12 English Word Pairs You Should Know | Irreversible Word Pairs

Give and take. Safe and sound. Live and learn.

Push and pull. Ebb and flow.

These are called binomial pairs in English.

They're also known as irreversible binomials.

I think it's much easier to call them irreversible or frozen

word pairs. Are they important for you to learn in English? Honestly,

that's debatable.

I have entire days of conversations in English where I never use

one of these frozen word pairs,

so they're not necessary for basic, everyday conversation.

However, when you know them, and you're able to use them,

you discover that they're kind of perfect.

Sometimes you want to explain something that is complex or difficult

to put words to, and if you have the right word pair,

all you need are these two simple words to say everything you want to

say. In fact,

I can tell you that the last example I shared ebb and flow has become an

absolute favorite inside my Confident Women Community,

which is my online community for targeted learning, speaking practice,

support, and progress in the English confidence journey.

So today I want to introduce you to 12 of these common word pairs.

Not because they're necessary,

but because they're fantastic to add to your English vocabulary.

And when you have the opportunity to use them,

they say everything that you want to say, even if it's complex.

With this lesson today,

I have a special bonus for you as well if you'd like to get a more in-depth

activity to practice all 12 of these word pairs that you'll learn today.

I have a PDF that you can download and I'll tell you more about that in a

moment.

But first, if this is your first time here, welcome. I'm Annemare,

an English confidence and fluency coach.

Everything I do is designed to help you get the confidence you want for your

life and work in English. If you'd love to get more free resources from me,

including years of Confident English lessons and my

in-depth, How to Say What You Want in English training,

you can get all of that and more at my Speak Confident English website.

Now before we jump right into our first word pair and that PDF activity I have

for you,

I want to talk about what it means for these word pairs to be irreversible

or frozen.

As you may have noticed from the examples I shared at the start of the lesson,

these word pairs are two words that are linked with a

preposition or a conjunction,

and they are used together in an order that

never changes. That's what makes them irreversible or frozen.

We always use these words in the exact order that you're going to learn them

today. In fact, if these pairs are reversed,

the meaning is lost and they sound awkward.

You will always hear English speakers use the pair,

push and pull, give and take. We don't reverse that order.

So as we go through this lesson today,

pay careful attention to the order of the words because that order

doesn't change. Now, at the start of this lesson,

I said the importance of these word pairs is debatable.

You don't need them for basic English conversations.

So why am I encouraging you to learn them?

There are multiple reasons. First,

these word pairs can help you speak with precision and clarity.

They can help you communicate complex ideas in just two words.

As a result, they help you avoid wordiness. Second,

they're wonderful to add to your overall English idiomatic library and they

can help you improve comprehension of English conversations.

Three, they help you become more culturally aware,

understanding the nuances of the English language. Four,

they can help you elevate your business communication in English

because these word pairs are often used in academic papers and business

documents. And finally,

knowing these word pairs can help you understand English literature and poetry.

You'll find that these word pairs are often used to create a rhythm and

convey specific images or emotions.

So although they may not be necessary for basic conversations,

they are widely used by English speakers in conversations

and in writing. Now, to simplify this lesson today,

I've divided these 12 common word pairs into three distinct

categories,

category one word pairs that describe movement and direction.

Category two word pairs that describe decisions and choices,

and category number three word pairs that describe life experiences

and relationships. Throughout this lesson,

I have a few pop quizzes planned to test your knowhow and at the end I'll tell

you about the downloadable worksheet I have for extra practice. With that,

let's dive right into category one.

Word pairs we use to describe movement and directions.

This is true in both the literal and figurative sense. First,

here and there,

what this means is in different places or a

series of undefined unspecific places,

for example, let's imagine someone asks about my travel preferences.

What do I like to do when I travel?

And my response might be when I travel,

I like to go here and there.

Why would I use that word pair in this sentence?

Maybe the truth is my travel preferences change based on where I'm going

and the situation I'm in and who I'm traveling with.

All of that is far too complex to explain in just one or two sentences.

So instead I can say all of that with just a simple word

pair. I like to go here and there.

That tells someone that my preferences are different based on

where I'm going or what day it is,

and this is the beauty of these word pairs.

I can explain something very detailed and complex

with just these two words.

The second example in this category is to and fro.

What this means is to move back and forth or to move in two

directions. For example,

Eliza walked to and fro in her living room as she thought about

moving to a new city. As you might imagine,

this describes someone who might be pacing or walking

back and forth while they're trying to think through a difficult problem.

And number three, in this category ebb and flow.

This means the natural up and down movement or change in something

like the tides in the ocean.

I highlighted earlier that this is a favorite word pair among members in my

Confident Women Community.

We first learned this word pair in the context of

friendship, particularly adult friendships,

and we used it to suggest that friendships change over time.

There are periods in your life when you might be very close to someone and

then things change. Somebody moves another person has children,

lives change,

and you might grow apart and maybe later in

life you reconnect at the perfect time.

So there's this natural up and down or back and forth movement.

This change over time and ebb and flow describes

that perfectly.

Here are two more example sentences that highlight that the success of a

business often ebbs and flows with challenging periods in between.

The traffic on the highway tends to ebb and flow during rush hour.

Before we move on to our second category, let's do a quick pop quiz.

Take a look at this sentence and I want you to think about which word pair fits

best. The woman rocked her baby until he fell asleep in her arms.

Which word pair do you think is best in this case to and fro

is the best choice.

That idea of going back and forth two directions. In fact,

you might be visualizing someone doing this,

rocking a baby to and fro. Alright, with that,

let's move on to category number two. Word pairs.

