IELTS Preparation Series 1, Episode 8: Crocodile Tourism
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Hello. Welcome again to Study English, IELTS preparation. I'm Margot Politis.
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Today we'll look at some words that cause a lot of confusion - the relative pronouns
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'that', 'which' and 'who', and then we'll do some pronunciation practice.
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But first, let's listen to some people talk about a very dangerous tourist attraction
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from Australia's Northern Territory.
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People have always been fascinated with death. Most of the mysteries that you see on television,
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the films that you see, involve murder in one kind or another. Crocodiles are one of
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the last remaining dinosaurs and the idea of a crocodile coming out of the water and
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grabbing somebody is absolutely riveting.
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I read about the death of the German tourist who was taken by a crocodile. It didn't put
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me off coming to the Northern Territory, quite the opposite in fact.
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I think the NT is famous for its crocodiles and probably quite famous for its crocodile
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attacks and that tourists who come here would like to be, or feel as though they were, involved
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in that danger.
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Tourists want to have a story to take home and if they can say that they were in the
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Northern Territory where the German tourist was taken by the croc, then it adds to their
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own adventure.
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So he thinks people may actually be attracted to the Northern Territory because of the dangerous
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crocodiles.
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But now we're going to leave the crocodiles, and talk about something else that can be
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dangerous - the relative pronouns 'who', 'which' and 'that'.
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Listen for some relative pronouns here.
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People have always been fascinated with death. Most of the mysteries that you see on TV,
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the films that you see, involve murder of one kind or another.
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I read about the death of the German tourist who was taken by a crocodile.
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Most of the mysteries 'that' you see on TV involve murders.
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I read about the death of the tourist 'who' was taken by a crocodile.
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Relative pronouns are used to introduce relative clauses.
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They give more information about a subject.
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The subject here is 'mysteries'.
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The 'that clause' gives us more information about the subject - 'the mysteries that you
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see on TV'.
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'The tourist' is the subject. The 'who clause' gives more information - 'the tourist who
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was taken by a crocodile'.
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But how do you choose between 'who', 'which' or 'that'?
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Well the relative pronoun 'who' is only used with people.
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'Which' is only used with things.
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'That' is usually only used with things as well. Sometimes, in informal language, it
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can refer to people.
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But when you're learning English, it's probably best to avoid using 'that' for people.
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The most difficult thing with these relative pronouns is working out the difference between
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'which' and 'that'.
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As a general rule, we use 'which' when the clause does not affect the meaning of the
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sentence.
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A 'which' clause just gives us extra information.
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It can be left out of a sentence, and the sentence still has the same meaning.
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When 'which' is used in this type of clause, we put commas around it.
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'The hat, which is on the bed, is new.'
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Here, the clause 'which is on the bed', just gives us additional information.
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We can take it out, and the sentence still makes sense.
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There is only one hat, it's the hat on the bed. We take out the which clause, and the
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important information is still there:
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The hat is new.
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OK, now let's look at 'that'.
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We use 'that' for clauses that are a crucial part of the sentence. They are actually part
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of the definition of the subject.
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The hat that is on the bed is new.
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Notice 'that' clauses do not use commas, because they are a crucial part of the sentence.
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There are a number of hats that this sentence could be referring to. But the sentence is
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specifically talking about the hat on the bed, so we use 'that'.
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The 'that' clause cannot be taken out of the sentence.
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The hat is new.
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It doesn't make sense here, because it doesn't tell us which hat is being discussed.
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It will take some practice to get used to when to use 'who', 'which' and 'that'.
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To sum up, we use 'that' to define the subject.
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We use 'which', in a clause with commas, to add extra information.
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You will notice 'which' often being used in place of 'that', especially in spoken language.
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While not strictly correct, it is very common.
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The word 'who' is a bit simpler. It's only used when the subject is a person, and can
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be used in both of these types of clauses.
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OK. Now we're going to do some pronunciation practice.
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Students learning English often complain that native speakers speak too fast.
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Well, it's true. English speakers do run their words together, so it's often very difficult
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to hear when one word ends and another begins.
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To make your spoken English sound natural, it's important for you to do this too.
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You need to learn to link words ending in a 'final consonant' sound to words with an
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'initial vowel' sound.
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Let's look at some words linked with 'of'.
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People have always been fascinated with death. Most of the mysteries that you see on television,
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the films that you see, involve murder in one kind or another. Crocodiles are one of
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the last remaining dinosaurs, and the idea of a crocodile coming out of the water and
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grabbing somebody is absolutely riveting.
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I read about the death of the German tourist who was taken by a crocodile. It didn't put
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me off coming to the Northern Territory, quite the opposite.
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He uses the phrases:
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most of
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one of
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out of
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death of
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But in sentences, these phrases will usually become linked together:
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most of, most of
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one of, one of
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out of, out of
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death of, death of
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Notice that 'of' in these phrases is unstressed.
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Practice these ones:
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many of, many of
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most of, most of
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one of, one of
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several of, several of
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Listen to the differences when I read these sentences in a natural, conversational way.
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One of my best friends lives here. One of my best friends lives here.
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Many of the trees have died. Many of the trees have died.
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I enjoy most of her songs. I enjoy most of her songs.
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People have always been fascinated with death. Crocodiles are one of the last remaining dinosaurs
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and the idea of a crocodile coming out of the water and grabbing somebody is absolutely
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riveting.
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He says people have always been fascinated with death.
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People 'have always'.
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Notice how in conversation, we link the final consonant sound 'v', with the initial vowel
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sound 'aw':
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have always
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crocodiles are, crocodiles are
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is absolutely, is absolutely
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Ok, now let's try these sentences:
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She is always studying hard. She is always studying hard.
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They aren't scared by crocodiles. They aren't scared by crocodiles.
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So make sure you practice words in phrases and sentences. That way you'll get used to
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linking your words, and your spoken English will sound more natural.
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And don't forget to listen to native speakers as much as you can, and try to copy them,
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even if they do speak fast!
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And that's all for today. I'll see you next time on Study English. Bye bye.