Your Monthly Dose of English - Best of May 2020

access your free language gifts of the month right now here's what you're getting this month first be writing a journal cheat sheet with this cheat sheet you'll be able to keep a diary in your target language and talk about your day inside you'll find phrases for common daily activities from morning tonight second if you love travel then you'll love our brand new travel words and phrases PDF ebook learn all the must know travel phrases with this ebook download it for free right now third must know words and phrases for your resume if you want to write your resume in your target language then this next one minute lesson is for you fourth the top 12 April Fool's phrases want to prank others and speak more of your target language then you'll want this April Fool's phrase list if the must know vocab for doing laundry if you need language for practical situations like doing laundry then this one minute lesson is for you you'll learn how to say washing machine detergent softener and much more sixth free audiobooks unlock our huge library of language learning audiobooks save them to your device and listen and learn they're yours to keep forever and finally the deal of the month if you want to finally master the language with lessons by real teachers and our complete language learning program get 31% off premium or premium plus with the you can speak sale so to get your gifts and language learning resources click the link in the description below download them right now before they expire says hi Alicia I've noticed some expressions that use AZ plus adverb plus AZ for example as soon as can you tell me about the adverbs that I can use this with and explain all about it sure okay first let's look at a couple of basic ways that you can use this pattern so we'll talk about as soon as a little bit later because it's a little bit different but we can use AZ plus adverb plus AZ or AZ plus adjective plus AZ to show that something is equal to something else for example Sarah sing as beautifully as Kim Jeff is as tall as Dave so these examples mean that person a and person B are equal in terms of something in the first example sentence Sarah and Kim sing equally beautifully in the second example sentence Jeff and Dave have equal Heights so as plus adjective or as plus adverb plus AZ refers to two things that are equal in some way so that's one way of using this as soon as your example is a bit different from this we use as soon as to mean that one action will be done or one action will occur immediately after another action for example will leave as soon as you finish your drink so that means that one action leaving will happen immediately after the other action finishing a drink so we'll leave as soon as you finish your drink means we'll leave immediately after or just after you finish your drink so this is kind of different we're not using it to make a comparison or to say that something is equal to something else this is kind of a set expression which means immediately following something else another expression that uses this as plus something plus as pattern is as long as as long as so as long as means only if for example I can go to the party as long as I finish my homework so another way to say this is I can go to the party only if I finish my homework meaning if I do not finish my homework I cannot go to the party so as long as is another way to do that another pattern is with few and with little and we use this when we want to emphasize small quantities of things we use as few as or as little as for example as few as 60 people attended the seminar as few as half of the students passed the class and as few as six stood attended the class so this means that like six or sixty or whatever the number is was like a small amount compared to maybe what was expected so we use as few as or as little as to express that keep in mind that this doesn't really matter regarding uncountable or countable nouns we use this with both on the other hand when you want to talk about large amounts of things you can use as many as to do that so for example as many as 1,000 people volunteered for the event or as many as 60 students entered to win the contest so that kind of emphasizes that a large amount or perhaps more of something than expected happened or occurred as much as is another expression that follows this as something as pattern but as much as has some different uses than as many as we can use as much as to refer to something that is equal as I talked about at the very beginning to this answer as in she earns as much as he does or she drinks as much wine as he does so that refers to equal amounts of something we can also use it to talk about like activities we enjoy or activities we feel something for for example he likes cooking as much as he likes watching movies so that expresses equality there's also one kind of strange use of as much as which is an examples like as much as I like the new guy at the office I don't think he's going to stay at the company long or as much as I want to go to that new restaurant I don't have a budget for it this week so this use of as much as means like despite or even though so like despite how much I like that new guy or even though I really like that new guy I can't see him at the company for very long or something like that so we use as much as usually at the beginning of a clause to mean despite or even though so this is a quick introduction to some very common as something as pattern some of which use adverbs but I hope that this helps answer your question thanks very much ok let's move on to your next question next question comes from amar hi amar amar says hi Alicia is there any difference between these day by day and by the day minute by minute and by the minute hour by hour and by the hour yes there are some differences first let's look at one group of these let's look at day by day hour by hour and minute by minute we use these expressions to mean that something happens gradually something maybe changes gradually a condition or a state changes gradually over a period of time so for example day by day she worked on her project until it was finished or minute by minute she grew hungrier and hungrier hour by hour he got more and more worried so each of these expressions shows how much time passed like what was the length of time of that activity in the first example sentence day by day it means that she worked on her project over a period of days in the second example sentence over several minutes she grew hungrier and hungrier in the third example sentence over a period of hours he got more and more worried so we use this pattern to show like the gradual progression of something or gradual change in something we can use the second pattern you introduced this by the day or by the hour or by the minute to do it but we need to change the sentences slightly for example her project progressed by the day she grew hungrier by the minute he became more and more worried by the hour so when you're using this by the day or by the minute or by the hour pattern you need to make sure that the subject of your sentence is the thing that is changing so in some cases the thing that is changing might be separate from like the person who is doing the activity this is especially the case for the first example sentence when using that day by day pattern I said by day she worked on her project until it was finished that's fine but when I'm using this by the day pattern I need to make the thing that is changing the subject of my sentence so in this case her project progressed by the day so that means her project the thing that is changing progressed so that means it moved forward by the day so this pattern personally I don't use this one so much I think I might use the first style a little bit more commonly the final point for my answer to this question is about the second group of expressions we can use these when we're talking about prices for goods or for services so let's imagine that we are renting an office space to rent the office space by the day it's $70 to rent the office space by the minute it's 20 cents and to rent the office space by the hour it's ten dollars so we use by the minute or by the hour or by the day or maybe by the week perhaps in some cases do you talk about prices for time periods of things so you may see this if again you're like renting a space or you need to buy some goods or a service or something and the available prices are in units of time so this is another case where you might see this so I hope that this answer helps you thanks very much for the question okay let's move on to your next question next question comes from van anh hi van on Van anchez I'm very confused about the conversion of adverbs of time in reported speech for example the rules say today needs to be turned into that day tomorrow becomes the next day and yesterday becomes the day before why is that also why do people who are learning English as a second language need to learn about reported speech and direct and indirect speech by native speakers don't mmm first question I wouldn't say that these are rules there's not a rule about using tomorrow or yesterday or the next day or whatever what's important when you're reporting speech is chickens sitter the relationship between your conversation to the present point in time so for example if you and I had a conversation before I started recording this video about like some plan we have for two days in the future and then I want to report that to our mutual friend the next day so tomorrow now I would say hey I talked to van yesterday or van told me about this yesterday or I want to talk to you about tomorrow's plan I talked to van about it yesterday so what's important is the relationship between that conversation the conversation where you're reporting something and the actual conversation that you're referring to so that relationship is what's important so I wouldn't say like the next day I would say tomorrow because it's quite natural it is natural to use the next day if it's like something that was in the past or it's not easy to use tomorrow or yesterday so if we think about a different example like if I want to talk about a meeting that happened two weeks ago then I would probably use that day or the next day so for example I could say on that day my manager said my project was a great success the next day I received a promotion so in that case on that day refers to the day of the meeting so maybe I don't need to be specific then the next day refers to the day following the meeting I cannot use tomorrow in that case because tomorrow is referencing only the day after the present so tomorrow has a very specific use the next day refers to the next day in the story so we can't use tomorrow or yesterday loosely we can use the next day or the day before or the day prior to talk about like past events or even future events as well too but tomorrow today and yesterday are very like constrained so it's kind of strict our use of those we need to use those when referring to the present point in time so please keep this in mind so don't worry about like following a specific rule for reporting speech in this way think about your relationship to the conversation you're having now and the conversation about which you are reporting that's what's important here so this will get easier with time and with practice and if it's helpful you might take a look at a calendar while you try to think about how to report speech and it might kind of help you visualize how to explain things in the best way regarding your second question native speakers do learn about reporting speech and reporting like indirect and direct speech we just learn it naturally as speakers of any language do so this is something for everybody to learn and that everybody uses I hope that this helps you thanks for the question okay let's move on to your next question next question comes from Khalil hi Khalil Khalil says hi Alicia how do I get better at pronouncing P and B in words like probably responsible purple back pack bath path and so on ah well you already know that these letters are these sounds are challenging for you so the next step really is to practice I would say when you practice pronunciation - if it's something that you can't quite get the hang of like you feel like you're trying really hard but you can't quite make the sound try practicing a bit in front of a mirror and look at the way a native speaker says those sounds so Google or find on youtube a video of someone saying these sounds so it's not just listening but you want to actually see someone making these sounds and try to make your mouth make the same motions as the native speaker so this might feel a little bit uncomfortable at first like when I teach pronunciation lessons with my students they feel like a little uncomfortable or they laugh because we have to use like sounds in English that they don't use in their native language and it feels strange to them so if it feels strange that's okay like try to push yourself to make a new sound so for example when you're making a piece ound puff you need to really like pull your lips in mmm to make that sound so you can't make a peace ound with a B sound mount position so it's going to sound like but you need to make a gesture sort of or