October 7, 2025 • 55 mins
Learn English with a short story. Listen & repeat after me if you'd like to practise your pronunciation. Learn some vocabulary in the second half of the video. Click here to read the story on Commaful https://commaful.com/play/lisa/the-es... Contents
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello listeners and hello video viewers. It's time to do
another story on the podcast. This time, I'm going to
be reading a story called The Escaped Man by an
author called ct Platt. The story is presented on commaful
dot com. Commaful dot com is a website where you
can find short stories, fan fiction, and other reading texts
(00:21):
and it's all presented in a nice and easy to
read format. So this time the story is The Escaped
Man and it's written by ctplat. Okay, and the way
this is going to work is that I will read
the story once and you can just try and follow
it and understand it. And then I will summarize the
story very quickly in plain English to make sure you've
(00:42):
understood basically what happened. And then we will go through
the story again, line by line, and I will break
it down for language, and I will teach you bits
of vocabulary and bits of grammar. I'll point them out
for you, so not only can you enjoy hopefully and
entertaining story, but also we'll use it as a way
to learn some English. Okay, learning English through stories is
(01:05):
a great idea and it tends to work because it
places language in a vivid context and is generally quite
entertaining and fun. So listen to the story and then
let me break all the language down for you bit
by bit. Okay, so we're nearly ready to start reading
the story. Just before I read it to you, here
(01:25):
are a few questions, okay, just to help you focus.
So question number one is where does the story take place? Okay,
what do you think? Where's the location of this story
and how do you know? And secondly is this American
English or is this British English? And how do you know?
And thirdly, the third question is simply what is going
(01:46):
to happen next? Can you try and guess what's going
to happen next? Okay? Right, so if you're ready, let's begin,
And I'm going to go to commaful dot com now
and start reading through The Escaped Man. Okay, So I
want you to try and get into the right mood here.
This is a sort of a mystery story, okay, and
it's got a slightly dark atmosphere to it. So here
(02:08):
we go. Imagine the rain, rainfall, Imagine the rain beating down.
Here we go The Escaped Man by C. T. Plat.
The rain was falling heavily. It was like driving through
a thick curtain of water. He eased off the accelerator
a little. Had to be careful driving on wild nights
(02:29):
like these. The last thing you'd want is to have
an accident or breakdown. You just want to be at
home on these stormy nights. The thwack thwack of the
windscreen wipers was hypnotic. He stared out into the glow
of the headlights. The rain sounded like white noise interference
(02:54):
as it battered the car. He was reminded of the
opening scenes of a Hitchcock film. Through the wash of
the rain, he spotted a figure at the side of
the road. The person wore a green Parker and had
their thumb jerked out. Why on earth would anyone be
(03:14):
hitchhiking tonight. Surely you would just stay pert until the morning.
There must have been in a rush to get where
they were going. He signaled down and pulled over. The
hitchhiker climbed in. He shut the door quickly, glad to
be out of the rain. He pulled his hood back
and sighed. He was somewhere in his mid twenties and
(03:40):
had wild red hair and a thick beard. Awful night, eh,
said the driver. The hitchhiker held his gaze for a
long moment. Drops of rain water trickled down his face. Yes, yes,
(04:01):
it is. The driver pulled out and continued through the storm.
The hitchhiker glanced over his shoulder into the blackness behind them.
(04:23):
You okay, the hitchhiker simply nodded. They drove on in
silence for a short while. The BBC radio phone in
blaring out from the car's speakers, filled in for conversation.
They listened to the radio and their own thoughts as
(04:44):
they moved on. Where are you headed, asked the driver north.
The hitcher pointed, You're traveling to visit friends. Hum. The
(05:04):
driver couldn't tell if that hum was a yes or
a no. He adjusted his tie nervously. The hitcher stared
at him in his suit and tie. The hitcher seemed
scruffy in comparison in his Parker and pink Floyd T shirt.
(05:28):
Do you work around here? Asked the hitcher. Yes, said
the driver. I was stuck late at the office. You
know how it is? No, not really Again, they drifted
into silence. The talk show radio show carried on as
(05:50):
they drove through the wind and rain. The hitcher shifted
in his seat and stared out of the windscreen. No music,
The hitcher asked, what is there no music we could
listen to. I like the talk radio shows. I'm not
(06:15):
really a music fan. The hitcher's eyes glazed over for
a moment, then he spoke, I like listening to music,
calms me down. The driver said nothing. Several miles later,
(06:37):
there was a news bulletin on the radio. The reporter
tried to remain professional as she read the announcement, We
are getting reports that a patient has escaped from a
Manchester psychiatric institution. The man is said to be psychopathic
and is said to have a history of murder. The
(06:57):
hitcher jabbed a finger on the button on the radio panel.
Teeny pop music blurted out from the speakers. The driver
stared at his passenger, his question unasked. I hate the news,
answered the hitcher. It's so depressing it brings me down.
(07:22):
There's never any good news, is there. The driver didn't reply.
Don't worry, I'm not the killer, said the hitcher, fidgeting
with his coat. Don't worry, I'm not the killer. No,
said the driver. I mean no of course you aren't.
(07:47):
They drove on, listening to the crappy pop music and
over excited radio DJs. The rain pounded on the car.
What do you do for a living, asked the driver.
The hitcher was quiet for a moment, then he grinned,
I'm a writer. Really, how interesting have you had anything published?
(08:11):
No as yet, I'm an undiscovered artist. I'm sure you'll
make it. What are you working on at the moment.
I'm writing a novel. Oh yes, it's about a serial killer.
The driver didn't speak. He flicked the radio station back on.
(08:33):
A man was rambling on with himself about the change
in days. His wheelie bins were emptied. Where can I
drop you, asked the driver. The hitcher said nothing. When
the driver glanced round, his passenger had his eyes closed.
He was either asleep or feigning slumber. So just drove
(09:00):
on through the storm down the snaking lanes. An hour later,
the storm still growled and raged. The hitcher looked out
of the window. The driver steered the car in silence.
Another news bulletin came over the radio. We're getting more
information on the escaped patient. The killer's name is Simon Hughes.
(09:25):
He escaped from the Green Pasture's Institute. Earlier this evening,
Simon Hughes made his escape by changing from his hospital
issue uniform into a suit and tie and pretending to
be one of the medical staff. He stole a car
and drove off. The hitcher turned to the driver, What
(09:50):
did you say? Your name was? My name's Simon? The
hitcher stared in shock. Simon grinned. The headlights of a
passing car glinted off the knife blade in Simon's hand. Dun, dun, dumn.
(10:10):
The end. Okay, so that's the escaped man. By ct Platt.
What were the questions I asked you? Where does this
take place? Was the first one, And the answer to
that question is that the story takes place somewhere in
the UK. I think it's England, and in fact, since
(10:31):
the killer escaped from from an institute in Manchester, I
think it must take place in the north of England,
somewhere British English or American English. It's British English, as
we will see in a moment as I go through
the storyline by line, I'll point out the things that
show that it's British English. And thirdly, what is going
(10:53):
to happen next. Well, I just wanted to kind of
keep you on your toes. But did you did you
if you see that twist coming? Because there was a
twist in the story. That sort of thing is called
a twist. Did you see the twist coming? Some of
you will have seen it coming the first time I
read this. I have to be honest, I sort of
(11:13):
saw it coming because the way the story was setting
things up seemed a bit too obvious, and I thought, oh,
there's going to be a twist here. Let me explain
what happened then. So a man was driving through the
rainy streets of England somewhere and he sees a hitchhiker
and it's raining very heavily, so he lets the hitchhiker in.
The hitch hiker behaves a little bit suspiciously and seems
(11:37):
to be a bit disdainful or hateful towards the driver.
And the way the characters are described, it sort of
presents the driver as a much more normal person wearing
a suit, they've been to work, just friendly giving someone
a ride in their car, and the hitch hiker is
(12:00):
presented as someone with wild red hair. They do something
a bit more unconventional in their work writing a book
about a serial killer. He seems to be a bit
sort of anti establishment or antisocial in some way. He
(12:20):
seems like a slightly scary character. And then we hear
on the radio that a serial killer has escaped from
an institute. An institute would be a hospital or something
like that, and so naturally we think that it's the
hitchhiker with his crazy appearance and his scruffy look and
his kind of serious, slightly psychotic behavior. But then it
(12:42):
turns out that the serial killer is the driver of
the car, because the next news bulletin explains that the
psychotic killer escaped from a hospital, changed their clothes into
a suit and stole a car. And the name is
is Simon Hughes. And this person's wearing a suit, the driver,
(13:03):
and he's in a car, and so the hitchhiker sort
of gets shocked and realizes that this could be the killer,
and it turns out that the driver is also called Simon.
And then at the end, they've got a knife. A
traffic light or another light from a car reflects off
the blade of the knife, which shows that the driver
(13:26):
is going to kill the hitchhiker. The next victim. So
there you go. That was the twist that it was
the driver that was the killer, not the hitchhiker. I
wonder how many of you noticed that twist before it happened. Okay,
now it's time to get into the English teaching side
of this, and so I'm now going to break the
(13:47):
story down line by line, and what we're looking for.
What I'm looking for are bits of vocabulary. So this
could be phrases or any outstanding bits of vocabulary that
I think we're al to be a bit more difficult
the standard stuff. I think that most people will understand
an intermediate level or something. We're looking for phrases and
(14:08):
bits of language that are a bit beyond that kind
of level, and anything else that I think is worth
pointing out. Okay, right, so here we go the escaped
Man by ct Plat. The rain was falling heavily. Now,
what I'd like to point out here is simply that
stories often begin with past continuous. This is past continuous.
(14:30):
The rain was falling heavily. In fact, it's a bit
of a cliche that stories begin with the rain falling.
You know, It's a sort of a cliched way to
begin a mysterious story, it's just to say that it
was raining heavily. The rain was falling heavily. Now, stories
often begin with past continuous because we use past continuous
(14:51):
like this, that's the verb b in the past, that's
was or were plus an ig form. We use this
to set the context in which the main events of
the story happen. So, for example, you know, it could
be the sun was shining and the birds were singing.
I was driving along in my car when something happened.
