Grammar Without The Rules is a mini show that helps you feel grammar through patterns and real use—no memorizing, no jargon, just clarity and flow.

Grammar Without The Rules

This series unpacks the real-world English you *actually* hear in conversations — slang, contractions, filler words, intonation patterns, and more.

Say It Like This

In this episode, we're gonna learn a tale of a fisherman and a journalist. When you listen to this story, please take this question in your mind: why does Mr. Yang not want to donate his car? 

The Fisherman
垂钓者的故事
一个晴朗的下午, 杨先生开着车去钓鱼。
☆晴朗: sunny  ☆钓鱼: go fishing.

他把车停在了湖边。
☆湖边 by the lake.

在他准备钓鱼的时候,一个摄影师和一个记者走到了他的身边。
☆摄影师:   photographer  ☆记者:  journalist 

记者问他,“对不起, 先生。打扰您一下。”
我们是电视台的。想采访您一下, 行吗?”
☆电视台:  a television station  采访: interview 

“嗯。”
"Sure".

“您贵姓啊?”

  “姓杨。”

"噢, 杨先生, 您看着镜头。"
 ☆看镜头: look at the camera.

”嗯”。

“杨先生, 我们想问您, 如果您有一百万, 您愿意捐给那些需要帮助的人吗?
☆捐: donate

杨先生低头想了一会儿, 然后抬头看着记者说,“都捐了啊?”
☆低头: lowered his head   ☆抬头: lifted his head up 

“您看着镜头。”

“诶诶。”

 “对, 都捐了。”

  “愿意。”
  
  “您有一千万呢?”

   "愿意。”

“您有一个亿呢?”

“十个亿都行。”

“那您如果有一辆汽车, 您愿意捐给别人吗?”

杨先生看了一眼他的车, 然后对着记者摆了摆手表示不愿意。
☆摆了摆手: shook his hand

“为什么呀?”

“别的都行, 就是汽车不行。”

"您有十个亿您都愿意捐。为什么车就不行了?”

“因为我真有一辆汽车。”
 
For more Chinese stories to help you practice your beginner and intermediate Chinese, please visit our YouTube channel, YMC Learn Chinese. 
Thank you for watching and listening! I'm Lucky Yancy. Good luck to you everyday! 下次见!＾０＾~


Learn Chinese with Lucky Yancy

3. The Fisherman 垂钓者的故事

Ini cerita tentang rutinitasku setiap hari.

Cerita Pendek Indonesia (A1-A2)

14 Rutinitas

Ancient Egyptians loved and respected cats, believing they brought good luck.

Some families even dressed their cats in jewelry, and mummified them after death. They would mourn the death of their cat by shaving off their eyebrows, and continue to mourn until their eyebrows grew back.

Inspired by this ancient love for cats, the Shanghai Museum in China held a special event called Meowseum Nights.

Held 10 times during last summer and fall, the event invited 200 cats and 2,000 people to explore the exhibition On Top of the Pyramid: The Civilization of Ancient Egypt.

Some of the artifacts shown in the exhibition came from a temple discovered years ago in Egypt. The temple was for Bastet, an Egyptian goddess who could change into a cat. This gave the Shanghai Museum another reason to use cats as the theme for their event.

Museum director Chu Xiaobo said that the event was created to bring cat lovers to the museum, as in Shanghai, where there are over a million pet cats, cat-friendly public spaces are rare.

"There are dog parks, dog brunches, but not that much for cat parents to do with their pets," Wen Liuli, a visitor to the exhibition, told The Art Newspaper.

The museum took measures to keep all visitors and artifacts safe. Cats had to stay in strollers or bags, but there were certain areas where people could take their cats out for photos, such as in front of a statue of Bastet. All the other artifacts were kept behind glass.

The museum also had vets, doctors, and even an ambulance on-site, and over 80 animal welfare workers attended each night to help and give advice.

While the museum doesn't plan to hold another Meowseum Night, Chu hopes it might inspire other museums to try similar ideas.

"Cat people now have a special affection for the Shanghai Museum," he said.




Practice Listening, Reading & Comprehension

Cats Take a Tour of Ancient Egypt at Chinese Museum

Tune in to elevate your English: Engaging content for sharper listening skills, one episode at a time!

Daily English Podcast

Daily Conversation Podcast Chapter # 4

Episode 17 | La Page Blanche
Se retrouver bloquée face à une page blanche, envie d'écrire ou de créer mais aucune idées ni motivation... Quand la créativité nous échappe et qu'on doit s'octroyer une pause. Avez-vous déjà vécu ça ?

Cher Journal

Episode 17 - La Page Blanche

1. One second
2. It depends
3. Really?
4. Ok, then
5. Over there
6. Got you 
7. Forget it / Never mind
8. You ok?
9. Sorry?
10. Sounds good
11. Sure
12.  We’ll see
Please tell me in the comments if you’ve passed this challenge or not

chinesewithserana

Can you translate these everyday English phrases into Chinese?

Today's phrase is "to be rigged" which means something has been set up to operate in some kind of unfair way. 

Today's phrase is to be rigged. Now when something is rigged, it is believed that it's operated using some kind of dishonest behaviour to promote a desired outcome. Now, let me just give you some examples to show you what I mean:

So, if we say, for example, 

The job vacancy has been advertised in the newspaper but I believe it's been rigged. We all know who's going to win.

 The football match was definitely rigged. I don't think the football players were playing in their usual way today. 

The competition to win a holiday in the local newspaper has been won by an employee of that newspaper. That was definitely rigged.

The full transcript is here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EAOtcKX3LOgmTEWRU5SaEV4pLLDDtzx9/view?usp=drivesdk

Teacher Joseph's Podcast

To be Rigged (with transcript)

Christmas Traditions (with transcript for study)

Transcript: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_7DK_hJb71f_StZWIkGh5Al1hvo9dEY2/view?usp=drivesdk