a motion with your mouth so try practicing in front of a mirror and see if you can make your mouth motions match the motions of a native speaker and if you have trouble pronouncing the whole word like probably in one go try breaking it down into syllables so probably and then try to connect the syllables together so ibly or Probab something like that so break the words down until you feel comfortable that you're pronouncing them correctly so I hope that this helps and good luck with your pronunciation studies thanks very much for the question ok let's move on to your next question next question comes from Phoenix hi Phoenix Phoenix says hi Alicia I am Phoenix from Vietnam could you explain the difference between bar pub beer club and beer garden thanks a million ok sure a bar is a place where alcoholic drinks are served bars can be casual they can be very luxurious perhaps they have a few snacks but usually snacks are like maybe nuts or maybe like dried fruit or something like that so a bar is a place primarily usually for alcoholic drinks a pub is a bit more of a casual place a pub has kind of a neighborhood feel it's usually not like a luxurious place the probably most popular drink and a pub is beer and you can get food at a pub it's usually not super healthy it's usually like fried foods or like meat or maybe stews that kind of thing so it's often this very like hearty kind of homestyle cooking at pubs a beer club a beer club is not something that we have at least in the u.s. that's not a word that we really use in English that's not a word we use in English at all together a beer club separately that could refer to a group of people that gets together to drink beer or maybe they have some kind of membership system where they exchange beer I don't know so it could be a your club people who enjoy a beer together we do have the word beer bar which refers to a certain type of bar that serves just specialty beers so that is a word a beer bar you might also hear the word beer pub which is like a more casual beer bar finally a beer garden is a place outside usually it like a festival or some other kind of event where people can drink beer outside so it's just like kind of like what it sounds you can usually drink beer in like a grassy area outside so that's called a beer garden I hope that this helps you thanks very much for the question Elektra from Greece could you please explain gerron's to us sure a gerund is a verb in the ing form so using it in this way makes it a noun we can use it as a noun in a sentence for example she likes cooking or he hates hiking so in these sentences the words that end in ing are gerunds in the first sentence cooking in the second sentence hiking we can use jaren's and the infinitive forms of verbs sometimes interchangeably so the infinitive form of a verb is 2 plus the base form of the verb for example she likes to cook or he likes to hike a very common question is when do I use a gerund when do I use an infinitive and the question is quite big it's way too big to answer in this series the reason is that there are many different groups of verbs that tend to take jaren's or that tend to take infinitives but there are exceptions all over the place so it's quite challenging to make a rule or a guide specifically for jaren's or specifically for infinitives so this is a quick introduction to what a gerund is it's a verb that takes an ING ending and is used as a noun in a sentence I hope that this helps you thanks very much for the question ok let's move on to your next question next question comes from El Hassan Ahmed hello al hassan al hassan says I sometimes hear people say better instead of improve as if it is a verb is that formal for example think about how to better yourself also I heard someone say more better and it sounded strange to me I mean can I say he is more taller than me I don't think I can thanks a lot okay yes exactly to better means to improve and yes it does sound a little bit more polite a little bit more formal like you should better yourself you should improve yourself or she aims to better her students meaning she aims to improve her students so yes you can use better to mean improve in this way just make sure you use it as a verb to answer your second question though more better as you've said yes is grammatically incorrect and you're also correct you cannot say he is more taller than me that's also incorrect so the reason that you might hear something like this is because native speakers often like to make grammatical mistakes on purpose to sound funny like to sound childish or like to make a joke so a very popular one is to use the expression more better like ah that's more better it sounds kind of cute like a child who hasn't learned all of the grammar rules of English yet they might say more better instead of just better so this is maybe like a way that someone could joke around or just try to sound more friendly or kind of cute' in their speaking thanks very much for the question I hope that this helps you okay let's move on to your next question next question comes from Tatsu haitatsu Tatsu says could you tell me the difference between correct and right sure if you're talking about the opposite of wrong as in like the answers on a test and correct and right are both fine to use you can use either of them if you're talking about the opposite of left then you have to use right you cannot use correct for that we also talked about things that are societally proper that are societally good with the word right we do not use correct so for example if you say like oh my gosh my medical feeds from my hospital stay we're so high that's not right so we use right to mean like that's not good or that's not fair that's not like a good thing in our society we also use the word right to mean like basic human rules in a society again - so for example in the USA people have the right to silence so that means a basic rule that people have in the US is the ability to keep their silence about something so we cannot use correct in that case so these are the various uses of correct and rights I hope that this helps you thanks for the question ok let's move on to your next question next question comes from Mitch mitt mitt mitt mitt mitt mitt mitt mitt says hi Alicia why don't native speakers use specific times and present perfect but they do use specific times in simple past tense because when we're using the basic form of present perfect we're not focusing on when in the past specific action occurred we just want to talk about that life experience so the time the point in time at which it happened is not important or we don't know or we don't want to focus on that for example I have been to France or he has eaten sushi in these situations for whatever reason when that happened is not important we just want to express our life experience so we do not use a specific point in time and it sounds very unnatural to use a specific point in time with that like present perfect tense if however you want to use present perfect continuous to talk about a point at which something started and then has continued until the present time you can and you should use a for or since ending to it for example I have been living in France since 2013 or he has been studying English for three years in those cases we need to mark the starting point of that action or condition so we do use a specific point in time let's compare this then to using simple past tense when we use simple past tense we want to express an action that started and that finished in the past and so we do use a specific point in time for example I went to France last summer or he sushi last week so in sum if you want to just share a general life experience use the regular present perfect tense if you want to talk about something that started in the past and continues to the present use present perfect continuous and include a specific point in time at which your actions started or began or like when your condition started if you want to talk about something that's done that's over and you want to talk about the specific point in which that thing happened use simple past tense so I hope that this helps you thanks very much for the question okay let's move on to your next question next question comes from late Jerry hi late Jerry late Jerry says hi Alicia a lot of people use double negation lately is this a kind of innovation can we use it is it grammatically correct for example can't nobody tell me nothing nice question yeah some people who are very strict about grammar like now and historically consider double negation to be like incorrect or they think that it's a sign poor education or something like that but that's not the case double negation has existed in English for a long time and it exists now so in some dialects in English double negation or multiple negation is used more commonly than other dialects so for example I don't really use double negation in my speech but in certain parts of the US or in certain parts of England people may use that kind of speech so I would suggest that if it's not natural for you if you didn't grow up with it if it's not something that you or the people around you regularly use it's probably going to sound very unnatural for you to use that so your example sentence was can't nobody tell me nothing that is not a sentence I personally would use but someone who speaks a different dialect of English that uses this kind of negation might if I wanted to say that sentence I would say something like nobody can tell me anything that's how I would say it so using the other sentence would sound very unnatural for me that kind of speech is not natural for me so it sounds perhaps maybe or offensive for me to use that I would say just try to be aware of the people who are around you if you are learning English in a place where a double negation is common then perhaps it's natural for you to use a bit of it as well if you're just kind of trying to mimic something that maybe you heard on TV or in music or in media or something like that it's probably going to sound very unnatural so yes it is used yes it is featured actually in some dialects of English that doesn't mean that it's natural for everyone to use if this kind of speech is hard for you to understand don't worry this is just another part of language learning and this is a specific way that some people speak in English so while yes it does go against like traditional grammar rules I suppose that doesn't mean that the communication is any less valid so try to keep that in mind and again if it's difficult for you to understand people who speak this way that's okay just with time and practice you will gradually come to know what that sentence means or what that speaker is actually saying so I hope that this helps you thanks very much for an interesting question Huckabee says hi Alicia I'm a university student in Japan I teach English to elderly students as a part-time job one of them asked me what fire with fire means I guess the man heard the phrase in a movie could you tell me the meaning yeah this is part of an idiom the expression is usually to fight fire with fire that's the full phrase typically you might also hear to match fire with fire or to meet fire with fire but in most cases it's to fight fire with fire this phrase means to fight an opponent with the same weapon or the same method that your opponent uses so sometimes this literally means fighting someone with the same kind of weapon but in most cases it's talking about like a specific kind of competition and using the same method as your opponent to participate in that competition for example if someone starts shouting at you you can fight fire with fire by shouting back at them so in that case there's no fire involved but outing is your opponent's weapon or method of attacking so if you want to fight that you use the same method and shout back so that could be considered fighting fire with fire you might also hear this used in like business situations when you're talking about like competition between businesses or between companies or industries for example company a is spending a lot of money on advertising this year we have to fight fire with fire and increase our own advertising budget so this just means to compete or like to attack or oppose someone with the same method or the same weapon that they use against you so again this is usually to fight fire with fire I hope that that helps you thanks for the question okay let's move on to your next question next question comes from L Hasan Ahmed hello again al hassan al hasan says what is the difference between i don't know what is that and i don't know what that is for example i don't know what the difference between them is and i don't know what is the difference between them okay the difference is that the second example is correct the first example is incorrect these are examples of what are called embedded questions so it's when we have a question inside a statement or we have a question inside another question these are called embedded questions embedded questions and when we use the verb to be in embedded questions it takes a slightly different word order so when we use the verb to be to ask a direct question we would say something like where is the restroom or where are my coworkers that's a direct question but when we