How to Talk About Your Plans in English Learn English Grammar

I mean good button has been pressed hi

Internet hello everybody welcome back to

our live stream this week we are going

to talk about making breaking and

changing plans I have three sort of

segments three groups of discussion

topics planned for today so we have a

lot to do actually maybe I prepared too

much but today in this livestream lesson

we’re going to focus a lot on using

patterns so instead of focusing on like

a grammar point we’re going to focus on

a few actually quite a few patterns you

can use to make and break break means

cancel and change your plans so that’s

going to be our topic for today

everything’s getting loaded I see the

YouTube chat is it live are you live

YouTube chat

I think Facebook chat is also coming and

we have twitter as well now you can find

this live stream on the Twitter that the

English class 101 Twitter account as

well Facebook I see you first YouTube I

think oh good YouTube is up hi hello um

brenno and Rodrigo and Christian and

Lewisohn Chang Hana and Oliver and

Ellison and Amina and beador and

Mohammed hi and on Facebook tarik and

Anthony and Ali and Singh hello

everybody good I don’t see Twitter yet

oh yes I do

hello Twitter I will retweet you good

okay

so everyone’s joining while we wait for

a couple of other people well a few more

people to join as they get the

notification I have a couple exciting

announcements that I want to share last

week if you joined us we you know we

talked about we talked about work kind

of idioms like workplace idioms and last

week actually maybe some of you already

saw this photo but last week we had a

really cool work collaboration so this

is something I posted this on Instagram

actually but this maybe some of you know

who she is the woman next to me this is

Trang from the very popular YouTube

channel and English resource

II like and so last week we shot a few

videos together it was a really fun

collaboration opportunity and a really

interesting chance to get to meet and

work with to work with her so we talked

last week about an expression we talked

about the expression win-win so a

win-win situation is like an agreement

where both parties or both groups

benefit they get something good in

return so this was a great example of a

win-win so there is going to be some

videos I think one video on our channel

that you guys will be able to watch and

some videos on her channel on elight

Shanna as well so this was really really

cool and I hope you guys check that out

I think it will be available maybe in

April the beginning of April or so so a

few more weeks but anyway that was

really exciting and a great example I

think of a win-win situation okay so

that’s the review as you join of course

as always please be sure to hit the like

button the heart button if you like and

share the video of course - all right

now I want to review a couple things

there were a couple of viewer questions

from last week thank you for sending

your questions actually someone asked

Samia said our game changer and

spontaneous the same thing our game

changer in spontaneous the same thing so

game changer is new information that you

get that changes your approach to a

project or to a plan spontaneous however

just means sort of random behavior so

they are quite different so spontaneous

is is an adjective

actually it’s like it’s a word that we

use to describe the behavior of

something else game changer is a noun

which refers to something that changes

our behavior so a little bit different

but I wanted to mention that oh that’s a

different thing that we’re going to talk

about in a different show isn’t it okay

right that’s a

anyway um this week as I said this week

we’re going to talk about making and

breaking and changing your plan so I

have prepared a couple of different

topics is it okay if I use the mouse for

a second Kyle sorry okay I just need to

see my notes okay it’s all yours thank

you all right so I want to begin with

some expressions for making plans some

actually quite a few patterns you can

use to make your plans so we’ve talked

about some of these before actually so

this might be review for many of you but

that’s okay so let’s take a look at the

first four patterns I want to talk about

today for making your plans yes that’s

the one

let’s take a look at these four patterns

first this one so these are all sort of

introductory phrases like you can use to

begin making your plans with these

expressions so are you doing anything

and then give some timeframe like a day

or a time of day here

same thing for this second one what are

you up to at a certain time I’ll think

so that’s nice what are you up to at a

certain time so for example are you

doing anything tomorrow or what are you

up to on Saturday for example so these

expressions these top two patterns are

used to check the schedule of another

person are you doing anything on

Saturday are you doing anything Sunday

um you don’t need to use a preposition

here you can say are you doing anything

tonight are you doing anything Friday

both are fine in this pattern what are

you up to

what are you up to actually somebody

asked a question in ask Alicia about

this phrase up to up to this what are

you up to I answered it in the ask

Alicia video but this part what are you

up to means what are you doing what are

you doing so what

you up to on Sunday here we could use on

Sunday what are you up to tonight what

are you up to for lunch just to ask

about someone’s schedule this one

