VIP Class Notes (Raph)

Vocabulary

Hilarious (adj): 1- extremely funny and causing a lot of laughter.
E.g.: He didn’t like the film at all – I thought it was hilarious.

Crack sb up  (phr v): 1- to suddenly laugh a lot, or to make someone suddenly laugh a lot.
E.g.: I took one look at her and cracked up.
E.g.: There’s something about that guy’s face that just cracks me up.

A  can of worms (id): 1- A situation that, once started, is likely to become problematic or have a negative outcome.
E.g.: Getting involved in the minor border conflict has become a can of worms for the country, with no end to the military engagement in sight.
E.g.: You can try reformatting your computer, but once you open that can of worms, you’ll probably be working on it for days.

Grammar

He divorced with her wife. – He divorced his wife. / He got divorced from his wife.

One time he say to me… – One time he told me… / He once told me…

BASE ON vs BASED ON

In the most common usage, “base” is a transitive verb. One bases something on something else(active), whereas something is based on something else (passive).

In other words, generally native speakers think of “base” as requiring a direct object, as well as an indirect object: base (sth.) on (sth.). In this view, our lives cannot base on norms and values, they can only be based on norms and values (or we can base our lives on norms and values).

Analogously, you can say, “I throw the ball to Jim” or “the ball is thrown to Jim”, but you cannot say “the ball throws to Jim”.

This is apparently not a universal rule for “base”, as you can see from one of the examples in its Dictionary.com entry, which is “Fluctuating prices usually base on a fickle public’s demand.” However, I would suggest that the vast majority of native speakers would prefer “Fluctuating prices are based on a fickle public’s demand.”

In sum, you cannot go wrong with base (sth.) on (sth.). On the other hand, you may be considered wrong by a listener if you use “base” as an intransitive verb, even though this latter construction is supported by dictionary examples. So if you see the phrase used without a direct object, just know that it’s a less familiar construction to most native speakers.

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Pronunciation

Helicopter: /ˈhel.əˌkɑːp.tɚ/

Wall: /wɑːl/

War: /wɔːr/

Wore: /wɔːr/

Were: /wɝː/

Word: /wɝːd/

World: /wɝːld/

TV Shows:
The Handmaid’s Tale
Big Little Lies