use an indirect question or we use an embedded question we have to change the word order a little bit so instead of where is the restroom we have to say something like I don't know where the restroom is and instead of where are my co-workers we might say do you know where my co-workers are so in each of these examples the to be verb actually moves to the end of the sentence or to the end of the question this is kind of special for these embedded questions style responses so keep this in mind when you're making an embedded question is does not follow your question word is goes at the end of the sentence the same is true for R and of course was and were if you're making past tense statements or past tense questions but again this is just for the verb to be if you're using any other verb you don't need to worry about this change so if it's like talk or walk or drink or whatever you don't need to worry about that if you're using the verb to be however you do need to switch your word order in the sentence so again your second example sentence is correct so I don't know what that is is the correct sentence I don't know what is that is incorrect of course if you're ever not sure what to do and you're faced with a situation where you should choose it's not impolite it's not incorrect to use a direct question like where is the restroom but it does sound a bit more polite to phrase it indirectly or to use an embedded question like do you know where the restroom is it sounds a bit more polite so again if you're ever unsure you can use a direct question no problem but do make sure to practice these embedded questions and the special pattern that we use with the verb to be so I hope that that helps you thanks very much for the question okay let's move on to your next question next question comes from on high on on says can you give an explanation about the word roughly thanks so much okay I'm sure roughly means about it means approximately or around for example roughly half of the students in the class passed the test sales decreased by roughly 30 percent last month so in these cases roughly means about or around we tend to use roughly more in polite situations like at work in meetings we don't use it so much in everyday conversation in everyday conversation we use about or around there's another use of roughly however which you can kind of think of as meaning aggressive or like a little bit aggressive or not refined so for example my neighbor speaks roughly but he's actually a nice guy or this woman on the train pushed me really roughly it hurt so in those cases roughly means in kind of an aggressive manner a slightly aggressive manner or a not refined manner so when we use roughly as an adverb in this way it means like not refined it's it's kind of aggressive when you're using it to talk about amounts or data it means about so I hope that this helps you thanks very much for the question okay let's move on to your next question next question comes from Patricia hi Patricia Patricia says hi Alicia I enjoy your videos thank you my question is about when I visit restaurants and I don't want ice in my drink for example how do I say that no ice or without ice thank you yeah we would say no ice no ice so if you said without ice it's probably not a communication issue but more naturally we would say no ice please you can use this for pretty much anything any kind of special order like no tomato no onion no pickles and so on so if you don't want something use no before the name of that thing that you don't want we have another expression that we use at restaurants which is on the side on the side so for example if you order a salad and you say I'd like the dressing on the side please it means your salad and the dressing or the topping for the salad will come separately so if you don't say on the side the restaurant staff will probably put the dressing on top of your salad and serve it to you if you request the dressing on the side however you can choose how much to put on top of your salad so some people like to in this case with salads request that things be served separately to do that you say on the side you'll usually get a separate dish or a separate cup or bowl or something for your dressing or whatever it is you've chosen to order so on the side is another thing you can use in restaurants finally for the opposite of this situation for the opposite of no if you want more of some you use extra extra like extra cheese please or extra bacon please or extra avocado keep in mind though that when you say extra you're probably going to have to pay more so if you have like a cheeseburger for example and you say I'd like extra avocado so that means there's already avocado on the cheeseburger you want more avocado on it you're probably going to have to pay more for that avocado if however you order something without an ingredient like no tomato on this cheeseburger there's no discount so please don't expect a discount if you ask for less of something if you ask for more of something however it's probably going to cost you a little more money so also keep in mind that we use extra when something already exists inside the dish so in my example it's like an avocado burger there's avocado on the burger I want more I say extra if there's no avocado on the burger I say like something like can I have a picado as a topping please or can I add avocado as a topping please we might use one of those expressions so can I have something as a topping or can I add something we might use one of those two patterns so those are a few restaurant related expressions that I hope are helpful for you thanks for the question ok let's move on to your next question next question comes from will Jin's diss Samus hello will jhin's will Jin says hi Alicia is there a difference between to lend and to borrow yes the difference is in the point of view for example I lent my friend a pen and my friend borrowed a pen from me so when the person that is giving the object is the subject of this sentence we use lend when the person who is receiving the object is the subject of the sentence we use borrow so let's swap the people in my example sentences so my friend lent me a pen and I borrowed a pen from my friend so again in those cases the person giving the object is the subject of the sentence when I use lend and the person receiving the object is the subject of the verb borrow when I use borrow so please keep this in mind this relationship so am I giving or am i receiving that's what's important to keep in mind I know it's a little confusing at first but with practice you will get the hang of it you'll get used to it so I hope that this helps you thanks very much for the question hi everybody my name is Alisha in this lesson I'm going to talk about phrasal verbs with back let's get started okay first I want to introduce a group of four verbs that shares one common point that is this these four verbs all have the meaning of moving with the rear part of something forward so if you imagine a car the front and the back of a car like the front side and the back side of a person if you imagine all of these verbs share the meaning of making a motion in some direction of moving in some direction however the rear part is the part that is like the forward moving part so we usually walk with this part of our body moving forward but when we move with the rear part forward it means this direction so we're moving back in a backwards motion so these four verbs all include that meaning I want to mention that first these that we'll talk about later don't include that meaning so these four include that meaning plus some preposition that tells us the direction of that movement and the relationship of that movement as well to something else so with that in mind let's take a look at these four phrasal verbs the first phrasal verb here is back into back into so back into means moving with the rear part forward yes so this kind of motion plus moving into a space so to back into something you're backing into an enclosed space so in imagine with a car a lot of these will be very very useful for using with a car so an example of this would be this one he backed in to the parking space he backed into the parking space so you imagine with a car backing in the rear part of the car moves in to the parking space that means the rear part of the car enters the parking space first so we use the phrasal verb to back into you'll notice here - this is the past tense form backed he backed in backed as the past form of back so he backed in to the parking space tells us that he moved with the rear part of the car forward into the parking space ok so now let's look at the opposite of this to back out of something so since we have out here we had in before this shows us this is the the opposite direction then however we don't use back out - we use back out of please be careful here back out of so this means to move out of a space to move out of a space so an example sentence might be the question in this case can you back out of the garage can you back out of the garage so again this means that the rear part of the car is moving forward however instead of going into a space the motion is coming from a space so we're backing out of a space that means from a position inside a room in this case a garage the back of the car moves first out of the garage so backing out of something to back out of a garage or to back out of a parking space as well okay now let's move along to the next phrasal verb back on - back on - this is quite different from back in or back out to back on to means to move backwards on top of something so again when you're driving a car for example you might use the expression he backed on to the sidewalk so this means the rear part of the car our mood first and as it moved it moved on top of something else so there's movement and movement on to another thing he backed on to the sidewalk or he backed on to maybe a bicycle for example so movement backwards and on top of something else so this might happen to you when you're using a car or another vehicle so let's move on to the next phrasal verb which is backed away from back away from is a phrasal verb you might use more to talk about your body the motion of your body than you would a car so this means to move backwards in a direction opposite to something else so by this I mean there's maybe another person or there's some thing that you want to move away from and again the rear part of your body moves first so if you imagine it that that there's something like in front of you here in front of the front part of your body and you want to move away from it but you maintain this direction with your body we use the phrasal verb to back away from to talk about doing that so in example sentence they backed away from the fire so you imagine there's a fire like you're camping for example and you move in this way you can say you backed away from the fire so to back away from might be something you used to talk about your body more so than to talk about a car perhaps but this means moving in an opposite direction from something else okay so let's move along then to the next three which do not belong to this group relating to that kind of rear-facing motion these are very different actually let's first begin with this expression - back off - back off so to back off means to remove oneself from a situation that's one or to move away in fear so this first one to remove yourself from a situation this is often said in response to a person who's getting involved in a situation you want that person to go away from the situation so it's commonly used as a command like back off it means go away or stop bothering me maybe you're working on a project for example and someone tries to come share opinions or criticize your work or something you're not ready you can say it back off I'm still working on this for example so it's used often to give a command to someone actually we also use this to express fear like if someone threatens us or we're afraid of something and we want to kind of move away from the situation we can use back off as well let's look at an example here back off and let us deal with the problem so this is related to criticism like we don't need you to be involved so let us handle it that's kind of the feeling of back off like we don't need you please go away so to back off in this way we're first you leaving a situation okay let's move along to the next one which is back down to back down from something means to admit a mistake to admit a mistake or it can mean like to stop supporting something these are actually kind of connected to stop supporting something is like to stop supporting an opinion kind of so when you admit a mistake you stop supporting that mistake it's kind of the idea here so an example of this could be my neighbor won't back down he accuses me of being noisy so the neighbor in other words is wrongly accusing the speaker of being noisy but the neighbor won't back down that means the neighbor refuses to admit a mistake there were a few he refuses he or she refuses to admit that there's something wrong refuses to stop supporting the opinion so my neighbor won't back down he won't stop in how many words he continues to accuse me so to back down is like yeah kind of removing your support for something you said or some behavior