Englishing Around

Casey and Artёm are joined by Casey's countryman, Drake Luongo, for a fireside chat on the world of teaching English. Are we cultural ambassadors? Is there a difference in business etiquette between American and Post-Soviet companies? What do you do with bad students? And much more.

Artёm and Casey talk about English's penchant for articles: a/an and the. What are the rules behind them? Is it necessary to use them? What different situations do they describe?

Casey and Artёm chat about why we say sentences like "this is me" and not "this is I", and explore related areas. Bernie Sanders is referenced.

Artёm and Casey give their thoughts on a myriad of ways that English people deal with and express "if" conditions. They tackle pretty much everything under the sun.

Casey and Artёm continue their discussion on commas, which morphs into a somewhat heated and confusing discussion on sentence-initial so, whether commas indicate a pause, and more.

Casey and Artёm discuss a string of biases in the world of language learning that can leave learners discouraged, but shouldn't.

Artёm and Casey have a look through sections of Michael Swan's book Practical English Usage where he talks about commas, and find out where they stand. They also pontificate on cross-language differences, pauses, and the oxford comma. Music: The Sound Spa

Casey and Artёm discuss the subtle flavors of English's present continuous tense. Topics include: whether there's a difference between "he looks good" and "he's looking good", why people say "I'm being serious", the curious case of Patreon, and much more. Music: The Sound Spa

Artёm and Casey have a winding discussion about the ubiquitous schwa sound in English. Some disagreements ensue. Music: The Sound Spa

Casey and Artёm react to a clip from Ben Shapiro about the English language in rap music. In the rambling conversation that ensues, they ponder: is it ok to put prepositions at the end of sentences? Why is "mumble rap" a trend these days? Is this a good thing? And much more. Music: The Sound Spa

Artёm and Casey discuss two tenses that are a source of much tension in the world of English learning - the past simple and the present perfect. What's really going on here? How do Americans use these tenses compared to Brits? Is it a mistake if you say "I just ate lunch" instead of "I've just eaten lunch" (spoiler alert: it's not)? Music: The Sound Spa

Artёm and Casey talk about how English loves to turn nouns into verbs (e.g. "send me a message" becomes "message me"). Is it grammatically ok? How weird can it get? Music: The Sound Spa

Casey gives his Top 5 reasons why focusing on pronunciation will help you in your journey through learning a foreign language (probably English...), and Artёm responds. Music: The Sound Spa

Casey and Artёm talk about how English loves to turn verbs into nouns (e.g. "call me" becomes "give me a call"), with a variety of examples. How can English learners understand what's going on here? How can you use this to your advantage? Music: The Sound Spa