Key Vocabulary

So First some basic vocabulary things that we’ll need to know for this.

Lesson number one.

Chores chores are the things we usually do around the house could be in the House could be outside of the house.

This might include mowing the lawn.

It might include dusting.

It might include taking out the garbage we say garbage in America instead of rubbish which is what people in the UK will say and many other parts of the world.

So these kinds of things around the house we call chores.

When I was a little boy every Sunday I had to dust the house that was my job.

I had to dust the house I had to go around with a rag and some special cleaner and clean all the surfaces in the House to make sure everything looked shiny and nice and new.

That was my Sunday chore and I had other chores as well like feeding my cat and taking out the cat litter sometimes taking out the garbage.

This kind of thing.

Its chores errands then are a little different.

What’s an Aaron.

Well Aaron is a little bit more difficult to explain but it’s kind of similar to chores.

It’s something we have to do.

It’s something we have to do.

Usually it’s not something we do for fun.

We don’t dust the house for fun.

We go out to do it.

That means we don’t stay home.

It’s kind of like a chore but outside and we’re usually doing it pretty quickly pretty quickly.

It’s not something that takes two or three hours.

The best way to really get a feel for this would be some very quick examples and what errands are not OK.

Well going to the dentist is something we have to do.

But that might take an hour or two hours.

Is that a an errand.

No.

Usually going to the dentist is not an errand not an errand.

What about going shopping you might need to buy something I don’t know what I need to buy but I need to buy something maybe a jacket I go to a shop and look around.

No.

Usually when we run an errand and we often put run in front of an errand we could also say do an errand.

We have it in our mind what we’re going to do before we leave home.

So it’s in mind I’m going to go to the supermarket to buy some tomatoes.

So we go out we go to the supermarket we buy some tomatoes and we come back.

If we just say oh I might go hang out at the shopping center and maybe I’ll buy some thing I need.

Probably not an errand.

What about staying at home and paying your phone bill something you need to do.

Well no because that is not going out.

You have to go out to run an errand.

OK how about having a quick lunch with maybe a colleague.

I have to meet them.

Have to have a quick lunch.

Only 30 minutes.

No because it’s it’s a social thing.

It’s still a social thing and social things are not usually considered errands so things like maybe dropping off books get something repaired buy maybe food like groceries and maybe make an appointment at the at the dentist’s office.

Make an appointment go to the dentist and you say I’d like to make an appointment.

That kind of thing can be considered an errand.

OK we’ll talk about that more later in the class.

Housework is often the same as chores housework is only in the home usually chores can be a little bit more general strewn is when things are all over the place and we often use strewn when we’re talking about clothes we have clothes strewn around the house they’re all over the house they’re all messed up and we need to probably clean them up so we use strewn to describe this sort of messy or chaotic chaotic feeling detergent.

Now we’re gonna talk a little about laundry detergent is the main soap that we use for usually laundry for this one which is washing clothes when you wash clothes you say you’re doing laundry What are you doing laundry.

I need to do laundry today.

We don’t usually say I need to wash my clothes.

We usually say I need to do laundry.

It’s a chore.

It’s a kind of housework.

Is it an errand.

No.

Buying detergent at the supermarket would be an errand because you say to yourself I need detergent.

Go out you buy it come back.

That’s an error in doing the laundry at home.

That is a chore that is housework.

And then softener is something that you put in to the washing machine with the detergent to make the clothes softer.

So they usually go together.

They work together.

When you do laundry you use detergent and fabric softener.

So these are just some keywords.

I want you to keep in mind.

And again we’ll go through some specific examples later on in the lesson.