you had in the past okay let's move along then to the last phrasal verb for this lesson which is to back up to back up this is used in terms of to back up someone to back up another person this means to support someone verbally so verbally means with your word to support someone verbally is to back someone up so you can split this to back someone up so an example of this could be my colleagues backed me up when I made a complaint so my colleagues supported me when I made a complaint I made the complaint and my colleagues verbally or they shared some words to support what I was saying in other words so to back some what it means to support them keep in mind this is very different from to be a backup to be a backup means to be a substitute for something it has a very different meaning here so to be a backup that's something very different from to back someone up so keep that in mind and try to pay attention to the situations where those two words are used all right so those are hopefully a few new ways that you can use the verb back of course if you have any questions or comments or want to try to make a sentence or maybe you know a different way of using the verb back please feel free to do so in the comment section of this video hi everybody my name is Alicia in this lesson I'm going to talk about some phrasal verbs that use the word push so these are expressions that feature the verb push but have a slightly different meaning from the basic meaning of push let's take a look okay let's begin with the first expression which is push off to push off means to begin moving usually we use this with a boat when we say push off it's like we're pushing away from some kind of like safety or some kind of support we typically use this for boats to mean moving away from like a dock moving away from land moving away from the part of the boat that's connect to some safety on land so we use this like to refer to moving away from a safe place but it tends to be used a lot in boats an example of this we pushed off at 8 a.m. so here it's the past tense we pushed off and the time we pushed off at 8 a.m. means probably the boat left the safe place at the dock at 8 a.m. so to push off means to begin moving away from something away from something some kind of support okay let's move along to the next expression the next expression is to push by to push by something or to push by someone means to use a pushing motion to move past someone or something we use this a lot with people in a crowded situation where you're near someone else but you would like to move past that person you can use a slight pushing motion a gentle pushing motion to move past that person so you don't want to maybe push them a lot but you can alert the other person you can tell the other person you're going to pass them with this expression for example I'm gonna push by you I'm gonna push by you shows I'm going to push myself or I'm maybe going to push something close to you or I might push you a little bit it refers to making a pushing motion to move somewhere so to push by someone in this case to push by you in other words I'm going to make a pushing motion and move past you it's usually a small pushing motion not a big one so this is just a quick kind of alert phrase you can tell someone as you move by them okay let's move along to the next expression which is to push someone around to push someone around means to bully someone to bully someone so you can imagine this is in a situation where there's someone maybe higher level and someone lower level this could be at school it could be at work it could be in groups of friends when you push someone around you are unkind to them you make unkind comments to them you ask them to do lots of things for you for kind of no reason just to use your power over that person we use the expression to push someone around to talk about bullying someone like this an example don't let your boss push you around so in other words don't let your boss bully you don't let your boss make you do so many things or don't let your boss be rude to you so to push someone around it's like you're using them or you're not treating them with respect it's not a good thing it's a negative expression okay let's move on to the next phrasal verb the next phrasal verb is to push limits to push limits you'll hear this a lot in technology news business perhaps as well this expression means to work at the extremes so you can imagine that there's some kind of boundary some kind of limit in your field at your job in your life so to push those limits means to work there and try to expand those boundaries you're working it like the extreme part of your job or the extreme part of your industry your knowledge or whatever it is in your case and you're trying to make that like bigger you're trying to expand that so we use the expression push limits to refer to that kind of thing a very common example is we're pushing the limits of Technology so here it's the progressive tense we're pushing the limits of Technology in other words we're trying to make the limits of technology a little bit bigger or we're trying to go to the next step kind of so we're pushing the limits this is an expression we use to talk about like next generation things they're kind of evolution of some kind another way to think of pushing limits is like doing the impossible or working to do the impossible so something that's not possible now may become possible through your efforts so it's like you're trying to do something that's not possible in the present but you want it to become possible in the future you're pushing the limits of what's available to you now okay let's move along to the next phrasal verb then the next phrasal verb is to push ahead I want to group this with the next one in the list as well to push ahead and to push along these have quite similar meanings push ahead feels a little more like to make efforts to create forward progress to push ahead like to the next step with something to push ahead in a project to push ahead in your business idea to push along is kind of like to cause someone else to make that forward progress so you can use it for a project as well like to try to push along a project but when we use push along it's like you're trying to kind of help something or help someone else make forward progress so they tend to be used in very similar ways but perhaps there are some slight differences in nuance we might use push along more with people than push ahead so as I said push ahead kind of feels like making efforts to make forward progress to move to the next step with something and then we can think of push along as like moving something forward or causing another person to move forward as well so let's take a look at some example sentences first let's push ahead to the next step so let's make efforts to move to the next step in the thing we are doing in the second example sentence with push along I've used a person here can you try to push him along so can you try to motivate him to encourage him try to push him along meaning get him motivate him to do his tasks or to do the things he needs to do so we can go to the next step so you're trying to get someone moving here so quite similar ideas but maybe slight differences in how they are used okay let's move along to the next X which is push back to push back means to resist something to resist something or to oppose something so this is used a lot in politics and in business in any kind of like discussion where there's a lot of disagreement to push back against something usually you're opposing an idea opposing a person opposing a policy so to push back is to resist that or to oppose that an example management pushed back against our proposal so we made a proposal for something in the office and management opposed that they did not want to do that thing they resisted so they pushed back you might also hear this used as a noun push back push back so not to push back but there was pushback against our proposal so you can hear this used as a phrasal verb or as a noun but they both refer to resisting or opposing something okay one more then for this lesson it is to push for something to push for something means to try to persuade someone of something so if you really really want to get something you're trying to convince someone something is a good idea or you're trying to convince someone to give you something we can use the expression push for that thing to describe that so in this example sentence it feels kind of like you're persuading yourself a little bit like you're trying to motivate yourself making efforts for yourself for your future you could also use this in talking to other people and trying to convince other people like trying to push your boss for a raise for example so it means you're trying to convince your boss or persuade your boss to give you a raise a raise is increased salary increased money at your job so pushing for something is like you're trying to make efforts in order to achieve something or to get something or to convince someone of something so to push for a thing okay so those are a few examples of some phrasal verbs use the word push I hope that you found something new here so keep an eye out for these the next time you see them in writing of course if you have any questions or comments or want to practice using one of these phrasal verbs please feel free to do so in the comment section of this video 10 countable nouns with irregular plural forms let's go mouse mice the first noun is Mouse in the singular it's Mouse in the plural its mice mice one mouse two mice not Mouse's not nice not anything like that not not mouse or Mouse's but mice mice one Mouse two mice three mice for mice in a sentence I hope you don't have mice in your house goose geese so the next word is goose goose a goose is a kind of big noisy bird really but a goose in the plural form a goose becomes geese geese so one goose two geese the collective noun as well so the noun we use to talk about a group of geese is a flock of geese a flock of geese we use flock for birds actually for collective nouns except for like crows for some reason we use a murder of crows isn't that weird I'm not sure about the history of that word but we see like a flock of birds like a flock of seagulls and like a flock of geese but we use a murder of crows that's such a weird collective now when you think about it I kind of research the history on that one anyway in a sentence geese migrate south in the winter tooth teeth the next noun is tooth tooth so the singular form is tooth the plural form is teeth teeth one tooth three teeth so please be careful not to tooths but teeth teeth tooth is an irregular noun - its teeth in a sentence the Tooth Fairy is a mystical creature that brings children money for teeth they've lost foot feet the next noun is foot foot so one foot two feet so we can use this both for the part of the body and for this system of measurement that we use in the US and I think in one other country we measure things using feet so like one foot is what twelve inches I think and then two feet we can also use this kind of for the system of measurement one foot two feet so please be careful of that not flutes but feet feet in the plural form in a sentence keep your feet on the ground child children okay the next one is child child please be careful child is the singular form children is the plural form children one child two children many children lots of children so but be careful not cha child's children is the plural form here please be careful in a sentence some people want to have lots of children person people the next word is person person in the singular form one person in the plural form people two people three people four people many people lots of people tons of people a bunch of people people is the plural form there so please use people when you want to use the plural form of person one person two people in a sentence the world is full of different people man men next noun is Man Man in the singular form man in the plural form men please be careful the pronunciation the vowel sound pronunciation changes significantly not man's but men men one man two men three men for men one man two men so listen for that EE sound or the a sound there this can be a really key listening point as well in a sentence more and more men are taking paternity leave these days woman women the next noun is woman woman the singular form is woman the plural form is women so please be careful here although the spellings of these two words are roughly the same and only the vowel sound at the end appears to change actually the O sound at the beginning of the word also changes in the singular form woman so we have the sort of sound with the O at the beginning of the word woman in singular in the plural form however we have women it's an e sound so in spelling the O does not change but in speaking the sound does change woman women so please be cautious of this both when you're speaking and when you're listening woman to women in a sentence look those women are all wearing the same hat sheep sheep the next noun is sheep sheep sheep is the next now the plural form is actually just sheep we cannot add an S to this we don't say sheeps we say sheep for the singular and sheep for the plural weird right so one sheep two sheep three sheep four