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  • Subordinate Clause for Reasons: Have You Heard About My Next Door Neighbor? (Review)

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    • Unfinished
    • Intermediate
    • Subordinate clause
    • Cause

    Subordinate clause Cause

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  • What's Inside?

    Review the conversation "Have You Heard About My Next Door Neighbor?" Do multiple choice questions to review the subordinate clause for causes and reasons and the new vocabulary that you just learned.

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Have You Heard About My Next Door Neighbor?

(1) Thomas: Listen
Have you heard the [vocab word=rumor]rumor[/vocab] about Pat, our next door neighbor? Apparently, she is having an [vocab word=affair]affair[/vocab] with a guy from suite 407.

Pat is Thomas' next door neighbor. She lives next to Thomas. "Having an affair" means you are cheating on someone. Pat has a husband, but she is also seeing another man.

(2) Amber: Listen
I don't usually pay attention to gossip because it's rarely accurate.
(3) Thomas: Listen
There must be some [vocab word=truth]truth[/vocab] to it, though, right? [vocab word=otherwise]Otherwise[/vocab], why would people be talking about it?
(4) Amber: Listen
I wouldn’t know. And, you shouldn't believe any rumors since people love to [vocab word=distort]distort[/vocab] information. Maybe, Pat is having an affair, maybe not. It’s not our [vocab word=business]business[/vocab].

"since" is a conjunction. It means "because". "because people love to distort information" is the subordinate clause. It is "why" you shouldn't believe any rumors. "It's not our business" means it's not our problem so we shouldn't worry about it.

(5) Thomas: Listen
Okay, fine. But, I heard something more [vocab word=worrisome]worrisome[/vocab]. It’s about the new guy from suite 202. I hear he is a drug [vocab word=dealer]dealer[/vocab] since he’s always meeting different people and he always goes out at night.

A drug dealer sells drugs.

(6) Amber: Listen
Again, don’t pay attention to rumors. Maybe he’s a businessman. Or, maybe he goes out because of his work. We don't know the real story.

To "pay attention" to something means you focus or concentrate on something. To pay attention to rumors means you listen to the rumors and really think about them or believe them.

(7) Thomas: Listen
Amber, you are too nice. As the saying goes, "there’s no smoke without fire".

"There is no smoke without fire" is a common idiom in English. It means if something looks wrong, then it probably is. There must be a reason for it. Thomas is saying, "Something is wrong about the new guy from 202. That's why there is a rumor about him."

(8) Amber: Listen
You know, I’ve heard a rumor about you, too.
(9) Thomas: Listen
Me? How can there be a rumor about me?
(10) Amber: Listen
I’ve heard that you are [vocab word=secret]secretly[/vocab] cheating on me. That you are seeing another young woman. She comes to your apartment every Sunday.
(11) Thomas: Listen
What, no! Well, she does come here every Sunday, but she is my student. I’m just teaching her English as she just came from Peru and she doesn’t know any English!

"as" is a conjunction. "as she just came from Peru" is a subordinate clause. It's the reason why she comes to Thomas' apartment every Sunday.

(12) Amber: Listen
I know, Tom. Do you see why I don’t [vocab word=trust]trust[/vocab] any rumors? If I had believed the rumor, you would’ve already been [vocab word=dead meat]dead meat[/vocab]!

"If I had believed the rumor, you would've already been dead meat" is a 3rd conditional sentence. It's about an imagined past and its possible result. "Dead meat" is the result, and it means Thomas is in serious trouble.

(13) Thomas: Listen
Right...
(14) Amber: Listen
Sometimes, smoke is just smoke and there is no fire.

"smoke is just smoke and there is no fire" is a play on the idiom "there’s no smoke without fire". Amber is saying sometimes, there is a rumor but there is absolutely no truth to it.

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