Your English Five a Day #32.1

E291: 🎙️ Welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast! I’m your host, Anna, and you’re tuning in to Week 32, Day 1 of Your English Five a Day. This series is dedicated to enhancing your listening skills and expanding your active vocabulary. Each weekday, from Monday to Friday, we delve into five new vocabulary items, helping you grow your English proficiency one step at a time.

🌟 In today's episode, we start with the adverb "cordially". Next, we explore the noun "sentinel" and the adjective "gnarled". Following that, we discuss the noun "countenance", and finally, we end with the idiomatic phrase "with bated breath".

💌 Join us as we practice pronunciation, review meanings, and enjoy a delightful storytime featuring five young friends—Lily, Max, Mia, Alex, and Sam—who receive a mysterious letter inviting them to explore the secrets of the Enchanted Grove. Excited by the prospect of adventure, they gather at the edge of the woods at dusk.

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Transcript

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Hello and welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast. My name is Anna and you're listening to Week 32, Day 1 of Your English Five-a-Day. In this series, we are improving your listening skills while expanding your active vocabulary. We do this by deep-diving into five items of vocabulary every day of the working week from Monday to Friday. So, let's kick off today's episode with an adverb and it is cordially. Cordially. Cordially. We spell this C O R D I A L L Y. Cordially. Cordially means polite, warm and friendly in manner. So, you would normally see this as part of a very formal invitation."We cordially invite you to join us for dinner on Friday evening." So, I'd normally expect to see the word cordially written down. Cordially is very formal. Next on the list is the noun sentinel. Sentinel. This noun describes a guard or a watchman, someone who watches over a place or people. A sentinel. Here's an example sentence,"The loyal sentinel stood guard at the gate, ready to alert the villagers of any approaching danger." This makes me smile because it makes me think of my pussycat, who is still technically a kitten. He's not even one year old yet. But at night time when my eldest son feels nervous because he's scared of the dark and he doesn't like to be on his own, even though he shares a room with his brother, we bring in the pussycat, Socks, and we call him Tiger Guard because he looks like a little tiger and we say that he's there to guard the boys overnight. And often, Socks will go up to my son's bed, he's in a bunk bed in the top bunk. And Socks will climb up to the top bunk and he'll often jump around and jump on the blankets. Now my son is underneath the blankets and making the blankets move. Socks thinks that movement is a mouse or something. So, he pounces onto the blanket. And I always say,"Oh, you know, Tiger Guard is doing his job. He's trying to make sure there's no bad things here. No mice, no rats, no baddies. He's keeping guard and looking after you." And that makes Jacob feel happy. So, he is essentially a sentinel watching over my son and helping him to settle and go to sleep. Next on the list is the adjective gnarled, gnarled. We spell this G N A R L E D. Gnarled. Notice that G is silent. If something is described as gnarled, then it's twisted or knotted or rough due to bad conditions or age. So, if you have been working in a very physical job, for example, if you're a farmer, your hands and your face are probably after 20, 30 years of that kind of work, your hands and your face are probably relatively gnarled due to the weather conditions. So, the sun and the freezing cold conditions of winter, getting your hands wet and dirty and using them to lift and pull and twist and just putting them through hell really, your poor hands. So, after years of doing that, your hands will be quite gnarled, quite gnarled. Here's another example."The gnarled branches of the ancient oak tree reached out like skeletal fingers." Alright, next on our list is the noun countenance, countenance. We spell this C O U N T E N A N C E. Countenance. Countenance. Countenance describes a person's face and in particular their expression, the expression on their face. Here's an example sentence,"The old woman's countenance was etched with the lines of a long and difficult life." Okay, last on the list is an idiomatic phrase and it is with bated breath. With bated breath. We normally wait with bated breath for something to happen. We spell this bated, B A T E D. Breath, B R E A T H. Bated breath. To do something with bated breath it's like to hold your breath, to wait with a sense of excitement, like you're anticipating something happening. So, if you wait with bated breath or if you stand there with bated breath, it means almost like you're holding your breath,"Gasp!" and you're just waiting for something, maybe the news or the outcome to be revealed, or you're waiting for your guest to arrive so you can go,"Surprise!" Or whatever it is that you're so excited about. So, if I'm in the final of a competition and they say,"And the winner is..." And then there's a pause, everyone is then waiting with bated breath, waiting to hear what the outcome will be. Most people will then celebrate the outcome."Yeah, she won! Woohoo!" So, in