sheep it's no change this word does not change at all so how do we know we just look at the word that comes before sheep so if we say two sheep or lots of sheep or a herd of sheep herd is the collective noun for sheep or for like cattle and farm animals big ones anyway so sheep does not change actually it's an irregular one the same rule applies to fish actually fish in the singular fish in the plural anyway shape in a sentence visit a farm if you want to see lots of sheep knife knives the next noun is knife knife so one knife in the singular form in the plural form it is knives knives so there's a V sound that comes into this word knife that F sound knife becomes a V sound in the plural knives one knife two knives we also see this with the word scarf actually one scarf two scarves for example so please be careful of this the so the spelling does change significantly as well to in a sentence then I hear you only really need three knives in your kitchen the first expression is I'd like to go to bla bla bla I'd like to go to your hotel name I'd like to go to attraction name I'd like to go to the nearest station please this is an expression you can use with perhaps a taxi driver or maybe like a shuttle bus driver from your hotel I don't know so if you want to explain where you're trying to go you can use this expression I'd like to go to la pobla I'd I'd like to go to bla bla bla in a sentence I'd like to go to the Empire State Building number of people please the next expression is number of people please number of people please by this I mean like the number of people in your group this is an expression you can use when you go to a restaurant so if you're traveling with your family for example you could say for please when you enter a restaurant or if you're traveling with one other person you could say to please so just the number of people in your group when you go to a restaurant this can be just a small thing that you learn how to say so that you can quickly communicate with the restaurant staff so in a sentence two people please numbers okay next is just numbers numbers are very useful when you travel especially if you're traveling to a place where the price tags for items might not be clearly displayed so if you're going to maybe like a flea market or if you're going to like a yard sale or something where the prices are not clearly marked you can use your knowledge of numbers to ask about and to listen for prices of things so if you know your numbers this can be very helpful for you and maybe you can also like protect yourself from getting charged too much money for something in a sentence Wow fifty dollars for this sandwich thank you the next expression is thank you thank you so before you travel make sure to study how to say thank you and maybe a few different ways that you can say thank you to people of course the most basic form in English is thank you but maybe consider thanks or I appreciate it or thanks a lot so make sure to know how to say thank you before you travel in a sentence thank you for your help can you tell me where is the next expression is can you tell me where something is so if you need to ask for directions you can use this pattern can you tell me where the bathroom is for example or can you tell me where this restaurant is or can you tell me where this sightseeing spot is so you can use this when you need to ask directions or when you're like in a department store or a shopping situation and you need help finding something can you tell me where something is in a sentence can you tell me where the station is excuse me the next expression is excuse me excuse me so this is useful for if you bump into someone on the street or if you need to interrupt someone like you need to approach someone with a question you can sort of begin the conversation with excuse me and then maybe could you tell me where the station is or excuse me I'd like to go to blah blah blah so using excuse me can be a polite way to initiate to begin a conversation with someone excuse me so in English we have excuse me or we have sorry as well but sorry is used more for like like an apology like I did something wrong excuse me is just a way to say like I'd like to begin a conversation but I recognize that you might be busy with something so excuse me it's like you want to start a conversation sorry is like an apology so I recommend using excuse me in English in a sentence excuse me where can I buy a train pass where is the restroom okay the next one is very important where is the restroom where is the restroom so this is an important question I think so if you're out shopping or if you're at like in a sightseeing location it may be important to know where the restroom is so where is the restroom is a nice one to use in English you can say where is the toilet but in American English it might sound a little bit too direct you could also use like where is the washroom perhaps in British English but generally where is the restroom it's quite a nice expression to know for English travel in a sentence where's the restroom I'd like please the next expression is I'd like something please this is useful when you visit restaurants I'd like a beer please I'd like a salad please you can also use it when you're shopping so I'd like three of that t-shirt please I don't know why you need three or I'd like four of these please so I'd like again that D sound so the same I'd like as we talked about in the first word in this episode I'd like to go to we can use I'd like plus a noun phrase I'd like something please very useful for ordering and for shopping so in a sentence I'd like a beer please how do you say in English the next expression is how do you say something in English how do you say something in English so if you don't know the English word for something but you want to know how to say it you can ask somebody maybe like a friend or maybe staff at your hotel for example if there's someone nearby that you can ask you can use this question how do you say this in English how do you can point to something like how do you say this in English just pick it up if it's like a water bottle in my case how do you say this in English or like how do you say that in English you can use that expression and you can just point to the object to to make it clear what you mean so how do you say something in English do you speak language the next expression is do you speak language so do you speak language so if you want to check and see if the other person speaks your language you can use this expression so in my case I would say do you speak English or if you travel somewhere else maybe maybe if you're from like Vietnam you could say do you speak Vietnamese or do you speak Portuguese or do you speak Chinese so you can ask people around you what languages they speak if you have like an idea that maybe that person can speak that language you can ask them do you speak Japanese so maybe a useful one do you speak English - alright in a sentence then procrastinating and study let's go register for a challenging test register for a challenging test to register for a challenging test that means registering for a test that is slightly more difficult than your current level so if you think you're of yourself as like a beginner right now maybe try registering for a test that is at like the lower intermediate level so if you always register for a test or give yourself some goal that is slightly more difficult than your current level you can always try to be pushing in the in the upwards direction you can always try to be pushing to to improve little by little so I say challenging I don't say difficult because if you're a beginner and you register for an advanced level test it's going to be really difficult to meet your goal it's gonna be really difficult to study everything to pass the advanced test but if you set smaller goals smaller test goals maybe you have a better chance of achieving those goals and your motivation will stay up so try registering for a challenging test to give yourself a goal find a movie or TV show to understand the next idea is to find a movie or a TV show to understand so finding a movie or a TV show that you can watch every week or just maybe your favorite movie in the language you're studying can be a really fun way to motivate yourself so if you have like a TV show you want to watch every week you can focus your energy on trying to learn the vocabulary words or to learn the expressions that are used in that TV show and perhaps week after week you'll start to hear some similar things and start to pick up the way that people speak in that show so having something that's kind of fun and a little bit entertaining to use as you study can help you enjoy what you're doing a little bit more so the same thing can apply to a movie if you find a movie that you really like or you really are inspired by that movie it can help you as you study because it can motivate you and inspire you to want to know all live like the aspects of that movie to know everything all the details of that movie so finding something that's kind of a little entertaining to help you study can be a good way to stop procrastinating sometimes get a study buddy the next idea is to get a study buddy a study buddy so what is a study buddy so buddy is a word we use for friend so a study buddy then is a friend that you study with or a friend that you tell your study goals to someone who can make sure you are responsible for your behavior so if you have a study buddy you can maybe check in with them every few days or like once a week maybe you go to a study group to get or maybe you practice conversation together you can set goals with your study buddy so you don't feel like you're studying alone all the time if you study alone all the time you might feel like I have nobody to practice with or nobody understands my goals or I feel like I'm the only person with my goal so having a friend having a study buddy can help you to feel a little bit more like part of a team and to help you like through questions that you might not understand or maybe they have some resources that you don't have and that can help you as you study so getting a study buddy can be both really fun and really helpful for you and roll in a course the next idea is to enroll in a course and roll in a course so like to enroll in a course means to start a course or to register for a course so in this case we're talking about a course of study like a language course if you're studying English enrolling in a course can be helpful because it creates accountability it creates responsibility if you enroll in a course you're paying money presumably and if you miss a class if you miss a session of your course you can think of it as money wasted essentially so if I'm paying maybe $50 for each lesson in a course and I don't attend that means that I'm wasting $50 so if you think of it this way and you are enrolled in a course then maybe this can help you study because you don't want to waste your money so by attending class you're using your money well you're using your time well to study and you also have the option to talk to your classmates and to the teacher there about any questions that you have so enrolling in a course especially like a weekly course or maybe even like a daily course or intensive course can help you in a lot of different ways I think create a social media account for your studies the next idea is to create a social media account for your studies so this is a popular way to get some daily practice actually creating with the language that you're studying so a really common tool for this is Twitter I've seen many people use Twitter to do this they create a Twitter account that's specifically for their English language studies so people will write about their day in English if they're studying English so if they don't have a chance to maybe speak with colleagues and the language they're studying or to write an email for example if they don't have a way to practice making outputs many people choose to use social media to do that so it's kind of a way to reach out to find other people who are studying or to find resources to read everyday about the thing you're studying but you also have the chance to create something yourself so if you like you could try making a social media account that's devoted only to your studies so try that out sign up for a regular event in your studies the next idea is to sign up for a regular event in your studies so that means if you're studying English for example maybe you can try to attend like a monthly get-together in English somewhere so this can be about your hobbies it can be about just something in your community a school event for example if you find something that you are able to do in English in this case that's also related to your hobbies it can be helpful for you because you start to see the ways that you can use English in a situation outside of just your textbook maybe or a situation that's outside of just your studies but getting an idea of how other people are using the language and getting an idea of like how you can potentially use the language in other ways so going to a regular like a monthly event or maybe something twice a month or whatever that's maybe outside your course or outside of your test studies can be another good way to get some