We use to describe decisions and choices. First,

push and pull.

This means to be caught or stuck between two forces or

to be indecisive between two opposing options or

feelings. For example,

Jane felt a push and pull within herself as she

thought about whether to pursue her passion in painting or keep her

staple job as an accountant.

As we can imagine with that sentence and the word pair, push and pull,

there's an internal conflict between these feelings and options

and from one minute to the next you are pushed and pulled in different

directions and all of this makes a decision or a

choice more difficult. Now, before we go on to the next one,

I want to talk a little bit more about this word pair.

Push and pull In the example I provided,

we're using it figuratively.

Nothing is truly pushing you or pulling you physically.

However, we can use this in a more literal way.

I might try to open a door.

I might give it a little push and pull and find that it doesn't move because

it's locked. The second one in this category is do's and don'ts.

Do's and don'ts are the rules or guidelines that tell you what

is allowed and what isn't allowed. For example, in a business meeting,

someone might say, before we go on to the next agenda item,

HR would like to discuss the doss and don'ts of requesting vacation time,

and by using this word pair, we simplify the sentence.

Rather than listing all the rules or guidelines for requesting time

off, we can simply refer to all of them as the do's and don'ts.

Next in category two is all or nothing.

This is used to describe a situation when you have to fully commit

or not at all. There's no middle ground,

there's no in-between either you give everything you have or you give

nothing. For example,

in sales it's almost always all or nothing.

Either you meet your profit targets or you don't.

Here's another example.

He accepted the new job with the mindset that he needed to give

all or nothing In that context,

we understand that he views this job as a situation in which

he has to give full commitment all of his energy and effort in order to

be successful. Again,

we're communicating something rather complex with just a simple word pair.

Similar to this idea of all or nothing is sink or

swim.

This is usually used to describe situations when you have to succeed

on your own or situations in which you might fail without

help. For example, when you start a new job,

you have to adapt quickly. It's a sink or swim situation.

Let's pause here for a quick pop quiz and then we'll go into our final category.

This time I have two sentences for you and I want you to choose the sentence

that is correct.

The first option you're expected to either sink or swim

in this competitive field. Option two,

you're expected to either push and pull in this competitive field.

Which one do you think has a word pair that fits the sentence accurately?

If you selected option A, you're exactly right.

If we think about a particularly competitive field in a job industry,

it might be a situation in which you either succeed or you fail.

There's no in-between and because they're quite similar,

we could also use all or nothing in this context.

For example,

you're expected to go all or nothing in this competitive field

and now category number three,

word pairs we use to describe life experiences and relationships.

First here and now.

What this means is in the moment or immediately, for example,

if you want to have a healthy lifestyle,

it's important to make small changes here and now.

This word pair is perfect when you want to emphasize the current moment,

you want to indicate there's a sense of urgency or immediacy.

Second on this list is give and take.

If you're one of my Fluency School students,

you absolutely are familiar with this word pair.

You heard me use it a lot in the context of small talk and

what is expected,

give and take is the understanding that in a situation,

two people are going to compromise you. Give a little bit,

I give a little bit, you give a little bit, I give a little bit.

There's this natural give and take,

and this is true in a conversation. It can also be true in a negotiation.

I'm going to give you an example of how it's also true in a relationship.

A healthy friendship or a healthy relationship involves

give and take. Number three on this list is safe and sound.

This means that something or someone is completely

unharmed and secure. For example, after the storm,

we were relieved to find that our relatives were safe and sound in their

home. Next, live and learn.

This means to gain wisdom from both your life experiences

and the mistakes that you've made. For example,

I made a big mistake on my project, but I'll live and learn from my errors.

This word pair is also often used as a response.

When someone tells you about an error, a mistake,

or unfortunate decision they've made while they're telling you about it,

you might respond with, well, you'll live and learn. In other words,

you're going to gain wisdom from this life experience and the

mistake. And finally, our last word pair is this and that.

This is used to refer to a variety of things without

really saying what all those things are.

If I describe what I have on my work desk, I might say, uh,

I have a little bit of this and that I'm not listing every single item because

maybe there's just way too many.

Another example might be something you say after going shopping with a friend,

we looked at a little of this and that in the store,

but in the end we didn't buy anything.

You'll also hear English speakers use this particular word pair to describe

what they did over the weekend as a way to indicate that they didn't do

anything particularly meaningful or special. For example,

if you ask someone on a Monday morning, how was your weekend? They might say,

oh, it was, it was okay. I did a little bit of this and that. In other words,

they did a few random things, but nothing particularly special or interesting.

Now that we have all 12 of these word pairs,

let's do one more pop quiz and I want to tell you about the downloadable

worksheet I have for you as well.

Take a look at this sentence and I want you to fill in the blank with the most

appropriate word pair in any relationship.

It's important for both partners to in order to keep the relationship

healthy. If you selected give intake, you're exactly right.

With that, let's transition and talk about an activity I have available for you.

If you would like to get extra practice with these 12 common

irreversible word pairs,

I have a downloadable PDF available for you with this lesson at

my Speak Confident English website. To get that PDF,

I'll share a link to this specific lesson down below the video.

Click that link,

visit this lesson and you'll see an opportunity to download that activity.

As always, you can also share examples with me.

If there's a word pair on this list that you think is really fun and you'd love

to add it to your active vocabulary, try creating your own example sentence,

use mine as a model and share your own example with me.

You can do that directly in the comments. With that,

thank you so much for watching this Confident English lesson.

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