This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2469.
List off these phrasal verbs on your way to fluency.
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Do you make a lot of lists in order to be productive?
Today, we will answer a listener's question about making lists.
Find out the difference between list vocab, such as make a list, list off, and list out, and learn how to use them in your daily conversations.
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Good. Michelle, how are you doing? How's everything?
Good. Yeah. Yeah. Lindsay, what lists? do you commonly make that don't have to do with work?
Because we've talked about that a lot, that we do work lists, right?
What lists do I commonly make that don't?
Well, I always have my work lists. I have the monday.com at the same time.
And I have personal lists, like things I have to do.
I put it on the countertop downstairs, you know, like call the vet. pick up medications, call the hairdresser, schedule this, that kind of thing.
Yeah. So are those ones more written out than your work ones?
It's all written out, pen and paper, old school, Michelle.
Oh, for work too? Yeah, well, kind of. I sort of have half my stuff written out and half in monday.com.
It's crazy. I'm all over the place. I'm all over the place, Michelle.
There's no rhyme or reason. It's chaos over here.
So, yeah, I... I have my list and my email.
And yeah, I do the thing where we talked about where just yesterday I was adding things to the list that I did that were never on the list. to make myself feel good.
Yeah. We've talked about that on this show.
But yeah, do you, Oh, here's a question.
Do you make shopping lists or do you just remember what you need?
So I tend to buy a lot of the same things on a weekly basis.
So those things I'll remember. But if I feel like I'm getting something new or if we're cooking something, I'll make a list for that.
Also party invitations. You're planning a party.
So guys, maybe you can tell we're going to be talking about lists today because we have a listener.
Lindsay, this is a very special listener, and we're going to tell you why.
Lindsay, could you read the question for us?
Oh my gosh, I'm so excited to read this, Michelle.
So the person says, Lindsay and Michelle.
First of all, thank you very much for your amazing work.
You are my best English learning toll since probably tool tool.
Yes. Tool. Good call. Michelle, since 2015, 10 years are not 10 days.
Wow. 10 years, Michelle, this listener. That is amazing.
Amazing. This might be one of our longest listeners that I'm aware of.
Yeah, that is just incredible. We're so thankful and keep on listening.
Keep listening. Here's the question. My question is about to list. not always meaning to make a list.
When English speakers say love it or list it, well, I always feel I'm missing something.
Thank you in advance. Lais Maria from Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
Amazing. Amazing. Ten years. Just unbelievable.
And, you know, Lindsay, we were we were reading this beforehand and just saying that that's so incredible because to listen for 10 years I mean first of all I mean I think about you know sharing so many life experiences We've been through so much, right, over the last 10 years, and we've shared a lot of it with Our listeners living in different places, traveling the world, having children, getting married.
I mean, we've been through so much and our listeners have gone through so much. similar things with us.
Yes. Right. Yeah. Exactly. So guys, make sure to hit follow wherever you're listening to this podcast so that you can always... also become a 10 year listener.
Yeah. And the cool thing about that is if you go ahead and hit follow and you know, You end up listening to us for 10 years if that happens, which we hope it does.
You get to go back and measure your progress because we speak at the same pace that we did 10 years ago.
It's not like we've slowed down or sped up.
So you'll be able to measure as a benchmark against yourself, like how much have you gotten better with your listening?
That's the cool thing when you really...
Commit to being a member of our community, a listener, hit follow, come back five days a week.
Right? Love it. Okay. Lindsay, whenever I hear make a list, I often think Chuck it twice, like in the song Santa Claus is Coming to Town, right?
Yeah, it's everywhere, right? This make a list thing is Sometimes people will actually make that joke, right?
If you say, oh, I'm going to make a list and they might say, are you going to check it twice?
Right. A little bit of a tease, right? They're teasing you a little bit.
Right. Exactly. So let's get into this. So make a list.
Yeah. This one is, it's often for thinking in the moment.
So it's, you know, spontaneous. It's often... written or typed out, right?
