10 English Phrases About Change

70,516 views ・ 2021-10-19

Learn English with Bob the Canadian


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

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There's a saying in English
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that one of the only things
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that remains the same in life,
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one of the only things that is constant is change.
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Things change.
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It's fall here in Ontario, Canada,
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and as you can see, the leaves are changing color.
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Everything around me is changing.
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So I thought this would be a good time
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to do an English lesson about change.
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So stick around for this English lesson,
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I'll help you learn about 10 different English phrases
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that we use to talk about all kinds
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of different changes that happen in life.
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(cheerful music)
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The first phrase I wanted to teach you to talk about change
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is the phrase like night and day.
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We use this phrase to talk about something
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that's changed quite a bit.
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The best example I can give you is this.
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Sometimes my kids have messy rooms.
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They leave everything on the floor and it's a real mess.
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And then I tell them on a Saturday,
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"You need to clean your room
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or you can't play computer games later today."
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And then they clean their room.
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And then the difference between when their room was messy
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and when their room is clean is like night and day.
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The difference is so great
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that I would walk in the room and say,
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"Wow, the difference, it's like night and day.
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It's so much nicer when your room is clean."
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So when you say that something is like night and day,
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you mean that it's changed so much
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that it looks completely different now.
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The next phrase I wanted to teach you is a phrase
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that we use to describe when someone's appearance changes,
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and it's the phrase to barely recognize someone.
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Now, this phrase, I actually saw in the comments
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in a video a number of months ago.
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Because I shaved off my beard and my mustache,
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and then when I made a video with no beard or mustache,
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in the comments, a few people said,
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"I barely recognized you."
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What they were saying is that
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because my appearance had changed so much,
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it was hard for them to tell that I was Bob, the Canadian.
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They thought maybe I was another person,
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or maybe I was Bob's brother or something,
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but it was actually me.
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Now, be careful when you use this phrase,
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because you don't want to use it
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in a way that sounds negative.
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You might wanna add a positive phrase
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before you use this phrase
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because it can be misinterpreted.
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So you could say something like this.
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"Oh, I can tell you've been exercising.
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You look amazing. I barely recognized you."
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Or, "Wow, your new haircut looks great.
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I barely recognized you."
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So when you use this phrase, you're simply talking
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about how someone's appearance has changed.
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Hi, Bob, the Canadian here,
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just jumping into the middle of this lesson
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to ask you to do one thing, actually two.
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If you are not a subscriber, please consider clicking
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that red subscribe button over there.
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And if this video is helping you learn
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a little bit of English, please give me a thumbs up.
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Now, back to the lesson.
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I don't know if you've noticed this,
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but sometimes kids go through a growth spurt,
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and we use the phrase to grow like a weed
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to describe this change.
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A weed is a plant that grows in a garden or a field,
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and it's a plant you don't want there,
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and they usually grow really, really quickly.
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So we use this comparison to talk about how fast kids grow.
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Maybe you have a nephew
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or a niece who you haven't seen for a year or two
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and the next time you see them, you could say,
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"Wow, you're growing like a weed.
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You're so much taller now."
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In fact, at some point they might even be taller than you.
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That's happened to me with a few of my nephews and nieces
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in the last year or two.
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I'm starting to feel a little bit short.
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So when you're describing a child who is growing quickly
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or a child who you haven't seen for a while
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and they're much taller now, you could say to them,
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"Wow, you're growing like a weed."
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The English phrase to change your tune means
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to change your behavior, usually in a positive direction.
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Sometimes people do bad things.
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Sometimes people do things that they're not supposed to do
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and you wish that they would change their tune.
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I have this sometimes in my classroom.
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Sometimes I have students who don't listen
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and they misbehave, and just day after day,
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their behavior is not very good.
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Their behavior is bad.
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So I wish that they would change their tune.
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I might even say to them, "You know what?
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You need to change your tune
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if you want to do well in this class.
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If you want to succeed, you need to change your tune."
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So the English phrase to change your tune means
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to change your behavior in a way
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that you are now doing things in a more positive way.
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Instead of doing bad things, you're doing good things.
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The next two English phrases about change
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have the same meaning.
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They are the phrases to do a 180
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and to have a change of heart.
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The best example I can give for these two phrases
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is if you think about a professional athlete
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who announced their retirement,
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an athlete who decided not to play anymore
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because they thought they were getting too old,
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and then after being retired for a little while,
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they decide to come back, they decide to play again.
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In that situation,
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we would say that the player did a 180.
