English Vocabulary: Rules, Obligations and Word Stress

Tom can't name a single written rule in his building. There's no notice, no list, nothing on a board — just what he calls "unwritten rules" about noise after eleven and not renovating the flat without permission. Katie's reply is the sort of thing you only get in real conversation: "You don’t know what they are but you’ll find out when you’ve broken them." From there we work through fifteen words for rules and obligations, and the way English speakers actually pronounce them.

What you'll hear in this episode

We recorded this one sitting in a bar, which makes the smoking question rather pointed. Tom says he has mixed feelings — he used to smoke, he doesn't now, and he'd rather see designated smokers' bars than something "completely banned, prohibited, full stop". Katie broadly agrees.

The questions keep coming and the answers stay honest. One of the speakers admits to having "engineered my life so I don’t have to ask permission for anything" — and then immediately remembers the boxes currently blocking a relative's garage, where permission was granted and is quietly being withdrawn. On giving orders, both agree the word is too strong for an office: it makes you think of the military, and asking people to do things is what actually happens in a managerial job.

Then the dog question. Would you let it on the bed or make it sleep outside? Tom imagines the animal "looking all cold and lonely outside" and caving in — "I would be a soft touch I think." Katie doesn't even worry about the hairs.

In the second half we get childhood confessions (one speaker was a "problem child", the other "a goody-goody" who obeyed the rules), a Gemini theory of being "almost horizontal, in attitude", fireworks, planning applications rejected by local government, smacking versus deterrents, and being refused entry to pubs at fifteen for looking too young.

Quick facts

Episode	3.10 — Rules & Obligations
Pack	Vocabulary and Pronunciation 3
Level	3
Duration	20 minutes 49 seconds
Recorded	In a bar, as Katie mentions on air
Hosts heard	Katie and Tom
Workbook	Included in the €39 all-in-one pack

What you'll learn

The teaching sections give you fifteen words, and then make you say them properly. Two things trip learners up here and we deal with both.

The first is word stress. Refuse and reject take the stress on the second syllable; punish takes it on the first. Regulations and obligation share a pattern, but permission and prohibited don't — and the workbook has you mark them out with circles and dots so you can see the shapes. There's also a warning you rarely find in a coursebook: the first syllable of prohibited is /prə/, not /prəʊ/. And strict is simply a lot of consonants at once, drilled as /st/, /strɪ/, strict.

The second is weak forms. In I'm allowed to use his car, the to isn't "too" — it becomes a weak /tə/ and joins onto the next word. Once you hear that, sentences like I'm allowed to bring my dog to work stop sounding fast and start sounding normal. The past tense of ban gets the same treatment: the -ed is a plain /d/, so banned is one syllable.

You'll also pick up how these words behave in real answers — let and make followed by a bare verb (He let me use his car, He made me smoke outside), and allowed to with the infinitive.

Vocabulary from this unit

regulations (noun) — official rules. Katie asks whether Tom's building has any; it turns out it doesn't.
permission (noun) — when someone says it is OK for you to do something they give you permission. Used all over the garage story.
an obligation (noun) — something you have to do or feel like you have to do.
to let (verb) — to allow someone to do something, to not stop them. Central to the dog question.
to make someone do something (verb) — to force someone to do something, to not give them a choice.
prohibited (adjective) — not allowed, against the regulations. Katie would prohibit late-night scooters and, given the chance, rudeness.
to obey / to disobey (verb) — to do, or not do, what someone tells you to do.
strict / laid back (adjectives) — has strong rules which they feel must be followed / doesn't get easily annoyed, calm and relaxed.
to ban (verb) — to say that something is not allowed, usually official.
reject (verb) — to say no to an idea or plan. Used about planning applications for houses.
to refuse (verb) — to say you will not do something.
to punish (verb) — to do something unpleasant to someone because they broke a rule.

In the workbook

The workbook for 3.10 opens with the questions you hear in the audio, so you can try answering them before Katie and Tom do. Then comes the full vocabulary glossary — all fifteen entries with phonemic transcriptions and plain-English definitions.

Practice 1 is a choose-the-best-word exercise: swimming pool regulations, banned smoking, strict versus laid-back parents, the obligations that come with being a parent. Practice 2 matches sentence halves — Walking on the grass…, They made me…, They are going to… — which forces you to notice the grammar that follows each word.

Practice 3 is the pronunciation work. Part (a) asks whether each pair of words shares a stress pattern, with the answers written out in circles and dots. Part (b) gives you five sentences to mark up with main stresses and weak /ə/ sounds, including You're not allowed to park there and I refused to do what he said. One is done as an example, and full answers are at the back.

This workbook comes with the all-in-one pack at €39, along with the workbooks for every other episode.

Get the complete courseAll workbooks and audio — €39

Common questions

Is the conversation scripted?

No. Katie and Tom are answering the questions off the cuff, hesitations and all. The teaching sections that set up the tasks and give the answers are scripted, so the instructions stay clear.

What level is this episode?

Level 3, from the Vocabulary and Pronunciation 3 pack. It suits learners who already know have to and allowed to and want a wider, more precise set of words.

Is the audio free?

Yes. All the Zapp! English conversations are free to download. The workbooks are the paid part.

Can I use this episode without the workbook?

You can. The audio teaches the meanings and the pronunciation on its own. The workbook adds the written glossary, the practice exercises and the stress-marking task, which is hard to do by ear alone.

How do I get the workbook for 3.10?

It's in the all-in-one pack at €39, together with the workbooks for the rest of the series.

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