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Let's start out with some phrasal verbs that contained up.
So the first phrasal verb on our list today is to board up.
To board up is a pretty literal phrasal verb.
When you board up your house, you're placing boards or wooden boards over your windows and over your door.
So the most common way that we use this phrasal verb is a natural disaster when there's a hurricane or a tornado or any sort of storm with strong winds. we might board up our house in order to prevent the windows and doors from breaking, the glass from breaking.
Or you might board up your house to prevent, you know, thieves or robbers from coming into your house.
Another way that we use this phrasal verb that's pretty common is if a house is abandoned.
So it looks like nobody has lived there for a long time. and you're not able to really get in and out of the house, you can say the house is boarded up.
So board up is a pretty straightforward phrasal verb, but it's very useful as well. the next phrasal verb on our list is a little less literal so you can say that you're going to soak up something with a sponge.
The phrasal verb is soak up. So if you spill some juice, you're going to soak it up with a towel or soak it up with a sponge.
That means you're going to absorb the liquid.
How do we use soak up in our everyday conversations?
Well, if you're really enjoying an experience, or you're enjoying a moment without being distracted, you can say you are soaking up the experience or soaking up the moment.
If you live in a cold place like I do, you might take a vacation during the winter and And when you go on a vacation to a warm place, you are soaking up the sun.
That means you are just... enjoying the experience so much.
You're not distracted. You're not thinking about other things.
You're just enjoying the moment. You're soaking it up.
To soak up my tears. walk up. A lot of times we use phrasal verbs just because it's so subtle and how they change the verb that native speakers just start naturally using them because You know, when you're able to just play around with language, you're just changing the verb or changing what you want to say slightly.
So instead of saying, I'm going to walk to the store. you could say to your friend, hey, I'm gonna walk up to the store, do you wanna come?
So when we add up here, it means we're going to go, we're gonna walk on our feet, but it also is just implying like it's pretty casual, it's a quick walk.
Another way that we use walk up is just when you're going to carefully approach something.
Or maybe you're a bit nervous. For instance, maybe you are... about to go on stage at some sort of convention and do a speech, you might be a little nervous.
So you could say, I was a bit nervous walking up to the stage or when I had to walk up to the stage.
This means approach the stage. Instead of just saying, I was a bit nervous when I had to walk to the stage. walking up means you're approaching you're approaching carefully or slowly right as you walked up So walk up is pretty versatile and another phrasal verb that we use in a bit different way but sometimes the same is to come up. come up to someone so you could say you're going to walk up to someone or come up to someone that means you're going to approach them And oftentimes, if you say I had to come up to the teacher or I had to come up to the stranger, it means you're kind of approaching them, asking them a question.
So maybe you're at work and your manager comes up to you to ask you what you're doing for the day or to ask you for help on something.
It means they're approaching you. My manager came up to me today and I got a bit nervous.
It means they just approached you to have a conversation.
Or maybe a teacher might say, if anybody has any questions while they're taking the test, come up to my desk or come up to me.
This means approach me. We're going to go on to some phrasal verbs that contain around.
These are some more important phrasal verbs.
So listen carefully. So the first one, I probably think that you haven't heard of this one yet.
It's to dance around. Usually you say you're going to dance around a subject or dance around a topic.
If somebody dances around a topic, it means they're kind of avoiding talking about it by you know distracting you talking about other subjects or topics Dance around, kick some hay.
A lot of times politicians are professionals at doing this.
They're asked a question And they dance around the question.
They dance around giving an answer by just talking about... something really general or changing the subject entirely.
So if someone dances around the question, it means they're not going to answer it. and they're going to distract you from even noticing that they didn't tell you an answer.
Or maybe you are with a friend and you have plans for later so you don't want them to ask you, oh, what are you doing later?
You might... kind of dance around the subject there by talking about next weekend or saying, oh, well, what are you doing later or something like that?
You don't want to directly answer the question.
You're dancing around it. Another phrasal verb that I use quite frequently is to shop around for something.
If you shop around for something, it means you're going to look in multiple different places, either to find what you like or to find the best price on something. could have shopped around so if you're in the market for a new car it's quite smart to shop around for different prices on the same car because Oftentimes, people are not super transparent or super honest about if they're giving you a good deal, especially when it comes to buying a car, which is super frustrating.
Or if you are looking for some new clothes, maybe you're not exactly sure what kind of clothes you want to buy.
Maybe you're not sure of your style in the moment.
So you might shop around and see what's available at all different kinds of stores.
Sometimes I was a big sister growing up to my brother and I would boss him around.
Big sisters are known for bossing around their siblings.
This phrasal verb to boss around just literally means to tell someone what to do.
And it's quite negative to say that someone is bossing another person around.
It implies that they're very controlling.
You won't boss me around anymore? I won't boss you around.
So if you say stop bossing me around, this you know you have to be careful with this phrasal verb because it means that the person is being or way too controlling they're being way too bossy is what we call a person that bosses someone around And oftentimes females have a problem with being called bossy or bossing people around because You know, it's a little bit sexist.
We view males as the natural leader. So if they're being bossy, we don't tend to call them bossy or bossing people around.
So again, just be really careful how you use this phrasal verb and make sure you're being fair in your judgment if someone is being bossy or bossing around.
Let's go on over to the phrasal verbs containing over today.
These are also really... important ones that I use in my everyday language.
The first one is to skip over. I use this in two ways. in my daily conversations.
So if you're gonna skip over something, it means you're just going to admit it.
You're entirely going to skip it. You know, let's skip over a few chapters in the book or let's skip over the first half of the movie and watch the second half.
It means you're not going to watch it. You're just going to fast forward.
Another way that I use skip over is just mean to... change subjects really quickly.
So let's skip over this part of the conversation.
You know, we've talked about this enough.
Let's move on. If you're skipping over to different subjects, it means you're just kind of limited on time perhaps.
If someone is trying to teach you something or tell you about something and you already know parts of it, you can say, oh, we can skip over that part.
I've actually already learned that or already heard about that. we can skip over it so this is a super useful phrasal verb or completely skip over.
To blow over is a very, you know, it's Not slang, but it's definitely a more casual phrase that means for something to be forgotten after some time.
Oftentimes when we're in big arguments with someone, if you know, nobody apologizes, sometimes we just wait for the argument. or the confrontation to blow over.
So it's like, we kind of just forgot about why we were fighting, it blew over.
Another way that we literally use the phrasal verb to blow over is when we're talking about storms passing after some time the storm blew over.
So that means the storm ended and went somewhere else.
Do you think for one moment they're going to let this thing just blow over?
I would say that the most common way we use the phrasal verb to blow over is for... you know, something to be forgotten like an argument, mainly an argument between two people Or if two people are fighting, I hope it blows over soon, which means I hope they forget about it or it just becomes, you know, not so important or so impactful on everyone.
So when we use the phrasal verb to pull over, we are talking about being in our vehicle, being in a car typically, and going to the side of the road.
If a police officer is behind you with their lights in the United States, they want you to pull over.
You are probably in trouble. Maybe you were speeding.
