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Complete Video Transcript with Personal Notes on PHRASAL VERBS

The Internet makes us dumb. Yes it does.

I capitalized internet throughout this transcript and have always done so, but it was a total bummer (extra work) to capitalize it every time. From now on, I’m with you, rest of the world outside of North America, who doesn’t usually capitalize internet. Let’s make life easier.

I got to thinking as I read about to capitalize internet or not to capitalize it that it doesn’t help comprehension in any way for it to be capitalized. Therefore, no caps on internet for me! Do you agree? (I say screw the style guides unless you’re being forced to use them like for work or school.)

“How?” you might say.

I could have said ASK instead of SAY. It would have sounded better, but SAY is what I said. 😉

Well, let me explain to you what happened to me just the other morning.

Common English learner alert!

You explain something TO somebody.

You don’t explain somebody. This has a different meaning. If I explain you, I might give the reason for your existence or describe your personal characteristics. So, remember…

• Can you explain to me the difference in WAIT and EXPECT? – correct
• Can you explain me the difference in WAIT and EXPECT? – incorrect

I was almost out of waffle mix.

To be out of something means there isn’t any left. You had some at a previous time, but now you don’t have any. Therefore, you’re out. Ok? I have this nice bag of premixed waffle mix. All I do is add water, put it in the waffle-making thing, wala, I have waffles. But I was almost out of mix and I was like, “Uh! What do I do? Look it up!”

• Are you out of butter beans?
• No ma’am. We just haven’t gotten in any this year.

• Are you out of squash?
• Yes ma’am. Our squash patch is all dried up. We don’t have any more.

Except for I couldn’t look it up. I didn’t have any Internet.

To look up is a separable phrasal verb that means BUSCAR INFORMACIÓN. And what’s the rule to remember with separable phrasal verbs????

Always separate separable phrasal verbs when the object is a pronoun.

If the object is a noun, you have the option to separate or not.

• I looked my question up. – NOUN (my question) can separate a separable phrasal verb.
• I looked up my question. – NOUN (my question) can go after a separable phrasal verb.
• I looked it up. – PRONOUN (it, referring to “my question”) MUST separate a separable phrasal verb.
• I looked up it. – incorrect, see above!

Ok, so I was like, “Ok, I would normally just look up what to do if you almost run out of waffle mix.” And then I was thinking to myself, “This is so stupid. You should know what to do if you almost run out of waffle mix, Jesi. Come on! It’s just a waffle.”

When you are out of something, it means you’ve run out of that something! You had it before, but you used it all up, and now you don’t have any! You ran out! In Spanish TO RUN OUT OF SOMETHING is QUEDARSE SIN ALGO.

• What do you mean we’re out of milk? I just bought a gallon yesterday. We shouldn’t run out of milk over night. What happened to it?

And that’s when it hit me, I can’t even make waffles without the Internet.

IT HIT ME means I REALIZED SOMETHING.

• I was walking in the park and it hit me, I knew what I had to do!
• When it hits you, you know it!

Yeah, I have Internet Dependence Disorder. IDD.

Sadly, this is a true statement for me. I am a workaholic and information addict…so I work online and there’s so much information online, it’s hard not to be addicted to the internet. But I’m actually really fighting it. I’m limiting myself like I say you should do at the end of the video. Here are my limits:

• NO internet while driving. (should be a rule anyway)
• NO internet in the bathroom. Not on the pot and not in the tub! haha (sorry, for being so personal if that grosses you out!)
• NO internet during one thirty-minute TV show I watch for enjoyment in the afternoons after work.
• NO internet during mealtimes.
• LESS internet while I’m at my daytime job.
• LESS internet before bedtime.

Because like every time I need to know something I don’t think about it too hard.

Why include LIKE after BECAUSE? I have no idea. But it makes me sound like a teenager…uhhh! I have to stop! haha

I don’t sit and ponder and talk about it with somebody and say, “You know I think it’s this way,” or “You know I think it’s that way.”

