Today’s use of the “as + adjective + as” grammatical pattern is merely a colloquial way of expressing the term “although.” We often use this pattern to first acknowledge a condition, state or quality of a particular thing, place, person or situation, but then follow this acknowledgment with a negation of some sort.

For example, in today’s lesson Isaac said, “As cool or scary as having a wonder chip in your head may sound, current science can’t live up to the hype.” Here he could have also said, “although having a wonder chip in your head may sound cool or scary, current science can’t live up to the hype.“

Here is the pattern: As + adjective + as + something + is/may sound/seem, subject + verb.

Example: As wonderful as that is, I still can’t afford it.

In today‘s dialogue, we have “equipped with little more than a notebook” and “deemed a crusader.” “Equipped” and “deemed” are both past participles which modify “she” (Jane Goodall). And these two sentences are both participle clauses.

Participle clauses enable us to give information about the subject in a shorter way. For example, instead of saying, “He was angered by her comments, so he left the room,” one could say, “Angered by her comments, he left the room.” The participle clause “Angered by her comments” allows us to remove the conjunction. It also makes the sentence more dramatic.

We can use participle clauses when the participle and the verb in the main clause have the same subject. For example, Equipped with nothing, she went on the adventure. (Although she was equipped with nothing, she went on the adventure)

Participle clauses do not have a specific tense. The tense is indicated by the verb in the main clause.

Participle clauses are mainly used in written texts, particularly in a literary, academic or journalistic style.

Words like “despite” and its close cousin “in spite of” are used to link surprising or seemingly unrelated ideas.

Both can be followed by nouns or pronouns. We tend only to place gerunds after “despite,” an example of which we can see in today’s monologue: “Despite being the fashion capital of the world, Parisians prefer to be chic and sophisticated rather than flashy or extravagant.”

The fact that “despite” can be followed by a noun or a gerund is what separates it from the words “although” or “even though.” Those phrases can only be followed by clauses.

The phrase “to earn a/its reputation” means to become well-known for something. For instance, in today‘s lesson dialogue, we learned that Jane Eyre quickly earned its reputation as a ‘naughty book’.

The phrase can be followed by: 1. as + a + noun; 2. for being + a + noun; 3. for being + the + superlative adjective + noun. For example, “The company earned a reputation for being the best publishing company in the area.”

If you look in the dictionary, you will see that “albeit” is a synonym for “although.” While they are similar in meaning, they can‘t be used interchangeably. They are similar in that they both introduce information that conflicts with other information, whether in the same sentence or in wider context. They are dissimilar in that “albeit” cannot be used to introduce an independent clause, whereas “although” can.

The idiom “to walk the line between A and B” means to maintain a balance between two contrasting things, such as two opposing styles. For example, in today’s dialogue, the speaker said that Princess Diana had the “ability to walk the line between elegant and risqué,” meaning that she was able to balance the two styles. However, this idiom can be used to describe a number of things, including opposing choices, opinions, feelings, or genres.

“Literally” is a word that annoys a lot of people in English. Or rather, it’s not the word itself, but the usage that makes people angry.

The literal meaning of literally is just that, “in a literal manner” or “exactly.” However, often people use “literally” to emphasize something, as in “I haven’t seen you in a million years, literally!” Unless both of those people are millions of years old, it can’t be literally true. It can, however be figuratively true.

Sometimes, owing to the nature of language, we encounter situations where a figure of speech can also be literally true. I could “run into someone” if I accidentally came around a corner too fast and crashed into them.

Today, we were able to use the phrase “sticking together” in this way. LEGO has “stuck together” as a company for a long time. It also happens to be a company that makes plastic bricks that can stick together.

In today’s lesson, we saw the phrasal verbs “play to” and “play on” in regards to someone’s emotions or feelings. Both phrasal verbs are often used to describe behavior that is manipulative, dishonest or having an ulterior motive.

“Play to” means that someone is trying to get the attention of or gratify someone or someone’s feelings.

Imagine an orchestra “playing to” an audience. The orchestra’s goal is to impress the specific people watching. That’s the sense of “play to.“

“Play on” is like “play to” but with an additional nuance: The goal is usually to gain an advantage or evoke a response. In this lesson, it refers to the way advertisements take advantage of people’s emotions, fears or insecurities in order to increase their sales.

And yet there’s another phrase: “play with.” It’s just like “play on” except it conveys a general disregard for a

person’s feelings, not necessarily to evoke a response or gain an advantage. Imagine a child playing with a toy: There’s no intention except to enjoy the toy. For that reason, “play with” has a synonym: “toy with.” For example: He’s toying with my feelings.

Although Latin is an ancient language, it is still used by people all around the world. The word “ergo” in today’s lesson is an example.

“Ergo” is basically another way to say “therefore,” so you can use them interchangeably.

Or, another great way to use “ergo” is when you are presenting an argument with several parts. This doesn’t have to be a complex argument: Just one where you want to make sure someone can follow your logical path. For example: A, therefore B. B, ergo C.

“To iron out the kinks” is an idiom that means to fix or solve the small problems or flaws. It’s frequently used

for technology, business or projects. Simply put, a “kink” is a small twist or bend in something that should be

straight, like a pipe. Thus, metaphorically, “kinks” refer to problems that are typically small and can be fixed or

“ironed out.“

There are several variations of this idiom:

•work out the kinks
•fix the kinks
•smooth out the kinks