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  • Vanessa: Hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.

  • Are you ready to expand your vocabulary?

  • Let's do it.

  • Vanessa: Last week I shared a special conversation video with you where my husband Dan and I

  • played a board game called Codenames.

  • Throughout this game, you learn some new vocabulary, but we didn't really explain the vocabulary

  • as we were playing the game.

  • We were just playing the game naturally.

  • So today I'd like to take 20 of those vocabulary words and explain them in detail, give you

  • some examples and help you to integrate them into your own conversations.

  • As I was creating this lesson for you, I realized that most of these expressions we used in

  • the Codenames board game video were phrasal verbs.

  • I guess phrasal verbs are commonly used, of course in daily conversation, but especially

  • in games.

  • So I hope that this will help to expand your phrasal verb vocabulary and help you feel

  • comfortable.

  • Vanessa: All right, let's get started with the first expression, number one, to pick

  • up.

  • There are a lot of different meanings for this phrasal verb, to pick up.

  • In fact, there are several meanings for all of the expressions that we're going to talk

  • about today, but I'd like to focus on specifically how it was used in the conversation.

  • This means to learn something naturally without studying.

  • This could be in a good way or it could be in a bad way.

  • So let me give you some sample sentences.

  • In the conversation lesson I said, "You'll pick it up."

  • That means that you'll learn naturally without studying.

  • Dan was trying to explain some of the rules of the board game and I said, "Ah, you'll

  • pick it up."

  • That means you'll learn the rules as we're playing without studying them.

  • This is in a positive way.

  • You want to be able to pick up new ideas in English, new expressions.

  • When you're listening to my videos or when you're listening to the radio, you'll probably

  • pick up new expressions.

  • You didn't study them.

  • You just simply learned them naturally.

  • Vanessa: This is positive, but we could also use this in a more negative way.

  • My five year old daughter picked up some bad habits when she visited our neighbor's house.

  • That means that maybe our neighbors were using some bad words or they were fighting with

  • each other.

  • Well, these are bad habits, so she picked up the bad habits when she visited the neighbor's

  • house.

  • This is a negative thing.

  • You don't want to naturally learn bad behavior, but you know, it happens.

  • So what we're going to do with each of these expressions is you're about to see a clip

  • from the original conversation where we used the expressions.

  • You're going to see Dan and I having that board game conversation, and I hope that it

  • will help you to just see how they're used in the original context.

  • All right, let's watch the clip.

  • Dan: Give each other a one word hint to guess the right word or the word we're trying to

  • think of.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, you'll pick it up.

  • Dan: Give each other a one word hint to guess the right word or the word we're trying to

  • think of.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, you'll pick it up.

  • Vanessa: Number two, to be a stretch.

  • You might know that stretching is the kind of exercise that you do before you go running.

  • You need to stretch your muscles.

  • This expression though, it's a little bit different, but it has a similar idea.

  • This means that it's far from reality.

  • We used this expression a lot in the conversation lesson.

  • We were specifically talking about connecting words together and sometimes the words didn't

  • exactly connect so easily, so we said some words are a stretch.

  • This means that they might not connect so easily.

  • If you've already watched that lesson, then you know what I'm talking about, but it's

  • still interesting and useful to use.

  • Vanessa: We can also say, I know that it's a stretch, but could you walk my dog for the

  • next two weeks while I'm gone?

  • This is kind of a lot to ask of somebody.

  • Two weeks walking your dog, that's a lot of extra work.

  • You're also assuming that your friend is available, that your friend has time, that your friend

  • wants to do it, so you're adding the expression, I know that it's a stretch, but could you

  • help me with this big task?

  • So you're already letting them know, I know it's a big deal.

  • I know that this is a lot to ask you and you're adding that expression, I know that it's a

  • stretch.

  • Vanessa: Or if you have a business meeting and your boss says, "Okay, I need all of the

  • reports finished by three o'clock."

  • Well, if there's a lot to do, you might say, "Well, it's going to be a stretch to finish

  • the reports by three o'clock."

  • It's going to be kind of far from reality.

  • It's going to be pretty difficult.

  • It's not impossible, but it's a little difficult.

  • It's going to be a stretch to finish the reports by three o'clock.

  • All right, let's see the original clips that you can see how to use, to be a stretch.

