Living English - Episode 22 - Look after yourself

[Music]

Hello and welcome again to Living

English. Today we'll be looking at

writing personal letters and at some

very important words called

pronouns. But first, it's time for

today's episode of Sisters and

Brothers. Remember, the private

detective told Anne that her brother's

professor at the university had a letter

for her. In this episode, she meets the

professor.

[Music]

I'm sorry to hear your brother's gone

missing, Miss Lee. We're all so worried.

I've come to Adelaide to look for him.

How long did he study here? Uh, I'm not

sure.

uh two semesters. Did he get good

grades? I'm afraid not. I don't think

computer science was the right direction

for him. The investigator, Mr. Barber,

said you have a letter from David. Ah,

of course. Yes. Um, it's addressed to

you.

Uh, I told him I'd only give it to you

in person.

Dear

Anne, please don't look for me. I need

to be by

myself. I can't study

anymore. Tell mom and dad to forget

about me and take care of

themselves. You, too. Look after

yourself. I'm sorry. Love your brother,

David.

Him.

H. Who was David with? You'll have to

keep watching to find

out. Today, we're going to look at

letterw writing. We've looked at formal

letter writing before on Living English.

This time we'll look at personal letter

writing. First, let's look at how to

begin.

Dear

Anne, please don't look for me. Calling

someone dear is old-fashioned. We mostly

say dear to children, but we still use

it when starting a letter. Dear

Anne, this letter is not formal. David

is Anne's brother, so he writes, "Dear

Anne," and not, "Dear Ms."

Lee, how do you finish a personal

letter?

Listen. Look after

yourself. I'm

sorry. Love your brother David.

He writes, "Love your brother David." He

could have just written, "Love David."

Of course, you only use love with family

members or very close

friends. Now, let's listen to some more

of the letter. Please don't look for me.

I need to be by myself.

David uses the word

myself. The self words are called

reflexive

pronouns. To understand how to use them,

you need to know what a subject, an

object, and a personal pronoun are.

Personal pronouns are the words such as

I, he, she, we, you, and,

they. There are different ways of saying

these personal

pronouns. In this clip, listen carefully

to the words Anne uses for her brother.

I've come to Adelaide to look for him.

How long did he study here? She calls

her brother him and

he. Why does she use different pronouns

for the same

person? First, let's look at how she

uses him.

I've come to Adelaide to look for him.

Say, I've come to Adelaide to look for

him with an

I've come to Adelaide to look for him.

We don't say I've come to Adelaide to

look for he. We say

him. This is because Anne's brother is

the object of the sentence.

Let's have a closer look at a simple

sentence. She came to look for

him. Sentences usually have a subject

and an

object. In English sentences, most of

the time the subject of the sentence

comes

first. The subject in this sentence is

she. What has she done?

She came to look

for. The subject of a sentence is the

person or thing that does something or

performs the

action. She came to look

for. The object of a sentence is the

person or thing that is affected by the

action. She came to look for

him. Most pronouns have two forms.

One we use as the subject of a sentence

and the other we use as the

object. He is the subject. Him is the

object. He helped

him. She is the

subject. Her is the

object. She helped

her. I is the subject. Me is the object.

But I can't say I helped me. I have to

say I helped

myself. The self pronouns are used when

the subject and the object of the

sentence are the same

person. When we say he helped him, we

mean that one man he helped another man

him. But if I say I helped me, both I

and me must be the same person. So we

use the reflexive pronoun

myself. I helped

myself. Now you try using the other

reflexive

pronouns. He

himself. He helped himself.

You

yourself. You helped

yourself. We

ourselves. We helped

ourselves. They

themselves. They helped themselves.

Notice how ourselves and themselves are

plural because we and they are always

more than one

person. But you can be one person or

several people. So you can say you

helped yourself if you are talking to

one person or you helped yourselves if

you are talking to more than one

person. Listen to David again.

I need to be by myself. I need to be by

myself. Another way of saying this is I

need to be on my

own. David wants to be alone and not see

his

family. Now, see if you can remember and

say the pronoun used in the next clip.

Is it he or him?

I don't think computer science was the

right direction. I don't think computer

science was the right direction for him.

Him. Now say the pronoun in this clip.

How long

did How long did he study here? I've had

enough of being by myself. Here's

Michelle. Hello. Hello, Brenton. Hello,

everyone. What have you been talking

about? Pronouns.

All by yourself? Yes.

You need me to help you? What pronouns

can you use for me? Let's see. I can

call you you if I'm talking to

you. And I can call you she if I'm

talking to the

audience. Do you understand?

Yes.

Does she understand?

What's the pronoun for you and me?

We

What's the pronoun for the audience?

They remember that some of these

pronouns have different forms when they

are the object of a

sentence. What form of they is used as

the object, Michelle?

Then what about we?

Us. Now it's your turn to try some. We

like you to

watch. We like you to watch

us. My neighbors are noisy. What can I

do

about What can I do about

them? Now listen for the reflexive

pronoun in this clip.

Tell mom and dad to forget about me and

take care of themselves.

Tell mom and dad to take care of

themselves. Complete these sentences

with

me. Tell dad to take care

of Tell dad to take care of

himself. Tell mom to take care