WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.839 Too far and far too look almost identical. But, 00:00:04.960 --> 00:00:08.560 to a native English speaker, the meaning is completely 00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:12.199 different. Do you know why? It's the same two 00:00:12.199 --> 00:00:15.359 words, but when you flip the order, the meaning 00:00:15.359 --> 00:00:18.239 changes completely. Welcome back to the Learn 00:00:18.239 --> 00:00:20.519 English Podcast, the podcast teaching English 00:00:20.519 --> 00:00:23.620 in context so you can learn naturally. On today's 00:00:23.620 --> 00:00:25.899 episode, I want to talk about something that 00:00:25.899 --> 00:00:29.359 confuses a lot of English learners. even those 00:00:29.359 --> 00:00:32.100 who have learned English to a very high level. 00:00:32.299 --> 00:00:36.219 You can listen to a sentence and know the individual 00:00:36.219 --> 00:00:39.920 words, but not quite understand the meaning. 00:00:40.079 --> 00:00:44.899 The reason is that in English, word order is 00:00:44.899 --> 00:00:48.740 extremely important. So today I want to look 00:00:48.740 --> 00:00:53.240 at six word pairs. Each pair is going to use 00:00:53.240 --> 00:00:56.899 the same two words. But you're going to see when 00:00:56.899 --> 00:01:00.420 we flip the word order how it changes the meaning. 00:01:00.780 --> 00:01:02.920 So if you're ready to understand these terms 00:01:02.920 --> 00:01:06.239 like a native speaker does, follow along because 00:01:06.239 --> 00:01:14.359 we're about to begin. Now let's start with these 00:01:14.359 --> 00:01:17.439 word pairs. Our first pair looks simple, but 00:01:17.439 --> 00:01:20.879 it actually flips the direction of time. Our 00:01:20.879 --> 00:01:24.799 phrases here are before long and long before. 00:01:25.400 --> 00:01:28.280 Before long means soon, that something is happening 00:01:28.280 --> 00:01:32.379 quickly after another event. To show this, let's 00:01:32.379 --> 00:01:35.560 look at this example sentence. The sentence is, 00:01:35.719 --> 00:01:39.900 she moved to Seattle and before long she made 00:01:39.900 --> 00:01:43.879 new friends. So the first event was her moving 00:01:43.879 --> 00:01:47.379 to Seattle, the second event was her making friends, 00:01:47.500 --> 00:01:50.840 and those two events are joined quickly together 00:01:50.840 --> 00:01:55.379 in time. Now let's flip that pair and look at 00:01:55.379 --> 00:01:59.859 long before. Long before is still talking about 00:01:59.859 --> 00:02:04.299 time and how events relate to each other in time, 00:02:04.379 --> 00:02:07.799 but it means that an event happened in the distant 00:02:07.799 --> 00:02:12.520 past before another event. This means that the 00:02:12.520 --> 00:02:16.000 event happened much earlier. Let's look at this 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:20.599 sentence. She had friends in Seattle long before 00:02:20.599 --> 00:02:24.219 she moved there. This sentence is a little surprising 00:02:24.219 --> 00:02:27.680 because normally you make friends after you move 00:02:27.680 --> 00:02:30.879 somewhere, but by phrasing these two words the 00:02:30.879 --> 00:02:33.360 way that we did, we are saying that that order 00:02:33.360 --> 00:02:37.680 was reversed. This sentence means that this person 00:02:37.680 --> 00:02:41.759 had friends first for a number of months or even 00:02:41.759 --> 00:02:45.439 years, and then she moved to Seattle. So when 00:02:45.439 --> 00:02:49.409 you use long before, Those two events are very 00:02:49.409 --> 00:02:53.669 far apart in time. Same two words, completely 00:02:53.669 --> 00:02:56.849 different meaning. A