however if you want to suggest a

specific plan you can use one of these

two patterns these are both quite casual

expressions you can use so this first

one are you free for and here you need

to explain your purpose the activity you

would like to do are you free for lunch

on Sunday for example or are you free

for dinner on Saturday so here you can

suggest a specific activity and a time

for that so here actually here I’ve used

on meaning the best choice in this

pattern is to use a day a day of the

week but you could say are you free for

dinner tomorrow or are you free for

lunch today are you free for a movie

this weekend

so you can change on in this sentence in

this pattern I’m introducing I’m using

on here but you can change this that’s

fine okay the second one do you want to

is slightly different from are you free

for so are you free just means do you

have time do you have time for something

but do you want to is a little maybe a

little bit more direct like do you want

to go to a movie or do you want to get a

coffee do you want to get a drink on

Friday so perhaps a little bit more

direct but in general these two can be

used to ask the same thing

it’s like making an invitation for a

plan so these two are about schedule

you’re asking about the other person’s

schedule so a couple of nice and nice

patterns to introduce your plan however

let’s go to a couple that are more for

formal situations so if you need to ask

about someone’s plans at work or in a

business setting for example

I want to share a couple patterns for

that and then you and then it’ll be up

to you to make it invitation as well so

here are a couple of more formal

patterns that you can use actually so

here first one are you available and

here I have on or at so if you watch the

preposition videos we’ve done you know

on is used for a day at is for a time so

are you available on Sunday for a

meeting for example here the word

available I’ve used the word available

are you available on a day for a thing

for an activity remember in the casual

expression I talked about the word or

the pattern are you free are you free

think of are you available as the formal

version of are you free are you free

so are you available on Monday for lunch

or are you available at 3 o’clock for a

meeting are you available on Tuesday for

a really great movie experience I don’t

know so whatever formal thing you want

to suggest you can use that also here’s

another one so do you have time do you

have time you could use this like

especially if you’re speaking with a

busy person I suppose do you have time

on so same thing here day 4 on or at

4:00 time do you have time on Monday for

a meeting do you have time at 4 o’clock

for a meet and greet I don’t know what

you do so this is maybe nice for like a

busy person but these expressions are a

little more formal than the the first

group of expressions we talked about if

you missed the first group of

expressions don’t worry you can watch

this live stream back later okay

so with this information a formal

invitation or a casual invitation let’s

do our first chat question then simple a

simple one please make an invitation

please make an invitation so I gave you

a lot of examples already

so we talked about are you doing

anything Sunday as a quick introduction

or what are you up to this weekend or

are you free for coffee later today or

do you want to get a drink on Saturday

for example so make an invitation please

send an invitation into the chat and we

will review we’ll review so please send

an invitation make an invitation for a

plan something um you would like to do

or maybe a plan you need to make in the

future so please send one in Oh free ala

on YouTube you are there first one from

home do you have something on Friday for

dinner

uh do you for that instead of do you

have something I would say do you have

plans do you have plans on Friday for

dinner is perfect that one’s nice are

you available on Sunday night for a

vigil okay good

Wally says do you want to hang out on

Sunday perfect perfect and Wally by the

way is using do you wanna if you check

the YouTube chat do you want to hang out

on Sunday nice casual uh Messiah hi are

you available on tomorrow for a meeting

great thank you for that when you want

to use a day of the week are you

available on Sunday good use on if you

want to say tomorrow or yesterday no

preposition there so do you have time

tomorrow for a meeting is good Wow nice

ones guys are you available for a movie

tonight nice Hannah John do you want to

go to dinner this week do you want to

plus verb you need a verb do you want to

go to dinner this week nice would you

like to go out with me this weekend

perfect great one okay come with me to

the cinema tonight please nice one

Nelson thanks okay uh nyan hi do you

want to drink coffee with me on this

Friday ah another great point when you

want to use this as in this Friday in

your example or this Saturday no

preposition is needed do you want to

drink coffee with me this Friday or do

you want to drink coffee with me on

Friday both are correct but not

on and this okay whoa nice ones do you

have time to lunch tomorrow

Nicole good point in very formal

situations lunch can be used as a verb

but in general we don’t use lunch as a

verb do you have time to get lunch

tomorrow might be more natural there all

right whew good ones okay you guys have

awesome invitations very nice very nice

so I want to take a quick break our

first break for today because we have a

lot of things to talk about and today we

