Number five: Have you heard the ______ Rihanna album yet?

Rich: Write your answers in the comments section at the bottom of the page.  

Football phrase

Rich: Every week we give our listeners a football phrase for them to guess. I know you have been thinking about this Jen so … have you got a football phrase for us? 

Jen: Yes, I have, but first, we need to look at last week’s football phrase. The phrase was a comeback or to stage or make a comeback. This phrase is really just one word but it’s a compound noun and it means to win from a losing position. 

Rich: Well done to Elghoul from Algeria, Ahmed Adam from Sudan, Baktislam from Indonesia, Milos from Serbia, KwesiManifest from Ghana, Sabanoleg and Liubomyr from Ukraine, and Lakerwang from China. What phrase have you got Jen?

Jen: I’ve tried to make it really difficult because you’ve told me that you haven’t had a week when nobody got the phrase.

Rich: The more the difficult the better

Jen: OK, this week’s football phrase is to **** * *******. The phrase means to make a mistake. It can be used in and out of football but is especially relevant for goalkeepers because the first word in the phrase is what goalkeepers do with the ball if they make a mistake. For example, Joe Hart played really well against Chelsea but then he ******* * ******* in the next game against Stoke.

Rich: Thanks, Jen. Let’s see if anybody gets it right. Right, that’s all we have time for this week! Don’t forget to write your answers to our questions and make a guess at our football phrase in the comments below.

Jen: If you have enjoyed this podcast or found it useful, leave us a rating or review and that will help other people find us. 

Rich: Bye for now and enjoy your football!