We're focusing on the making of the list, the creation, right?
Yeah, exactly. So again, like you said, spontaneous, typed out, you're creating that list.
Um, for example, make a list of everyone you want to invite to the party and then send it to me.
So again, to make is to create something to do or to create.
Okay. Right. Um, or I make a list of everything I need to accomplish for the week.
And that really helps with my stress levels.
That helps me too. It feels like chaos and there's like five lists and they're all different and it's, Making one list and thinking, OK, let's prioritize what is the most important thing.
But I wonder if that's so cultural, Michelle, if we we just kind of live and die by our lists. here in the US, don't we?
We're so task oriented. Sometimes I think maybe it's not the same around the world.
What do you think? Yeah, I don't know. I just...
I do believe, yeah, I wonder what that says about us that.
We're constantly making lists. That's true.
Very. And how accomplished we feel when we are going through that list.
Yes. That's the question. It is huge. It's very...
I guess it's kind of stressful. I mean, if you actually, if there are so many things to do that you need the list to calm you down.
Yeah. I mean, I think it's hard to make broad generalizations about culture because there's so many personalities. differences, regional, oh my gosh, family differences.
But I think broadly I've seen research you know, in the intercultural world that says the U S is a more task based society versus a relationship based society.
And that's why that, that also, um, intersects with our time values.
When a meeting starts, it starts at 8. It doesn't start at 8.05 because your previous meeting went later because of your relationships and, you know, respecting that, right?
No, it starts at 8.05 because we made a plan to meet at 8.00. right?
I'm sorry. It starts at eight. Cause we made a plan to start a, so anyways, we can touch on this another day, but really interesting.
Yeah. Super interesting. Great. So here's another one.
I'm going to make a list of all my favorite restaurants in the area and send it to our out-of-town guests so they know where to go.
Yes, that's a good thing to do if you're having a wedding, right?
Things to do, bars and restaurants to check out in town.
All right. So again, so our listener asked the difference between make a list and to list.
So that is kind of what... Make a list is, but then list is a little bit different.
Right. So again, I mean, we want to think about, I think the key word is make.
Make a list. We're focusing on the actual process of creating the list, coming up with the list.
Now, if you say just to list something, you could be reading a list you've already made in your head or on paper.
It doesn't have to be written. Um, like for example, let's list our favorite movies.
I'll go first. Yes, exactly. So it doesn't mean you're going to take a piece of paper and a pen, right?
Michelle and write them out, right? You're just saying them.
You know, Forrest Gump, and then you would say another movie, and I'd say another one, okay?
Mm-hmm. Again, you could have said, let's make a list of our favorite movies, but that to me sounds... more like we're going to write it.
Yeah. Don't you think? I would say so. Yeah.
So, so again, you might be reading a list, you might be speaking a list.
What else, Michelle? What's another place we might just say to list something?
Okay, here we go. Please list everyone's phone numbers in the group.
Now, again, this could be make a list too.
But I think here's another thing. I think when you see instructions...
A lot of times, maybe in writing, you might say, please list blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
It sounds a little bit more elevated to me.
Does that make sense? Do you feel that? Yeah, I guess so.
I guess so. That makes sense. Or here's another example.
I listed four good reasons why we should take our group trip to Myrtle Beach, but no one agreed with me.
And that doesn't mean you wrote a report with a list.
It means you just you argued it verbally, probably.
Right. Yeah, exactly. So again, you can see these are, they're kind of murky waters we're dealing with here.
It's not necessarily one cut and dry answer.
I would say when you're considering which one to use.
Yeah. I don't think you can go wrong with make a list.
Right. If you're really confused about what to use, I don't think you're ever going to say, wait, make a list.
But I think sometimes if you just say list, It may not work.
Does that, do you agree with that? I think that works.
It's good to have a rule of thumb here. You can never go wrong with just saying, make a list.
But then there are other ways that list comes up, right?
And we're going to get into that after we take a quick little break here.
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Hiring Indeed is all you need. Okay. So we're back.
