Speak English in 30 Minutes: Advanced English Lesson

Get ready to speak clearly and  confidently in English. Hi,  

I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com  and in today's lesson over the next 30 minutes,  

you are going to immerse yourself in clear English  so that you can speak clearly and confidently in  

your English conversations. And like always, I  have created a free PDF worksheet with all of  

today's important English tips, vocabulary, sample  sentences, and at the bottom of the worksheet,  

you can answer Vanessa's challenge question  so that you never forget what you've learned.  

You can click on the link in the description  to download that free PDF worksheet today.

All right, let's get started speaking clear,  confident English by learning which five important  

mistakes in English you should avoid. Let's go. Oh  man, you look so boring. Oh, no. Please do not say  

this in English. This is extremely rude. The first  common speaking mistake is the one you just heard,  

boring versus bored. It's understandable that  these words are a common mistake because they  

both have a similar meaning. They talk about  something or someone that's not interesting,  

but the difference comes in how we use  them grammatically. The word boring is for  

something or someone that's not interesting.  That movie was boring. I went on a date with  

him and he was so boring. He just talked about  sports the whole time. It's not a compliment.

But the word bored refers to the feeling you  have when you watch that boring movie. Or when  

you go on that boring date, you feel bored. So  at the beginning of this lesson when I said,  

oh man, you look so boring, oh no, that's not  nice. It means you're not interesting. Instead,  

I should have said, oh man, you  look so bored. It means you're not  

doing anything fun. You feel like you need  some more fun in your life. I feel bored.

Let's look at a couple sample sentences. This  documentary about sand is boring. I feel so  

bored. Can we please watch something else?  I was so bored during that lecture. To me,  

physics is just boring. Sorry people who like  physics. So now I have a little quiz for you.  

I want you to choose is the word boring or bored  the best fit for this sentence? Vanessa's lessons  

are not... I never feel... What's the correct  answer here? I'll give you three seconds. 3,  

2, 1. Vanessa's lessons are not boring. I  never feel bored. Oh, I hope that's true.

Common speaking mistake number two is one that  native English speakers make too. It is well  

versus good. Have you ever heard someone say,  "Ugh, I don't feel good." You know what? That's  

a mistake. Instead, it should be I don't  feel well. What's the difference? Let me  

tell you. The word well is an adverb. That means  it adds something to the verb. So when you say,  

I don't feel well, well is talking about how  you feel. I don't feel well. I have a headache,  

I have a stomachache. I need to go lie  down. If you said I don't feel good,  

this means that my sense of touch is not  good. Maybe you burned your fingers. Yeah,  

I just don't feel good anymore. It's a  very unusual thing to say. So instead,  

when you're talking about your health, you can  use this correctly and say, I don't feel well.

What about the word good? Well, the word good is  an adjective, so it needs to describe a noun. You  

might say, wow, Vanessa, this is a really good  lesson. Good is describing lesson. Or you could  

say, I really need a good grade in this class  or I'm going to fail. I do want to tell you  

of an exception in spoken English. I mentioned  that sometimes native English speakers use this  

incorrectly, but there is one case when we use  it incorrectly and I actually recommend using  

it like that so you don't seem too snobby. Let  me tell you about it. If someone asks you the  

common greeting question, how are you doing and  you want to answer with grammatical correctness,  

you would need to say, "I'm doing well, and  you?" But you know what? If you said this,  

someone might think, oh did you  come from the 16th century? Are you  

an English professor? Maybe you are. But  in this case it's grammatically correct,  

but it is not commonly used and it feels a  little bit weird in just daily conversation.

So what should you say instead? Well, here you  have it. Your English teacher telling you to make  

a mistake on purpose, and that is if someone says,  how are you doing? You could say, pretty good, and  

you? Good is actually the most common response,  even though it's not technically grammatically  

correct. Who knew you should make mistakes? So now  it's time for a little test. Can you choose which  

word fits in which blank? Good or well? I need to  do on that test because I need a grade. I'll give  

you three seconds. 3, 2, 1. I need to do well on  that test because I need a good grade. Great work.