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They've reversed their decision.
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Or we would say that the player had a change of heart;
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they reversed their decision.
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So instead of doing what they were going to do,
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instead of doing what they decided to do,
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they've decided to reverse their decision
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and come back and play again.
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It's always cool when your favorite athlete retires
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and then does a 180 or has a change of heart
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and decides to play again.
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This next English phrase is a phrase we use
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to talk about the change in someone's appearance,
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and it's a phrase that we use maybe
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to bug someone a little bit or in a humorous way,
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and it's the phrase to clean up nicely.
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Sometimes Jen and I have to go to a wedding,
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and so I get a haircut
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and I shave my beard or trim my beard,
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and I put on a suit and tie, and Jen will then say,
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"Wow, you clean up nicely."
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And what she's talking about is the change
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from how I normally look
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to how I look after I get a haircut,
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and trim my beard, and put on a suit and tie
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makes me look really, really good.
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So, remember, this is a phrase you use
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with someone you know well.
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It's a phrase you use
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to kinda jokingly give someone a compliment,
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I hope that makes sense, but you would say,
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"Wow, you clean up nicely."
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Hi, I thought I should pop into the lesson
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with my suit and tie on just to show you
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that I do actually clean up nicely.
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The English phrase out with the old, in with the new
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is a phrase we use to talk about change
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in almost any situation when we think change is important.
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I don't know if you noticed,
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but the intro to my English lessons
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on YouTube changed about a month and a half ago
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because it was time
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to make it look a little more fresh and new.
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It was time for me to get rid of the old
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and bring in something new.
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The way I would describe that is I would say,
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"You know, out with the old, in with the new.
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It was time to make a change
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so that things would look just a little bit better."
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So when you say out with the old, in with the new,
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it's used any time you want to talk about the reason
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why you're changing something.
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If someone at work was saying,
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"Why are we doing it this way now?"
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You could say, "You know, out with the old,
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in with the new.
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We have to keep up with the times."
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Sometimes you need to make changes to stay current.
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So, out with the old, in with the new.
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Have you ever had a job that you didn't like?
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Or maybe there's a room in your house
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and you just don't like how it looks?
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You might use this English phrase
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to describe either of those situations.
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You might say it's time for a change.
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In English when you say it's time for a change,
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it means that you want to change your situation
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or you want to change something to look more pleasing
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or just to be more pleasing.
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So the best example would probably be the job.
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Sometimes people work at a certain job for a long time
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and then they start to not enjoy it.
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And then the best phrase to describe that would be to say,
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"It's time for a change."
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In fact, you might have a friend in that situation
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and you might say to them,
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"Hey, I know you've been complaining
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about your job a lot lately, maybe it's time for a change.
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Maybe it's time for you to look for a different job.
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That might make you happy."
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The English phrase to shake things up means
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to do something differently than how you have been doing it.
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Here's a good example.
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My sister and brother-in-law
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go to the same campground every year,
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but this year when they went camping,
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they decided to shake things up.
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They decided to go to a completely different campground.
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We use this phrase when we decide
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to do something differently than how we've been doing it.
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Maybe you've become bored with doing something the same way.
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Maybe you've become bored with the place
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where you've been going.
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Maybe you've become bored
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with the kind of food you've been eating,
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and then you decide to shake things up.
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You decide to change how you do something
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so it's a little more exciting.
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A long time ago,
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if you wanted to communicate with someone far away,
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you would make a long distance phone call.
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But times have changed.
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Now you would probably send them a text message
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or just send them an email.
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The English phrase times have changed is used
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to describe big changes
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that we have all experienced as humans
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over the course of time.
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Probably the smartphone is the biggest change
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that I can think of when I use this phrase.
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Many years ago, no one had a smartphone in their pocket,
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but times have changed.
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Now, almost everyone has a smartphone with them
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on a daily basis and uses it for all kinds of things.
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Wow, times have changed.
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Well, hey, thank you so much
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for watching this English lesson about change.
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I hope you were able
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to learn just a few more English phrases that you can use
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to talk about the things in life that change.
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Remember, if this is your first time here,
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don't forget to click that red subscribe button over there,
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and give me a thumbs up
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if this video helped you learn
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just a little bit more English.
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And if you have the time, why don't you stick around
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and watch another English lesson?
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(cheerful music)
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