  • Vanessa: There are three cards here on the table that relate to that word.

  • Some of them might be closely related, some of them might be a stretch.

  • Vanessa: There are three cards here on the table that relate to that word.

  • Some of them might be closely related, some of them might be a stretch.

  • Vanessa: The next expression is, to mark off.

  • This is another phrasal verb and it means you're noting something as completed.

  • It's the same as to check off something, you are marking it off.

  • So let's take a look at some sample sentences.

  • In the conversation I said, "I'm going to mark it off."

  • That means that I had a list of words and I'm simply going to check that word or cross

  • it off.

  • As you can see, there are a lot of phrasal verbs that have a similar meaning ... to mark

  • off something, to check off something, to cross off something.

  • This means that I'm just noting this word is finished, this word is completed.

  • Vanessa: You can also say, "I feel satisfied when I mark off items from my to do list."

  • If you're the kind of person who likes to make lists in the morning of every day, you

  • say, "Today, these are the three things I want to accomplish."

  • Well at the end of the day, hopefully you will be able to mark off, I did this, I did

  • this, I did this.

  • You'll be able to mark them off and you'll feel satisfied because you accomplished what

  • you wanted to accomplish.

  • All right, let's watch the clips so you can see how to use this.

  • Vanessa: So that means that this word is finished.

  • All right, I'm going to mark it off on my paper.

  • Vanessa: So that means that this word is finished.

  • All right, I'm going to mark it off on my paper.

  • Vanessa: The next expression is, to give away.

  • There are a couple of different ways to use this expression, but in the conversation we

  • were talking about revealing a surprise.

  • So I said, "I can't give it away."

  • When you are the person who is giving a clue to someone else in this game, you can't give

  • away what the answer is.

  • You need to keep it a secret.

  • You can't reveal the secret.

  • I can't give it away, I need to keep it a secret.

  • Or you might say, it was amazing that none of my students gave away the Christmas surprise.

  • Vanessa: So many years ago when Dan and I were teaching English to elementary school

  • kids in Korea, for Christmas I wanted to give him a special Christmas present.

  • I went to all of his students and each student said something special to him.

  • A lot of them said, "Oh, you're so kind, teacher.

  • Oh, you're so funny.

  • I love your class."

  • Just a little comment like this, and I filmed all of them.

  • There were probably 50, 60, 70 students.

  • Usually kids aren't good at keeping secrets, but do you know what?

  • I couldn't believe that none of the students gave it away.

  • So when I actually gave him that video as a Christmas present, he had no idea.

  • I was pretty shocked because I thought that for sure one of the students will say, "Teacher

  • Daniel, we filmed a video for you."

  • But no, everyone kept their mouth shut.

  • No one gave it away.

  • So this is a great way to use this expression, to give away something.

  • Another phrasal verb.

  • All right, let's watch the video so you can see how to use this and its original context.

  • Dan: Well, cheese comes in a wheel.

  • You call it a cheese wheel.

  • You call it a cheese wheel.

  • Vanessa: Don't make me make a facial expression, I can't give it away.

  • Dan: Wheel.

  • Dan: Well, cheese comes in a wheel.

  • You call it a cheese wheel.

  • You call it a cheese wheel.

  • Vanessa: Don't make me make a facial expression, I can't give it away.

  • Dan: Wheel.

  • Vanessa: The next expression, another phrasal verb, is to clash with something.

  • This means that it doesn't go with or it goes against something.

  • In the conversation I said, "It's not going to clash with the other words."

  • I wanted to make sure that my word, my hint, or my clue, it went well with the other words.

  • So I used the expression, to clash with.

  • It didn't clash with the other words.

  • Vanessa: Let's take a look at another example.

  • The green striped shirt and the yellow polka dotted pants clashed with each other.

  • So this means they don't look good together.

  • If you wore those two things together, it would look a little bit strange.

  • So we can say in this situation, they don't go well together.

  • They clash with each other.

  • All right, let's take a look at how this is used in the original conversation.

  • Vanessa: Another hint.

  • Dan: Another hint.

  • Vanessa: I have another hint ready.

  • Dan: Okay.

  • Vanessa: Let me make sure that it's not going to clash with any of the other words.

