Speak English Confidently_ Daily Life Vocabulary

It blows me away that there are over 6 million English learners subscribed to the Speak English with Vanessa YouTube channel. Are you one of them? I hope so. Thank you so much for learning English with me. Today, you are going to dive deep into some important real life English expressions. If you're new here, hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com. And on this channel, I teach you real life English, English that is used every day in the US. And today, the 10 expressions that you are going to learn were used in a real English conversation between my husband, Dan, and I that you might have seen a few weeks ago. If you haven't seen this conversation yet, no problem. You can always watch the full conversation after this lesson. Not only are you going to learn 10 important phrases, but you will also learn a bonus phrase at the end of this lesson, one that I use quite often in my daily life. Plus, like always, I have created a free PDF worksheet for you with all 10 of these important daily life English phrases, plus the one bonus phrase. This includes sample sentences, definitions, plus at the bottom of the worksheet, you will answer a quiz to test yourself and see if you can really understand these phrases. To get this free PDF worksheet, simply click on the link in the description, enter your name and email address, and voila, just like that, the PDF worksheet will land in your email inbox. And do you want to know something even better? You never need to sign up for my free PDF worksheets again, because I will automatically send them to you every single week. You sign up once and you will continue to receive them every week from me. It is my gift to you. So click on the link in the description to get today's free PDF worksheet. Our first real life English expression is to pepper in. Now, before we talk about this, I want you to watch part of a clip from the conversation between Dan and I. Listen for this expression, try to guess what you think it means, then we'll talk about it and then we'll watch the clip again. And that second time, I guarantee you will understand it in a much deeper way. All right, let's watch that clip and then we'll talk about it. I would say we probably go maybe twice a week. Oh, you think that often? Well, once a week for the big shop, and then there's sometimes a little shop peppered in there. You heard us say, I'll go to the grocery store once a week for a big shop, and then sometimes there's a little shop peppered in there. Well, if you have ever added salt and pepper to your food, you know that you should not add a ton of salt and a ton of pepper to your food. You just add a little bit of salt, a little bit of pepper. That's the idea here. When you pepper in something, you're adding just a small amount throughout it. So for me, I go to the grocery store once a week. I buy a lot of food, but sometimes I forget something, or maybe I need something extremely fresh. Well, I will pepper in a little shop here and there. Maybe on Wednesday, I'll have to buy two things. And then on Saturday, I have to buy three things. This is just peppering in a little shop. Let me give you another example of how you can use this wonderful expression. If you have a presentation at work and it's the type of environment where you're trying to connect with your clients, you're trying to make them feel comfortable with you. Well, a great way to do that is with humor. So you might pepper in a few jokes during your presentation. It, of course, depends on the situation. But when you pepper in a few jokes, you seem more relatable. You can connect with your clients in a better way. And hopefully the presentation will stick with your clients and they'll remember you when you pepper in a few jokes. Okay. Let's watch the clip one more time. And I want you to listen for that expression to pepper in. Let's watch. I would say we probably go maybe twice a week. Oh, you think that often? Well, once a week for the big shop. And then there's sometimes a little shop peppered in there. Did you hear to pepper in? I hope so. Let's go to our second everyday English phrase, and that is to strike up a conversation. To strike up a conversation. Let's watch the clip, listen for that phrase, and then we'll talk about it. Let's go. They'll usually say like, Oh, how are you doing? Are you doing anything interesting this afternoon? Oh, have you ever tried this before? Where are you from? Like they'll generally strike up a conversation. And that's part of the marketing. Yeah. You just heard us say, they will strike up a conversation and that's part of the marketing. So there are certain grocery stores in the US that really want to connect with their customers. They're trying to connect on a personal level, not just with good food and good prices. They want you to enjoy going to the store because the people who work there will strike up a conversation with you. What does this mean to strike up a conversation? It really just means to start a conversation. The word strike could mean to hit or with a match. When you want to light a fire, you strike up a match. That's the kind of figurative idea we're going for here. When you strike up a conversation, you went from nothing to a little flame, a little interest, some connection with someone else. So maybe for you, it could be a good opportunity to connect with someone else in English and try to strike up a conversation with them. If you have an English speaking coworker and you both happen to be drinking coffee in the break room at the same time, try to strike up a conversation with them. Ask them, what did you do last weekend? Or