ENGLISH FLUENCY SECRETS | MUST-KNOW Phrases For Daily Conversations

Hi there, this is Harry and welcome back to  advanced English lessons with Harry. And in this  

particular lesson, we're talking about habits. And  we're talking about habits in English. So we'll  

go down through some expressions and words and  phrases you will use and how you will use those  

when you're talking about habits. And of course,  habits are something that we do on a regular  

basis, you know, we get up at the same time, every  morning habit, we have our meals at the same time,  

generally every day, habit, we go to visit parents  or grandparents or somebody else on a regular day,  

each month each week. Again, habits so we'll talk  about the tenses and the way we can use those  

tenses when we're talking about habits. Okay, and  at the end, I'll give you my address, and you can  

contact me should you have a need to do so or  there's any information that you would like to  

have. Okay, so advanced English lesson and in this  particular lesson, we're looking at the grammar  

rules and the way in which we can talk about  habits in English. Okay, so let's get started.

So, usually when we talk about habits, we  tend to use the present simple tense. Mum  

prepares lunch every day before we go  to school. Dad takes us to school every  

day in the car habits. So we're using that  present simple. Dad brings or takes us to  

school every day, Mum prepares or makes  lunch every day, present simple tense.

That we can also use will and the infinitive  when we're talking about habits. For example,  

she'll disagree with everything you say. She'll  always tell you what's on her mind. Okay,  

so these are two examples of how we can use will  plus the infinitive when we want to talk about  

habits as well. So we've got the present simple,  and then we've got will plus the infinitive.

Now, we can always use always with ing. Adam is  not a tidy boy, he is always leaving things lying  

around. His mother is always telling  him to tidy up. His father is always  

telling him to mind his language is always  telling him to do his homework. So again,  

here are examples of habits using always plus,  ing always telling, always doing always waiting,  

okay. And we can also use keep, either keep on or  just keep on its own plus the -ing. For example,  

a regular mobile phone number keeps calling me  so you get this number ringing all of the time.  

So someone keeps on calling me or someone keeps  calling me every day trying to sell me something,  

you know, what happens when you're sitting there  and your phone rings and you don't recognise the  

number. So it's a regular mobile phone. Someone  keeps on calling me. Someone keeps calling me so  

we can use that to keep on or keep. Okay.  But it's all again about those habits.

So there are other phrases that we can use to  describe present habits. I have an inclination  

to or I'm inclined to do something. So I  have an inclination to go on too long. Okay,  

I have an inclination to talk too quickly,  somebody might say, I'm inclined to go on a  

little bit too much, or I'm inclined to talk too  quickly. So these will be ways in which I could  

talk about me and certain habits. And people  might say, oh, yeah, your causes are great,  

but sometimes you talk a little too quickly. Or  sometimes you go on a little bit too much. So I  

can have an inclination to talk too quickly.  Or I'm inclined to talk or speak too quickly.

Okay, and if you happen to like this particular  lesson, then make sure you like the video. And if  

you can, please subscribe to the channel,  because it will really, really help.

We can also use the expression as a rule  and this will talk about habits. As a rule,  

I try to get to bed before 1030 In the evening.  As a rule, I usually get up at six o'clock in  

the morning. As a rule, I will record my  lessons on a Saturday afternoon. Okay,  

so these are things I do as a rule. We  can use that expression as a rule when  

we're referring to habits as a rule, she goes  to the hairdresser's once a month. As a rule,  

we usually have turkey in ham for Christmas  dinner. So doesn't have to be every week because  

Christmas is not every week of course, but it is  a habit. And we can use that expression as a rule.

Also, we can say I'm prone to or I tend to, I'm  prone to getting a little sick during the winter  

when the weather gets colder. I tend to get a  little sick during the winter when the weather  

is colder, so prone to do something, or tend  to do something, okay. Prone to or tend to.

Nine times out of ten. Another expression we can  use again to express this issue of habit. Nine  

times out of ten he comes home at six o'clock in  the evening. Nine times out of ten he'll sit down  

in front of the television and watch the football  if it's on the TV. Nine times out of ten he'll  

buy a perfume for her birthday or for Christmas.  Okay, habit, habit habit nine times out of ten.  

So just showing the consistency of the regularity  or the habit in which the person does something.

Now if we want to talk about past habits, because  the what we previously looked at our present  

habits but want to talk about past habits, we can  use words and expressions like I used to, okay,  

as I used to with the infinitive, I used to visit  my grandmother. Every Saturday when I was young,  

I used to visit Okay, so used to plus the  infinitive, I would visit my grandmother  

every Saturday when I was young. Now,  when it's a habit, and we use used to,  

we can substitute it with would, provided  it is a habit, okay. So I used to visit my  

grandmother every Saturday when I was young.  I would visit my grandmother every Saturday  

when I was young. There's no difference in  the meanings are used to or would. However,  

if I said I used to work in a bank, I can't  say I would work in a bank because I used to  

work in a bank is not the habit. It's just a  fact, I used to work in a bank. But I used to  

play football every Saturday with my friends.  I would play football every Saturday with my  

friends habits so we can use either used to  or would and that's about habits in the past.

Now, we can also use a kept on doing something  before we refer to keep so here we put it in  

the past I kept on he kept on reading books well  into his 90s. So perhaps your grandfather when he  

was really old, he still had the habit of reading  books, he kept on reading books well into his 90s.  

Even when he was 91, 92 he would still have a book  beside him to read perhaps a little more slowly,  

but he would still read. I kept on eating pizzas.  Even though my doctor told me it was bad for my  

health. I kept on eating pizzas, even though  the doctor told me they were bad for my health.

Or I was always doing. I was always  getting into trouble with my math  

teacher at school. I was always getting  into trouble with the sports teacher at  

school because I wanted to do it my way.  So always getting I was always so again,  

that habit and using past tenses relating  to past habits so and other phrases that we  

could use to describe past habits are I was  forever. I was forever forgetting to do my  

history project. I was forever getting into  trouble with my parents for being late home.

Or I was prone to. I was prone to bad colds and  flus when I was you young boy. So prone to again,  

I was prone to as a habit. Okay, so  let me give it to you one more time.  

So we're looking at habits and the first  ones we're looking to is about present  

habits and what tenses we use for those.  So we can use the present simple, okay,  

or we can use will and the infinitive.  We can use always plus ing. We can use  

keep on or keep doing something ing. Or I  have an inclination to or I'm inclined to,  

as a rule, I do this or as a rule I do that I'm  prone to or I tend to and then nine times out  

of 10 so they're all the examples of talking  about habits using present tenses or present  

habits present tenses. Now if we talk about past  habits, we can say you used to or would, okay,  

provided it's about habit kept on doing something  again with that ing or kept doing something. I  

was always doing something. And then finally I was  forever doing this or forever getting into trouble  

or forever forgetting. And then finally,  I was prone to prone to certain sickness.

Okay, so all about habits, both present and  past tense is how we use them. So give them  

a little bit of practice, read them and listen  to it once or twice. If you have any problems,  

come back to me. Very happy to help you and give  you some other examples. Okay, practice those  

habits. And as always, thanks for listening.  Thanks for watching. Join me again soon.