Original subtitles

Today we're going to read a news article together and you're going to learn a lot of vocabulary,

grammar and even pronunciation naturally by reading this article with me. This is an article

in the very popular online magazine Time Out New York and this article is about one of

the most iconic buildings in New York and in the world. The Statue of Liberty. Welcome

back to JForrest English training, of course I'm Jennifer and this is your place to become

a fluent confident English speaker. Let's get started. To read this article, we need

to go onto my computer. So let's go on to my computer now and start the lesson. Welcome

to my computer. As you can see our famous landmark, the Statue of Liberty. So let's

begin our article. The title is "You can finally climb on top of the crown of the Statue of

Liberty again". Now just in case you don't know what the crown is, here's our Statue

of Liberty. So the crown is this top part right here. And of course it looks like what

a king, queen, any royalty, what they wear on their head and that is the crown. So you

could climb, climb up to the crown. That would be pretty cool, wouldn't it? Why was the Statue

of Liberty crown closed until now? Let's find out. Following a two and a half year closure

caused by the COVID 19 pandemic, the Crown portion of the Statue of Liberty has officially

reopened to the public this week. So let's look right here, two and a half year. Now

two and a half, a half is of course point five right, so two and a half. That is 2.5.

But why does it say year? And why doesn't it say years? That's because right here, two

and a half, this is an adjective two and a half year. This whole thing is describing

what type of closure it was, okay? And that's why year does not have a plural, because adjectives

don't have singular and plurals. This will make more sense if you look at it like, I

took a 30 day vacation. Okay, so notice here, I took a vacation. This is grammatically correct.

What type of vacation, a short vacation a long vacation a relaxing vacation. All of

those are adjectives but I can also use a time period as an adjective. I took a 30 day

vacation a 30 month vacation a 30 minute vacation compared to I took a vacation or 30 days.

Now here is our noun 30 days, which means to be singular or plural. If it were one day

obviously singular. 30 more than one so days. That is why you don't have an S here. I hear

this mistake a lot from students. What else? Oh, let's look at this re opened when you

add re in front of a verb it means to do it again. Okay, so I could say I re watched the

movie. I can't think of a movie name. I really watched the movie. So this means I watched

the movie again. I watched the movie again. So this is my verb. Watch is just in the past

simple and I'm adding rate. You can add a dash there or you don't have to. It's optional.

In terms of spelling. I see it more commonly without the dash but as you can see here in

the article, they do have a dash, but your boss might say, hey, Julio, can you redo the

report? Can you redo the report? He's asking you how to do it again. Can you redo the report?

So that's a very useful word to put in front of a verb notice the pronunciation re re redo

rewatch reopen, remake. If you've been trying to visit the destination since March of 2020,

though, you might have to wait a tad bit longer. Tickets to access the crowd are basically

sold out through October. Make sure to reserve your past for a future date. Right here. So

you can reserve your past if you'd like. Okay, notice here What verb tense is this? The present

perfect continuous have or has depending on the subject you have is just a contraction.

B E. So this is you have you have equals you as a contraction, then we have been and then

we have our verb in ING so that's the present perfect continuous and we use this for an

action that started in the past, but continues until now and we want to stress the continuation

of the action. That's the i n g. I've been trying to book my ticket since March since

2020 cents this morning. Now you could also say for two hours for two years for five days.

So when we have a period of time we use for and then we use sent with a specific date.

I like this one a tad bit a tad bit. This is a very natural vocabulary choice and it

means a little bit a little bit a tad. So you might say I was a tad late today, through

here. I was late today. How late were you? Just a little right so you could say I was

a little that's very common. You probably know it. Here's a new fun natural expression

that's very common. I was a tad late today. You need this article. Ah, you might say I'm

a tad tired today. So this is saying I'm a little tired or she's tired. hungry right

now. Right now she's a tad a little tad. Tad don't forget that article. Let's move on.

According to CNN, the National Park Service, which manages the landmark was attempting

to hold a soft reopening without too much advertisement in late October to celebrate

the 136th anniversary of the statues dedication in 1886. Okay, so here we have reopening again,

here we had re open. Now we're having re opening. So they're opening it again, opening it again.

Re opening I don't think there's anything else I want to teach you here. If you have

comments about any of this just put your comments in the chat and I will try to answer them

or record a future video. This is a good one. I hope you already use this in your vocabulary.

But according to someone or something. This is a very professional formal business vocabulary.

