Real English: Talking about worries

Hiya. Welcome back to www.engvid.com.

Today we're talking about things that we're worried about.

I'm so worried, I can't hold my pen still.

But don't worry, it's not going to

be all fears; we're also looking at how we tell someone that everything's going to be

okay. In the words of Bob Marley's song:

"Every little thing".

Okay? So we got lots of great phrases we're going to be looking at today, and

hopefully you learn them, and you put

them in there, in your brain, and you pull them out whenever you need to use them.

So, let's get started.

"I'm", obviously short for "I am". "I'm so"-meaning I'm very-"worried",

oh yeah, I have a lot of fear. I'm like:

"Oh, no, I think it's going to be very bad."

You know? Worry, fear. Okay? Same as: "I'm anxious."

Okay? You don't know what's going to happen.

"I'm so worried about..." and whatever it is that you're worried about, whether it's

seeing a particular person tomorrow, I'm so worried about.

"Oh no, I'm worried about my homework", whatever it is.

"I'm so worried about" your friend, I don't know, whatever it is for you.

"I'm afraid..." This is often followed with:

"I'm afraid that".

Oh, dear, what is it with the pens? I'm afraid that it's run out of ink,

so

I'm back again.

I'm so worried... Yeah. So I'm so worried, I'm so worried that you thought that was bad.

"I'm afraid that..."

Now, "I'm afraid that" has two functions. It can serve as an apology, and also for something

you have a fear for in the future. I'm afraid that my pen ran out. I'm very sorry. Okay?

So I can use it in an apology.

Okay? "I'm so sorry, I'm afraid I ran over your dog today.

I'm really sorry." Okay? Or you could say it in the sort of genuine sense of:

"I'm afraid that tomorrow I will die.", "I'm afraid that tomorrow it will rain."

Okay? Something in the future you have fear for.

"I can't help thinking..."

Now, this is an interesting sort of use of English. Obviously,

this is a contraction for "cannot",

"help thinking". What does it mean by help? I'm

helping someone? It doesn't really mean help; it means I can't stop.

I can't stop thinking,

but we say: "I can't help thinking that tomorrow I have no socks to wear." Okay?

Tomorrow, no socks. I'm going to walk into school

and all the kids are going to see that I don't have any socks.

So, let's move on to the next one.

"I can't stop thinking about..."

I can't stop thinking about the guitar... No. "I can't stop thinking about..."

Okay? This is a problem, a problem that you're thinking about again and again and again and again.

I can't stop thinking-okay?-that

maybe you did... You made the wrong decision. I can't help...

"I can't stop thinking about

what happened today that was bad."

Okay? I can't stop thinking about my interview tomorrow.

"Oh, no, the interview tomorrow. Oh, no."

Okay? So it could be about something in the past or the future. Okay.

I'm saying quite a lot here, and I want you to remember it, so let's just have a little

practice of saying these, and I want you to put in a little example at the end. Okay?

So think about something that you're worried about.

"I'm so worried about..."

You practice, you say it:

"I'm so worried about..."

Okay, I wish I could hear you.

"I'm afraid that..."

Okay, you can use the same problem for all of these.

"I'm afraid that...",

"I can't help thinking about...",

"I can't stop thinking about..."

Now let's move on to this next one, looking at the past perfect tense, here:

"I've been worried sick about...",

"I have been", okay? We're looking into the past. "I have been".

All the way from the past until now. "I have been worried"-worry, fear-"sick",

I've been so worried that I feel like being sick. Okay? So this is an intense feeling of worry. Okay?

But we use it as a phrase. "I've been worried sick about..."

So you can use it in a casual way.

"I've been worried sick about the damage done to my car."

The damage done. Someone hit my car. Okay?

"I've been worried sick about my car."

"It's", it has.

"It has been keeping me up at night."

Okay? "Keeping me up" means I cannot

sleep because I keep thinking about this problem. It's been keeping me up at night. You could

use this in a work situation. You know, you're thinking and thinking about how... How to

go forward. It's been keeping me up at night, I've been thinking about it all the time.

Okay? You can use these in an informal, smaller problem sense-okay?-to suggest that you are

thinking a lot about something.

"I'm dreading..." Okay? Dread is fear.

So: "I am dreading", something you are very nervous

about. You're very nervous about.

"I'm dreading going home tonight, because I might get attacked by the weird neighbour." Okay?

"I'm dreading seeing my neighbour."

I made... I had a bit of a party last night, and I think my neighbour, he's going to be pretty upset.

