English Teacher John ETJ Show 42: past perfect; telling stories out of sequence (non-chronological order); IDIOMS: run into s.o., catch up with s.o., make it (= show up) Lyrics

Hey, we haven't had a grammar lesson in ohhhh sooooooooooooooooooo
looooooooonnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggggggg. Yep, it's the English teacher John show number 42,
it's right now, and it's for you. So let's get going.
Welcome to today's show. My name is John and I am the host of the English Teacher John Show.
Let's have a quick look at the index for today's show.
We will have three segments:
1. In our FIRST SEGMENT, you'll learn a little about the PAST PERFECT TENSE
2. Three idioms are featured in our SECOND SEGMENT.
3. And finally, in our THIRD SEGMENT, we'll have a little PRACTICE TIME!!
SEGMENT 2 - LANGUAGE SEGMENT- Telling a story out of sequence: using Past Perfect
Tense
Okay, let's talk a little about verb tenses today. It's one of the most common questions that we get
here at the English Teacher John Show. Many people find some confusion with English tenses and
yes, they can be very irregular and difficult to completely understand. So, for now, let's talk about the
PAST PERFECT TENSE.
Let's put it in context so it's a little easier to understand. I'm going to tell a short story about running
into my friend Matt. (This means that I had an unplanned meeting with Matt). Some of this story's true
but not all of it.
I'm going to tell TWO VERSIONS of the story. First, I'm going to tell the story in CHRONOLOGICAL
ORDER. Hey, what's CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER?? It means that I'll tell the story in the exact
sequence that it happened. Please notice that I'm going to use the PAST SIMPLE tense when I tell
this story in the past, and in chronological order. Okay, story version one, here we go:
Story Version 1 - Chronological Order:
I met Matt at college, a few days before classes began. We became good
friends and that lasted throughout our college years.
Jill joined the volleyball team during the first week of college. We then
became friends. Matt met Jill at a party and they soon became a couple.
Matt and Jill eventually got married.
My wife and I decided to take a trip with Matt and Jill. We decided to take
a long weekend and go mountain biking in the Rocky Mountains. The trip
was full of good laughs, good exercise and good friendship. It was really a
great trip.
Half a year later, Matt and our mutual friend Tony went to a concert
together. Tony talked about his new job and his new master's degree.
Tony didn't have any news about our other college buddies.
I ran into Matt a couple of months ago. We had a cup of coffee together
and caught up with each other. We talked about our mountain bike trip and
we talked about Tony.
It's always nice to run into Matt.

[end of story version 1]
Well, that's the end of the CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER story. You can see that it starts with the oldest
events and moves chronologically (in sequential time order). This is NOT THE WAY we usually tell a
story or report information or events. Often, when telling a story, we jump back and forth in the
sequence of the story. And, this is one of the reasons that we need the PAST PERFECT VERB
TENSE.
[gong]
Okay, now I'm going to tell VERSION TWO of the same story. I WILL NOT tell the story in
chronological order!! My telling of the story begins somewhere in the middle of the sequence of
events. And, you'll see that I use the PAST PERFECT TENSE to tell about an event that happens
before the event that I'm currently talking about. You know the past perfect - it's verb forms look like:
HAD CHOSEN, HAD DECIDED, HAD MADE, HAD BECOME, HAD KNOWN, HAD BEEN, HADN'T
BEEN, HAD GONE, HAD STARTED, HADN'T SEEN.
Okay, here we go with the NON-CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER STORY, and I think this is a more
common way of reporting a story in English. Okay, here's the story, version 2.
Story Version 2 - Non-Chronological Order:
Last year, my wife and I took a trip with my friend Matt and his wife, Jill.
We had chosen our destination just two weeks before the trip so that had
made it extra exciting. In the end, we had decided to take a long weekend
and go mountain biking in the Rocky Mountains.
Matt had been one of my closest friends in college. We had met a few
days before classes began.
Actually, I had known Matt's wife, Jill, before Matt met her. She had joined
the volleyball team the first week of college and Jill and I had become
friends.
Well anyway, that long weekend of biking in the Rocky Mountains was full
of good laughs, good exercise and good friendship. It was really a great
trip.
Well, you know what? Just a couple of months ago, I ran into Matt at the
supermarket. We sat down for a cup of coffee and caught up with each
other. We talked about the trip we had taken the year before and we also
talked about our mutual friend Tony. Tony and Matt had gone to a concert
the week before, and so Matt had found out a few things about Tony's life.
Tony had recently gotten his master's degree and he had started a new
job. He hadn't seen or spoken with any of our other college buddies.
It's always nice to run into Matt.

