One common mistake made by those who speak English as a second language is confusing the words price and prize. This may be because they are very similar in their sound and spelling, but also because many languages only have one word with two different meanings. For example, le prix in French and der Preis in German can refer to either an award or the monetary value of an item. In those languages you simply have to look at the context of the sentence.
The price of something is the amount of money it is worth:
Well, the price ranges from twenty-five to a hundred dollars.
Caption 54, Groucho Marx - You Bet Your Life
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The price on this one was... three dollars!
Caption 51, Jessica - on books
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Price is also used metaphorically to talk about a sacrifice or consequence:
This is the price and the promise of citizenship.
Caption 72, Barack Obama's Inauguration Day - Obama's Speech
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A prize is an award given to recognize an achievement. It can involve money (prize money or a cash award), but not always. The Nobel Prize is a prominent example of a prize given on an international level.
I smell the prize, I'm getting closer
Caption 14, World Cup 2010 - For the Love of the Game
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There's no prize money, Gillian.
Caption 6, Dream to Believe - aka Flying
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Further Learning
Find some aspect of the usage of these words on Yabla English that will help you remember which one is which. For example, remembering that "Nobel Prize" has a "z" might help you remember that a "prize" is a type of award. Or perhaps remembering that "cents" as in "dollars and cents" is spelled with "c" will help you remember that "price," which has to do with money, is spelled with a "c" as well.
Characters in the popular television series Game of Thrones often repeat that "winter is coming," but somehow it never actually arrives. The results of the recent presidential election in the United States, however, have left many liberals preparing for a political winter that could last for at least four years. Here are some Yabla videos dealing with common expressions relating to this coldest of seasons.
Welcome to winter time... right here.
Welcome to winter time... right here.
Caption 33, Jason Mraz - Tour of Studio
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The winter came and the lake froze over.
The winter came and the lake froze over.
Caption 37, Fairy Tales - The Ugly Duckling
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However, there's still a large difference between winter and summer.
However, there's still a large difference between winter and summer.
Caption 4, English with Lauren - The weather
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In this winter of our hardship ...
In this winter of our hardship ...
let us brave once more the icy currents,
let us brave once more the icy currents,
and endure what storms may come.
and endure what storms may come.
Captions 87-89, Barack Obama's Inauguration Day - Obama's Speech
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Instead of lush fields,
Instead of lush fields,
we would have long winters and sparse,
we would have long winters and sparse,
ice-covered landscapes in Europe.
ice-covered landscapes in Europe.
Captions 55-56, Nature Preservation - The Gulf Stream & Climate Change
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You will have your home prepared
You will have your home prepared
and winter-proofed in next to no time.
and winter-proofed in next to no time.
Caption 38, British Gas - Top Tips on Preparing Your Home for Cold Weather
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Further Learning
Watch the above videos in their entirety and search for examples of winter on Yabla English to see other related terms used in a real-world context.
In the previous lessons, we saw how a regular verb conjugates into the past tense and past participle by simply adding -ed to the end of the infinitive: ask/asked, talk/talked, watch/watched, etc. Irregular verbs, on the other hand, each follow their own set of rules of conjugation. There are, however, some basic patterns that can help you remember how to conjugate some of these irregular verbs.
Some verbs with "ea" as the central vowels may (or may not) have an added -t at the end in past and past participle forms, but all of the past and past participle forms have in common that the "ea" is changes pronunciation. "I am reading a book" (pronounced "reeding"), but "I have read a book" (pronounced "red").
Many of the challenges that we are trying to tackle
can't be dealt with by individuals [sic] companies alone.
Captions 29-30, The British Monarchy - Global Sustainability
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You can finally live the life you always dreamt of.
Caption 10, Movie Trailers - Bruce Willis - Surrogates
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I meant what I wrote, shall we meet?
Caption 1, George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four - BBC TV Movie
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The father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people.
Caption 84, Barack Obama's Inauguration Day - Obama's Speech
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In all of the cases above, the present tense verbs "deal," "dream," "mean," and "read" have the long "ee" sound like "reed", but change in the past and past participles to the short "e" sound like "red."
Further Learning
Go back to the lessons for Irregular Verbs Part 1 and Part 2 and review some of the patterns that can help you learn English irregular verbs. Find examples of the verbs listed above in their past and past participle forms and learn them by searching for examples on Yabla English to see them used in a real-world context.
Even grammar can be "moody," but grammatical moods express the attitude of what a person is writing or saying. The three grammatical moods commonly used in English are the indicative, imperative, and subjunctive moods.
The indicative (or realis) mood is used to make a statement of fact:
You cannot outlast us and we will defeat you.
Caption 19, Barack Obama's Inauguration Day - Obama's Speech
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You will learn the true nature of the society we live in.
Caption 41, George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four - BBC TV Movie
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The imperative mood is for commands or requests:
Step away from your vehicle and put your hands on your head.
Captions 10-11, Movie Trailers - Men In Black
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All emergency service cars, please come to Vesey and West [Streets]!
Caption 4, World Trade Center - Story on the 2006 Film
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The subjunctive mood is used to express a a wish, desire, or something that has not yet happened.
I'd like to have something interesting to do and I'd like to have nothing to do.
Caption 54, Leonard Nimoy - Talking about Mr. Spock
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I would like to explain how we talk about the time in English.
Caption 3, Lydia Explains - The Clock
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Further Learning
Read more about grammatical moods and find examples on Yabla English to see them used in a real-world context.
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