The CNN is a newspaper Media Group, so that is considered a something but you could have

a someone according to Brad, Brad, the reporter with The CNN according to Brad according to

my mom agreeing to my boss according to the news report, so it can be a someone or something.

Don't forget this too. And don't forget it's an i n g according to. Alas, folks got so

excited about the announcement that those in charge had no choice but to work on a full

fledged opening this month. You're probably wondering what this alas means. This is an

adverb. It's a little bit outdated. To be honest. I don't think you'll hear it that

often. But it is interesting. You might hear it in movies more so it's an advert to express

disappoint disappointment, basically disappointment. So I might say I wanted to go to the party.

But alas, I had to work. So here is the sentence is correct without it was not necessary. But

I had to work. I wanted to go to the party but I had to work. You don't know what my

tone is. And am I upset that I missed the party? Am I relieved that I missed the party?

If I add a last? You know, I'm upset because it's used to express disappointment. I want

it to go to the party. But alas, I had to work. Alas, alas But alas, I had to work.

We had to hire people to get them up to speed to effectively run Crown corporations. Gerri

Willis, a spokesperson for Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island said to

CNN, okay, we had to hire people when you hire someone, it means you bring them into

your company as an employee, as a worker, you give someone a job, right? So it's a very

useful verb. This is a verb to give someone a job to hire someone. Now, to get someone

up to speed to get someone up to speed. This is a great expression this means to get someone

up to speed okay? This means to give someone the information that they need to do the job

or do the task. So if you were just hired to manage a project, but the project was already

in progress, you need to know a lot of different things about that project. What is the timeline?

What's the budget who's doing what who is in charge of what what has already been accomplished?

So if I share all that information with you, I'm doing it because I want to bring you up

to speed. So this is the information you need to have. And this is the information you have.

So I want you to I want to bring you up to speed which means to make sure your knowledge

is where it needs to be. Now, this is very commonly used with two verbs to get someone

up to speed or to bring someone up to speed I think I use to bring someone up to speed

and some of my examples because that's the one I use more frequently. But I also here

get someone up to speed. Both of these verbs are acceptable and they both have the same

meaning. So this is an excellent expression. To bring to bring someone up to speed Okay,

to give someone the information they need to complete a task. Now that task might be

a job. It could be something more casual as well. Why was the Statue of Liberty crown

close? Great question. On March 16 2020, the National Park Service shuttered all operations

at the Statue of Liberty in reaction to the pandemic this is only used in a business context

the verb is to shutter and this means to permanently close to permanently close. So when a company

or a business permanently closes, you can say the board shuttered that company. The

board closed the company. The government shuttered that company. This could also be used in the

passive. The company was shuttered. But again, this is very specifically a business verb.

You won't use it outside of this context. Although portions of the monument started

welcoming visitors once more. The pedestal deck, for example, has been operating since

July of 2021. The crown itself remained closed. I don't think there's anything there I need

to teach you. Willis told CNN that a variety of factors contributed to the delayed reopening,

including state and federal pandemic restrictions and dealing with a record low hiring pool.

This is a useful expression. Low, record low. So of course you can have highs and lows.

So let's say the average low is about here. Let's use the weather so let's say in winter,

in your city, the temperature is 10 degrees Celsius. But and that's the average temperature

but then one year your city had a record low so it went down to five degrees Celsius or

three degrees Celsius. So that means it was a record it was a new accomplishment and note

worthy of that. So a record low means lower than average, lower than normally it is now

hiring pool. A hiring pool describes the amount of people available to be hired. And remember,

we already learned what that meant up here. When you hire someone, you give them a job.

So if I want to be hired, it means I want to receive a job. So to be hired. This is

when you receive a job, to be higher to receive a job to hire someone is to give someone a

job. These are two must know verbs and make sure you don't confuse them because I could

say, I was hired by the company. The company hired me. So passive I'm receiving the job.

Active the company is giving the job. And remember hiring pool is just the availability

of people able to be hired. So maybe there are 100 people in the hiring pool. 100 people.

But it could also be a million people. It could be five people. The number could be

any number at all. So we'll just say 500 people. How do I get to the Statue of Liberty crown?