Um, and then, you know, there's other ways, like for example, do we cover a listed, you know, love it or list it the question.
We're going to talk about, uh, yeah, I think I, wait, let's see.
Do I include that? I don't see it anywhere here actually.
Oh, I didn't. Oh, I didn't say it. I meant to.
OK, let's well, let's talk about love it or list it before we get into the next part.
I think that's a show on. I think it is.
Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So it's a show where on HGTV. probably.
It's always on. HGTV is always on. There's always something interesting on there where I think what it is, is they bring in someone to renovate your current house.
And then there's a budget and they renovate it.
And then you decide whether you want to keep it or you want to list it.
And what are we saying when we want to list it, Michelle?
Right. So this is a different kind of list.
So this kind of list is to put it on the market, right?
To list it. So you're going to sell your house.
So yeah, in this show, I used to watch it.
It's actually fun. It is fun. I haven't watched in a while.
Um, so there's one, there's a designer and then there's a realtor.
And the designer, yeah, she does the house again.
She makes it beautiful. But meanwhile, the realtor is finding a new house that has everything that the family needs.
And then they see the new house, they see their old house redone and they decide do we want that and they find a new house that they love and they have to make the decision.
Yes, I recommend it. It's good. Those shows are just so lightweight, you know, sometimes good for before bed.
Yeah, when you need something very lightweight and just a little bit entertaining and it's always fun.
There's something about the human brain that loves to see inside people's homes.
Have you noticed that? It is true. It's so true.
Like when you walk by people's, you know, I don't want to sound weird, but like There is something in your mind that's like, oh, I wonder how they have their house arranged.
Like, where do they have their couch? And I don't know what it is.
It's something weird. Actually, that's fun.
It's funny you say that because my my next door neighbors are getting they are putting in a patio.
Well, no, a back a whole backyard. It's absolutely beautiful.
And when they were having people work on that, we all kept on kind of looking over.
And then the other night they invited us to look at it and then we were kind of looking.
Yeah. that we could kind of see into their house.
And I said, Oh, I love your stools. And yeah, it's, thing.
It's definitely a human thing. It's very strange.
But so anyways, to list something, to list a house is just to put it on the market is basically what it is, right?
Your They're putting it on the market and it is therefore being listed probably on Redfin or any of those other websites.
But it's more about the action of putting it for sale, up for sale.
Right, okay. So, and then... But do people really say this, love it or list it?
I mean, this isn't, I think this comes from the show.
That's just the show. But, you know, you could always make a joke.
You know, I could say... even if it has nothing to do with houses, right?
I could imagine giving, like if I'm trying something on in the dressing room.
And then I come out to show my friend because I love it or list it, you know?
Yeah. I guess if you're intending. I don't know if I would say that if I'm going to just decide between buying it or just putting it back on the rack. might say that if I'm thinking of either keeping it or like selling it on Craigslist I don't do people sell clothes on Craigslist I don't know Maybe.
I haven't been to Craigslist in a while.
Yeah, me neither. It kind of... requires selling something to say listed that you are selling something.
Right. Right. Like a car. Um, you know, that kind of thing.
So yeah, that's true. Yeah. It means to put it on some kind of marketplace.
We'll leave it at that. Yeah. Okay. Yes.
All right. Let's go into two more. So one is list off.
Okay. So this is to casually say things, right?
Mm-hmm. Lindsay, can you do an example?
I'm going to list off some ideas for takeout we could get and you let me know what you like best.
Right. Or don't just list off random ideas.
Really put some thought into it. Yeah, so using the phrasal verb list off, again, really indicates articulating something, saying it.
Okay. But then there's another way we could say the same thing.
Really? List out. And again, a lot of these you could just mix and match.
I wouldn't put too much stress... on yourself for this.
But if we're thinking about the difference, you know, this one is to list pretty specific, maybe with numbers.
Right. So I'm going to list out all the reasons that we shouldn't go.
One, it's boring. Two, it's far away. Okay.
