Learn English Faster Through Engaging Stories

Welcome back to JForrest English.

I'm Jennifer.

And today we're going to read a very interesting article from

the BBC.

And we're going to learn lots of advanced vocabulary, Advanced grammar, natural expressions,

and improve your pronunciation.

All at the same time, let's get started.

Our headline, the young workers dressing to stand out.

As you can see.

Her outfit really stands out.

I imagine there are all these other workers and they're wearing a plain white shirt and

black pants.

And she is wearing this very bright

colorful

and vintage outfit.

She would stand out.

The phrasal verb stand out.

This means to be noticeable to be noticeable in a group.

So you have a group of different objects and one of them is more noticeable than the others

that objects.

Stands out and it could stand out because of its size.

It's bigger than the others or smaller, its color or other reasons as well.

So to sand out to be very noticeable and especially compared to other things or even people

So she stands out because of her outfit, her outfit.

What she's wearing, let's continue on.

Traditional thinking has generally been to dress to fit into the workplace.

Here is another phrasal verb to fit in so the phrasal verb is to fit in, but when you

specify the noun in this case, the workplace then we add into to fit into the workplace

so I'll highlight all of this.

So, the phrasal verb to fit in is when you have a feeling

Knowing that you belong or are accepted.

When you're a new employee, you might not feel like you fit in, or if you're new to

a neighborhood or a sports team or any group of people a new school, that's a great example.

You might not feel like you fit in.

You might not feel like you belong or are accepted and unfortunately, a lot of my students

don't feel like

Fit in because of their English skills.

So, of course, to not fit in isn't a good feeling.

You want to feel like you belong and are accepted, you want to feel like you fit in, so to fit

into the workplace, a feeling of belonging or being accepted by a group.

So there are saying, traditionally you would wear

Wear the same clothes that your co-workers.

We're so you fit in, you have this sense of belonging but this person here is doing something

different, she's dressing to stand out to be more noticeable, which could have

the

impact that she doesn't fit in.

Let's find out, but in the pandemic era, these rules are going by the wayside.

When something goes by the wayside, it means it's it's gone.

It's no longer followed its outdated.

And in this case, they're talking about a rule.

So by saying the rule has gone by the wayside.

It means nobody is following that rule anymore.

So here's the definition here.

Now, of course, in our modern era of Technology, we could say that

That landlines phones that are connected in your house, landlines have gone by the wayside,

no one really uses them anymore, right?

So in this case, you can use it when you use something, you stop using it or you stop following

a certain rule or practice.

Monica seles.

That's the woman here.

Who dresses to stand out.

Monica Sally, doesn't wear your average business, casual clothing at the office.

In style the 31 year old software marketing manager has become well known for her love

of a rare vintage fashion at a large Tech firm where she works in Indianapolis u.s.

okay.

Vintage vintage clothing is clothing from

older

decades or Oils older Generations.

So from the 50s or 60s or

7d's.

So, not from this modern time, it's from a past time, or a past generation, and we can

see an example of vintage clothing here.

So, this pattern, this color combination was very popular in.

I don't know, maybe the 60s, or the 70s, and this sure was made in the 60s or 70s.

And this represents

And they also had this adjectives here rare.

So a rare, of course, means not common difficult to find, so it's not easy to find clothing

that was made from the 60s or 70s vintage clothing.

You have to go to very special stores.

So, not common, not common.

Not easy to find.

Now let's take a look at her job title.

She's a software marketing manager.

Now, a lot of times I hear mistakes when students, say their job title because they don't use

an article, you have to use an article.

I'm a software manager, I'm an accountant.

So n, if you have a vowel sound and then I if you have a consonant sound, don't forget

that article, it sounds very beginner English and you might not fit in and you would stand

out in a negative way you would stand out because it's obvious that English isn't your

first language.

If you make such a basic mistake like forgetting to put an article in front of your job title.

So

Make that mistake.

And if you do want to stand out in the workplace, be noticeable for your good qualities.

Then I want you to download this free speaking guide where I share six tips on how to speak

English, fluently and confidently.

This is absolutely free, it's available on my website so you can just look in the description

for the link to download it absolutely free.

And you can also find the link to download all the

The notes from the lesson in the description below.

Let's continue on her outfits.

So and outfit is a complete set of clothing that you wear.

So it includes your shirt, your pants, your shoes.

So it's everything that you're wearing is considered your outfit.