good way to visualize this 00:02:56.849 --> 00:02:59.849 is with a timeline. With before long, the two 00:02:59.849 --> 00:03:02.990 events are very close together. Something happens 00:03:02.990 --> 00:03:06.469 and then the other thing happens very quickly 00:03:06.469 --> 00:03:09.789 afterwards. With long before, the two events 00:03:09.789 --> 00:03:13.379 are far apart. The first one happens, a long 00:03:13.379 --> 00:03:17.599 time passes, and only later does the second event 00:03:17.599 --> 00:03:20.939 occur. So even though the words are the same, 00:03:21.099 --> 00:03:25.080 how you order them tells someone whether the 00:03:25.080 --> 00:03:28.979 time gap between the two events was short or 00:03:28.979 --> 00:03:35.099 long. Our second pair is long for and for long. 00:03:35.520 --> 00:03:39.370 For long means for a long time. But there's an 00:03:39.370 --> 00:03:42.750 important rule when you use this phrase. Usually 00:03:42.750 --> 00:03:47.409 we use this in negatives or questions. That means 00:03:47.409 --> 00:03:51.770 that we pair this phrase with a word like can't, 00:03:51.770 --> 00:03:56.550 don't, or won't. And it's often used when talking 00:03:56.550 --> 00:04:00.430 about staying in a particular place for a short 00:04:00.430 --> 00:04:04.370 amount of time or for enduring a difficult situation. 00:04:04.889 --> 00:04:08.750 Let's look at this example. She moved to Seattle 00:04:08.750 --> 00:04:13.289 but didn't stay there for long. Here the sentence 00:04:13.289 --> 00:04:16.670 means that this person moved to Seattle but they 00:04:16.670 --> 00:04:19.810 left after a short amount of time. The point 00:04:19.810 --> 00:04:23.089 of the sentence is not to talk about exactly 00:04:23.089 --> 00:04:27.170 how long she lived there but instead to focus 00:04:27.170 --> 00:04:31.069 on the fact that her stay was shorter than expected. 00:04:31.769 --> 00:04:33.949 And did you hear how I used the word didn't before 00:04:33.949 --> 00:04:37.350 this phrase? Remember, that is a key part when 00:04:37.350 --> 00:04:40.509 you are using it. Saying she stayed for long 00:04:40.509 --> 00:04:44.629 sounds very unnatural to a native speaker because 00:04:44.629 --> 00:04:47.709 like I said, we usually use a negative word in 00:04:47.709 --> 00:04:50.490 front of this phrase when we use it in a sentence. 00:04:51.569 --> 00:04:53.889 Now let's flip this and talk about long for. 00:04:54.589 --> 00:04:57.509 I did an episode on Maya Angelou where I talked 00:04:57.509 --> 00:05:00.250 about one of her poems and discussed the advanced 00:05:00.250 --> 00:05:03.709 vocabulary that she used in that poem. So if 00:05:03.709 --> 00:05:06.829 you listened to that episode, hopefully you already 00:05:06.829 --> 00:05:09.930 know what this phrase means. Long for it means 00:05:09.930 --> 00:05:14.709 that you are strongly desiring, yearning, or 00:05:14.709 --> 00:05:18.149 wishing for something. And usually that thing 00:05:18.149 --> 00:05:21.269 that you are wishing for or wanting, you're not 00:05:21.269 --> 00:05:25.740 likely to get it. When someone uses this phrase, 00:05:25.959 --> 00:05:29.720 usually the emotion behind it is sadness, maybe 00:05:29.720 --> 00:05:33.100 even a little bit of depression. This is not 00:05:33.100 --> 00:05:37.120 just about casually missing something. This is 00:05:37.120 --> 00:05:42.079 a deeper emotional feeling. It suggests nostalgia 00:05:42.079 --> 00:05:47.579 and emotional attachment. For example, she moved 00:05:47.579 --> 00:05:52.019 to Seattle but longs for her hometown. Here, 00:05:52.060 --> 00:05:55.019 this sentence means that she really misses her 00:05:55.019 --> 00:05:58.120 hometown. She