Speak Like a Pro! | 14 English Phrases That Will Upgrade Your Vocabulary

Hi there. This is Harry. Welcome back to Advanced  English Lessons with Harry, where I try to help  

you to get a better understanding of the English  language. Might help you to improve your job  

possibilities for those interviews. Certainly  help you with their conversational English,  

business English. Generally, just improve  what you already know and try to build it  

better to get onto those different levels.  A1, A2, B1, B2, whatever it happens to be,  

we're here to help you. And if you're  looking for lessons on a one-to-one basis,  

you would like a trial, come back to me and  we'll set you up and get you sorted out.

What are we going to look at in this  particular lesson? Well, we're looking  

at expressions and idioms to do with the word  break. We've got a lot of them. There are 14,  

so I'll go through them one by one  and then I'll give you some examples.

Break the habit. Well, usually when we have  habits, they can often be bad habits smoking,  

drinking, lazy, whatever they are, they are  bad habits and when somebody wants us to stop,  

we have to break the habit. I saw Jonathan  last week. He's not smoking. He hasn't  

smoked for. He says three months. He's  really broken the habit. It's really  

great because it's going to be really good  for his health. In fact, when I saw him,  

he was out jogging. I've never seen  him jog before. To break the habit.

Break the habit of a lifetime. I wish I didn't  wake up every morning at 5:30 is quite annoying.  

Everybody's asleep and I wake up and I don't even  need an alarm. I just wake up whether I go to  

bed at midnight or one in the morning. I still  wake up at 5:30. I'd love to break the habit.

Break the bank. Often we use this negatively.  That's not going to break the bank. So your  

partner says, why don't we go to the movies on  Saturday? I grab a pizza before afterwards. Yeah,  

sure. Why not? It's a great idea. We haven't  done it for ages. It's not going to break  

the bank. It's only just a pizza. And the  movies will get the early bird menu. So,  

you know, it's really, really going to be  good. So it's not going to break the bank

Or we're going to carry out a new  advertising campaign and we're  

probably going to advertise on social  media. Okay, well, let's do but let's  

not break the bank. Let's just take it slowly  at the beginning. See what sort of returns,  

see what interest we get and if it works  out well, fair enough. We can go back later  

on and do it again. But not at the beginning.  Let's not break the bank. Let's not overspend.

Break even. When we break even, it means  we neither make a profit nor a loss. The  

business broke even for the first few  years, which is quite amazing actually,  

because we had a lot of a lot of setup costs.  We had to get the property rented, painted,  

decorated, fitted out, and even still we we  made a little bit of money and then with the  

other costs and expenses, we just about  broke even. And we did that for the first  

couple of years. So we've got over that little  problem. And I think for the next few years,  

we should be able to make a small profit.  So to break even means you don't lose money,  

but you don't absolutely make money. And  often we're quite happy just to break even.

I spend a lot of money buying some  camera equipment. A few years ago,  

really thinking I was going to get into  photography, but I didn't really like it.  

It wasn't really my cup of tea. So I sold  all of the equipment on eBay actually,  

and I broke even. I was really surprised,  so I effectively got my money back. Even  

though the cameras were a couple of years old. So  nothing ventured, nothing gained. I broke even.

Break fresh ground. Well, when we break fresh  ground it usually means we're going to start  

something new. A new venture. The business  focused most almost entirely on national  

and local issues. We sold our products in the  local markets. We distributed it to the local  

supermarkets around the country. But we were  getting to the stage where we needed to make  

some progress. So we decided to go overseas to  break fresh ground to find new markets. We got  

invited to a particular exhibition. We made some  contacts and it's beginning to prove worthwhile  

and profitable. So to break fresh ground,  do something new, do something different.

Break the ice. Well, that's the classic situation.  When you're in the elevator, you're stuck there  

or at the beginning of a meeting. You don't know  anybody or you've gone to visit the in-laws for  

the first time. Whoever it happens to be, somebody  has to start the conversation. People are looking  

a little bit nervous or embarrassed or shy. So  somebody breaks the ice. But the weather's good,  

isn't it? Did you see that new film? Do you see  what they've done to the high street? So little  

topics, little chit-chat conversations that were  very definitely break the ice. Get people feeling  

a little less uncomfortable, a little bit more  relaxed, and then you can get down to business.

You go to the boss to talk about your salary  rise, or your promotion or your appraisal,  

and he starts asking you about, Oh, how's  the work going? You know, we had the football  

match. Did you get everything sorted out  in your new home? And these are all little  

topics to break the ice and then. Okay, look,  let's get down to business to break the ice.

Break the news. I asked Doctor Johnston to help  me break the news to her tomorrow. Often this is  

about bad news. Somebody has to break the news.  You're talking to your sister. You didn't do  

particularly well in your exams. In fact, you  were very disappointed. And your sister says,  

well, okay, now you have to tell Mum and Dad  who's going to break the news. Do you want me  

to do it for you? No, no, I'll do it. I better get  it over with. Yeah. To break the news, you have to  

tell something to somebody, something bad. We have  to break the news to the staff. Sooner or later,  

you know, they're beginning to talk about it. They  know we've got problems. They really think we're  

going to sack a few people, so better to break  the news sooner rather than later. We'll have  

a staff meeting on Friday before the weekend,  and we'll tell them then to break the news.

Break the spell. Well, it could be stuck in  the middle of a heat wave at the moment. So  

there's a spell of really hot weather, but then  it's announced that there's going to be a big,  

big thunderstorm on Tuesday that will break the  spell of hot weather that we've had and a bit of,  

light relief. And the temperature should drop  or a bit of fresh air. So everybody will be  

feeling a little happier and a little  bit more comfortable to break the spell.