And those past continuous contextual things always get interrupted or
(15:15):
are followed by past simple past simple. These are the
main events of the story. This happened, then this happened,
Then this happened, just the main events of the story,
one after the other. Whereas past continuous this thing was happening,
here was the situation interrupted by a past simple event.
The rain was falling heavily. He eased off the accelerator
(15:35):
a little bit. Okay. This also past perfect, which is
used to describe background details backstory. For example, the rain
was falling heavily. It hadn't rained like this for months.
You know, this is the first time. This was the
first time it had rained like this. So we used
past perfect to describe events before the main events that
(15:58):
we're talking about. I'm pretty sure there's no past perfect
in this story, though, but we do get bits of
past continuous again, just to establish the context. We'll point
them out as we go through falling heavily. Yes, the
rain was falling heavily. It was like driving through a
thick curtain of water. It was like doing something so
just you know, nice descriptive language. This is what we
(16:21):
call a simile whenever you use the word like. It
was like blah blah blah. You know, the sun was
like an orange in the sky. The rain was like
a thick curtain of water. In fact, it probably was
a thick curtain of water, but anyway, it was like
and then an ig form, meaning it was similar to this.
It was like driving. It was like walking. It was like,
(16:42):
you know, teaching. It was like driving through a thick
curtain of water. That's fairly clear. He eased off the
accelerator a little. The accelerator is the pedal in the
car that makes the car drive faster. Hmm. That's the accelerator.
It's a pedal on the floor and you press your
(17:05):
foot on it. In order to go in order to
move forwards. But if he eased off the accelerator, to
ease off means to put less pressure on or to
slow down basically. But when you're pressing your foot on
the accelerator, you have to press it down with some force,
and if you ease off, it means you put less
(17:25):
pressure on, use less force, Take your foot off the
accelerator a little bit and slow down. He eased off
the accelerator had to be careful driving on wild nights
like these. Wild meaning normally we have wild to describe
animals which are not domesticated or not pets like you know,
an elephant would be a wild animal, or any other
(17:48):
animal that you would encounter in the wild, like a
bear or just you know, any kind of bird. These
are wild animals wild nights. Wild nights like these, where
the rain is falling down heavily, we don't quite know
what's going to happen. It's a bit dangerous. Wild means
unpredictable and potentially dangerous. The last thing you'd want is
(18:10):
to have an accident or breakdown. The last thing you'd want.
This is quite a nice phrase, the last thing. No,
you could be the last thing you want or the
last thing you'd want. So you could have wood here
or not. And this is wood. By the way. The
last thing you'd want is to have an accident. You
can use that for other things, like you know, you
(18:31):
should probably take an umbrella, and right, you should probably
take an umbrella with you because the last thing you
want is to get caught in the rain. You know,
best packs and water with you because the last thing
you want is to get thirsty on the road. You know.
So the last thing you'd want is to have an
accident or breakdown. And this is a breakdown. Okay, the
(18:56):
noun a breakdown. This is when the car has a
problem and doesn't drive anymore. That's a breakdown. That's the noun.
We also have the verb version, and that's to break down.
Notice that we if it's a verb, we stress the
second part to break down. Okay, you better take some fuel.
You wouldn't want to break down. The last thing you'd
(19:17):
want is to break down. The last thing you'd want
is to have a breakdown. So you have a breakdown
or you break down. You hear the difference in stress.
So when it's a noun, the first syllable is stressed
break down, and when it's a verb, the second part
is stressed to break down. The last thing you'd want
(19:37):
is to have an accident or breakdown. You just want
to be at home on these stormy nights. Theack thwhack
of the windscreen wipers was hypnotic. So windscreen wipers. These
are the things that on a car that helps to
keep the water off the wind screen. They wipe the
water away, right, Those things they call windscreen wipers because
(20:00):
the glass here on the front is the wind screen.
By the way, yes, British English, this is British English
wind screen. In American English they call it the windshield,
but in the UK it's called the wind screen. Okay.
So the whack thwack of the windscreen wipers thwack thwack.
These are this is an on a matter payer a
(20:22):
word that sounds like what it's describing, and it's just
describing the noise that the windscreen wipers make. Thwack flack whack.
The thwack thwack of the windscreen wipers was hypnotic, meaning
it's sort of like the repetitive sound hypnotized the driver
a little bit or something like that, sort of a
hypnotic repetitive sound starts to put you into a trance
(20:48):
or something. He stared out into the glow of the headlights.
Stared meaning looked intensely like that, without looking away. He
stared out into the glow of the headlights. So as
I the car, I guess the glow of his headlights
forming a glow, where as the rain is coming down
a glow into the darkness. The rain sounded like white
(21:09):
noise interference as it battered the car. White noise interference.
So interference would be noise which comes in let's for example,
let's say, for example, you're talking on the telephone or
you're listening to the radio, and if there's other noise
like that's interference. It's noise that interferes something else that
(21:32):
you're doing, like listening to the radio. You have to
tune the radio to try and try and get rid
of the interference. So the rain on the car sounded
like white noise interference as it battered the car. So
we know what interference is. It's noise that sort of
interrupts something. But white noise. White noises is a form
(21:57):
of noise that has no distinguished, well distinguishable characteristics to it.
No rhythm, no melody or anything like that. It's just
like the noise that you get when you turn on
an old TV and unplug the aerial from the back,
and you just get that's white noise. So the rain
(22:18):
sounded like white noise interference as it battered the car.
Batter means hit bam, bam bam. Right, he was reminded
of the opening scenes of a Hitchcock film. So, Alfred
Hitchcockers was a filmmaker famous for his dramatic storytelling, his
dramatic visual storytelling, and this is the sort of way
(22:40):
that Hitchcock films would often begin. Hitchcock films are also
known for featuring like death killers, murderers, serial killers, and
things like that. So it's sort of a bit like
the beginning of a classic Hollywood thriller or something like that.
Through the wash of the rain, he spotted a figure
at the of the road. The person wore a green
(23:02):
Parker and had their thumb jerked out right through the
wash of the rain, he spotted a figure at the
side of the road. A figure means the outline of
a person. Okay, so he he spotted a figure at
the side of the road and the outline of a person.
The person wore a green parker. A green parker is
like a long green coat with a hood on it,
(23:25):
and had their thumb jerked out, so your thumb obviously
that when you go hitch hiking, your thumb is what
you stick out so people can see that you're hitch hiking.
He had his jump his jum. No, jum is not
a word. I don't know what that is. He had
his thumb jerked out to jerk out. I guess means
to stick out. So to jerk your thumb out is
(23:48):
stick your thumb out so people can see it. He
had his jump his jump again, why do I keep
saying jump? I don't know. He had his thumb jerked
out like that, showing that he was hitch hiking. Why
on Earth would anyone be hitch hiking tonight? Surely you
would just stay put until the morning. They must have
been in a rush to get where they were going.
(24:10):
Why on Earth would anyone be hitch hiking tonight? So
this on Earth we use this to sort of emphasize
our questions, and on Earth goes after the wh question word.
So if it's, for example, why what are you doing.
What on earth are you doing? Where are you going?
Where on Earth are you going? Who are you? Who
(24:33):
on Earth are you? And so on? How did you
do that? How on Earth did you do that? So
it just makes the question more emphatic. Why on earth
would anyone be hitch hiking tonight? Surely you would just
stay put until the morning. To stay put is to
stay in one place without moving. Just stay put, stay
put until I get back. Wait here, stay put, don't move.
(24:56):
Stay put means stay in the same place. They must
have been in a rush to get where they were going.
So the person is speculating here it's in the past,
so that's why it's must have been. He's certain that
the person was in a rush. Now, why would this be.
Why would this person be in a rush? Maybe they're
trying to escape or something like that. This is what
(25:19):
the story is sort of suggesting to you. It's cleverly
written because the story is telling you this person is escaping.
The hitchhiker is escaping from something. They're in a rush
to escape. They're rushing to escape for some reason. I
don't think the character is Russian, though I think they're
both British. That was the Russian joke. Anyway, he signaled
(25:44):
down and pulled over. So when you're driving, you signal
with your indicators click click, click, click, click click signal left,
signal right. In this case, he signaled down. I suppose
it means he signaled to pull over and he pulled over.
To pull over is when the car pulled up at
the side of the road and stops right, just like
(26:05):
a taxi pulls over in order to pick someone up.
The car pulled over in order to pick up the hitchhiker.
Pull over and pull up as well means basically the
same thing. Stop at the side of the road. So
he signaled and pulled over. The hitchhiker climbed in. He
shut the door quickly, glad to be out of the rain.
(26:25):
If you're glad, it means you're happy. You're relieved. Ah,
what a relief to be out of the rain. He
pulled his hood back and sighed. Say that side. Ah,
that's the sigh. He pulled his hood back and side.
He was somewhere in his mid twenties and had wild
(26:45):
red hair and a thick beard. Wild red hair, I
suppose it's messy red hair and a thick beard. Awful night, eh,
said the driver. The driver's quite friendly. Now the driver's
on this side. If you're watching the video, you'll see
that the driver looks to his left because we are
in Britain, and in Britain we drive on the left, okay,
(27:07):
which is in fact the right side of the road.
I know what you think, left, that's wrong. No, left
is right because left is right and right is wrong.
It doesn't matter, of course, but anyway, in the UK
we drive on the left. So if you drive on
the left, then the driver's seat is on the right
of the car. So as a driver, as the driver,
(27:28):
I'm looking this way when I talk to the hitchhiker,
and the hitchhiker's looking this way. So the driver says,
awful night, a awful night, trying to be friendly, and
the hitchhiker held his gaze for a long moment. Someone's
gaze is the way that they are looking. So he
held his gaze for a long moment, meaning he stared
(27:49):
at him like this in his eyes. What did he say?
Awful night? And then the hitchhiker's response is to do this,
just holding his gaze, holding his eyes for a long moment.
Drops of rain water trickled down his face. Yes, yes
(28:12):
it is. This is the bit I enjoy. I enjoy
doing the faces of the driver in the hitchhiker. Yes
it is, yeah, said the hitchhiker. What's up with this hitchhiker?