also have I know we always talk about

these PDF cheat sheets but this week we

have seven new ones that the team put

together so you’re gonna see them in

just a second just a second yeah okay so

here there these are the ones we’ve seen

before like school and business and

travel but definitely if you have not

downloaded these yet they are free check

them out but from this week we have

these seven new ones so there’s an

emergency words cheat sheet that could

be really important to check perhaps the

around town so that means things in your

city or things in your town cooking a

cooking one so vocabulary for your

kitchen clothing we’ve talked a lot

about shopping and clothes in this

livestream so that could be useful pets

pets is another one music I am very

excited about that one the music one and

finally the hotel one so if you

downloaded the all of the other cheat

sheets all of the other PDF so sorry we

have new ones on the site like from I

think it went up yesterday yesterday so

to make sure you get these they’re all

free so go to the link below the video

on youtube or above the video on

Facebook on Twitter I think it’s above

the video as well and you can download

all of these for free so if you have an

account you can sign in and download

right away if you don’t have an account

you can make everyone

right so please check that out I know

the team worked really hard to prepare a

lot of new stuff for you guys so please

check that out they’re really nice ways

to kind of boost your vocabulary or help

you study like a certain point yeah so

please check that out please go download

those today all right but let’s move on

and remember if you are just joining

today’s topic is making breaking

cancelling and changing your plans so

where we’ve just talked about

expressions for making plans now we’re

going to go to breaking plans a little

bit and if you have not please make sure

to hit the like button it will help

other people to find the video so please

hit that like button helpful for us

alright let’s go to breaking your plan

so I keep using the expression to break

plans so to break plans means like to

cancel or to stop something like maybe

you know the expression to break up to

break up with someone like means to end

a relationship so we can use the same

verb to break plans as well alright so

I’m going to introduce one expression I

don’t really like actually but I’ll

explain why so this is one that is a

very common expression but I I really

dislike this expression however you

might hear it sometimes it is I’m so

sorry but something came up and now I

can’t whatever the activity is so for

example I’m so sorry but something came

up and now I can’t get coffee with you

something came up and now I can’t go to

a movie something came up and now I

can’t go out tonight so the reason I

don’t like this is because this part

something came up

it’s just like a vague vague means

unclear it’s this vague explanation it’s

a non explanation like there’s no

specific reason that you’re cancelling

on the other person yeah we say to

cancel on someone but you’re just saying

something came up so came up means

something happened

so something in my schedule came up I

have to like take a look at or I have to

deal with so but I don’t like this

because it’s not very specific I think

it’s better to give a specific reason

why you can’t or why you have to cancel

plans because personally I think it’s

pretty rude to cancel plans like unless

there’s a good reason I don’t know I

don’t make a plan unless I want to do

that thing so I think I not to cancel

plans so instead here are a few patterns

you can use to cancel plans and give a

specific reason for your cancellation so

let’s take a look let’s take a look I’m

so sorry again I’m so sorry but my boss

asked me to work and now I can’t go to

the movie with you for example so my

boss asked me to work so of course work

is a very common reason to cancel plans

to have to have to cancel plans here is

one way you can explain that so my boss

asked me to work or my boss asked me to

do overtime today now I can’t get a

drink sorry

there’s one if you are not feeling well

I’m sick and I can’t make it so this

make it here I’ve used I can’t make it

make it means I can’t come I can’t come

to I can’t make it it’s it’s kind of a

more casual expression we use here I’m

sick and I can’t make it to your event

I’m so sorry

or I’m sick and I can’t make it to your

party I’m so sorry so I can’t make it to

the plan the thing you had planned here

I’m so sorry

a more general explanation is I’m not

really I’m sorry I’m really not feeling

well today

I’m really so you can drop this if you

want I’m not feeling well today really

is just an emphasis here I’m really not

feeling well today mmm so you’re not

there’s your bit sick so these are some

more specific reasons to cancel on

someone

personally I don’t like the first one I

introduced alright but let’s go to an

couple other cancellation expressions

for maybe some more serious situations

or I don’t I I included another one here

that I’ve heard a couple times before

but let’s look first one maybe there’s a

family emergency you can use this

there’s been a family emergency I’m so

sorry I have to cancel so if there’s

some like serious situation like a

health problem or an accident maybe you

can use there’s bin so here not like

there was well I suppose you could say

there was but more naturally we use

there’s bin so this is the contracted

form of there has there has been a

family emergency that’s the present