Common speaking mistake number three is another  pair of similar words, and that is job versus  

work. These both mean your career, something that  you do generally to make money, but they function  

differently grammatically in a sentence. The  word work can be both a verb, I work, or it can  

be a noun. My work is as a teacher and the word  job can only be a noun. So let's take a look at  

a couple sentences. My job is to manage my team.  This is a noun and it's talking about your career.  

My job is to manage my team. Or you could say I  work on the marketing team. This is as a verb.

What if we put these together in a sentence? You  could say I work with a lot of interesting people  

at my new job. I do want to teach you two things  to be careful of with these two phrases. One is  

the fixed phrase that you will use often and that  is at work. This is talking about the place where  

you work. Where were you at 6:00 o'clock tonight?  We were waiting for you at dinner. You might say,  

sorry, I was at work. I had to do something  extra before I left. Or you could say I was  

so busy at work today. Yes, it's talking about  the place, but this is a fixed phrase that you  

can use to talk about where you were. I  was at work. I was busy at work today.

Earlier I mentioned that the word work can be used  as a verb or a noun, and the word job can be used  

as a noun. So can they be used interchangeably  at all? Take a look at this. You could say I  

love my job or you could say I love my work, but  be careful. There is a nuanced difference between  

these two. If you say, I love my job, cool.  It just means what you said. I like what I do  

to make money. But when you say I love my work,  this feels like there's a deeper significance to  

what you do at your job. For example, maybe  you help homeless people to find a home,  

or you're helping people who are in a domestic  violence situation get a better life. You  

are really changing people's lives kind of  with a deeper significance. So if you say,  

I love my work, this has the underlying idea that  you are changing the world or at least changing  

someone's world. It's a very deep feeling.  All right, now it's time for a little test.  

Can you choose which blank needs the word job and  which blank needs the word work? For my I need to  

late hours. I'll give you three seconds. Two, one.  For my job I need to work late hours. Great work.

The next common speaking mistake are  two similar words again, in and at. Oh,  

my. I receive many questions from English students  asking, "Vanessa, how can I remember when to use  

in and when to use at?" Well, let me give you  some ideas. This is tricky because we use both  

at and in when we're talking about time, but we  use the word at specifically for specific times.  

For example, at midnight, at 5:00 o'clock,  at noon. This is at specifically that time,  

but the word in is used more generally. Take a  look at this. In the morning, in the evening,  

in five minutes, in six hours. You  didn't say at 3:30. You said no,  

we'll have a meeting in the morning, in  the evening, in five minutes, in six days.

Let's take a look at some sentences. Can you meet  me at noon? I know that that's only in 30 minutes,  

but can you make it? So I'm asking you,  hey, I know this is last minute notice,  

but can you make it? Can you meet me at noon,  this specific time in the duration of time in 30  

minutes? Let's take a look at another one. You're  invited to my birthday party. The party is in 10  

days and it starts at 7:00 o'clock. Wonderful.  Are you ready for a little test? I want you to  

decide which blank needs the word in and which  blank needs the word at. Take a look. Three days  

when my vacation starts, I won't need to wake  up 6:00 A.M. anymore. I can sleep in. All right,  

I'll give you three seconds to decide.  In three days when my vacation starts,  

I won't need to wake up at 6:00 A.M. anymore.  It's so nice on vacation to sleep in.

If you would like to dive deeper into this  topic, I made another video comparing in,  

on and at and over half a million  people have found clarity with this  

video. You can click on the link up  here to watch that in more detail.

Our fifth and final common speaking mistake is  to talk with someone or to talk to someone. I  

want to show you two sentences and I want you to  guess which one is the best. I'm talking with my  

friend or I'm talking to my friend. Which one do  you think is better? I'll give you three seconds.  

Let's do our quiz now. 3, 2, 1. Well, you know  what? This is a trick question because both of  

these are equally acceptable in spoken English  conversations. I have heard that some people  

say when you use talk to someone, it has the sense  that there's an authority. I'm talking to someone  

who has less authority than me. I talked to my  employees, I talked to my child. But really in  

daily spoken English in the US we use both of  these phrases interchangeably. You could say,  

I talked to my boss about the important  meeting next week. I talked to my child,  

I talked to my friend. Or you could say, I  talked with my friend, I talked with my boss.  

You could use these interchangeably in spoken  English and it's not a problem. So if you are  

one of those English learners that has ever  wondered, should I say talk to or talk with,  

you know what? You could just take that concern  and throw it out of your brain. It doesn't matter.

