UNLOCK YOUR ENGLISH COMMUNICATION SKILLS WITH THESE 7 POWERFUL IDIOMS

81,071 views ・ 2024-02-11

Speak English With Tiffani


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In order to speak English fluently, you must be able to use English idioms
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properly, like a native English speaker.
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So my friend today in this English lesson, I'm going to teach you seven
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powerful English idioms that will help you finally start sounding
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like a native English speaker.
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Are you ready?
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Well, then I'm teacher Tiffani.
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Let's jump right in idiom number one.
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The very first idiom you must know is beat around the bush, beat around the bush.
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Excellent.
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One more time after me beat around the bush.
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Great job.
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Now you're probably wondering what does this mean?
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Let me explain it.
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So the definition of this idiom is.
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To avoid addressing an issue or speaking directly about it.
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You don't necessarily want to really address what's going on.
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You don't want to deal with the issue.
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You want to avoid it.
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For example.
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Let's say a mother, maybe your mother or a father walks into their child's room
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and their child's room is absolutely a disaster clothes, everywhere,
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toys, everywhere, food on the floor.
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It looks horrible.
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So the mother walks in Johnny, Johnny, listen, didn't I tell
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you to clean your room, Johnny?
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Why isn't your room clean?
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Johnny says, mommy, you know, you look amazing today.
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I just love that dress you're wearing mommy.
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And you know, when I was at school today, mommy, my teacher, Johnny
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stopped beating around the bush and tell me why your room is not clean.
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You caught it.
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Yes, Johnny was trying to avoid the question, avoid the issue in English.
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We say beat around the bush.
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Now this idiom can be used in professional environments and also in
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very normal environments, comfortable environments with your friends.
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All right.
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Beat around the bush.
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Now check out these examples and instances.
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Here we go.
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Sentence number one.
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John, not Johnny, always beats around the bush instead of giving a direct answer.
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Tell us what you want to stay.
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Stop beating around the bush.
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Next we have example, sentence number two, instead of telling the
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truth, she beat around the bush.
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And tried to change the subject you're catching on, right?
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Beat around the bush, not trying to say what's really.
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And what about example, sentence number three, the politician is known for
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beating around the bush during interviews.
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Well, I, um, I, I just want to say that, you know, Not addressing the issue.
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Once again, the politician is known for beating around the bush during interviews.
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You got it.
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Excellent.
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Remember, this is the first of seven powerful idioms.
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I guarantee you, you can start using this today to sound more
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like a native English speaker.
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The second English idiom you must know is this one right here.
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Lost four words.
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Lost for words.
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Here we go.
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Unable to find the right words to express oneself, unable to find
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the right words to express oneself.
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I'm I'm lost for words.
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I, I, I just don't know what to say.
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This happened to me when I went to South Korea, I was in
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South Korea and I went hiking.
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My favorite mountain is Sarak mountain, right?
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Saraksan for those that speak Korean.
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And I went to the top of the mountain with some friends
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and I was at a loss for words.
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I could not put into words what I was seeing.
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That's how beautiful it was.
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I was unable to find the right words to express myself.
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Lost for words.
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You got it.
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Excellent.
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All right.
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Check out this example sentence.
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The first example sentence.
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I was so surprised by the news that I was lost for words.
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I couldn't, I couldn't find the right words to say.
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I was so.
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Surprised I was lost for words.
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You got it, right?
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It's a very simple idiom to understand.
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Isn't it?
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Because many times you as an English learner have those situations, even
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in your own language, where you just can't find the right words
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to express what you'd like to say.
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Either you're surprised or shocked.
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I'm lost for words.
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You got it.
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Excellent.
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All right.
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Sentence number two, when she handed me the award, I was lost for words and
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couldn't give a proper acceptance speech.
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This happened to my best friend, uh, the church that she works for.
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They surprised her at the end of last year and they gave her a monetary award.
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They gave her some money.
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And she was at a loss for words.
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She didn't know what to say.
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She was so overwhelmed with good feelings and joy and appreciation.
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So again, when she handed me the award, I was lost for words and couldn't
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give a proper acceptance speech.
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Sentence number three, using this idiom, he was lost for words when his
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girlfriend announced that she was leaving.
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What do you mean?
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What happened?
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I thought we were good.
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He was lost for words.
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When his girlfriend announced that she was leaving, you got it.
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Excellent.
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All right.
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The second idiom lost for words.
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Again, an important idiom for you.
