22 Advanced English Vocabulary Phrases

(energetic music)

- Hello, this is Jack from tofluency.com,

and welcome to this lesson where you're going to learn

some advanced English phrases based on a conversation

that my wife and I had about fall.

Now, if you want to watch that conversation,

then there's a link in the description to do that.

You can also watch or listen to this

as a podcast episode, too.

Just search for To Fluency Podcast on iTunes,

Spotify or wherever you use.

So, yeah, we're going to show various clips today

from the conversation, and then I'm going to explain

what these phrases mean, give you more examples,

and I'm gonna leave all the examples

in the description for you.

Now be sure to stay until the end

because I have a question for you, as well.

Okay, let's get started with the first clip.

(screen whooshes)

This is your favorite season.

- That's right, well, one of my favorite seasons.

I actually really like the transition from summer to fall.

- Kate said, "I really like this transition

"from summer to fall."

So I thought that fall was her favorite season,

but she said, "Well, nearly,

"but it's that transition from summer to fall."

Because that's the sweet spot here,

which means the temperature is just right

where you can go outside and being comfortable.

It's not too hot and it's not too cold.

And I think I agree with Kate here.

So the word transition means to change

from one thing to something else.

Another example is, I know a lot of people

who become online teachers, and at first,

they find this transition from traditional,

in-person lessons to online lessons difficult.

So they find this change difficult.

They find this transition difficult.

(screen whooshes)

- So a few of the warmer beverages and soups

and things that are more hearty and comforting.

- Number two, hearty and comforting.

So Kate was talking about food here,

and she's talking about hearty food,

which basically means, in my mind, it's when food is warm,

and it's very filling and satisfying.

So think of things like lasagna, chilis and stews.

And to get a better idea of what a hearty meal is,

then just Google search hearty meals

and see which recipes come up.

A similar word from the UK is stodgy.

It's not exactly the same, but it's very similar.

And to have a stodgy meal in the UK means to have lots

of carbohydrates, and it's warm and it's filling,

things like pies or bangers and mash.

(screen whooshes)

- But it started to get a little bit cooler at night.

But it started to get a little bit cooler at night.

- It started to get a little bit cooler at night.

So start to get, this is a verb pattern.

Now what's interesting about this verb pattern

is that you have the infinitive and the gerund

after the word, and they both mean the same thing.

So you can say, "It started to get a little bit cooler

"at night," or, "It started getting

"a little bit cooler at night."

Another example is, I've started working out again,

which is true.

Well, I didn't actually stop, but let's say I stopped.

I've started working out again,

or, I've started to work out again.

Now Kate also used the word get there,

and get means become,

and again, it's talking about a transition, a change.

Another example is, he started to get a bit angry,

he started to get a bit angry.

I don't know why. (screen whooshes)

For example, the th sound is going away in London.

- Yeah?

- Because - that's right.

- Yeah, nothin'

- Nothing. - instead of nothing.

- Oh.

- So that th sound's going away,

and you can see on a map how...

Now this one isn't an expression or a word to learn.

Instead, it's just something interesting

where, in the UK, people are predicting

that the th sound might disappear within 50 years.

Because a few years ago, or a long time ago,

only a certain amount of people

made the f sound instead of the th sound.

For example, saying "free" instead of "three".

Now sometimes I do this, especially when I speak quickly,

and the map that I'm gonna leave a link to

in the description shows that this is spreading

throughout the UK.

Froughout or throughout?

But yeah, definitely check out that link

because it's interesting and it shows the evolutions

of the English language in the UK.

(screen whooshes)

Do an impression. - No, I can't do an impression

of you, you know it.

I want to be able to do a good impression of you,

and I think, in general, I do do decent impressions,

but your accent is very hard for me.

- Yeah.

So Kate can't do an impression of me.

She tries. It's not always that accurate.

She really wants to be able to do an impression of me,

and to do an impression of someone

means to imitate the way that someone speaks.

We can also say "to do an accent, to do an accent",

which means to imitate an accent.

Now some people say that I can do a good New York accent.

I live in New York, I've got my dog, I've got my car.

I go to the park. I like coffee.

I need to work on this a little bit,

and the way I'm doing this actually is using my method

to listen, repeat, record, compare method,

where you listen to a phrase,

you record yourself repeating it,

and then you compare it to the original and make changes.

Now, this is a method you can use to learn English, as well,

and there is a link to the method,

a video, in the description.

(screen whooshes) - Okay.

- But let's start with Halloween.

- Yes.

- Halloween is huge in the U.S.

I am always shocked every year just by how big it is

and how early people have to get prepared for.

Halloween is huge in the U.S.

It's huge, which means it's very popular.

Now, big, huge. Huge normally means very big.

And you can say, "Halloween is big. Halloween is huge."

Both of these words mean popular in this case.

Another example is, he's huge on Instagram,

which means he's very popular on Instagram.

He has a lot of followers on Instagram.

And another one is, although Oasis were huge in the UK,

they weren't very popular or well-known in the U.S.

Here's a question. Were Oasis popular where you are?

Are they still popular? Leave a comment below.

(screen whooshes) No.

- You said people will come back and egg your house,

- Oh. - if you don't

leave candy for people.

- Yeah.

- Now to egg a house means to throw eggs at a house,

and this is very naughty.

You can get in trouble if you egg people's houses.

But it does happen. Some kids do do this.

People will egg a house or egg a car.

And again, this just means to throw eggs

at a house or a car.

And I was worried that people would egg our house,

or Kate said, "People are going to egg our house

"if you leave out carrots instead of candy."

I was never going to leave out carrots instead of candy,

but yeah, I still don't like kids

getting so much candy at Halloween.