  • Vanessa: Another hint.

  • Dan: Another hint.

  • Vanessa: I have another hint ready.

  • Dan: Okay.

  • Vanessa: Let me make sure that it's not going to clash with any of the other words.

  • Vanessa: The next expression, the next phrasal verb, is to start out with.

  • This is used when you're starting a series of events.

  • So other things are going to happen after that first event.

  • I said, "I'm going to start out with gear."

  • Gear was the word that I chose, so I pointed to that word.

  • This means I'm going to choose other words after the word gear, but that's just the first

  • one.

  • So that's why I use this phrasal verb, start out with.

  • Vanessa: Let's look at another example.

  • When you make bread, you need to start out with all of the ingredients.

  • This is a simple thing.

  • Of course, you need to start out with a good recipe, and of course you need to start out

  • with all of the ingredients.

  • Ideally put all of the ingredients on your table, and then you can start the process

  • of making bread.

  • So this is the first thing in a series of events.

  • Start out with all of the ingredients and then you are at least on the right path.

  • All right, let's watch the original clip.

  • Dan: So I'm going to start out with gear.

  • Vanessa: Good work.

  • Dan: That's easy.

  • Vanessa: All right, we got gear.

  • Dan: So I'm going to start out with gear.

  • Vanessa: Good work.

  • Dan: That's easy.

  • Vanessa: All right, we got gear.

  • Vanessa: The next expression is a little slang and it is, to be lame.

  • Lame usually refers to someone who can't walk and it's not a very kind expression, but in

  • this situation it just means something that's not cool.

  • This is very casual.

  • So in the conversation, Dan said, "It's lame of me to do this."

  • He just simply meant it's not cool of me to do this.

  • In the board game, you're trying to think of a clue for multiple words, but he only

  • made a clue for one word.

  • This is kind of easy, kind of simple.

  • It's not very amazing.

  • So he said, "It's lame to do this."

  • It's not so cool to do this.

  • Vanessa: Well, let's take a look at another way that we commonly use this.

  • If your friend is telling you about her date that she had last night, she might say, "My

  • boyfriend said he was going to come at 6:00 PM, but he didn't come until 7."

  • You can reply, "Wow, that's lame."

  • That means that's not cool.

  • This is not acceptable.

  • Especially if he didn't call you in advance.

  • He didn't have a good excuse.

  • You could just say, "Wow, that's lame."

  • So when someone tells you something that you think is not cool, you can just simply say,

  • "Oh, that's lame."

  • I'm sure you're going to hear this all the time in movies and TV shows, so now you know

  • what it means.

  • All right, let's watch the original clip.

  • Dan: I have a hint ready.

  • Vanessa: Okay.

  • Dan: I'm going to try to make it easy.

  • It's kind of lame of me to do this, but ... Dan: I have a hint ready.

  • Vanessa: Okay.

  • Dan: I'm going to try to make it easy.

  • It's kind of lame of me to do this, but ... Vanessa: The next expression, the next phrasal

  • verb, is to go with something.

  • You might think that this means you are leaving the house with someone, to go with someone,

  • but no, in this situation it just means to choose, to choose something.

  • So in the conversation with Dan, the original conversation, I said, "I'm going to go with

  • rice."

  • Go with rice, and rice is just the option that I chose.

  • We often use this in restaurant situations when you're ordering.

  • So you could say, "I'm going to go with the daily special and a glass of wine."

  • This just means I would like to order those two things.

  • If you'd like to check out some more expressions and common questions that are used at restaurants,

  • especially if you're going to order food in the US, make sure you check out this video

  • I made up here because you can learn all about restaurant situations.

  • Vanessa: Before we look at the clip.

  • Let's look at another example.

  • When you're talking about your vacation, you might say, "We decided to go with the city

  • tour instead of the museum tour."

  • This means we decided to choose the city tour instead of the museum tour.

  • It's just another way to say to choose something.

  • All right, let's watch the original clip.

  • Dan: She didn't get the last one.

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • I'm going to go with ... there's both rice and kitchen on the table, but I feel like

  • rice is a lot more specific.

  • Dan: She didn't get the last one.

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • I'm going to go with ... there's both rice and kitchen on the table, but I feel like

  • rice is a lot more specific.