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Here we go.
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Idiom number three, get the ball rolling.
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I love this idiom.
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I like to get the ball rolling and I use this quite often.
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Again, get the ball rolling after me, get the ball rolling.
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Good job.
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All right.
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What does this mean?
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It literally just means to initiate.
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Or start something, right?
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Think about this at the beginning of every lesson.
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What do I say?
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What's the phrase I use all the time?
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Let's come on now.
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You got it.
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Let's jump right in.
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Let's get the ball rolling.
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Let's start the lesson.
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You caught it, right?
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Again, similar meaning.
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It just means to initiate or start something get.
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The ball rolling.
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So let's check out the example sentences.
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Here we go.
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Sentence number one.
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Let's get the ball rolling on this project by scheduling a kickoff meeting.
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Hey, let's get it started by scheduling a kickoff meeting.
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Sentence number two, we need to get the ball rolling on organizing
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the event before it's too late.
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And finally, sentence number three, she took charge and got the ball
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rolling on the new initiative.
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She got it started.
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She initiated it.
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Make sense?
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I love it.
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Now again, these idioms are powerful because native English speakers,
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we use them on a regular basis.
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So now for you, when you start using these idioms today, you will start sounding
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more like a native English speaker.
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Your English will immediately improve.
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Wow.
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You know that idiom A Let's get the ball rolling.
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Come on guys.
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We need to practice our English.
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Let's get the ball rolling.
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Yes.
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Some of my students will use that in their next practice session.
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All right, here we go.
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So number three, get the ball rolling.
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Let's move on to number four idiom.
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Number four, break the ice, break the ice, good break the ice.
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Now, what does this mean?
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Break the ice.
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It literally just means to overcome.
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Initial tension or awkwardness in a social situation.
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That's not really that comfortable.
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You're not really sure how to make everyone comfortable in this situation.
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You want to break the ice, the rigidness, right?
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The stiffness.
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When you're cold, you usually get stiff, right?
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You want to break the ice, make.
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Everyone relaxed and comfortable makes sense.
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All right, here we go.
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The first example sentence, he told a joke to break the ice and make
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everyone feel more comfortable.
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You got it.
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Excellent.
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All right.
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Sentence number two, the team played a game to break the ice at the
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start of the team building session.
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They wanted to play a game to make everyone relaxed to.
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Break the ice and finally, sentence number three, I usually ask about their
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hobbies to break the ice with new people.
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I meet asking them a question to make them relax.
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Make sense.
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Excellent.
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So again, number four is break the ice.
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Now, before we get to number five, I want to remind you everything you're learning.
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It's important to practice.
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So after you watch this video, don't forget to download the
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English with Tiffani app.
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You can download the app totally for free, but there's a practice lesson
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that goes along with this lesson.
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It's important for you to practice what you learn.
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So download the app.
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The link is in the description, or you can go to your app store and
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just look for English with Tiffani.
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All right.
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So let's move on to idiom number five, idiom number five, speak one's mind.
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Good again, speak one's mind.
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Excellent.
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Now this idiom, another powerful idiom just means to express one's thoughts
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or opinions honestly and openly.
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Hey, this is how I feel.
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I'm going to express my thoughts and my feelings and opinions.
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Clearly speak one's mind.
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What is your thought?
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What are your ideas?
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I'm going to speak my mind.
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This is how I feel again, to express one's thoughts or opinions, honestly and openly.
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All right.
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So check out this example sentence.
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First one, he never hesitates to speak his mind, even if it means disagreeing with
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others, large group of people together.
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There's a large group of people and they all have one idea, but then
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Brandon raises his hand and says, I'm sorry, I don't agree with this.
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I think dot, dot, dot.
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Brandon decided to speak his mind, even though he was disagreeing with the group.
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Makes sense.
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All right, here we go.
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Sentence number two, she was encouraged to speak her mind
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during the brainstorming session.
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She was encouraged to give her thoughts, to give her ideas, her opinions
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during the brainstorming session.
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And finally, sentence number three, he regrets not speaking his mind
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and standing up for his beliefs.
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You got it again, idiom number five, speak one's mind.
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All right, here we go.
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Idiom number six, the sixth powerful idiom is get the message across.
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Again, get the message across good.
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Last time after me, get the message across great job.
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Now this literally just means to successfully convey or
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communicate a message or idea.
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Once again, to successfully convey or communicate.
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A message or idea.
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I want to make sure you're understanding what I am telling you.