Where's he going in such a hurry? And why's he
got such weird behavior? The driver pulled out, which is
(28:36):
the opposite of pullover in this case, pull out into
the road to drive away and continued through the storm.
The hitchhiker glanced over his shoulder into the blackness behind him,
glances sort of like, take a quick look again, what's
the what's this hitchhiker escaping from her? Like? Seems a
(29:02):
bit suspicious glancing over his shoulder. You okay, said the driver.
The hitcher simply nodded, yeah, man, yeah, man, I'm okay.
Like are you okay? Yeah? I think so, hmm. Suspicious behavior.
(29:26):
They drove on in silence for a short while. They
drove on me means they continued driving, So they drove
on in silence. So in goes with silence in silence
and on goes with drive. So they drove on in
silence for a short while. The BBC radio phone in
(29:46):
blaring out from the cars speakers filled in for conversation.
So the BBC radio phone in BBC Radio another indication
that this is in the UK because the BBC's the
British Broadcasting Corporation and a radio phone in, so phone
in that is a phrase. A phone in is a
(30:07):
radio show where people phone in. Listeners can phone in,
meaning send telephone calls to the radio station and talk
to the presenter during the show. It's a kind of
chat show format. The radio phone in, so the BBC
radio phone in blaring out from the cars speakers. Blaring
out just means making a loud noise, so music blares
(30:31):
out from speakers. A radio show blares out from the radio,
So the BBC radio phone in blaring out from the
car speakers filled in for conversation, fill in, fill in.
This is when something is missing and you put something
else in as a replacement. For example, if normally you
(30:51):
have Sarah as your English teacher and one day you
come to school and Sarah is not there and I'm
there instead, and everyone's like, where's Sarah. I said, Oh,
I'm afraid Sarah's sick today. She can't come to school
today because she's not well, but I'm filling in for
Sarah today. Okay, to fill in in this case, I
replaced Sarah for a day. In the case of the story,
(31:14):
the radio phone in the noise of the radio filled
in for conversation because there was no conversation, so the
radio sort of filled in the noise instead replaced the
conversation that wasn't happening. They listened to the radio and
their own thoughts as they moved on. Just listen to
the radio. Listen to your thoughts is a phrase that
we do say as they moved on. So we've got
(31:37):
drive on, move on. What else have we got with on?
I'm sure there are others, hm, I'm sure there are
others with on, But anyway, we've got drive on and
then move on, right. They listened to the radio and
their own thoughts as they moved on. Move on, continue moving,
(31:57):
drive on, continue driving. Where are you headed? Asked the
driver headed. To be headed somewhere means to be going somewhere.
Somewhere is your destination? Okay. For example, I'm just heading
to the pub. Do you want to come? When you
get to the pub, you head to the bar. Once
(32:18):
you've got your drinks, you head to a table you see,
and then when you're finished you head home. Okay, where
are you headed? Meaning where are you going? Basically north
pointed and the hitcher pointed. I don't know why it
was necessary for the hitcher to point north at this
in this case, where are you going north? All right?
(32:43):
Got my compass north that way? All right? Are you
traveling to visit friends? That so for the driver, he's
trying to make polite conversation. I imagine that the driver would
be using that sort of intonation trying to make conversation.
So are you traveling to visit friends or that sort
(33:05):
of thing. Now, by the way, you could repeat after
me as we go through this. You could even go
back to the beginning of this episode this video and
repeat each line after me and try and copy my intonation.
That can actually be a very good thing to do. Obviously, listen,
understand the story, understand the bits of English I'm explaining
to you, but try to repeat the lines from the
(33:28):
story as well, and try and give some color and
performance to it as well. So you could skip back
to the beginning of this and after each line, pause
and repeat the line after me, try and make it
sound like the way I did it as well. You're
traveling to visit friends? Are you? Are you? Are you traveling?
Not are you traveling? But are you traveling? Are you
(33:50):
traveling to visit friends? Hmm, that's what hmph means. It
means hm. The driver couldn't tell if that was a
yes or no. He couldn't identify if hum was a
yes or no. He adjusted his tie nervously. So if
you're wearing a tie, which is the thing that goes
(34:11):
around your neck when you're wearing a suit, and that's
pronounced suit, by the way, not sweet or suit, it's suit.
So when you're wearing a suit with a tie, sometimes
you need to adjust the tie as it's around your neck,
if it's a bit tight or something, or it might
just be a nervous habit to adjust your tie, adjust
meaning change the way its position, changed the position of something.
(34:35):
He adjusted his tie nervously. The hitcher stared at him
in his suit and tie. So I'm imagining here that
the hitcher has got nothing but contempt for this driver
in his suit and tie. Just to someone who works
an ordinary nine to five job, the hitcher seems to
be sort of an alternative type person who probably has
(34:56):
contempt for people who work normal jobs. The hit stared
at him in his suit and tie with a disgusting
look of contempt on his face. The hitcher seemed scruffy.
Scruffy means untidy in comparison in his Parker and pink
(35:18):
Floyd T shirt. And this is the hitcher, right. Do
you work around here? Yes, said the driver, So this
is where as the driver. I'm trying to be as
innocent as possible. Yes, said the driver. I was stuck
late at the office. You know how it is. It's
maybe a bit posh. Yeah, I was stuck late at
the office. You know how it is. No, not really,
(35:43):
says the hitcher, unfriendly again. They drifted into silence a
bit awkward. They drifted into silence. Drift So when a
boat is on the water, it moves slowly, right, it
moves eventually, over time it drifts, and you can drift
(36:04):
into silence as well. That's when you slowly drift into silence,
suddenly slowly become silent. So they're just sitting there in silence.
The talk radio show carried on, So we got to
drive on to move on, to carry on, the talk
radio show carried on. As they drove through the wind
(36:24):
and rain, the hitcher shifted in his seat. That means
he's sort of changed his seating position. Maybe his bum
was getting tired or something. Maybe he was feeling a
little nervous or anxious. Anyway, he shifted in his seat
and stared out the windscreen, or stared out of the
wind screen. Windscreen is the big window at the front
of the car. That's the windscreen. Then you've got the
(36:46):
back window, You've got the side windows, but the main
one at the front is called the windscreen. In America,
the windshield. That's what they call it there. They're wrong,
of course, it's a wind screen. Got the sounds of
drilling outside. No music, the hitcher asked, full of hate
(37:08):
and murderous rage. No music, he said, sharpening his knife.
No music, then, but what is there no music we
could listen to. I really like the talk the radio
talk shows. I'm not really a music fan, said the driver.
(37:30):
The hitcher's eyes glazed over for a moment. If your
eyes glaze over, it's like you suddenly become very bored,
or it's like you're not really there. So I'm going
to try and show you my eyes glazing over on videos.
This is me all alert and looking wide awake. But
if my eyes glaze over, it's like I'm not really
(37:51):
concentrating on at all. I'm not really looking at anything
in particular. I'm just lost in my own thoughts. My
eyes are glazed over a bit like if I go
into one of my classrooms full of students learning English
and I say, okay, everyone, today we're going to do
nine hours of pure grammar, and everyone's eyes probably would
(38:13):
just glaze over as they mentally switch off. So anyway,
the hitchhiker's eyes glazed over for a moment, and then
he spoke, and this is where the hitchhiker is revealing
his slightly psychotic personality maybe and he says, I like
listening to music. Calms me down. When I'm in a
(38:36):
murderous rage, the music calms me down. Anyway, I like
listening to music. It calms me down, said the hitchhiker
in a slightly psychotic moment. The driver said nothing, I've
got a nutter in the car. Several miles later, here's
another indication that we are in the UK, because we
(38:59):
use miles rather than kilometers. A mile is about one
point six kilometers or kilometers several miles later, there was
a news bulletin on the radio show. A bulletin just
means a little news report. The reporter tried to remain
professional as she read the announcement. So apparently the reporter
was sort of shocked or nervous, but tried to remain professional.
(39:22):
And now I do this. I'm going to do this
in my BBC News Report voice. We're getting reports that
a patient has escaped from a Manchester psychiatric institution. The
man is said to be psychopathic and is said to
have a history of murder. So we're getting reports that
a patient has escaped from a Manchester psychiatric institution. That's
(39:45):
fairly clear grammar wise, folkab wise. A psychiatric institution would
be a sort of a hospital for people with psychiatric disorders.
That's mental disorders. Here's some grammar. The man is said
to be psychopathic and is said to have a history
of murder. This is just another way of saying that
people say the man is psychopathic. We don't know who
(40:09):
said this, or maybe it's not important who said this,
or it's obvious who said this is probably going to
be doctors at the institute. The institution. Well, it's a
common phrase is said to be meaning people say, so
the man is said to be psychopathic and is said
to have a history of murder. Oh, the hitcher jabbed
(40:31):
a finger on the button on the radio panel, jabbed
we got jerked his thumb out for hitchhiking, and now
he's jabbing his finger on the button. To jab your
finger on the button means to poke the button, to
quickly press the button, bing like that quickly in order
to in this case interrupt the radio broadcast. So the
(40:54):
hitcher quickly switches off the radio or switches the channel.
Tinny pop music. It blurted out from the speakers. So
here's blurted out again, meaning when the noise comes out. No,
we had blair out, didn't we before? B L A
r E. Blaring out from the speakers. Blurting out from
the speakers is basically the same thing people can blurt
(41:16):
out as well. That's when you say something that without
really thinking about it, ban the word just comes out.
He blurted out the answer without thinking about it, for example.
So in this case, tiny pop music blurted out from
the speakers. Tinny tin tin is a form of metal
but if you say that music is tiny, it means
(41:38):
that it's trebly. It doesn't sound deep and rich, it's
just the sort of just very trebly sounds tiny music.
Pop music blurted out from the speakers. The driver stared
at his passenger, his question unasked. So the driver is
kind of shocked about the news report. Someone is, someone
(42:01):
has escaped, a murderer is on the loose, a murderer,
and the hitchhiker's just quickly turned off the radio or
turned the channel. And so the driver is looking at
his passenger like this, did I look the right way
in the story? I can't remember that. I hate the news,
answered the hitcher. It's so depressing. It brings me down.
