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We climbed into Brady’s boat and he 1 started rowing. He asked me to pick up an oar and help him row, and I, of course, obliged. Mind you, the boat had a motor, but we couldn’t use it because the water was too shallow and there was too much junk in it. He told us he’d been 2 doing nothing but helping people get around ever since the flooding started. He didn’t want any money for his help, but I made a mental note to give him $100 for his kindness. I don’t know what we would’ve done without him. Lizzie sat right behind Brady and told him where to go. She sounded like a GPS... turn right, turn left, go to the next corner. As we passed some of the houses, we noticed that they had several water lines. These lines suggested that at some point, all these houses had been completely under water. 3 Now the houses were only half submerged — including Lizzie’s.
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1 ...started rowing | Although it's possible to say started to row and started rowing here, the most common way to express beginning an action in most cases is with start -ing. That's because start to [verb] can have a different nuance than just the beginning of an action. It's also used when you almost do something, and then think better of it and don't do it. For instance:Last night at dinner, I started to order a glass of wine, but remembered I was on antibiotics and had a soda instead.2 he'd been doing nothing but… | Obviously, this is figurative and shouldn't be taken literally. It’s simply a way of saying that someone does something constantly, all the time. In this case, I use the perfect progressive to express that he had started doing this recently and was still doing it habitually when we met him.___________________
3 Now the houses... | The word now wears many hats in English. It's meanings can vary depending on whether it's stressed, unstressed and where it is in a sentence. It can be a temporal adverb referring to the present time, or it can be a discourse marker used to emphasize something or call the listener's attention to a specific detail in a story. Stressed now at the beginning of a sentence is always a temporal adverb meaning at the present time and additionally, it strongly contrasts with a situation that preceded it. For instance:When I first started learning English, I understood little bits and pieces of American shows. Now I understand everything.
GPS This stands for Global Positioning System and is basically a navigator like the ones you hear in cars that say “Turn right at the next light"... and hopefully "You have arrived at your destination."
(to make) mental note | [mɛ̀ntʰʟ nóu̯t] In this phrase, most speakers tend to pronounce the [t] in mental, where they'd otherwise say [mɛnʟ] | A mental note is when you write yourself a reminder IN YOUR HEAD to do something at some point in the future. You can make a mental note to do something or of something you want to remember: I made a mental note of his favorite color and bought him a blue shirt for his birthday.
mind youThis phrase is added to clarifying statements when the speaker wants to make sure that what they said before, isn't taken the wrong way or misunderstood. For instance, in this case, I picked up an oar and started rowing, but TO BE CLEAR, the boat had a motor — we just couldn't use it. This phrase can be used before or after the clarifying statement and is similar to don’t get me wrong, which we met in 001 Nacho & Flor. For instance, in the following snippet, it means don't get me wrong — I love her cooking, but... and the :When I got home last night, my wife put a plate of food in front of me and I almost threw up. I love her cooking, mind you, but I was getting the flu and had absolutely no appetite.
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