I'm dreading seeing him.

In fact: "I'm really nervous about seeing my neighbour." Okay? So these are quite similar,

some of these, but this is actually one of my all-time classic, it's a very British phrase.

Someone asks you how you are, you say, life's really, really bad. You know? Everyone's like

dead. You're the only person alive, got no money. You say:

"Yeah. Mustn't grumble!" Okay?

It's a way of sort of carrying on, we like to do that. We have a stiff upper lip in Britain.

Okay? Stiff upper lip. It means you carry on.

So, this is the person with the problems. What do we say to say:

"It's going to be okay, don't worry about it"?

Well, you could say exactly that: "Don't worry, practice makes perfect."

Now, if you say "practice makes perfect", you're saying to them:

"If you keep trying, you will get better."

So if I say: "Don't worry, practice makes perfect."

it's like I'm saying to the other person:

"You're not very good at the moment. Yeah? But if you carry on watching another thousand engVid videos,

you might get a little bit better.

But right now, you're pretty crap."

Okay? So: "Don't worry, practice makes perfect."

means kind of: "Don't worry, keep trying." Okay?

I'm going in a sort of a random order, here.

"It's not"-it is not-"the end of the world."

Okay? If it's the end of the world, life is over, we have no future. We can't go, we can't...

Life is over. But I'm saying to old worry pants:

"Don't worry, it's not the end of the world." You know, I'm trying to get them to see the good.

"Cheer up." Okay? If I cheer up... You know, you go to the pub and you say: "Cheers!" Yeah?

"I'm having a good time!" So let's go up. Let's start having a nice time.

And: "Chin up." If I'm very sad,

I'm going to be looking down like this, and I'm very, very sad.

And I'm saying: "Chin up. Chin up." Okay? "Chin up." If I'm down here all the time,

I'm going to look at my board work and see that I've misspelt "mustn't", oh no. So

that's what happens, I see how bad I am all the time, and I must put another little "t" in there.

"Must not grumble!" Yeah, I mustn't grumble, I must have my chin up. Okay?

Now, this applies for relationship matters. Okay? I've just been dumped. Yeah? If I...

I dump the rubbish. If I've been dumped, then I've been left all on my own. My girlfriend

doesn't or my wife doesn't like me anymore; I've been dumped. And my friend says to me:

"Plenty more fish in the sea."

Well, what do I want fish for? I'm a vegetarian. I'm not, actually.

Well, obviously it's a metaphor, and "fish" are for women,

or men if you prefer men. Okay?

Women or men.

"Plenty more fish in the sea." In the world you can meet. Yeah? It's okay.

"Lighten up." If I'm very sad, then I'm a bit heavy. It's a heavy emotion. So I say:

"Lighten up." Yeah? Lighten, I lighten. And again, up. "Lighten up. Lighten up, mate,

you're being a bit serious. Lighten up." Yeah?

"No use" as in: "There is no use". Okay? That would be the formal phrase.

"There is no use in"... So this is the long version of the phrase:

"There is no use in crying over spilt milk."

But I'd actually say: "No use crying over spilt milk, is there?"

Yeah, so I'll just cross out that.

There's no point in... Okay? I've spilt a little bit of milk, I'm

having my breakfast and the milk goes on the table. I don't sit there and go:

"Oh, no! No! The milk went on the table!" Okay? So I say:

"No use crying over spilt milk." Don't worry, it's going to be all right. Yeah?

And finally we have:

"Always look on the bright side of life".

Yeah? Check it out, look it up, that song if you don't know it. It's an absolute classic.

So, don't worry too much. Don't worry. Don't be afraid. Stop thinking.

Stop thinking about it. Stop getting worried sick. I know it's keeping you up at night.

I know you're dreading it. I know you're really nervous.

But you can also use these... You don't have to be talking about you.

So I could say:

"You can't help thinking about it, I know." Or:

"It looks like you've been worried sick about it. It looks like you've been worried sick about it."

Or I could ask a question: "Are you dreading it?"

I can ask a question. "Are you nervous about the interview tomorrow?"

So I can ask someone else about where they are on this

spectrum. And then I cheer people up. Isn't that nice?

Cheer me up, folks, go and do my quiz right now. www.engvid.com. Expecting 10 out of 10,

that would brighten my day up.

Thank you so much for watching my video today.

If you've enjoyed it, if it has lightened you,

if it is has given you a bit of a bounce to your day, then

subscribe to my YouTube channel on engVid.

Thank you for watching. Good bye.