Maybe you didn't stop at a stop sign. You're probably going to get pulled over and be given a ticket, which is a citation, which is something that you have to pay because you broke the law.
So that's a very common way that we use pull over.
Another thing that we say is, oh, can you pull over?
I want to get something to eat. Maybe there's a restaurant or a fast food restaurant. that's off the road just shortly, you can say, let's pull over there.
So We all use pullover if we're actually just pulling to the side of the road or we're getting off the road for just a short amount of time.
We're not driving a far way along. from, you know, the busy road that we're on.
So pull over, it's a really driving centric phrasal verb that we use.
I know this isn't the best time, but when you get a chance to pull over.
Another driving phrasal verb that is pretty common is to run over.
So if you run over an animal, it means you have hit it with your car.
Or maybe you say, I ran over... you know, garbage on the road or something like that.
It means you went over it with your car.
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If a person got run over by a vehicle, it would be very bad.
They would get very injured or maybe if a car hit you very fast you could say that car ran over us so fast you'd be probably pretty injured as well You might want to warn someone, hey, don't cross the street.
You might get run over. The cars aren't stopping.
This means you would get hit by a car. There is one other way that we use the phrasal verb run over.
It's when we're going to quickly review something like some information like Let's run over our speech before we have to go on stage.
This means we're just going to quickly go through the speech or go through our notes that we're using for the speech. to fight over if you're a parent maybe your kids are fighting over the same toy over and over again That's like my kids.
Or if you are competing for something, you're fighting over it.
So you could compete for attention. Maybe you want someone to pay attention to you rather than the TV or rather than another person you could say I am fighting over their attention.
This means you're trying to gain their attention.
You're trying to win their attention. If you have an issue with someone and you're trying to figure out who's right and it becomes a bit of a conflict, you could say we're kind of fighting over who's right in this situation.
So it includes either two people or you're fighting over, you know, something against something else.
The next phrasal verbs on my list today contain away.
So the first phrasal verb Be really careful with it because it can hurt someone's feelings if you say it to them and it's go away.
If you say go away, it's a command that means please leave.
Leave now. Even if you say please go away.
It's not very nice. It's not kind. So be careful with this one.
And if someone tells you to go away, It's a bit rude.
It's a rude way to say like, oh, could you give me a moment?
Could you excuse me for a moment? That would be the polite way to say go away.
Maybe if you have a really good friend or maybe your husband or wife, you know, they They know that you're not trying to be rude.
You might say, go away, I need to concentrate real quick.
Maybe if it's something very important that you're doing.
Now another way that we use go away is if something disappears.
So for instance, if you have a headache, your head hurts and it goes away, you can say my headache went away.
My headache went away after I drank some water or after I took some medicine.
Or if there is bad weather outside and then it's sunny later in the day, you could say, oh, the bad weather finally went away.
So we use this phrasal verb to mean that something has just gone or disappeared.
Now, a phrasal verb that's not too different is to fade away.
When we say that something fades away, it means it gradually disappears.
So usually when we say that, you know, a color is faded, it means you can kind of see it, but maybe not Maybe the color has washed out of your favorite shirt or something like that.
So we call it faded. When we say that something fades away, it means it's slowly slowly going away.
The color in my shirt faded away after I washed it a few times.
It gradually started to become less vibrant or less bold.
If you say that a sound faded away, it means it got quieter and quieter very gradually.
Fading away. If you say that your happiness has faded away, it means you've been slowly becoming depressed or sad for some reason.
And another really common way we use to fade away is when we're talking about our memories.
Maybe a lot of time has passed. So our memories of something has faded away.
Maybe you can't really remember what it's like to be in school because it's been so long.
You could say, my memories have really faded away. from school this means you know i used to remember what it's like but it's just been so long they've gradually disappeared To give away.
Right now on my to-do list, I need to give away a lot of things in my house or at least try to sell them.
This means you're going to donate things if you give them away or give them to people that actually need them.
Oftentimes my kids outgrow, which is a bonus phrasal verb here.
It means they get too old for their toys. and they don't really want to play with them anymore.
So I try to give them away to people who have younger kids, or I give them away to a charity that will sell them and make money for the charity.
If you want to say that somebody is giving out something for free, even outside of a charity context, You can say, oh, they're giving away, they're giving this away, they're giving away free pizza, something like that. we're going to move on to some phrasal verbs containing on if you cheer someone on it means You're literally cheering for them.
You're hoping that they will win. And you're being loud.
You're saying, you know, you got this. You can do it.
I'm cheering you on. So a crowd at a sporting event will literally cheer on their favorite team.
Or if you want to tell your child or someone that you'll be at their sporting event later or competition, whatever it is.
You could say, I'll be there later cheering you on.
This means I'll be encouraging you from the crowd.
If you take something on, it means you're accepting a responsibility or a task.
So if you take on a new pet, this means you're taking on all the responsibilities that come with having a pet.
If you're at work, you could use this phrasal verb.
You can say, I've taken on a lot of projects this month.
This means you've taken a lot of work from either other people or just new work that your boss has offered.
And you have all these responsibilities now that are in your control. accept a challenge for someone you can say I took on the challenge I took on the challenge of running a marathon So the next phrasal verb, it's interesting how we use this one.
Sometimes we say we have a crush on. on someone this means we have a romantic interest and typically you say i have a crush on someone You haven't told them that you like them yet.
You know, you're just kind of thinking about them and you're talking to them about your friends.
Now, the phrasal verb that we use here is we're crushing on someone.
If you maybe like a celebrity, you could say, oh, I'm crushing on this celebrity.
Or if you have someone, you know, a friend, you could say, oh, I have a crush on my friend.
Or you could say, I am crushing on my friend.
It's just a way to say that you have romantic feelings for this person.
And obviously a crush... It can be you seriously want to date them, or it can just be you kind of like them, but You're not sure if you're serious about it.
So this word to crush on someone or having a crush is pretty informal.
I'm crushing on someone. We're going to start off our list of off phrasal verbs with... to start off so to start off means to begin something and oftentimes if we're talking about the way that someone began their speech or began a presentation, we could say they started off talking about hard work or they started off talking about... what they did last weekend.
It's just how they begin the conversation or their speech or whatever it might be.
Oftentimes, a person might literally say, I'm going to start off with a quick introduction.
This means they're going to introduce or talk about the basics about themselves.
If you're talking about your day, you might say, well, the day started off with a big breakfast and coffee.
It just means the beginning or how you begin something to start it off.
To call off means to cancel something. So if there's bad weather, you might have to call off an outdoor event.
If someone is sick and they can't go to work, they might say, I have to call off work today.
This means they literally have to call and say that they can't work because they're sick.
If you have to cancel a trip, you might say, I had to call off my trip because of... some sort of situation.
So oftentimes when we call off things, we're canceling them unexpectedly.
So it's used in professional situations and just your everyday social situations as well.
To brush off. So if you brush off something, it means you're kind of dismissing it or ignoring it.
A lot of times people say you should just brush off criticism.