exposure to have a chance to actually use the things you're learning and to learn new things make studying part of your daily routine the next idea is to make studying a part of your daily routine so by this I mean for example taking 30 minutes in the morning or 30 minutes at night or maybe 30 minutes at lunch whatever it is for you finding time in your day every day to do a little bit of study so even if you're only doing 10 minutes in the morning in 10 minutes at night it's better than zero so that's 20 minutes over the course of one day which is still better than zero minutes ever if you can find a way to make studying part of your day and you can kind of create a routine that studying is part of it can help you just kind of become used to doing that so steady doesn't feel like a job or studying doesn't feel like a chore it's just something you do like brushing your teeth or cooking breakfast or having a cup of coffee or whatever so if you make studying part of your routine then after a while it might not feel like work it might not feel like study it might just feel like okay this is just the thing I do at this time of the day so give that a try try to integrate study try to put study into your daily routine reward yourself when you finish studying the next idea is to reward yourself when you finish studying so when you finish your studies whatever that time period might be whether it's thirty minutes or one hour or you went to your course for the week try finding a way to reward yourself for studying this can be a very simple thing like for example buying yourself a cup of coffee or you get to have a piece of chocolate or after you finish studying you can watch your favorite TV show so find a way to put reward into your study routine so once you finish studying there's something good that happens that you can expect at the end of your study period so kind of reward yourself like so that it helps you develop and feel motivated to continue doing that study routine make your goals public the next idea is to make your goals public so make your goals public means share your goals with people so if you don't want to share your goals with everybody maybe you can just tell a few friends about your goal so if that goal is to pass a test for example or if that goal is to master a certain grammar point or maybe the goal is to learn a certain number of vocabulary words whatever that is try telling people about that goal because then it kind of creates some responsibility for you like if you tell people about that goal they might ask you about it in the future and if you say I didn't do it or I couldn't do it or I'm not studying at all you might feel kind of bad about that actually so at surely telling people about your goal creates that accountability and that responsibility for you so try sharing your goal with the people around you also they might support you there's a chance that they can support you or they can offer help they can offer something to help you achieve your goal so try that make studying a game the last idea is to make studying a game to make studying a game so in some cases you can find applications or you can find games you can find ways to study where like someone has already programmed a game like especially for vocabulary words for example you can find a way to enjoy your studies if that doesn't already exist try to invent a game especially if you have a study group or a study buddy try to find creative and fun ways to use the things that you're studying then you can actually enjoy your studies you don't have to think of it as work but you can actually see how your studies can be fun some examples of games that you could use when you study English you could use theirs like a game called Scrabble where you you get points by creating words so the more words you know the better chance you have of getting a highest score in the game so Scrabble is one way that you could do it for children one that's good is sort of like it looks like a worksheet actually but it's called mad libs it's called mad libs this is something that my brother and I used to play when we were little it's a worksheet but some of the words are missing in the worksheet and we can't see the whole story really it's good to play this game with two people so one person reads the worksheet and there are blank spaces on the worksheet that say adverb or adjective or verb so you ask the other person to give you an adjective to give you a verb and you write those words in the story when they've given you all the words that you need to make the story complete you then read the full story to the person using the words that they have given you and it usually becomes something kind of funny so this can be a good way to test your grammar and also just to get kind of creative with the sorts of words that you're choosing so that might be good for kids as well so there are a lot of different things that you can do of course you can create your own games as well let's start with the basic definition the basic definition of the verb beat is to hit repeatedly to hit something repeatedly examples he was beaten until he was unconscious I have to beat the dust out of this blanket let's talk about the conjugations of this verb now present beat beats past beat past participle beaten progressive beating let's talk about some additional meanings for this verb the first additional meaning is to defeat to defeat some examples I think spider-man could beat Batman in a fight our team has never been beaten so in both of these examples sentences we see beat meaning defeat in the first example sentence I think spider-man could beat Batman it means spider-man could beat Batman in a fight that's kind of the implied the suggested meaning of this sentence spider-man could beat Batman equals spider-man could defeat Batman spider-man would be better than Batman spider-man would win in a fight against Batman spider-man would beat Batman in the second example sentence our team has never been beaten it means our team has never been defeated our team has never lost our team has won every match every game we have ever played our team has never been beaten so no defeats pretty great so this is one meaning to defeat something okay let's go on to the second additional meaning for this verb the second additional meaning for this verb is to act before something else happens examples let's beat the crowds and get tickets for the afternoon movie I left the house early to beat rush-hour traffic okay so both of these examples show one action happening before some other like negative thing we want to avoid in the first example sentence it's about avoiding like big crowds of people at a movie theater so let's beat the crowds is the expression that's used there so beat the crowds doesn't mean like hit the crowds of people it means take action to do something before the crowd of people arrives and that action will be to see the afternoon movie so let's beat the crowds means let's do something before this crowd of people in the second example sentence it's I left the house early to beat the rush hour traffic we see rush-hour traffic is the thing to beat so again it doesn't mean hitting rush-hour traffic it means doing something in this case leaving the house early to beat in order to avoid rush-hour traffic so we're doing something before this other negative thing happens so in these examples it's a large crowd of people and rush-hour traffic so we do something to avoid that thing to do something before that thing happens okay let's go on to the third meaning for this verb the third meaning for this verb is to be more enjoyable than something else to be more enjoyable than something else examples enjoying some Sun on the beach sure beats working in an office relaxing at home beats spending the day shopping so both of these example sentences present two ideas one of which is better than the other in the first example sentence enjoying the Sun on the beach beats or is better than is more enjoyable than working in an office in the second example sentence relaxing at home beats or is more enjoyable than spending the day shopping so we're comparing two things and the thing that is better we use beats just after that so when you want to use this pattern you can just say a beats B and where a is better than B a is more enjoyable than me the fourth meaning here is to have a regular movement like to have a rhythmic movement that is regular in some way examples my heart was beating fast after my run the birds wings beat the air in the first example sentence my heart was beating fast after my run it means the rhythm of my heart the steady regular rhythm of my heart was fast after my run so the rhythm was constant but it was quick so in the second example sentence about the bird's wings it's this motion the bird's wings beat the air so there's a rhythmic a steady motion happening the birds wings beat the air meaning it's always it's like going regularly here so we can see this use of beat as well to refer to a regular kind of rhythmic motion let's move on to some variations and how we can use this then the first variation is to beat someone to something to beat someone to something means to do something before someone else so it kind of has that meaning of defeat that we talked about before examples I was gonna book tickets for the show but you beat me to it all my coworkers beat me to the office this morning so in these expressions beat me to something mean someone did something before me in the first example sentence I was gonna book tickets for the show we see the past tense I was gonna I was going to book tickets for the show but you beat me to it so this is quite common you beat me to it means you did that thing I just talked about before me so I plan to do it but you did it before me you beat me to it this is quite a common expression to use in the second example sentence all my co-workers beat me to the office this morning it means all my co-workers got to the office before me this morning so when you want to talk about someone doing something before you you can say they beat me to the office keep in mind though that this kind of has the nuance a little bit of competition like there's something that you want to do before someone else like there's a little bit of a competitive feel with this expression okay let's go on to the second variation here the next variation is beat yourself up to beat yourself up this means to be very negative or critical about yourself often for no reason or not for a big reason example don't beat yourself up it was just a small mistake I think he's really beating himself up for declining that job offer okay in the first example sentence don't beat yourself up this is a very common expression it means don't be so negative about yourself in this case we followed this expression with it was just a small mistake so in other words it's not a big problem don't beat yourself up don't be so negative to yourself for such a small mistake in the second example sentence I think he's really beating himself up for declining that job offer it means he's thinking really really negatively about his decision he's thinking about himself critically like oh it wasn't a good idea I shouldn't have done that he's really down maybe disappointed in himself for declining the job offer though maybe it's not a big deal it's not an important situation so he doesn't need to beat himself up or he is beating himself up about it in this case so he's upset in other words but maybe he doesn't need to be let's begin with the basic definition of this verb the basic definition of carry is to move while holding or supporting something examples can you carry this bag I always carry a pen okay let's look at the conjugations for this verb present carry carries past carried past participle carried progressive carrying now let's talk about some additional meanings for this verb the first additional meaning is to move a person or an object from one place to another examples veins carry blood throughout the body the bus carried the children to school so here we see objects and people being moved from one place to another through or via or by something else and we use the verb carry to describe them in the first example sentence veins carry blood throughout the body veins are the like you can see them on your arm usually blue colored they're the kind of like pipes I guess you could say like imagine them as pipes that carry blood so blood travels through the body through these veins so we can say veins carry blood through the body so veins are the method through which blood moves throughout the body so veins are carrying the blood we kind of can imagine in that way they're caring they're responsible for carrying the blood so we can say that veins are kind of responsible for moving blood around the body we can use the verb carry to explain them in the second example sentence the bus carried the kids to school the bus is the method of transport for the kids so the kids are moving from one place to another place the bus is the method of movement so the bus carried the kids to school we can use carry to talk about this transportation the second additional meaning is to have a gene or illness examples rodents are known to carry rabies some people carry diseases they don't know about in the first example