perfect tense there there’s been a

family emergency I can’t come another

one that I’ve heard especially for

outdoor events is this expression the

weather is terrible today so I think I’m

gonna cancel and here I’ve just

contracted in my speech I think I’m

gonna cancel gonna so going to becomes

gonna yeah so the weather’s terrible

today I think I’m gonna cancel so these

are a couple of other expressions that

but there may be a little bit more

specific

alright last thing I want to talk about

in this section is an interesting word

which is when you well okay listen let’s

talk about the word first the word or

the expression is to stand someone up to

stand someone up so this does not mean

literally like you find a person laying

down and you like stand them up that’s

not what this means this expression

means to have plans with someone but you

don’t come and you don’t contact them to

cancel on them Thanks okay sorry so this

is generally a bad thing no problem go

thank you

this is generally a bad thing so this is

a very common expression well I

shouldn’t say very common but this is a

phrase we use on dates so for example if

I have a date planned and I go there

like to a restaurant or a coffee shop or

something but my date never comes and my

date never contacts me that means my

date stood me up so past tense of stand

is stood my date stood me up so this is

the expression we use when someone does

not come to a planned meeting to stand

someone up so I’ve been stood up a

couple like maybe one time before I’m so

mad I’ve had this happen to me maybe

you’ve had this happen to you so it’s

not a good feeling for sure it’s totally

not a good feeling but this is the

expression we use to explain that so now

you know all right we’ll finish with

that so I want to then we practiced

making an invitation at the beginning of

this lesson today so now I want to ask

you to please try to make a cancellation

statement so please now you made your

you made your invitation now cancel it

please cancel your invitation the one

you sent before and explain why you’re

cancelling explain the reason for your

cancellation yeah o’keefe Ali said I’ve

been in front of Hachiko and Sharia for

hours but she stood me up then I

realized she found someone else to go

out with ouch that sucks that sucks that

sucks is a slang expression which means

that’s too bad that’s too bad that sucks

um

pater says Alicia what does it mean

check that out check that out means

please look please look but check it out

check that out so look at that look at

this check that out means please look

please look but it’s a casual expression

ah Hana town says I’m so sorry my flight

has been canceled I can’t make it to the

party perfect very nice very nice

Justin says I’m sorry but I have this

thing for school that came up today I

can’t go to the movies with you so make

sure that cancellation I can’t go to the

movies with you is in there I’m going to

school tomorrow but I can’t because my

father doesn’t allow so are you

canceling school so make sure the

activity you’re cancelling is clear so

something happened a happened so I can’t

plan I can’t do this thing Junior hey

Junior I would love to but I already

have plans can we put it off to another

day

I’ll close to put something off it

sounds like I don’t want to do this I am

avoiding this task so like if there’s I

don’t know like we use it for like

cleaning the house like I’m going to put

off cleaning the house I don’t want to

do it instead can we um maybe can we

change to another day actually I’ll

introduce some expressions in just a

moment um Ali on Facebook I don’t have

time to explain again right now but if

you have a question you can watch this

live stream back when we finish so

please take a look at the archived video

after this finishes thank you for asking

um sure AB says I am NOT able to come to

the dinner party because of family

problems okay good good make sure family

problems you might be a little more

specific with that family problem sounds

like maybe there was an argument or

something like that if you want to

explain like an illness or sickness you

can be a little more specific all right

garrison hey garrison I’m sorry but I’ve

more I have more important plans for

tomorrow be careful the up if you use

that expression the other person will

probably feel very sad and very offended

because you said I have more important

plans than you so it’s like that’s kind

of crushing so instead you can use a

specific thing I’m sorry but I have to

work tomorrow I can’t come so I think a

person understands how work is important

this person needs to do his or her

so I would not recommend more important

plans but thanks for sending that that’s

a really good point

all righty but let’s oh gosh I’m I’ve

talked too much again today so I guess

we’ll take a quick break and then I’ll

introduce the last points quickly at the

end so if you missed it earlier we have

brand new seven brand new PDF cheat

sheets for you if you have not

downloaded these you can do so from the

link below the video on youtube and

above the video on Facebook so these uh

we’ve talked a lot about the original

PDFs many times on the live stream but

this week the team put together seven

totally new ones so there’s like hobbies

with cooking in music and maybe shopping

and there’s some everyday life ones like

around your city or maybe traveling like

at the hotel also emergency words too so

for example today we talked about like a

family emergency

if a family emergency happens how do you