  • Vanessa: The next expression and, you guessed it, phrasal verb, is to use up.

  • This means to use something completely.

  • There's nothing left.

  • In the original conversation I said, "We only used up two guesses."

  • That means that we have a limited amount of guesses and two of those are completely used

  • or are completely used up.

  • Let's take a look at another example.

  • If you use up the milk, please throw away the container.

  • Don't put it back in the fridge.

  • If you use it up, throw it away or recycle it, but don't put it back in the fridge.

  • If this is a common issue in your house, then you'll probably think about this phrasal verb

  • a lot.

  • If you use up the toilet paper, please take the roll out of the stand and put in a new

  • one.

  • If you use something up, it's polite to replace it.

  • All right, let's look at the original clips so you can see how this was used.

  • Vanessa: Okay, so we only used two wrong guesses.

  • So we have five more.

  • Vanessa: Okay, so we only used up two wrong guesses.

  • So we have five more.

  • Vanessa: The next expression and phrasal verb is, to jump out at.

  • This means it's just easy to see something.

  • So in the conversation we said, "Nothing is jumping out at me."

  • We were looking at the different words and no specific word was easily visible.

  • Maybe you are trying to connect different things and there wasn't one that was an obvious

  • answer.

  • Well, nothing's jumping out at me.

  • If your teacher asks you, well, look at the page and try to find the answer to this question.

  • After 10 minutes, maybe you don't have the answer.

  • You could say, "Nothing jumped out at me.

  • I have no idea what the answer is."

  • And then she might say, "Oh, you're looking at the wrong chapter.

  • Look at this chapter."

  • So it means something on the page is almost jumping out at you, so it's easily visible.

  • Vanessa: Or you could say Dan's red hair jumps out at you.

  • So he's easy to find.

  • Whenever I go to a place where there's a lot of people and I'm looking for Dan, I always

  • look for his hair because it jumps out at me.

  • It's unusual.

  • It's usually big and curly and red, so it's easy for me to see.

  • It jumps out at me.

  • All right.

  • Let's take a look at the original clip from the conversation.

  • Vanessa: Nature's such a broad word, but I chose it.

  • Dan: Oh, all right.

  • Well, nothing's seriously jumping out at me except for butterfly.

  • Vanessa: Nature is such a broad word, but I chose it.

  • Dan: Oh, all right.

  • Well, nothing's seriously jumping out at me except for butterfly.

  • Vanessa: The next expression is not a phrasal verb.

  • It is, Hail Mary.

  • This means a final desperate attempt to do something.

  • It might seem like this has some Catholic origins because we're talking about Mary,

  • the mother of Jesus, and there are some Catholic beginnings to this expression.

  • But the main reason that we use this expression is because of American football, where we

  • throw the ball.

  • We don't kick the ball, you throw the ball.

  • In this situation it's when you're about to lose the game, you have no other options.

  • So one of the players throws the ball almost blindly at the other end of the field hoping

  • someone please catch it because we only have 10 seconds left in the game, we're going to

  • lose.

  • That's called a Hail Mary pass.

  • I never thought that I'd be explaining sports or American football on this channel, but

  • it's really related to this expression.

  • Vanessa: So we often integrate this into just other situations in life.

  • Dan said, "You get a Hail Mary guess."

  • That means at the end of the game, you're about to lose, you don't know what you're

  • going to do.

  • Well in the rules of the game, you get one final desperate attempt.

  • This is one final guess and if you get it, you could win.

  • If you don't, you're definitely going to lose.

  • So it's kind of a desperate attempt, a Hail Mary guess.

  • Vanessa: Let's take a look at another example.

  • After she broke up with him, he sent her flowers and chocolate and a love note as a Hail Mary

  • attempt to win her back.

  • So in this situation, she has already broken up with him.

  • Their relationship is finished, but he wants one final desperate attempt.

  • Please don't break up with me.

  • So he sends her all these nice things as a Hail Mary attempt.

  • We use this as an adjective to describe something, a Hail Mary guess or a Hail Mary attempt to

  • win her back.

  • All right, let's take a look at the original clip so that you can see how this was used.

  • Dan: I think in the rules you get a Hail Mary guess at the end.

  • Vanessa: Oh yeah?

  • Dan: Yeah.