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I want to make sure the message is getting across.
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The message is going from me to you and you caught it.
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You understand it clearly get the message across.
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You got it.
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Excellent.
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All right, here we go.
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First example, sentence, the teacher use various methods.
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Or excuse me, the teacher uses various methods to get the message across
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to all students, various methods.
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I used to do this in South Korea.
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I would tell a story.
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I would draw a picture.
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I would sing a song.
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Why I wanted to make sure to get the message across.
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I wanted to make sure to successfully convey or communicate the message.
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You got it.
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Excellent.
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Here we go.
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Sentence number two, it's important to choose the right words to get
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your message across effectively.
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And finally, sentence number three, he tried different explanations
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to get the message across, but she still didn't understand.
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You got it again, get the message across.
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All right, here we go.
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Number seven, the seventh powerful idiom is beat someone to the punch.
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You're probably like, Tiff, wait a minute.
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What beat someone to the punch?
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What does this mean?
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Let me explain.
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Beat someone to the punch after me first for pronunciation,
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beat someone to the punch.
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Excellent.
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Now, this just means to do or say something before someone else can to
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do or say something before someone else can, for example, let's imagine
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that a husband decides to buy his wife.
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A Mercedes Benz for their 50th wedding anniversary.
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He's excited.
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He has the keys.
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He's about to surprise her, but then their granddaughter, who's also excited,
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runs in ahead of him, jumps on her grandmother's lap and says, grandma,
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granddad bought you a Mercedes, the granddad's hand drops and says, well.
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I guess she beat me to the punch.
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You got it.
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Yes.
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Again.
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It just means to do or say something before someone else can.
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All right, here we go.
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Check out the first example sentence.
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He beat me to the punch and announced the news before I had a chance to.
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Next sentence, number two, the competitor released a similar
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product to beat them to the punch.
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And finally, sentence number three, she always has quick ideas
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and beats the team to the punch.
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You got it.
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Excellent.
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So again, idiom number seven, beat someone to the punch.
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Remember, I hope you enjoyed this lesson.
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Don't forget.
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You can practice what you learned by downloading the English with Tiffani app.
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I hope you enjoyed it.
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I hope you continue studying and I'll talk to you in the next.
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Do, do, do, do, do,
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do you still there?
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Ha ha.
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You know what time it is.
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It's story time.
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Hey, I said, it's story time.
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Let's do that again.
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Now.
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Story time.
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Hey, Hey, Hey, I said, it's story time.
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All right.
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So today's story is a short story, but it has a very powerful and important lesson.
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So my parents are two years away from being 70 years old, right?
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They look great.
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You wouldn't know how old they are.
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Right.
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Um, but as I get older, I realized how important it is to spend as much
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time with your family as possible, specifically with your parents.
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I've seen so many articles that speak about as parents get older,
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they retire and they're living, my parents are still married.
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They're happily married.
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But there was a time when my sister and I lived with them, right.
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Growing up for all these years, we were together with them every single day.
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And then we left right.
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College sister got married, has kids and we just continued living life.
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Right.
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We still, of course, see them often.
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Right.
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We, we see each other for the holidays.
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We talk every single day, but I realized the importance of in person connections.
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So about three or four weeks ago, I was at church, we go to different
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churches and the church I go to is not too far from where my parents live.
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So I said, you know what, let me call and see if my parents are home to stop by and
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check on them and see how they're doing.
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And they happened to be home.
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They were about to head out though.
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They're like, Hey, we're going to head out.
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I was like, Hey, I'm just going to stop by if you guys are home.
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And they said, no, no, we'll wait for you.
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And I went to their house and we talked for about an hour, hour and
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a half, laughed hard, talked about their week, talked about their day.
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And as I was sitting there, I was thinking to myself, I want more of this.
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My parents, yes, they're not old, right?
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But you just don't know what could happen.
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I had friends who have lost their parents like that all of a sudden passed away.
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So I want you to keep this in mind.
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The people that are around you, whether it's your parents, your spouse,
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whoever it might be, remember to value people and to spend time with
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them in person as much as possible, because I won't forget that moment.
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It was a few weeks ago.
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But it was so good to spend time with my parents, laughing with them,
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having conversations in person.
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We talk on the phone a lot, but in person, there's something about being in person.
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So I hope that this week you'll find time to spend with your loved ones in person.
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Hope you have a great day, a great week, and I'll talk to you next time.
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About this website

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