Daily Life Vocabulary: Around Town [Advanced English Lesson]

Vanessa: Get ready  

to expand your vocabulary so that you can express  yourself completely. Today you are going to learn  

10 useful daily life English phrases that I  use in daily life, and you can too. Hi, I'm  

Vanessa from speakenglishwithvanessa.com. And like  always, I have created a free PDF worksheet for  

you with all of today's vocabulary, definitions,  sample sentences, and you can answer Vanessa's  

challenge question at the bottom of the worksheet.  Plus, in today's worksheet I have added a special  

10 question quiz so that you can test yourself and  see if you really understand today's vocabulary.  

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

my gift to you. I recently made these two lessons,  running errands around my town and going shopping.

Today you're going to learn 10 key phrases from  these lessons. So I'm going to show you a clip  

from the video. Then I'm going to explain the  expression, and then we will watch the clip  

again. I want to see if the second time is easier  for your ears to understand because now you know  

the phrase and you're able to understand more  English. Plus, one of the expressions that I'm  

going to explain is one that I guarantee, I  am 99.99% sure that you have never heard of  

in your entire life, but I use often in my daily  life. What is it? Well, you are about to find  

out. If you knew that phrase before this lesson,  please tell me in the comments, and I will give  

you a great round of applause. I will be shocked.  So let's start with the first expression that I  

used in those videos. We're going to watch the  clip, and I will tell you which one of those is  

the most surprising if you already know it.  All right, let's start with the first clip.

These are the kids' books that I just put in  there. Sometimes there's magazines. Sometimes...  

One time I even found some homemade vegetables  in there, homegrown vegetables. Pretty cool.

You just heard me say, "One time I even  found some homegrown vegetables in the book  

box. This word even is used before the verb  found. I even found. What do you think this  

means? Why did I choose to say the word even,  I even found some homegrown vegetables? Well,  

we usually use the word even in front of  a verb to show something surprising. What  

do you expect to be in a book box? Books. So I  wanted to show you something surprising. I even  

found some homegrown vegetables. Someone  had some excess cucumbers and tomatoes,  

and they put them in the book box so  that someone could get them for free.

I was surprised, I was delighted, so I said,  "I even found something surprising. Homegrown  

vegetables in the book box." You can even use  the word even in a negative sentence as well.  

Take a look at this. Last week, my son counted to  30 and I have never even taught him that. Here,  

we're saying that I never sat down and had  a lesson where I explained one, two, three,  

and I helped him learn to count. He just learned  how to count by himself. So I'm expressing  

surprise. I never even taught him that. How did he  learn? He just learned. That's how you do it when  

you're a kid, right? So I use this in a negative  sentence by using the word never. I never even  

taught him that and somehow he knows. How cool.  All right, let's watch the original clip again  

where you see me use this word even in the daily  context from the previous video. Let's watch.

These are the kids' books that I just put in  there. Sometimes there's magazines. Sometimes...  

One time I even found some homemade vegetables  in there, homegrown vegetables. Pretty cool.

All right, let's go on to the second  useful expression that you're going  

to learn today about finding  something. Let's watch the clip.

We are going to be making some donations to  the local charity shop, and these are items  

that my family doesn't use anymore and other  people might find them useful in this clip.  

You heard me say that I'm donating things  that other people might find useful. Here,  

we're talking about this phrase to find something  useful. We're not talking about searching for  

something. I need to find my pencil. I lost it.  We're not talking about losing something. Instead,  

we're just talking about something  that's beneficial. So you could say,  

"I'm donating some items that other  people might think are useful."

We're just substituting think and  find to create this beautiful phrase,  

to find something useful. Just to let you know,  you can also use this phrase with another word,  

not just useful. You might say, "I find  Vanessa's lessons very interesting." Thank  

you. I hope that you find them useful too,  but you might find them interesting. I hope  

you don't find my lessons boring. I hope  that you find them interesting. All right,  

let's watch the original clip so that you can see  how to find something useful is used. Let's watch.

We are going to be making some donations  to the local charity shop. And these are  

items that my family doesn't use anymore,  and other people might find them useful.

All right, let's go on to our third phrase,  which is a full fixed phrase in a sentence.  

See how I use it in the original  context, and then we'll talk about it.

It is an old door, so I'm going to ask the  lady if that's something that they'll accept,  

and we'll see what happens. You just heard  me say, "I'm going to ask the lady to see  

if they will take the donation, and we'll see  what happens." This phrase, "We'll see what  

happens" is just accepting whatever happens as  destiny. I'm not going to fight it. I don't know  

exactly what's going to happen. We'll see what  happens. So if there's a situation where you're  

not sure what's going to happen, you can use this.  For example, you might say, "I'm going to go on a  

picnic tomorrow, but it might rain, so we'll see  what happens." You're not making definite plans  

now for rescheduling or for canceling. You're  just kind of saying, "I will figure it out  

later. We'll see what happens." All right, let's  see how it was used in the original clip and see  

if you can pick up that whole phrase, "we'll  see what happens" when I say it. Let's watch.