  • There's one Hail Mary guess at the end.

  • Dan: I think in the rules you get a Hail Mary guess at the end.

  • Vanessa: Oh yeah?

  • Dan: Yeah.

  • There's one Hail Mary guess at the end.

  • Vanessa: The next expression is, a toss up.

  • Note that this is a noun we need, a, in front of this expression.

  • It kind of looks like a phrasal verb, right?

  • Toss can be a verb.

  • Up can be a preposition.

  • But in this situation it's a noun, a toss up.

  • It means an outcome can't be predicted between two options.

  • You have no idea if this one's going to win or if this one's going to win or which one's

  • going to be better.

  • It is unpredictable which one is going to be chosen.

  • All right, let's look at some examples.

  • Vanessa: In the original conversation we said, "It's a toss up between earth and fog."

  • I think my original clue was nature and Dan was trying to guess which word is related

  • to nature, earth or fog.

  • And he said, "It's a toss up."

  • Both words are equally related to nature, earth and fog.

  • I don't know.

  • It's a toss up.

  • Let's look at another example.

  • Both teams are playing so well.

  • It's a toss up who will win.

  • We don't know who will win, because both teams are playing so well.

  • So make sure you use this as a noun.

  • It's a toss up.

  • When you hear this as a verb, it's generally a physical action.

  • He tossed up the ball into the air.

  • Okay.

  • But this is as a noun.

  • It's a toss up who will win.

  • I don't know.

  • All right.

  • Let's look at the original conversation clip.

  • Dan: Earth.

  • Earth is a little more nature.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, that's a little hard.

  • Dan: I mean, it was a toss up.

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • I feel like if it were butterfly and earth, I probably would have said a different word.

  • Dan: Because We say mother earth.

  • Dan: Earth.

  • Earth is a little more nature.

  • Vanessa: Yeah, that's a little hard.

  • Dan: I mean, it was a toss up.

  • Vanessa: Yeah.

  • I feel like if the word butterfly and earth, I probably would have said a different word.

  • Dan: Because we say mother earth.

  • Vanessa: The next expression is, early on.

  • This expression is almost exactly the same thing as just the word early.

  • In the conversation we said, "It's early on in the game."

  • This means it's almost the beginning of the game.

  • It's early on in the game.

  • In this sentence, you can also say, "It's early in the game."

  • Using on is not a requirement in this sentence.

  • It's just another way to say this expression.

  • It's early in the game or it's early on in the game, but let's look at another sentence

  • where you need to say early on and you can't say early.

  • Vanessa: I knew early on that this lesson would help my vocabulary grow.

  • In the situation we're talking about, at the beginning when you first clicked on this video,

  • you realized quickly, you realized early on this video is going to help my vocabulary

  • grow.

  • I'm going to watch it.

  • Even though it's a little bit long, I'm going to watch it.

  • So you realized or you knew early on in the video, or we don't have to say that, just

  • I realized early on that this vocabulary video would help me improve.

  • We can't say in this situation, "I realized early that this video would help me."

  • I realized early, it feels a little bit strange.

  • So this expression is important to listen for when you're watching movies, TV shows,

  • listening to podcasts, listening to music.

  • When you hear people use early on, just make a little note of that situation, because you

  • can use it in that situation as well.

  • All right, let's watch the original clip.

  • Dan: There's too many ... I'm going to pass.

  • Vanessa: Oh, okay.

  • All right.

  • Dan: I'm scared.

  • Last time made me nervous.

  • Vanessa: All right, so you're going to have one ...

  • Dan: It's early on.

  • Yeah, I don't know.

  • To me ... Vanessa: One waiting?

  • Dan: There's too many ... I'm going to pass.

  • Vanessa: Oh, okay.

  • All right.

  • Dan: I'm scared.

  • Last time made me nervous.

  • Vanessa: All right, so you're going to have one ...

  • Dan: It's early on.

  • Yeah, I don't know.

  • To me ... Vanessa: One waiting?

  • Vanessa: The next expression is, to go on.

  • This is another phrasal verb and it simply means to happen, but there is another layer

  • to this phrasal verb.

  • It's usually when something dramatic is happening or you kind of expect that maybe something

  • dramatic is happening.

  • So let's take a look at some examples.

