Transcript of AEE 2714: Have You Learned English From a Beloved Teacher?

This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2714: Have You Learned English From a Beloved Teacher.

Welcome to the All Ears English podcast, downloaded more than 200 million times. Are you feeling stuck with your English? We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection, with your American hosts, Aubrey Carter, the IELTS quiz, and Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, USA.

Hello, Lindsay. How are you today?

Hello, Aubrey. Doing great. How are you? How's everything?

Excellent. Question here for you.

Okay.

Who is a celebrity that you would call beloved?

Oh my gosh. Who is a celebrity I would call beloved? That's a good question.

There are so many that are really polarizing, right? Some people love them, some people don't.

I know. I feel like someone, like a Tom Hanks or something. Someone is pretty neutral, pretty beloved just because he's such a good actor. He's been in so many good movies.

Yeah. And he seems like a good person. I haven't heard a ton of negative news about him. That's a good example.

Yes.

I was thinking about this word because when Dolly Parton passed, I saw a lot of news articles and I heard a couple of podcasts where people were calling her beloved. And it was interesting because I heard both pronunciations. Some people were like, "She was such a beloved character," and then others were like, "She was so beloved," or, "She was such a beloved person." I'm like, that's probably really confusing to English learners that they'll hear it pronounced both ways.

Probably to native speakers as well, honestly.

That too, right? Native speakers are also like, "How should I be saying this?"

So we're going to get into this today. I'm really looking forward to it. But first, we have to give thanks where thanks is due, which is to our listeners who left reviews, Aubrey. So today I want to call out a very special reviewer. The name is Jessie Shakir from France. Huge thank you to Jessie Shakir. And part of Jessie's review says, "I really appreciate the pace of the podcast, speaking fast enough and having to catch the meaning through connection." Love that. Such a nice review, Aubrey. What do you think?

I love when it's really specific like that too, especially, right? I can tell they really have listened to the podcast a lot when they get a takeaway like that.

For sure. So guys, if you want to hear your name announced on the show, go ahead and leave us a review wherever you listen, whether it's Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Leave us a review so we can know what you think about the show. And if you're listening in the iOS or Android app, leave your review as well. We also read those on the show. All right?

Yes, absolutely. We appreciate all of those reviews, all of the ratings. Not only do they help others find the show, but it is such a thank you note to us. So thank you, everyone who leaves a review.

Exactly. Exactly. Aubrey, let's get into it. So how do we even know? I mean, where should we start today with today's episode? Let's start from the start.

This is really interesting. So basically, the pronunciation of words that end in -ed can change depending on whether the word is an adjective or a verb with a regular past tense ending. So we're going to dive into some of these words today that you hear pronounced two different ways, right? Beloved is actually the exception of all the words we're going in today. There is no verb for beloved. This is interesting. The verb is love, loved, right? So we'll first kind of share about beloved, but then there are quite a few other words where, like, for example, learned and learned and aged, aged.

All right. I'm looking forward to this. So let's start with the first one, beloved, right? So this is an adjective meaning dearly loved or cherished by someone, right? Aubrey, what are some examples of this word?

You might say, "She was a beloved teacher," or, "The restaurant was a beloved local institution." But interestingly, it would be correct, right, Lindsay, to say, "She was a beloved teacher," or, "The restaurant was a beloved local institution." We hear this both ways pretty easily.

Yeah, I've heard it both ways. So is that okay, Aubrey, to say it both ways then? Is that our message?

Yes. At least in the United States. This one, it's kind of about regional dialect, but even like myself, for example, I say it both ways. Sometimes I'll find myself saying it as three syllables, sometimes as two, and I don't blink an eye, right? It's one of those like either/either. We go back and forth. We pronounce both, and neither is wrong.

Kind of depends on your mood and whatever you want to go with, right? You never know what's going to come out. Yeah. So just so our listeners are clear on the two options, right, let's maybe pronounce both options and show the difference really clearly, right? So what would be the first way to pronounce it, Aubrey?

Yeah. So the first is three syllables: beloved. She was a beloved teacher. And then as two syllables, also correct to say beloved. And that way you're pronouncing it more like the verb love in the past tense, right? And that's what's interesting is beloved is not a verb. The verb is love, loved. The students loved their teacher. You would never as a verb say the students beloved their teacher. We don't use this as a verb.

Yes. Really good. Okay. So two ways to pronounce it: beloved or beloved. But it's not true for every one of these adjectives, right?

