Welcome to a new episode of English Vocabulary Booster.
My name is Lara and I'm a SALSA-certified English teacher.
Learning new vocabulary usually takes a long time, but we'll do it in a way that's easy, quick and efficient.
In every episode, we'll learn how to use five new English words or expressions, so that you too can start speaking like a native.
So let's get learning!
I have a suspicious individual at the corner between 25th and 7th.
I'll keep an eye on him.
Copy that.
What do you see exactly?
It looks like he's trying to steal a car.
I can't see very well.
I can only see him out of the corner of my eye.
Please provide a physical description.
I can't turn around.
He's looking this way.
If I turn around now, I'll make eye contact and he'll know.
Okay, then don't look him in the eye.
But we need a physical description to be able to locate him.
Okay, let me just... Darn it!
He's gone!
What do you mean he's gone?
Are you telling me he's disappeared?
Just like that?
In the blink of an eye?
I swear, he was just... Wait, he was hiding under the car.
What?
Yeah, he's coming out now.
I see him now.
He's around 40, tall, mustache.
He's wearing jeans, a blue baseball cap, and a yellow shirt that says...
Wait, I can't see.
Oh yeah, that says flex auto repair.
Auto repair.
Oh, oh, nevermind.
I think he's a mechanic.
All right then, ready to take a look at these words?
Let's begin with a phrasal verb.
Expression number one, keep an eye on.
I'll keep an eye on him.
If you keep an eye on someone, Do you watch them carefully or distractedly?
If you keep an eye on someone or something, you watch them, or you watch that thing carefully, paying a lot of attention to it.
If someone tells you to keep an eye on someone or something, can you look away?
Yes, you can look away.
Sometimes it's an expression to say that you should pay attention to that thing or to that person, but that doesn't mean that you should just stare at them 24-7, not look away a second, not go to the bathroom.
No, you can't do that.
Why would you need to keep an eye on someone or something?
Well, If you want to keep an eye, for example, on a person, it's because you think they're suspicious or you think they're in danger.
So you have to pay extra attention to them.
If you're talking about a thing, then maybe you're afraid it's going to get stolen or it's going to get damaged.
And imagine you leave your bag somewhere and you have to go to the bathroom and you tell someone there hey, keep an eye on my bag, meaning nothing.
Look at it.
Make sure nothing happens to it.
Again, not look at it without even like doing anything else.
You can still do other things and look other ways, but just be aware of it.
Now, if you are at the beach and you want to leave your bag on the shore while you swim right, because you can't take your bag with you, would you trust a stranger to keep an eye on it?
And normally I'm not a fan of asking strangers to keep an eye on my stuff because I don't want to bother them.
And also, how do you know if you're supposed to trust them, right?
But sometimes it's the only way.
And especially when I was living in Spain, because I got robbed on the beach there.
I would ask strangers to keep an eye on my things while I was swimming.
Expression number two, out of the corner of your eye.
I can only see him out of the corner of my eye.
If you see something out of the corner of your eye, Do you look at it directly or not?
If you see it out of the corner of your eye, that means you don't look at the thing or the person directly, but just, you know, from the side, literally out of the corner of your eye.
So let's do this thing now wherever you are and try it.
What can you see out of the corner of your eye?
I'm going to do the same thing.
So right now I'm in a bedroom.
So out of the corner of my eye, I can see another bed and that's pretty much it.
There's nothing else going on in this bedroom.
So, yep.
Expression number three, make eye contact.
I'll make eye contact and he'll know.
If you make eye contact with someone, are you looking at them?
Yes, you are looking at them.
And are they looking at you?
Yes, they're looking at you.
So you lock eyes, you look at each other.
Now, do you generally make eye contact when speaking with someone?
I think it depends who I'm speaking with.
Normally, actually, I don't.
And I get very self-conscious when I love people that do that.
I love people that make eye contact with you while talking to you.
But I feel like I always look away.
It's just too much pressure.
So I try to, if I remember, I'll try to make eye contact.
But oftentimes, I'll just look up in the air or look down at the floor.
So not really.
Expression number four, look someone in the eye.
Then don't look him in the eye.
If you look someone in the eye, do you look at them directly or not?
Yes, you look at them directly.
Is looking someone in the eye intentional or not?
Yes, you look someone in the eye because you want to.
You want to make eye contact.
You want to create that connection.
And what do you want to show if you look someone in the eye?
That you are scared or that you aren't.
One of the reasons why we look people in the eye is It's not always that reason, okay?
But it can be to show them that we are not scared.
Imagine like an animal in the wild, right?
If they look you in the eye, it's because they want to intimidate you.
They want to scare you.
But if you look back, you show them that you're not scared.
That's not a great, that's not great advice, okay?
Don't do that because I've heard that's not great.
With wild animals, you should look away.
I don't know anything about it, but.
Okay, and what else could you want to show?
That you're telling the truth or that you're lying?
Imagine someone's accusing you.
Well, if you want them to believe you, you look them in the eye and tell them listen, I'm telling you the truth, okay?
There's something about making that connection by looking someone in the eye.
That's going to make them believe you.
If someone is questioning you, maybe the police or something, are you more or your mom or your dad?
Are you more or less likely to look them in the eye?
If someone is questioning you, It depends.
If you want them to believe you, if you're honest, you're more likely to look them in the eye.
But if you're lying, experts say that you do not look the other person in the eye, right?
You look away.
I don't know if that's true or not, but see next time you lie if it's true.
If you look at, if you look the other person in the eye or not.
Expression number five, in the blink of an eye.
Just like that, in the blink of an eye.
If something happens in the blink of an eye, does it happen very quickly or very slowly?
If something happens in the blink of an eye, it happens super quickly.
Now I'm going to say this word, in the blink of an eye, super quickly.
Okay.
I think you're going to remember it this way.
What things can you do in the blink of an eye?
I can eat ice cream in the blink of an eye because I love ice cream.
I can get ready in the blink of an eye.
Although I'm a woman, I get dressed and get ready very, very quickly, makeup and all.
I can make my or yeah, I can rearrange my house or my room in the blink of an eye, because I do it super fast.
And that is it for today.
And remember, if you want to access the transcript, as well as lots of other resources, visit enboocom.
That is E-N-B-O-O-O dot com.
Have a great day.
