Sound Fluent in English: 10 Better Ways to Talk About Someone’s Skills

Hi there. This is Harry. And welcome back  to Advanced English Lessons with Harry,  

where I try to help you to get a better  understanding of the English language.  

So and this particular advanced English  lesson, we're going to look at ten different  

ways, useful expressions that you can use  

when somebody does something well or does a  good job or makes a good job of something.  

Okay, so just a little apology here that  if you do hear a little croak in my voice  

a little bit, a little bit of a frog,  it's just I've been suffering from a a  

virus in the last week or ten days. So it does affect me when I do a lot  

of talking. So hopefully it will hold up  for the rest of this particular video.  

Okay let's start number one  to be an ace at something.  

Yeah. If any of you are a tennis fan,  when a tennis player serves the ball and  

the opposite player on the other side of  the net isn't able to hit the ball, it's  

called an ace. Okay, so when you ace something, You really do really, really well with it. So to  

be an ace at something means to be number one. The best. And if somebody does a great job,  

or perhaps your kids get an amazing mark in  that history or mathematics exam, you can say,  

wow, you aced it, or you really aced it. And  that way they'll feel good and you'll feel  

cool because it's a good expression to you.  So to be an ace at something or to ace it,  

wow, he really aced that exam. He did great. Yeah. Okay. Oh, in fact,  

your kids will probably use it before  you do. And they might if you ask them,  

how do you get on an exam? I aced it. Yeah. I'm  always a bit cautious when my son tells me he  

aced the exam, because I take it with a little  pinch of salt until I see the results myself.  

Okay. Number two, to be  good with your hands. Well,  

this is an expression we use when people are  really good with tools, they can build shelves,  

they can put up shelves, they can fix  broken windows, they can fix old radios,  

they can replace the brake pads on  the car. Whatever it is you need,  

doing, they can do it because  they are good with their hands.  

You know that bit of work you're doing in the  house? You should ask Liam to help you. He's  

really good with his hands. And you know  what he's like. He would do anything for  

anybody. So to be good with your hands is to be  able to do lots of different things electrical,  

plumbing, woodwork and carpentry. Any of  those general DIY jobs around the house?  

Okay. Now, something similar to  

be a dab hand. And usually the expression here  is to be a dab hand at something. So you could  

be a dab hand at painting. You could be a dab  hand at carpentry, you could be a dab hand at  

jigsaw puzzles. It doesn't matter what it is, but  a dab hand means really, really good, top notch.  

Somebody who's really good or he's a dab hand at  photography. I mean, have you seen the quality of  

the photographs he takes? I mean, and he doesn't  use any of this Photoshop and he's just really,  

really skilful, has a great eye for photography  to be a dab hand at that. Okay. Now you could  

be a dab hand that spots all sorts of  ball sports no matter what it is tennis,  

table tennis, volleyball, cricket,  football, anything involving a ball.  

This guy is really good. He's a dab hand at any  sport that involves a ball or racket. A dab hand.  

Number four to have a natural flair for it,  or to have a natural flair for something.  

Okay. Now, this usually means that we are  born with an extra special gift that other  

people don't have. You know that guy who takes  the ball and he beats 5 or 6 guys on the pitch  

and scores a goal without any difficulty? He has a natural flair for it. Or one of  

the children picks up languages very easily.  They are fluent in English. They are fluent  

in. Maybe the mother tongue of the mother or  father. And then when when they are at school,  

they pick up French or German really, really  easily. And yeah, they have a flair for it.  

So when kids have a flair for languages, wow. There's no stopping them because the world will  

open up and they can travel anywhere. They  can work anywhere. They can do whatever they  

wish to have a a flair or a natural flair  for something. So you can have a natural  

flair for sports. You can have a natural  flair. As I mentioned, for languages,  

you can have a natural flair for cooking. Yeah, something like that. Okay.  

if you do like this particular lesson, then please  like the video. And if you can subscribe to the  

channel, because it really, really helps. And As something very similar to having a natural  

flair is to have a natural, or to have a gift for  something. He has a gift for talking to people. He  

has a gift for making people feel at ease. He has  a gift for languages. So again, similar to flair,  

a gift is not something that he is being given by His grandparents for the birthday present, but  

something probably that he was born with. Yeah, he  has a gift for it. And that means just generally.  

Yep. He's, you know, a little bit unusual. Some  kids have to learn it. Some kids have to be well  

practised, but he just has a gift for he is just  able to, to to take to it without any difficulty.  

So as soon as you put him into the swimming  pool, off he goes without any instruction,  

swimming across the pool, up and down the pool,  and you're just standing there in amazement. Wow,  

he has a gift or a natural gift for  water? Yeah, he's able to swim. Okay,  

To have an ear for something. And usually  when we're talking about this, to have  

an ear for something, it's usually connected  with music or singing or something like that.  