really wants to go back and see 00:05:58.120 --> 00:06:00.939 it. But because we're using that phrase long 00:06:00.939 --> 00:06:04.480 for, that tells us that most likely she's not 00:06:04.480 --> 00:06:07.759 going to go back to her hometown anytime soon. 00:06:08.199 --> 00:06:10.839 And I want you to notice something important 00:06:10.839 --> 00:06:15.240 here. For long is neutral and factual as it just 00:06:15.240 --> 00:06:19.300 describes time. Long for is emotional because 00:06:19.300 --> 00:06:23.220 it describes a feeling. So by switching the word 00:06:23.220 --> 00:06:27.079 order here, we can switch from information to 00:06:27.079 --> 00:06:32.639 emotion. Our third pairing is only now and now 00:06:32.639 --> 00:06:37.759 only. This pairing is all about focus. Only now 00:06:37.759 --> 00:06:41.420 means not until this moment. It usually shows 00:06:41.420 --> 00:06:46.300 a delay or some type of late understanding. That 00:06:46.300 --> 00:06:49.439 means that something came later than it was expected 00:06:49.439 --> 00:06:53.350 to. For example, She moved to Seattle last year 00:06:53.350 --> 00:06:56.910 but only now has made friends. That sentence 00:06:56.910 --> 00:07:00.009 tells us that she moved to Seattle but she did 00:07:00.009 --> 00:07:03.470 not make any friends until this moment. It took 00:07:03.470 --> 00:07:06.329 longer than expected for her to make friends. 00:07:07.129 --> 00:07:10.949 Now only means that in this current moment you 00:07:10.949 --> 00:07:14.189 are more restricted or more limited than you 00:07:14.189 --> 00:07:17.639 were before. This is usually used when new rules 00:07:17.639 --> 00:07:20.740 get applied or new restrictions get applied to 00:07:20.740 --> 00:07:24.100 a particular activity. So you used to have more 00:07:24.100 --> 00:07:26.480 freedom, you used to be able to do more things, 00:07:26.620 --> 00:07:30.459 but now you are limited for some reason. Our 00:07:30.459 --> 00:07:33.560 example sentence here is, she used to go to Seattle 00:07:33.560 --> 00:07:38.019 every month, but now only goes once a year. This 00:07:38.019 --> 00:07:41.839 sentence focuses on limitation because it is 00:07:41.839 --> 00:07:47.199 about reduced freedom. Here you can see how now 00:07:47.199 --> 00:07:51.240 only is restricting her movement. She used to 00:07:51.240 --> 00:07:53.759 go to Seattle every single month, she went all 00:07:53.759 --> 00:07:57.399 the time, but for some reason that movement is 00:07:57.399 --> 00:08:00.600 being restricted and now she can only go once 00:08:00.600 --> 00:08:04.040 a year. Our fourth pairing is far too and too 00:08:04.040 --> 00:08:07.120 far. This pairing is especially important for 00:08:07.120 --> 00:08:11.199 everyday conversations. Far too means too much, 00:08:11.500 --> 00:08:16.110 too extreme. For example, Seattle is far too 00:08:16.110 --> 00:08:20.329 cold. She goes there far too often. In those 00:08:20.329 --> 00:08:23.750 cases, what we are saying is that it is too much. 00:08:23.769 --> 00:08:27.829 It is too cold in Seattle. She goes too often. 00:08:28.329 --> 00:08:31.269 Too far is different. It means that something 00:08:31.269 --> 00:08:35.450 is beyond the acceptable limits. This is usually 00:08:35.450 --> 00:08:39.789 about distance, behavior, or boundaries. Our 00:08:39.789 --> 00:08:47.090 sentence here is... This means that the distance 00:08:47.090 --> 00:08:51.250 to Seattle is too great. It is at too far of 00:08:51.250 --> 00:08:54.309 a distance to be able to travel there for just 00:08:54.309 --> 00:08:58.490 one weekend. When we say too far, we are giving 00:08:58.490 --> 00:09:02.269 our own personal judgment. We are saying it