anticipation of something happening, you wait with bated breath. Here's another example,"The audience waited with bated breath for the magician to reveal his final trick." Okay, so we had quite a lot of very advanced words today. Let's do a quick recap. We started with a very formal adverb cordially, cordially, which means warm, polite, and friendly in manner. Then we have the noun, sentinel, sentinel, which describes a guard or a watchman who looks after a place or people. We had the adjective, gnarled, with the silent G, gnarled, which describes something that's twisted, knotted or rough because of age or harsh conditions. Then we have the noun, countenance, countenance, a person's face or the expression on their face. And we have the idiomatic phrase, with bated breath, which is holding your breath in anticipation of something exciting happening. Okay, so let's now do this for pronunciation. Please repeat after me. Cordially. Cordially. Sentinel. Sentinel. Gnarled. Gnarled. Countenance. Countenance. With bated breath. With bated breath. Very good. Okay, what's the very polite and formal adverb that I would use to show that I'm doing something in a warm, friendly and very polite way? Cordially. I might cordially invite you to dinner. And what's the adjective that describes something that's twisted or rough due to harsh conditions? Gnarled. Gnarled with the silent G. What's the noun that we could use instead of saying somebody's face or facial expression? Countenance. Countenance. And what noun could you use instead of guard? Begins with an's'. Sentinel. Sentinel. Yes, did you like the clue? And the last item that I need you to guess is the idiomatic phrase that we use when we are excited and waiting for something to happen. With bated breath. With bated breath. Okay, very good. Let's listen out for these items once again in today's storytime. Five young friends, Lily, Max, Mia, Alex and Sam, sat around a weathered wooden table in Mia's kitchen, chewing the cud as they usually did on a Saturday afternoon. Max, who wasn't paying much attention to the idle chat, spotted something, a peculiar letter being slipped through the letterbox. Not only was the letter odd in appearance, it was also delivered on a Saturday afternoon, which is the time when the local postman is normally sinking a pint at the local."Mia, there's a letter," he said, as he placed the thing on the table, breaking up the chatter. It was sealed with wax and adorned with intricate symbols. It was addressed, not to Mia, but to The Seekers of Wonder. Lily, the adventurous spirit of the group, eagerly picked it up and read aloud:"Dear Seekers of Wonder, You are cordially invited to explore the secrets of the Enchanted Grove. Await us at the edge of the woods at dusk and the mysteries hidden within shall be revealed. Yours, in curiosity, The Guardians of the Grove" Excitement rippled through the group like wildfire. The Enchanted Grove was a place whispered about in bedtime stories, rumoured to be home to magical creatures and hidden treasures. Without hesitation, they agreed to follow the instructions in the mysterious letter. As the sun dipped below the horizon, casting an amber glow over the land, the five friends gathered at the edge of the woods. Tall trees were the sentinels, their branches swaying in anticipation of the night's secrets. With torches in hand and hearts brimming with excitement, the friends ventured into the darkness. The air was thick with mystery, and every rustle of leaves seemed to echo with the promise of adventure. But instead of mythical creatures and hidden treasures, what awaited them were their friends from the neighbouring town: Jake, Nina, Oscar, Leo and Emma. They were grinning broadly, holding torches and a bag full of supplies. Jake stepped forward, a mischievous glint in his eyes."Welcome, Seekers of Wonder," he said, mimicking the tone of the letter."We thought it was time for a bit of fun." Lily's face lit up with a mixture of surprise and amusement."You mean, this was all a prank?" Nina nodded, her countenance radiating mischief."We couldn't resist. It's been ages since we've had a good laugh together." With bated breath, the two groups of friends exchanged glances and then burst into laughter. The enchanted adventure they had imagined turned into an evening of playful trickery and camaraderie. They decided to spend the night playing tricks on each other, running through the woods, and relishing the simple joy of friendship. The night was filled with laughter and shrieks as they all tried to outwit each other. At one point, they all gathered around the gnarled roots of an ancient tree, sharing stories and jokes, the air filled with the scent of pine and the sounds of the forest. As dawn approached, the group called a truce, exhausted but exhilarated. They sat together, watching the first light of day break through the trees, their bonds of friendship stronger than ever."This was the best night ever," Sam said, his face glowing with happiness."Absolutely," Lily agreed."And I think we've proven that the real magic lies in our friendship and the fun we have together." And that brings us to the end of today's episode. I do hope you enjoyed yourself. If you did, please feel free to recommend The English Like a Native Podcast to all of your English-learning friends. Until tomorrow, take very good care. And goodbye.