sentence we see rodents are known to carry rabies so rodents are like small like rats or mice those kinds of dirty sort of creatures wild creatures rabies is a disease a serious illness like causes you to behave strangely in your body has really strange problems too I won't talk about rabies that much not so important here but rodents are known to carry rabies so the like the biological parts the things that cause rabies that carry that illness rodents are known to carry so it doesn't mean carry like a backpack really but carry a gene or carry an illness carry a sickness inside the body in this case rodents are known to carry the sickness that is rabies inside their bodies in a second example sentence some people carry diseases they don't know about it means some people have diseases in their body but they don't know about the disease so you can imagine like we carry the disease we hold it in our body and we move around but we don't know about it we use the verb carry to talk about this let's move on to the third meaning the third additional meaning is to make something a success to make something a success examples his leadership carried the team through a difficult time her performance carries the show so in both of these examples we see that someone carried something so someone caused something to be successful because of their actions or because of their leadership as we see in the first example sentence so his leadership carried the team through a difficult time means the team was successful in a difficult time because of his leadership but we used the verb carry to mean that so we can kind of imagine that this one person in this case his leadership his leadership and his abilities to be a good leader in other words were kind of the thing that carried the team so we can imagine the whole team is on top of this one guy's leadership skill so he is responsible for making the team a success in a difficult time so we use carry to explain that in the second example sentence her performance carried the show it means her performance was so good it was so important that the show was a success because of it so without her performance maybe the show would not have been successful but her performance was really really good her performance made the show a success her performance carried the show the fourth meaning of this verb is to reach a distance to reach a distance this can be like sound or it can be something physical some examples of this the sound of the Thunder carried 20 kilometers ash from the volcano carried into the air so here we're not actually carrying a physical object in the first example sentence it's sound traveling so the sound of thunder carried 20 kilometers it means we were able to hear the sound of thunder 20 kilometers away from the source so the sound carried in other words we use carry to refer to sound traveling a distance in the second example sentence ash from the volcano carried into the air it means the ash from the volcano moved into the air we could even say like the ash from the volcano carried into the next city for example so it travelled into the next city it traveled some distance but we can use Kari to talk about that as well let's move on to some variations for this verb so the first variation is to get carried away to get carried away this means to get too excited or too involved in something usually it has like a positive meaning we get carried away because we're excited about something but let's look at some examples first I got a little carried away baking last night he got carried away listening to music both of these examples are pretty innocent in the first example sentence we see I got a little carried away baking last night it's like I baked too much last night the idea is that I was too excited about my baking and I baked too much or maybe I stayed up too late making something I got carried away with it I did too much of it because I was so interested in this thing in the second example sentence he got carried away listening to music it maybe means he spent too much time listening to music maybe he forgot to do his homework or he forgot to go to work or he was late for work or something because he was carried away he was so interested in listening to music he forgot something or he did too much of it in other words so this generally just means that you're too excited about something or too involved in something so it can have a positive meaning the next variation is to carry over to carry over means to continue into the next period to continue into the next period examples unused data will carry over into the next month my airline miles carried over into this year so these two expressions both use like points or miles or some kind of data in the first example sentence it's like a mobile phone contract unused data will carry over into the next month if for example I have one gig of data available on my mobile phone every month but I only use 500 megabytes I have 500 megabytes remaining that's my unused data that amount carries over to the next month that means I have one gigabyte plus 500 megabytes of data to use in the next month so carry over means that amount continues to the next period we see the same thing in the second example sentence my airline miles carried over into this year meaning my airline miles from the previous year carried over or continued into this year so maybe I didn't use those miles last year but they continued into this year and I can still use them so carrying over means continuing something we see it a lot in like credit card contracts or like mileage plans or data plans anything with data points numbers we might see that sort of thing if you've studied your target language but you can barely understand native speakers you might be doing something wrong you know the vocabulary and grammar they're using but for some reason when they speak at a faster speed you can't keep track of what's going on why is this happening have you spent all this time learning in vain this is a common issue that all language learners face at some point or another the truth is it's actually a good problem to have because only students with a higher level of skill will experience it when you know a lot of the language but have trouble understanding native speakers the problem is almost always with your listening skills learning what words mean and practicing how to use them in a sentence are both invaluable skills to develop but people often forget that in addition to speaking writing and reading we have to develop our listening skills in a foreign language as well in this video we'll look at three practical ways to improve your listening skills number one practice active listening one of the best ways to practice listening is to well listen to your target language but this doesn't mean putting on some music and listening to it in the background as you do other things you need to practice active listening get your hands on a recording of spoken language you can use a movie news broadcast or a podcast you can even try subscribing to a YouTube channel listen to a segment of the audio and do your best to write down what you hear after a couple tries at this go back and double check what you wrote against the script of what was actually said if you're watching a movie you can double check yourself by turning on the subtitles our language learning program is one of the best tools for developing your listening skills you can listen to the conversation in a lesson and then check it back against the lesson transcripts this is simple easy and you can be sure that the transcripts are correct number to practice pronunciation any problems you have pronouncing new words correctly will be reflected back in your listening skills it's hard for your brain to decipher and remember a sound be it a letter or a word that you don't know how to make yourself a good accent will give you the ability to hear and pick out the otherwise unnatural new sounds to develop your accent focus on any sounds or letters that feel difficult or unnatural for you once you get more comfortable with the basic sounds start to combine them using words and whole sentences listen to native speakers as much as possible and take note of how words and sounds can blend morph or get dropped in rapid speech do your best to listen to this phenomenon and imitate what you hear focus more on how the syllables are said together rather than simply saying the words next to each other there is often a significant difference between how words are said individually and how they are said when spoken together in a rapid-fire sentence this is a big part of the reason language learners can know a lot of vocabulary and grammar but still not understand native speakers our playback feature is great for pronunciation practice you can playback the podcast itself or listen to words individually you even listen back at a slower speed if you're having trouble catching the correct pronunciation as a native speaker speed number three make listening part of your routine now that you've started practicing active listening and pronunciation make it a part of your regular learning a lot of specific amount of time for each of your listening activities for example you might practice ten minutes of active listening followed by ten minutes of practicing vowels and then ten minutes of imitation practice with a podcast now you don't have to use this schedule exactly tailor it to your own needs and availability the point is that you should make a conscious and decisive effort to practice your listening skills on a regular basis it could be 30 minutes a day or it might be 10 what matters most is that you practice consistently these three tips will help you close any gap that might exist between your knowledge of your target language and your listening abilities understanding native speakers may seem daunting at first but with a little time and perseverance you will see your skills improve few things are more discouraging than putting in the work and effort to learn a foreign language only to not use it for a while and forget a large part of what you studied once you have a good handle on a language it's not hard to practice it so that it stays in the forefront of your mind in this video we'll take a look at five practical ways you can make your target language a part of your daily life so that you don't forget it number one use language exchanges the idea behind a language exchange is that you find someone who fluently speaks your target language and is also interested in learning your native language during the exchange you spend half the time speaking in the language you're learning and the other half in the language they're learning this kind of exchange is a great way to practice your speaking skills and cement the material you've learned into your brain one great thing about practicing through a language exchange is that your language partner is a fellow language learner they will be able to sympathize with your struggles and even give you some insightful tips from their own personal experience most major cities will have at least one meetup or language club where you can practice languages with people from around the world but sometimes it can be hard to find people who speak the language you're learning if you can't find a local exchange or if there are no native speakers in your city you can connect with native speakers through online language exchanges there are numerous free sites that allow you to search for users based on country and language and have a text audio or video practice session number two immerse yourself digitally most phones laptops and apps will allow you to change the language of their interface why not change it to your target language this simple change may seem small but it can actually be an effective way to reinforce your use of the language your language skills are like a muscle if you use them on a regular basis then your skill in the language will be in good shape the more you use your language skills the easier will be to remember things however if you go for long stretches without using the language then you might have a problem those linguistic muscles will start to get weak before too long and you'll notice a drop in your language ability simply changing the language on your electronic devices won't equate to any heavy lifting in a foreign language but it could be comparable to a warm-up or a quick workout remember that you probably use electronic devices everyday if you can use at least some of that time thinking in your target language while using them each week that adds up to a huge amount of time and can keep your knowledge fresh number three teach others a language you don't have to be an expert in a new language to lend a hand to another language learner helping a beginner through the language will not only make you feel good about helping someone out it will also help you use the language and keep your skills sharp remember those language exchanges we talked about well what if you looked for other learners so that you could help them in the language don't worry if you don't feel qualified to teach the language they're not looking to get their PhD in linguistics most likely a new learner would appreciate someone who's been down the road before someone to show them some common pitfalls and shortcuts