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You are listening to the English Like a Native podcast, a learning resource for intermediate and advanced English learners. This particular episode is part of a series called your English Fiver Day, which aims to introduce five new pieces of vocabulary each day of the week. Hello there, welcome to another English Like a Native podcast. This is your English Fiver Day, episode 3.2. Right, we're going to be looking at some car vocabulary today and we're going to start with a less commonly known noun, and it is chevron. Chevron, the spelling is C-H-E-V-R-O-N. Chevron.

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A chevron is a V or upside down V shape that indicates a severe bend in the road. So this is usually a set of V shapes that are on a sign. Chevrons can also be seen on people's uniform badges to indicate rank, but in this case we're talking about road signs. Now, I've just had a little spider. It's on me, a little spider dropped down right in front of my nose as I'm recording. So bear with me, I'm just going to relocate him out of the window. Come on, little spider, you can go outside. No, outside, there we go. The spider has been evicted, right? So chevrons they indicate severe bends in the road normally. Here's an example sentence oh, I didn't see the chevron markings. Until it was too late, my car slid off the road and into the ditch below.

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Number two on the list is the verb accelerate Accelerate If you accelerate, then it means you go faster. So you have an accelerator, which is your pedal, your go pedal in your car, and when you press down on the accelerator you will accelerate. Here's an example sentence I had to accelerate to get out of the car park before the barrier came down on my roof. Oh, that would be scary, wouldn't it? Do you ever accelerate through an open barrier, nervous that it might come down on you? I certainly have in the past. I wonder if they have a sensor that can sense when you're no longer, you know, obstructing the barrier area and that's when the barrier comes down, or if, in some cases, the barrier is timed.

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Anyway, moving on, we have a noun, and it is driving force. This basically means that you have a strong influence in making something happen. So the driving force of something is very strong and very powerful. It makes things happen, the driving force. Here's an example sentence the transport minister is, without a doubt, the driving force behind the implementation of new road safety laws. Have you ever been the driving force behind something.

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Next, we have an idiom, and it is hell for leather. When this comes together, we have hell for leather. Four becomes for hell for leather. You usually go hell for leather and this means that you go as fast as possible or like extremely fast. So if you are driving nicely along the road maybe it's a motorway and you're going at a steady 65 miles an hour, and then someone zoomers past you Whoa, he was going hell for leather, he's going very fast. Here's an example sentence the taxi drove hell for leather to get to the airport on time. We only just made it.

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The final word on our list is an adjective, and it is carless Carless. Can you guess what carless could possibly mean? It means you are without a car, you are carless. So if you have the name Carlos I have a number of students called Carlos If you are Carlos and you don't have a car, then you could say I'm carless Carlos, I'm carless Carlos. Anyway, here's an example sentence. I'm not sure I can do the school runs next week as I'm carless. It's still in the garage being repaired, right?

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So there were our five words for today. Let's hear them again. Number one was a noun Chevron. What was this? A Chevron. Chevron is a V shape that indicates a severe bend in the road, a very tight corner. Next on the list was the verb to accelerate, meaning to suddenly go faster. Next is the noun driving force To be. The driving force is to be the strong influence that makes something happen. Next was the idiom health leather, which means to go as fast as possible or to just go really, really fast. And we finished with the adjective carless, not to be mistaken for the name, carlos Carlos, you are without a car. Carless, notice that schwa at the end. Carlos Carlos, right, let's bring it all together in a story.

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You wouldn't expect a new vehicle to break down within a month of having it, but that's what happened to me. I had just pulled out of the car park on my way to drop the kids at school when my car slowly rolled to a complete stop. I tried to accelerate, but nothing happened. The engine wouldn't restart and the wheels had locked, so I couldn't even move the car off the main road. The Chevron markings indicated a sharp bend, so I was worried someone would come whizzing around the corner and not see me there. I quickly text a few friends who live nearby to see who could help Paula, the driving force behind our community group, was first to respond. She gave me the name of a local garage so that when the recovery truck arrived, I could ask the car to be taken straight there.

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The next problem was how do I get the kids to school now that I'm carless? Luckily, my husband came to the rescue Whilst I waited for the recovery truck to arrive. My husband had to drive hell for leather to get the girls to school on time. Three weeks later and I'm still waiting to get my car back. What a nightmare. And there we go. That finishes episode 3.2. I do hope you found today useful. Don't forget to leave a rating or review, or consider becoming a plus member to support this podcast. Until next time, I do hope you have a wonderful day, take care and goodbye.