英语听力精选进阶版 7937

This week's question comes from Lok and they want to know what the word cos means.

Quite simply it is a short form of the word because. Native English speakers often shorten¹ this word, no doubt because it's easier to do that. Words are joined together or shortened² a lot when native speakers talk so it's good to be able to look out for these things to help understand English better.

So basically any time you want to say because in a sentence, you can just say cos (which is sometimes spelt 'cause).

You might hear this more in informal situations like a group of friends talking together. However, you find that British people are often quite informal in formal situations, so you may hear cos used in more formal settings.

Listen to our programme which explains a lot more about this word. You'll find out that even famous people use cos a lot!

Glossary 词汇

a short form

缩写

native English speakers

英语为母语的人

shorten

缩短

no doubt

毋庸置疑

to look out for

关注

a sentence

一句话

informal

非正式的/随便的

formal settings

正式场合

1 shorten   

vt.弄短，缩小，减少

参考例句：

• Minor accidents can shorten the life of a car.小事故会缩短汽车寿命。
• My dress is too long I must shorten it.我的连衣裙太长了，我得把它截短些。

2 shortened   

v.弄短，缩短( shorten的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She shortened the skirt by an inch. 她把裙子缩短了一英寸。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Vacations have lengthened and the work week has shortened. 假期延长，工作周就缩短了。 来自辞典例句