C1 English collocations for feelings and emotions (negative) | Study Advanced English

Hi there, this is Harry and welcome to advanced  English classes with Harry. Before we get started,  

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So what are we going to talk to you about  today? Well, in the advanced class, today,  

we're going to look at advanced collocations  for negative emotions and feelings. Negative  

emotions and feelings. And like always, I  think I've got 10 of these and I'll give  

them to you in a list. And then I'll go through  them one by one, and give you a few examples.

Here they are: to feel down, to feel  sick with worry or to say I'm worried  

sick. You can use either way that, it's  both the same. So to feel sick with worry,  

or I'm worried sick. To give vent to  something. V-v. To give vent to something.  

To weigh on your conscience or to weigh  on your mind. Heavy heart. Nasty shock.  

Dread to think. Bear a grudge or to  bear a grudge. To dash somebody's hopes.  

And then finally, to bottle up your feelings,  okay. So all of those quite negative in their...  

the way they express feelings. So let's go  through them and give you some examples.

To feel down. Well, we can all feel down from time  to time. And literally when we feel down. Uhh...  

Our lips drop at the edge, or chin drops,  or eyes droop. So we feel down. We feel that  

we're lacking energy, we feel depressed, we  feel upset, all of those negative emotions.

What are you feeling down about? Might  be a way, somebody might ask you,  

Ah, just feeling a little down today. I don't  feel myself, I don't know what it is. Maybe  

it's the weather or maybe it's just the the time  of the year, whatever it might be, I just feel  

a little down. I think I'll go home, put my feet  up and have a glass of wine. So to feel down.

To feel sick with worry or to be worried sick.  Or usually when somebody is worried sick,  

they've got a lot of stress or a lot of problems  on their mind because perhaps a family member is  

sick. So they're worried sick as what's... what's  going to happen. They've gone into hospital for  

a couple of weeks, and then not sure what  the results of the tests are going to be.

Or Oh my daughter, she's worried sick about the  exams that just around the corner. They're going  

to happen in a few weeks. And if she doesn't  get the points she wants, I don't know what  

we're going to do. So she's worried sick, and  I'm sick with worry. So we're all under a little  

bit of strain and all feeling the stress. I'm  worried sick about the dog, you know, he's never  

ever sick and I had to take him to the vet and  the vet said he wasn't sure what it was. And we'll  

check it out in a week or two. But he's no  better. He's just lying around the house. I hope,  

I hope it's not bad news. Okay, so to be worried,  sick or sick with worry something on your mind.

To give vent to something Well,  usually when we give vent to something,  

it's to give vent to our anger, or  to give vent to some frustration,  

or something that irritates us too. So  to give vent to our anger, irritation  

or frustration would be good examples. When we  give vent to something means we let let it out.

Okay, so perhaps you go and you kick a bottle  on the street, or you go out and you kick the  

lawnmower. Or you kick your bicycle to...  to vent your anger or vent your frustration.

You might be cycling along enjoying the warm  summer summer sun and you get a puncture on  

your bicycle and you hear that terrible sound.  It's as the air goes out of your tire. And you  

realise that you don't have a pump with you.  You don't have a puncture repair kit, you have  

nothing. So you pick the bike up in you throw  it on the ground to vent your anger. Argh, argh.  

And then just by chance, somebody happens to come  along who's got a spare tire or spare inner tube  

and voila, they fix your bicycle for you. Okay,  so to vent your anger, to vent your frustration.

You're trying to work out that mathematical  problem and for some reason, you just can't  

get the last little bit of that equation and you  almost pull your hair out with frustration you  

vent your frustration, and your  mother comes running up the stairs,  

Oh, what's wrong? What's wrong with you  screaming about this mathematics? Yeah,  

so to vent your frustration to vent your  irritation means to show it, to reflect it  

in some way by screaming, kicking,  shouting, or whatever it might be. Okay?

Whatever you do, don't kick  the cat, don't kick the dog.

Something weighs on your conscience  or something weighs on your mind. So  

it might go to the doctor if it's really bad.  And the doctor says, What's up with you today?  

Well, I'm not feeling good. I've had bad news at  work. Yeah, there's problems at home, I have just  

all of these problems weighing on my mind. And the  doctor tries to talk to you and tells you Well,  

look, these things happen from time to time, you  know, try to get out, try to get some exercise,  

try to get away from the problems. And if  it doesn't work, we'll come back to me,  

we can all always prescribe something.  But I don't want to prescribe something,  

unless it's really, really necessary. So  try something a little bit more natural.