explain that

so maybe check the PDF cheat sheet for

some more vocabulary words to explain

emergency situations yeah

alrighty we have to continue to the next

thing but anyway we only have a couple

minutes left so I’m going to go a little

bit quickly so the last topic for today

is changing plans if you’re just joining

the live stream is almost done but you

can always watch this back you can watch

the archived video later but if you’re

also just joining please please please

hit the like button yeah this one please

hit the like button and share it if you

like to so other people can find the

video but alright today’s last topic is

changing plans let’s change your plans

um changing your plan so let’s look at a

couple of patterns I might have to

decrease the number of example sentences

we’ll see okay but let’s look at the

first two patterns one junior men

and a similar one Junior mentioned this

in the YouTube chat a little bit earlier

but let’s look at these two first my

work schedule changed my work schedule

changed and now I can’t make it on

Sunday or now I can’t make it on

Saturday for example then so okay so

here’s your cancel expression my work

schedule changed and now I can’t make it

I can’t come as we talked about I can’t

come on Saturday I can’t come on Sunday

so here’s our cancelation expression

then here’s the change expression can we

do Sunday instead can we do Monday

instead

so here I’ve used the verb do so we use

do to mean can we do our plan can we do

our activity on a different day but you

don’t need to use a preposition here so

my work schedule changed and now I can’t

make it on Saturday can we do Sunday

instead or my work schedule changed and

now I can’t make it on Tuesday night can

we do Wednesday night instead so here do

means our plan whatever your agreement

was we can make it short and use the

verb do can we do something else

so suggest a different day or a

different time instead hello there first

time watching live on YouTube I can’t

read your name but welcome and then this

one this is similar to what Junior

mentioned earlier hey are you free next

week instead of this week I had

something come up so again here I’ve

used this I’ve used this just for an

example I don’t like this expression

really I think it’s better to use a

specific point something specific that

happened for a reason you can’t come so

but this part is most important I think

in this case because you are beginning

the interaction you’re beginning the

discussion by saying like I want to

change our plans so here this is the

cancellation phrase really but this is

the change phrase hey are you free next

week instead of this week so you can

chain

this to add a hey are you free Saturday

instead of Sunday or hey are you free

tomorrow night instead of Wednesday

night so instead of means like in place

of in place of something alright so

those are a couple um then I suppose I’m

out of time aren’t I Kyle I should

probably wrap it up yes I won’t ask the

last question yeah okay all right no

problem um let’s see I don’t want to

talk about that phrase so I think we’ll

probably we’ll just end it here I

suppose for today and maybe I’ll try to

post like on Twitter I suppose a couple

of the other expressions I wanted to

talk about today just to introduce the

pattern so I’ll post that maybe this

afternoon after the live stream hope

that’s okay so if you’re not following

on Twitter you can check there or find

me there that’s fine

I’ll do that nice compromise okay so

let’s finish there for today because I’m

already late gosh I’m just a chronic /

explainer it’s terrible anyway so those

are a few ways to make and break and

change your plans if you missed today’s

live stream why don’t worry you can

check the video on Facebook on YouTube

or on Twitter so please take a look at

the archived videos there it should be

up very shortly very quickly after we

finish so we’ll finish up today’s lesson

there I hope that it was helpful for you

thank you so much for sending your

example question are your example

sentences and your questions it’s really

really nice um next week we will be back

we will be back with a new live stream

topic next week next week we’re kind of

we’re going back a little bit we did

like job interview discussions job

interview questions a few weeks ago so

next week we’re going to talk about

improving your English resume improving

your English resume yeah so this is our

topic for next week improving your

English so your resume be careful not

resume actually sorry my fault I should

have put an axe

/ this word but resume not resume but

resume resume so your resume is your

work history paperwork so your education

all that stuff so improving your English

resume is our topic for next week okay

so the time will be Wednesday March 7th

at 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time that’s

New York City time New York City time so

that’s Wednesday night next week 9 p.m.

New York City time you can check your

time accordingly so thank you very much

for joining us again this week thank you

so much for liking and sharing the video

and please make sure to check out the

brand-new the 7 brand-new PDF cheat

sheets so I’m going to finish now so

please check the link below the video on

youtube and above the video on Facebook

and Twitter to download all of those for

free so please join us next week next

week Wednesday March 7th I will see you

again then so enjoy the rest of your day

enjoy the rest of your night the rest of

your week I’ll see you again next time

you