Short stories are one of my favourite ways to learn English: they’re short enough to finish, but full of real language. In this live episode I shadow “The Birthday Party” by Katherine Brush, read by Luke Thompson on Luke’s English Podcast (episode 872), while cooking chips in my kitchen. Yes, really.
The story is tiny, just a few paragraphs about a couple having dinner in a restaurant, but it’s packed with vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation points. Here’s everything we covered, organised so you can study it on its own.
Warm-up: a British tongue twister
We started the stream by warming up our mouths with a classic:
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
It’s brilliant practice for the aspirated /p/, that little puff of air at the beginning of Peter, Piper and picked. Hold a piece of paper in front of your mouth: it should move. If you speak Spanish, this is a sound to really focus on, because the Spanish /p/ has no puff at all.
Vocabulary from the story
Banquette
The couple sat on the banquette opposite the narrator. A banquette is an upholstered bench along a wall, especially in a restaurant or bar. It’s a French word, so the pronunciation looks strange on paper; listen to how Luke says it in the video.
Self-satisfied
The man had a round, self-satisfied face. Self-satisfied describes someone who’s too pleased with themselves. It’s not a compliment!
Fadingly pretty
The woman was fadingly pretty. If something fades, it slowly disappears, like the colour of old jeans. So fadingly pretty means her beauty was slowly disappearing with age. It’s a very elegant, literary way of saying it.
Conspicuous and noticeable
There was nothing conspicuous about them: nothing particularly noticeable. Conspicuous means very easy to see, standing out. Noticeable is the more everyday word for something people can notice.
A pattering of applause
At the end, a few people in the restaurant tried to help out with a pattering of applause. A patter is a quick series of light taps, like rain on a window. So a pattering of applause means a little, light, rather awkward bit of clapping. Lovely image, isn’t it?
Grammar: the past perfect
The wife had planned a little surprise. Why the past perfect? Because we use had + past participle for an action that happened before another point in the past. She planned the surprise before the dinner. Then, at the dinner, the cake arrived (simple past).
Example: By the time we got to the restaurant, they had already ordered.
Pride vs proud
The wife beamed with shy pride over her little surprise.
- Pride is a noun: She beamed with pride.
- Proud is an adjective: She was proud of her surprise.
A viewer got this right in the chat and I told them they were spot on: a British expression meaning exactly right.
Pronunciation notes
- Was in There was nothing conspicuous is weak: /wəz/, with the schwa, the most common sound in British English.
- Glasses: the man had glasses on it. In southern British English it’s /ˈɡlɑːsɪz/, with the long a of car.
- Burning and candle: in standard British English, burning has no /r/ sound, and candle has a clean /æ/ followed by a dark /l/.
- Read in the past is pronounced /red/, exactly like the colour red: I read a book every day (/riːd/) vs I read that story last week (/red/).
British English bits and bobs
As always in a live stream, lots of everyday British expressions came up along the way:
- Shall we? One of the few places where shall is still really common: Let’s continue, shall we?
- Let’s crack on: let’s get going, let’s hurry up a bit.
- A love-hate relationship: written with a hyphen. A viewer said they had a love-hate relationship with British English. I think many of you do!
- In the pipeline: in preparation. I’ve got loads of episodes in the pipeline.
- Get the hang of something: start to be good at it. You’re getting the hang of shadowing!
- Chips vs fries: I was making chips, which is what we call them in the UK; Americans say fries. A British friend once told me good chips should be crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside.
- Cutlet: a breaded cutlet is what we call milanesa in Argentina.
I also told viewers about living in Cambridge. Speaking British English every day, with locals and with people from all over the world, was one of the best experiences of my life.
Practice
Complete the sentences with a word from this post.
- She was very ___ of her son’s exam results. (pride / proud)
- Nothing about the building was ___; it looked like every other house on the street.
- When we arrived, the film ___ already ___. (start)
- Don’t worry, you’ll get the ___ of it soon.
- It’s late. Let’s ___ on, shall we?
Show the answers
- proud
- conspicuous (or noticeable)
- had already started
- hang
- crack
Listen to the story with me
The full episode lets you shadow every line with Luke and me, and see what happened to that birthday cake. The ending is quite a surprise.
Subscribe for more short-story episodes, and don’t forget to check out Luke’s English Podcast for the original reading.