Yeah. So maybe that's a very subtle difference.
You are going to go and say the numbers.
Okay. Right. Like you said, one, it's boring.
Two, it's far away. Three, blah, blah, blah.
But again, these phrasal verbs are pesky, so don't get too stressed out about them here, okay?
Just know there are two phrasal verbs that could go after list.
Here's another one. He listed out all my mistakes one by one.
It was really demoralizing. Yeah, list out has a bit of a granularity to it of like, painstakingly, he said, each one, number one, number two, number three, right?
Yep. So I, again, guys, don't stress about these too much.
We're going to show you now how to put them together in a role play again.
Can't go wrong with make a list. Can't go wrong.
Can't go wrong. I love it. Here's a role play.
So here you and I are planning a party. Party.
Here we go. Here we go. Okay, so let's make a list of everyone we want to invite.
We may need an A-list and a B-list for space.
I know, I hate doing that. Okay, so let's list off some people.
Well, Tracy, JJ, Paul, Shauna. Right, right.
Okay, let's list out everyone. Do you have your laptop?
Yes. Also list all the addresses. Oh, right.
That'll make things easier. All right. So here we use all of these.
You started by saying, let's make a list.
So you're literally saying we're going to take out a piece of paper or a laptop and list out everyone that we want to have come, that we want to invite.
Exactly, exactly. And then you said, okay, so let's list off some people.
So that to me, that gives the sense of exactly what we're doing.
This, this. this right when you're kind of thinking in the moment list off it's like Maybe your head turns up to the sky and you're thinking.
Yes, exactly. Maybe you're counting on your fingers.
Oh, Maria and this person and that person.
Okay. And then you said, right, right. And you said or I said, OK, let's list out everyone.
So now I'm asking us to get a little more.
Granular. Granular. We're going to sit down and take out the laptop and start writing them out.
Yes. Yeah. So, I mean... And you could have said, let's make a list of everyone.
Right. Sure. Yeah, that would be fine, too.
So again, make a list. It's good. Um, And then I said, yes, also list all the addresses.
So you could have said make a list of all the addresses.
That's fine. But this kind of it also, you know, we're saying it. things over and over.
This kind of shortens it also. Yeah. This is actually a great question from our 10-year listener.
I love it. It's challenging what we're looking at here because we're really looking at the super high-level nuances at the C1, C2 native level here, Michelle.
I love it. Yeah, these are very nuanced.
I would say, you know, well, first of all, we want you to listen to episode 2462.
That is intonation is connection. Um, takeaway for today.
Yeah. I mean, the takeaway is, Take as much of this as you want, right?
If you're listening to this episode, you feel a little overwhelmed because it feels very nuanced.
The difference is don't let yourself get overwhelmed. grab, like Michelle said, make a list, try using that in most scenarios, you'll be okay.
Then gradually listen for when someone decides to say list off, list out or list and start to put together the pieces through your own listening experience.
Okay. This is so nuanced. It's it's, It's so nuanced that it almost helps because it's hard to get it wrong.
Do you know what I mean? I don't think you can really, really go wrong.
Mixing these up. I don't... No one's gonna say, what are you... You know, because they're... Because they're used so... fluidly.
Yeah, exactly. And I would also, I'm just curious, maybe we'll put a poll.
One of our Spotify poll might be something about culture. like how important is list making in your culture?
I'm super interested in the cultural piece because lists are a huge part of American culture, whether they're written down or whether they're in our heads, we are a very task-oriented culture.
Get things done, right? And I'm curious how our listeners' cultures are.
We'll talk about that in the poll. Make sure you're listening in Spotify if you would like to participate in the poll or check out YouTube because this is also available as a video.
So go over there to YouTube, type in All Ears English.
Right, Michelle? Yep, absolutely. All right, guys.
And thank you to our listener for the 10 years.
10 years and here's 10 more. All right. Excellent.
Michelle, you have a good day. Talk to you soon.
You too. Bye. Thanks for listening to All Ears English.
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