So when you've got something weighing on your  mind, or something weighing on your conscience,  

you feel guilty. Maybe you feel guilty about  something you should have done. Perhaps you  

didn't do the report as well, as  you could have done for the boss.  

Perhaps there was something a colleague or a  friend really asked you for. And you said, No.

But when you got home, you're thinking about it.  Perhaps I should have lent her the money. You  

know, she really looked desperate. But you made a  promise to yourself once that you would never lend  

friends any money. So you decided not to  do it. But now you're feeling a little bit  

guilty. And it's weighing on your conscience,  weighing on your mind. So that's something  

pressing down on you like a weight here.  To weigh. W-E-I-G-H, to weigh on your mind.

A heavy heart. And a heavy heart will also  weigh on your mind. When we have a heavy heart,  

it means we're sad about something. We often  use the expression to do something with a heavy  

heart means you do it but your heart's not  in it, you don't really want to do it. Okay.

So perhaps you have told your kids that we're  not going to have a holiday this year, because  

really we can't afford it. And they're really  upset because they were looking forward to the  

boat trip, they were looking forward to the  drive, they were looking forward to doing the  

camping trip. But for some reason, we don't have  the money, and you can't go. So it's with a heavy  

heart that you call the kids together and say,  Guys, look, I have to tell you that we have to  

cancel the holiday this year, we just can't go.  And of course, there's wailing and gnashing of  

teeth and screaming that, Oh, you've ruined the  summer, blah-blah-blah... a little bit upset. So  

you do it with a heavy heart, you do it without  wanting to do it, it's just one of those things.

Perhaps you're a school teacher, and you have  to mark the exams, and you look at a few and  

you've got a couple of bright students, but for  some reason, they just didn't reflect it in the  

exams or the tests. And it's with a heavy heart  that you failed them. But you have to tell them,  

they really need to try better the  next time. So it's with a heavy heart,  

that you give them the exam results  because when you look at their faces,  

they're going to be really, really disappointed.  So to do something with a heavy heart.

A nasty shock. Well, a nasty shock can be  literally if you stick your finger in the socket  

on the wall, you'll get a nasty shock. Okay,  but a nasty shock is something that's bad news.

I got a nasty shock when I opened the bill.  The electricity has gone up by 60%. 60%! Can  

you believe it? I don't know what I'm going to  tell Bill when he comes home. So it's a real,  

real shock and nasty shock.

We get a nasty shock when I opened the letter  and found out that I'd been caught speeding a  

few weeks ago. Afterwards that Sunday morning,  I was nice and relaxed, just driving along on  

the motorway and all the music on, no traffic in  front of me. I didn't even see the speed camera.  

And I don't even think I saw the police car. And  of course, I opened the letter this morning. Yeah,  

got a fine of 70 Euro. Could you believe  it? 70 Euro, that's another nasty shock.

Or when you get the vets bill, you've taken  the dog to the vet for the second or third  

time in the last couple of months. And when  the bill comes in, you'll go, Oh my god,  

these vets they can really really charge  a lot of money. So another nasty shock.

Okay, so nasty shock. Bad news. Something  you weren't expecting something you didn't  

want to happen. And yet when you open  that envelope or you open that email,  

there it is staring you in the  face and very expensive invoice.

Dread to think about something. Yeah, now,  we use this expression quite a lot. Oh,  

I dread to think what the world is going to  be like next year when we have all these food  

shortages. What are the... what's going to be  the prices of everything? Will we be able to  

get flour? Will we be able to get ordinary  things like pasta, even toilet rolls, okay.

Remember, during the pandemic, you couldn't  get toilet rolls in the first couple of weeks  

for love no money. So I dread to think  meaning I don't want to think about it.

I dread to think what life would be like without  mobile phones. How would we contact everybody? How  

would we send messages? We'd have to go back to  the old way of ringing up on those landlines or  

even walking around. Oh my god, think of  that! We'd have to get on a bus and go  

see somebody. So I dread to think what life would  be like without technology. I dread to think  

what life would be like what my life  would be like, without a mobile phone.