This means you should ignore mean comments or comments that are not helpful when they're just being critical.
Or if your boss is, you know, telling you guys that you need to do more work, you have to take on more projects, you might bring your concerns to your boss being like, you know, we don't have enough time to finish all of these.
We don't have enough resources. And if your boss just ignores you, you could say, my boss just brushed off my concerns or brushed off our problems.
This means they didn't really care and they just ignored them.
The final phrasal verb today is a bit of a bonus one.
Maybe you've heard it before, but it's really important to say When someone is sleeping later than usual, they slept in or to sleep in.
Before I had kids, on weekends, I would always sleep.
And this means I would sleep later than I usually do when I have to get up for work.
Now, sleeping in is seen as something you do on weekends or on rest days, but if you are just late, you accidentally sleep too late, we call it oversleeping, not sleeping in.
Sleeping in is relaxing and good. Let's start off with some of the most useful phrases in this lesson.
They're really fun phrases that I feel like anyone who's speaking English at an intermediate to advanced level can actually use right away in their daily conversations.
So the first phrase is one that I use Just the other day, so I had to write down, the phrase is whatever floats your boat.
That's Hindi for whatever floats your boat.
If you're a really easygoing person, this idiom is going to be really easy for you to use in your everyday conversations.
Because all it means is that you are okay with whatever choice the person you're speaking to has made. it means you're indifferent or you just, you don't really care.
You're not bothered. So for instance, someone might say, I think I'm going to probably eat lunch before I start working.
And you're like, I don't care. Like, instead of just saying, yeah, I don't care.
That can be kind of rude. And say, yeah, whatever floats your boat.
That means whatever makes you happy. I don't care.
It's not my decision. Maybe you have company at your house and they say, oh, I like to wake up early.
Is that okay with you? You might say, yeah, whatever floats your boat.
I'll be up at 9 a.m., but if you want to wake up early, that doesn't bother me.
Whenever floats your boat. So that just means whatever makes...
The other person happy does not affect you and you don't care and you think that's great.
It's a positive phrase. You may have heard an English speaker use this next phrase before.
It isn't necessarily an idiom, But it doesn't mean what you think it does.
It can actually mean a lot of different things.
So paying attention to the tone and context is really important here.
So when English speakers say... Get out of here.
This can either mean they're excited. Get out of here.
They're in disbelief. Get out of here. They're surprised.
Oh, get out of here. Like pleasantly surprised.
It can mean a lot of different things. So you have to pay attention to the tone here.
So if someone's surprised, maybe their friend got them Taylor Swift concert tickets.
You might say, oh my gosh, get out of here.
I can't He can't believe you got the ticket.
So this is just expressing excitement and surprise.
And then maybe you found out your friend spent way too much money on those concert tickets.
You could also use this phrase. You might say, get out of here.
That is way too much money because People pay thousands and thousands of dollars for these concert tickets.
So this phrase, super unique. super fun to use in your everyday informal conversations.
Get out of here. It can mean excitement or disbelief.
This next phrase also suggests that you are surprised or in disbelief about something, but it's used quite differently.
The phrase is, what are the odds? So we say this to someone when we're kind of surprised, like pleasantly surprised that something unusual has happened.
Or we can use it when we are not happy, we're unhappy, we're kind of dissatisfied about something that's unusual or weird that happened.
What are the odds? One instance that you can use it in a more negative way is if you're you know, surprised that something happened or you're thinking like, why me?
Why did this happen to me? What are the odds?
So maybe you are supposed to be having a party and it's supposed to be outside. and it rains and it's really bad weather that day, even though you've been having really good weather, you might say, What are the odds that it rains on the day that I have a party?
That's just meaning like, why today? Why does it have to be today, even though the chances are low?
Now, if you use this in a more excited way, you might say, oh, what are the odds of you being here at the same time as me?
This is used really frequently when we see a friend, a colleague, or just anyone we're familiar with in a public place that we weren't expecting to see them.
For instance, maybe you go to the airport and you see an old friend from high school or something.
You might say, what are the odds that we run into each other here?
You know, you're at an airport. You're not expecting to see anyone that you know.
And sometimes I use this in kind of a sarcastic way.
If I am expecting to see someone or like it's not surprising that I see someone.
For instance, when the weather is really nice where I live, my family and other families that live around me usually go to the park, to the playground, And if I see one of my neighbors that has kids and is probably going to be at the playground, I say, oh, what are the odds of seeing you here today?
It's like. Yeah, of course, we're both here.
It's a nice day. And we both have kids. So we use it sarcastically all the time to like, Of course.
What are the odds? Odds are probably pretty good that we run into each other.
So this phrase, it's used in daily conversation and it's pretty fun to use it in either a serious matter, you can be happy about it or sad about something happening, or you can just be sarcastic as well.
What are the odds? Of course, we're both here.
Sometimes in English we repeat things in a phrase just to kind of emphasize them and it's hard to explain exactly what the phrase means in the minute but if you look at the phrase you'll understand it so the phrase is when you know you know This is used most commonly to say that your instinct is correct.
The way you feel is correct in the situation.
I think this phrase is probably most commonly used when you find something that's right, like a romantic partner.
When you meet your husband or you meet your wife, you just kind of know when you know you know it's the right person or maybe you started a new job and at first you were thinking like I don't know if this job is going to work out.
And on the first day it went great. And you say, oh, this job is great.
When you know, you know. So you're glad that you took the job and it feels like a good fit and you're trusting your instinct.
When you know, you know. This can also mean that When you know something is a bad situation, you gotta trust your instinct and get out of that situation as well.
Maybe you have a job interview and you can tell by the questions that the boss is asking you and they're talking about the job, you know it's not going to be a good fit.
So maybe you just decline. the job. You say, this job isn't going to be a good fit for me.
When you know, you know. Speaking of knowing things, this next phrase, it's more of a slang phrase.
It's definitely used very casually. But it's not one of those slang phrases that only young people can use.
Anyone, any age can use this phrase. So the phrase is, they know what's up.
This is a way to show you respect someone, you respect their opinion, or you think that they have the right idea.
Maybe your friend gives you a recommendation for a restaurant and you go there and it's so good.
You might say, oh, my friend recommended this to me.
They know what's up. This is a slang phrase.
It just means I respect, you know, they know they have a lot of intelligence when it comes to picking a restaurant.
They have a really good opinion. Or if you see someone with some really cool shoes and you have the same shoes and you like those, you might say, I like your shoes.
You know what's up. So like. You're saying like, this is a sign of respect.
I really like your taste. you want to show that you respect someone at work and you think they're really good at the job and they're really smart, you'll say, I'll ask Peter.
He knows what's up. So this is saying like he actually knows the answer probably, but he's also just very smart.
And again, you can use this in the workplace, but it is a pretty casual phrase.
Let's move on to some phrases that are going to help you deal with people and friendly situations and social situations and professional situations as well.
Let's talk about what the phrase means to win someone over.
Maybe you can guess by just looking at the words in this phrase, but it basically means that you change someone's opinion about yourself.