Or somebody is very, very close to a friend, but  they have a sort of a bad influence on them. And  

you'd really like to break that spell.  You'd really like something to happen.  

So you say, oh, I wish that girl would get  transferred to another school or I wish,  

really? David would go and find another  course, try and break the spell that he's  

under with that girl. She's not really a  good influence on him at all. Something  

has to be done to break that spell, to  break that control that she has over him.

Okay. And remember, if you liked this particular  lesson, then please like the video and if you can,  

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Break your heart. Well, lots of things would  break your heart. Yeah. Things you had your son  

or daughter break up with their first boyfriend  or girlfriend. That would break your heart and  

certainly break their hearts. Okay. Having to  move home after being there for so many years  

would break your heart. Retiring from your  job might break your heart. Unfortunately,  

but the sad passing of your favourite dog or  cat, that would very definitely break your heart.

Break the rules. Well, we've all  broken the rules at some time,  

particularly when we talk about the rules of  the road. Who hasn't driven faster than the  

speed limit? Who has parked in an illegal parking  zone? Who has parked somewhere on the chance that  

they don't put money into the meter or pay for  it. So we've all at some stage broken the rules,  

particularly the rules of the road, and hopefully  we haven't been caught or unfortunate like me. And  

you get a letter in the post and there's  a photograph of your car registration,  

and you was photographed driving at 60 or 70km  on a Sunday morning when there nobody else  

around. And yeah, we're going a bit too fast.  I had to pay the penalty, to break the rules.

Break the silence. Well, again, a bit like  breaking the news. Somebody has to break  

the silence. You come home from school or work  or something, and when you walk into the room,  

there's an atmosphere. People are not talking  to each other because something has been said.  

Something has been done. So you say, okay,  what is it? What happened? And there's a  

silence in the room. So somebody has to break  the silence. Okay, somebody better tell me what's  

going on. Who did what? And then, of course, your  partner tells you. Well, the kids did. There's.  

The kids did that. Then the kids say, well,  it wasn't my fault and blah, blah, blah. So  

eventually you break the silence. Somebody tells  you everything that's going on, and people get  

back to normal and are talking to each other. So  when we break the silence, we break that sort of,  

atmosphere that's around particularly as a result  of a misunderstanding or family argument over how

to break the silence.

Break something in two. Well, the easiest  thing to break in the bar. Chocolate. Half  

for you. Half for me. Broke the biscuit  in two. You broke the workload in two.  

Give half to one colleague and half to the  other. Yeah. So we've got an assignment. I'm  

going to break it into. Yeah, we'll do this  half this week and the other half next week.  

So we look at the schedule. We look at what's  needed. We got to pack all these boxes. Okay.  

Let's look. Let's break this into. You  take that from left to right. I'll take  

the others from right to left. So to break it  into two so that everything is evenly divided  

and we achieve our objectives or achieve  our goals. To break into means to divide.

Break your back. Wow. This is a very common  expression when somebody thinks they have  

worked really, really hard. You know, I broke my  back getting that project done. I worked late at  

least 3 or 4 nights last week, and a couple of  nights this week. I got the project completed and  

I sent it to him. He didn't even acknowledge it.  He didn't even tell me. Thank you. He didn't say,  

well done. I mean, that's the last time I'm  going to break my back for him. Anything  

else he asked me for? Yeah, I'll do it.  But if he thinks I'm going to work late,  

he's got another thing coming. I broke my back  for that. And then the last time I do it. You  

could break your back digging the garden in early  spring after a long, hard winter and the ground  

perhaps hasn't thawed as well as you thought. So  takes a little bit more effort, and you end up  

with a few blisters on your hands so you really  physically broke your back, digging that soil,  

turning that ground over, getting ready to plant  the vegetables. Okay, so to break your back.

To break someone's fall, well,  when you break someone's fall,  

you provide a sort of a cushion or  literally so that when they fall,  

they don't hurt themselves. A few weeks ago I was  out with my grandkids and they loved climbing,  

as all young kids do, and the two of them were  climbing up the tree and one of them slept.  

Luckily I happened to be standing near the tree  and I was able to grab him to break his fall so  

he didn't literally break his arm or his. Worse  still. Okay, so I was able to break his fall.

When I used to ski and I skied very badly. If I  felt I was going to fall, which is quite often,  

I rolled on my side to break my fall so that  it wouldn't damage my back. Or I could roll  

pretty quickly and not get injured. So  to break your own fall. So a cushion  

will do it. Yeah. So something  that you can land softly.

And then finally, we've got to break the  mould. We've got an expression in English.  

they broke the mould when they made him.  It really refers to somebody who's a little  

bit special, a little bit unusual or very  different from everybody else. You know,  

he's the funniest guy I've ever met. He's  always got stories, always got anecdotes.  

It is nothing like anybody else. I. I know they  broke the mould when they made him is really,  

really special. Or somebody who's really,  really helpful. Nothing is any trouble  

for them. If you want some help, then he'll  give it to you. If you want to lend of money,  

he'll give it to you. If you want somebody to  help you move the furniture, he'll help you. They  

broke the mould when they made him. He's really  quite a unique person. So to break the mould.

Okay, so they're the expressions and idioms  using break. They are advanced English. So  

you won't need to use them all day. Perhaps you  won't understand them all, but you can try them.

Break the habit. Break the bank. Break  even. To break fresh ground. Break the  

ice. Break the news. Break  the spell. Break your heart.

Break the rules. Break the silence. Break  in two. Break your back. Break yours or  

someone's fall. And then finally.  Break the mould. Break the mould.

If you need anything in particular, well, come  back to me and I'll give you some more examples  

of those. We always appreciate it when you watch  and listen. And as always, join me again soon.