(screen whooshes)

Everyone dresses up, right? Parents, children?

- Yeah.

- Most parents. - Yeah.

- And it's hard to get an outfit in the week

running up to Halloween because everything's sold out,

which is why you often do it six weeks before.

Everyone dresses up.

To dress up means to wear a costume.

Now the phrase of a dress-up is specific to the UK

and probably Australia and Ireland,

but it's not used in the U.S. because in the U.S.

you say "to wear a costume, to wear a costume".

But I remember people in the UK saying,

"What are you going to dress as for Halloween?"

What are you going to dress up as for Halloween?

And this is true. Some of my friends hate dressing up.

They hate dressing up.

(screen whooshes)

- And every year, I just run out of time a little bit,

but I think that you can get so creative

and do something really special, but-

- Every year, I just run out of time.

Every year, I just run out of time.

So to run out of time means that you have no time left

because we normally leave it to the last minute,

which means we do things just before a deadline,

when it comes to making costumes for Halloween.

So we always run out of time.

We don't have enough time to make a costume.

Now listen to these two examples.

We're running out of sugar, and we've run out of sugar.

We're running out of sugar, and we've run out of sugar.

So if we're running out of sugar,

it means we still have a little bit of sugar left,

but soon we won't have any left.

And if we say we've run out of sugar,

it means we have no sugar.

(screen whooshes)

- I had a whole design,

with like a headpiece and a cape and my tentacles.

And in the end, all I ended up wearing were like some tights

that I never had time to stuff.

- Kate's still talking about a costume here

saying, "All I ended up wearing was tights."

Now to end up doing something means to conclude something

with a particular action.

And it's kind of hard to explain how to use this,

but I think this example is really gonna help you.

Imagine that you haven't seen somebody in a while,

but the last time you saw them, let's say two months ago,

they were telling you about their vacation

and that they wanted to go on a vacation,

but they weren't sure about where they wanted to go.

And then, you see this friend again today, and you say,

"Oh, where did you end up going on vacation?"

Where did you end up going on vacation?

Where did you finally decide to go on vacation?

And they say, "We ended up going to Preston."

Another example is, "We were going to go out last night,

"but we ended up staying home

"and watching a terrible TV show."

(screen whooshes)

And sometimes it's been rainy and cold,

and they just want to eat the candy,

and then they get the sugar rush.

And then, the next day at school,

you know as a former teacher, - Yeah.

- the day after Halloween was the worst to teach.

To get a sugar rush.

This means to get that uncontrollable energy

after eating too much sugar.

It's where kids, especially, get hyperactive,

and they can't sit still and they shake

and they're constantly moving.

But then, after a sugar rush, normally you got a crash,

and this is where you just feel tired, sometimes cranky.

Sometimes children get cranky after a sugar rush.

(screen whooshes)

The person who used to live in the house

that we live in now, it was known

as the best house in the neighborhood

'cause they had all these decorations,

but they didn't leave them for us.

- No. - A neighbor got them.

- Uh huh.

- So then, they put up all these new decorations and...

- Yeah.

- Yeah, the person who used to live in the house

where we live now.

So the person who used to live in our house

means the person that lived in our house in the past,

and people often get confused between used to,

be used to and get used to.

For example, I used to live in Spain.

So in the past, I lived in Spain.

I am used to living in America because I've been here

for 10 years and I'm accustomed to living here.

I'm used to living here, but I'll never get used

to people saying "yo-gurt" instead of "yogg-urt".

I'm not gonna make that transition.

(screen whooshes)

What happens when the leaves fall?

We'll say it on three. One, two, three.

One, one, two, three.

Bag them up. - Oh.

- We'll put them in compost (laughs lightly).

To bag something up means to put something in a bag.

Next. (screen whooshes)

- It's a little bit crisper, it's more crisp,

and there's a little bit of a chill in the air at night.

- Yeah, chill in the air.

What do I say when I come outside,

and there's a chill in the air and it's not humid?

Kate talked about the weather saying,

"It was crisp and there was a chill in the air."

Now if something is crisp or if the weather is crisp,

it means that it is cold, but also clear.

So you can imagine those winter days

when it's cold but clear.

So the sun is shining.

And if there's a chill in the air,

it means it's not too cold,

but you're uncomfortable due to the cold

and you need to put some more layers on.

You need to put some more clothes on.

(screen whooshes)

Yeah, I remember celebrating my birthday here,

and it was really warm.

So I've never had a warm sunny day

on my birthday in my life.

But it can be hit or miss.

It could be, it could be cold

- Yeah. - near the end of October.

I was talking about my birthday here, and how sometimes,

at the end of October where we live, it's warm and sunny,

but sometimes it's cold.

So the weather can be hit or miss,

meaning it's inconsistent.

It can be good or bad.

Another example is, that restaurant is hit or miss.

Sometimes you get something great.

Sometimes the food is terrible.

Usually, it depends on what you order.

(energetic music)

Okay, so those are the advanced phrases for you.

Again, be sure to watch the conversation

or listen to the conversation on your favorite podcast app.

And then, also go to the description to have a look

at the phrases that we've talked about

and just to read the examples that I've given you.

And while you're down there in the description,

check out the other videos, as well,

and be sure to get my book,

"The 5 Step Plan for English Fluency".

And before I share the question,

I just want to say, if you're new here

or if you're old here, like the video.

And if you're new here, subscribe

and turn on the notification bell.

Now my question for you is, what is a typical Halloween like

where you live, and do you dress up for this event?

Do you dress up for Halloween?

So leave those comments below.

I look forward to reading them.

Again, thank you for being here,

and I will speak to you soon.

Bye-bye. (lively music)

♪ Oh oh ♪

♪ Oh oh ♪