(42:23):
Depressing means makes you feel sad and depressed. It brings
me down means it makes you feel sad and depressed.
Don't bring me down with your bad news. You're bringing
me down. This sad music is bringing me down. There's
never any good news, is there, said the hitcher. The
driver didn't reply. Don't worry, I'm not the killer, said
(42:47):
the hitcher, fidgeting with his coat. The hitcher's fidgeting with
his coat. If you're fidgeting with something. It means you're
sort of playing with something in your hands, maybe because
you're nervous or you're thinking about something, but fidgeting means
kind of playing with something in your fingers. I always
fidget with my train tickets. Don't worry, I'm not the killer,
(43:09):
said the hitcher, fidgeting with his coat. No, said the driver.
I mean no, of course you aren't. They drove on,
listening to the crappy pop music. Crappy means bad an
over excited radio DJs. The DJ's on DJs on radio shows,
(43:30):
they're always very excited like this. In fact, they're too excited.
They're over excited. You're listening to the drive Time show
on Radio excited FM. The rain pounded on the car,
bam bam, bam bam. What do you do for a living,
asked the driver. The hitcher was quiet for a moment,
(43:51):
then he grinned, can't really do a grin. You've got
to be a really good actor. He's quiet for a moment.
Then a grin is normally it can be quite scary.
I'm a writer, he said, Oh really, how interesting have
you had anything published? Said the driver, No, as yet,
(44:14):
I'm an undiscovered artist or another scary thing. Not only
is this person slightly crazy and ginger, but also they're
an undiscovered writer sort of person who has been slaving
away writing but no one has discovered their artistic talent.
And we know, don't we from history that when poor
(44:37):
artists don't get recognized, what happens, That's right, they try
to take over the world and try and kill everyone.
So this is another scary thing about this hitcher, that is,
not only does he have ginger hair, which is obviously terrifying,
especially on a dark night. I'm joking, of course, but
also he's an undiscovered artist, so he probably hates society
(44:59):
and hey, people like this idiot in the suit, and
the driver says, I'm sure you'll make it. What are
you working on at the moment, I'm writing a novel? Oh, yes,
it's about a serial killer. The driver didn't speak. He
flicked the radio station back on. Flick flick, flick, flick flick.
(45:23):
You flick a switch. Flick means pewing, hit something with
your finger quickly, so you flick a switch, or you
might flick. Let's say, imagine this, there's a peanut sitting
on the table you don't want to eat it. You
want to fire the peanut across the garden, so ping
you flick it with your finger. That's flick as well,
flick a switch, flick the channel on the radio. A
(45:46):
man was rambling on with himself about the change in days,
his wheeling bit his wheelibins were emptied. So a man
was just talking about uninteresting things. Rambling means talking without
any specific purpose or direct long term listeners my podcast
should know. Rambling is what I do on the podcast
quite a lot, talking without a specific focus, just letting
(46:09):
yourself talk and meander and go from one subject to
the other. And it's rambling with an A, not with
a U. People often write in comments sections and stuff.
I love your rumbling. It's not rumbling. Rumbling is the
sound of thunder. That's rumble, ramble, r amb lng, talking
without any particular direction. Also, rambling means walking in the
(46:33):
countryside for enjoyment. So anyway, a man was rambling on,
meaning continuing to ramble. So we've had drive on, move on,
ramble on, carry on. A man was rambling on with
himself about the change in days. His wheelly bins were empties.
Wheelly bins are big bins, big rubbish bins that you
(46:55):
put all your rubbish in in your black rubbish bags.
So in your kitchen you've got your rubbish bin with
a black bag in it, and you put your rubbish
in there, and then when it's full, you tie it up,
take it outside and put it into your wheelibin. And
the wheeli bin is outside normally the front of the house,
and when the rubbish removal people come with their big van,
they take the bin and wheel it on its wheels
(47:16):
to the back of the van and then tip the
contents into the back of the truck where it gets crushed.
So a wheelibin is a large plastic rubbish bin with
wheels on it which you can move around. And wheelibins
get emptied by the council when they bring their rubbish
van through. And apparently this man on the radio was
basically talking about nothing important, talking about the days when
(47:40):
his wheelibins were changed, so nothing particularly important, just typical
radio talk show stuff. Where can I drop you, asked
the driver, meaning where can I you know, deliver you
in this in this car meaning stop the car and
let you get out. You pick someone up in a
car you give someone a lift, and you drop someone somewhere.
(48:04):
You can just drop me outside the cinema, drop me
outside the office. Where can I drop you, asked the driver.
The hitcher said nothing. When the driver glanced round, had
a quick look round his eyes. His passenger had his
eyes closed. He was either asleep or feigning slumber. Slumber
(48:29):
means sleep. Feining means pretending faking. Feigning slumber then means
pretending to be asleep, So he was either asleep or
pretending to be asleep. He was either asleep or feigning slumber,
so he was and his eyes closed. They drove on
through the storm down the snaking lanes. Lanes are roads,
(48:53):
narrow little roads. Snaking means they're turning left to right.
Here we have on comful dot com the picture that
normally accompanies this line of the story is not available,
and instead we've got like a car that says this
content is not available in the background instead of a
picture of some rain or something. Anyway, the story continues
(49:14):
an hour later. The storm still growled and raged growled.
That's growl is what a frightening animal would do, like
a tiger raw, or a lion rah or a crocodile
row or whatever it is. The storm still growled and raged.
The hitcher looked out of the window. The driver steered
(49:34):
the car in silence. Steer the car, turn left and
turn right. Another news bulletin came over the radio. So,
by the way, at this point, we all think that
the driver is a nice person who just works in
an office and who took pity on this hitcher, And
we think the hitchhiker is some kind of crazy, antisocial
(49:58):
madman who wants to murder everybody, especially this guy in
a suit. Another news bulletin came over the radio. We're
getting more information on the escaped patient. The killer's name
is Simon Hughes. He escaped from the Green Pastures Institute
earlier this evening. Okay, more information. His name is Simon Hughes.
(50:19):
He escaped from the Green Pastor's Pastures Institute. Sounds like
a sort of institute for mentally ill people. Earlier this evening,
Simon Hughes made his escape by changing from his hospital
issue uniform into a suit and tie and pretending to
be one of the medical staff. He stole a car
and drove off. Okay, so this is where the twist happens.
(50:44):
This is when we realize that the killer, the escaped killer,
is in fact the driver of the car. Because he
escaped by changing from his hospital uniform into a suit
and tie and pretending to be one of the medical staff.
He stole a car and drove off. The hitcher turned
to the driver, What did you say your name was? Now,
(51:06):
as far as I know, the driver hasn't given his
name yet. Am I right? I don't think this the
driver's actually given his name. But anyway, this is the
question that you ask when someone has already told you
their name and you want to ask again, what did
you say your name was? What did you say your
name was? Meaning? What's what's your name again? What did
(51:26):
you Sorry, what did you say your name was? You've
already told me, but I'm asking again, what did you
say your name was? Another way of saying it is,
what was your name again? Sorry? What was your name again?
My name is Simon, said the driver. The hitcher stared
in shock. Simon grinned. The headlights of a passing car
(51:48):
glinted off the knife blade in Simon's hand, Dan Dan Dah.
Simon is the killer and he's got a knife. Simon grinned.
The headlights of a passing car glinted off the sign
off the knife blade. So the headlights reflected glinted off
the knife blade in Simon's hand, and that is the
(52:11):
end of the story. Okay, there you go, all right, listeners, Okay, viewers,
So that's been another story on Luke's English podcast. I
hope you've enjoyed it. Listen to some of my other episodes.
I've got lots and lots of other episodes with stories,
loads of them in fact, on my YouTube channel. I've
(52:31):
got a playlist which is called stories, and obviously that's
going to contain stories. But not all of my episodes
are on YouTube. You should know. So go to my
website teacher Luke dot co dot uk and you can
find the episode archive. Let's have a quick look here
then I can show you. So to the website, click
on episodes and then you will find the entire episode archive.
(52:54):
And I've got over seven hundred I've got nearly seven
hundred and fifty episodes here a lot. I've been doing
this for twelve years. Okay. The podcast is mainly an
audio podcast. I also do YouTube videos sometimes. I've been
doing more YouTube videos recently. But if you are someone
who's just discovered my podcast on YouTube, you should know
(53:15):
that I have loads of episodes of the audio podcast
which you can listen to. And if you're thinking, Luke,
can you do an episode about this? Can you do
an episode about that? Can you do more stories? There's
a good chance that I've done episodes about the things
you're interested in, and I have done lots of stories before.
So if I just type in story, we'll see what
(53:37):
we find. Let's have a little look here. I did
one about Michael Jackson. Episode nineteen. Let's see number twenty
nine is a mystery story that I wrote, which also
you can use to learn narrative tenses. You heard me
talking about past continuous and past perfect and past simple.
(53:58):
You get all of that from episode nine. Let's just
have a look at a couple of other examples we've got.
Sick in Japan is this true story of how I
ended up in a hospital bed. I thought I was
gonna die in Japan. Luckily I was okay. The pink
Gorilla story is an improvised story full of comedy and
a stupid chase. I get chased by a pink gorilla
(54:20):
through the streets of London. And there are many many
more things like that, more stories, and more interviews and
all sorts of stuff in the episode archive, so check
them out. Thank you so much for listening to this
episode of my podcast. Another thing I should say is
that I've got an app. Did you know that? In
(54:40):
the app store on your phone. Just search for the
Luke's English Podcast app and you'll be able to get it.
And this gives you the entire episode archive on your phone,
including access to tons of bonus episodes. Okay, there are
app only episodes. You might be interested in. The one
which is called the Hyde Park Mystery Story. That's a
(55:04):
mystery story I wrote, and in that story you can
learn fifty different ways of walking, fifty different words, different
verbs for walking. That's a lot, all in an interesting
mystery story. And that's in my app on your phone. Soon.
Just download the Luke's English Podcast app on your phone. Okay,
(55:28):
thank you very much for listening, Thank you for watching.