Now that you can avoid those five mistakes  in English, I want to help you learn five  

secrets of American English pronunciation  that will help you to speak English like  

a native speaker because sometimes we speak  clearly and sometimes we link words together,  

and native speakers feel like it's such a  normal thing to do. But English learners  

often struggle understanding this and  using it themselves. So let's practice.

All right, are you ready to get started with the  first secret of American English pronunciation?  

Let's start. Have you heard this phrase before,  the early bird catches the worm? This means that  

if you wake up early or you get started now,  well, you will succeed. Only the birds that  

wake up early in the morning get the best  worms. If you wait, if you procrastinate,  

well too bad for you, you won't be able to  succeed. But this wonderful phrase uses an  

important American English pronunciation  point. There are three words, early bird  

and worm that use a colored R. So in American  English, this R is a strong hard sound. Early,  

bird, worm. Do you see how that's almost  like an angry dog? Worm, bird, early. Make  

sure that when you're using American English  pronunciation, this colored R sound is hard.

Phrase number two that uses key American English  pronunciation is this one. Have you ever heard  

someone say, your guess is as good as mine? Your  guess is as good as mine. This means that the  

other person has no clue. Maybe you could say,  I don't know how to get to the beach. Your guess  

is as good as mine. But there is something  important happening with the pronunciation  

of this phrase. At the end of the word guess and  at the end of the word is, there is an S. But in  

American English pronunciation, we often link the  S with the vowel next to make a Z sound. So listen  

carefully when I say this phrase. Your guess is as  good as mine. It sounds a lot like zzz and that's  

what's happening here. We are linking together  the S plus a vowel from the next word. Try to  

say it with me. Your guess is as good as mine.  I have no clue. Your guess is as good as mine.

Key phrase number three that uses American  English pronunciation is this fun one.  

Don't bite the hand that feeds you. Have  you ever been trying to help someone and  

then they complain about how you're helping  them? You can use this phrase and say, hey,  

don't bite the hand that feeds you. I'm just  trying to help you. Well, it's the same idea.  

If you argue with your boss, if you yell at your  boss, he's the one that gives you your paycheck.  

So don't bite the hand that feeds you. But there  is important American English pronunciation here  

that happens three times. Don't bite, and then  a little later in the sentence is the word that.

What is similar between all three of these  words? It's the letter T. Listen when I say this  

contraction, don't, don't. Do you hear don't with  that puff of air coming out? Nope. In American  

English, oftentimes a T at the end of words will  be cut off. We call this a stopped T because your  

mouth is making that shape, don't. My tongue is at  the top of my mouth trying to make that T shape,  

but there's no puff of air that comes out.  Listen carefully as I say this and I want you  

to hear that stopped T. Don't bite the hand  that feeds you. You think you can say that  

with me? You can do it. Let's say this phrase  together. Don't bite the hand that feeds you.

All right, let's go to our next phrase. Has this  ever happened to you before? You invite a lot of  

people over to your house and you think it's going  to be a fun party, it's great, and then it just  

becomes so many people in your house, so much  chaos and you have to say this. Oh no, I think  

it's going to get out of hand. This doesn't  mean that anything is really in your hand and  

it's getting out of your hand. Instead, this means  it's getting out of control. But this phrase, get  

out of hand, uses an important American English  pronunciation tip, which is that the T at the end  

of words, another T tip, that has a vowel next  often changes to a D sound. So listen when I say  

this, the party will get out of hand. The word get  is surrounded by vowels. There's a vowel on either  

side, G-E-T, and then the next word starts with  an O. So that T is surrounded by vowels and that  

means that it's going to change to a D sound. Get  out and then it's going to happen with out and of.  

Out of. In fact, the word of changes to just a.  Get out hand of hand. Can you say it with me? The  

party will get out hand. The party will get out of  hand if you invite 50 people over to your house.

