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Here are three more Phrasal Verbs based on “take”:

1- As soon as all the passengers were seated and buckled in, the plane took off. [the plane left the ground]

2- When the burglars heard our key in the lock, they took off through the back door and raced down the street. [They ran away quickly]

3- The doctor told me to take off my shirt so he could listen to my heart and lungs. [to remove]

4- I take after my mother. We have the same color hair and eyes, we are the same height, and we both wear glasses. [to resemble]

5- John doesn’t take after his father. His dad likes to read and play guitar, while John enjoys playing sports and fixing old cars. They are very different from each other. [they don't resemble each other in their tastes]

6- I took apart this old clock, but now I can’t put it back together again. [to take apart = disassemble]

7- What happened to your car’s engine?
—My friend and I took it apart. We’re going to rebuild it next week. [disassemble]

Intro & Outro Music: La Pompe Du Trompe by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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Imaginary businesses with tricky-to-pronounce names. Use this podcast as an exercise to warm up your pronunciation. Go slowly before you try to go fast!

1- Rudy’s Radioactive Radiator Repair

2- Thea’s Thursday Seances Featuring Thinking, Theorizing, and Theremin Lessons

3- Skip’s Sports Emporium and Unicycle Service Center

4- Terry’s Tried-and-True Temporal Toaster Tinkering

5- Harold’s Handcrafted Heated Hand Warmers

6- Bob’s Refurbished Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers

7- Joe’s Janky Junk Generators of New Jersey

8- Carl’s Cardboard Carton Crushing Company

9- Frank’s Infrared French Fries and Fricasseed Fertilizer Factory

10- Arnold’s Ambling Artificial Alien Alligators

Intro & Outro Music: La Pompe Du Trompe by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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To “take over” has a couple of meanings. It can mean to “take control of” something, but it can also mean to control by being bossy.

1- While I was sick, weeds took over the garden. Now it looks terrible.

2- When my father died, I had to take over running the company.

3- Our children have taken over my life. I have no free time for myself.

4- One student in our class does most of the talking. He completely takes over our discussions.

5- Every time we have a meeting, my boss takes over and doesn’t let anyone else speak.

Intro & Outro Music: La Pompe Du Trompe by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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Another expression with the verb take. Let’s practice with “to take advantage of.”

To “take advantage of” can be good or bad.

Here’s an example of the bad kind: “He took advantage of his friend’s generosity by borrowing money and never paying it back.”

And the good kind: “She took advantage of every opportunity to practice her English with fluent speakers.”

1) My friend took advantage of my ignorance to sell me defective merchandise.

2) The car salesman knew we didn’t know anything about cars. He really took advantage of us. Now we have no money and a crappy car.

3) Our supermarket is having a sale on pasta. I’m going to take advantage of the low prices and stock up.

4) My mother is friends with all the local politicians. If I ever decide to get into politics, I’ll take advantage of her connections.

5) Let’s take advantage of the beautiful weather and go to the beach this afternoon.

Intro & Outro Music: La Pompe Du Trompe by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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Let’s continue our practice with the verb “take”, this time with “take place” which means to “happen”, usually for organized events.

1) The next summer Olympic Games will take place in Los Angeles. I hope it won’t be too hot.

2) The next performance by the Boston Symphony Orchestra will take place on September 8th.

3) The 2024 US presidential election will take place on November 5.

4) I would like our wedding to take place as soon as possible.

5) We had a long business meeting, but the serious decisions took place later during dinner.

Intro & Outro Music: La Pompe Du Trompe by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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The verb “take” is very common in English and it’s used in many ways. One of the expressions is to “take a look.” Here are some examples:

1) “Doctor, please take a look at this X-ray.”

2) He took one look at the snake and said, “It’s a Burmese Python.”

3) “We need to take a look around your apartment,” said the policeman.

4) She took one look at my hand and said, “That’s a nasty cut. You’re going to need some stitches.”

5) My professor said he would take a look at my essay later.

To get the most benefit from this podcast, practice it once or twice, then put it away for a day or two--and then practice it again. If you can, make a recording of yourself saying these sentences and compare your pronunciation with mine. Repeated listening and speaking is the key.

Intro & Outro Music: La Pompe Du Trompe by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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August has been very busy but here's a podcast so you won't think I've run away somewhere. We use the word "so" in many ways. Here are some sample sentences.

1- That is a beautiful painting?

Do you really think so?

2- Is it time for dinner? Is the food ready?

I think so.

3- She speaks French and so do I.

4- And so off to the movies we went, arm in arm. (So = then)

5- She had never felt so happy before in her life.

6- I can only exercise so much in one day.

7- I didn’t do it!

You did so!

8- I so don’t want to travel with him. (Informal)

9- You can’t count on her. She is so unreliable.

10- Most television shows are so boring.

11- I lived in Spain not so long ago.

12- She was so good in math and science that she became a chemist.

13- He has perfect pitch, so he always sings in tune.

14- My son says he hates broccoli so he won’t eat it.

15- So here we go again: arguing about something stupid.

16- You say I shouldn’t run a marathon and I say, “So what? It’s my decision.”

17- “So THAT’S who ate all the cookies!”

18- His room is very neat and he keeps all his things just so.

19- If you need to talk to your teacher, do so as soon as possible.

20- I’ll stay in Paris for a week or so.

21- So now we’ve come to the end of this podcast. Bye!

Intro & Outro Music: La Pompe Du Trompe by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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This podcast contains 26 sentences. Each sentence includes at least one 4-syllable word. The words are in alphabetical order, so the 4-syllable word in the first sentence is “alligator” beginning with “A” and so on. Sentence number 26 contains the word “zoology”.

Note that some of the sentences are silly and nonsensical while others are perfectly normal. Don’t worry about the ones that don’t make sense. Your job here is to practice pronouncing English. Let’s start:

1. I was eaten by an alligator.

2. She married a benevolent barbarian.

3. He battled a cantankerous cauliflower.

4. You can’t deactivate a dandelion.

5. We rode up on an entertaining elevator.

6. She was flabbergasted by my fettuccine.

7. I donate generously to gastronomic startups.

8. His harmonica playing was heartbreakingly sad.

9. I will now introduce you to the isosceles triangle.

10. She doesn’t put jellyfishes in her jambalaya.

11. The kindergarten children of Kalamazoo are knowledgeable about Kookaburras.

12. Our librarian spoke lyrically about her favorite books.

13. Nobody wants to eat microscopic macaroni.

14. The naturalist was also a skilled navigator.

15. My grandmother was a phone operator in Oklahoma.

16. I told the doctor about my peculiar palpitations.

17. The politician’s quick-wittedness was questionable.

18. We had to regularly repair our car’s radiator.

19. When we put out their dinner dishes, the dogs began synchronizing their salivation.

20. Who put the teriyaki in the terrarium?

21. Her ukulele playing was unbearably bad.

22. A vacationer from Venice vaccinated me.

23. Our watermelon was wonderfully juicy.

24. I don’t know what a xylotomist is.

25. She used to work in Yosemite Park.

26. Is zoology the study of zoos?

If you need to translate any of the words in this podcast, DeepL is a good translator.

This podcast took several hours to write, record, and edit. Whaddya think? Is it worth a few dollars to you? Should I continue this work or quit? Your support will answer that question. Thank you.

Intro & Outro Music: La Pompe Du Trompe by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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