C1 English expressions to describe the MOOD | Advanced English vocabulary

Hi there, this is Harry and welcome back to my lessons, my English lessons where I help

you to get a better understanding of the English language.

So we can help you with your vocabulary.

We can help you with expressions.

We can help you with phrasal verbs.

Anything that you need to improve your conversational skills, or the opportunity to get over those

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So what are we going to talk about today?

Well, I thought today we'd talk about moods.

Yeah.

People can be in good moods.

They can be in bad moods.

They can be moody because of the way they are, they're up and down.

Or they can have certain Monday blues or holiday blues, which are always a sign of somebody

in a mood.

So we're going to look at expressions to describe moods, and I have 10 to give you.

Okay, so as always, I'm going to give them to you and then I go through them one by one.

And hopefully give you some examples that you will be able to understand them and perhaps

put them into practice when you use your English next.

Okay, so here we go.

A buoyant mood.

To lift the mood.

Low spirits.

To sink into despair.

The sinking or a sinking feeling.

To raise or boost morale.

To weigh on your mind.

Something weighs on your mind.

And that's W-E-I-G-H-S.

To keep the spirits up.

To get in the mood.

And to get something off your chest.

So 10 expressions relating to mood.

So let's go through them one by one.

Buoyant mood.

So when we're in a buoyant mood, it means we're upbeat.

We're feeling good about ourselves, good about life, good about our job, whatever, it might

be.

Buoyant.

So when something is buoyant, it floats in the water.

Buoyant means it's kept up.

So when we are in a buoyant mood, our spirits are kept up.

Okay, we feel good.

Wow, he's in a buoyant mood today.

What happened?

Ah, he got that promotion he was looking for.

He got the salary increase.

Or his football team won the cup.

Or his wife has just had a baby.

What... or whatever the reason, you know, spirits are high because good things happen.

And when good things happen, we're in a buoyant mood and upbeat.

Okay, so to keep yourselves in a buoyant mood.

Yeah, feel good about life, feel good about different things.

So in a buoyant mood.

To lift the mood.

Well, lots of things lift the mood, okay.

So good music can lift the mood.

A funny joke or a story can lift the mood.

Just a simple act of somebody smiling can lift the mood.

So you know, people are feeling a little bit depressed because of the winter weather, or

they're feeling a little bit down because of a poor result in an exam or a bad review

in the office.

You need something to lift the mood.

Watch a funny movie, listen to your favourite music, go out and have a laugh with some friends.

These are the things you do or you should do to lift the mood.

Get it raised a little bit.

It might only be for a little while.

But you know what?

It has a habit of being...

becoming a habit.

And when it becomes a habit, then you don't let things get you down.

As the song says.

Don't let life get you down.

Don't let it get you down.

Okay, so don't like let life get you down, lift the mood.

Okay so low spirits.

Well, low spirits are when we are feeling low.

Yeah, our spirits are the inner feelings that we have.

And so when we have low spirits, then we're not feeling so good.

Yeah.

How are you today?

Ah, spirits are a little bit low today.

You've got some bad news about the sick granny or the favourite dog isn't so well.

Or just general Monday blues, holiday blues, little things that can cause a little bit

of temporary depression and therefore the spirits are low.

You might not be feeling so well.

Yeah, you might have got that vaccination.

And for a couple of days, your arm is sore, your body is aching.

So yeah, of course, you've got low spirits or the spirits are low, you need to lift the

mood.

To sink into in to despair.

Well, this is now a step further than just having low spirits and I really feel sorry

for people who think life or they are sinking into despair.

Usually despair means when you have no hope.

Or you can see no hope, you can see no light at the end of the tunnel.

This famous tunnel we always talk about when we talk about problems.

They are...

Can you see any light at the end of the tunnel?

No, I don't see any opportunity or possibility of getting out of this problem.

I'm really sinking into despair.

It could be because of romance.

It could be because of money problems, and particularly in an environment when inflation

might be increasing.

And there are other issues around the world.

Yeah, of course, people can sink into despair.

But you know what, sometimes you just got to pinch yourself, you got to kick yourself

in the bottom, you got to get up there and you got to take on life and, and take it on

full tilt.

Okay, and that means just going for it and don't let things get you down.

Okay, so when we sink into despair, yeah, we get that bad feeling like standing in mud

room, you're going down, instead of up.

But you know, you got to fight against it, get out there and take on the world.

So to sink into despair, to go down feeling lower and lower.

Okay.

And again, the sinking feeling it's not a permanent issue, but says, Oh, I've got that

sinking feeling.

You know, it's one of those weeks, this is another Friday and lots of work to do.

And, you know, we'll get it all done before close of business, I would really would like

to go home this evening without this hanging over me.

So I got that sinking feeling that it's just going to get worse and worse.

So that puts you into a bad mood.

So you have to try and battle through it, try and get the work done, or indeed look

for somebody to help you.

Or perhaps some of it can be postponed until they're feeling a little better, or work a

little bit longer on the Friday evening.

Get yourself free for that weekend.

So get that sinking feeling.

Or indeed if you support a bad football team, which I've done for many, many years, every

Saturday, when the football results come out I get that sinking feeling just before I read

and click on I go, Hmmm...

Not so good, you know.

