Speaking English – How to talk about borrowing, lending, and property

• published: 16 Sep 2015
• views: 357

In English there are many ways to talk about the things we have. We use words like borrow, lend, supply, rent, lease, and many more. In today's lesson, I'll show you when to use these words and teach you many others words you can use in daily conversation. As always, I'm going to show you the vocabulary in use, so that you hear how native speakers talk. You'll also learn several expressions that have to do with ownership. Take a quiz on this lesson here: http://www.engvid.com/speaking-english-borrowing-lending-property/ TRANSCRIPT Hi. James from engVid. I've noticed a lot of people have a problem using "borrow" or "lend". In fact, sometimes I found it difficult to teach it to people. But today's lesson, I'm going to try to simplify it and make it easy. Now, there's probably one or two lessons on borrow and lend on engVid already, so please feel free to check them out. I just try to simplify it, and give you a couple of phrases or expressions, general expressions you can use. So let's go to the board. As you can see, I've got some money, and E is trying to... Oh, is he trying to borrow or lend? Let's go find out. Okay? So, Mr. E says: "Can I borrow $5?" And the other worm, I don't know who this is, says: "I don't have that on my person." When someone says that, it means: "I don't have it with me." Look underneath here, it says: "Neither a borrower nor a lender be". Well, what does that mean? Okay? We want to do a lesson on borrow and lend, correct? And look here, "borrow", "lend". Today I'm going to give you something that'll help you remember it easily, what the difference between the two are so you can use them properly. And then we're going to learn some other words that are similar. Yeah, synonyms, because I think as... If you understand one thing properly, we can teach you many other things, so the lesson can just grow and grow. And you're smart, so let's get started. All right? E talk to me. Well, what's the difference? We have "having", "giving", "receiving", and "miscellaneous". These are the four legs of our table. All right? Every table has four legs, and when people exchange things, or give, or receive, it's going to be one of these four legs we're talking about. Let's talk about the first leg: "having". You can't give if you don't have. Right? So, we'll start with "having". People, we'll start with a noun. So what are nouns for "people"? "Owners". When you own something, it belongs to you or it is yours. Okay? I own my body, I own this pen, and this jacket. They are mine. Okay? I'm an owner. Now, when you have a house and you have paid for the house, you become a "landlord" or a "landlady". Lady, me lady. Right? And the lord, you are the lord of the manner. You own your own home. Mwahahahahahaha. Yes. A "landlord" is when you go someplace, you need a place to stay but you cannot buy a house, you will pay these people on a monthly basis, and they will give you a place to stay. And they're called "land owners". You will generally say, if it's a man: "My landlord wants the rent today." Or, if it's a woman, you'll say: "The landlady wants the rent", because they own the land that you live on. Okay? And this goes back a long time ago to kings and queens when they owned everything, and they were called the lords and the ladies of the land. Now, "proprietor". Can you say that again? "Proprietor", "proprietor". This is the formal word for an owner. This is usually used for a business. Okay? So you might own a bicycle or a motorcycle or something, but you're not the proprietor. When you talk about proprietors, think about restaurants and stores. Okay? It's the formal word for "owner", and it's used for those people. So if you come to McDonald's, you go: "Who's the proprietor?" Ronald McDonald will come out and go: "Hi. Hi. Here's my friends." He's not the proprietor; he's just a cartoon guy. But the person who owns the business is the proprietor of it. Think restaurant, bar, store. "Owner" can be for a home or of a marker. I own a marker. I am not the proprietor. Okay? Landlord, landlady, they own the land which you are a "tenant" or a "renter". Let's go on to "having" for things. Now, for these are the people owned, what do we call things that we own? Well, "property". Property is something that belongs to you. We also use "property" for land: "This is my property." It means my house has this much land, and I own all of it; it's all mine. My property. But something small, such as a pen, a watch, my shoes-you can't see them, I just lifted my leg up-my shoes, they're my property. Okay? They belong to me. "Possessions" is the same thing. "To possess" means to take on. If you're possessed by a demon, it controls you. So when you have something in your possession, you have control over it or it belongs to you. It can be either one.