Zapp! English Vocabulary & Pronunciation 3.24 - Honesty & Lying

Three students to a desk, an opening in the desk you can slip papers through, and a third of the test each to revise. That was "the system", and one of our speakers explains it to Katie in some detail before admitting it all went wrong when the teacher walked back in. Katie's verdict: "sneaky." From there we get a second conversation about online shopping, small print and the moment you realise you're being misled.

What you'll hear in this episode

Two unscripted English conversations, both about honesty. In the first, Katie asks about a story of honesty and dishonesty and gets an immediate protest — the speaker insists on being "a very very honest person", which Katie doesn't accept: "I don't believe you – you're trying to con me!" What follows is a confession about cheating on a biology test in tenth grade, a teacher who offered lighter consequences for owning up straight away, and a mother who took a long time to think of the speaker as trustworthy again. There's a good aside on that: "I don't know why you would ever think that a group of tenth graders is trustworthy..."

In the second conversation, Katie and Alec talk about buying things you can't see. Alec describes a Groupon flight offer — two flights for eighty pounds — where the small print restricted the dates, the airport and excluded the taxes, working out at around three hundred pounds. His conclusion is measured; Katie's isn't: "Totally misleading I would say." Then one of the hosts admits to buying a van on eBay without ever seeing it, which prompts "That's very trusting of you" and, when it turns out fine, "it...it's restored your faith in er humankind." They finish on verbal triggers — how "honestly, honestly and I swear it's the truth" often signals the opposite.

Quick facts

What you'll learn

Fifteen words and phrases for truth, lies and everything in between, then pronunciation work on each one, on its own and inside a sentence.

The pronunciation points are small and practical. We flag the /ʧ/ at the start of to cheat, the /Igs/ cluster that opens to exaggerate, and the /pjə/ in reputable — a syllable learners often flatten. Best of all, trustworthy: we point out that the /t/ in the middle isn't really pronounced, because /trʌstwɜ:ði:/ is simply too hard to say, so native speakers drop it a little. Once you've heard that, you'll hear it everywhere.

You'll also work on something the conversations show rather than teach. Deliberately misleading language is a real skill in English — Alec's Groupon story is all about what an advert doesn't say — and the episode gives you the vocabulary to describe it precisely: mislead is not the same as lie, and exaggerate is different again. There's listening practice too: both conversations are full of restarts, half-finished sentences and repetition ("in...in our test...during the test"), which is exactly what real speech sounds like and exactly what textbook audio removes.

The vocabulary

• to cheat /tʃiːt/ — to not do things honestly, to trick. The whole first conversation turns on this word.
• to confess /kənfes/ — the same as admit, to say that yes it was you that did something bad or wrong. Note that grammatically it needs to.
• to deceive /dIsiːv/ — to lie or trick someone.
• to con someone /kɒn/ — to trick or cheat. Katie uses it in the first line of the conversation.
• a fraud /frɔːd/ — someone who has lied about who they are, or the crime of getting money from people by lying.
• trustworthy /trʌstwɜːði/ — can be trusted, honest and reliable.
• fair / unfair /feə/ /ʌnfeə/ — equal to all / not equal to everyone.
• to mislead /mIsliːd/ — to give someone incorrect information, so that they think something is true when it isn't.
• to exaggerate /IɡzædʒəreIt/ — to make something sound bigger, smaller, better or worse than it actually is.
• on purpose /pɜːrpəs/ and deliberate /dIlIbərət/ — done with planning, not by accident.
• reputable /repjʊtəbəl/ — most people think it can be believed or trusted.
• to swear /sweər/ — to make a serious promise.
• underhanded /ʌndəhændId/ — dishonest and secretive, maybe in order to get something you want.

In the workbook

The workbook for this unit is part of the paid all-in-one pack. It contains the full transcripts of both conversations, so you can go back and read the lines you couldn't catch, plus the glossary above with phonemic transcriptions.

Then three practice sections. Practice 1 gives you five sentences where you underline every word that works — and sometimes more than one does, so They deceived / cheated / conned me all pass while frauded doesn't. Practice 2 is a matching task: five sentence openings, five endings, including "He swears he didn't do it," and "and actually I believe him." Practice 3 is pronunciation: five pairs of words where you decide whether the underlined sound is the same. Some are traps — the vowel in confess is /ə/ but in con it's /ɒ/, and underhanded /ə/ doesn't match on purpose /ɜ:/ — while mislead, deceive and cheat all share /i:/, and swear rhymes with fair on /eə/. Full answers are included with the phonemic symbols explained.

Get the complete courseAll workbooks and audio — €39

Common questions

Is the audio free?

Yes. Every episode is free to download from Zappenglish.com. The workbook is the paid part.

Are the conversations scripted?

The conversations are unscripted — that's why you hear the hesitations and restarts. 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 Vocabulary and Pronunciation 3.

Can I use it without the workbook?

Yes. The audio checks meaning and gives you pronunciation drills with beeps to repeat after. The workbook adds the transcripts, the glossary and the three written practice sections with answers.

How do I get the workbook?

It's in the Zapp! English all-in-one pack at €39, which covers every episode.

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