It is an old door, so I'm going to  ask the lady if that's something  

that they'll accept, and we'll see what happens.

All right, let's go on to the fourth phrase  that's useful for daily life. And I'll give  

you a hint. It rhymes with duper, looper,  scooper. Let's watch and see what it is.

So if you want to know why  we're giving away a door,  

it's because we bought a super cheap used door,  I think it was $8, from another thrift store,  

and my husband made it into a table,  like a craft play table for my kids.

In this clip, you saw me say, "We  bought a super cheap used door,  

and my husband made it into a craft table  for our kids." I used this word super. It's  

a great slang word that you're welcome to  use in daily life, and it is talking about  

emphasizing very cheap door. I think the door was  $8. We bought a super cheap door. We bought a very  

cheap door. For me in my personal life, I use  the word super a lot because, as you maybe can  

imagine, I am a enthusiastic person sometimes,  so I like these words that add emphasis.

A super cheap door, it gives that type of  energy that I have inside and it brings it  

to my speech. And that's what I want for you. I  want you to be able to express yourself and your  

personality the way that you are. So maybe this  word super wouldn't fit with your personality,  

or maybe it does, but now you're able to  understand it, and when someone uses it  

in a conversation, you can get it. So let's  watch how it was used in the original clip  

and listen for the word super, which rhymes  with duper, looper, scooper. Let's watch.

So if you want to know why  we're giving away a door,  

it's because we bought a super cheap used door,  I think it was $8, from another thrift store,  

and my husband made it into a table,  like a craft play table for my kids.

Let's go onto the fifth useful phrase for daily  life that you are going to hear inside the shop,  

and you might hear something about  this. All right, let's watch.

Oh, these earrings are so cute. And you know  what? I am a sucker for earrings. This is what  

I usually buy when I go to a new country or when  I visit somewhere. I like to buy earrings because  

I wear them every day, and it reminds me of the  place that I visited. You just heard me say,  

"I'm a sucker for earrings because I wear them  every day." In fact, I bought these earrings  

in the shop after I stopped filming that video  because I felt like I wanted to give to the store  

something. I needed to purchase something  in order to film the video in their shop,  

so I purchased these earrings because I'm  a sucker for earrings. What does this mean?

Usually the word suck is something that you  do with a raw, but I'm not doing that with  

my earrings. Instead, it just means that I love  something so much that I can't refuse it. I'm a  

sucker for earrings. If I find some cute earrings,  it's hard for me to resist them. Let me give you  

another example. You might say, "When I saw that  there was chocolate cake on the menu, I had to buy  

it. I'm a sucker for anything chocolate." This  just means you love chocolate so much that you  

couldn't resist buying the piece of chocolate  cake on the menu. All right, let's see how this  

was used in the original conversation so that you  can get it an idea for the context. Let's watch.

Oh, these earrings are so cute. And you know  what? I'm a sucker for earrings. This is what  

I usually buy when I go to a new country  or when I visit somewhere. I like to buy  

earrings because I wear them every day, and  it reminds me of the place that I visited.

Let's take a look at the sixth useful phrase  that has to do with this. Let's watch.

There's, I think, so many cute little things  that aren't from a big box store. So a big  

box store is like Walmart or Target,  and there's nothing personal there,  

right? It might be American kind of, but this type  of thing is really the perfect type of gift shop.

You just heard me talk about big box stores  like Walmart or Target that are really common  

in the us. These big box stores, yes, they  are like a giant box that you walk into,  

these are stores that aren't local, they're  not unique, and they don't have anything really  

personalized or really special in them. It is  really convenient to shop in big box stores,  

but it's not the best place to buy a gift for  someone. If you want to support the local economy,  

it's a good idea to go to a small shop and  not a big box store. But I must say when you  

visit another country, if you visit the US, it is  really interesting to visit big box stores, like  

Walmart or Target, because it can show something  about the local culture, the culture of the US.

So whenever I visit another country,  

sometimes I visit big box stores just because I  want to see what is it like compared to in the  

US. So you might want to still visit these types  of places when you visit the US, but you can also  

visit cute little local shops like this one. All  right, let's see that original clip again, and you  

can hear how I used big box store compared to the  local shop where I'm at in the video. Let's watch.

There's I think so many cute little things  that aren't from a big box store. So a big box  

store is like Walmart or Target, and there's  nothing personal there, right? It might be  

American kind of, but this type of thing is really  the perfect type of gift shop. Let's go on to the  

seventh phrase in daily life conversation that  you can use, and this is the one that I mentioned  

at the beginning of the video, that if you knew  this phrase before this lesson, I am going to be  

shocked. So please tell me in the comments if you  knew this phrase before today's lesson, and I will  

give you a big round of applause. All right, let's  watch the clip and you'll see what this phrase is.

Salt and pepper, little napkin ring holders.  This type of store is chock-full of those little  

goodies. You just heard me say, "This type of  store is chock full of these little goodies."  