Don't forget to like and subscribe to my YouTube channel
and to tell your friends about Luke's English Podcast. I
will speak to you again very soon, but for now
it's just time to say goodbye, bye bye bye bye
bye bye bye bo bo bo bote
Hello listeners and hello video viewers. It's time to do
another story on the podcast. This time, I'm going to
be reading a story called The Escaped Man by an
author called ct Platt. The story is presented on commaful
dot com. Commaful dot com is a website where you
can find short stories, fan fiction, and other reading texts
(00:21):
and it's all presented in a nice and easy to
read format. So this time the story is The Escaped
Man and it's written by ctplat. Okay, and the way
this is going to work is that I will read
the story once and you can just try and follow
it and understand it. And then I will summarize the
story very quickly in plain English to make sure you've
(00:42):
understood basically what happened. And then we will go through
the story again, line by line, and I will break
it down for language, and I will teach you bits
of vocabulary and bits of grammar. I'll point them out
for you, so not only can you enjoy hopefully and
entertaining story, but also we'll use it as a way
to learn some English. Okay, learning English through stories is
(01:05):
a great idea and it tends to work because it
places language in a vivid context and is generally quite
entertaining and fun. So listen to the story and then
let me break all the language down for you bit
by bit. Okay, so we're nearly ready to start reading
the story. Just before I read it to you, here
(01:25):
are a few questions, okay, just to help you focus.
So question number one is where does the story take place? Okay,
what do you think? Where's the location of this story
and how do you know? And secondly is this American
English or is this British English? And how do you know?
And thirdly, the third question is simply what is going
(01:46):
to happen next? Can you try and guess what's going
to happen next? Okay? Right, so if you're ready, let's begin,
And I'm going to go to commaful dot com now
and start reading through The Escaped Man. Okay, So I
want you to try and get into the right mood here.
This is a sort of a mystery story, okay, and
it's got a slightly dark atmosphere to it. So here
(02:08):
we go. Imagine the rain, rainfall, Imagine the rain beating down.
Here we go The Escaped Man by C. T. Plat.
The rain was falling heavily. It was like driving through
a thick curtain of water. He eased off the accelerator
a little. Had to be careful driving on wild nights
(02:29):
like these. The last thing you'd want is to have
an accident or breakdown. You just want to be at
home on these stormy nights. The thwack thwack of the
windscreen wipers was hypnotic. He stared out into the glow
of the headlights. The rain sounded like white noise interference
(02:54):
as it battered the car. He was reminded of the
opening scenes of a Hitchcock film. Through the wash of
the rain, he spotted a figure at the side of
the road. The person wore a green Parker and had
their thumb jerked out. Why on earth would anyone be
(03:14):
hitchhiking tonight. Surely you would just stay pert until the morning.
There must have been in a rush to get where
they were going. He signaled down and pulled over. The
hitchhiker climbed in. He shut the door quickly, glad to
be out of the rain. He pulled his hood back
and sighed. He was somewhere in his mid twenties and
(03:40):
had wild red hair and a thick beard. Awful night, eh,
said the driver. The hitchhiker held his gaze for a
long moment. Drops of rain water trickled down his face. Yes, yes,
(04:01):
it is. The driver pulled out and continued through the storm.
The hitchhiker glanced over his shoulder into the blackness behind them.
(04:23):
You okay, the hitchhiker simply nodded. They drove on in
silence for a short while. The BBC radio phone in
blaring out from the car's speakers, filled in for conversation.
They listened to the radio and their own thoughts as
(04:44):
they moved on. Where are you headed, asked the driver north.
The hitcher pointed, You're traveling to visit friends. Hum. The
(05:04):
driver couldn't tell if that hum was a yes or
a no. He adjusted his tie nervously. The hitcher stared
at him in his suit and tie. The hitcher seemed
scruffy in comparison in his Parker and pink Floyd T shirt.
(05:28):
Do you work around here? Asked the hitcher. Yes, said
the driver. I was stuck late at the office. You
know how it is? No, not really Again, they drifted
into silence. The talk show radio show carried on as
(05:50):
they drove through the wind and rain. The hitcher shifted
in his seat and stared out of the windscreen. No music,
The hitcher asked, what is there no music we could
listen to. I like the talk radio shows. I'm not
(06:15):
really a music fan. The hitcher's eyes glazed over for
a moment, then he spoke, I like listening to music,
calms me down. The driver said nothing. Several miles later,
(06:37):
there was a news bulletin on the radio. The reporter
tried to remain professional as she read the announcement, We
are getting reports that a patient has escaped from a
Manchester psychiatric institution. The man is said to be psychopathic
and is said to have a history of murder. The
(06:57):
hitcher jabbed a finger on the button on the radio panel.
Teeny pop music blurted out from the speakers. The driver
stared at his passenger, his question unasked. I hate the news,
answered the hitcher. It's so depressing it brings me down.
(07:22):
There's never any good news, is there. The driver didn't reply.
Don't worry, I'm not the killer, said the hitcher, fidgeting
with his coat. Don't worry, I'm not the killer. No,
said the driver. I mean no of course you aren't.
(07:47):
They drove on, listening to the crappy pop music and
over excited radio DJs. The rain pounded on the car.
What do you do for a living, asked the driver.
The hitcher was quiet for a moment, then he grinned,
I'm a writer. Really, how interesting have you had anything published?
(08:11):
No as yet, I'm an undiscovered artist. I'm sure you'll
make it. What are you working on at the moment.
I'm writing a novel. Oh yes, it's about a serial killer.
The driver didn't speak. He flicked the radio station back on.
(08:33):
A man was rambling on with himself about the change
in days. His wheelie bins were emptied. Where can I
drop you, asked the driver. The hitcher said nothing. When
the driver glanced round, his passenger had his eyes closed.
He was either asleep or feigning slumber. So just drove
(09:00):
on through the storm down the snaking lanes. An hour later,
the storm still growled and raged. The hitcher looked out
of the window. The driver steered the car in silence.
Another news bulletin came over the radio. We're getting more
information on the escaped patient. The killer's name is Simon Hughes.
(09:25):
He escaped from the Green Pasture's Institute. Earlier this evening,
Simon Hughes made his escape by changing from his hospital
issue uniform into a suit and tie and pretending to
be one of the medical staff. He stole a car
and drove off. The hitcher turned to the driver, What
(09:50):
did you say? Your name was? My name's Simon? The
hitcher stared in shock. Simon grinned. The headlights of a
passing car glinted off the knife blade in Simon's hand. Dun, dun, dumn.
(10:10):
The end. Okay, so that's the escaped man. By ct Platt.
What were the questions I asked you? Where does this
take place? Was the first one, And the answer to
that question is that the story takes place somewhere in
the UK. I think it's England, and in fact, since
(10:31):
the killer escaped from from an institute in Manchester, I
think it must take place in the north of England,
somewhere British English or American English. It's British English, as
we will see in a moment as I go through
the storyline by line, I'll point out the things that
show that it's British English. And thirdly, what is going
(10:53):
to happen next. Well, I just wanted to kind of
keep you on your toes. But did you did you
if you see that twist coming? Because there was a
twist in the story. That sort of thing is called
a twist. Did you see the twist coming? Some of
you will have seen it coming the first time I
read this. I have to be honest, I sort of
(11:13):
saw it coming because the way the story was setting
things up seemed a bit too obvious, and I thought, oh,
there's going to be a twist here. Let me explain
what happened then. So a man was driving through the
rainy streets of England somewhere and he sees a hitchhiker
and it's raining very heavily, so he lets the hitchhiker in.
The hitch hiker behaves a little bit suspiciously and seems
(11:37):
to be a bit disdainful or hateful towards the driver.
And the way the characters are described, it sort of
presents the driver as a much more normal person wearing
a suit, they've been to work, just friendly giving someone
a ride in their car, and the hitch hiker is
(12:00):
presented as someone with wild red hair. They do something
a bit more unconventional in their work writing a book
about a serial killer. He seems to be a bit
sort of anti establishment or antisocial in some way. He
(12:20):
seems like a slightly scary character. And then we hear
on the radio that a serial killer has escaped from
an institute. An institute would be a hospital or something
like that, and so naturally we think that it's the
hitchhiker with his crazy appearance and his scruffy look and
his kind of serious, slightly psychotic behavior. But then it
(12:42):
turns out that the serial killer is the driver of
the car, because the next news bulletin explains that the
psychotic killer escaped from a hospital, changed their clothes into
a suit and stole a car. And the name is
is Simon Hughes. And this person's wearing a suit, the driver,
(13:03):
and he's in a car, and so the hitchhiker sort
of gets shocked and realizes that this could be the killer,
and it turns out that the driver is also called Simon.
And then at the end, they've got a knife. A
traffic light or another light from a car reflects off
the blade of the knife, which shows that the driver
(13:26):
is going to kill the hitchhiker. The next victim. So
there you go. That was the twist that it was
the driver that was the killer, not the hitchhiker. I
wonder how many of you noticed that twist before it happened. Okay,
now it's time to get into the English teaching side
of this, and so I'm now going to break the
(13:47):
story down line by line, and what we're looking for.
What I'm looking for are bits of vocabulary. So this
could be phrases or any outstanding bits of vocabulary that
I think we're al to be a bit more difficult
the standard stuff. I think that most people will understand
an intermediate level or something. We're looking for phrases and
(14:08):
bits of language that are a bit beyond that kind
of level, and anything else that I think is worth
pointing out. Okay, right, so here we go the escaped
Man by ct Plat. The rain was falling heavily. Now,
what I'd like to point out here is simply that
stories often begin with past continuous. This is past continuous.
(14:30):
The rain was falling heavily. In fact, it's a bit
of a cliche that stories begin with the rain falling.
You know, It's a sort of a cliched way to
begin a mysterious story, it's just to say that it
was raining heavily. The rain was falling heavily. Now, stories
often begin with past continuous because we use past continuous
(14:51):
like this, that's the verb b in the past, that's
was or were plus an ig form. We use this
to set the context in which the main events of
the story happen. So, for example, you know, it could
be the sun was shining and the birds were singing.
I was driving along in my car when something happened.
