2. Meddling Mother-In-Law MS

never cleaned the apartment. Did he do the laundry a lot? No, no, no, he never did the laundry.

Was he good at doing the laundry? No, no, he was lousy. He was bad at doing the laundry.

Was he good with washing the dishes? No, no, he was lousy with the dishes, too. He was a lousy

housekeeper in general. He was lousy with housekeeping. He was a lousy housekeeper.

So, finally, one day Tomoe said, “When you do the laundry, please sort the clothes by color.” Did

she want him to pick out the different clothes – to separate them and organize them by color? Yes,

yes, of course. That’s exactly what she wanted. She wanted him to sort the clothes by color. Did

she want him to sort the clothes by size? Big ones here, small ones there. No, no, no, she didn’t

want him to sort the clothes by size.

Did she want him to sort the dishes by color? No, no, no, no, she did not want him to sort the dishes

– the plates, the bowls, no. She did not want him to sort the dishes. She wanted him to sort the

clothes. How did she want him to sort the clothes? Well, she wanted him to sort the clothes by

color. That’s how. She wanted him to sort the clothes by color.

Okay, so she wanted him to sort the clothes by color. When she said this, she was very polite, very

nice. Tomoe was very polite always, but her husband took this the wrong way. Did her husband

understand Tomoe exactly? No, no, he did not understand. He thought she was angry. He thought

she was criticizing him. She – he thought she was attacking him. He took this the wrong way. He

took her words the wrong way.

She said, “When you do the laundry, please sort the clothes by color.” But her husband took this the

wrong way. He misunderstood the words. Did her husband take this the wrong way? Take her

words the wrong way? Yes, of course, exactly right. He took her words the wrong way.

Did her mother take it the wrong way? No, no, no, no, not her mother. She wasn’t talking to her

mother. Her mother didn’t take it the wrong way. Her husband took it the wrong way. What did her

husband take the wrong way? Well, her husband took her words the wrong way. When she said,

“Please sort the clothes by color,” he took that the wrong way.

After he took it the wrong way, what did he do? Well, he took it the wrong way; then he yelled, “Why

are you criticizing me? Why do you hate me? I’m not a lousy husband.” Did he think he was a bad

husband? No, no, no, he said, “I’m not a lousy husband. I am not a bad husband. I’m not a terrible

husband.” So he said, “I’m not a lousy husband.” He didn’t think he was a lousy husband.

Did Tomoe say he was a lousy husband? No, of course not. Tomoe’s polite. She didn’t say that.

She didn’t say, “You are a lousy husband.” She only said, “Please sort the clothes by color.” But he

took that the wrong way. Then he jumped up and down. He pulled his hair; and he said, “I wash my

hands of this. I will never do laundry again.”

Did her husband wash his hands of doing the dishes? No, no, no, no, he didn’t decide never to do

the dishes. He will continue to do the dishes. He washed his hands of doing the laundry. Did he

wash his hands of all housekeeping? No, no, he didn’t wash his hands of all housekeeping. He didn’t

quit all housekeeping. He will still do some other things, but he washed his hands of doing the

laundry.

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Will he ever do the laundry again? Will he ever do laundry again? No, absolutely not, no. He will

never do laundry again. He washed his hands of doing laundry. He said, “I wash my hands of laundry.”

Yep, it means he will never do laundry again. He will never help with laundry again. He will

never touch laundry again. Never.

Did he wash his hands of the relationship of his marriage? No, no, no, of course not. He didn’t quit

his relationship. He didn’t quit his marriage. He said, “I wash my hands of laundry.” He will never

do laundry again.

Okay, very good. One more time up to the top. This time, if you want, if you want to practice speaking,

I will pause after the key phrases. Please repeat them. When you repeat, copy my pronunciation;

especially copy my intonation. When do I go up? When do I go down? And, remember, in

English, we start high, ahhhhh, and we drop, ahhhhh, ahhhhh. So listen for that and copy it exactly.

Here we go.

There was a girl named Tomoe. One day, she took it upon herself to change her husband. (Pause)

One day, she took it upon herself to change her husband. (Pause) Very good. Tomoe was very

picky. (Pause) Tomoe was very picky. (Pause) Good. She wanted the apartment to always be

perfectly clean, but her husband was a lousy housekeeper. (Pause) But her husband was a lousy

housekeeper. (Pause) Good.

One day, Tomoe said, “When you do the laundry, please sort the clothes by color.” (Pause) Very

good. “Please sort the clothes by color.” (Pause) Good. Tomoe was very polite, but her husband

took this the wrong way. (Pause) Good. But her husband took this the wrong way. (Pause) Very

good.

He yelled, “Why are you criticizing me? Why do you hate me? I’m not a lousy husband.” (Pause)

Good. “I’m not a lousy husband.” (Pause) Very good. Then he jumped up and down, pulled his

hair, and said, “I wash my hands of this.” (Pause) Good. “I wash my hands of this.” (Pause) Very

good. “I wash my hands of this. I will never do laundry again.”

Okay, that is all. Now please pause or stop this and try to tell all of the story yourself. Use all of the

new phrases, all of the key phrases; and try to tell all of the story. If you can’t, don’t worry. Relax.

Just listen again. Try to listen to it every day.

See you next time. Bye-bye.

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point of view mini-story

Hello, welcome to the point of view mini-story for the Meddling Mother-In-Law lesson. Let’s get started

in our first version of the story. We will start with the phrase “Right now.” Okay? The original

story was in the past, so now we’re gonna start with “Right now.”