passes 00:09:02.269 --> 00:09:06.269 our comfort level. You might also hear this with 00:09:06.269 --> 00:09:09.950 jokes or in comedy. If someone says that a joke 00:09:10.269 --> 00:09:13.730 went too far that means that a boundary was crossed 00:09:13.730 --> 00:09:16.590 and that the joke started to hurt people or become 00:09:16.590 --> 00:09:20.389 offensive it was beyond the acceptable limit 00:09:20.389 --> 00:09:24.990 for humor our fifth word pairing is even then 00:09:24.990 --> 00:09:29.470 and then even this is more subtle but you'll 00:09:29.470 --> 00:09:32.990 hear it especially with storytelling even then 00:09:32.990 --> 00:09:36.730 means despite that time or situation this is 00:09:36.730 --> 00:09:40.830 saying that even after a long period of time, 00:09:40.970 --> 00:09:45.429 the expected results did not occur. We were expecting 00:09:45.429 --> 00:09:49.389 something to happen, and even after giving it 00:09:49.389 --> 00:09:52.389 more time to occur than we thought was needed, 00:09:52.649 --> 00:09:56.889 it still did not happen. For example, she lived 00:09:56.889 --> 00:09:59.649 in Seattle for three years, but even then it 00:09:59.649 --> 00:10:02.909 didn't feel like home. This phrase highlights 00:10:02.909 --> 00:10:07.429 contrast. Despite her living in Seattle. It did 00:10:07.429 --> 00:10:11.509 not feel like home. So that even then shows us 00:10:11.509 --> 00:10:14.169 that something that you would have thought would 00:10:14.169 --> 00:10:19.129 happen did not happen. Then even is less common, 00:10:19.149 --> 00:10:23.429 but it is a very expressive phrase. This is used 00:10:23.429 --> 00:10:26.309 when you are talking about a situation that is 00:10:26.309 --> 00:10:30.169 bad and that keeps getting worse. This phrase 00:10:30.169 --> 00:10:33.830 is really used for emphasis. to say how that 00:10:33.830 --> 00:10:37.669 situation is getting worse. For example, my computer 00:10:37.669 --> 00:10:41.450 was running slow all day, then the software crashed, 00:10:41.610 --> 00:10:45.870 and then even the backup system failed. This 00:10:45.870 --> 00:10:48.850 order and using this phrase pulls our attention 00:10:48.850 --> 00:10:53.710 to how a bad situation kept escalating and then 00:10:53.710 --> 00:10:57.529 got significantly worse. Our example started 00:10:57.529 --> 00:11:01.070 bad with the computer not working, then escalated, 00:11:01.500 --> 00:11:05.320 with it crashing, and then got even worse with 00:11:05.320 --> 00:11:08.539 the backup system failing. This structure builds 00:11:08.539 --> 00:11:12.159 tension within the story since each sentence 00:11:12.159 --> 00:11:17.200 adds a new problem. And someone uses this phrasing 00:11:17.200 --> 00:11:20.940 when they want to build that sense of drama. 00:11:21.559 --> 00:11:25.200 That is why it is used when someone is telling 00:11:25.200 --> 00:11:28.679 a story and really wants the listener to feel 00:11:28.679 --> 00:11:33.259 how bad the situation was. And our last pairing 00:11:33.259 --> 00:11:38.700 is such as and as such. Such as means for example. 00:11:39.639 --> 00:11:43.240 I teach English here. I have this podcast where 00:11:43.240 --> 00:11:46.360 I teach English and I might say that I teach 00:11:46.360 --> 00:11:50.320 English pronunciation such as the English a vowel 00:11:50.320 --> 00:11:54.590 sound. e vowel sound and tricky city and state 00:11:54.590 --> 00:11:57.789 names. When you are listening to that sentence 00:11:57.789 --> 00:12:00.950 and you hear such as, you know that what comes 00:12:00.950 --> 00:12:06.909 next is examples that support the idea. So my 00:12:06.909 --> 00:12:09.669 examples were the episodes where I taught