  • I said, "They have fist fights going on."

  • Fist fights means you are punching someone.

  • This is pretty dramatic, right?

  • It's not just a conversation, it's something dramatic.

  • So I was talking about gangsters or the mafia or these different violent groups have fist

  • fights going on.

  • Vanessa: Or we could say, "Go outside and find out what's going on."

  • In this situation, you don't know anything about this context except because I chose

  • to use the phrasal verb, to go on, you can assume that maybe there's a lot of loud noise.

  • Maybe there was a big crash.

  • Maybe there's a lot of people outside and that's unusual.

  • Something that you suspect to be dramatic is happening.

  • Go outside and find out what's going on.

  • Hopefully it's going to be a safe situation, but you never know.

  • Just find out what is this unusual dramatic thing that's happening.

  • All right, let's take a look at the original clips that you can see how it was used.

  • Vanessa: What else punches?

  • Gangsters may be punched.

  • They got some fist fights going on.

  • Vanessa: What else punches?

  • Gangsters may be punched.

  • They got some fist fights going on.

  • Vanessa: The next expression is a fun idiom and it's, by the seat of your pants.

  • Let me tell you a little bit about the origins of this expression.

  • So it means that you're doing something without a plan.

  • But why in the world is it by the seat of your pants?

  • So generally this expression is used in its full form, to fly by the seat of your pants.

  • This refers back to a time at the beginning of aviation when pilots didn't really have

  • a lot of technology to help them fly correctly.

  • They often had to just use their own intuition.

  • Maybe they had to look out the window, maybe they had to just kind of follow their heart.

  • So they were doing something without a plan.

  • They didn't have maybe a control tower, telling them where to go.

  • This is the early stages of aviation.

  • So they said that pilots had to fly by the seat of their pants.

  • They didn't have a plan, they just had to go for it and hope that it was okay.

  • Vanessa: So we've kind of brought this expression into modern times to simply mean that I don't

  • have a plan.

  • I'm doing it by the seat of my pants.

  • So let's look at some examples.

  • Dan said, "Frogs live by the seat of their pants."

  • So it was kind of a weird way to use this, but it's kind of true, right?

  • Frogs don't have a plan.

  • They just live however they want to live.

  • They just go on each day, each moment without a plan.

  • So they live by the seat of their pants.

  • He could've also said, "Frogs just kind of fly by the seat of their pants."

  • That would mean the same thing.

  • It doesn't mean they're flying in the sky.

  • It just means that they go through life without a plan.

  • Vanessa: Let's look at another example.

  • "I totally forgot about my presentation, so I just flew ...", which is the past tense,

  • "I just flew by the seat of my pants."

  • When you got in front of the class, you realized, I have nothing prepared.

  • I totally forgot about this.

  • Well, you know what you have to do?

  • You have to fly by the seat of your pants.

  • You just have to go for it and hope that it turns out well.

  • So you could say, "I flew by the seat of my pants."

  • Kind of funny expression, right?

  • But when you hear it now you'll know, it means this person was not prepared, didn't have

  • a plan.

  • It's a lovely one to integrate into your own conversations.

  • All right, let's watch the original clip.

  • Dan: Frogs.

  • I'd say they kind of just live by the seat of their pants.

  • They're not really making routines.

  • Dan: Frogs.

  • I'd say they kind of just live by the seat of their pants.

  • They're not really making routines.

  • Vanessa: The next expression is, to be hit or miss.

  • You can imagine a target.

  • If you hit the target, great, you have succeeded.

  • But if you miss the target, you failed.

  • So here we're talking about just unpredictable results, to be hit or miss.

  • You don't know if you're going to hit it.

  • You don't know if you're going to miss it.

  • But we don't really use this with a target per se.

  • We use it in other situations.

  • So let's look at some examples.

  • Dan said, "Our knowledge is very hit or miss."

  • In the game that we were playing, we really needed to know each other and to guess each

  • other's minds.

  • Sometimes we knew immediately.

  • Great, that was hit.

  • But sometimes, as you'll see if you haven't watched that video, it was completely miss.

  • So we were not on the same page.

  • We just didn't understand what each other were thinking.

  • So we could say our knowledge was hit or miss.

  • Vanessa: Let's look at another example.

