📙 Part 2: Describe a hospitable person (who is good at making people feel welcome in his/her home)

You should say: who this person is, how you knew him/her, how he/she makes you feel welcome, and explain why you think he/she is good at making people feel welcome.

This episode's vocabulary

• Host (noun) - someone who has guests.
• Up the road (phrase) - on this same street or road, but at a further distance from here / on this same street or road, but at a higher elevation from here
• A mutual friend (adj) - someone who is a friend of each of two or more other people.
• To introduce (adj) - to tell someone another person's name the first time that they meet.
• To get on like a house on fire (idiom) - if two people get on like a house on fire, they like each other very much and become friends very quickly.
• Wind up (phrasal verb) - to come to be in a particular situation or condition.
• To get caught up in something (phrase) - to become involved in something, often without wanting to.
• Gossip (noun) - conversation or reports about other people's private lives that might be unkind, disapproving, or not true.
• Favour (noun) - a kind action that you do for someone.
• Intrusive (adj) - affecting someone in a way that annoys them and makes them feel uncomfortable.
• Genuine (adj) - if something is genuine, it is real and exactly what it appears to be.

Questions and Answers

M: Rory, describe a hospitable person (who is good at making people feel welcome in his/her home).

R: Well, this is easy. My best friend Rob is an amazing host, actually. I always used to go around to his place for the whole weekend just for the company alone. And even though I have my own room, I still like going over there. He's just five minutes up the road now, so why not? I've known him personally for almost 15 years now. But we knew of each other before that, since we had some mutual friends. That's actually how we were introduced to each other through them. And we got on like a house on fire and actually wound up being even better and closer friends than the people we originally met through. Even though I've been all over the place with travelling and work and things like that, whenever I came back, he was one of the first people I would see. And now I live here, he's often the person I see the most often. I absolutely loved spending time with him. Even when he wasn't close by, I'd always make the effort to go and see him, since he would always be pleased to see me. And we'd get caught up on all the latest gossip and goings on in our town and among our friendship group. Needless to say, this is all achieved with ridiculous amounts of alcohol. We both have a taste for the finer things in life. So usually that's champagne and premium liquor. And well, he's more of a vodka person, and I'm definitely a bourbon man. He always has some of my favourites in the cellar on hand for when I'm around. I'd never expect someone to do that. But I really appreciate the effort. And I always return the favour whenever he's around at mine. In addition to all these other things, he's really good at creating a comfortable environment to chat wherever he is. The lighting is soft, and there's music in the background that isn't too intrusive. And it's just generally a pleasant place to be wherever he is. But in particular, his home because it's so well-designed and well-decorated. I'm honestly not sure why he's so good at things like that. But if I were to guess I'd say it's probably out of having a genuine interest in people he's friends with and what they have to say. I'll have to ask him about it the next time I see him to be honest.

Discussion

M: Right, thank you, Rory. What a lovely story. Yes. Dear listener, do you have this hospitable person? And do we actually use the word hospitable?

R: I wouldn't say they're hospitable, I'd say they're like a good host or hostess.

M: Yeah. Like they're a good host. Like they host you in their home because they invite you they have you in their house. Right, dear listener, you should make a decision now who we're going to be talking about. Okay? So do you have this person? If no, you can steal Rory's story and you can talk about Rob. Tell the examiner that my friend is Rob. He is an amazing host. An easy thing to do dear listener - steal Rory's ideas and friends. Hey! So you can start like, my best friend Rob is an amazing host. Which means that Rob invites me to his place to his house, to their home and does this amazingly well. Yeah. So if you invite people over to your house, you are a host. Okay, you host a party, for example. I go round to his place. So to go round to somebody's place means to visit somebody in their home. So I can say I usually go around to his place, place like his flats, his house, his home. Or he usually goes around to my place. And I usually visit him just for the company alone. So just to be with him, just for his company.

M: It's good for emphasis just for the ___ alone.

R: Yeah, not because he cooks well or because he has like free, I don't know, crisps yum yum yum. But just for his company, I still like going over there. So I still enjoy going over to his place. So to go over to my friend's house, or to go round to my friend's house, like to visit them. And these are like phrasal verbs, they're natural, and they are far more natural and informal rather than visit them in their home. Okay? So use this place, like go round, and go over to my friend's house. Or I enjoy having people over to my house. And Rob's house is just five minutes up the road. So Rob lives kind of right next door. Okay? So five minutes away from me.

M: Five minutes up the road, or five minutes down the road? And then what does it mean? Like up or down?

R: Well, if I think up the road, I'm thinking, yeah, it's very similar to this idea of uphill and downhill. So if it's towards the top of the hill, or in an upward direction, it's up the road. And if it's towards the bottom of a hill, or in a downward direction then it's down.

M: You should use present perfect when you talk about how long you've known this person. I've known him for 15 years, we have been friends for a long time, like we've been friends, or I've known him, like, one month. So we have mutual friends. We have common friends,

R: And we knew of each other through them. We were aware of each other, because of our connection through our mutual friends.

M: And that's how we were introduced to each other. So our common friends introduced us to each other. So kind of we met through them. So we met through our mutual friends. We got on like a house on fire. So we became friends immediately. We had this connection. So we met and then like yeah, we got on like a house on fire. So we became good friends right away. We wound up being close friends. So wind up doing something - we ended up being close friends. Or when we met we got on like a house on fire. And actually, we wound up living together. Yeah, oh, we wound up getting married. I met this guy, we got on like a house of fire, and we wound up living together.