He or she, they've always been  interested in music. They have  

an ear for it. I mean, they picked up the notes and the piano so quickly that,  

okay, they had a few lessons, but within  a couple of months, my goodness, they were  

playing tunes that you could never imagine. And I think that a piano teacher is really,  

really surprised. So to have a an ear  for music, to have an ear for songs or  

even an ear for poetry, perhaps. Yeah. So  something that, again, is a natural flair  

or a natural gift. So to have an ear for music. To have an eye for detail is our next one. Number  

seven to have an eye for detail. So some people  can be a little bit sloppy in the way they do  

things. A little bit messy, you know, like you  don't stay right inside the lines on everything's  

not so neatly cut. But when somebody has an eye  for detail, they make very, very few mistakes.  

They go into detail everything in the very  last little and detail. Okay, so the painting  

on the wall is perfect. The colouring when the  colouring with the kids and the colouring books,  

is perfect. The typing is neat,  everything is in the right way,  

the right format. So you get to have a great  eye for detail. So a particularly useful,  

skill to have when you're decorating  your home or if you're involved or  

working in the area of interior design. And of course, having an eye for detail is really,  

really important. If you're an architect and  you're designing a house or redesigning somebody's  

house, you really need to see every little detail  of that home. And then you bring it all out in  

your drawing so that when they do the work or the change or the renovation,  

they're going to be really, really happy. Wow, he's a great architect. I'd recommend  

them to anybody. Such an eye for detail. Yeah.  Really gets the colours right every little bit.  

Yeah. Everything is perfect and perfect. Symmetry.  Everything matches to have an eye for detail.  

Then we can have a head for figures.  And of course, as it suggests,  

it's to do with mathematics. He's going  to make a great accountant. He's got  

Such a head for figures. If you just give him  a bunch of numbers, he'll work it out very,  

very quickly. He can think on his feet. He  can work out percentages, multiplication. So  

he has a great head for figures, so he doesn't  even need a calculator. So where he's really,  

really quick I would think. Yeah. Mathematics  or something in the accounting field or  

financial field is certainly going to be his  speciality when he grows up, because at the  

moment he's got a great head for figures. He can calculate the cost of anything. He can  

work out the tax on something. He can tell you how  much the bill is going to be in the restaurant for  

20 people before the waiter even gets to us.  So he's got a great head for figures. Okay.  

So when we say ahead for figures, it means  we can calculate something in our head. When  

we've got an eye for detail, we can see something  very clearly. When we've got an ear for music.  

then we can hear something very clearly,  understand the note. So the part of the body, the  

eye or the ear or the head dictates really what  we're talking about when we're using something  

that somebody can do particularly well. Okay.  

Now the next one, if you're a journalist  or you'd like to think that you could be  

a journalist or you like writing stories or  reporting on different things, then people  

might refer to you as having a nose. So the nose  for a really good story. So lots of journalists,  

you know, they write for local newspapers  that they write for the national papers.  

They're all now based online. But some of  these journalists you like to follow because  

they really, really look into something in great  detail and you can say, yeah, he's somebody to  

follow. He has a nose for a great story. So what  might start off to be something simple or innocent  

or not too detailed, after several weeks you can see that this guy's got into it  

in such a great amount of detail, you're  going to hear everything. So he's got a  

nose for a good story, so he's able to Dig out information. He's able to find  

out information on people that you didn't  know. He's able to notice and understand  

when something wrong, and perhaps  it's worth investigating further.  

So somebody with a nose for a great story. Okay. That's number nine. So finally, number ten,  

to have a good memory or indeed to have a  poor memory. So if you if you never remember  

numbers or you never remember dates of  birth or things like that, then yeah,  

you got a really poor memory. So you're not  doing things so well. But if you have a good  

memory or a great memory, you don't have  to be told a telephone number at twice.  

You can remember the first time, repeat  it. You know, everybody's date of birth,  

you know all the anniversaries, you know  all the important events. What a what a guy,  

what a what a memory he's got. He's got a great  memory. He can memorise anything. Any number.  

Yeah. Some people have a gift for that particular  thing. For me, I don't see it as so important.  

I've got a mobile phone, and in that I  have all the telephone numbers that I need.  

My only problem is if I lose the mobile  phone, what am I going to do? Yeah. So  

Yeah. So if you can't remember  where you put your phone,  

that it could indeed be a problem. So you  need to have at least a memory that is  

sufficient to allow you remember  where you left your tele phone.  

Okay, so there are ten ways in  which you can say somebody has  

Done very well at something or to do  something well. And that as I said,  

that great to use in exam situations to be an ace at or to ace something to  

be good with your hands. Meaning manually  you can make things or fix things to be  

a dab hand at something. You can pick up  something very easily, particularly DIY type  

jobs to be a dab hand, to have a natural  flair for something to have a gift for.  

Something to have an ear for. Music. To have an  eye for. Detail and photography. To have a head  

for figures as an accountant or financial advisor.  To have a nose like a journalist for a good story,  

a meaty, juicy story. To have a a nose for  a good story, and finally to have a good  

memory or deed to have a poor or a bad memory. Okay, so ten different ways, useful vocabulary  

expressions that you can use and impress your Native friends. Okay, so this is  

Harry thanking you for listening. And once again, if you need to contact me,  

you can do so www.englishlessonviaskype.com.  This is Harry thanking you for watching. Thank  

you for listening and just remember have a good  memory and join me again for the next lesson.