Okay, me as a teacher, I would dread to think  what life would be like without online lessons.  

I'd have to get in my car and have to waste hour  after hour going to and back from classes. So to  

dread to think or I dread to think what might  happen. A negative view and negative feeling.

To bear a grudge. Well, we all have born a grudge  from time to time. So if you bear a grudge,  

it's a bad feeling or an ill feeling you hold  against somebody because of something they said,  

or something they did or something they didn't do.  

A long time ago could be days, weeks, months,  years, somebody or some people bear grudges for  

a long, long time. There can be family grudges, of  course, those families always have rows and some  

brother bears a grudge against another one.  And it passes on through the generations.

And somebody might ask, What's all that about?  Why don't they talk to each other anymore? Oh  

he bears a grudge because he went out with  his girlfriend and eventually got married.  

So it could be something to do with love often  is to bear a grudge. Often, the reason has been  

long forgotten about but the grudge is still  there. And if you ask the people to explain  

what what is all this about, nobody could  explain it to you. So to bear a grudge is  

when you hold something against somebody,  something they did do, something they did say  

or something they didn't do. And they  bear a grudge for a long, long time.

Businesses in competition  with each other. The... the  

managing partners or the CEOs might bear a  grudge against the other because they've got a  

better position in the marketplace. And can be  for many, many simple reasons to bear a grudge.

To dash somebody's hopes. Dash is a wonderful  word to... You can dash means to rush somewhere,  

or dash means to break something.  To dash the glass against the wall.  

To... The ship dashed against the  rocks and broke into many, many pieces.  

So when we dashed someone's hopes, we break  them, we smashed them here, we destroy them.

So if you get bad results in your exams,  that dashes your hopes of getting into  

that university that you wanted to go to and  you have to settle for the other university.

Your team lost in the semi finals of the  cup. So dashed your hopes of being able  

to go and watch them in the big stadium.  Or it... they dashed the hopes of bringing  

glory to the team for yet another  season. Okay, so to dash your hopes.

When you were walking down the street, you...  

you saw the boy who you fancied walking out  with another girl and that dashed your hopes  

about ever getting together with him.  Okay, so when you dash someone's hopes,  

it means they are over, they have ended. And  they'll have to start again. To dash hopes.

To bottle up your feelings. When we bottle  something up, when we put it in the bottle and we  

stick a cork in the top of the bottle. So  you literally bottle it up. When we bottle  

up our feelings, it means we don't let  them out or we try not to let them out.

And like every bottle with a cork in it eventually  it will pop. Yeah, okay. So you have to be really,  

really careful. And you have to be very careful,  you don't shake it because it will explode.  

But if you bottle up your feelings, you don't let  people know how you feel. And you sit there steam  

coming out of your ears. When you really should  be telling somebody exactly how you're feeling.

So we often hear the expression, Don't bottle it  up. Don't bottle up your feelings, you'll feel  

worse, it'll make you feel sick. So let it out, go  outside and scream, go and have a run or a cycle,  

do something that will let those feelings out.  Don't bottle it up. Don't lock it inside. You  

don't keep it with a cork on it because yet it  might explode and hopefully not in your face.

Okay, so those are the 10 particular  

collocations all about emotions and  feelings, all with a negative twist.

So let me go down through them one more time.

To feel down. To feel sick with  worry or to be worried sick. To give  

vent to something. To give vent to  some feelings of anger or frustration.  

To weigh on your conscience or to weigh on your  mind. To feel guilty. A heavy heart, Do something  

with a heavy heart when you don't really want  to do it but you have to do it. To get a nasty  

shock when you open that envelope and the bill  falls out for an extraordinary amount of money.  

You dread to think about something. I dread  to think what would happen if... To bear a  

grudge. To hold a grudge against somebody for a  long period of time. To bear a grudge. To dash  

somebody's hopes so that they can't do what they  wanted to do, what they hoped to do. To go to that  

university because they didn't get the right exam  results. And to bottle up your feelings as the  

last one where we lock everything in tightly,  we don't let it out. And sometime, some place,  

it's going to explode and it's going to cause  a problem. Okay, so to bottle up your feelings.

Okay, so 10 particular collocations,  negative emotions and feelings,  

they're at a really advanced level. So as always  try to use them, try to practice them you won't  

remember them all, but try to practice one or  two. Okay, I promised to give you my address.

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