5 English Expressions YOU NEED TO KNOW! - Advanced English Vocabulary

Today we'll be looking at some advanced English expressions

These are very commonly used in day-to-day English

and they're very very commonly misunderstood

so it's important that you learn them

and the best way to learn them is by you

creating examples - your own examples of these expressions

write them on a piece of paper or put them in the comments and I'll see them

okay for many many years people have told me

"Oh my god, you haven't read Harry Potter but you've seen the movies?!

Don't you know there is so much in the books it's not in the movies

you really have to read the books

"Yeah I know, I'm just rubbish. One day I'll read them"

and for years I have had the intention of reading Harry Potter

finally today I'm happy to announce I bought the first book!

I know! I know!

So when you have the intention of doing something and then you finally do it

we have an expression for that

for me in my case

I had the intention for a very long time to read Harry Potter

now I finally do it

I will say "I'm finally getting round/around to reading Harry Potter"

notice the grammar "ReadING" so that verb

whatever you do must have the "ING" form

just remember that

Is this always in present continuous? no Do you need the "finally"? no

Let me give you examples

just a standard past tense sentence

"I got around to reading Harry Potter"

you know what I had some time last weekend

and I got round to reading Harry Potter

okay how about a negative sentence?

If you're like me, I buy a book and then for months I don't read it

it just sits on my shelf

so maybe after a few months someone asks me

"Oh my god have you finished the Harry Potter books yet?!

The bit where the thing happens

and the guy comes in and then deliver then-

No! no!

"I haven't got around to starting it yet! No spoilers! No!"

so we can see in a negative sentence

I haven't got round (or "around", both are fine) to starting

remember to put the ING with the verb and you're good

Also, a study tip:

when you're making your own examples of these expressions

it really helps with memorisation

if your example is funny, scary, or emotional in some way

so make your example more memorable

when your friend comes to you and they're crying

"Oh my god I just broke up with my boyfriend everything is terrible"

As a good friend you might ask this question

"Oh my god, how come?"

These two words seem very unrelated

but together, what do you think they mean?

look at the context that's the best way

of course it means "Why did that happen? or "How did that happen?"

Another example could be

It's Friday night, it's about 10:30 you're out with your friends

and you're thinking "This is so boring I really want to go home"

So you tell your friends "I'm going home"

"Oh my god it's 10:30, how come you're leaving?"

"Because I'm sleepy, and drinks are expensive"

This is me every time I go out

so just remember that

"How come" means How or Why did this happen?

or How or Why is this happening?

so you can change the tense

when we talk about going somewhere

it is super common for us to say it in this way:

As a verb "to head *"

now we add a preposition after this

so let's have a look at different examples

this guy is leaving

when we leave a place we say

"I'm heading OFF" to head off means to leave or go home usually

This guy is simply leaving the house

so he will say "I'm heading OUT"

Where are you going? To the shop, to the cinema, it doesn't matter

outside your house, you're heading out

we can expand this to be more specific

"I'm heading out to see a friend" very common expression

This guy wants to enter the Cool Club

How can we say enter?

guess the preposition you probably know it

"Let's head IN"

that preposition IN with head

means to enter a place

so just remember, it's the verb head with a preposition

the preposition determines whether you're entering a place

leaving your house or

You're just going home or you're leaving in general

when you have an opportunity to do something

or when you are finally able to do something

then we have an expression for that

for example it's been a difficult week

you've worked a lot this week you've been super busy

you got no sleep you're very tired

but this weekend I have the opportunity to sleep

"I can sleep! I'm finally able to sleep!"

How can he say that?

"This weekend I get to sleep lots

I have no responsibilities, my work is finished"

So this expression: "Get to do something"

You have that opportunity to do the thing

Grammatically: "Get to" + Infinitive

so that verb that won't change

let's look at another example of this

She's saying "Last year I went to Spain with my class"

that's fine that's a good sentence

but she wants to add emphasis to this special event

that she had the opportunity for

"Last year I got to go to Spain with my class"

She's adding emphasis saying that this is not the usual case

I had a special opportunity, I was able to go to Spain with my class, it was special

You can talk about special opportunities that you have, or that you had in your life

so for example, for me

In London I get to meet lots of different people from lots of different places

in other cities that's not possible

so again it's this contrasting idea of what usually happens with this special opportunity

how does this expression work as a question or in a negative sentence?

Let's have a look

For example your friend is talking about a trip that they had

"Oh my god last year I went to London, just for two days though"

"Whoa! Did you get to see Camden?"

"Get to" - She's asking did you have the opportunity to see Camden

and his reply is a negative sentence

"No I didn't get to see anything fun"

I didn't have the opportunity, I didn't have time, for example

"Manage to" is our last expression

and in some cases it has a very similar feeling to "Get to"

in some context it means the same thing

however it is different

to be more specific it means:

Something is very difficult but you're successful in doing it

for example

That smells so good!

I bought this today, I'm a very slow reader

It takes me a long time to finish a book because my attention span is

- Ooh a squirrel!

So for example if I finish this in one day

that's very unusual and for me, kind of difficult

So how would I say that?

I managed to finish the book in one day

Look at the verb here we've got infinitive again

it's quite common after "to", to have an infinitive verb

Just remember that won't change

and again it just means:

it was difficult or unusual to happen but I did it. I was successful

How do we use this in a negative?

Let's imagine that this guy he really wants to see Beyonce in concert

so he tries to buy tickets but of course Beyoncé tickets are very popular

and he was too late to get a ticket

so he will say:

"I didn't manage to get a ticket to see Beyonce"

it's very sad

Again he says "MANAGE TO" to put that emphasis to say it's difficult

It's difficult and I did do it

it's difficult and I did not do it

So I hope you MANAGED TO learn all of today's expressions

Don't worry if not

One day you will GET ROUND TO learning them, remembering them

and one day you'll even GET TO use them in conversation

and when that day comes make sure you HEAD TO London

So I can ask you HOW COME you're so awesome?!

See you in the next class

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