pronunciation 00:12:09.669 --> 00:12:14.710 and I use those to support my claim that I teach 00:12:14.710 --> 00:12:18.090 English pronunciation. You use this when your 00:12:18.090 --> 00:12:21.759 listener already knows the main idea. Using such 00:12:21.759 --> 00:12:25.019 as just signals that you're going to give more 00:12:25.019 --> 00:12:30.159 specific details. As such means therefore or 00:12:30.159 --> 00:12:33.700 that something applies to a specific role or 00:12:33.700 --> 00:12:36.759 condition. This phrase is used to draw attention 00:12:36.759 --> 00:12:40.019 to what was just said. For example, I can say 00:12:40.019 --> 00:12:43.259 that I teach English with my podcast. As such, 00:12:43.259 --> 00:12:47.409 I do episodes on English pronunciation. Here, 00:12:47.509 --> 00:12:50.929 we're saying that because I am an English teacher, 00:12:51.110 --> 00:12:54.710 therefore, I do episodes on English pronunciation. 00:12:55.529 --> 00:12:58.750 So, such as means that you're giving examples 00:12:58.750 --> 00:13:03.309 about what you do. As such means you are explaining 00:13:03.309 --> 00:13:06.490 the actions that you take because you have a 00:13:06.490 --> 00:13:09.769 particular role or are in a particular situation. 00:13:10.649 --> 00:13:13.250 I hope you liked this episode and I hope you 00:13:13.250 --> 00:13:15.570 found it interesting and learned something about 00:13:15.570 --> 00:13:18.639 these. Did you know all of those word pairs or 00:13:18.639 --> 00:13:21.639 were some of them new? Please tell me in the 00:13:21.639 --> 00:13:24.379 comments if you got all of those correct or if 00:13:24.379 --> 00:13:27.080 you learned something from this episode. I really 00:13:27.080 --> 00:13:30.000 hope that it did help you with building your 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:33.059 vocabulary and understanding how word order can 00:13:33.059 --> 00:13:37.139 affect what the meaning of a phrase is. In English, 00:13:37.240 --> 00:13:40.139 we don't just change word order for a random 00:13:40.139 --> 00:13:42.720 reason. We do it when we really want to focus 00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:45.320 on what we're saying and what our meaning is. 00:13:45.769 --> 00:13:49.009 So instead of translating word by word, you really 00:13:49.009 --> 00:13:52.450 want to get an overall understanding of what 00:13:52.450 --> 00:13:55.149 a native speaker is saying when they use these 00:13:55.149 --> 00:13:57.750 phrases with you. By learning those patterns, 00:13:57.870 --> 00:14:01.190 you can really improve your fluency. And a reminder 00:14:01.190 --> 00:14:03.509 to look at the description of this podcast episode 00:14:03.509 --> 00:14:06.710 for helpful links and for the vocabulary list 00:14:06.710 --> 00:14:09.830 of these word pairings. If you liked the episode, 00:14:09.909 --> 00:14:12.419 if you found it helpful, Please leave us a rating 00:14:12.419 --> 00:14:15.000 on whatever app you are using to listen to this 00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:18.039 podcast on. You can also share the show. Share 00:14:18.039 --> 00:14:20.980 it with someone who is learning English so we 00:14:20.980 --> 00:14:23.700 can continue to build our audience and they can 00:14:23.700 --> 00:14:26.799 continue to improve their English fluency. You 00:14:26.799 --> 00:14:29.320 can follow us on social media or you can go to 00:14:29.320 --> 00:14:32.659 our website, learnenglishpod .com. And remember 00:14:32.659 --> 00:14:34.759 to follow the show so you don't miss our next 00:14:34.759 --> 00:14:37.860 episode when it comes out next week. Until then, 00:14:37.879 --> 00:14:38.960 keep learning English.