Right now, there is a girl named Tomoe. She takes it upon herself to change her husband. Tomoe is

very picky. She wants the apartment to always be perfectly clean, but her husband is a lousy housekeeper.

One day, Tomoe says, “When you do laundry, please sort the clothes by color.” Tomoe is

very polite, but her husband takes this the wrong way. He yells, “Why are you criticizing me? Why

do you hate me? I’m not a lousy husband.” Then he jumps up and down, pulls his hair, and says, “I

wash my hands of this. I will never do laundry again.”

All right, very good. Now let’s change the story a little bit. We’re gonna start the story with the

phrase “Since last April.” Starting in last April, continuing until now. Since last April. Okay.

There’s a girl named Tomoe. Since last April, she has taken it upon herself to change her husband.

Since that time, Tomoe has been very, very picky. She has wanted the apartment to always be perfectly

clean, but her husband has always been a lousy housekeeper. One day, Tomoe said, “When

you do the laundry, please sort the clothes by color.” At that time, Tomoe was very polite; but her

husband took it the wrong way. He yelled, “Why are you criticizing me? Why do you hate me? I’m

not a lousy husband.” Then he jumped up and down, pulled his hair, and said, “I wash my hands of

this. I will never do laundry again.”

Okay, did you notice, again, this happens a lot when we begin something with the perfect tenses.

We often switch to another tense, often to the past tense. So we talked about one day – I’m sorry, I

didn’t say one day. Tomoe has taken it upon herself to change her husband. It means she started

trying to change him last April. She has continued trying to change him until now, or until this day

where they had the argument.

Right, it started in the past; and it continued. So we say, “She has taken it upon herself.” Has taken.

And we say, “Tomoe has been very picky.” This gives the idea that something changed. Maybe in

April, something happened; because, before April, maybe she wasn’t picky; but since April, she has

been very picky. Starting in April until now. You get the idea. But then when I say, “One day, Tomoe

said,” okay, one day is your clue. One day tells you, “Aha, it happened; and it’s finished; so switch to

the past tense.”

All right, and now let’s do our little – we can imagine we’re telling a story about the future. Maybe it’s

a movie idea. Maybe it’s any kind of story; but that’s going to happen. Here we go.

There will be a girl named Tomoe. One day in the future, she will take it upon herself to change her

husband. Tomoe’ll be very picky. She’ll want the apartment to always be perfectly clean, but her

husband’ll be a lousy housekeeper. One day, Tomoe’ll say, “When you do laundry, please sort the

clothes by color.” Tomoe will be very polite, but her husband will take it the wrong way. He’ll yell,

“Why are you criticizing me? Why do you hate me? I’m not a lousy husband.” Then he’ll jump up

and down, pull his hair, and say, “I wash my hands of this. I’ll never do laundry again.”

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2. Meddling Mother-In-Law POV

Okay, in that story, you heard – sometimes it’s hard to hear the future, right? In the textbooks they

tell you to say will – will – will – will. He will do this. He will yell. I will go. But, in fact, when we

speak, we don’t usually say will. Right? We put – we combine it. We just say ‘ll, ‘ll. There’ll be a

girl named Tomoe. Right? There will be a girl. There’ll – there’ll – there’ll be a girl.

One day, she’ll take it upon herself. Right? Not she will. She’ll. It’s a contraction. We’re putting

the two sounds together. Tomoe’ll be very picky. Right? Instead of saying Tomoe will be very picky,

we can say, “Tomoe’ll be very picky.” Right? We cut off the W I. Instead of saying “wi,” we just say

‘ll.” Tomoe’ll be very picky.

She’ll want the apartment to be clean always. Not she will. She’ll. Her husband’ll be a lousy housekeeper.

Not her husband will be. Her husband’ll – husband’ll. Okay? Now this is not correct for

writing. With writing, we don’t usually say husband’ll; but in speech, in conversation, especially

native speakers speaking quickly, they will say ‘ll – ‘ll. Her husband’ll be very bad. Her husband’ll

be a bad housekeeper.

One day, Tomoe’ll say, Tomoe’ll say – did you hear that? Tomoe’ll say – not Tomoe will say.

Tomoe’ll say – then we switch to the present tense; because it’s a quote. “When you do laundry,

please sort the clothes by color.” Tomoe’ll be very polite. Tomoe’ll – Tomoe’ll be very polite, but her

husband’ll take it the wrong way. Her husband will take it the wrong way. He’ll yell, not he will yell.

He’ll yell, “Why are you criticizing me?” Etc., etc. Then he’ll jump up and down. He’ll pull his hair,

and will say – and’ll say – you could even do that. And’ll say – and’ll say – and will say, “I wash my

hands of this. I will never do laundry again.”

So listen for that. You know, the English you get in textbooks, in CD – on CDs, in schools, it’s a formal

style of English. It’s also really a written kind of English. So you’re learning to speak written

English from these books; and, you know, that’s okay; but it’s not how we really speak. It is not how

Americans actually speak.

You’ll never see in a textbook husband’ll. The husband’ll be good. The husband’ll go to the store.

You’ll never see that in the textbook; but, in fact, that’s exactly what we say every day – husband’ll.

Tomoe’ll. He’ll. So listen for that when you listen to our movie lessons, when you listen to my commentaries,

when you listen to these mini-stories. I’ll try to use this more normal conversation style

so you can begin to understand it and use it.

Okay, that’s all. As usual, listen to each version. Then pause and try to tell the story yourself. All of

it using the correct grammar, the correct verb tenses; and try to use the correct pronunciation when

you do this future one, especially. Try to use ‘ll – ‘ll – ‘ll instead of will.

Okay, see you next time. Bye-bye.