Yeah. That's what's interesting here is some words where you hear them pronounced both ways, it is different if it's used as a verb or an adjective. So the next one we're going to dive into here is learned or learned. And how is it pronounced if it's a verb in past tense, Lindsay?

Okay. So this is very straightforward. He learned English last year, right?

Yeah. It's always two syllables if it's a verb, right? If the action of learning, I learned French, he learned English, that should always be pronounced actually one syllable. We're like running it all together. Learned, one syllable.

Learned, right? It's kind of one syllable.

I think I said two, but I meant one.

Yeah. But when do we add two syllables? When do we actually pronounce it, learn it?

So when it's an adjective describing a person as intelligent or well-educated, then we pronounce it learned, right? He is a learned professor. And this is rare, a little bit rare. We will more often say educated or intelligent, but you will hear it. Sometimes you'll hear someone described as learned.

You definitely hear it. Yeah. You could say, "She's one of the most learned experts in the field," for example. Yeah. Like you said, Aubrey, we could see this in literary commentary, kind of a more formal register, news articles. Exactly. You might hear it when someone is giving a speech about the person, right? Introducing them maybe.

Right. And this is where it's interesting. This is different from beloved and beloved, where these are more like it will sound wrong to someone if you are trying to use the verb and you say, "He learned English." No, that has to be one syllable.

Definitely don't do that.

No. And if you're using it as an adjective, it needs to be learned, right? If you said, "He is a learned professor," then it sounds like you're using that verb, that past participle, and you could be misunderstood.

Yeah. This is a good example today of an episode where you have to really know what you're doing in a way when you go and deploy these words, right? Differently in terms of the pronunciation. Let's go into the third one, Aubrey. What is it?

Okay. So this is aged or aged. So first as a verb, right? This is pronounced with one syllable when it means that something's become older, right? If it's used as a past participle, just like learned, it's going to be one syllable, aged.

Yeah. So for example, the wine was aged for 10 years, right?

Or he has aged considerably since I last saw him. Here it's used as a verb. It just means that it got older.

Yeah. I feel like we talk a lot about aged food when it comes to Europeans, like cheese, right? Wine, as you said, the finer things in life, Aubrey.

Exactly. This is a good thing for a lot of things to be aged. Wines and cheeses and things that get better over time.

Okay. What about two syllables? When would we want to deploy two syllables?

So when it's an adjective, that means old or elderly. That's when we would say it as two syllables. For example, she cares for her aged parents. We wouldn't say aged parents, right? It's actually even kind of hard to say. That's where we divide it into two syllables because it's no longer a verb. It's an adjective here.

Yeah. Or the portrait depicts an aged woman. Yeah. I feel like this is a bit less common. People might say elderly or older parents.

Exactly. Especially in spoken English, this is sort of being phased out. We rarely will hear this, maybe in audio, but like Dickens or something, we'll hear it this way. But in conversation, I would always say probably elderly instead.

For sure. For sure. Great to know, though. Yeah. It's less common, but important to know for our listeners. Yeah.

All right, Aubrey, we are back from break. Let's talk about blessed or blessed. All right.

I'm so curious with listeners. I want everyone to come and comment on YouTube. Have you heard these words pronounced both ways and been a little confused? I can imagine, right? Blessed isn't this one. I remember confusing me as a child because I would hear this word at church, and sometimes people would say blessed and sometimes blessed. And I remember not being sure which one to say.

Yeah. I could see both words being used in a church context. That makes sense. And I could see you as a kid like, "What?"

Like, "Wait, why?" I don't know. It's written the same. Why am I hearing this two ways?

All right. Let's clear it up today then, right? So for a verb, when it's pronounced as a verb, we're going to say one syllable, right? So what does that look like, Aubrey?

Yeah. Just like learned and aged, blessed, right? The priest blessed the congregation, or she blessed the meal. It's a verb here. This is an action to bless something.

Exactly. Exactly. But then when do we use blessed? When do we say two syllables?

Yeah. When it's an adjective, yeah, we pronounce it as two syllables. And here it would mean fortunate or grateful or some kind of divine favor if you're calling something blessed or someone blessed. And we do sometimes use this in everyday speech. It is a little more rare. It is often more associated with religion. But sometimes someone will use it literary as well, like the blessed day. At last, the blessed day had arrived. And that might be to describe like a wedding.

Right. I feel like with the two syllables, it's much more common in kind of like you said, maybe the Bible or literature, something written, something very traditional, right?

A sermon that's being given.

A sermon.

Yeah. That's where you hear it.