So you make them like you, essentially. smile be charming win them over and sometimes it's not that the person doesn't like you to begin with maybe you're trying to gain their trust Or maybe you're just trying to persuade them into an idea or to support you in something.
That's how you win someone over. When I was much younger, in the middle of the school year, I got transferred to a new school and essentially a new job. i was working with an older more experienced teacher and i think she just thought you know I was just a young person.
I didn't really care about the job. But then when she saw how hard I worked and how much I cared about the students, I really won her over and she really took me under her wing and taught me a lot about teaching.
So oftentimes people might just be skeptical of you at first or just not really care.
And when you show them your good qualities or you give them, you know, reasons to like you and persuade them to your ideas, you can win them over.
If you're dating someone new and you're about to meet their parents and maybe their parents have a reason to be skeptical about you or, you know, they're not sure if they're going to like you yet, you might say, I can win them over.
Trust me. And this just means you're going to be very charming and very friendly, and hopefully you can win them over into liking you.
Some people are very forgiving and they refuse to hold a grudge or stay mad at someone in any situation.
Now some people... are not like this and they will hold things against other people for a very, very long time.
This phrase, to hold something against another person, this is exactly what it means.
It basically means that you are going to say resentful and bitter about something that someone has done to you.
I hold nothing against your cousin. Maybe you're explaining that you have some sort of flaw or shortcoming, but you want to explain to people that doesn't define you.
That doesn't mean that you can't do a job.
For instance, maybe you went to college, but you never graduated.
You might say to someone in a job, don't hold that against me.
I'm a really hard worker. You know, there was just a few reasons why I couldn't graduate.
We can use this in a lot of different ways when it comes to you know, having characteristics that we aren't going to hold against someone and we're not going to doubt them or resent them for something.
And we can kind of use it in a joking matter as well.
For instance, when I got married, my whole family is big Vikings football fans and my husband... is a Packers fan.
Now these two teams are rivals and my family jokingly said at the wedding, We won't hold that against you, meaning we're not going to resent you.
We're not going to be bitter just because you don't like our football team.
But we do like to joke around and have this rivalry between the two teams during football season.
Maybe someone is late to a meeting, but you know there was very bad traffic.
You might say, oh, don't worry, I won't hold that against you.
That means I won't resent you and I don't think of you in a bad way just because of the small thing.
So this raise, it's very useful when communicating with people.
The next phrase in this lesson is to scare someone off.
Now, literally, if you scare someone or something like an animal off, you know, you're going, get out of here.
Maybe you have a coyote, you know, a wild dog in your yard and you yell at it, make lots of noise. you scare it off.
This is how we would literally use this phrase.
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You scared her off. Now we can also use this phrase if we're going to make someone uncomfortable in a situation and maybe they just won't want to interact with us anymore or they won't want to be a part of our organization, our group, because they're uncomfortable and maybe we just come on a little bit too strong.
Maybe you're in a job interview and the manager that's interviewing says, you know, I don't want to scare you off, but this job is a lot of hard work.
It's a lot of long hours. So they're just meaning like I'm being honest with you, but I'm not saying this just to deter you or make you uncomfortable or make you go away.
Maybe a new friend is going to join your group for the day and one of your other friends start asking the person, you know, a lot of questions and you say, hey, don't scare her off and ask too many questions.
Let's just let her, you know, warm up to us, get used to having conversation with us, whatever it might be.
Speaking of friends, this next phrase is probably pretty useful to you because if you are not a native English speaker, Sometimes it can be a little bit uncomfortable to put yourself out there.
Let's talk about what this phrase means.
Put yourself out there. Good. So this phrase, to put yourself out there, it means that you are going to enter a social situation or professional situation that you aren't super comfortable in.
Maybe you feel a little bit vulnerable, or maybe you feel like you're under qualified, or maybe you haven't spoken to a group of people before.
But you're going to put yourself out there and try to socially interact with them.
So it's just like being brave and being vulnerable in a new situation.
Sometimes you might put yourself out there and get rejected.
And sometimes you might put yourself out there and you might make a new friend that's going to be your friend for life.
I've had both situations happen. Being friends with people as an adult, making new friends I should say, is really difficult.
And I don't have a lot of friends from when I was younger that I still talk to.
So I'm always trying to make new friends and be social.
And sometimes, you know, I see someone, I have something and common with and I put myself out there oh hi like I like your shoes I have ones just like that or you know do you live around here the person might you know Tell me like, all right, crazy lady, I don't want to talk to you right now.
I've had this happen. And then sometimes I'll be like, oh, yeah, you know, actually, I've seen you here before.
And then we become friends. So it's really important in social context to put yourself out there.
It's also important in professional context as well.
If you are trying to get a new job, you might have to put yourself out there and apply to companies that you don't think are going to accept you.
But you know, you got to take a chance. You got to put yourself out there.
The last phrase that we're going to use when talking about dealing with people is to let someone off the hook.
So this phrase, it means you are going to release someone of their obligation or their punishment.
Maybe you just started a new job and you were supposed to do some sort of task for the day your coworker or your boss says, hey, how come you didn't do that?
And you say, oh, I'm sorry, I just didn't know.
And they'll say, oh, well, I'll let you off the hook this time.
No big deal. But next time you have to do it.
So this just means, you know, you're new.
I'm going to be extra forgiving. I'm going to let you off the hook of this responsibility or I'm not going to have any punishment or punishment.
I'm not going to criticize you even. This idiom probably comes from the idea that if you have a fish and you just let it go, you're letting it off the hook, you're not going to eat the fish.
Don't let him off the hook. You can also use this idiom in a more serious manner.
You can be like... you know, rich people get let off the hook for all of these crimes.
They never get punished because they can just pay their way out of the crime.
They get let off the hook. So again, this idiom is pretty useful.
It's pretty versatile. All right, now we're going to go over some phrases that will help you when talking about taking risks or decision making.
The first phrase is to second guess yourself or to second guess something, to second guess a decision.
When I go somewhere and it's really busy, I hate big crowds.
I'm always like, ah, second guessing my decision to go here today because... know maybe I should have picked a different day or a different time to go there.
Some people have a hard time making big decisions and they feel like they always second guess themselves.
This means they doubt their ability to make a decision to make the right decision.
If someone tells you to do something or to go somewhere and you get there, you're like, this might not be right.
This might not be good. You might be, I'm second guessing their decision. or if your phone tells you directions and you're like, don't think these are correct.
This address might not be correct because sometimes technology is wrong.
You might say, I'm second guessing my phone right now.
I don't think it's correct. This has happened to me before, you know, I drive to the wrong place because I look up the address and it's not the correct place that I need to go.
So we're using this phrase when we're not completely sure if something is correct or we're starting to doubt something.
And we're saying, maybe this isn't right.
The next phrase is quite the opposite. The phrase is to go all in on something.
So if you have a plan or some sort of decision or some sort of strategy that you want to fully commit to, you're not doubting it at all, you think that you need to fully commit in order for it to work, you say, I'm going to go all in on this plan or I'm going to go all in on this strategy.