So not just your shirt, you can only see my shirt now.

No, but it would be my shirt and my pants and even if I had shoes or a purse, all of

that together would be considered an outfit.

So her outfit

The

total

of all the clothes she's wearing.

So in her case, the outfit would include her shirt, her pants, you can't really see it,

but it looks like she has some colorful socks, her shoes.

And let's say she was wearing a belt as well.

That would be part of her outfit.

Her outfits are a far cry from the average plain T-shirt and jeans if something is all

Far Cry from something else.

It means it's very different from very different from.

Very different from.

So it's seeing that her colleagues just where, you know, your plain white gray or blue t-shirt

and jeans.

That's your casual business, attire, your outfit, but she wears something very different.

So, her outfits, what?

She wears the total of what she wears is very different from other outfit.

Is of Far Cry from.

Now one thing that my students find is that studying English is a far cry from using English

in the real world so they get comfortable studying English in the classroom.

But then they get

out there.

They go to a party with native English speakers, or they go to a meeting, or a networking event,

or just to work and being in the real world and using your English communicating, when

native speakers is a far cry from communicating with your teacher in the classroom.

And that's why a lot of students feel like they don't fit in and

They stand out in a negative way, they stand out because their accent is too strong or

they use very unnatural Expressions, right?

So this is how you can use this expression.

All Far Cry from.

Now if you want to stand out positively because you have such excellent communication skills.

And you want to fit into your workplace, then I want to tell you about the finally fluent

Academy.

This is my premium

I'm training program where we study native English speakers in the real world on YouTube,

TV movies, and the news.

So you can improve your listening skills.

Learn natural expressions and become fluent.

So you can fit into your workplace and stand out in a positive way.

Plus, you'll have me as your personal teacher.

So if you want more information on how to become a member, you can look in the description,

For the link on how to join.

All right, let's continue her outfits are a far cry from the average plain T-shirt and

jeans.

She sees among her colleagues and she says her bold style has become a great talking

point with them.

When something is a talking point is just a conversational topic, it's something you

talk about.

That's all that means.

So her outfits are a talking point.

It's something when she sees her colleagues they say oh wow.

Where did you get that shirt?

Tell me more about it.

What generation is it from?

Who designed it?

That's how it's a talking point.

So here is a quote.

So this, because we have these quotation marks here, it means that this woman.

What's her name?

Again, Monica this woman Monica is now saying these words.

So she said having that opportunity to break down walls.

When you break down walls, it just means to eliminate them.

So it's a metaphorical wall.

It's saying here I am and here my

Colleague is, and there's a wall between us so we don't communicate easily.

But if we eliminate that wall, if we break down that wall, then now I can hide.

I can easily communicate with my colleague having that opportunity to break down walls

with people across different teams by talking about my outfits.

This is how she breaks down the walls.

So how she initiates conversation with her colleagues about her outfit?

It's is pretty awesome.

She says, the company I work for is pretty large and ever since I've been here my notoriety

has been extended through my fashion and what I wear being around people who might not know

as much about these designers and catching their eye has always been an icebreaker.

So an icebreaker is a way to initiate a conversation with someone so

So if you're at a party or a networking event or even a meeting, and there are a lot of

new people and you've never met those people.

You want an icebreaker, you want a way to initiate a conversation with someone.

So at a party, an icebreaker could be a simple question.

Oh, so how do you know Jane if it's Jane's?

B, and you could go up to each person and that's your Icebreaker.

That's how you initiate conversation.

How do you know, Jane, how long have you known Jane?

And you can talk about the host because both of, you know, Jane.

So an ice breaker is a way to initiate, which is a way of saying, start to initiate conversation

for the first time.

So

so after you initiate that conversation, then the Icebreaker is complete.

All right, let's move on.

Saleh is not the only person pushing back against traditional office where

conventions.

Okay.

When you push back against

something it means you

resist

it.

You

say I don't

agree with that, I don't want to do that.

So you resist something to resist.

Something.

So let's say, your office has a new policy that says everyone must wear a suit and a

tie to work but before you wore jeans and a t-shirt.

So a lot of people could be upset

about

the change and they could push back against because against is part of the expression.

You push back against something which

CH means you say no I don't want to do that.

I don't agree with that.

I don't think that's a good idea.

That's how you push back against something.

So she's pushing back against your traditional t-shirt and jeans by wearing this

very

vintage rare clothing that makes her stand out.