do you have any plans for this coming weekend? Great. This is an excellent and simple way to strike up a conversation. All right, let's watch that clip again. And I want you to listen for this expression. Let's go. They'll usually say like, oh, how are you doing? Are you doing anything interesting this afternoon? Oh, have you ever tried this before? Where are you from? They'll generally strike up a conversation and that's part of the marketing. Did you hear to strike up a conversation? I hope so. Let's go on to our third everyday expression, which is to pick and choose. This is kind of a strange expression because both of these words mean the same thing. So I want you to listen carefully to the conversation clip and then we'll talk about it. Let's go. We don't do it all. Yeah, we can't do it all, right? See, we have to pick and choose a lot of things. I know for me personally, I've had a lot of hobbies in the past that I've just had to like cut out of my life. You heard us say we can't do it all. We have to pick and choose. Well, when you have a busy life, you cannot say yes to everything. Okay, I will help with the school project. I'm going to help in my community. Oh, I'm also going to do this and this. You need to pick and choose. Well, as I said, this is a strange expression because both of these words, to pick something and to choose something mean exactly the same. So why do we say them both? Why can't we just say, we need to pick what we do. We need to choose what we do. Okay, you can say that, but for some reason, both of these words are linked together in English and this is a common phrase. I think it's really emphasizing you need to choose. You really need to carefully pick what you do because you have a limited amount of time and energy. You need to pick and choose. Now, just to let you know, you can use this in a negative sense as well. So if your kids are misbehaving, for example, not that my kids would ever misbehave. If your children are misbehaving and they say, oh, but it's the weekend. So I thought that I didn't have to do that. Some rule at your house, you might say, you can't pick and choose which rules to follow. You have to follow them all. It's not the child's choice to pick and choose which rules apply to them, right? It's the parent's decision. So you could say this expression, you can't pick and choose which rules to follow. You need to follow them during the week and on the weekend. This is a great way to use this expression in a negative sense. You can't pick and choose. All right, let's watch how this was used again in the conversation. Listen carefully for pick and choose. Let's go. We don't do it all. Yeah, we can't do it all, right? See, we have to pick and choose a lot of things. I know for me personally, I've had a lot of hobbies in the past that I've just had to cut out of my life. The fourth real life English expression is gist. Notice that this is not pronounced gist. Instead, it's pronounced gist. I want you to listen carefully for this in our conversation and then we'll talk about it. Let's go. You have to share stuff really well and you have to make sacrifices in your own life. That's some really good wisdom. Yeah. That's the gist of it. In the conversation, you just heard us say, that's the gist of it. Well, what does this word mean? It means that's the main idea. If you're summarizing something you could end with, well, that's the gist of it. You haven't given every single detail, but you're giving an overall main idea. This might be something that happens to you as an English learner. If you're listening to some English speakers have a conversation and you generally understand what they're saying, maybe you couldn't participate at that quick level, but you can generally understand what you're saying, you could use this expression. You could say, I get the gist of it. I get, which means I understand, I get the gist of it. And that's okay sometimes, right? It's important to understand every word in some places, but if you don't understand, you might just get the gist of it. All right, let's watch how this was used in our conversation one more time and listen carefully to that pronunciation, gist, to get the gist of it. Let's watch. You have to share stuff really well and you have to make sacrifices in your own life. That's some really good wisdom. Yeah. That's the gist of it. Did you get the gist of that expression? Well, before we go on to expression number five, I want to let you know that if you enjoy this style of learning English, where you are learning real life English from real conversations, you are breaking down important key vocabulary and learning the words that English speakers really use. Well, I would like to invite you to join me right now. We are having a special sale on my course, The Fearless Fluency Club. Every single month we study a conversation, we break down the vocabulary that you need to use, we break down the phrasal verbs that you need to use, and we pull apart key pronunciation tips so that you can speak clearly and accurately when you're having English conversations. Plus, you will get access to our number one best English community in the world, in my opinion, where you will be able to join live stream lessons with me every single week, and you will have an opportunity to speak with other members of the course in English every week. You will be able to practice what you're learning. Right now, for the lifetime membership, you can get $450 off. This is a huge discount right now so that you never need to pay for the course again. If you join with the link in the description, you will be able to get this $450 off discount. I understand that