Maybe at work, if you're in sales, your team has a new marketing strategy and they need everyone to be working their best, doing all the things in this new strategy.
Your boss might say, we need to go all in on this plan.
I need everybody to be working their hardest.
So just to go all in means you're fully committed to something.
Sometimes if people are in a romantic relationship, You know, they want to make it very official.
They're kind of showing that they're intending maybe to get engaged and get married someday.
They might say to their partner, they might say, I am all in on our relationship.
This just means I fully believe in it. except, you know, being engaged, like we're trying to build a relationship and get, you know, closer, whatever it might be.
This next phrase is very useful. The phrase is to be cut out for something.
So this phrase, it's used when we're talking about having natural talent. ability or just being able to adjust to a situation.
If you are able to do that, you can say, I am cut out for this.
Maybe you are a person that cannot sell. sit at a desk all day.
You need to be active. You need to be doing things.
And if you think about getting a desk job, you might say, I'm just not cut out for that type of work.
I need to be more active. This just means like my personality and my skills are not suited best to that job.
Personally, I've either been in a creative job or in an education-based job my entire adult life, so I don't think I'm really cut out to be... sitting in a desk, just working on a computer or making phone calls.
When someone is from a place that has a warmer climate or warmer weather, They might move somewhere and it's really cold in the winter.
They might say, I am not cut out for these winters.
This just means like I can barely survive.
This is not very pleasant for me. I used to teach English and tutor English for taking English placement exams. so in these tests or exams there are questions that are meant to trick English learners.
They're supposed to trip you up. So this phrase, to trip someone up, it means it's intentionally trying to trick someone or make them choose the wrong thing.
Maybe someone's really focused and you say something to them and it kind of takes them out of the moment. and they're not as focused anymore, you might say, oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to trip you up.
So to trip someone up, you're either making them lose focus or you're distracting them from what they're supposed to do.
Or maybe you're trying to confuse them if you're tripping them up.
And a lot of times tests have questions that are meant to trip learners up.
Let's talk about some phrases that can help you explain unpredictable situations or surprises that happen.
The first phrase is going to be a bit more formal if you have a formal plan of some sort. and it goes wrong, you can say, it went askew, askew.
I love this phrase and I love this word.
So for instance, maybe you had a meeting And, you know, a question got brought up and then nobody was talking about what was supposed to be going on in the meeting.
You could say the meeting went askew when somebody asked about this.
So it just means it did not go to plan. It can be used in a bit more informal situations too, but remember this is talking about when we have a real actual plan.
For instance, my friend went on vacation recently with her entire family, like eight people.
And one person got sick during the vacation and then Everybody got sick and the whole vacation went askew.
They were supposed to stay for another week.
And they actually had to go home early because everyone was sick and no one was enjoying the vacation.
So they drove home. So this just means that a formal plan got completely ruined.
It got off track. It went askew. This whole thing is to skew your system.
The next phrase is to make a concoction.
You probably haven't heard this English word before.
It's used very specifically, but it's actually use kind of frequently.
It's a pretty common word to use. So to make a concoction, it means you're getting kind of creative. you're mixing ingredients that wouldn't normally go together.
Maybe you're going to drink it as a beverage Or maybe you're making some sort of concoction that is supposed to heal something or be a cleaner for your household.
Don't mix cleaners, by the way. It's never a good idea.
One thing that I keep seeing on my social media is street food in India.
So it's people that make these crazy concoctions or crazy drinks you know they're adding certain fruit and ice and sparkling water like bubbly water to the the beverage and they're shaking it up it's a concoction and it looks pretty good usually but i keep getting you know these crazy videos of them shaking it and the ingredients going everywhere It's kind of funny.
So they're making a concoction. They're mixing things that typically don't go together.
If you see someone making an alcoholic beverage and they're mixing some things together, you might say, oh, what are you making?
Is that quite the concoction there? concoction it just means you know a mix of ingredients and typically when we make a concoction it's liquids it's a special concoction Have you ever heard someone say that someone else is delusional?
If you say that someone's delusional, it means they believe things that aren't true and often They're overestimating their situation or their abilities and they think, you know, everything great.
They're being delusional. Now, a slang phrase I'm going to bring up today is to be de lulu.
De lulu. She's de lulu. It's kind of a funny phrase.
I would not typically use this in my everyday English, but I hear people use it online.
It's just kind of a funny way to say that somebody is delusional.
I don't think anyone's using this as a very serious slang phrase, but it's out there to be DeLulu.
It's really common just in casual conversation if you're talking about someone, you know, as we do, And they just, you know, there's someone that just doesn't understand what's going on.
They think everything is great. You might say, oh, they're just delusional.
Or she's just delusional. She doesn't realize, you know, how bad things are right now.
He's paranoid. Delusional. Basically, you're saying someone is being unrealistic or overly optimistic if...
They are delusional. Maybe your boss says, oh, we can probably finish this project by the end of the week.
You might say to your coworker, our boss is delusional.
This is at least going to take us a month.
You know, they're being overly optimistic.
Okay, the next phrase is to be a knockoff.
So if you call something a knockoff, It means it's an imitation of something that's either more expensive or better.
And another slang phrase I'm gonna teach you, this is turning into a slang segment of the lesson here, is to be a dupe.
If we say something is a dupe, It means it's a fake version of, you know, a product.
A product that's really good. So for instance, a lot of girls in the United States like...
Lululemon. I think men like it too. It's an athletic clothing brand, if you didn't know.
And it's really expensive. You know, it's $100 for a pair of pants.
So a lot of times, Women will find dupes of the pants on Amazon or other websites.
And they say, you know, I got this dupe.
It's really good. It's only $30 instead of $100.
This is a really common dupe. Or if you buy, you know, a certain food that tastes like the actual brand, but you get it for cheaper, you say, oh, this is a really good dupe.
It tastes really good. It's just a cheap knockoff.
So we use knockoff in the same way, but I would say this phrase is more common and more versatile. to say that something is a knockoff.
So women will also buy knockoff handbags.
This is a really common way to use this phrase.
So maybe instead of buying a real Louis Vuitton, they buy a knockoff.
So it's a fake one. It looks exactly the same.
And I think it's technically illegal to do this.
You know, it's a counterfeit product. piece of merchandise, but people do it all the time.
If you want to say that something else is imitating something, but it's not as good, you can also call it a knockoff.
Like maybe a person is trying to be just like a celebrity and say, well, they're just kind of a knockoff.
They're not really like this person. Or maybe you have a movie that is just like another movie that was really good, but you know, it's the lower budget version.
You could say, well, that was. a knockoff, that movie was a knockoff of this other movie.
This next group of phrases is going to help you when understanding and analyzing things.
The first phrase, super useful, definitely take notes on this one.
The phrase is the ins and outs of something.
If someone knows the ins and outs of something, it means that they know all the small details and the complexities of what this thing is.
At work, there's always a really smart person that knows the ins and outs of everything.
It just means they know all the details.
They know how everything works, even if it's something complex. or difficult to understand.
This phrase is really useful when you're talking about learning about something new or just discussing the details.
