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Speaker 1: Sorry, I'm late. I got held up in traffic. Has

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this happened to you recently? Have you gotten held up

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and then you are running behind? Well, if you're looking

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to figure out how to talk about being late, you've

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come to the right place.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from

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New York City. And here's your English teacher, Michael.

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Speaker 1: All right, thank you, Jan and thanks everyone. It's Michael

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here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.

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And this is Happy English Podcast Episode eight twenty three. Late, delayed,

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held up, Let's talk about being behind schedule. Hello and welcome.

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Thanks for joining me for another episode of the Happy

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English Podcast. I'm your English teacher Michael, and I'm so

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glad you could join me today. And hey, if you're

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listening on time, you're not late, But if you are,

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it's okay. That's actually the topic for today. So let's

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talk about words like late, delayed, and some other useful

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English expressions that all have to do with not being

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on time. Let's start with the word late. It's probably

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the one you use most. We use late to talk

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about people and things that move, like public transportation. When

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someone or something is late, it just means they didn't

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arrive on time, like Lisa was late for the meeting

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this morning, or the bus was ten minutes late. That's

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a pretty common occurrence in New York. By the way,

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he's late, it's late, pretty simple. Late focuses on the

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result the person or thing did not show up when expected. Okay,

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now let's look at delayed. Delayed is similar to late,

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but delayed focuses more on the reason something is late.

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Usually it's not the person's fault. Something caused the delay,

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like my flight was delayed because of bad weather, or

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the train was delayed due to signal problems. Another typical

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thing you'll hear on the New York subway system. So

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if I say sorry, I'm late, I was delayed by traffic,

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I'm telling you why I wasn't on time. The next

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one is to be held up or to get held up.

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It's a little more casual, and it basically means the

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same thing as delayed, like I was held up at

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work or Mike got held up in traffic. These are

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conversational ways to tell someone the reason you were delayed.

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Held up is great for everyday English conversation when you

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don't make it on time and you need to say why.

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And speaking of being behind, that's another phrase, running behind.

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It's super useful if your day isn't going as planned.

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You can say i'm running behind today, I'll be there

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in twenty minutes. I'm running behind is also a casual

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way to say that you are delayed, like if you're

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a school teacher, you might tell the students, Hey, we're

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running behind schedule, so let's skip the quiz. So when

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you're late, you didn't show up when expected. Late doesn't

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tell us the reason, So to mention the reason, you

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can use delayed, held up, or tell someone that you're

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running behind. Now, what if something should have happened a

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while ago, but it still hasn't happened. In cases like this,

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you can use overdu. We usually use overdu when we

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talk about things not people, like I just found out

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that my library book is overdue, or when your teacher

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said this report is two weeks overdue. It's not just late,

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it's very late. By the way, the word late has

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one more meaning. We also use late to describe something

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that happens near the end of the day, the end

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of the season, or the end of another time period,

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like on Tuesdays, I have a late class it starts

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at ten pm. Or I wasn't expecting there would be

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tomatoes in my garden that late in the summer. And

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you know what, I just met a new student in

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her late sixties. She told me it's never too late

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in life to try doing something new. I completely agree.

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And there you have it, a little vocabulary boost to

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help you sound more natural when you're well not on time.

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Thanks for hanging out with me. Keep in mind, the

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best way to remember English like this and any other

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word or phrase in English, is to take that word

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or phrase, write it in a sentence that's true for

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you or true in your world, and then memorize your

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sentences and remember this. You can get more practice using

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your English when you join my podcast Learner's study group.

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There you can make new friends join us for live

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group lessons every week where we practice these podcast lessons together.

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Plus you get access to the pdf, transcript and audio

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download for every Happy English podcast in the past and

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in the future. And on top of that, each episode

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has exercises where you can practice this English point with

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speaking and writing checked by me. To learn more, just

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visit Myhappy English dot com and choose podcast Lesson eight

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twenty three. Remember learning another language is not easy, but

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it's not impossible, and I'm here to help you on

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your journey.

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Speaker 2: This podcast is brought to you by Happy English. Please

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visit myhappy english dot com. Show your support for happy

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English by leaving us a review. Get English, Get happy

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Happy English.