right now in the economy, it's really hard to pay a big sum of money for a course. We are also offering a three-month payment plan so that you can pay it over three months and it will be easier on your wallet and on your budget. I hope you can join with no hesitation. Click on the link in the description, $450 off discount to learn real life English just like you're doing in this video every single month with our community and speak together. All right, let's go on to daily life expression number five, which is to be all over the place. Watch it in the real conversation, and then we'll talk about it. So when I feel hectic and I look back at the day, I think usually, oh, my brain was all over the place. There were like 500 things going on and I couldn't focus on one of them. In the conversation, we said, my brain was all over the place. There were so many things going on, I couldn't focus on one of them. Well, within that sentence is the definition. To be all over the place means that you cannot focus. There are so many things going on that your brain is going here and here and here and here and here, and it's overwhelming. So usually in life, we do not want to be all over the place. We want to try to focus on the things that are in front of us, focus on our priorities. So let's imagine that you're at work and one of your coworkers says, hey, you seem to just be a little bit off today. Something seems to be different. Are you okay? You might say, sorry, I'm just all over the place today. There was a problem at my kid's school and I can't stop thinking about it. Okay. Well, your brain is in another place. You're thinking about the school problem. You're also trying to work. So really you're going to need to focus, forget about the school for a moment and try to focus on your work. But this is a great expression you can use in this situation. All right. Let's watch how that was used one more time and listen carefully for to be all over the place. Let's watch. So when I feel hectic and I look back at the day, I think usually, oh, my brain was all over the place. There were like 500 things going on and I couldn't focus on one of them. Well, I hope you are not all over the place right now because we are going to move on to important daily life English expression number six, a can of worms. You do not want to go to the grocery store and buy a can of worms. What does this mean? Well, let's watch the conversation clip to get an idea about it and then we'll talk about it. Let's watch. They want more flexibility and I'm very curious what the future holds. Yeah. There's some give and take there, but you know. Yeah. We'll see. I know every culture's different. This is a can of worms, apparently, this question. You just heard us say this question is a can of worms. What does it mean? Are we opening a can and there's worms inside? Those little wriggly guys that live in the dirt? No, that would be really gross, right? Instead, this means that this question sometimes causes more problems when you try to deal with it. If you open the can of worms, now you have to deal with all these worms going all over the place. That's a harder thing than when they were closed up, right? You can use this in a really interesting way. If you are at the dinner table and you want to talk about something that happened in local politics, maybe a local politician made a decision to use a large amount of money for something that you don't agree with. Well, you might say this, talking about politics at dinner last night just opened a can of worms. I thought I was just going to share my opinion, but everyone wanted to share their opinions as well and the topic just got out of hand. It was a can of worms. And usually talking about politics is a can of worms. There's the surface topic, the politician used money in a way that you don't agree with. And then there are all of the topics that are underneath that as well. It's just a can of worms to talk about politics, right? All right, let's watch the original clip so that you can see how to use this fun expression, a can of worms. Let's watch. They want more flexibility and I'm very curious what the future holds. But yeah, let's go on to- There's some give and take there, but you know. Yeah, we'll see. I know every culture's different. This is a can of worms, apparently, this question. I hope that this lesson is not a can of worms. The next expression is one that you heard me use at the beginning of this lesson. It blows my mind. Let's see how this was used in the original conversation, and then we'll talk about it. Let's go. There's a yoga studio near us that's called Asheville Community Yoga, and it's a nonprofit, which means all the teachers are volunteers. It blows my mind because some teachers teach there like every day. You heard us say, all the teachers who teach there are volunteers. It blows my mind. Some of the teachers teach there every single day. So we were talking about a local yoga studio that runs entirely on volunteer teachers. That's amazing, isn't it? And that's the essence of this expression. When something blows your mind, it's something that amazes you or surprises you. We usually use this for things that are slightly positive. So people are volunteering to teach. That is really positive, right? It blows my mind that people are so giving, that they care so much about the community, that they would volunteer every day to teach. How cool is that? Or you can use it like this. It blows my mind how fast technology changes. Right now, there are a lot of changes, especially with AI, artificial intelligence, and those things change pretty quickly, right? It can be shocking how fast technology