As you could see, that store was not too big, but  it was full of so many cute little items. Well,  

I use the phrase chock-full. Have you ever  heard this before? This is something that I use,  

as you can see, in daily conversation, and  now you can too. So if you want to say that  

something is packed, there are so many things in  a small area, you can use this phrase chock-full.  

Let's take a look at another example. When I  had my baby, my friend sent me a basket that  

was chock full of fruits and chocolate  and special treats that I could enjoy.

Here, we get the idea that there is a basket with  lots of little things overflowing inside of it.  

So let me know if you knew this phrase before  today's lesson. Let me know in the comments,  

and let's go on and watch how I use that  in the original conversation. Again,  

listen carefully for that beautiful  phrase, chock-full. Let's watch.

Salt and pepper, little napkin ring holders. This  

type of store is chock-full  of those little goodies.

Let's go on to the eighth useful daily life  expression that I used in this little shop.  

This eighth expression sounds like  it might be violent, but trust me,  

it's not. Let's watch and see what it is.

Here, we have some more locally made soap. Can't  beat lavender, right? Lavender is always the best.

You just heard me say, "You can't beat lavender.  Lavender is always the best scent." Okay,  

there's a lot of scents that I like. Lavender,  lilac, peonies. All these flowers are so nice,  

but I just said, "You can't beat lavender." Are  we talking about beating up lavender? Am I going  

to go outside and see some lavender flowers and a  lavender bush and just beat it up? You can't beat  

it. No. Instead, we're talking about the best.  Lavender is the best scent, in my opinion, and  

you can't get anything better than that. You can't  beat lavender. Let me give you another example.

After a long trip, you can't beat the  feeling of coming home and falling  

asleep in your own bed. You just can't  beat that feeling, right? All right,  

let's see how can't beat was used in that  original clip. I want you to listen for  

this phrase and see if you can understand it  a little bit better than before because I want  

for you to be able to pick up these phrases  when you're watching movies and TV shows or  

hearing your coworkers have a conversation.  That's the goal, that your ears will be  

able to pick up these phrases easier than  before. So let's watch the original clip.

Here, we have some more locally made soap. Can't  beat lavender, right? Lavender is always the best.

Let's go on to the ninth useful daily life  English phrase, which is somewhat similar  

to a phrase that we talked about earlier in  this lesson. I wonder what it is. Let's watch.

Some sundresses, sundresses for  the adults. Can't resist those.

You just heard me say, "I can't resist  cute sundresses." And it's true. I love  

the feeling of wearing a sundress on a  beautiful, sunny, warm day. It's certainly  

better than wearing pants and tight restrictive  clothing, at least in my opinion. So I said,  

"I can't resist." This means that you cannot stop  me from buying cute sundresses. You might also use  

this phrase by saying something like this. When I  see that Vanessa has a new lesson, I can't resist  

watching it. That means maybe you have some work  to do, maybe you need to go to bed. It doesn't  

matter because nothing is going to stop you from  watching my new lesson. Thank you. I hope you're  

enjoying it. All right, let's watch the original  clip so that you can hear me say, "Can't resist."

Some sundresses, sundresses for  the adults. Can't resist those.

Our 10th and final useful daily  life English expression is one  

that you need to use your eyes for. Let's watch.

And it looks like some other kid things. Bring  your grandparents. We have some kid books.

You just heard me say, "It looks like  there might be some other kid stuff over  

here." I use this phrase, "It looks like,"  because yes, I am using my eyes to look,  

but also we use look in exchange for the word  appear. So we could say, "It appears that there  

are some other kids things over here."  That's so formal. Instead, in daily life,  

we're going to say, "It looks like. It looks  like there might be some kids things over here."

Let me give you another example. I'm not  sure, but it looks like it might rain today,  

so I'm going to grab my umbrella. It looks like  it might rain. I'm using my eyes to look at the  

sky. And I'm not certain. It might just be  a cloudy, dark day like it is today, but I'm  

saying it looks like because I'm thinking that it  might be true. It looks like it might rain today,  

so I'm going to bring an umbrella. All right,  let's watch how that was used in the original  

context so that you can really get an idea  for how to use this expression. Let's watch.

And it looks like some other kid things. Bring  your grandparents. We have some kid books.

Well, congratulations on learning these 10  useful daily life expressions from the videos  

that I made in my town. Now, I want to know in the  comments, what is something that you can't resist?  

Let me know in the comments, and maybe we'll all  have some similarities. Even though we're from  

different backgrounds and different cultures, we  might not be able to resist the same things. Let's  

see. And don't forget to download the free PDF  worksheet for today's lesson. It includes all of  

today's vocabulary, definitions, sample sentences,  and you can answer Vanessa's challenge question so  

that you never forget what you've learned. Plus,  you can answer the 10 question vocabulary quiz  

to see if you've really learned these phrases.  You can click on the link in the description  

to download that free PDF worksheet today. Well,  thank you 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 you'll join me in my town.  

You saw short clips of these videos today,  but I want you to watch the full lesson,  

including a mistake that I made when  I went to the bank. What was it? Well,  

I'll see you in that video to find out.