I was told once by a Turkish guy that you can identify an American English speaker easily because of their over usage of YOU KNOW as a filler. Someone else describes using fillers as a way to make a dialogue a monologue. Um…I don’t think so. I also read that using fillers means that you think slower than you speak. Hmm…well, maybe. But what are we to do…us slow thinkers? I’ve always thought my processor was slow and this PROVES it! haha Slow processing doesn’t mean less intelligent, mind you!

But YOU KNOW is used more ways than just as a filler.

No! You know what we do? We say, “I’ll google it.” And then we google it. And did you notice that typing is now thumbing. I didn’t say google it. I said google it.

Everything’s changing y’all.

If you’ve been following me for any time,  you’ve heard me say “y’all”. Y’ALL is the plural second-person pronoun used by just about everyone in the Southern US.

Y’all as a Subject Pronoun

• You should listen to more English. (The Southern way of saying TÚ. YOU can also formally mean USTEDES or VOSOTROS, but not in everyday speech.)
• Y’all should listen to more English. (The Southern way of saying USTEDES or VOSOTROS.)
• You all should listen to more English. (The Southern way to be more formal and/or stress that it’s important for everyone in the listening group to understand the speaker is talking to EACH and EVERY ONE of them.

Listen to simple English to improve y’alls comprehension and speaking.

Y’all as a Possessive Pronoun

Some folks, myself included have been confused on how to write the possessive form of Y’ALL since there isn’t a committee in English telling us all how we should do it. However, if we just consider Y’ALL a possessive pronoun and apply the common rule that’s used in other possessive pronouns it seems most logical to just add an S and not an ‘S.

• Possessive Adjective – Possessive Pronoun (no noun)
• Your car is pretty. – Yours is pretty.
• Her car is pretty. – Hers is pretty.
• Our car is pretty. – Ours is pretty.
• Y’alls car is pretty. – Y’alls is pretty. (Some people prefer to write the possessive form of Y’ALL with an ‘S, but I don’t. The other possessive pronouns, except for ONE’S is made possessive by only adding S, not ‘S. So, I’ll stick with the most common rule if that’s ok? So, you’ll see Y’all’s and Y’alls. The only advantage of using ‘S is so that the possessive adjective (y’alls) could be easily distinguished from the possessive pronoun (y’all’s). But I think it’s pretty obvious from the sentence structure and I feel that the ‘S just complicates things. I used to write it that way actually. But from this point on, since I had to think about all this to explain it, I’m not going to be using the ‘s anymore.)
• My car is pretty. – Mine is pretty. (OJO: There’s another form of MINE that is common to Ebonics. “This car is mines.” Check it out, there’s an added S…and that makes sense, doesn’t it?)

What does Y’ALL mean for you?

• When I say Y’ALL, I’m saying USTEDES.
• When I say YOU, I’m saying TÚ.

Pay attention! You’ll see when I’m speaking directly to you (my individual student) or to y’all (my wonderful big group of students). I love y’all! And I love you!

Everything’s changing and we’ve gotta make sure our brains are ready for the future.

This is an example of what I’m going to call a “subject contraction.”  You can add ‘s to subjects for three reasons (that I know of):

1. ‘s for possession – SELVA’s web site is awesome!
2. ‘s contraction for IS – SELVA’s a great place to learn English online.
3. ‘s contraction for HAS – SELVA’s got the best English listening videos with subtitles!

However, if the subject ends in S, then you must say and write IS or HAS.

• SELVA inglés is a great place to learn English.
• SELVA inglés has got the best English listening videos with subtitles!

Alright, so what are we gonna do?

So, “they” say I should write ALRIGHT as ALL RIGHT. However, in my opinion ALL RIGHT and ALRIGHT have different meanings. In the above example I’m not saying that everything is ALL RIGHT. Instead, I’m using ALRIGHT as a transition word (I can’t think of the right name for it right now) to say, “That covers it. Let’s keep going.”

In addition to this transitional usage of ALRIGHT, there’s a more noticeable difference in ALL RIGHT and ALRIGHT.

ALL RIGHT – accurate, correct

ALRIGHT – satisfactory, not wonderful and not horrible

• The cake was all right. (The cake was correct. It was made correctly.)
• The cake was alright. (The cake wasn’t great, nor horrible. It was just satisfactory.)

