Hello and welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast. My name is Anna and you're listening to Week 31, Day 3 of Your English Five a Day. The series that is deeply committed to improving your listening skills while expanding your active vocabulary. How do we do that? Well, we focus on five items of vocabulary every day of the working week from Monday to Friday. So, let's kick off today's list with the adjective enigmatic. Enigmatic. We spell this E N I G M A T I C. Enigmatic. Enigmatic describes something or someone as mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to understand. Some people, we just can't fully understand what they're thinking or their personality, they surprise us regularly and they say things and do things that we never thought they would do. And so you might describe that person as enigmatic. I've met a few people like that, mysterious. People that you just can't get to grips with. You don't know what's going on inside their head. Until obviously you spend a lot of time with them and you finally properly get to know them. Here's another example sentence,"The enigmatic smile of the Mona Lisa has captivated art enthusiasts for centuries." Next on the list is the verb renege. Renege. We spell this R E N E G E. Renege. To renege is to break a promise or an agreement. So, if I say to you,"I promise I will give you a lift to work on Friday." But then on Thursday night I say,"I'm sorry, I can't give you a lift to work tomorrow. I've changed my mind. I'm doing something else. I'm giving someone else a lift instead." Then I have just reneged. It's not very good to renege. It doesn't make you a very trustworthy person. Here is an example sentence,"The government reneged on its promise to provide healthcare for all citizens." Next on the list is the adjective dilapidated, dilapidated. We spell this D I L A P I D A T E D, dilapidated. If something is described as dilapidated, then it's in a state of disrepair or it's ruined or it's decaying. So, dilapidated, as far as I know, is only used when describing buildings or some form of property. So, a castle, an old castle might be dilapidated. I have a dream of buying a chateau in France, and there are many chateaus available to buy; many of them are dilapidated. So, they're in a very bad state. They are in a state of disrepair. Many of them are ruined, completely ruined and need a lot of time, money and care in order to bring them back to their former glory. So dilapidated. If you've been listening to my podcast for a long time, you'll know that at one point I lived in a property that was pretty much dilapidated. It was condemned by the council who said,"No one can live in this house. It's falling apart. It's terrible. It's dangerous. No one can live in this house because it might fall down and kill somebody." It was becoming dilapidated. It was not really fit for purpose. Okay, here's an example sentence,"The once-grand mansion now stood dilapidated, its paint peeling and its roof sagging." Next on the list, we have an adverb and it is instinctively. Instinctively. We spell this I N S T I N C T I V E L Y. Instinctively. Instinctively. If you do something instinctively then it means that you react or act based on your natural instinct, your intuition. You don't think about it. You just do. It's like your default reaction. You know, sometimes we stop and think before we act. That's not acting instinctively. And other times we just act. So, for example, if you are driving down the road and an animal runs out onto the road in front of you, instinctively most of us would swerve the car or slam on the brakes or both. Actually, you're not supposed to swerve the car. It's obviously very dangerous to suddenly swerve, you might hit a pedestrian or you might slam into another car, cause an accident, cause death or damage to property. So according to the Highway Code and the laws of the road, in this country anyway, you are supposed to just try and brake and avoid hitting the animal. But you should not swerve to avoid the animal. But instinctively, it's very hard to do that. You see something in front of you and your natural instinct is to move out of the way so you don't hit it. So, it's very difficult to override that natural instinct. Here's another example,"Lucy instinctively reached out to catch the falling vase. Her body moving faster than her mind could register the danger." I remember having an awful, awful experience once where I was sat up at the breakfast bar, which is like the island in the kitchen where we prepare food. And so I'm sat at the kitchen top on a stool and I've got a very sharp knife and I'm chopping fruit or vegetables. I can't remember. My eldest son who was about three and a half at the time was sat on a stool next to me and my partner was next to him. And he was, I don't know what he was doing, he was messing around or something and I'm chopping, chopping, chopping. And then out of the corner of my eye, I could see he pushed back and he was about to topple over and fall backwards off this stool and my instinct was to reach out and grab him. But I had a knife in my hand, and I turned the knife in towards myself as I reached out with the same hand that was holding the knife. But he's also quite a heavy boy, so as I went to reach for him, the corner of the breakfast bar caught the inside of my lower arm. And as I reached out to grab him at speed, the corner scraped all the skin up my arm and it was bruised very badly. It was quite bad. But because I hurt myself in the moment of going to grab him, I gasped,"Gasp!" Like that, and my partner thought that I'd stabbed him because I had the knife in my hand even though the knife was turned into me. It was all quite instinctive. You know, in hindsight, it was a very dangerous thing to do. It probably would have been safer to allow him to fall than to reach out and try to save him while I had a knife in my hand. But I didn't think, I just, you know, your child is falling, your instinct is to try and catch them. But my partner in that moment was furious with me because he thought I just stabbed our