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

5,569 views ・ 2022-09-21

Bob's Short English Lessons


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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In this English lesson,
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I wanted to help you learn the English phrase
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getting nowhere.
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When you say that you're getting nowhere in English,
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it means you're doing something,
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but you aren't making any progress.
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Maybe you've been studying English for over a year
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and you don't feel like you are learning a whole lot.
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You could say you feel like you're getting nowhere.
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Sometimes during the summer, I have a lot of work to do.
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I have a big list and as I do jobs from my list,
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new jobs get added and I feel like I'm getting nowhere.
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So in English, when you say you're getting nowhere,
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it means you feel like you're not making any progress.
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When I look around right now, I'll show you in a second,
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there's jobs I didn't get done,
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so I kind of feel like I'm getting nowhere,
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but that's not entirely true.
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I got a lot of stuff done this summer.
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The other phrase I wanted to teach you today
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is get it in writing.
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Sometimes you make an agreement with someone,
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and it's a verbal agreement,
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and someone might say, "Did you get it in writing?"
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Maybe you're going to buy a car from your cousin,
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and your cousin is not really trustworthy,
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and your cousin says, "You can have the car for $5,000,"
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and you know the car is worth 10,000.
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When you talk to someone else,
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they might say, "Did you get it in writing?"
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When you get something in writing,
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it kind of means that it's more formal.
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It's more legally binding.
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It's an agreement
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where it's more than just words that have been said.
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You've actually gotten it in writing,
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and so it's, yeah, it's just a little more believable.
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So to review, when you're getting nowhere,
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it means you're just not making a lot of progress
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on something.
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I hope you don't feel that way with your English learning.
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I hope you feel like you're getting somewhere.
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That's a good phrase, too.
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And when you say that you want to get something in writing,
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to get it in writing means to actually have it written down,
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and usually people will sign.
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If you are going to buy a house, you get it in writing,
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and you sign the agreement that you are buying it.
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But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video.
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This comment is from Roman.
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"Hi, Bob.
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If I won a journey around the world,
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I'd feel like a million bucks,"
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and my response, "That would be a great feeling."
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So thanks for that comment, Roman.
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Yes, that would be a great feeling, wouldn't it?
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If you all of a sudden were able to travel
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all the way around the world,
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that would be super exciting and super fun.
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So by the way, Mohd Ags mentioned in a previous video
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that this would be my 700th video.
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I didn't double check that,
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but I've been making these for a while,
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and I kind of chuckled when he said that,
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because the only reason I started this channel
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is because I would go to my van in the morning
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to get ready to leave for work,
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and I have to give my kids a ride to school
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and I would be waiting for them.
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And I had a few extra moments,
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so I started making little one minute videos.
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Just a moment here.
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Not sure if you can see the bird.
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I don't know what kind of bird that is.
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That is a very unique sound.
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Let me point the microphone up.
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Hmm, I'll have to figure out
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what kind of bird that is later.
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Anyways, if this is my 700th video,
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okay, wow, I'm actually surprised myself.
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Hey, I mentioned that I had a lot of jobs
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I didn't get done this summer.
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Here are a few.
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I never really fixed this chair.
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I still haven't taken that dead branch down.
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Actually, there's three of them from that tree.
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This picnic table still needs some screws in it.
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And this chair needs a few screws as well.
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I still hope
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to get those jobs done before it gets too cold.
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So I do sometimes feel like I'm getting nowhere
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when I look at all the jobs I have to do.
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Anyways, life's still fun, no worries.
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Have a good day. I'll see you in a couple days
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with another short English lesson, bye.
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