We’re gonna take a stand against IDD.

to take a stand against – pronunciarse en contra

I’m gonna make waffles from scratch…all the way with no premixes.

to make something from scratch – hacer algo a partir de cero, algo casero

Ok, except for I’m not gonna use regular flour. I’m gonna use self-rising flour, but let’s not talk about that. I’m an American.

Yes, you’re probably American too. We all (except for you folks in Spain) are Americans. We live in North America, Central America, and South America. However, the Americans from the United States identify themselves as just Americans, not estadounidenses. This is in contrast to how United States of Mexico identify themselves as Mexicans or Mexicanos. Although Mexico is also in North America (just like the US) they don’t call themselves Americans or estadounidenses, but Mexicans. I’m not sure why we call use Americans to refer to ourselves in the United States, but I can’t think of an easier way that sounds “right” other than “United Statesman” and that sounds archaic and strange. There’s also “United States Citizen” but that’s what you’d see used in formal writing or a news report or something similar. In everyday speech, we just say we’re Americans and most all the time it isn’t used to be rude and say that you aren’t American if you’re from other countries in North, Central, and South America. The fact is most people don’t even think about it. Some folks attribute this vocabulary to the ignorance and self-centeredness of people from the U.S. How ever true our ignorance and self-centeredness may be, I don’t believe it’s the reason we call ourselves Americans. But whatever the reason, does it matter as long as we aren’t doing it with bad intentions? I don’t think so. So, I say we just accept it, don’t take it the wrong way, and let’s get on with learning English! However, if someone is using it in a rude way to degrade others, well then shame on them! And remember compassion is one of your greatest tools to protect yourself and to help improve our world! 🙂

Ok, so I’m gonna make waffles from scratch and roll it!

ROLL IT is another way of saying PLAY IT referring to video footage. I’m pretty sure, although I didn’t look this up, that ROLL IT is an expression from the good ol’ days when movies were actually on rolls of film and to start the movie you actually had to roll the film.

I’m gonna mix everything up in this clear bowl and wear this pretty pink apron I got from Oaxaca.

What’s the difference in MIX and MIX UP?

Well, MIX UP is one of those phrasal verbs that doesn’t have to be a phrasal verb in this usage. I could have said, “I’m gonna mix everything in this clear bowl.” So, why on earth did I add UP and make a perfectly good verb a dreaded phrasal verb? Well, Cami asked me this once about phrasal verbs and I think there are a couple of reasons why we do it:

1. It’s just a fun and informal way of speaking, and we like it.
2. The added UP in this case can add extra emphasis that I’m not only mixing the ingredients, but I’m mixing them together really well! I’m mixing them up! And for a little bit more emphasis we can even say, “I’m mixing them all up.”

With this in mind though, be aware that MIX UP as a phrasal verb has other meanings other than just MEXCLAR.

mix up (separable) – confuse

• I always mix up my little cousin’s names. One is Jobe and one is Jude!
• I always mix my little cousin’s names up. One is Jobe and one is Jude!

I only wanna make one or maybe two waffles. So I’m gonna use a half a cup of flour, one egg, and just some milk. Cracking this egg on camera makes me nervous! Oh yeah! I got it! Perfect. Now, I just have to wash my hands and remember what I have to do next. Oh yeah, milk. Now all my ingredients are together, the flour, the egg, and the milk, and now I need something to stir with, a fork.

So, you don’t stir with a fork! You stir with a spoon. This is just an example of me slipping up in my speech. We say things all the time without thinking first. This was one of those times.

I could (have) use(d) a whisk, but I didn’t have one handy.