If you want to say we'll discuss the details later, we can say we'll discuss the ins and outs of everything later.
So it just means like the small, complex details of it.
And again, if you're learning something, you might say, I need to know the ins and outs of how to do this before I actually submit my project or whatever it might be.
Okay, speaking of someone that's very smart at work, you might use this next phrase to describe them.
You might say they bring a lot to the table or what do they bring to the table?
This phrase is talking about someone who contributes something of value or you're asking, you know, what are they contributing?
Not literally like food to a table, like...
What kinds of work and what kinds of knowledge are they contributing?
What do they bring to the table? what you're bringing to the table.
This phrase is used a lot in business English to just show that someone's contributing something Or if you're asking, what is this going to bring to the table?
Do you think this will bring a lot of sales to the table?
It's just meaning, what is it going to contribute?
What is it going to bring? Going back to detail, someone who is very detail-oriented and very thorough They leave no stone unturned.
This is a great idiom just to mean that someone was very thorough in their search or in checking all the details.
No stone unturned. If someone is a detective or they're trying to put together a crime, figure out who did it, they might leave no stone unturned. just means they check everything.
They look at all the small details. It's like they're not missing anything if you use this phrase to leave no stone unturned.
So when someone's seeking out answers and very thorough, this is the phrase that we can use to describe what they're doing.
They're leaving no stone unturned. And it's, you know, kind of an idiom you can think about looking out in the grass or some sort of field and you're literally turning over every rock and every little thing just to find out an answer.
This next phrase is also very common for native English speakers to use in their everyday conversation.
If you want to talk about starting a journey or starting a career or just some sort of early life event, And, you know, going through all of these steps and different places and different experiences and then... ending up at the same place you started at, you can use this phrase to go full circle.
Let me give you a few examples of how this is used.
So maybe you work a job at a company and you start at a very low level.
And then maybe you go away from that company and get experience from somewhere else and then you go back to the original company and now you're the boss there you could say my career has gone full circle i'm back to where i started but you know now i'm a manager whatever it might be, or maybe you are becoming a teacher.
And after many years of going to school and going to college, you go back and teach at your original school that you started learning at.
You know, your career kind of went full circle or your life kind of went full circle in this situation.
A lot of times people grow older and they go live somewhere else. to work a different job and go to school and then they end up back in their hometown, they might say, I feel like I've gone full circle.
You know, I've traveled and now I'm back to where I began.
So this phrase it's super useful when you want to say that something has returned back to the starting point.
It's gone full circle. the phrase, it's a gray area.
If you want to say that something isn't really a legal And it's not really good to do either, though.
You can say it's a gray area. A lot of times if people are doing things that, you know, You were like, isn't that illegal?
You could say, no, it's not technically illegal.
It's a gray area. So it means... It's not good to do, but it's not going to end you up in jail.
Or it's not super ethical, but you can do it still and get away with it.
It is... okay, but it's not good. It's a gray area.
And this can be you're actually... in a gray area of the law something really serious or just you know a small rule for instance So in the United States, a lot of people know healthcare is so complex and it's just... a mess of a system.
It's not free. It's not cheap. It's very expensive to get good health care here.
And a lot of times you'll get billed for very small things if you go to the hospital.
And, you know, you're like, isn't this illegal?
And it's kind of a gray area. Like they can just bill you whatever they want, even though they're supposed to be more transparent with their pricing, but it's a gray area, you know?
No, no, it's not technically ethical or good, but they do it anyway.
And there's not much you can do to fight against it.
A lot of social media companies, they collect your data, they don't give you a lot of online privacy, and although You know, it's technically not illegal.
Some of the things they do, it's not ethical.
So it's kind of a gray area. So hopefully this gives you an idea of how we actually use this phrase in our everyday English.
Now it's time to get into some phrases that are philosophical and a bit more self reflective.
Have you ever heard anyone say, we're only human?
Maybe you have this phrase in your first language as well.
This phrase just means that humans make mistakes and all we can be as humans.
So we're going to make mistakes. It's a way of just saying like, it's okay to make a mistake. here still we're only human Maybe you're on a diet and you're talking to your friend like, oh, I'm having a hard time, you know, sticking to this diet.
I keep eating dessert all the time or getting fast food and they say, well, we're only human.
You can just try your best and try to do better.
So it's just like, don't worry about failing or making mistakes because we're only human.
It's a way to comfort someone if you say that. this phrase.
Have you ever heard anyone say, I'm not getting any younger?
This phrase is used just to say, time is passing, I should live my life as I want to.
You know, I should go on some trips or do whatever I want to do before I die because time isn't going to stop or go backwards.
I'm not getting any younger and obviously...
This phrase is, you know, kind of sarcastic.
Of course, you're not getting younger. But it's just a saying that you need to live life to the fullest or, you know, whoever's saying it. needs to live life to the fullest because time isn't going to stop or go backwards.
Well, she's not getting any younger. And sometimes we use this phrase to say we need to value our time with people. who are older than us, like our parents and our grandparents, you might say, well, I want to go visit my grandparents because they're not getting any younger.
I need to visit them, you know, before time runs out or before they pass away.
If you want to say that you have empathy for someone in a situation, you know you feel sad for them, Use the phrase, I feel sorry for them.
Oh, I feel sorry for them. You know, that's too bad that that happened.
This is just the most common way that we say that we are feeling sadness for another person or Or if you want to tell people, you know, you don't have to feel sad for me.
I'm okay. Saying, oh, don't feel sorry for me.
I'll be just fine. This means, you know, Don't waste your emotions your feelings because I'm a strong person.
Let's end our lesson today on a strong note, these phrases are going to make you feel really confident and help you express yourself in English as well.
You might hear someone say I'm going to take a page from that person.
This means you are going to follow their example or do something just like they do because you think it's a good idea.
Maybe you have a friend that's really organized and they're always cleaning their house.
They're always meal planning. They're always getting, you know, ready to do something and they just seem very organized in general.
You might say, I'm going to take a page from them and I'm going to set a plan for the week.
I'm going to set a meal plan. I'm going to keep my house clean.
You know, You're just trying to adopt their behavior.
If you use this phrase, I'm going to take a page.
It's like saying I'm going to take a page from their book and copy it.
If you want to say that you're going to do something so that you don't have to worry about it anymore or be concerned about it anymore, you can use the phrase to get it out of the way.
Sometimes I like to work out in the morning just to get it out of the way so that I don't have to think about it for the rest of the day like, oh, I should work out, I should exercise. it feels good to just get it out of the way in the morning.
Or if you're entering a conversation with someone and you have to talk about something that's a little bit awkward or uncomfortable or sad, you might say, I just want to get this out of the way for first so that we can go on to you know having a happy conversation and you know more pleasant time so usually you get something out of the way that's not fun to deal with or not speaking of having a conversation in English and in the United States when we speak It's really common to try to keep up the small talk, talk about little things that aren't super meaningful.
They're not super deep parts of our conversation.
I feel like that's a very American thing to do.
We feel like we always have to be like, oh yeah, and how's your weekend?
