6 Minute Vocab — How to use interjections

Transcript کامل قسمت

Hello and welcome to 6 Minute Vocabulary with me, Callum. And me, Catherine. In this programme we're talking about interjections. Interjections are words that we use to express an emotion or feeling. For example, oh, expresses surprise and hooray, expresses pleasure when something good happens. We'll give you plenty of other examples. We'll have a quiz and we'll finish with a top tip for learning vocabulary. Here are Peter and Kylie. They're at home in their kitchen. And while you listen, think about this question. What emotion does Peter express by the word, phew, at the end of this conversation? Ow! What's wrong? I've just cut my finger. Oh, quick! Where's the first aid kit? It's in that drawer. Got it. Ugh, there's blood everywhere. Oh no, it's on my T-shirt now. Let me see your finger. There you go. There, got the plaster on it. Hooray! Phew, thanks. You're listening to BBC Learning English. So that was Peter and Kylie and we asked what emotion does Peter express by the word few at the end of the conversation? And the answer is that he expresses relief. Peter feels relieved that Kylie has got the plaster on his finger. He does. People use interjections a lot in everyday speech. It's interesting that one little word like few can express so much, isn't it? Yes, it is. And that's why it's important to learn to use interjections when you're speaking to make your English sound more natural and fluent. Now, interjections usually come at the beginning of what we're saying, but they can sometimes come at the end. So Peter says, phew, thanks. But he could have said, thanks, phew. But whichever way he says it, the interjection stands alone. There are no words to connect it to what comes after or before it. That's right. And if you're writing a conversation with interjections, they're usually followed by an exclamation mark. Because the exclamation mark emphasises the strength of the emotion and increases the interest for the reader. Phew! with an exclamation mark looks more dramatic than Phew! with a full stop. It does. That's interesting, isn't it? Let's have our first clip. Ow! What's wrong? I've just cut my finger. Oh, quick! Where's the first aid kit? It's in that drawer. Got it. Right, so what does Peter express with ow? expresses sudden pain. And we could also say ouch too. They mean the same. And the second interjection was, oh, Kylie uses it to show surprise and alarm that Peter has cut his finger. Yes. Now, if you wanted to describe the scene in writing, you would have to say, Peter shouted in sudden pain, instead of using ow, or Peter's voice expressed relief instead of using whew. That's right. Interjections are very useful when speaking, but they're not often used in written English except for writing dialogues like the one between Peter and Kylie. OK, let's have our second clip. Urgh! There's blood everywhere! Oh no, it's on my T-shirt now! Let me see your finger. There you go. There, got the plaster on it. Hooray! Phew! Thanks! OK, Kylie uses three interjections there. Now, we don't usually use so many together but the situation is quite dramatic so it's natural to use them together there. There was urgh, which expresses disgust at the blood everywhere. And there was oh no, which expresses shock. Kylie was a bit shocked that the blood was on her T-shirt. And finally, hooray, that expresses pleasure or delight that something good has happened. Kylie was very pleased that she'd managed to get the plaster on Peter's finger. Other common interjections are wow for admiration, oops for when you make a mistake and yippee for excitement. It's time now for our quiz. Listen to each sentence then choose the correct interjection to go before each one. Number 1. There's a dead snake in the road. Is it ouch or ough? It's ough for disgust. It is. Number 2. What a beautiful building. Is it a wow or b hooray? And it's a wow for admiration. Correct. Number three. Amy's passed her driving test. Is it oops or phew? And it's phew for relief. Excellent. That's the end of the quiz and congratulations if you got them all right. And before we go, here's today's top tip. When you're speaking everyday English, you don't always need to use high-level vocabulary to express your meaning. It's more important to be clear and sometimes simple words like interjections express your meaning much more clearly than a sentence with advanced vocabulary in it. There's more about this at bbclearningenglish.com. Join us again for more 6 Minute Vocabulary. Goodbye. Bye.