changes. So we can use this expression. It blows my mind how fast technology changes. Maybe it blows your mind how wonderful these English lessons are. I hope so. All right, let's watch how this was used in the original conversation. There's a yoga studio near us that's called Asheville Community Yoga, and it's a non-profit, which means all the teachers are volunteers. It blows my mind because some teachers teach there like every day. I hope this lesson blows your mind. Let's go on to daily life expression number eight, and that is out of the goodness of my heart. This is a long expression, but it's a lovely one. All right, let's watch how it was used in the original conversation, and then we'll talk about it. And they're just doing it out of the goodness of their heart, and it's so cool. I love that type of giving atmosphere. But I would go there twice a week or so. You just heard us say they do it out of the goodness of their heart. I love that kind of giving atmosphere. So talking about those teachers who volunteer every day at the yoga studio, why do they do it? It's certainly not for money because they're not getting paid. It's probably not for career advancement. Why do they do it? Well, they do it out of the goodness of their heart. Yes, they do it just because they have a big heart and want to share love with other people. When you do something kind without expecting anything in return, you can use this phrase. So I could say, after I had my last baby, my neighbor brought me food so that my family could eat. Why did she do it? Well, I certainly wasn't going to be able to make food to give back to her. She gave me food out of the goodness of her heart. That's so kind. And I want to say just a quick little grammar note that the pronoun here, out of the goodness of her heart, the teachers teach out of the goodness of their hearts, that pronoun has to match the subject. I do it out of the goodness of my heart. So make sure that those match so that you're using this expression correctly. All right, let's watch how it was used in the original conversation. And they're just doing it out of the goodness of their heart. And it's so cool. I love that type of giving atmosphere, but I would go there twice a week or so. Daily life expression number nine is a long word, accountability. Accountability. I want you to listen carefully for this in the conversation, and then we'll talk about it. I feel like this is the perfect scenario for us that we have someone across the street who can give us accountability and can do that for us, like can help us. I just show up. I don't need to think. She shows me what to do. She makes the plan. It's so lovely. You heard us say we have someone who can give us accountability and teach us how to work out. So what is accountability? It's when you're responsible for your actions or decisions. But the truth is, sometimes it's hard to decide to go to the gym. It's hard to study English every day. Having the motivation to do those things is just not natural for a lot of us. So we need to get accountability from someone else. So for Dan and I, we pay someone to help us work out. I do not have the internal motivation to go to the gym and learn how to lift weights. I don't know how to do that safely. And to be honest, I probably wouldn't go to the gym multiple times a week when I'm tired. It's been a long day. But when this person is waiting for me at four o'clock to work out, all of a sudden I have the motivation. I go there, I work out, and I have accountability. She helps me to have accountability. We can use another version of this word, but it means the same thing. You might ask your friend, let's say you have a friend who's learning English. You might say, could you help me to be accountable? And you're asking your friend to remind you, hey, have you studied English today? Oh, do you want to speak English on Saturday with me? Let's do it. You want to connect with your friend to help you to be accountable for your actions, to be responsible for your actions. And if you don't have someone in your life who will help you to be accountable for learning English, I invite you to join us in the Fearless Fluency Club. There are weekly speaking groups that meet from all time zones, all around the world. And these groups practice speaking English together. The best way to stay motivated, to actually improve your English speaking skills, is to have an appointment to speak together with someone else every single week. When you know, all right, on Friday evening, I'm going to join my English speaking group in the Fearless Fluency Club. I need to listen to that podcast today. I need to study this lesson tomorrow, so I will be ready when we meet together. That's great accountability. You don't have to just depend on yourself. You can connect with other people and actually learn together. So in the Fearless Fluency Club, one of the benefits is that you have accountability. Other people are on the same journey and they will meet with you and help you as well on your English journey to improving and becoming fluent. If you would like to get some accountability, you're welcome to join us. Just click on the link in the description to join the Fearless Fluency Club today. All right, let's watch that clip where we used accountability in our conversation. Let's watch. I feel like this is the perfect scenario for us, that we have someone across the street who can give us accountability and can do that for us, like can help us. I just show up. I don't need to think. She shows me what to do. She makes the plan. It's so lovely. And our final 10th expression before our bonus expression that we use in daily conversation