And oh, how's this been? And oh, do you like that?
Da-da-da-da. Small talk. Now, when you have a point in the conversation where you can't find anything to talk about and you feel like, oh, this is just awkward or boring.
We call that a lull in conversation. So a lull in conversation is kind of like saying a low in conversation.
It's just the phrase that we use for this instant, a lull.
Now, there's kind of a lull in our conversation on the date where we didn't really have anything else to talk about or we didn't have anything else in common.
So this is just, you know, it's kind of a negative thing.
It means it was kind of awkward. You didn't have much to talk about.
I was waiting for a lull in the conversation.
We have a saying in the United States and this is kind of a bonus saying for you.
It's just a word of wisdom that we say here in the United States that it's not what you know, it's who you know.
This just means that when you're trying to get a job or some sort of opportunity, if you know a person that's in a high place at a company, it's more valuable than being skilled even, which It's kind of sad to say, but it's true.
And when you know a person that's high up in a company or has a lot of power, and you want to ask them for a favor, you want to ask them for an opportunity, and they're going to go out of their way to do it for you, we use this next phrase.
This phrase is very valuable to know. The phrase is to pull strings.
I pull some strings. So when someone pulls strings for you, it means they use their power, they use their influence, they use their connections to make something happen for you.
It's an opportunity or something that you wish to happen.
For instance, one time my husband worked with someone and their side job, their job on the concert security.
And he said, you know, anytime you want, I can pull some strings and get you some tickets to a concert.
So he got us some tickets. I think we went to... the Goo Goo Dolls, and Philip Phillips for free.
He pulled some strings and he got us some free tickets.
It was awesome. So this just means that he's using his connections and he's using his power at the job.
You know, he's a security person. to get us something free or get us a benefit.
Going back to the idea of getting a job even though you might not have the best skills if you know someone in power at the company You can ask them to pull some strings and get you an interview.
And maybe you can impress the person interviewing you.
And maybe they wouldn't normally interview you just based off your resume, but just because They're giving a courtesy to someone they know at the company.
They're going to give you the opportunity.
They pulled some strings to get you the interview.
This next phrase, you definitely won't learn it in your textbook, but it's very useful when you're trying to, you know, debate a decision or having an argument or just any sort of discussion, if you want to look at it from a different way, you use this phrase.
So you say on the flip side. So maybe you're saying to your friend, you know, we should go out to eat tonight.
We should celebrate, you know, it's Friday, whatever.
And your friend might say, well, On the flip side, we did spend a lot of money this week and I just ate out yesterday.
Maybe we should stay in and save some money.
So they're just looking at the situation in a different perspective.
Maybe you're talking about working from home rather than going to an office.
You might say, yeah, I really like working from home, but on the flip side, I do miss talking to people and getting to know my coworkers in real life.
So just looking at the situation in the opposite way.
And it's a common phrase that we just use in our conversations very naturally.
On the flip side, you can think about it like this.
And this phrase, it's a bit more informal than just saying, you know, on the contrary or to contrast this, but it's used in just everyday professional English and So sometimes we tell people to have their fun.
The phrase is to have your fun here. So this phrase means enjoy yourself because, you know, life is short or the situation won't last forever.
You know, eventually you'll have to do something serious.
But for now. have your fun have your fun boys have your fun a lot of people in their early 20s you know they don't have a lot of responsibilities So they're able to go out with their friends to the clubs and have drinks late and stuff like that.
They have their fun, but then When they get into their later 20s or 30s, you know, it's time to settle down and be serious.
You know, if they had their fun, now it's time to be serious and take on more responsibility.
Okay, this next phrase is very important.
I want to make sure you know what it means.
Do you know what it means when someone says that something was a violation of their privacy?
So this comes from the idea that everybody is entitled or deserves to have some privacy in their life.
For instance, online, we're supposed to have privacy, but a lot of times these big companies might be violating our privacy by saving our data and using our data for advertisements and things like that.
We kind of feel like that's a violation of our privacy.
You violated our privacy. Or a lot of people, you know, they say if you read your husband or wife or boyfriend or girlfriend's phone, That's a violation of their privacy.
You know, they should have some privacy.
They should have a right to privacy. And you are violating that.
It might not be illegal. But, you know, a lot of people just consider it wrong and a violation.
So that's all we mean when we use this phrase, a violation of privacy.
Let's start off with a quick explanation of four really common phrases that are taught at the elementary level of English.
So this is a level of English that maybe you learned in the classroom.
And these are the phrases that you can start using right away in your English speaking, even if you're not feeling confident.
So the first phrase is... How's it going?
How's it going? This is what we teach English speakers to use at the beginning of a conversation, especially in a more informal conversation Maybe you're getting more fluent and you're speaking now and you're working on your accent.
So it sounds more like, how's it going? How's it going?
Then rather than how is it going? How's it going?
How's it going? The next phrase is pretty similar.
It's a nice slang phrase that we teach in the elementary level.
It's what's up? What's up? It's the same as saying hi or how's it going?
Hey, what's up? What's up? What's up? I'm sure you know those two phrases.
The next idiom is something that we teach new English learners. especially if they want to say, you know, I'm listening.
Go ahead and tell your story. It's a really nice idiom that means this.
It's I'm all ears. Hey, can I tell you my story?
Yes, I'm all ears. It means I'm ready to listen.
It's a great idiom. I'm all ears. Finally, another great alternative phrase that even elementary English speakers and say is hang in there.
If you want to say that someone is, you know, they should kind of encourage them and you're trying to say something kind, even though the person is maybe complaining or saying they're having a tough time, you can say, hang in there.
Hang in there. So those four elementary phrases are pretty basic and I'm sure you already knew them.
Let's move on to intermediate. I have a feeling if you're watching this video, you might be at the intermediate or intermediate advanced level.
Let's check with these idioms and phrases that I'm sure you've already learned. or maybe you've heard in conversation and you're pretty sure about the meaning.
The first is one of the most common idioms that seems to be taught at the intermediate level.
If you want to say good luck to someone, the idiom that you would never guess until you know it, is break a leg.
So oftentimes, if someone is about to go on stage and give a performance, instead of saying good luck, we say, break a leg and you can say this not only if someone's going on stage just in any sort of performance or if they're about to start any sort of challenge, just to say good luck, we say break a leg.
So maybe you've learned this phrase, but maybe it's new to you as well. break a leg break a leg another one of those phrases that is taught so frequently by english teachers like myself just as a good alternative that English speakers use all the time is instead of saying, you know, we're going home We're finished with our work.
We say we're going to call it a day. So this is kind of like an idiom because you wouldn't guess at first that this is what we mean.
But if we are done with our work, we're very tired, we might say, okay, I'm going to call it a day and go home.
This means you are done. You are finished.
You're calling it a full day of work. And another idiom that kind of goes along with this one, it wasn't originally in my lesson, it's just kind of a bonus for you. is one of the most common ways that we casually say we're tired is we say, I'm pooped.
So maybe we'll say... I'm pooped. I'm gonna call it a day.