And those past continuous contextual things always get interrupted or
(15:15):
are followed by past simple past simple. These are the
main events of the story. This happened, then this happened,
Then this happened, just the main events of the story,
one after the other. Whereas past continuous this thing was happening,
here was the situation interrupted by a past simple event.
The rain was falling heavily. He eased off the accelerator
(15:35):
a little bit. Okay. This also past perfect, which is
used to describe background details backstory. For example, the rain
was falling heavily. It hadn't rained like this for months.
You know, this is the first time. This was the
first time it had rained like this. So we used
past perfect to describe events before the main events that
(15:58):
we're talking about. I'm pretty sure there's no past perfect
in this story, though, but we do get bits of
past continuous again, just to establish the context. We'll point
them out as we go through falling heavily. Yes, the
rain was falling heavily. It was like driving through a
thick curtain of water. It was like doing something so
just you know, nice descriptive language. This is what we
(16:21):
call a simile whenever you use the word like. It
was like blah blah blah. You know, the sun was
like an orange in the sky. The rain was like
a thick curtain of water. In fact, it probably was
a thick curtain of water, but anyway, it was like
and then an ig form, meaning it was similar to this.
It was like driving. It was like walking. It was like,
(16:42):
you know, teaching. It was like driving through a thick
curtain of water. That's fairly clear. He eased off the
accelerator a little. The accelerator is the pedal in the
car that makes the car drive faster. Hmm. That's the accelerator.
It's a pedal on the floor and you press your
(17:05):
foot on it. In order to go in order to
move forwards. But if he eased off the accelerator, to
ease off means to put less pressure on or to
slow down basically. But when you're pressing your foot on
the accelerator, you have to press it down with some force,
and if you ease off, it means you put less
(17:25):
pressure on, use less force, Take your foot off the
accelerator a little bit and slow down. He eased off
the accelerator had to be careful driving on wild nights
like these. Wild meaning normally we have wild to describe
animals which are not domesticated or not pets like you know,
an elephant would be a wild animal, or any other
(17:48):
animal that you would encounter in the wild, like a
bear or just you know, any kind of bird. These
are wild animals wild nights. Wild nights like these, where
the rain is falling down heavily, we don't quite know
what's going to happen. It's a bit dangerous. Wild means
unpredictable and potentially dangerous. The last thing you'd want is
(18:10):
to have an accident or breakdown. The last thing you'd want.
This is quite a nice phrase, the last thing. No,
you could be the last thing you want or the
last thing you'd want. So you could have wood here
or not. And this is wood. By the way. The
last thing you'd want is to have an accident. You
can use that for other things, like you know, you
(18:31):
should probably take an umbrella, and right, you should probably
take an umbrella with you because the last thing you
want is to get caught in the rain. You know,
best packs and water with you because the last thing
you want is to get thirsty on the road. You know.
So the last thing you'd want is to have an
accident or breakdown. And this is a breakdown. Okay, the
(18:56):
noun a breakdown. This is when the car has a
problem and doesn't drive anymore. That's a breakdown. That's the noun.
We also have the verb version, and that's to break down.
Notice that we if it's a verb, we stress the
second part to break down. Okay, you better take some fuel.
You wouldn't want to break down. The last thing you'd
(19:17):
want is to break down. The last thing you'd want
is to have a breakdown. So you have a breakdown
or you break down. You hear the difference in stress.
So when it's a noun, the first syllable is stressed
break down, and when it's a verb, the second part
is stressed to break down. The last thing you'd want
(19:37):
is to have an accident or breakdown. You just want
to be at home on these stormy nights. Theack thwhack
of the windscreen wipers was hypnotic. So windscreen wipers. These
are the things that on a car that helps to
keep the water off the wind screen. They wipe the
water away, right, Those things they call windscreen wipers because
(20:00):
the glass here on the front is the wind screen.
By the way, yes, British English, this is British English
wind screen. In American English they call it the windshield,
but in the UK it's called the wind screen. Okay.
So the whack thwack of the windscreen wipers thwack thwack.
These are this is an on a matter payer a
(20:22):
word that sounds like what it's describing, and it's just
describing the noise that the windscreen wipers make. Thwack flack whack.
The thwack thwack of the windscreen wipers was hypnotic, meaning
it's sort of like the repetitive sound hypnotized the driver
a little bit or something like that, sort of a
hypnotic repetitive sound starts to put you into a trance
(20:48):
or something. He stared out into the glow of the headlights.
Stared meaning looked intensely like that, without looking away. He
stared out into the glow of the headlights. So as
I the car, I guess the glow of his headlights
forming a glow, where as the rain is coming down
a glow into the darkness. The rain sounded like white
(21:09):
noise interference as it battered the car. White noise interference.
So interference would be noise which comes in let's for example,
let's say, for example, you're talking on the telephone or
you're listening to the radio, and if there's other noise
like that's interference. It's noise that interferes something else that
(21:32):
you're doing, like listening to the radio. You have to
tune the radio to try and try and get rid
of the interference. So the rain on the car sounded
like white noise interference as it battered the car. So
we know what interference is. It's noise that sort of
interrupts something. But white noise. White noises is a form
(21:57):
of noise that has no distinguished, well distinguishable characteristics to it.
No rhythm, no melody or anything like that. It's just
like the noise that you get when you turn on
an old TV and unplug the aerial from the back,
and you just get that's white noise. So the rain
(22:18):
sounded like white noise interference as it battered the car.
Batter means hit bam, bam bam. Right, he was reminded
of the opening scenes of a Hitchcock film. So, Alfred
Hitchcockers was a filmmaker famous for his dramatic storytelling, his
dramatic visual storytelling, and this is the sort of way
(22:40):
that Hitchcock films would often begin. Hitchcock films are also
known for featuring like death killers, murderers, serial killers, and
things like that. So it's sort of a bit like
the beginning of a classic Hollywood thriller or something like that.
Through the wash of the rain, he spotted a figure
at the of the road. The person wore a green
(23:02):
Parker and had their thumb jerked out right through the
wash of the rain, he spotted a figure at the
side of the road. A figure means the outline of
a person. Okay, so he he spotted a figure at
the side of the road and the outline of a person.
The person wore a green parker. A green parker is
like a long green coat with a hood on it,
(23:25):
and had their thumb jerked out, so your thumb obviously
that when you go hitch hiking, your thumb is what
you stick out so people can see that you're hitch hiking.
He had his jump his jum. No, jum is not
a word. I don't know what that is. He had
his thumb jerked out to jerk out. I guess means
to stick out. So to jerk your thumb out is
(23:48):
stick your thumb out so people can see it. He
had his jump his jump again, why do I keep
saying jump? I don't know. He had his thumb jerked
out like that, showing that he was hitch hiking. Why
on Earth would anyone be hitch hiking tonight? Surely you
would just stay put until the morning. They must have
been in a rush to get where they were going.
(24:10):
Why on Earth would anyone be hitch hiking tonight? So
this on Earth we use this to sort of emphasize
our questions, and on Earth goes after the wh question word.
So if it's, for example, why what are you doing.
What on earth are you doing? Where are you going?
Where on Earth are you going? Who are you? Who
(24:33):
on Earth are you? And so on? How did you
do that? How on Earth did you do that? So
it just makes the question more emphatic. Why on earth
would anyone be hitch hiking tonight? Surely you would just
stay put until the morning. To stay put is to
stay in one place without moving. Just stay put, stay
put until I get back. Wait here, stay put, don't move.
(24:56):
Stay put means stay in the same place. They must
have been in a rush to get where they were going.
So the person is speculating here it's in the past,
so that's why it's must have been. He's certain that
the person was in a rush. Now, why would this be.
Why would this person be in a rush? Maybe they're
trying to escape or something like that. This is what
(25:19):
the story is sort of suggesting to you. It's cleverly
written because the story is telling you this person is escaping.
The hitchhiker is escaping from something. They're in a rush
to escape. They're rushing to escape for some reason. I
don't think the character is Russian, though I think they're
both British. That was the Russian joke. Anyway, he signaled
(25:44):
down and pulled over. So when you're driving, you signal
with your indicators click click, click, click, click click signal left,
signal right. In this case, he signaled down. I suppose
it means he signaled to pull over and he pulled over.
To pull over is when the car pulled up at
the side of the road and stops right, just like
(26:05):
a taxi pulls over in order to pick someone up.
The car pulled over in order to pick up the hitchhiker.
Pull over and pull up as well means basically the
same thing. Stop at the side of the road. So
he signaled and pulled over. The hitchhiker climbed in. He
shut the door quickly, glad to be out of the rain.
(26:25):
If you're glad, it means you're happy. You're relieved. Ah,
what a relief to be out of the rain. He
pulled his hood back and sighed. Say that side. Ah,
that's the sigh. He pulled his hood back and side.
He was somewhere in his mid twenties and had wild
(26:45):
red hair and a thick beard. Wild red hair, I
suppose it's messy red hair and a thick beard. Awful night, eh,
said the driver. The driver's quite friendly. Now the driver's
on this side. If you're watching the video, you'll see
that the driver looks to his left because we are
in Britain, and in Britain we drive on the left, okay,
(27:07):
which is in fact the right side of the road.
I know what you think, left, that's wrong. No, left
is right because left is right and right is wrong.
It doesn't matter, of course, but anyway, in the UK
we drive on the left. So if you drive on
the left, then the driver's seat is on the right
of the car. So as a driver, as the driver,
(27:28):
I'm looking this way when I talk to the hitchhiker,
and the hitchhiker's looking this way. So the driver says,
awful night, a awful night, trying to be friendly, and
the hitchhiker held his gaze for a long moment. Someone's
gaze is the way that they are looking. So he
held his gaze for a long moment, meaning he stared
(27:49):
at him like this in his eyes. What did he say?
Awful night? And then the hitchhiker's response is to do this,
just holding his gaze, holding his eyes for a long moment.
Drops of rain water trickled down his face. Yes, yes
(28:12):
it is. This is the bit I enjoy. I enjoy
doing the faces of the driver in the hitchhiker. Yes
it is, yeah, said the hitchhiker. What's up with this hitchhiker?
Where's he going in such a hurry? And why's he
got such weird behavior? The driver pulled out, which is
(28:36):
the opposite of pullover in this case, pull out into
the road to drive away and continued through the storm.