  • The singer's new songs are really hit or miss.

  • Some are amazing and some are just okay.

  • So if you get a new album from someone who you enjoy, a musician who you enjoy and you

  • listen to one song, "Oh this is so great, I love this!"

  • And then the next song ... not so great.

  • And they listen to another one, "Oh this is great!"

  • And another one, not so great.

  • Well, this could be a great time to use this expression.

  • The new songs are hit or miss.

  • Some of them are great, some of them are not.

  • All right, let's watch the original clip so that you can see how to use this.

  • Dan: How well do we know each other's brain?

  • It's very hit or miss.

  • Dan: How well do we know each other's brain?

  • It's very hit or miss.

  • Vanessa: The next expression is another wonderful idiom and it's, on the back burner.

  • On your oven, on the stove top, at least in the US, there's generally four burners.

  • Two are in the front and two are in the back.

  • The ones in the front you probably use more often and the ones in the back you don't use

  • as often.

  • They're a little further away, so this expression uses that idea.

  • It means that something is postponed or it's just a low priority.

  • It's on the back burner.

  • In the conversation with Dan, I said, "I'll keep it on the back burner."

  • That means that I'll kind of postpone this.

  • It's not my top priority right now, but I'll still remember it.

  • I'm not going to completely forget that I have it on this figurative stove top, but

  • it's just not my top priority right now.

  • Vanessa: We can often use this in negative situations, especially related to people.

  • So you might say, "He always chooses to watch soccer, so his girlfriend feels like she is

  • on the back burner."

  • This means soccer is his priority, and spending time with her is not a priority.

  • It's a low priority.

  • This might not be true in his mind, but she feels like she is on the back burner.

  • So if you personally feel like you have been pushed to the back burner, this means that

  • you are not someone's priority.

  • It's a negative feeling, right?

  • You want to be a priority, especially to the people you care about.

  • So you might use this in a conversation with someone to say, I feel like I've been on the

  • back burner recently.

  • We really need to spend more quality time together.

  • Vanessa: Or you could just use this for an idea.

  • Let's put that idea on the back burner and let's focus on this other project first.

  • In that situation, it's not negative.

  • It just means it's not our top priority.

  • Let's postpone it and then we'll get to it later.

  • All right, let's see how this was used in the original conversation clip

  • Dan: And I think we're doing fine.

  • I'm still going to pass for now.

  • Vanessa: You're going to pass.

  • Okay, so you still got that sitting on the back burner?

  • Dan: Yeah, it's on the back burner.

  • Vanessa: All right, I'll ... Dan: If I can remember.

  • Dan: And I think we're doing fine.

  • I'm still going to pass for now.

  • Vanessa: You're going to pass.

  • Okay, so you still got that sitting on the back burner?

  • Dan: Yeah, it's on the back burner.

  • Vanessa: All right, I'll ... Dan: If I can remember.

  • Vanessa: The next expression is, to be clear cut.

  • This means it is completely free from doubt.

  • If you cut something with scissors, well it's not very easy to put that back together.

  • There is an obvious line on one side of something, on the other is another.

  • It is free from doubt which side is on which side.

  • So let's take a look at some examples.

  • In the conversation, I said, "That's a pretty clear cut no."

  • That means that there's no doubt the answer is no.

  • It's a clear cut no.

  • There's not any hesitation.

  • I'm not thinking maybe it's true, maybe it's not.

  • Nope, it is a clear cut no.

  • Vanessa: Let's look at another example.

  • This is true for my life.

  • From an early age, it was clear cut that I wouldn't become an engineer.

  • My dad's an engineer, but from an early age I wasn't showing signs that I was really gifted

  • or interested in math and science, the things that you really need to know a lot about if

  • you're going to be an engineer.

  • So from an early age, or we could say early on, it was obvious that I wasn't going to

  • be an engineer or it was clear cut that I wouldn't be an engineer.

  • All right, let's take a look at the original conversation.

  • Dan: Probably didn't wear a bikini, just saying.

  • I don't think so.

  • Vanessa: I think you know enough about him to say that's a pretty clear cut no.

  • Dan: Probably didn't wear a bikini, just saying.

  • I don't think so.

  • Vanessa: I think you know enough about him to say that's a pretty clear cut no.