And so you had a bad omen, a bad feeling and yeah, when you look at the score and you see

your team has lost again, you get that sinking feeling.

Zoom, zoom, zoom, everything is going down.

Now, the opposite of all of these sinking feelings and these depressing feelings is

you need something to raise or to boost morale.

Okay, so the morale, morale is your inner feeling how you feel about life and how you're

going to tackle things.

So when you raise or boost morale, you get a shot like one of these vaccinations, that

booster, you feel really really good.

Okay, so to to raise or boost the morale is the best thing.

So what can raise or boost morale?

Well, you could go out and have a run.

You could go to the gym and have a workout.

It always works for me.

I think when you... you do something physical or some exercise, you get a great feeling.

You forget about all the problems.

Then you go and have a hot shower, and life looks a little bit better.

Yeah.

Oh, you get a nice email from somebody saying, You know what, Harry, thanks for that.

You really did a great job.

I've really loved the lessons.

That always gives me a little boost.

Gives my morale a boost.

Gives...

Raises the spirits when perhaps you're not feeling good at that particular moment.

So little things help to boost our morale, a nice letter, a nice email, a cup of coffee

with a friend, a nice piece piece of chocolate cake.

That will often boost my morale, okay.

So when you boost your morale or raise it, you do something good to get you out of that

mire of bad or negative feelings.

Now, to weigh on your mind, so when something weighs on your mind, it's heavy.

So W-E-I-G-H.

To weigh or something weighs on your mind.

It's something that's there constantly.

You wake up in the morning, the problem is there.

You go to lunch, the problem is still there.

You come home in the evening, yep, the problem is still there.

So it weighs on your mind, and it will continue to weigh on your mind until you do something

to deal with it.

Okay, so to weigh on your mind is something there that's a constant nuisance.

It's a constant nag.

What am I going to do about this?

What am I going to do about that?

And the only way to get rid of it is to deal with it.

Okay, so to weigh, weigh heavy.

You know, how much do you weigh?

So you stand on the scales you find out how many kilos you are.

So when something weighs on your mind, it's pressing down.

It's a heavy thing for you to walk around with.

So you can imagine yourself struggling with big heavy 20 kilos.

Yeah, yeah, if you've got a problem, that's what it feels like to weigh on your mind.

To keep the spirits up well, okay, when you you keep the spirits up you might be feeling

a little bit depressed, but you keep the spirits up by trying to smile.

Put on your happy face.

Yeah, so not let people see that you're feeling a little bit down.

So, you know, people will often use the expression, Oh, don't worry about it, keep your spirits

up, something will happen soon.

And they say that because they mean it, they say it also as a sort of a way to let you

know that other people are there to support you.

And they say it because, yeah, words like that mean a lot.

So Ah, don't worry, keep your spirits up, something will happen, something will change.

And you know, next week, it probably will, okay.

And then the other are the last two of those particular expressions to get in the mood.

So what gets you in the mood?

Now, might be a bit of jazz, that will get you in the mood.

Soft lights and candles and a nice steak on the pan that might get you in the mood.

If it's me, it's a nice bottle of Barolo from Italy, that will certainly get me in the mood.

Good result for the football match.

And yeah, that's it, life is looking good.

So to get you in the mood means to get you ready for something good.

It might just be to relax for the weekend.

A good holiday will get you in the mood, you know, a swim might get you in the mood, whatever

it takes to get you out of yourself, whatever it takes to get you feeling better about yourself

or about life in general, will get you in the mood.

Okay, so you'll hear it on the radio, their radio disc jockey will say, And here's some

music to get you in the mood on the way home on a Friday evening.

So if you're feeling a bit tired, switch on the radio and you hear your favourite song

that takes you back 10 or 20 years.

And yeah, that will certainly get you in the mood.

And by the time we get to the next set of traffic lights, you're humming the tune or

you're singing the song or...

The person in the car beside you thinks you're going a little bit crazy.

Okay to get you in the mood.

And then finally, to get something off your chest.

A great way to keep the spirits up is share the problem, tell somebody about it.

Talk to a friend, they may not be able to solve the problem.

But you know what?

Sharing is caring.

Yeah, and when you talk about it, a problem shared is a problem halved.

It doesn't look so bad when you talk about it.

And somebody might give you a few suggestions and... or they might just sympathise with

you, give you some sympathetic words of advice or just the arm around the shoulder.

And yeah, things look a little better, even if it's for a little time or a short period

of time.

Okay, so let me give them to you again and these expressions to describe moods: buoyant

mood, lift the mood, low spirits, to sink into despair, a sinking feeling or that sinking

feeling.

You know, when you get that sinking feeling that you've forgotten somebody's birthday,

that's a sinking feeling.

To raise or boost morale.

Something to... that weighs on your mind.

To keep the spirits up and to keep them high.

To get in the mood and... and finally, to get something off your chest.

A problem that's been there for a long time.

That's a great way to open up my mind and get that weight off my chest and you really

really feel good.

Okay, so all expressions describing mood so try a few of them see the work, see, do you

understand them?

If you don't come back to me, I'll give you some more explanations and hopefully, you

can work through them and we can work through them together.

As always, I really appreciate you joining me here for the lessons and I hope to catch

up with you soon.