The hitchhiker glanced over his shoulder into the blackness behind him,
glances sort of like, take a quick look again, what's
the what's this hitchhiker escaping from her? Like? Seems a
(29:02):
bit suspicious glancing over his shoulder. You okay, said the driver.
The hitcher simply nodded, yeah, man, yeah, man, I'm okay.
Like are you okay? Yeah? I think so, hmm. Suspicious behavior.
(29:26):
They drove on in silence for a short while. They
drove on me means they continued driving, So they drove
on in silence. So in goes with silence in silence
and on goes with drive. So they drove on in
silence for a short while. The BBC radio phone in
(29:46):
blaring out from the cars speakers filled in for conversation.
So the BBC radio phone in BBC Radio another indication
that this is in the UK because the BBC's the
British Broadcasting Corporation and a radio phone in, so phone
in that is a phrase. A phone in is a
(30:07):
radio show where people phone in. Listeners can phone in,
meaning send telephone calls to the radio station and talk
to the presenter during the show. It's a kind of
chat show format. The radio phone in, so the BBC
radio phone in blaring out from the cars speakers. Blaring
out just means making a loud noise, so music blares
(30:31):
out from speakers. A radio show blares out from the radio,
So the BBC radio phone in blaring out from the
car speakers filled in for conversation, fill in, fill in.
This is when something is missing and you put something
else in as a replacement. For example, if normally you
(30:51):
have Sarah as your English teacher and one day you
come to school and Sarah is not there and I'm
there instead, and everyone's like, where's Sarah. I said, Oh,
I'm afraid Sarah's sick today. She can't come to school
today because she's not well, but I'm filling in for
Sarah today. Okay, to fill in in this case, I
replaced Sarah for a day. In the case of the story,
(31:14):
the radio phone in the noise of the radio filled
in for conversation because there was no conversation, so the
radio sort of filled in the noise instead replaced the
conversation that wasn't happening. They listened to the radio and
their own thoughts as they moved on. Just listen to
the radio. Listen to your thoughts is a phrase that
we do say as they moved on. So we've got
(31:37):
drive on, move on. What else have we got with on?
I'm sure there are others, hm, I'm sure there are
others with on, But anyway, we've got drive on and
then move on, right. They listened to the radio and
their own thoughts as they moved on. Move on, continue moving,
(31:57):
drive on, continue driving. Where are you headed? Asked the
driver headed. To be headed somewhere means to be going somewhere.
Somewhere is your destination? Okay. For example, I'm just heading
to the pub. Do you want to come? When you
get to the pub, you head to the bar. Once
(32:18):
you've got your drinks, you head to a table you see,
and then when you're finished you head home. Okay, where
are you headed? Meaning where are you going? Basically north
pointed and the hitcher pointed. I don't know why it
was necessary for the hitcher to point north at this
in this case, where are you going north? All right?
(32:43):
Got my compass north that way? All right? Are you
traveling to visit friends? That so for the driver, he's
trying to make polite conversation. I imagine that the driver would
be using that sort of intonation trying to make conversation.
So are you traveling to visit friends or that sort
(33:05):
of thing. Now, by the way, you could repeat after
me as we go through this. You could even go
back to the beginning of this episode this video and
repeat each line after me and try and copy my intonation.
That can actually be a very good thing to do. Obviously, listen,
understand the story, understand the bits of English I'm explaining
to you, but try to repeat the lines from the
(33:28):
story as well, and try and give some color and
performance to it as well. So you could skip back
to the beginning of this and after each line, pause
and repeat the line after me, try and make it
sound like the way I did it as well. You're
traveling to visit friends? Are you? Are you? Are you traveling?
Not are you traveling? But are you traveling? Are you
(33:50):
traveling to visit friends? Hmm, that's what hmph means. It
means hm. The driver couldn't tell if that was a
yes or no. He couldn't identify if hum was a
yes or no. He adjusted his tie nervously. So if
you're wearing a tie, which is the thing that goes
(34:11):
around your neck when you're wearing a suit, and that's
pronounced suit, by the way, not sweet or suit, it's suit.
So when you're wearing a suit with a tie, sometimes
you need to adjust the tie as it's around your neck,
if it's a bit tight or something, or it might
just be a nervous habit to adjust your tie, adjust
meaning change the way its position, changed the position of something.
(34:35):
He adjusted his tie nervously. The hitcher stared at him
in his suit and tie. So I'm imagining here that
the hitcher has got nothing but contempt for this driver
in his suit and tie. Just to someone who works
an ordinary nine to five job, the hitcher seems to
be sort of an alternative type person who probably has
(34:56):
contempt for people who work normal jobs. The hit stared
at him in his suit and tie with a disgusting
look of contempt on his face. The hitcher seemed scruffy.
Scruffy means untidy in comparison in his Parker and pink
(35:18):
Floyd T shirt. And this is the hitcher, right. Do
you work around here? Yes, said the driver, So this
is where as the driver. I'm trying to be as
innocent as possible. Yes, said the driver. I was stuck
late at the office. You know how it is. It's
maybe a bit posh. Yeah, I was stuck late at
the office. You know how it is. No, not really,
(35:43):
says the hitcher, unfriendly again. They drifted into silence a
bit awkward. They drifted into silence. Drift So when a
boat is on the water, it moves slowly, right, it
moves eventually, over time it drifts, and you can drift
(36:04):
into silence as well. That's when you slowly drift into silence,
suddenly slowly become silent. So they're just sitting there in silence.
The talk radio show carried on, So we got to
drive on to move on, to carry on, the talk
radio show carried on. As they drove through the wind
(36:24):
and rain, the hitcher shifted in his seat. That means
he's sort of changed his seating position. Maybe his bum
was getting tired or something. Maybe he was feeling a
little nervous or anxious. Anyway, he shifted in his seat
and stared out the windscreen, or stared out of the
wind screen. Windscreen is the big window at the front
of the car. That's the windscreen. Then you've got the
(36:46):
back window, You've got the side windows, but the main
one at the front is called the windscreen. In America,
the windshield. That's what they call it there. They're wrong,
of course, it's a wind screen. Got the sounds of
drilling outside. No music, the hitcher asked, full of hate
(37:08):
and murderous rage. No music, he said, sharpening his knife.
No music, then, but what is there no music we
could listen to. I really like the talk the radio
talk shows. I'm not really a music fan, said the driver.
(37:30):
The hitcher's eyes glazed over for a moment. If your
eyes glaze over, it's like you suddenly become very bored,
or it's like you're not really there. So I'm going
to try and show you my eyes glazing over on videos.
This is me all alert and looking wide awake. But
if my eyes glaze over, it's like I'm not really
(37:51):
concentrating on at all. I'm not really looking at anything
in particular. I'm just lost in my own thoughts. My
eyes are glazed over a bit like if I go
into one of my classrooms full of students learning English
and I say, okay, everyone, today we're going to do
nine hours of pure grammar, and everyone's eyes probably would
(38:13):
just glaze over as they mentally switch off. So anyway,
the hitchhiker's eyes glazed over for a moment, and then
he spoke, and this is where the hitchhiker is revealing
his slightly psychotic personality maybe and he says, I like
listening to music. Calms me down. When I'm in a
(38:36):
murderous rage, the music calms me down. Anyway, I like
listening to music. It calms me down, said the hitchhiker
in a slightly psychotic moment. The driver said nothing, I've
got a nutter in the car. Several miles later, here's
another indication that we are in the UK, because we
(38:59):
use miles rather than kilometers. A mile is about one
point six kilometers or kilometers several miles later, there was
a news bulletin on the radio show. A bulletin just
means a little news report. The reporter tried to remain
professional as she read the announcement. So apparently the reporter
was sort of shocked or nervous, but tried to remain professional.
(39:22):
And now I do this. I'm going to do this
in my BBC News Report voice. We're getting reports that
a patient has escaped from a Manchester psychiatric institution. The
man is said to be psychopathic and is said to
have a history of murder. So we're getting reports that
a patient has escaped from a Manchester psychiatric institution. That's
(39:45):
fairly clear grammar wise, folkab wise. A psychiatric institution would
be a sort of a hospital for people with psychiatric disorders.
That's mental disorders. Here's some grammar. The man is said
to be psychopathic and is said to have a history
of murder. This is just another way of saying that
people say the man is psychopathic. We don't know who
(40:09):
said this, or maybe it's not important who said this,
or it's obvious who said this is probably going to
be doctors at the institute. The institution. Well, it's a
common phrase is said to be meaning people say, so
the man is said to be psychopathic and is said
to have a history of murder. Oh, the hitcher jabbed
(40:31):
a finger on the button on the radio panel, jabbed
we got jerked his thumb out for hitchhiking, and now
he's jabbing his finger on the button. To jab your
finger on the button means to poke the button, to
quickly press the button, bing like that quickly in order
to in this case interrupt the radio broadcast. So the
(40:54):
hitcher quickly switches off the radio or switches the channel.
Tinny pop music. It blurted out from the speakers. So
here's blurted out again, meaning when the noise comes out. No,
we had blair out, didn't we before? B L A
r E. Blaring out from the speakers. Blurting out from
the speakers is basically the same thing people can blurt
(41:16):
out as well. That's when you say something that without
really thinking about it, ban the word just comes out.
He blurted out the answer without thinking about it, for example.
So in this case, tiny pop music blurted out from
the speakers. Tinny tin tin is a form of metal
but if you say that music is tiny, it means
(41:38):
that it's trebly. It doesn't sound deep and rich, it's
just the sort of just very trebly sounds tiny music.
Pop music blurted out from the speakers. The driver stared
at his passenger, his question unasked. So the driver is
kind of shocked about the news report. Someone is, someone
(42:01):
has escaped, a murderer is on the loose, a murderer,
and the hitchhiker's just quickly turned off the radio or
turned the channel. And so the driver is looking at
his passenger like this, did I look the right way
in the story? I can't remember that. I hate the news,
answered the hitcher. It's so depressing. It brings me down.
(42:23):
Depressing means makes you feel sad and depressed. It brings
me down means it makes you feel sad and depressed.
