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  • Today we'll be looking at some advanced English expressions

  • These are very commonly used in day-to-day English

  • and they're very very commonly misunderstood

  • so it's important that you learn them

  • and the best way to learn them is by you

  • creating examples - your own examples of these expressions

  • write them on a piece of paper or put them in the comments and I'll see them

  • okay for many many years people have told me

  • "Oh my god, you haven't read Harry Potter but you've seen the movies?!

  • Don't you know there is so much in the books it's not in the movies

  • you really have to read the books

  • "Yeah I know, I'm just rubbish. One day I'll read them"

  • and for years I have had the intention of reading Harry Potter

  • finally today I'm happy to announce I bought the first book!

  • I know! I know!

  • So when you have the intention of doing something and then you finally do it

  • we have an expression for that

  • for me in my case

  • I had the intention for a very long time to read Harry Potter

  • now I finally do it

  • I will say "I'm finally getting round/around to reading Harry Potter"

  • notice the grammar "ReadING" so that verb

  • whatever you do must have the "ING" form

  • just remember that

  • Is this always in present continuous? no Do you need the "finally"? no

  • Let me give you examples

  • just a standard past tense sentence

  • "I got around to reading Harry Potter"

  • you know what I had some time last weekend

  • and I got round to reading Harry Potter

  • okay how about a negative sentence?

  • If you're like me, I buy a book and then for months I don't read it

  • it just sits on my shelf

  • so maybe after a few months someone asks me

  • "Oh my god have you finished the Harry Potter books yet?!

  • The bit where the thing happens

  • and the guy comes in and then deliver then-

  • No! no!

  • "I haven't got around to starting it yet! No spoilers! No!"

  • so we can see in a negative sentence

  • I haven't got round (or "around", both are fine) to starting

  • remember to put the ING with the verb and you're good

  • Also, a study tip:

  • when you're making your own examples of these expressions

  • it really helps with memorisation

  • if your example is funny, scary, or emotional in some way

  • so make your example more memorable

  • when your friend comes to you and they're crying

  • "Oh my god I just broke up with my boyfriend everything is terrible"

  • As a good friend you might ask this question

  • "Oh my god, how come?"

  • These two words seem very unrelated

  • but together, what do you think they mean?

  • look at the context that's the best way

  • of course it means "Why did that happen? or "How did that happen?"

  • Another example could be

  • It's Friday night, it's about 10:30 you're out with your friends

  • and you're thinking "This is so boring I really want to go home"

  • So you tell your friends "I'm going home"

  • "Oh my god it's 10:30, how come you're leaving?"

  • "Because I'm sleepy, and drinks are expensive"

  • This is me every time I go out

  • so just remember that

  • "How come" means How or Why did this happen?

  • or How or Why is this happening?

  • so you can change the tense

  • when we talk about going somewhere

  • it is super common for us to say it in this way:

  • As a verb "to head *"

  • now we add a preposition after this

  • so let's have a look at different examples

  • this guy is leaving

  • when we leave a place we say

  • "I'm heading OFF" to head off means to leave or go home usually

  • This guy is simply leaving the house

  • so he will say "I'm heading OUT"

  • Where are you going? To the shop, to the cinema, it doesn't matter

  • outside your house, you're heading out

  • we can expand this to be more specific

  • "I'm heading out to see a friend" very common expression

  • This guy wants to enter the Cool Club

  • How can we say enter?

  • guess the preposition you probably know it

  • "Let's head IN"

  • that preposition IN with head

  • means to enter a place

  • so just remember, it's the verb head with a preposition

  • the preposition determines whether you're entering a place

  • leaving your house or

  • You're just going home or you're leaving in general

  • when you have an opportunity to do something

  • or when you are finally able to do something

  • then we have an expression for that

  • for example it's been a difficult week

  • you've worked a lot this week you've been super busy

  • you got no sleep you're very tired

  • but this weekend I have the opportunity to sleep

  • "I can sleep! I'm finally able to sleep!"

  • How can he say that?

  • "This weekend I get to sleep lots

  • I have no responsibilities, my work is finished"

  • So this expression: "Get to do something"

  • You have that opportunity to do the thing

  • Grammatically: "Get to" + Infinitive

  • so that verb that won't change

  • let's look at another example of this

  • She's saying "Last year I went to Spain with my class"

  • that's fine that's a good sentence

  • but she wants to add emphasis to this special event

  • that she had the opportunity for

  • "Last year I got to go to Spain with my class"

  • She's adding emphasis saying that this is not the usual case

  • I had a special opportunity, I was able to go to Spain with my class, it was special

  • You can talk about special opportunities that you have, or that you had in your life

  • so for example, for me

  • In London I get to meet lots of different people from lots of different places

  • in other cities that's not possible

  • so again it's this contrasting idea of what usually happens with this special opportunity

  • how does this expression work as a question or in a negative sentence?

  • Let's have a look

  • For example your friend is talking about a trip that they had

  • "Oh my god last year I went to London, just for two days though"

  • "Whoa! Did you get to see Camden?"

  • "Get to" - She's asking did you have the opportunity to see Camden

  • and his reply is a negative sentence

  • "No I didn't get to see anything fun"

  • I didn't have the opportunity, I didn't have time, for example

  • "Manage to" is our last expression

  • and in some cases it has a very similar feeling to "Get to"

  • in some context it means the same thing

  • however it is different

  • to be more specific it means:

  • Something is very difficult but you're successful in doing it

  • for example

  • That smells so good!

  • I bought this today, I'm a very slow reader

  • It takes me a long time to finish a book because my attention span is

  • - Ooh a squirrel!

  • So for example if I finish this in one day

  • that's very unusual and for me, kind of difficult

  • So how would I say that?

  • I managed to finish the book in one day

  • Look at the verb here we've got infinitive again

  • it's quite common after "to", to have an infinitive verb

  • Just remember that won't change

  • and again it just means:

  • it was difficult or unusual to happen but I did it. I was successful

  • How do we use this in a negative?

  • Let's imagine that this guy he really wants to see Beyonce in concert

  • so he tries to buy tickets but of course Beyoncé tickets are very popular

  • and he was too late to get a ticket

  • so he will say:

  • "I didn't manage to get a ticket to see Beyonce"

  • it's very sad

  • Again he says "MANAGE TO" to put that emphasis to say it's difficult

  • It's difficult and I did do it

  • it's difficult and I did not do it

  • So I hope you MANAGED TO learn all of today's expressions

  • Don't worry if not

  • One day you will GET ROUND TO learning them, remembering them

  • and one day you'll even GET TO use them in conversation

  • and when that day comes make sure you HEAD TO London

  • So I can ask you HOW COME you're so awesome?!

  • See you in the next class

  • Thanks for watching

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  • See you in the next class

Today we'll be looking at some advanced English expressions

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