Hello. I'm Margot Politis. Welcome to Study English, IELTS preparation.
Today we're going to listen to a weather report.
We're going to listen for numbers, and practise saying and spelling them.
Listen to the weather in Sydney.
Good morning. It looks like being another glorious summer day in Sydney.
Temperatures will range from a minimum of 16°C in Richmond and 17°C in the city,
with maximum temperatures reaching the high 20s, with 29 in Richmond and 27 in the city
by early afternoon. This summer promises to be the warmest since 1987. The average minimum
for this time of year is 15°C and the average maximum is 22°C.
Humidity will be high again today, ranging from 80-90% across the metropolitan area,
and possibly for the next 5 or 6 days.
Sunrise will be at 5.45 am and the sun will set at 7.43 pm. The next full moon will be
For those interested in fishing and surfing, windy conditions will prevail all day with
winds gusting from the southeast from 10-15 knots, then easing to 10-11 knots by late
afternoon. Swells along all Sydney beaches will range from 1 - 1.5 metres.
So counting and numbers are a very important part of language. You need them to talk about
how much things cost, what you earn, telephone numbers, visa cards, passports, addresses
Being able to listen for and understand numbers is an important academic skill.
There are some conventions you need to learn, and you'll need to do a lot of practice listening
Listen to these pairs of numbers:
13, 30
14, 40
15, 50
16, 60
17, 70
18, 80
19, 90
They sound very similar. You'll need to listen carefully so you don't get these mixed up.
Temperatures will range from a minimum of 16°C in Richmond and 17°C in the city.
Humidity will be high again today, ranging from 80-90% across the metropolitan area.
The temperature in Richmond is 16 degrees Celsius.
Did you hear these numbers correctly?
If you don't understand what someone's said, ask them to repeat, and stress the key syllable.
Did you say sixTEEN, or sixTY?
Usually the first syllable in a number is stressed.
16, 60
Notice that it is the final 'n' in teen that you have to be careful with.
But, of course, when you're listening for numbers, you can often work out the correct
amount by the context. Try to always be aware of what seems right, even if you didn't quite
Pronunciation of years can sometimes be difficult as well.
This summer promises to be the warmest since 1987.
Notice where the stress comes.
2040 twenty forty, or perhaps this will be read as two thousand and forty. I guess we'll
Notice 40 is spelt forty, not like four and fourteen.
OK, now let's look at temperatures.
Temperatures will range from a minimum of 16°C in Richmond and 17°C in the city,
Temperatures will range from 16 degrees Celsius.
We write that as 16 degrees Celsius, with a capital C. If it was in Fahrenheit, we'd
write 16 degrees Fahrenheit, with a capital F. But in Australia, we use Celsius.
So when giving a temperature range it is written 16-17°C, or 16 to 17°C.
These are both read out the same way. Notice that the 'to' is unstressed.
Now we're going to listen to a different weather report.
Look at it written, and see if you can work out what should be written in the blanks.
Here is the weather report for Sydney today, Tuesday 14th November.
The sun will rise at 5:15 and set at 6:45.
The minimum temperature for metropolitan Sydney will be 13, rising to a maximum of 30 degrees
Humidity today promises to be high at 70-80 per cent
OK, let's have a look at that.
The weather report for Sydney today, Tuesday the 14th November.
She said: Tuesday the 14th November.
The sun will rise at 5:15 and set at 6:45.
The minimum temperature for metropolitan Sydney will be 13, rising to a maximum of 30 degrees
Humidity today promises to be high, 70-80 per cent
Remember, pronouncing final consonants will help considerably in hearing and understanding
numbers. This is very important so that listeners understand what you say.
Listen to the pronunciation of numbers here.
Humidity will be high again today, ranging from 80-90% across the metropolitan area,
and possibly for the next 5 or 6 days.
By linking final consonants with the first vowels of the following word, your speech
5 or 6
7 and 8
9 or 10
OK. Now let's listen for some times:
Sunrise will be at 5.45 am and the sun will set at 7.43 pm. The next full moon will be
She says: Sunrise will be at 5:45 am.
Notice the way we say the time. We say the hour and then the minutes as a whole number,
and we add a.m. for morning, p.m. for afternoon.
But there are a number of different ways of saying the quarter hours.
Now let's listen to some more of the weather report.
For those interested in fishing and surfing, windy conditions will prevail all day with
winds gusting from the southeast from 10-15 knots, then easing to 10-11 knots by late
Notice that she says for those interested in fishing and swimming.
Interested here is a past participle, but it's used as an adjective.
English verbs have 2 sorts of participles, present and past.
So the regular verb to interest has interesting, interested.
When we want to say how we feel about something, we can use the past participle.
But when we're describing the qualities of a person or thing, we use the present participle.
A good way to remember these is to make sure you always write a table with the past and
You'll notice that the present participle usually ends in -ing, and the past participle
ends in -ed. But, of course, there are always irregular verbs to watch out for as well.
And that's all for Study English today. Hope you keep practising those interesting participles.