Learning English

Catherine
Hello! I'm Catherine, and this is Rob.

Rob
Yes, hello! And welcome to 6 Minute Vocabulary. Today we're talking about adjectives that end in i-c, pronounced ic, and adjectives that end in i-c-a-l, pronounced ical.

Catherine
First, let's listen to Hannah. She's talking about her favourite books.

Rob
Our question today is: why does Hannah get most of her books from the library? Listen carefully and find out!

INSERT
Hannah
I'm always reading! I like classic English novels, by writers like Jane Austen or Charles Dickens. I also like non-fiction; especially books about interesting historical characters. I love buying books, but it's so expensive! Mostly, I borrow books from the library. It's much more economical.

STING

Catherine
So, why does Hannah prefer to get her books from the library? Because it's more economical.

Rob
Hannah mentioned that she likes to read novels. Do you remember what type of novels she likes to read? Listen once again:

INSERT 1 CLIP 1
I like classic English novels, by writers like Jane Austen or Charles Dickens.

Catherine
Hannah said she likes to read classic novels. The word classic ends in i-c. It's an adjective that describes something that's a particularly good example of a category – or a particularly famous example.

Rob
So, novels by Jane Austen and Charles Dickens are classic, because they're particularly good, and very famous, examples of novels. And they've been popular for a long time, so we could say they've stood the test of time.

Catherine
Exactly, a bit like you Rob.

Rob
Thank you.

Catherine
You're welcome. But be careful because people often confuse classic with another adjective: classical. Now classical, ending in i-c-a-l has a slightly different meaning – it describes a formal and often quite old style of art in forms such as painting, theatre, architecture and so on. Rob, do you like classical music?

Rob
Oh. Occasionally, but I do find it a bit heavy going.

Catherine
A bit much is it?

Rob
Sometimes, yes.

Catherine
You're more of a Beyoncé man?

Rob
Yes, that's me.

Catherine
OK, so let's listen again to another clip:

INSERT 1 CLIP 2
I also like non-fiction; especially books about interesting historical characters.

Catherine
Historical is another i-c-a-l adjective – and it means 'connected to stories about the past'. So Rob – name me a historical character that you particularly identify with.

Rob
That's a hard one, but I'd say Captain Cook. He liked to travel and he went round the world discovering new places, which is something I like to do.

Catherine
You do, don't you.

Rob
So I can identify with him, yes. Moving on… now the i-c adjective - historic - has a slightly different meaning: it describes something important, or something that will people will remember for a long time.

Catherine
So, if something really important and amazing happens today, we'll say today is a historic day. Like the day Newcastle United wins the European cup Rob!

Rob
OK, in your dreams I think.

Catherine
Well maybe, but if it ever happened it would be a historic day. Now a quick pronunciation tip for you: we pronounce historic and historical with the stress on the same syllable in both words,the 'to'. And it's the same with classic and classical: in both words, the stress is on the same syllable, this time, 'cla'.

Rob
So: Historic, historical. Classic, classical.

Catherine
Yeah.

Rob
Now listen again to one more clip:

INSERT 1 CLIP 3
Mostly, I borrow books from the library. It's much more economical.

Rob
So, we use the adjective economical – or as some people say, economical – with i-c-a-l when something is cheap, or good value for money.

Catherine
But the adjective economic with i-c has a different meaning: economic means 'connected to the subject of money and finance'.

Rob
So, we might say, the bus is more economical than the train, and we would say, the country has economic problems.

IDENT
You're listening to BBC Learning English dot com

Catherine
And we're talking about adjectives that end in –ic and –ical.

Rob
Like economic and economical.

Catherine
And now it's time for a little quiz! Listen to this, then answer question one.

[sfx: music]

Rob
Question one: was that an example of classic music, or was it classical music?

Catherine
It was classical music. Not too much for you Rob?

Rob
No, it's enough, just enough.

Catherine
Okay, question two: if you watch a film about the past, is it a historic film or a historical film?

Rob
It's a historical film. Last question! If you read the news about business and the financial markets, are you reading the economic news or the economical news?

Catherine
And that's the economic news. And that's the end of the quiz. Well done!

Rob
Yes, well done. Finally, here's a piece of vocabulary learning advice. Learning vocabulary alone is okay, but it's often more effective to work together with a study partner. Find someone who is learning English, get together regularly, and give each other vocabulary tests!

Catherine
There's more about this at bbclearningenglish.com. Join us again soon for more 6 Minute Vocabulary. Bye!

Rob
Bye!