This just means I'm tired. I'm going home.
I'm done with work. Well, I'm calling it a day.
The next idiom on this list today in the intermediate section is taught so frequently by English teachers, and I've noticed that English students, even if they're children, can even use this idiom.
And once you learn this idiom, it's just so fun to say.
I notice English... learners use it a lot.
Now, this isn't to discourage you. It's a great idiom.
If you want to say that doing something is easy, you can call it a piece of cake.
So for some people, riding a bike is a piece of cake.
Or for some people, public speaking is a piece of cake.
It's very easy. For some people, it is not a piece of cake.
It's very difficult. So it just means that something is easy to do if you call it a piece of cake.
Piece of cake. Now finally, you've probably learned that in English, instead of saying I'm a little sick, English speakers will use the idiom, I'm under the weather.
And again, this is a pretty easy one to start to use as an alternative while you're speaking English.
I use it myself. If I feel like I have, you know, just a minor sore throat or I'm getting stuffed up like I'm going to get a cold or I'm just kind of tired.
I might say I'm a bit under the weather.
I'm under the weather. And of course, you need to make sure that you never use this phrase when talking about a serious incident. illness, like a disease or cancer, because that's way different than just being under the weather, being a little bit sick.
Now, if you have mastered all these phrases in the intermediate level, let's move on to advanced intermediate English.
If you haven't quite mastered all these phrases, that's okay.
It's good to also challenge yourself. Never be afraid to use phrases that seem challenging to you because You have to actually be able to try and use the English and make the mistakes in order to get better.
That's how we grow. The first phrase I've taught many times before, it's a great idiom.
If you want to say that you are working into the night, we say i'm burning the midnight oil recently i've been working on a new english course for my students and I'm really passionate about it.
I'm really excited about it. So sometimes I'm just burning the midnight oil.
I'm working late into the night. So rather than sleeping, I just keep working very late at night.
All this idiom means simply is you're working late at night.
You're burning the midnight oil. Work has been difficult lately.
I've just been burning the midnight oil.
This means you've been working, working, working long, late hours.
Oh, Bing. Burning the midnight oil. You know me, sir.
I have two phrases on this list that you might have learned to mean that you have revealed a secret or you have revealed something. some information.
The first phrase is to let the cat out of the bag.
So maybe you accidentally revealed a secret about someone or you revealed a secret about a party or a wedding or something, and you didn't mean to say what you said, you could say, whoops, I let the cat out of the bag.
Another phrase that English speakers use when they're starting to advance their English, instead of saying they revealed a secret, they might say, I spilled the beans.
And this is just another classic idiom that's always taught by English teachers like myself.
Oh well, cat's out of the bag. Well, time to spill the beans.
Finally, when it comes to making major life decisions, you're about to go through with something or do something that's going to change your life in a dramatic way, you might get cold feet.
This means you get really nervous or even doubtful about your decision that you're about to make.
This idiom is used really commonly when people are a bit nervous about getting married or having a wedding.
You might ask the bride or the groom on their wedding day, are you getting cold feet?
This means are you getting nervous or are you having...
Second thoughts. So this idiom, you know, it's a bit difficult to use because you have to be in the exact right situation, but it's a good idiom. that you are starting to advance your English if you're able to use a phrase like this.
Because it's so, you know, it You would never be able to guess what it means just based on the context of the words.
Cold feet means nervous when using this idiom. getting cold feet if you've been watching my channel for a while you'll actually already know these next four idioms in the advanced english category The first idiom is a sports idiom and is the ball is in your court.
The ball's in your court. When we use this idiom, we're telling someone that the decision is now up to them or the responsibility is now theirs.
You've done everything that you could do, and now it is up to them to either finish the job, finish the deal, or the responsibility is theirs now.
The ball is in your court now. It means it's no longer my responsibility I can't do anything with the ball.
It's not a literal ball. It's a responsibility or a decision. when we use this idiom.
And it's really common to use this idiom in your everyday conversations when it comes to making decisions or making a deal.
When you are saying someone is correct in English, there are so many ways to say it.
You can even just say exactly, totally, correct.
Now, if you are in the advanced English category, you may be able to use an idiom like this one.
You hit the nail on the head. This idiom means you are exactly correct.
We can use this idiom as well to compliment someone's problem solving or to complement someone's solution to something.
Like maybe someone has come up with this plan to fix something at work and you can say, wow, you really hit the nail on the head with this plan. plan.
It's really good. So it means they're correct and it means it's good problem solving.
So when we use the phrase to bite the bullet, it means we have to do something that is difficult or unpleasant like for a lot of people they don't like going to the dentist but they just have to bite the bullet and do it So it means they just have to do something unpleasant.
Oftentimes we use this phrase when we're talking about doing something that's just unpleasant. unavoidable we know it's good for us so we have to do it like going to the dentist or going to the doctor or paying your taxes here in the United States.
You just have to bite the bullet and do it because it's just a part of normal life and it's good for us.
Instead of saying that you are giving up on something, maybe it's a challenge or something just personal that you were trying to do.
You can say you're going to throw in the towel.
I'm just going to throw in the towel. This isn't working.
It means you are giving up. So we can use this literally in a competition with someone to mean that we're done, they win, we give up.
Or if we were trying to solve a problem, we just personally can't do it anymore because we've tried everything.
We're just throwing in the towel. The thing is I'm not ready yet to throw in the towel.
Okay, you might not feel like a fluent English speaker, but I promise you, you are able to still use the phrases that are in the fluent category today.
I categorize these as fluente because if you are at a high level of English, it is really natural and easy to use these phrases.
Whereas if you're still learning, it might take some effort, but you can do it.
Again, it's important to just challenge yourself because that's how we actually grow in our speaking.
And we just grow as a person in general while learning.
So I'm not going to waste any more time.
I'm going to cut to the chase. This phrase comes really natural to English speakers if they want to say, I'm going to stop wasting time and I'm going to start talking about what's important or I'm going to do what task I have to do right now, rather than procrastinating or delaying.
Oftentimes people don't want to talk about their money or their budget.
And so they'll waste time and try not to talk about it, but they might say, okay, Let's cut to the chase.
We need to talk about our budget and how much we're spending.
Cut to the chase. So this is used either in casual situations or like teaching if you're in a business or workplace conversation and you're ready to talk about the serious matter or what needs to be discussed.
Another phrase that's just like this is to beat around the bush.
I love teaching this phrase. I use it really naturally in my conversations as well.
If you think that you are talking about things that aren't really important or you're kind of just rambling in order to have some small friendly talk or you're just not ready to discuss a serious matter you could say sorry i'm just beating around the bush here let's cut to the chase So you could use these two idioms together and it would actually be pretty natural.
Sometimes if you can sense that someone is nervous to tell you something.
Maybe they think that they're going to disappoint you or make you angry. but you just want them to tell you anyway, you could say, stop beating around the bush, tell me what's wrong.
Oftentimes, this idiom is relevant when speaking with American English speakers. because we don't like to be direct.
So sometimes whatever we say, you have to read between the lines.
This phrase,