is hit or miss. Let's take a look at how that was used and then we'll talk about it. All right. I don't know about all Americans. Let's just talk about us. I think this is pretty hit or miss. I don't think there's a standard. In this conversation, we were talking about if Americans brush their teeth in the morning or the evening or both before or after breakfast. This is a very interesting question, I think. Very cultural idea. And in the conversation, we said, I think it's pretty hit or miss. I don't think there's a standard. Well, there's not a specific thing that every American knows and does related to this topic. So this expression here, hit or miss, has to do with that idea. Sometimes the answer is yes. Sometimes the answer is no. Sometimes it's good. Sometimes it's bad. There's some variability. So let me give you another example of how you can use hit or miss. There's a taco restaurant in my town that Dan and I like to go to, but lately we haven't gone there that much because sometimes the food is hit or miss. It's not consistent every time we go there. Sometimes it's amazing. And sometimes it's just kind of cold and not that great. So we could say that restaurant is hit or miss. On a good day, it's amazing. But if it's not on a good day, it's not the greatest place. So it's a little bit hit or miss. Okay. Let's watch how that was used in the original conversation, and then I'll teach you the bonus phrase. Let's go. All right. I don't know about all Americans. Let's just talk about us. I think this is pretty hit or miss. I don't think there's a standard. I hope my English lessons are not hit or miss for you. I hope everyone is a hit. I hope you love them all. All right. Our bonus phrase for today is, I get it, and it has to be said in this tone of voice. I get it. So let's see how it was used in the conversation, and then I'll break it down so that you can use it yourself in your English conversations. Let's watch. But I get it. When you eat kimchi, you need to brush your teeth. There's little red flecks of pepper always in your teeth. You just heard us say, I get it. When you eat kimchi, you need to brush your teeth. Here, I'm using this phrase, I get it, to say I understand. But the tone of voice that I used, I get it. When you eat kimchi, you need to brush your teeth. I'm kind of emphasizing, I get it. I actually do understand. I get it. When you eat kimchi, you need to brush your teeth. You are letting the other person know with emphasis, I really do understand. This is something that I have no hesitations about. I get it. So let me give you another situation when you can use this expression. If you are at home and let's say, like in my house, my husband, Dan, comes home from work after me. So he comes in and he is just exhausted. The look on his face says, I had a really busy day today. And he says to me, Vanessa, I'm so tired. I know you've had a busy day too, but I just need five minutes to lay down on the couch. I could use this expression. I could say, oh, you're tired. I get it. Go lay down. That's no problem. Oh, great. So here I am telling him, I understand with emphasis that you've had a tired day and laying down for five minutes is not long, but it can feel rejuvenating. So I get it. Go lay down. No problem. Now, just to note, you can say this with some negativity in your voice. So let's say I've had a terrible day. I've had an extremely long day and my husband comes home and he asks me, oh, Vanessa, I've had such a long day. I need an hour to just go lay down. I'm going to go take a walk for 30 minutes. I need to do something to help calm my brain and my body. Well, that means it's an extra 30 minutes or an extra hour that I'm with the kids by myself and I need a break. So if I'm a little annoyed, I could still use this expression, but with an annoyed tone of voice. I might say, oh, you're tired. I get it. Okay. Go, go do what you need to do. Ooh, it's pretty harsh, right? But we often are annoyed or frustrated in daily life. It is a normal human thing. So you can use this expression to say, I understand, but really your true feelings are, I don't want you to do this. Okay. I get it. Fine. Just go. You understand, but you really don't understand. All right. Let's hear how this was used in the real conversation of final time and listen to my tone of voice. It's not negative. I just understand. Let's watch. But I get it. When you eat kimchi, you need to brush your teeth. There's little red flecks of pepper always in your teeth. Well, great work learning these 10 plus one bonus real life daily English phrases that we use all the time. The next step is to download the free PDF worksheet that includes all of these expressions, definitions, multiple sample sentences. Plus you can answer the bonus quiz so that you can test yourself and see if you really understand these phrases. To get this free PDF worksheet, simply click on the link in the description, enter your name and email address and voila, just like that, I will send you this free PDF worksheet to your email inbox. And the cool thing is you never have to sign up for my free worksheets ever again. I will automatically send them to you every single week in your email inbox. So you sign up once and you're in forever. Yes, this is my gift to you. So 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. But wait, do you want more? I recommend watching this video next, where you will learn 10 more important phrases that we use in daily life, including what you can say when your answer may not be completely truthful. What can you say? There's a wonderful phrase for this and you'll have to watch that video to find out. I'll see you there.