Nouns are usually the first words we learn. The good news is that with nouns, we don't have to worry about gender in English. We do, however, have to be aware of gerunds that act like nouns but look like verbs, and countable or uncountable nouns.

The fire that was set to smoke Jack out of the jungle has an unintended consequence—and a happy one at that.

Alan and his son Jake discuss the merits of going to college in this extended preview of an episode of the popular sitcom Two and a Half Men.

Here's a quick summary of the different kinds of words we have in the English language and what they are used for.

Dates are usually expressed with ordinal numbers. Sometimes, though, what we write is different from what we say.

Maggie decides to intervene, and finally the girls are encouraged to stop sulking and talk about their issues.

Annette provides some biographical notes on Maya Angelou and then recites her poem “Caged Bird." The poem followed Angelou's memoir volume, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

Ordinal numbers help us put things in order or in a sequence. Sigrid teaches us the suffixes we use to turn cardinal numbers into ordinal ones.

It turns out that Rachael is also unhappy, and Maggie is feeling more and more uncomfortable about being in the middle of things.

Annette recites a poem to help students with English pronunciation and its maddening inconsistencies.

Sigrid explains what cardinal numbers are and gives us some writing and pronunciation tips.

Living together can be challenging, even for good friends. Maggie, as a guest and friend, can't help but notice that Julia is feeling frustrated about something.

Sigrid finishes the alphabet with "Z," covering words like "zone" and "zebra," but also the useful suffix "-ize."

The British band Madness had a major UK hit with this song, and with good reason: heartfelt and nutty in equal measure, it would bring the house down at every Madness show. The video — filmed above and below water — is one of their classics, with cameo appearances by Big Bird, a killer whale, and Labi Siffre, who wrote the song.

Anna, from Cambridge University Press, explains how and when to use the Present Simple.