Speak Better English with Harry | Episode 62

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• 00:10

  Hi there.

• 00:10

  This is Harry.

• 00:11

  And welcome back to my podcasts, where we try to help you with your understanding of english language by using sentences where I explain any terminology, phrases, expressions, and grammar.

• 00:24

  Okay, so what do I have for you today?

• 00:27

  The sentence.

• 00:28

  Now, here's the developed in the 1880s, the modern car was initially the tie of the wealthy, but falling prices and mass production have made it a key part of family life.

• 00:45

  Okay, so quite a long sentence.

• 00:47

  Give you a second reading.

• 00:49

  Developed in the 1880s, the modern car was initially the tie of the wealthy, but falling prices and mass production have made it a key part of family life.

• 01:02

  So what are we talking about here?

• 01:04

  Well, we're making some reference historically to the motor car, the motor vehicle, as it might be called, or simply the car.

• 01:13

  Now, the family car.

• 01:15

  And we're talking about the fact that it was developed in the 1880s, the first motor vehicles, but there were so few of them produced, and the price was so high that the car was considered only for those who were extremely wealthy.

• 01:31

  And we use the phrase here, the toy of the wealthy, a toy something like a child plays with.

• 01:37

  So people who have extreme wealth usually accumulate things that we consider them to be toys.

• 01:44

  They can just play with them, like five or six cars, three or four houses, whatever it might be.

• 01:50

  Okay.

• 01:51

  But now, in modern times, the price of cars relative to the 1880s have fallen.

• 01:58

  We might not consider the prices to have fallen a lot.

• 02:01

  And when you go to buy a car, you have to pay a lot of money.

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