Okay, well, t hat's the end of the second version of the story, the NON-CHRONOLOGICAL VERSION.
Can you see that the events are NOT in chronological order. Did you hear the places that I used the
PAST PERFECT TENSE to go backwards in time to an earlier event?
In English, there are other uses of the past perfect tense, but one of the important uses is this one
that we learned today: telling about a sequence of connected events, which we can call a story. We
use the PAST PERFECT TENSE to tell about an event that happens before another past event that
we're talking about. In other words, going BACKWARDS IN TIME to a previous event when you're
telling a story.
Here are a couple more short examples:
Last month we took a short vacation. Before that, we hadn't taken a vacation in about three
years.
Tatsuya went to see his sister at the beginning of this year. He hadn't seen her for a couple of
years so he spent about two weeks with her.
(You can see that the 'went' and the 'surprised' are connected to the original event that we're talking
about, but the 'hadn't seen' action relates to something before this event or the time period leading up
to the event.)
Marco wasn't very surprised when he received the highest grade in the class. He had studied
hard for all of the exams and had always done his homework.
Well, everyone, I hope that helps with understanding the PAST PERFECT TENSE, and how it's
related to telling stories that are not in chronological order.
[ETJ Show ID]
SEGMENT 3 - IDIOMS - run into s.o.; catch up with s.o.; make/made it = you've arrived!
RUNNING INTO s.o. - meet unexpectedly, an unplanned meeting.
CATCH UP WITH s.o. - get news after a period of no contact
MAKE/MADE IT - arrived - "You didn't make it to the party."
Hey, it's your lucky day. We've got three idioms today. A little bit of a weird mix, so let's start and look
at our first idiom. We already used this one in our language segment. RUN INTO someone., RAN
INTO someone.
Hey, I ran into Matt a few days ago.
Guess who I ran into this morning? Tom! Can you believe it. I hadn't seen him in years!
I used to run into him at the gym, when we both lived in London.
RUN INTO SOMEONE, RAN INTO SOMEONE.
Yes, it means to meet someone unexpectedly; an unplanned meeting.
You go shopping or you're out playing soccer. You're going to work, you're walking around the
neighborhood, you're walking around town, you're hiking in the mountains, maybe you're on your
bicycle; and you meet someone who you haven't seen in a while. It wasn't a planned meeting. You
just meet by chance. So that's: running into someone, or ran into someone, or run into someone.
Okay, our SECOND idiom today is: CATCH UP WITH SOMEONE. CAUGHT UP WITH HIM.
CAUGHT UP WITH HER. CATCH UP WITH EACH OTHER.
And we also used this idiom in the Matt story from our language segment.
I haven't seen you for a few months. Let's sit down and catch up with each other.
To CATCH UP WITH SOMEONE means to share news about your recent life after a period of not
seeing each other.
You haven't seen your good friend in a while, so now it's time to get together and CATCH UP
WITH EACH OTHER.
Now, let's move on to our THIRD and final idiom for today - a very idiomatic use of the verb make.

Examples:
I don't know what happened to Sophia and Maria. They never made it to the party. They never
made it to the party.
Hey, thanks for making it. -Thanks for inviting me. (note: "Thanks for coming." Is also a
common way to show your appreciation that someone attended your event or function.)
I don't have a lot of time on Wednesday afternoon but I think I can make it.
MAKE IT, MADE IT.
It means to come, attend or be present.
"They never made it to the party." This means that they didn't come to the party.
Sometimes we say: They never showed up. They never made it.
Hey, you didn't make it last night. What happened? (It means you didn't go to the party and
I'm wondering why.)
Well, I think that three idioms is enough for today's lesson. Let's move on to our favorite segment of
the show.
SEGMENT 3 - PRACTICE TIME
Hey, guess what??? Yeah, it's been a long time and I sense that some of you need a little .. ah ..
uh ... hmmm ... practice.
[[sound effect: oh no!!]]
Yes, yes, yes. Please practice these sentences. Say them out loud. Say them now. Say them,
p___ounce them, practice them. C'mon, don't be shy!
Okay, first, here's some PAST PERFECT PRACTICE
Tony had recently gotten his master's degree.
We talked about the trip we had taken the year before
Before that, we hadn't taken a vacation in about three years.
He hadn't seen her for a couple of years
Tony and Matt had gone to a concert the week before.
Matt had been one of my closest friends in college.
He had studied hard for all of the exams and had always done his homework.
Okay. Now, let's practice today's IDIOMS:
I ran into my old college roommate last week.
Sometimes we run into her at the supermarket.
Let's meet after work on Thursday and catch up with each other.
We were catching up with each other when his phone rang and he had to go.
They never made it to the festival.
They never showed up at the festival.
The concert's on Friday at 7 pm. Can you make it?
Can he make it? Can they make it?
I hope you can make it!

[gong]
SEGMENT 4 - SIGNOFF
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