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Learn English
Australia Plus Learn English is a free service for anyone learning English and is produced by the ABC, Australia's national public broadcaster.
Recent Episodes
29 episodesTear and desert
Tear and desert
‘Tear’ and ‘desert’ are words that are pronounced differently to indicate their meaning. The noun tear, which is a drop o...
Gonna and Gotta
Gonna and Gotta
In informal English conversation, we often use shorter, versions of common word combinations.
One of the mos...
Practising contractions
Practising contractions
Pronouncing contractions can be tricky - let’s practise some:
‘I am’ becomes ‘I’m’.
I’m
...
Doubt or Question?
Doubt or Question?
Many English learners confuse the nouns ‘doubt’ and ‘question’.
A ‘question’ is something you ask when yo...
How to join a conversation
How to join a conversation
If you hear an interesting conversation, it’s a good idea to listen in and make sure it’s appropriate to join....
Carnivores, Herbivores and Omnivores
Carnivores, herbivores and omnivores
A ‘carnivore’ is a meat eating animal. It eats other animals.
‘The lion is a carnivore,...
'S' Sounds
The final ‘s’ sounds in words can be confusing as there are three different ways that we can pronounce ‘s’ endings. Listen to the following three word...
More Tongue twisters
More tongue twisters
Tongue twisters are an excellent way to practise your pronunciation. Listen to the following tongue twisters and fol...
Word Pairs
Word Pairs
‘Wine and dine’; means to entertain someone with food and drink - often with a motive in mind.
The only way to w...
Up
Up
‘Bring up’ means to take care of and educate a child.
Some people think it is better to bring up a child in a small country town...
Wander or Wonder?
Wander or Wonder?
To ‘wander’ is to walk around without a clear purpose.
An elephant wandered into the garden.
...
Advice or Advise?
Advice or advise?
‘Advice’ is the noun.
'You should follow your doctor’s advice.'
‘Advise’ is the verb.
'I advis...
Used to or Used for?
'Used to' or 'Used for'?
‘Used to’ refers to something that was true in the past.
'I used to ride to work every day, but I l...
Lend And Borrow
Lend and borrow
Borrow something [from someone]
Lend something [to someone]
Lend someone [something]
We use borr...
Friendship expressions
‘Stay in touch’ means to keep contact.
I will be leaving today to go camping and will be away for a month, but don’t worry I will stay in...
Loud Aloud Allowed
Loud / aloud / allowed
‘Loud’ is an adjective and means to make a lot of noise.
Turn the music down, it is so loud.
And it ca...
Starting A Conversation
Starting a conversation
To start a conversation in an informal social situation - like a party - it’s a good idea to find light, friendly...
Tongue twisters
Tongue twister
A tongue twister can be a fun way to practice the different sounds of English. Try these tongue twisters, how well can you...
Get
Get
We the verb 'to get' in many different ways. Here are some of the more common usages.
'Get' meaning to acquire or come...
Syllable Stress
Syllable stress
A syllable is a word, or part of a word, which contains a single vowel sound. Every word contains at least one syllable,...
Keeping A Conversation Going
Keeping a conversation going
To keep a conversation going it is important to show you are listening and want the conversation to continue...
Past Continuous
Past continuous
You use the past continuous tense to talk about something that occurred in the past.
Past continuous tense i...
Asking For Advice
Asking for advice.
There are many ways to ask for advice, here are some of the more common ones:
What do you think I should...
Concern And Sympathy
Concern and Sympathy
There are many ways we can express concern and sympathy.
We could say:
‘That’s terrible.’...
Debate And Discussion
Debate and discussion
A discussion is a detailed conversation.
‘We had a long discussion about which school I should go to n...
Similar sounds
English has a large number of similar sounds with only very small minor variations.
Today, we are going to practise two similar vowel sou...
Certainty and Uncertainty
Certainty and uncertainty
‘Certainty’ is the firm belief that something is true.
‘Do you think it will rain today?’
‘I...
Pronunciation of 'ed' sounds
Ed
Regular verbs in the simple past end in ‘ed’. There are three ways that we can pronounce a word that ends in ‘ed’
Can you...
Complimenting food
Complimenting food
There are a number of ways that we can compliment food, or the person that prepared the food.
Here are so...