When you have something handy, it’s readily available. (a mano)

I’m not really a measuring-cup kind of cook. So, let the mixing, pouring, and mess making begin. Oh yeah, I knew I’d be needing some more milk. I’ll pour in a little milk and mix mix mix some more. So, if these waffles end up tasting good you (had) better believe I’m actually going to remember how I made ’em, you know.

to end up (non-separable) – acabar, terminar

HAD BETTER is a stronger way to say SHOULD. It’s commonly used as a threat in a serious way and also in a joking way. Notice that I don’t often include HAD and actually didn’t know it was supposed to be there until a few years ago. I felt so dumb when I asked a question in a forum and got corrected with something I didn’t have any idea was wrong. haha That’s my Southern English for you. D

And if I’d used the Internet and just looked up some random recipe, no, I wasn’t gonna remember that and that was going to make me Internet Dependent. I had to coat the grill with a little bit of nonstick cooking spray.

a little bit – un poquitín, un poquito

Then I can pour in the waffle mix. Now I’m gonna flip it over and do the same thing on the other side.

to flip over – dar vuelta a

This is a double waffle maker. How sweet!

I’m not talking about sugar here!

“How sweet!” is like “How cool!” (qué guay! qué cheveré! qué chido! que padre! What are some more y’all???)

My aunt once told me that the rubber spatula is a million-dollar kitchen tool because it saves you a million dollars. How cool is that?

She told me that. Yep, that’s what she told me. She only told me once, but I can still remember her telling me. So, I’m gonna tell you something right now!

• You always tell SOMEBODY something. (She told me this.)
• You say SOMETHING to SOMEBODY. (She said this to me.)

Got it? Good!

Now we just wait on the beep.

Is it WAIT ON or WAIT FOR?

As far as I know, WAIT ON and WAIT FOR both mean ESPERAR.

• I’m waiting on you.
• I’m waiting for you.

I’m coming. I’ll be right there. I’m coming. I’ll be right there.

Don’t confuse GO and COME in this common expression.

• I’m coming. – Ya voy.

Just listen to that sizzle.

Please listen to me. In English you listen TO things. But you can just listen as well without specifying what you’re listening to.

• Are you listening (to me)? – “to me” is optional
• Yes, I’m listening (to you). – “to you” is optional

With more practice I’m sure this waffle will be picture perfect, but for right now this waffle looks dang good.

DANG has a few different uses. The way I’ve used it above means BASTANTE. It’s not vulgar, just slang. So, feel free to add DANG to your vocabulary when speaking informally.

Another common meaning of DANG is MALDITO.

• I couldn’t get my dang computer to start! – This use of dang shows frustration.

The other beep ought to go off any time now. Perfect timing. See, I wasn’t too impatient.

If you go back and listen to me say these two sentences you can really hear my Southern American accent. Some folks say it’s cute, but I just think it sounds a bit silly. Nevertheless, I like it and wouldn’t choose any other accent to claim as my own!

It’s time to give these two waffles the butter and syrup treatment they deserve. Go easy on the syrup now! That stuff’s fattening!

go easy on – pasarse con

• Go easy on the syrup. – No te pases con el jarabe!

I hope it tastes good!

HOPE is one meaning of ESPERAR.

Some other words in English that are a bit tricky to understand are WAIT, TO LOOK FORWARD TO, and EXPECT. Check out this video response I recently recorded for one of our Hump Day Mondayers on this confusing set of words.

Alright, my homemade from…away from Internet waffles… How do I say this?

• How do I say this? – ¿Cómo lo digo?

The waffles I made in order to protect myself against IDD look wonderful, but how do they taste? That’s the question.

When you see IN ORDER TO it just means PARA. You can also take away the IN ORDER and the sentence will still make sense.

• The waffles I made to protect myself against IDD look wonderful.

Will these be Jesi treats or dog treats? Mardi looked at me when I said dog treat.

LOOK, SEE, and WATCH…what’s the difference? Well, I’ve already covered this topic and the lesson on this slightly confusing trio has helped many understand their usages! Go check it out!

Did you know what a dog treat is?

Yes, this is my puppy voice! It’s similar to a baby voice, but I don’t baby talk…or I at least try really hard not to!

Let’s dig in!

dig in (non-separable phrasal verb) – atacar (comida)

I made waffles! Haha! Without the Internet! Oh my gosh! And they taste great.

Do you like expressions? I do too! OH MY GOSH is a common expression of shock. There are many more and I covered them in the Season 2 Hump Day Monday Premiere.

