Learn the English Phrases "getting nowhere" and "get it in writing"

In this English lesson,

I wanted to help you learn the English phrase

getting nowhere.

When you say that you're getting nowhere in English,

it means you're doing something,

but you aren't making any progress.

Maybe you've been studying English for over a year

and you don't feel like you are learning a whole lot.

You could say you feel like you're getting nowhere.

Sometimes during the summer, I have a lot of work to do.

I have a big list and as I do jobs from my list,

new jobs get added and I feel like I'm getting nowhere.

So in English, when you say you're getting nowhere,

it means you feel like you're not making any progress.

When I look around right now, I'll show you in a second,

there's jobs I didn't get done,

so I kind of feel like I'm getting nowhere,

but that's not entirely true.

I got a lot of stuff done this summer.

The other phrase I wanted to teach you today

is get it in writing.

Sometimes you make an agreement with someone,

and it's a verbal agreement,

and someone might say, "Did you get it in writing?"

Maybe you're going to buy a car from your cousin,

and your cousin is not really trustworthy,

and your cousin says, "You can have the car for $5,000,"

and you know the car is worth 10,000.

When you talk to someone else,

they might say, "Did you get it in writing?"

When you get something in writing,

it kind of means that it's more formal.

It's more legally binding.

It's an agreement

where it's more than just words that have been said.

You've actually gotten it in writing,

and so it's, yeah, it's just a little more believable.

So to review, when you're getting nowhere,

it means you're just not making a lot of progress

on something.

I hope you don't feel that way with your English learning.

I hope you feel like you're getting somewhere.

That's a good phrase, too.

And when you say that you want to get something in writing,

to get it in writing means to actually have it written down,

and usually people will sign.

If you are going to buy a house, you get it in writing,

and you sign the agreement that you are buying it.

But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video.

This comment is from Roman.

"Hi, Bob.

If I won a journey around the world,

I'd feel like a million bucks,"

and my response, "That would be a great feeling."

So thanks for that comment, Roman.

Yes, that would be a great feeling, wouldn't it?

If you all of a sudden were able to travel

all the way around the world,

that would be super exciting and super fun.

So by the way, Mohd Ags mentioned in a previous video

that this would be my 700th video.

I didn't double check that,

but I've been making these for a while,

and I kind of chuckled when he said that,

because the only reason I started this channel

is because I would go to my van in the morning

to get ready to leave for work,

and I have to give my kids a ride to school

and I would be waiting for them.

And I had a few extra moments,

so I started making little one minute videos.

Just a moment here.

Not sure if you can see the bird.

I don't know what kind of bird that is.

That is a very unique sound.

Let me point the microphone up.

Hmm, I'll have to figure out

what kind of bird that is later.

Anyways, if this is my 700th video,

okay, wow, I'm actually surprised myself.

Hey, I mentioned that I had a lot of jobs

I didn't get done this summer.

Here are a few.

I never really fixed this chair.

I still haven't taken that dead branch down.

Actually, there's three of them from that tree.

This picnic table still needs some screws in it.

And this chair needs a few screws as well.

I still hope

to get those jobs done before it gets too cold.

So I do sometimes feel like I'm getting nowhere

when I look at all the jobs I have to do.

Anyways, life's still fun, no worries.

Have a good day. I'll see you in a couple days

with another short English lesson, bye.