Nora confused “deadline” and “dateline”, in yesterday's lesson. A “deadline” is a time before which you must finish a task. The word “dateline” usually refers to the imaginary line that separates different time zones, as in “International Dateline”。
Gary is writing an e-mail……
Gary： Sorry, Jane, I'm writing an e-mail. Can you help me with the spelling？
Jane： Sure.
Gary： How to spell purchase？
Jane： Pardon？ You should say “How do you spell？”
Gary： Oh, sorry. How do you spell purchase？
Jane： Purchase？ What does that mean？
Gary： Purchase…… You know…… I want to purchase some goods.
Jane： Ahhh！Purchase！
P……U……R……C……H……A……S……E.
Gary： Purchase, ah？ OK！
Gary： And how to spell…… sorry…… how do you spell character？
Jane： I'm sorry, Gary. What's a character？
Gary： Please send us a character reference.
Jane： Oh, Gary, you mean character. That's C……H……A……R……A……C……T……E……R.
Gary： Aiyou！
Gary： And what about Lavender？
Jane： Is that French？
Gary： I don't think so. Lavender Street is near Kallang. It's where I purchased my canary. I have a few pet birds, y'know.
Jane： I think you're trying to say Lavender Street, which is where you purchased your canary！ You're stressing the words in the wrong place. Let me show you something.
Jane： （She shows Gary the dictionary） Look at this dictionary……h(huán)ere's the word purchase…… the stressed part is underlined.
Gary： But what are all those funny symbols？
Jane： That's a code that tells you how to pronounce a word. If you only want to know where the stress is, you don't need to learn that.
Gary： Let me try one…… I never sure how to say calendar.
Jane： What？
Gary： The thing for seeing the date.
Jane： Ohhh！ OK, go on, have a look.
Gary： （Gary finds the word） Here…… ca……calen……no……calendar……calendar…… is that right？
Jane： Spot on！ Well done！
Gary： OK, last one…… how many alphabets are there in “Japan”？
Jane： Three, I think, but they're not really alphabets…… they're different systems of writing.
Gary： （puzzled） Eh？
Narrator： Gary had some problems with word stress today. Word stress is important because if you get it wrong, people might not understand you. So, where did he go wrong？
Gary： Purchase
Narrator： How should that be？
Gary： Purchase
Narrator： What else？
Gary： Character
Narrator： Again
Gary： Character
Narrator： What about the others？
Gary： Lavender…… Calendar…… Canary
Narrator： Again, with the right stress
Gary： Lavender…… Calendar…… Canary
Narrator： The best way to find out about the stress of a word is to use a good dictionary. Sometimes the stressed part is underlined and sometimes it is marked in bold or with an apostrophe.
Narrator： Finally, why do you think Gary was so puzzled when Jane told him there were 3 alphabets in Japan？ （pause） That's right…… an alphabet is a complete system of letters, so English has only one alphabet. This alphabet has 26 letters from A to Z. So the question Gary should have asked is：
Gary： How many letters are there in “Japan”？
Jane： There are 5.
Narrator： Anyway, that's all for today from HotDotCom. Don't forget to phone in tomorrow！
Gary is writing an e-mail……
Gary： Sorry, Jane, I'm writing an e-mail. Can you help me with the spelling？
Jane： Sure.
Gary： How to spell purchase？
Jane： Pardon？ You should say “How do you spell？”
Gary： Oh, sorry. How do you spell purchase？
Jane： Purchase？ What does that mean？
Gary： Purchase…… You know…… I want to purchase some goods.
Jane： Ahhh！Purchase！
P……U……R……C……H……A……S……E.
Gary： Purchase, ah？ OK！
Gary： And how to spell…… sorry…… how do you spell character？
Jane： I'm sorry, Gary. What's a character？
Gary： Please send us a character reference.
Jane： Oh, Gary, you mean character. That's C……H……A……R……A……C……T……E……R.
Gary： Aiyou！
Gary： And what about Lavender？
Jane： Is that French？
Gary： I don't think so. Lavender Street is near Kallang. It's where I purchased my canary. I have a few pet birds, y'know.
Jane： I think you're trying to say Lavender Street, which is where you purchased your canary！ You're stressing the words in the wrong place. Let me show you something.
Jane： （She shows Gary the dictionary） Look at this dictionary……h(huán)ere's the word purchase…… the stressed part is underlined.
Gary： But what are all those funny symbols？
Jane： That's a code that tells you how to pronounce a word. If you only want to know where the stress is, you don't need to learn that.
Gary： Let me try one…… I never sure how to say calendar.
Jane： What？
Gary： The thing for seeing the date.
Jane： Ohhh！ OK, go on, have a look.
Gary： （Gary finds the word） Here…… ca……calen……no……calendar……calendar…… is that right？
Jane： Spot on！ Well done！
Gary： OK, last one…… how many alphabets are there in “Japan”？
Jane： Three, I think, but they're not really alphabets…… they're different systems of writing.
Gary： （puzzled） Eh？
Narrator： Gary had some problems with word stress today. Word stress is important because if you get it wrong, people might not understand you. So, where did he go wrong？
Gary： Purchase
Narrator： How should that be？
Gary： Purchase
Narrator： What else？
Gary： Character
Narrator： Again
Gary： Character
Narrator： What about the others？
Gary： Lavender…… Calendar…… Canary
Narrator： Again, with the right stress
Gary： Lavender…… Calendar…… Canary
Narrator： The best way to find out about the stress of a word is to use a good dictionary. Sometimes the stressed part is underlined and sometimes it is marked in bold or with an apostrophe.
Narrator： Finally, why do you think Gary was so puzzled when Jane told him there were 3 alphabets in Japan？ （pause） That's right…… an alphabet is a complete system of letters, so English has only one alphabet. This alphabet has 26 letters from A to Z. So the question Gary should have asked is：
Gary： How many letters are there in “Japan”？
Jane： There are 5.
Narrator： Anyway, that's all for today from HotDotCom. Don't forget to phone in tomorrow！