Learn British English with Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (PS1), Part 2: Scramble, Twinkle and Cast a Spell

Twinkling snails

• Alex: Hello to everyone. Welcome to part two of my first playthrough of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone for PS1. Let’s <mark>crack on</mark>, shall we?
• Ghost: Hello again. Did you <mark>notice</mark> that <mark>those</mark> poisonous snails <mark>twinkle</mark>?
• Alex: Hello, notice, those: the same <mark>diphthong</mark>, “oh”, in three words. A great extract to work on it!
• Ghost: Things that twinkle can be affected by a Flipendo Knockback Jinx.
• Alex: To <mark>twinkle</mark>: to shine repeatedly, strongly then weakly, as if flashing on and off very quickly.
• Alex: “The lights of the town twinkled in the distance.” “The stars twinkled in the clear sky.”

Cast a spell at or on

• Ghost: This is a Jinx Block. Your Flipendo Knockback Jinx will <mark>move it aside</mark>.
• Ghost: To move a Jinx Block, <mark>cast</mark> Flipendo <mark>at</mark> it.
• Alex: So, you can <mark>cast a spell at</mark> something. You can also <mark>cast a spell on</mark> something.
• Alex: Like in the famous song from <i>Hocus Pocus</i>: “I put a spell on you.”

Scramble

• Alex: What Harry Potter has just done is to <mark>scramble</mark>, with an A as in <i>cat</i>.
• Alex: <mark>Scrambling</mark> means to move or climb quickly but with difficulty, often using your hands to help you.

You’ve made it this far

• Ghost: Well, you’ve <mark>made it</mark> this far. Now, take a look at this.
• Alex: To <mark>make it</mark>: to continue to live or exist, especially after coming close to dying, or after a difficult situation.
• Alex: “This company has <mark>made it through</mark> some very hard times.” “Given his injuries, we didn’t expect him to make it.”

A charged Flipendo

• Ghost: A tall Jinx Block like this one needs a <mark>charged</mark> Flipendo Knockback Jinx to move it.
• Alex: <mark>Charged</mark> has that long “ah” sound we’ve heard many times in the game: charm, enchanting, cast, start, star.
• Ghost: To cast a charged Knockback Jinx, <mark>hold down</mark> the cross button to <mark>build up</mark> the spell before releasing it.
• Alex: Hold down the button to build up the spell, so that it becomes more powerful.
• Alex: Another <mark>feather</mark>. We’re collecting those, aren’t we? FEH-thuh: that’s the pronunciation.

Neville Longbottom

• Neville: I’m Neville Longbottom. Neville… led me down here and then ran through a secret passage with an owl.
• Alex: <mark>Longbottom</mark>: two short O sounds, and “bottom” ends with a <mark>schwa</mark>.
• Neville: Now I’m <mark>trapped</mark> by these <mark>enchanted</mark> books.
• Alex: <mark>Enchanted</mark>: that long A sound is typical of Southern Standard British English and Received Pronunciation.
• Neville: I’ve lost my wand, so I can’t <mark>knock</mark> the books <mark>out of the way</mark> with Flipendo.

Lever, UK and US

• Neville: The <mark>lever</mark>’s around here somewhere.
• Alex: <mark>Lever</mark>: LEE-vuh in British English, LEV-er in American English. A bar or handle that moves around a fixed point to control a machine.
• Neville: There, <mark>I found it</mark>!
• Alex: “There, I found it” sounds American. In these situations, in the UK you’ll usually use the <mark>present perfect</mark>: “I’ve found it.” In American English they’ll go for the <mark>simple past</mark>: “I found it.”

Set Hedwig free

• Neville: A charged Flipendo Knockback Jinx might <mark>free</mark> Hedwig from those bars.
• Alex: You can also say you <mark>set somebody free</mark>. “A charged Flipendo Knockback Jinx might set Hedwig free.” The meaning is the same.
• Alex: You’re <mark>free to go</mark>, Hedwig!
• Alex: We’ve done a lot today. We’ll continue in part three. Take care. Cheers. Bye-bye!