Ace

(Feifei and Finn playing cards)

Feifei:	I'm laying a five.
Finn:	I'm laying an eight.
Feifei:	Hmm, I'll lay a jack.
Finn:	(Faster pace) Queen!
Feifei:	Ace!
Finn:	OK OK, you go again!
Feifei:	Right, this time I'm laying three sevens.
Finn:	Wow, going bigger, are we?
Feifei:	Absolutely! Come on then, what have you got?
Finn:	I've got three kings! Here you go! I bet you can't beat that?
Feifei:	Hahaha! Check this out Finn—three Aces! (Very happy) Yay, I win again ... dinner is on you then?
Finn:	Yes, yes, I know. I didn't know you were an ace card player!
Feifei:	What do you mean 'an ace' card player? I play other cards too! I just played a five, a jack, a queen, two fours, three ... (interrupted)
Finn:	No, no, no. I didn't mean literally 'an ace' card player. In English, we can use the word 'ace' as an adjective to mean 'very good, excellent, and awesome'.
Feifei:	So you are actually saying I'm an 'excellent' card player? Ahh, thank you Finn, very kind of you to say so.
Finn:	Here are some examples using the word 'ace'.

• This is an ace idea!
• That is an ace laptop you've got!
• Have you listened to Arctic Monkeys' new album? It's ace!
• I'm ace at cooking!
• Andy Murray is an ace tennis player!

Finn: So we can use 'ace' to describe an idea, a thing or a person. And you can say you're ace at doing something. So Feifei, do you like pontoon?

Feifei:	Yes, it's ace!
Finn:	Shall we have a game? I'm pretty ace at playing pontoon.
Feifei:	But it's time for dinner and you are paying!
Finn:	One more game ...
Feifei:	No, let's go now, I'm hungry! Can we go to the new Thai restaurant that's just opened? I heard they serve ace tom yum soup!
Finn:	OK, in that case, let's go now.
Feifei:	Ace!
Finn:	Don't forget to check out bbclearningenglish.com for more The English We Speak. Bye!
Feifei:	See you next time!