Everyday English (Elementary)

Topic: Dates and Numbers

Lesson Notes July 15, 2025 (Elementary)

Words & Phrases

• Most hotels didn’t have any air conditioning. (‘Almost hotels’ is not correct. Say ‘almost all the hotels’ or ‘almost none of the hotels,’ depending on the meaning.)

• There was hardly any air conditioning in hotels.

• The tourists were mostly international. (‘Almost’ is not correct, ‘almost’ means ‘nearly’ or ‘just about’)

• How many bottles of wine did you drink? (This is a countable question, because bottles are countable)

• How much wine did you drink? (This is an uncountable question, because wine is uncountable)

• Many of the wineries are family owned.

• There are wine grapes, grown on a vineyard, and table grapes, grown on a (table) grape farm.

• What was the most memorable part of your trip to France? (Excellent question to ask about someone’s travels)

• I had a very small suitcase, so I couldn’t buy myself wine.

• The fee to send wine was €240.” (= (plural) two hundred forty euros)

• In summer, horses sweat a lot. Sometimes they wear a horse blanket to protect themselves from UV rays and heatstroke.

• Horses sweat a lot in summer. Sometimes they wear blankets to protect from sun and heatstroke.

• When you buy a new phone, you can (exchange / trade-in / return) your old one for a bit of money.

Pronunciation

• Vineyard (noun) ˈvɪn.jəd / VIN-yard

Dates & Numbers

Tongue Placement for TH

• Both TH sounds (voiced and unvoiced) are made with the tip of the tongue lightly touching your top front teeth.

• The tongue should stick out a little, just between the teeth.

• Let the air go over the tongue.

• Voiced TH (Your throat vibrates)

• Examples: this, that, they, mother, weather

• Unvoiced TH (No voice, just air sound)

• Examples: think, thank, three, tooth, month

Simple Exercise

1. Stick out your tongue a little between your teeth.

2. Say “thhhhhhink”, “thhhhhhank”, “thhhhhhree”, “toothhhhhh”, “monthhhhhh”; hold the ‘TH’ sound for as long as you can.

3. Now say “thhhhhhis”, “thhhhhhat”, “thhhhhhey”, “mothhhhhher”, “weathhhhhher”; hold the ‘TH’ sound for as long as you can.