Maybe. But I feel like I also hear people say, "I feel blessed today. I feel blessed for what I have." Is that wrong then?

No, that's interesting because there you're using it as a past participle, right? It means the same as I have been blessed. I feel blessed. So yeah, that's a good point. It doesn't have to come. It doesn't matter really the location in the sentence. It really just matters more if it's a verb or an adjective.

Yeah. Interesting. All right. Let's break it down into a role play, Aubrey. So here we are childhood friends, and we're looking through our old photos.

Nice. I'll start us out. Look how young your parents are in these photos.

That's before my dad got his PhD. Neither of them knew at that point that he'd become a learned expert in astrophysics.

Oh, man. Yes. These photos have aged really well, actually. Look at this one of your grandparents.

True. This is when my grandpa was honored by the city for his community outreach. He was such a beloved figure in the community. Everyone loved him.

I bet you felt really blessed to have such an amazing family.

Oh, and that example came up right here in the role play. Perfect, right?

And it's interesting because I really tried to find a way to squeeze in blessed, and then it just never made sense because it's used so rarely in a conversation like this. I probably would have had to put us like at church or reading an older text or something, right? There are a few here. And like aged too, some of these are just used so much less in casual conversation.

It's so true. I mean, the first thing that comes to mind is the show Handmaid's Tale. So maybe.

Right. I say like blessed be the fruit. Yes, exactly. And it's intentionally like churchy sound.

It's used in the dialect there in everyday life, right? Because that's a different society where things had changed. But in our daily life, you're just unlikely to hear that between two people, at least I think in most subcultures within the US. Do you think so, Aubrey?

I definitely agree, right? Most conversations. That's why I could not squeeze it into the role play and have it sound normal. At least in the States, they're just not often in conversation.

All right. Let's go through it then in that case. So let's see. First, I said neither of them knew at that point he'd become a learned expert in astrophysics.

And this is interesting because more often in conversation, you would say like well-respected or well-educated, something like that. But sometimes we will say learned like this intentionally, maybe to be, I don't know, it's funny. I could see you saying this to kind of be like emphasizing and showing him respect sort of, right? Feel like he became a learned expert in this field.

It is kind of a big word. I mean, I don't know if that's partly because our culture really respects intellectualism, right? Or if that's just because of the word, I don't know. But it is like a big thing to say that in a way.

Yeah. Because it's interesting. It's not just about someone being intelligent. If you call someone learned, it means they have put in a lot of time to become educated. It doesn't have to be formal education. They could just be researching a ton in order to be called learned. So it's like you said, because we have such a high value on education, this does feel like a big compliment.

Yeah. Really interesting. And then you said, "Oh, these photos have aged really well, actually," right?

Yeah. And this just means they are still in good shape, good condition.

They have aged. They've gotten older, right? So aged. We're not using aged here. We're using aged, right, Aubrey?

Exactly. It's not an adjective, right? It's a verb. They have gotten older. They have aged well. So it's one syllable there. And then you said, you're talking about your grandpa. You said he was such a beloved figure in the community. And you could say beloved figure in the community. Both are correct. You'll hear, at least in the States, native speakers say both pretty interchangeably.

That's right. So that's the one, guys, where you have the option, right? You can go either way. So have fun with that. And then at the end, I said everyone loved him, right? So it's the same pronunciation in one case of beloved or loved, right?

Yeah. And that's what's interesting there. The verb is loved. So we drop the BE from the beginning of it. This is the one of all of today's. And that grammar helps you know that why this is the exception, because there is no verb beloved, then it makes sense that the pronunciation is different.

Exactly. And then at the end, I bet you felt really blessed to have such an amazing day, right? So just that one syllable.

Yeah. We wouldn't say blessed here because it's not an adjective, right? It's a verb. You felt blessed.

Yes. Exactly. All right. Good stuff today, Aubrey. What does this mean for connection for our listeners? This is a really high-level skill, by the way. These are tough words.

This is a high-level skill. Like you mentioned at the beginning, Lindsay, even native speakers are probably going to hear both pronunciations and not really know if it's one wrong or right. What should I be doing? Luckily, often the answer is both work great. Don't stress about it.

Yeah. Don't stress. Make sure you're connecting, not stressing, right? That's the key. Guys, going over to 2713. Take a crack at these English phrases and see what that episode is all about. And hit follow while you are out there exploring All Ears English. All right. Good stuff.

Awesome. Yes. Thanks, Lindsay. And you have a blessed day.

All right. You too, Aubrey. Have a good rest of your day.