child. And the only reason I was gasping was because I'd severely hurt my arm in the act of trying to save Jacob. So in that moment, I acted instinctively and so did my partner when he turned around and yelled at me,"What have you done?" He was very cross, but he was acting instinctively as well. And in the end, everyone was fine. It was only my arm that was a casualty of that situation. What have you done instinctively? Did it have a good outcome? A positive outcome? Okay, moving on the last item on today's list is fathom. Fathom. This is a verb. Fathom. We spell this F A T H O M. Fathom. Fathom. This means to understand something thoroughly or to solve a puzzle or a mystery. You solve it, you comprehend it, you understand it. Now, interestingly, fathom is commonly used when you don't understand something. So, you might say,"I just can't fathom." or"He was not able to fathom something." So, it's more often used in the negative than it is the positive. So, for example, if you say to me,"Do you understand what I just told you? Do you understand all the instructions?" Then I'd say,"Yes, I understand." It would be odd for me to say,"Yes, I fathom." It doesn't really work that way. But if you say,"Why is this man behaving this way? I don't understand." And I say,"Yes, I've never been able to fathom his behaviour. I've never been able to fathom his behaviour." So it's more natural in common usage to use fathom in the negative than it is the positive. If you have seen an example or heard an example of fathom being used, in a positive way, then please share an example. Okay, here's an example,"I struggled to fathom the complex plot of the latest Stephen King novel. It's definitely different to all of his others." Okay, so that's our five for today. Some very interesting words. Let's do a quick recap. We started with enigmatic. Enigmatic. The adjective that describes someone or something that is mysterious or difficult to understand. Then we had the verb renege, renege, which means to go back on a promise or to break an agreement. Then we had the adjective dilapidated, dilapidated, which describes a building that is in a terrible state of disrepair. We had the adverb instinctively, instinctively, where you act without thinking. It's your natural instinct. Then we had the verb fathom, which means to understand something completely. Okay, so let's now do this for pronunciation. Listen very carefully and repeat after me. Enigmatic. Enigmatic. Renege. Renege. Dilapidated. Dilapidated. Instinctively. Instinctively. Fathom. Fathom. Very good. Okay, are you ready to have your memory tested? What verb means to go back on a promise? Renege. And if I was to describe someone as mysterious and difficult to understand, what adjective could I use? Enigmatic. Enigmatic. Now I'm standing in a building that is virtually falling apart. What adjective could I use to describe this building that's in such a terrible state? Dilapidated. Dilapidated. And if I act without thinking, what adverb could I use to describe this instinctive act? I'm acting instinctively. I did give you a bit of a clue there, didn't I? Okay, and the last item. What verb would I use to say that I completely understand something? Fathom. Yes. Very good. Alright, listen out for today's items in today's storytime. In the heart of America's Midwest, where the sun sets in a blaze of orange and gold, there lived a cowboy named Jack. He was a man of few words, but his actions spoke volumes. Jack was known for his enigmatic nature, a trait that often left people wondering what he was thinking. One day, as Jack was riding through the vast plains, he came across a small town called Fortune's Folly. The town was bustling with activity, and Jack decided to stop by for a drink at the local saloon. As he entered, he noticed a group of men huddled around a table, deep in conversation."What's the matter, boys?" Jack asked, instinctively taking a seat at the table."We've got a problem," one of the men replied, his voice filled with concern."There's a gang of outlaws terrorising the town, and we don't know what to do". Jack listened intently as the men explained the situation. It seemed that the outlaws had been reneging on their promises, causing chaos and fear among the townsfolk."I'll help you deal with these outlaws." The men looked at each other, surprised by Jack's offer. They had heard of his reputation as a skilled gunslinger, but they just couldn't fathom why he would be willing to step in and help them. Over the next few days, Jack worked tirelessly to gather information about the outlaws. He spoke to the townsfolk, listened to their stories, and pieced together a plan. Finally, the day arrived when Jack would confront the outlaws. He rode out to their hideout, a dilapidated old cabin on the outskirts of town. As he approached, he could hear the sound of laughter and the clinking of glasses. Jack dismounted his horse and walked towards the cabin, his hand resting on the handle of his revolver. He pushed open the door and stepped inside, the outlaws turning to face him."Well, well, well," one of the outlaws sneered."Look what the cat dragged in." Jack didn't respond. Instead, he drew his gun and fired, taking down the outlaw in a single shot. The others reached for their weapons, but Jack was too quick for them. In a matter of minutes, the outlaws lay lifeless on the floor, their reign of terror brought to an end. As Jack rode back into town, the people of Fortune's Folly cheered and waved. They were grateful for his help, and they knew that they could always count on Jack to protect them. From that day on, Jack became a legend in the Midwest. His puzzling nature only added to his mystique, and so, Jack the cowboy continued to roam the plains, his instinct guiding him to those who needed his help. Yee ha! And that brings us to the end of today's episode. If you enjoyed it, please do take a moment to leave a like, a rating or review. And if you know anyone who's learning English, then please feel free to recommend The English Like a Native Podcast. Until tomorrow, take very good care and goodbye.