Ok, all I did y’all was (mix) one egg, a little bit of self-rising flour, and milk…made it a little soupy, poured it in that nice waffle maker thing that y’all saw that I had, and it turned out great!

turn out – acabar, terminar

Ok, I just need some strawberries. Anybody got any strawberries? You got any strawberries? You got some strawberries? Have you got any strawberries? Do you have any strawberries? I can’t keep ’em all straight! You got any strawberries? I don’t have any strawberries, but I (have) got waffles.

Like I need to say this, but I didn’t rehearse nor anticipate going over this (have, have got, some, any) in this video! It just sort of happened! So, I was all over the place. Therefore, let me take the time now to explain everything the right way.

To say TENER we have a couple different ways in English.

• have – tener
• have got – tener

What’s the difference?

HAVE GOT is less formal than HAVE, but they’re interchangeable for the most part.

• Have you got any strawberries?
• Do you have any strawberries?

In spoken English, we often drop the HAVE and just use GOT.

• (Have) you got any strawberries?
• You got any strawberries? – We drop the HAVE sometimes too!

What about ANY and SOME?

So, you’ve probably learned to use ANY in questions and SOME in statements. Well, that’s only half the story. You can actually use ANY and SOME  in questions.

• Have you got any strawberries? – Just a simple question.
• Have you got some strawberries? – More hopeful that you do have some!

Thanks everybody for learning English with me, your teacher online, your English teacher online, Jessica Ojeda from SELVA inglés. That’s right! That’s my name. That’s who I am. Muah! Ok, we’re gonna pretend I didn’t record that. Oh!

Thanks for + “-ing”

• Thanks for learning English with me!
• Thanks for reading ALL this!
• Thanks for sharing SELVA inglés with your friends!

Take two on that. Thanks everybody for learning English with me, Jessica Ojeda, your online English teacher from SELVA inglés.com. There was a question is it dot.com or is it punto.com. Well, it just usually comes out punto.com because I’m used to saying SELVAingles punto com.

What you’re used to doing is what you usually do!

to be used to + “-ing” – acostumbrar

• I’m used to saying punto.com. – Estoy acostumbrada a decir punto.com.

Take three. Thanks guys for learning English with me, Jessica Ojeda, your online English teacher from SELVA inglés dot com. I appreciate you watching. Please subscribe to learn more English and please visit my web site SELVAingles.com for a personal notarized…no, not notarized… Oh my gosh! I can’t do it! I really can’t y’all.

Listen to the end of this part of the video closely. I pronounced CAN’T differently each time. 😉

Visit my web site SELVAingles.com for a complete transcript of this video complete with personal notes on like almost every line, ok?

This LIKE is so pointless! This is a habit I should stop, but I have a little bit of FRESA in me if you know what I mean! Basically, teenagers speak like this, and it makes you sound a bit dumb. But hey, it’s ok. I know I’m not dumb.

I have a whole lot to say about everything I say.

a whole lot = a whole bunch = a lot

So, go check it out. Please subscribe. Muah! I think that was take five.

to check out (separable) – echar un vistazo

Yeah! We rocked it!

to rock something – to do really well at something

Do you or a loved one suffer from IDD? If so, call one eight hundred stop IDD now. Don’t delay.

Do you know the common phrasal verb for DELAY?

to put off – delay – postpone – posponer

Alright, no for real, if you suffer from IDD, my completely made up disorder that is by the way a real disorder, but it’s not called IDD, it’s called Internet Addiction somethin’ ‘nother.

This is some more Southern English coming out of me! The real phrase is SOMETHING OR OTHER or SOMETHING OR ANOTHER.

But the point is it is real and I wanted to bring it to light and also for real make a joke about it but for real fight it as well.

to bring to light – sacar a la luz

So, share this video. Help fight against Internet addiction. Share share! Subscribe subscribe! Stay on here! Watch all my videos. Don’t do it. Limit yourself. Ok. Limits…limits are good. See y’all in the next video. Bye bye! Muah!

THANKS FOR LEARNING ENGLISH WITH ME! I really appreciate it! Stay tuned for more Reality English Listening Videos!