All right, let's go to our last American English  pronunciation tip. Has it ever happened to you  

that you travel abroad and then you realize that  you're just meeting people from your own home  

country? It's like you're magnetic towards  each other. Well, we could use this phrase,  

birds of a feather flock together, and this means  that common things are attracted to each other,  

for better or for worse. So there is a key  American English pronunciation point we can talk  

about with this phrase. We already talked about  the word bird and how it uses that colored R,  

that hard R sound. Bird. And there is another  R tip in this phrase as well. Look at the end  

of the word feather and together. Here is an E-R,  and it's going to be a strong R sound. Feather,  

together. Again, pretend that you are an angry  dog and try to make that hard R sound. Feather,  

together. Can you say this wonderful idiom with  me? Birds of a feather flock together. Wonderful.

Now that you've avoided five mistakes, learned  five pronunciation tips, now it's time to improve  

your English vocabulary. You're going to learn 30  important phrasal verbs with a fun lesson about a  

picture frame. All of these phrasal verbs are  going to be used to talk about a picture frame  

so that you can use them in your daily life as  well and speak clearly and confidently. Let's go.

Are you ready to start learning 30 phrasal  verbs with just this little picture frame?  

Let's do it. This is a lot of picture frames.  I need to sort through my picture frames to  

decide which one would be best for this  project. Oh, I'm going to use this one.  

I'm going to look through my pictures to  decide which one would be best with this  

frame. I'm going to use this one. Before  I put the picture in, I need to brush off  

the frame. It's been collecting dust in  my closet. Then I need to clean off the  

fingerprints. Does this happen to you? There's  always fingerprints on my picture frames.

Next, I'm going to open up the back of  the frame. Oops, the little tab just  

broke off. I guess it was kind of a cheap picture  frame. I take off the back of the picture frame  

and I will now put in my lovely picture and make  sure that I put it facing the right way. Ta-da.  

I'll put the back back on the picture frame and  I'll close up the little tabs. Unfortunately,  

there's only one tab left. All of the others  broke off. Such a cheap picture frame, but  

it'll do. I could set this picture frame down on  the table or maybe just place it on the counter,  

but I think that I want to hang it up. I was  just about to hang this up on the wall when  

the back kept coming out, so I decided that I  needed to tape the back on. Such a cheap picture  

frame. But you know what? That's how it goes  sometimes and you'll never see it from the front.

To put this picture frame up on the wall,  I'm going to need to hammer in a nail. Okay,  

so here's one extra thing in the video.  Don't blame me, don't yell at me. Yes,  

it's more than just one picture frame. I'm  going to hammer in the nail. I could put it  

on the wall high up and try to keep  it away from my children's fingers,  

but I'm not too worried about it. I'm going to  hammer it in a little bit low down, around here.  

Looks good. Now I just need to carefully  set my picture frame on the nail. Looks  

pretty straight. I'm sure that when my kids come  home from school, they're going to point out,  

hey, look mom, there's a new picture on  the wall and I'll be sure to tell them,  

don't lift it up. Don't even pick it  up. It's pretty fragile. And someday,  

if I don't want this picture here, I'll just take  it off the wall. And you know what? Unfortunately,  

this is not a picture frame that I'm going to  be passing down through the generations. It's  

pretty cheap. And you know what? I probably  wouldn't even give it away. I don't think  

many people want a picture frame that has to  have tape on the back to keep the picture in.

Oops. Now I have to sweep up the pieces.  I'm going to have to dump it out in the  

trash and tell my kids to watch out for  little pieces of glass that might have  

gone across the room. All I can do now  is throw it away and I guess I'll have  

to look through my pictures again and pick one  out that's good for the next frame. Maybe one  

of these frames will be a little bit more  durable and not fall apart like this one.

Great work immersing yourself in English over  the past 30 minutes. You're awesome. Don't  

forget to download the free PDF worksheet  that goes along with today's lesson. This  

PDF worksheet includes all five mistakes  you should avoid, five pronunciation tips,  

sample sentences and ideas and all 30  phrasal verbs that you can use when  

you're having conversations in English.  Plus, you can answer Vanessa's challenge  

question at the bottom of the worksheet so  that you never forget what you've learned.  

You can click on the link in the description to  download this free PDF, my gift to you today.

Well, thanks so much for learning English  with me and I'll see you again next Friday  

for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel.  Bye. But wait, do you want more? I recommend  

watching this video next, where in 30  minutes you will learn about American  

English pronunciation. This video has over four  and a half million views, so don't miss out.  

Make sure that you learn American English  pronunciation here and I'll see you there.