Today we meet the English expression “I meant to”. “Meant” is the past tense of “mean”, and I know you all know what “mean” means. (Sorry, there are a lot of “means” in that sentence!) I guess you often ask, “What does this word mean?” or you say “Now I understand what the sentence means”.

Now look at these sentences:

I meant to go to the supermarket, but I did not have any money with me.

I meant to do my English homework, but my friend visited, and we talked all evening.

I meant to speak to my mother, but she was not at home when I telephoned.

“I meant to..” means “it was my plan, or my intention to..” do something. And it is an expression we often use when we have to explain why we have not done something! “I meant to send her a postcard, but I could not find a stamp.” “I meant to meet my daughter in town, but I had to stay late at work for a meeting.”

Why am I explaining about “I meant to..” in this podcast? Well, quite a lot of you have sent me e-mails to ask why there have been no new podcasts for the last few weeks. I have been busy. I am the [bad word] of a Charity which helps children who have emotional or family problems. Unfortunately we [bad word] out of money, and have had to close the Charity, pay all the bills, make the staff redundant and find other organisations to help the children. This has taken a lot of time, so I have not been able to make as many podcasts as I would like. I meant to make several new podcasts, but I did not have the time. I meant to explain to you, but I forgot. I did not mean to leave you in the dark, but I had so many other things to do.

Here in England, it is nearly the school summer holidays. I am going to take a break, but I will be back with new podcasts early in September. Also in September, I want to redesign the Listen to English website, and add several new features. Listen to English is now on Twitter, and there is also a Listen to English page on Facebook. You can find links on the website. I shall use Twitter and Facebook to tell you when there are new podcasts, and to send you other news. You can use the Facebook page to send messages to me and to other listeners. So, please follow Listen to English on Twitter, and [bad word] a fan of the Listen to English page on Facebook.

There is an exercise about “I meant to” on the website. Have a good summer!