Don't bring me down with your bad news. You're bringing
me down. This sad music is bringing me down. There's
never any good news, is there, said the hitcher. The
driver didn't reply. Don't worry, I'm not the killer, said
(42:47):
the hitcher, fidgeting with his coat. The hitcher's fidgeting with
his coat. If you're fidgeting with something. It means you're
sort of playing with something in your hands, maybe because
you're nervous or you're thinking about something, but fidgeting means
kind of playing with something in your fingers. I always
fidget with my train tickets. Don't worry, I'm not the killer,
(43:09):
said the hitcher, fidgeting with his coat. No, said the driver.
I mean no, of course you aren't. They drove on,
listening to the crappy pop music. Crappy means bad an
over excited radio DJs. The DJ's on DJs on radio shows,
(43:30):
they're always very excited like this. In fact, they're too excited.
They're over excited. You're listening to the drive Time show
on Radio excited FM. The rain pounded on the car,
bam bam, bam bam. What do you do for a living,
asked the driver. The hitcher was quiet for a moment,
(43:51):
then he grinned, can't really do a grin. You've got
to be a really good actor. He's quiet for a moment.
Then a grin is normally it can be quite scary.
I'm a writer, he said, Oh really, how interesting have
you had anything published? Said the driver, No, as yet,
(44:14):
I'm an undiscovered artist or another scary thing. Not only
is this person slightly crazy and ginger, but also they're
an undiscovered writer sort of person who has been slaving
away writing but no one has discovered their artistic talent.
And we know, don't we from history that when poor
(44:37):
artists don't get recognized, what happens, That's right, they try
to take over the world and try and kill everyone.
So this is another scary thing about this hitcher, that is,
not only does he have ginger hair, which is obviously terrifying,
especially on a dark night. I'm joking, of course, but
also he's an undiscovered artist, so he probably hates society
(44:59):
and hey, people like this idiot in the suit, and
the driver says, I'm sure you'll make it. What are
you working on at the moment, I'm writing a novel? Oh, yes,
it's about a serial killer. The driver didn't speak. He
flicked the radio station back on. Flick flick, flick, flick flick.
(45:23):
You flick a switch. Flick means pewing, hit something with
your finger quickly, so you flick a switch, or you
might flick. Let's say, imagine this, there's a peanut sitting
on the table you don't want to eat it. You
want to fire the peanut across the garden, so ping
you flick it with your finger. That's flick as well,
flick a switch, flick the channel on the radio. A
(45:46):
man was rambling on with himself about the change in days,
his wheeling bit his wheelibins were emptied. So a man
was just talking about uninteresting things. Rambling means talking without
any specific purpose or direct long term listeners my podcast
should know. Rambling is what I do on the podcast
quite a lot, talking without a specific focus, just letting
(46:09):
yourself talk and meander and go from one subject to
the other. And it's rambling with an A, not with
a U. People often write in comments sections and stuff.
I love your rumbling. It's not rumbling. Rumbling is the
sound of thunder. That's rumble, ramble, r amb lng, talking
without any particular direction. Also, rambling means walking in the
(46:33):
countryside for enjoyment. So anyway, a man was rambling on,
meaning continuing to ramble. So we've had drive on, move on,
ramble on, carry on. A man was rambling on with
himself about the change in days. His wheelly bins were empties.
Wheelly bins are big bins, big rubbish bins that you
(46:55):
put all your rubbish in in your black rubbish bags.
So in your kitchen you've got your rubbish bin with
a black bag in it, and you put your rubbish
in there, and then when it's full, you tie it up,
take it outside and put it into your wheelibin. And
the wheeli bin is outside normally the front of the house,
and when the rubbish removal people come with their big van,
they take the bin and wheel it on its wheels
(47:16):
to the back of the van and then tip the
contents into the back of the truck where it gets crushed.
So a wheelibin is a large plastic rubbish bin with
wheels on it which you can move around. And wheelibins
get emptied by the council when they bring their rubbish
van through. And apparently this man on the radio was
basically talking about nothing important, talking about the days when
(47:40):
his wheelibins were changed, so nothing particularly important, just typical
radio talk show stuff. Where can I drop you, asked
the driver, meaning where can I you know, deliver you
in this in this car meaning stop the car and
let you get out. You pick someone up in a
car you give someone a lift, and you drop someone somewhere.
(48:04):
You can just drop me outside the cinema, drop me
outside the office. Where can I drop you, asked the driver.
The hitcher said nothing. When the driver glanced round, had
a quick look round his eyes. His passenger had his
eyes closed. He was either asleep or feigning slumber. Slumber
(48:29):
means sleep. Feining means pretending faking. Feigning slumber then means
pretending to be asleep, So he was either asleep or
pretending to be asleep. He was either asleep or feigning slumber,
so he was and his eyes closed. They drove on
through the storm down the snaking lanes. Lanes are roads,
(48:53):
narrow little roads. Snaking means they're turning left to right.
Here we have on comful dot com the picture that
normally accompanies this line of the story is not available,
and instead we've got like a car that says this
content is not available in the background instead of a
picture of some rain or something. Anyway, the story continues
(49:14):
an hour later. The storm still growled and raged growled.
That's growl is what a frightening animal would do, like
a tiger raw, or a lion rah or a crocodile
row or whatever it is. The storm still growled and raged.
The hitcher looked out of the window. The driver steered
(49:34):
the car in silence. Steer the car, turn left and
turn right. Another news bulletin came over the radio. So,
by the way, at this point, we all think that
the driver is a nice person who just works in
an office and who took pity on this hitcher, And
we think the hitchhiker is some kind of crazy, antisocial
(49:58):
madman who wants to murder everybody, especially this guy in
a suit. Another news bulletin came over the radio. We're
getting more information on the escaped patient. The killer's name
is Simon Hughes. He escaped from the Green Pastures Institute
earlier this evening. Okay, more information. His name is Simon Hughes.
(50:19):
He escaped from the Green Pastor's Pastures Institute. Sounds like
a sort of institute for mentally ill people. Earlier this evening,
Simon Hughes made his escape by changing from his hospital
issue uniform into a suit and tie and pretending to
be one of the medical staff. He stole a car
and drove off. Okay, so this is where the twist happens.
(50:44):
This is when we realize that the killer, the escaped killer,
is in fact the driver of the car. Because he
escaped by changing from his hospital uniform into a suit
and tie and pretending to be one of the medical staff.
He stole a car and drove off. The hitcher turned
to the driver, What did you say your name was? Now,
(51:06):
as far as I know, the driver hasn't given his
name yet. Am I right? I don't think this the
driver's actually given his name. But anyway, this is the
question that you ask when someone has already told you
their name and you want to ask again, what did
you say your name was? What did you say your
name was? Meaning? What's what's your name again? What did
(51:26):
you Sorry, what did you say your name was? You've
already told me, but I'm asking again, what did you
say your name was? Another way of saying it is,
what was your name again? Sorry? What was your name again?
My name is Simon, said the driver. The hitcher stared
in shock. Simon grinned. The headlights of a passing car
(51:48):
glinted off the knife blade in Simon's hand, Dan Dan Dah.
Simon is the killer and he's got a knife. Simon grinned.
The headlights of a passing car glinted off the sign
off the knife blade. So the headlights reflected glinted off
the knife blade in Simon's hand, and that is the
(52:11):
end of the story. Okay, there you go, all right, listeners, Okay, viewers,
So that's been another story on Luke's English podcast. I
hope you've enjoyed it. Listen to some of my other episodes.
I've got lots and lots of other episodes with stories,
loads of them in fact, on my YouTube channel. I've
(52:31):
got a playlist which is called stories, and obviously that's
going to contain stories. But not all of my episodes
are on YouTube. You should know. So go to my
website teacher Luke dot co dot uk and you can
find the episode archive. Let's have a quick look here
then I can show you. So to the website, click
on episodes and then you will find the entire episode archive.
(52:54):
And I've got over seven hundred I've got nearly seven
hundred and fifty episodes here a lot. I've been doing
this for twelve years. Okay. The podcast is mainly an
audio podcast. I also do YouTube videos sometimes. I've been
doing more YouTube videos recently. But if you are someone
who's just discovered my podcast on YouTube, you should know
(53:15):
that I have loads of episodes of the audio podcast
which you can listen to. And if you're thinking, Luke,
can you do an episode about this? Can you do
an episode about that? Can you do more stories? There's
a good chance that I've done episodes about the things
you're interested in, and I have done lots of stories before.
So if I just type in story, we'll see what
(53:37):
we find. Let's have a little look here. I did
one about Michael Jackson. Episode nineteen. Let's see number twenty
nine is a mystery story that I wrote, which also
you can use to learn narrative tenses. You heard me
talking about past continuous and past perfect and past simple.
(53:58):
You get all of that from episode nine. Let's just
have a look at a couple of other examples we've got.
Sick in Japan is this true story of how I
ended up in a hospital bed. I thought I was
gonna die in Japan. Luckily I was okay. The pink
Gorilla story is an improvised story full of comedy and
a stupid chase. I get chased by a pink gorilla
(54:20):
through the streets of London. And there are many many
more things like that, more stories, and more interviews and
all sorts of stuff in the episode archive, so check
them out. Thank you so much for listening to this
episode of my podcast. Another thing I should say is
that I've got an app. Did you know that? In
(54:40):
the app store on your phone. Just search for the
Luke's English Podcast app and you'll be able to get it.
And this gives you the entire episode archive on your phone,
including access to tons of bonus episodes. Okay, there are
app only episodes. You might be interested in. The one
which is called the Hyde Park Mystery Story. That's a
(55:04):
mystery story I wrote, and in that story you can
learn fifty different ways of walking, fifty different words, different
verbs for walking. That's a lot, all in an interesting
mystery story. And that's in my app on your phone. Soon.
Just download the Luke's English Podcast app on your phone. Okay,
(55:28):
thank you very much for listening, Thank you for watching.
Don't forget to like and subscribe to my YouTube channel
and to tell your friends about Luke's English Podcast. I
will speak to you again very soon, but for now
it's just time to say goodbye, bye bye bye bye
bye bye bye bo bo bo bote
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com