Great question. Would be visitors need to buy tickets in advance, which include a round

trip ferry ride to Liberty Island and usually a pitstop at the Ellis Island National Museum

of Immigration as well. Certainly a must see in of itself. All right. There's some great

vocabulary here for travel vocabulary, round trip, round trip. So a round trip means you

go and you return a one way trip is you go that's it. So of course you need a round trip

because you need to come back. It's an island. You can't be stuck on the island, right? So

it makes sense that it's a round trip, but you might commonly purchase a one way ticket

to Spain, because you want to stay in Spain for a longer period of time or after that

you might go to another country, but you don't necessarily want to go to Spain and come back

if you do then that's our round trip. Ticket to Spain. Up hit stop. This is when you go

from destination A to B but you need to do something in the middle. So maybe I'm going

from my house to my office. But I need to make up pitstop at the bank and take out some

money or deposit some money or I need to make a pit stop at the grocery store and buy some

milk or I need to make a pit stop at the mall and buy a new pair of shoes. So you're going

from A to B but then you stopped somewhere before so a pit stop. Pit is an adjective

is just describing what type of stop a pit stop a temporary stop when going from point

A to B and is a temporary stop for a specific purpose, such as to buy milk or to purchase

something else or to drop something off the pastor's will also grant you access to

the Liberty National Monument, the pedestal and the crown of the monument. The Statue

of Liberty museum with its three interactive galleries and the grounds of Liberty Island

and Ellis Island. Once on premise, you will have to climb in stories. There's 215 stairs

to be precise, to reach the statues pedestal and another one 162 stairs to actually get

to the crown. In case you were wondering, there is an elevator but it peaks out the

pedestal portion of the monument. Needless to say the extra workout to climb all the

way to the top is absolutely worth it. All right. This is a Muslim expression right here

to be worth it. Do you see the verb to be? Is right here to be worth it. So you could

say climbing to the top is worth it. So this is our something. This is commonly used as

a gerund expression. Notice here climbing to the top I might say visiting the top that

that would be a good gerund verb visiting the top what happened to the rest of mine?

I don't know where the rest of the text went. Sorry about that. Visiting the top is worth

it. Seeing the top climbing to the top. So a gerund verb going to the top. Taking pictures

at the top is worth it. Now you could also say it is it it's worth it to climb to the

top. So you can absolutely see this and it's grammatically correct. We're starting with

our subject are ever worth it. And then to climb to the top this is grammatically correct.

This I would say is more common. So the exact translation would be climbing to the top is

worth it. And this gives you the chance to use a more advanced structure and use a gerund

verb and let's look at right here as well. Needless to say, this is all very advanced

expression it will help you sound professional. Needless to say. This is an expression that

means information isn't surprising. So it's expected. Needless to say the extra workout

to climb all the way to the top is absolutely worth it. So this is a way of saying climbing

to the top is worth it. But that's not surprising, right? Because let's look at the top. If you

came all the way to New York, and you visited the Statue of Liberty, why would you stay

down here at the bottom, when you can go to the top? Wouldn't it be worth it to go to

the top? Of course it would. Needless to say it's not surprising. It's expected that I

would say it's worth it. And of course you wouldn't do that right? I would totally want

to go to the top. In fact, I've been to New York many times. I've been to the Statue of

Liberty and I'm embarrassed to say I didn't even know you could go to the top. So I'm

a little bit embarrassed about that. And now I want to go to the top. What about you? Have

you seen the Statue of Liberty in person? Did you know you could go to the top? Okay,

needless to say, I might say let's say it's been a very, very busy week at work extremely

busy. Our record breaking busy week. Now I might say tomorrow is Friday and needless

to say, we all need a break. So it's Friday, which means it's the weekend. It's time for

you to relax and recover from the busy, busy busy week. And of course I'm saying we need

a break but that's expected it's obvious we need a break because we just had a very busy

week. Needless to say. Needless to say, I might even say something like needless to

say as a language learner, it's important to expand your vocabulary. So my sentences

as a language learner, it's important to expand your vocabulary, but I'm adding this expression

to let you know well this isn't very surprising is it? Do you know this expected needless

to say an excellent expression to add to your vocabulary. And that is the end of our article.

Amazing job today. Think of all the natural grammar, vocabulary and even pronunciation

that you learned in this very interactive way in this very natural way. If you found

this video helpful, please hit the like button, share it with your friends and of course subscribe.

And this is the first video I've created in this style. So please I love to hear your

feedback. Did you like this style of lesson did you find it useful? Is there anything

I can do to improve this style of lesson would you like to see more lessons like this in

the future? Share your feedback any feedback positive or negative in the comments below

so I can keep making the best content possible for you. And before you go, make sure you

head on over to my website JForrestEnglish.com and download your free speaking guide. In

this guide I shared six tips on how to speak English fluently and confidently and until

next time to be studying up