R: I do like that phrasal verb - to wind up doing something.

M: When you said, I've been all over the place. What did you mean?

R: I just mean that I've been travelling around to different places.

M: Like I've been all over the place. Like I've been travelling a lot. And Rob is the first person I go and see. I love spending time with him. Yeah, he's an amazing host. I always make an effort to visit him. Like I make sure that I will go to him. So I try hard to kind of have this time for visiting him, going round to his place.

R: Well to go around to his place.

M: To go round to his place. Yeah. And he's always pleased to see me. So He's happy. He's pleased to see me. The latest gossip. So Rory and Rob, discuss the latest gossip. So gossip is when you discuss other people's private lives. The latest, like fresh. Like, who did she marry? Like, why do they break up? You know? So like the latest gossip. And Rob gets me caught up on the latest gossip.

R: Yes. So it's up to date.

M: So he kind of tells me the latest gossip. Yeah, he keeps me up to date with the latest gossip or he gets me caught up on the latest gossip. Or you can say like, we usually catch up on the latest gossip and what's going on in our town and our friends. We both have a taste for the finer things. So like I have a taste for something. Like I enjoy something, yeah?

R: Yeah. Well, if you enjoy the finer things in life, you have a taste for really expensive or really nice things.

M: But if I say like, I have a taste for cakes, I enjoy cakes.

R: Yes, that would be okay.

M: And here finer things, like nice things like, expensive champagne, or premium or liquor, alcoholic drinks like tequila vodka. And Rob is more of a vodka person. So if you are a vodka person you enjoy drinking vodka. But Rory is a bourbon man. So he enjoys drinking bourbon.

R: Yeah.

M: So very informal phrases, like he's a vodka person. I'm a tea person. Okay, we'll have fun together...

R: A bit of a contrast.

M: And he has some nice drinks when I'm around. He has my favourites on hand. Yeah, what does it mean?

R: It just means that you have them ready to give to people.

M: So he has some of my favourites, some of my favourite drinks in the cellar, in the special place where he keeps his drinks on hand - ready to be served when I'm around. Or you can say, like, he always cooks when I am round, he always has my favourite drinks on hand, like ready to go, when I'm around. I really appreciate the effort. So I am grateful for his efforts. Like, keeping my favourite drinks at his place always ready for me. I always return the favour. So when you return the favour, you do the same thing for your friend. So when Rob goes round to Rory's place, Rory has Rob's favourite drinks on hand. Yes, Rory?

R: It's a nice thing to do, you have to return the favour. So someone does something nice for you, and you do something back for them.

M: So you return the favor, whenever he is round at mine. Which means whenever he visits my home.

R: Yeah, and it's important to point out, you can come round to someone or you can come around to someone's house, it doesn't make a difference which one you use, which is good for paraphrasing.

M: And you may not even say house. So whenever he is around at my house, or whenever he is around at mine, meaning my place my house my flat. He's really good at creating a comfortable environment. So you go round to his place. So the environment, a comfortable atmosphere is there, you're happy. So he is good at creating a comfortable atmosphere/environment to chat about everything. Okay? So and then you can mention some details like the lighting, the lights, the lighting is soft, like soft lighting, very nice lighting, comfortable lights, not very bright. You know, like, at a school or in a hospital very bright lights. Horrible. Or like music. There's some nice music in the background. Not super loud, not horrible. So like music, which is not too intrusive. Like for example, in shopping malls, where the music is just like... Shopping, shopping, shopping lists. So not too intrusive, like nice music in the back.

R: It doesn't bother you.

M: And it's genuinely a pleasant place to be. He is always welcome. He welcomes you in his home. And we can finish off with the second conditional. Like, I'm not sure how he manages to make you feel welcome.

R: Yeah, that was a weird one. Like, explain why they're good at doing this. I have no idea why... Maybe they have classes about this thing.

M: But if I were to guess I'd say that it's out of having a genuine interest in people. So Rob has a genuine interest like it's really interesting for Rob, to talk to Rory. So he has this genuine interest in people so he welcomes them at his home. So Rory, what are the synonyms we can use to say that this person makes people feel welcome in their home?

R: They create a welcoming environment, a welcoming atmosphere.

M: They are a lovely host.

R: They have excellent hosting skills.

M: Oh, yeah, actually. So they have excellent hosting skills. And then we go into details like, what exactly do they do? They serve your drinks. They have like my favourite drinks on hand. They cook they switch on some nice music. As there are some other pleasant people. They kind are pleased to see guests. They often have parties, which are unforgettable. Yes dear listener, Rory what else?

R: I don't think there's much else to add to be honest. Although it would be good to draw attention to things like: I always used to go round to his place, always used to go for talking about the past. And then also thinking about your friend I said I've known him personally. So you could say the same thing. I've known my friend for however long. And then in terms of grammar, I'd, I would always make the effort in the past to talk about something you would always do. And then... Oh, one thing to draw... Yes. The second conditional is there. But the other thing is the use of "while". While he's more of a vodka person, he always has some my favourites on hand. So good use of wild there as well. I'd never expect - I would never expect. Again, I would but with a different purpose this time. So lots of modal verbs on the go. With different purposes,

M: Sweet thank you very much for listening. Feel free to steal Rory's ideas, and we'll get back to you in our next episode. Okay? Bye!

R: Bye!

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