have you ever been a complete newbie in something had been graciously helped by someone with more experience pay it forward and be that expert to someone else your language muscles will thank you for it number four keep a journal or blog writing out your thoughts in a foreign language is one of the best ways to sharpen your skills it forces you to take time to construct sentences and it will reveal your weak points very quickly journaling is also one of the easiest and cheapest ways to practice all you need is a pen and a notebook if you're not the journaling type don't worry you don't have to write an autobiography simply recounting your day or describing an experience will be enough to get your language juices flowing the entries can be long but they don't have to be this exercise is flexible and can take any shape you want try writing short daily entries you can even post them online for native speakers to correct this way you can hold yourself accountable and write regularly there are several free sites that allow you to post an entry and have it reviewed by native speakers number five entertain yourself in the language books movies YouTube videos language learning websites music the list goes on there's an endless supply of media out there so you're likely to find something that interests you in your target language whether you love sports rock music or sewing you're sure to find something to entertain you in your target language learning a language is hard but remembering it doesn't have to be these ideas are here to help jumpstart your brain these aren't the only ways to practice your target language either do your best to use the language on a daily basis and make it a part of your everyday life remember all languages aren't just spoken there lived the fear of making mistakes is one of the biggest roadblocks to language learning out of all the discomforts that come with learning a foreign language nothing looms quite as daunting in the mind of a beginner it's almost as if we're hardwired to want perfection when we speak however the reality is that mistakes are unavoidable in fact mistakes are an integral part of the learning process think of small children who are just starting to learn language they mispronounce words they use words incorrectly and their grammar isn't very good sometimes they even make up their own words research shows that this is all a natural part of the process if making mistakes made up such a huge part of learning our native language why do you expect it to be any diff when learning a foreign one in this video we'll talk about six ways you can benefit from your mistakes while learning language number one be humble there's no room for pride when you're learning a new language if you're a beginner native speakers will likely be very accommodating with your mistakes and slower reaction times during conversations there's no reason to be embarrassed remember that it's a sign of respect to learn another person's language no one expects you to speak flawlessly right from the start no one's going to hold your mistakes against you so make sure you don't either number two don't play the comparison game whether it's a native speaker or another person learning the language don't make the mistake of comparing your progress to someone else's no doubt at the beginning there will be times when it feels like everyone is speaking perfectly and you're left in the dust but try not to get discouraged it's your race to run not theirs everyone has their own story their own reason and their own method for learning comparing your progress to someone else's progress is like comparing apples and oranges it's easy to stress out when someone speaks perfectly while you're struggling to make the most basic sentences but don't forget that while you can easily see someone else's success you're much less likely to see the hard work that got them there every speaker you meet had to learn the language at some point whether it was as a child or as an adult they too had to wade through their mistakes before they could speak fluently number three get feedback on your mistakes anytime you write or speak your target language try to get feedback from someone who speaks that language you can make mistakes day and night but if they're never corrected they do you no good if you can't learn from a mistake or if you don't know that it's a mistake it won't help you many in the language learning community hold that feedback is an integral part of the language acquisition process encourage friends and language partners to correct your speaking any time all the time worst case scenario you'll make a mistake 100 times and get corrected 100 times it might seem frustrating but it's all worth it on the 100 first time when you finally remember your mistake and start speaking correctly some mistakes will be easy to fix and you'll adjust your speaking right away others might take a while speaking a foreign language is a little bit like juggling there are a lot of moving pieces you have to keep in place whether it's pronunciation grammar or vocabulary getting feedback on your effort will help refine your language skills until you feel comfortable in the language number 4 listen to your brain after all the practice and feedback eventually you'll start to notice that certain words come to mind without having to think about them instead of having to scan your brain for the latest new vocabulary word you begin to instinctively come up with a word for a given sentence don't hesitate to blurt this word out sometimes it will be completely wrong other times it will be dead-on when words start coming to mind instinctively that means your brain is starting to get more and more used to using a new language the incorrect words are sort of like growing pains you'll have them for a little while but over time you'll encounter them less and less until all of your instinctual words are correct so don't let the fear of making a mistake short-circuit your brains natural learning process go with whatever word your brain gives you number 5 never take the easy way out if there are two ways to say what you want to say in your target language one you know and are comfortable with and the other you're not sure of use the one you're least comfortable with purposely choose subjects and sentence constructions that are difficult for you don't get complacent and fall into the trap of using the same phrase over and over again or having the same type of conversation with a language partner you always want to push your language skill boundaries to stretch them even further number six enjoy the language for its own sake small children not only make a ton of mistakes when they learn to speak they also have a ton of fun to them life and language are both giant mysterious adventures they aren't worried about making progress impressing people or speaking perfectly take a note from their playbook enjoy the language as you learn it let your focus be on the beauty and magic of the language savor the times you get to use it if you loosen up and enjoy the ride you'll learn much faster mistakes are powerful and indispensable part of learning a language we hope this video inspires you to stop being afraid of them and start embracing them are you improving how to assess your language skills have you ever wondered am I actually getting better with my target language if you want to know how to check and see if you've improved or not then keep watching today you'll learn why assessment can mean the difference between fluency and failure how to assess your language skills even if you're learning on your own and much more but first listen up here at this month's new lessons and resources first the writing a journal cheat sheet with this cheat sheet you'll be able to keep a diary in your target language and talk about your day inside you'll find phrases for common daily activities from warnings tonight second if you love travel then you'll love our brand new travel words and phrases PDF ebook learn all the must know travel phrases download it for free right now third must know words and phrases for your resume if you want to write your resume in your target language then this next one minute lesson is for you fourth the top 12 April Fool's phrases want to prank others and speak more of your target language then you'll want this April Fool's phrase list fifth must know vocab for doing laundry if you need language for practical situations like doing laundry then this one-minute lesson is for you you'll learn how to say washing machine detergent softener and much more to get your free resources click the link in the description below right now they're yours to keep forever okay let's jump into today's topic are you improving how to assess your language skills so have you ever wondered am I actually improving with my target language feeling like you're not improving can hurt your motivation on the flip side if you notice yourself understanding more of the language than before you can feel good and that can fuel your motivation to keep going but it's not easy to spot your improvement it's tricky with language it's not like going to the gym where you can see your muscles in the mirror this is where assessment comes in what's assessment the easiest example of assessment is a test if you go to a language class you'll get a test on the first day the goal of the assessment test is to understand where your language level is and any test after that is a way to see how much you've improved this is ongoing assessment so assessment is checking where you are now and how far you've come with your language learning assessment lets you see where you've improved and helped you find what you need to work on if you're serious about learning a language it's one of the best things you can do to stay on track stay motivated correct your mistakes and reach fluency but assessing yourself is also hard if you're learning on your own so what can you do here's how you can assess your language skills whether you're learning with our program or not number one if you're a Premium Plus user retake the assessment test technically you can only take this once but if you get in touch with our support team we'll give you the link if you're using any other resource find a way to test yourself look for practice tests apply for a proficiency test take online quizzes anything that forces you to test your language skills number two revisit old lessons an easier way to self assess your language level is to revisit old lessons you can do this with any program you're learning with if you've truly made progress then you should be able to understand the lesson dialogues with no problem if not then you know that you need to review them some more number three try harder lessons also something you can do with any language resource if you're using our program try lessons from a higher level if you're a lower intermediate try upper intermediate lessons if you don't understand anything that's fine but if you do then that's a good sign that you've improved and are ready for harder lessons number four for reading check out our extensive reading books these are available for all levels from absolute beginner to advanced you can reread old ones or try harder ones to see where your current level is you'll find these books in our lesson library this will help you assess your reading and comprehension skills number five for speaking use our voice recording tool if you can easily repeat the lines from the conversation that's a good sign or if you're using another program try to shadow the provided conversations if you can do it without a problem then you've made progress and are ready to go to the next level number six for writing try and copy out our lesson dialog by hand the point here is to see if you can write smoothly or not as a way of assessing your writing you can also do this with any text book you can also take a picture of your writing and send it to your Premium Plus teacher for feedback number seven use our premium plus assignments if you're a Premium Plus member you can ask your teacher to send you weekly assignments based on your knees whether for reading writing speaking or listening and they'll provide you feedback so you can see where you are with each skill so to recap one take our assessment test to revisit old lessons three try harder lessons or use our extensive reading books for reading five use our voice recording tool six right out dialogues by hand and seven take advantage of our assignments remember the point of assessment is not to pass or fail but to see where you've improved and where you need to work so thank you for watching this episode of monthly review great work here's a reward speed up your language learning with our pdfs lessons get all of our best PDF cheat sheets and ebooks for free just click the link in the description

Channel: Learn English with EnglishClass101.com

Views: 247,365

Keywords: englishclass101, learn english, english language, the United States, english alphabet, read, write, speak, school, teacher, tutorial, lessons, compilation, how to, fast, quick, easy, fastest, easiest, english pronunciation, english grammar, basics, english phrases, review, best of, monthly dose of english, comp, compilations

Id: YjWAP2u1OeE

Length: 118min 34sec (7114 seconds)

Published: Sun May 10 2020