Learning English

Rob
Hello and welcome to 6 Minute Vocabulary. I'm Rob...

Catherine
And I'm Catherine. And our topic today is weather. Now Rob, apparently, British people love to talk about the weather. Do you think that's true?

Rob
Absolutely, you know me, I'm talking about it all the time. And in today's programme, we'll look at some key weather vocabulary and show you how to use it in different types of sentences.

Catherine
There'll be a quiz...

Rob
And we'll give you a top tip to help you learn vocabulary more effectively. 

Catherine
So, on with the show! We'll start by listening to Harvey, talking about the weather where he lives. And we have a question for you at home.

Rob
The question is: what is the weather like for Harvey in spring?

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Harvey
I live in the north. I love it here, but the weather isn't too good. There's a lot of rain in the autumn and winter. In fact, it's raining right now. Sometimes it snows in the winter. In the spring the weather's usually quite windy. But it's lovely and sunny in summer. 

Rob
So, that's Harvey. And we asked you about the weather in spring. What's it like?

Catherine
Harvey said that the weather gets quite windy in spring.

Rob
Well done if you got that right. And we'll talk more about windy weather later. First, let's talk about the rain! Listen to this clip:

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There's a lot of rain in the autumn and winter.

Catherine
In this sentence, rain is a noun, so in a sentence, we can say there is a lot of rain, or we can add a main verb, for example: I like rain. Rob - how do you feel about rain?

Rob
I hate rain because I like to do a lot of cycling and when it rains I get wet. But the word rain can also be a verb. For example: it rains a lot here in London; in fact, look out the window: it's raining now!

Catherine
It's always raining in London! And can add a letter 'y' to the end of rain to make the adjective rainy. Rob, do you use an umbrella on rainy days?

Rob
No I don't, I wear a coat - more practical. 

Catherine
More 'blokey'!

Rob
More 'blokey', yes.  So that's the noun - rain; the verb - rain; and the adjective - rainy. The word snow works in the same way. Listen to this another clip. 

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Sometimes it snows in the winter.

Catherine
Sometimes it snows in winter. The word snow there is a verb.

Rob
As a noun, we can say: sometimes there is snow.

Catherine
Or we can add the letter 'y' to make an adjective. Sometimes it's snowy.

Rob
Good. Now for another clip. Here's Harvey talking about the weather in Spring.

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In the spring the weather's usually quite windy.

Catherine
In the spring the weather's usually quite windy. In this sentence, windy is an adjective.

Rob
We can also use the word wind as a noun. Is there much wind today Catherine? 

Catherine
There's quite a lot actually, I got quite blown around. So that's wind as a noun and windy as an adjective, but we can't use wind as a verb. You have to use a different verb like blow. The wind is blowing very hard today...

Rob
Right. And the word sun is the same. It's a noun:

Catherine
The sun is hot...

Rob
It can make an adjective:

Catherine
It's lovely and sunny...

Rob
But it isn't a verb. You need a different word for that.

Catherine
The sun is shining, even though it isn't!

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6 Minute Vocabulary from BBC Learning English.

Rob
And we're looking at weather words. OK, it's quiz time! Are these sentences correct or wrong? Number one. It's sunning today.

Catherine
That's wrong. You can't say it's sunning, because sun isn't a verb. Instead, say it's sunny or the sun is shining. 

Rob
Number two. There was a lot of snow last week.

Catherine
And that's correct.

Rob
Here comes the last one. I don't like windy.

Catherine
And that's also wrong. Windy is an adjective, so we need to add a noun here. Say: I don't like windy weather. Or, use wind as a noun and say: I don't like wind. 

Rob
And that's the end of the quiz. Well done if you got those right. And we've just got time for a top tip for learning vocabulary. 

Catherine
We have Rob, and this is it: when you learn a new word for the first time, you'll learn it more effectively if you use it a few times in the first 24 hours. So, if you learn a new word in the morning Rob, look it up again in the evening before you go to sleep.

Rob
I'll do that. Thank you! There's more about this at bbclearningenglish.com. Join us again soon for more 6 Minute Vocabulary.

Both
Bye!