Podcast: Either one or the other

Podcast Inglês Online

How’s it going? No podcast Inglês Online de hoje eu falo sobre algumas formas comuns de usar a palavra ‘Either’.

Transcrição

Hello, everyone, how are you doing? This is Ana Luiza with another episode of our Inglês Online Podcast. And today we have a quick episode. I want to get right into it. It’s something that is really, really useful and very common in the language and the reason I want to focus on it… Ok, so let me tell you what I am talking about: I’m talking about the word “either”. Either, which is also pronounced ‘AITHER’ and sometimes E-I-T-H-E-R.

Ok, and the reason I want to focus on the word either is that it is really common in the language. People use it all the time; it’s a really good word. It’s not difficult and if you’ve done English classes before, if you’ve gone to English school and if you’ve gone as far as… I don’t know, maybe pre-intermediate or definitely intermediate, either is there. It’s there in your books, but that doesn’t mean that students come out of English school being fluent on how to use either, ok?… I’ll be honest with you… This is a word that even Brazilians who have gone a bit far, you know, in English schools with classes… They are not using this word naturally, and I think everyone should. So, that’s why I’m focusing today on a couple of different ways that we use either… Really, really common ways. So, I’m not going through all the possibilities with the word either, but just on a couple of really common ways that we use either every day in the English language, ok?

Listen up!

First one: your friend says… I like dogs. And you say: I like dogs too. You know, we both like dogs, you like dogs, I like dogs too… And then your other friend says: I don’t like cats. And you know what? You don’t like cats either, so you say: I don’t like cats either. So, what’s the difference there? I like dogs, I like dogs too. I don’t like cats, I don’t like cats either. When you are being positive, when you are saying that you do something or that you are something or that you like something, and you are going to agree with that person, you use ‘too’. Now, when the person is saying that they are not something or they are not doing something or they didn’t do something or they didn’t like something and you are going to agree with them, you use ‘either’. And obviously, again, you can say ‘AITHER’. It’s just that ‘EITHER’… It’s the way that I say it.

Let’s have a look at this. I don’t like cucumbers. Oh… my friend Mary doesn’t like cucumbers either. You know, my cousin Tony, he can’t sing. Oh… I can’t sing either. My friend Tina… She doesn’t like cooking in the afternoon. I don’t know why, but she doesn’t like cooking in the afternoon… she only cooks in the morning and at night. Yeah, she doesn’t like cooking in the afternoon. She watches TV all afternoon. Oh… that’s a coincidence, I don’t like cooking in the afternoon either, ok? You know my neighbour Candace? She doesn’t like the colour green. Oh… What do you know? I don’t like the color green either. Well… you know, my dad. He doesn’t like to work sitting down. He only works standing up. He doesn’t like to work sitting down. Huh… Wow, what a coincidence, I don’t like to work sitting down either, cool? So, someone doesn’t like cucumbers, I don’t like cucumbers either. Another person can’t sing, oh… I can’t sing either. Someone else doesn’t like cooking in the afternoon. Wow, I don’t like cooking in the afternoon either. That person doesn’t like the colour green. I don’t like the colour green either. So and so doesn’t like to work sitting down. I don’t like to work sitting down either. Are we cool? Cool!

Moving on.

Ok, here’s the other way, you guys. This is so common. So let’s say you only have a choice of two things, ok? You only have two alternatives for whatever, ok? Whatever. Let’s say you are going to a costume party and your friend fixed you up with a costume for the costume party, and you have two choices of colours, let’s say… You can go either with the pink outfit or you can choose the yellow outfit, and you tell your friend: Does it have to be pink or yellow? Can I go with the blue outfit? And your friend says: You know what, it’s either pink or yellow. What does that mean? That means that you only have two alternatives. It’s only two choices, ok? It’s either pink or yellow. There isn’t a blue outfit available, there isn’t a black outfit available, there isn’t a white outfit available… You have two choices: it’s either pink or yellow – that is it.

Ok, usually when we go to school… If you are a teenager and you are going to school… You have to pick a language. In some schools, that’s how it works. I remember when I went to school – it was either French or English, ok? Either French or English. There was no Spanish, no German, no nothing. We had to choose between French or English. It was either French or English, you guys, it was either one or the other.

Let’s go back to the initial… the first example I gave at the beginning with the pink outfit and the yellow outfit. There’s no other choice, it’s either pink or yellow. It’s either one or the other. That is it.

I hope you guys enjoyed it, I hope this is useful and speak to you next time.

Key expressions

• I don’t like something either
• Either… or…

Vocabulary

cucumbers = pepinos

work sitting down = trabalhar sentado

work standing up = trabalhar em pé

costume party = festa a fantasia, baile de máscaras

your friend fixed you up with a costume = seu amigo conseguiu/arranjou/descolou uma fantasia/traje

outfit = roupa, traje, conjunto

Listen up! = ouça com atenção

you have to pick a language = você tem que escolher um idioma

What do you know? = Olha só… E não é que…?

You know what? = Quer saber?