Be very noticeable.

So she's not the only person

pushing

back

Against traditional office where conventions with many showing off their unconventional

office attire.

A tire

is another word for

outfit.

So you can say office

attire or office

outfits.

Notice here.

If you have outfit you need it with an S because they are because there's more than one their

outfits.

But a tire does not

Not take a possess a plural form.

Sorry, so you just keep it without the as

there a tire is inappropriate.

But you would have to say their outfits are inappropriate.

Remember you have to conjugate your verb, with whatever the subject is?

So here, their attire, but because it's singular, it represents it, it is inappropriate their

outfits, because it's plural.

It's, they, they are inappropriate, okay, but it means the exact same thing.

It's just a different word for it.

And remember, an outfit is the totality of your clothing of what you're wearing.

So many are showing off when you show off, it means that you just make it known to other

people.

So to show off their attire on social media.

Well, how would you show off your attire?

You would take a picture of it and you would post it on social media with a headline and

a hashtag in an attempt to have it.

Seen by a large number of people, so that's how you would show it off.

It being your attire.

Some workers, especially younger ones are swapping out mundane white shirt, black trouser

combos, with Luxe Lounge, where sets, all right, lost to review here.

So first, let's talk about our adjectives.

We have mundane, this is very ordinary, not interesting.

Could be a little bit boring, right?

Because if it's very ordinary,

Very ordinary, not interesting so that really probably represents boring.

So a white shirt, black trousers.

That's pretty mundane everybody wears that.

So it's a little bit boring, it doesn't stand out but you probably fit in pretty easily

wearing that.

Okay?

So that's mundane now.

Combos is short for combination combination.

Nation.

So you can shorten it to combo.

You see this?

A lot in fast.

Food restaurants, McDonald's.

You can have a burger with fries and a drink.

That's a combo.

It's a combination of three different items into one meal a combo, okay?

And then logs is short form for luxury.

But in this case, we're using it as an adjective

active.

So what do we need luxurious?

Notice the pronunciation luxurious luxurious.

So this, as you can see, we have our Luck's and we just take the short form.

It's not the most common to be honest, I would personally say luxurious or luxury.

I wouldn't shorten it to Luxe but that's what they did here.

Okay, now our phrasal verb to swap out.

Now, you swap out one thing for another thing, which means you just replace one thing for

another thing.

So first, I had my mundane white T-shirt, but I swapped it out for this flower shirt

so I stand out.

Okay.

So you replace one thing with another thing.

Are swapping out replace.

I'll just say, replace a with B. So, white T-shirt is a and then these luxurious Lounge

wear sets, that's be.

So you swap it out and that's the end of the article.

So, perhaps, if you want to stand out at work, you can consider wearing vintage clothing.

That's the moral of the story here.

So now what I'll do,

Is I'll read the article from start to finish and this time, you can focus on my pronunciation,

the young workers dressing to stand out.

Traditional thinking has generally been to dress to fit into the workplace but in the

pandemic era, these rules are going by the wayside for some employees Monica's.

Sell a doesn't wear, your average business, casual clothing at the office.

Instead the 31 year old software.

Our marketing manager has become well known for her love of rare, vintage fashion at the

large Tech firm where she works in Indianapolis us.

Her outfits are a far cry from the average plain T-shirt and jeans.

She sees among her colleagues and she says her bold style has become a great talking

point with them having that opportunity to break down walls with people across different

teams by talking about my

It is pretty awesome.

She says the company I work for is pretty large and ever since I've been here my notoriety

has been extended through my fashion and what I wear being around people who might not know

as much about these designers and catching their eye has always been an icebreaker.

Sally is not the only person pushing back against traditional office where conventions

with many showing off their unconventional.

All office, attire on social and media.

Some workers, especially younger ones are swapping out mundane white shirt and black

trouser combos for Luxe Lounge.

Where sets.

So what about you, how would you describe your outfits?

Do you just to stand out or do you dress to fit in?

I stand out sometimes because I like really bright clothing.

A lot of flowers as well.

But that's a pretty

Common fashion trend.

I don't think I'm the only one who dresses like this, but I always like to wear a lot

of bright clothing so maybe I stand out a little bit.

What about you?

Let us know in the comments and don't forget to download your free speaking guide where

I share six tips on how to speak English, fluently and confidently, you can download

it from my website right here and how about you guys started with your next lesson right

now?