  • Vanessa: The next expression and phrasal verb is, to throw off.

  • This means to confuse someone or something.

  • We could say, "That word is throwing me off."

  • In the conversation in the board game, we used this to talk about this word specifically

  • is confusing me.

  • It threw me off or it is throwing me off.

  • We can imagine here that you are, let's say walking or trying to balance on a railroad

  • track.

  • Well you're going in one direction, but if you get thrown off then you're not on the

  • same path and it's kind of the same idea as being figuratively lost or confused.

  • That word is throwing me off.

  • I was on a path and then I saw that word and now I'm not so certain.

  • The answer is not clear cut anymore.

  • I felt thrown off.

  • It's a little bit difficult to explain how this was used in the conversation if you haven't

  • seen the conversation yet.

  • So let's look at another example.

  • Vanessa: The robber threw off the police by putting on a disguise.

  • Maybe he put on some long hair and some different clothes.

  • Well in this situation he's confusing the police by putting on a disguise.

  • He is throwing off the police.

  • So the police are on a path.

  • They are going to find the robber, they're going to find the criminal and then all of

  • a sudden they look around and there's no more clues.

  • Where did he go?

  • He just vanished.

  • Well, we can say the robber threw off the police.

  • That means because of his actions, because he put on a disguise, they're not on the right

  • path anymore.

  • They don't know where they're going.

  • They're confused.

  • He threw them off.

  • This is a wonderful phrasal verb that you can use in a lot of situations.

  • All right, let's take a look at the original clip.

  • Dan: Yeah.

  • Bases.

  • Bases.

  • Something about that word is just throwing me off.

  • Dan: Yeah.

  • Bases.

  • Bases.

  • Something about that word is just throwing me off.

  • Vanessa: The next and final expression is a wonderful idiom, to go over your head.

  • This doesn't mean that an airplane is flying over your head.

  • This just means that you don't understand some kind of complex idea.

  • It just went over your head.

  • Let's take a look at some examples.

  • All the hints are going over my head.

  • That means that in the board game, Dan was trying to give me hints.

  • I was trying to give him hints and we just weren't understanding them.

  • They were going over our head.

  • We often use this gesture that you see me making with a hand, that went over my head.

  • You're kind of showing visually what this expression actually is.

  • Something is going over your head.

  • It just means that you don't understand it.

  • Vanessa: Let's take a look at another example.

  • Because I studied this lesson, these 20 expressions won't go over my head anymore.

  • That means if you hear these expressions in a podcast, in a song, in a movie, you're going

  • to understand them.

  • They're not going to go over your head.

  • Maybe before this lesson, if you heard one of these expressions, if you heard clear cut

  • or to be on the back burner, you would have just kind of mentally skipped it and tried

  • to understand the general context.

  • But now these expressions won't go over your head because you're going to understand them.

  • Wonderful.

  • Great work.

  • All right, let's watch the original clips so you can see how this was used.

  • Dan: All the hints are going right over my head.

  • Lancelot.

  • Whose that?

  • Legs.

  • Where?

  • What was the other one?

  • Vanessa: Faces.

  • Dan: Faces!

  • Vanessa: That did not go over your head.

  • Dan: All the hints are going right over my head.

  • Lancelot.

  • Who's that?

  • Legs.

  • Where?

  • What was the other one?

  • Vanessa: Faces.

  • Dan: Faces!

  • Vanessa: That did not go over your head.

  • Vanessa: Great work using all of these expressions.

  • I hope that they won't go over your head.

  • I hope that you'll be able to add them into your vocabulary.

  • Congratulations for your hard work.

  • Now I have a question for you.

  • I want to know when something is used up in your house, do you get rid of it or do you

  • just leave it there?

  • Do you know anyone who just leaves it there?

  • Like the toilet paper roll or the milk jug?

  • What do you do when you use up something in your house?

  • Thank you so much for learning English with me and I'll see you again next Friday for

  • a new lesson here on my YouTube channel.

  • Bye.

  • Vanessa: The next step is to download my free ebook, Five Steps to Becoming a Confident

  • English Speaker.

  • You'll learn what you need to do to speak confidently and fluently.

  • Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more free lessons.

  • Thanks so much.

  • Bye.

Vanessa: Hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.

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