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now before they expire first question

this week comes from Silas hi Silas

Silas says hi Alicia how’s it going I’d

like to know the meaning of the

expression weird flex but okay and how

do I use it in a sentence okay this is a

bit of recent slang weird flex but okay

focuses in on the meaning of the word

flex so if you are interested in like

health or like muscle training or

anything like that you might know the

verb to flex so to flex is what we do

when we want to show off a ma

so we have been training so when we flex

a muscle we put energy into the muscle

to make the muscle like stand out we

want it to look bigger like we want to

show off that muscle so when we flex a

muscle we’re trying to show it off we’re

like excited about that thing or we’re

proud about it or something like that

so flex here in this expression weird

flex does not refer to muscle it doesn’t

refer to the body but actually something

else that the speaker or the writer is

trying to show off so it’s something

that seems strange so in the example of

muscles and muscle training like the

person who wants to show off wants to

show their muscles but when we use the

expression weird flex someone is trying

to show off something that seems strange

and then we add but ok at the end to me

I don’t really understand but all right

so to give an example of this if I on

Twitter right like I spent $3,000 on

socks this month who and I talked about

how excited I am I’m like showing off

that I spent $3,000 on socks

someone might respond to me weird flex

but okay so that means like it’s strange

that you want to show off that you spent

$3,000 on socks like that’s a really

strange thing to be excited about but

okay so to give another example your

friend might tell you something like I

have the biggest collection of rocks in

my whole neighborhood and you might say

weird flex but okay so again it’s like

that’s a strange thing that you want to

show off but okay whatever it is like

it’s not hurting anybody it’s just a

little bit weird that you want to show

that off or you want to brag or boast

about that thing so that’s what weird

fluke but okay means you see this one a

lot online I hope that that helps you

thanks very much for this interesting

question okay let’s move on to your next

question next question comes from

Riggins Riggins hi Riggins

Rehana says hi Alicia I’m Riggins from

Haiti I’m good at English but due to a

lack of practice I’ve kinda lost my

touch because I’m sick and tired of the

learning process so I’d like to know how

to keep my English up please

okay first I’m sure that you’re not the

only person like I lose motivation all

the time I would say that if you are

having trouble keeping your motivation

up you should try looking for a

different way to practice or a different

way to use English so for example if

there’s a hobby that you have in your

native language you could try doing that

in English or maybe there’s a book or a

movie that you are really interested in

or that seems cool and you want to

understand that in English I would

suggest trying to find something that’s

not like a traditional textbook or it’s

not a traditional way of learning like

going to a class and doing worksheets

and that kind of thing I would suggest

actually trying to use English in your

everyday life to like do your work or to

study something or to accomplish a hobby

maybe you make a new friend who can

speak only English so I would suggest

finding something outside of a

traditional learning setting to do I

think that that might help you a little

bit with your motivation that has helped

me a lot in the past actually making

friends with people who cannot speak my

language has been hugely motivating for

me and I tried to study the vocabulary

words that they often talk about and I

try to learn from their speech patterns

too so I would suggest trying to find

something to do with other people as

much as possible that uses English so I

hope that this helps you and helps other

people with their motivation issues it

happens to all of us at some point in

time but I hope that these tips can help

thanks very much for this question okay

let’s move on to your next question next

question comes from Amit Farooq hello

Ahmed Ahmed says what is the difference

between May and can okay historically

May is used to ask for permission can is

used to express ability to do something

or lack of ability to

do something so that’s the historical

use of May and can

in today’s English however lots of

people use can to ask for permission to

do something we do not however use May

to talk about ability so let’s take a

look at some examples can I go to the

restroom may I go to the restroom can I

leave early today may I leave early

today so in today’s English these all

refer to the same thing they’re all

requests to use the restroom or to leave

early in today’s American English I

would say that using May tends to sound

a little bit more formal than using can

if you ever want to be sure to sound

polite and to make sure you’re

communicating clearly you can use May

but in most day-to-day conversations we

use can so I hope that this helps you

thanks very much for the question okay

let’s move on to your next question next

question comes from Yovani hi Avani

Yovani says hi Alicia my name is

Giovanni I’m from Venezuela I’ve always

wanted to know the meaning of this

sentence don’t get twisted even though

it’s not used very often Thanks

yeah you’re right this isn’t such a

common expression I found only a few

references to this expression and they

were typically from music actually so

this expression could mean like don’t

get angry or don’t get upset or don’t

get nervous so it prefers to being in

like a negative condition so twist it if

you imagine like a towel do we have we

do yeah for this explanation let’s

imagine like a towel so a regular just

plain towel when we hold the towel looks

like this but if we twist the towel like

this it’s under tension like it’s under

pressure so if we imagine ourselves as

like the towel like we’re under pressure

we’re really tight we’re really tense we

could be angry we could be nervous we

could be upset about something

so if someone says to you don’t get

twisted

it’s like chill out like don’t be upset

don’t be angry relax in other words so I

would guess that this

is what this word means or what this

expression means rather but as you said

this is not such a common expression we

don’t say don’t get twisted really in

American English you might hear people

say something like just chill out as

I’ve said or maybe like don’t worry or

there are a couple of other slightly

more rude expressions that we use too so

I hope that this helps you thanks very

much for the question okay let’s move on

to your next question next question

comes from Malik hi Malik Malik says is

this sentence correct the color of

shirts of players could you explain more

about two possessive nouns in a row

thanks in advance yeah great question

this is kind of tricky so in this

situation we would say the color of the

players shirts so a key here is that

we’re using players and we’re using an

apostrophe after the S in players that

apostrophe is acting as a possessive

apostrophe so we have two ways of

creating the possessive in English we

can use of as in the color of the

players shirts and we can use the

apostrophe s form so for example

Alicia’s would be Alicia apostrophe s

the apostrophe s shows something is

belonging to me that’s my thing Alicia’s

phone so in this situation we have

players players here we’re talking about

shirts that belong to players so it’s

not just one person when a noun ends

with an S we make the plural possessive

form by adding an apostrophe to the end

of the word and we do not add another s

so in this singular form when I said

Alicia’s phone for example

Alicia is one person so I write Alicia

apostrophe s in this example however

because we’re talking about a group of

people players we don’t use an

apostrophe s because the word already

ends in s and it sounds kind of strange

just try to say like players is

something like that so to avoid this we

simply write players with s and

an apostrophe at the end so this shows

the plural form that means plural

possessive apostrophe there it’s very

natural to use that apostrophe form of

the possessive when we’re talking about

something that belongs to a person so

again in my example when I said Alicia’s

phone it sounds quite natural to use

that apostrophe s to show possession as

a person in the plural form two players

shirts

it’s a shirt for shirts that belong to a

player so when we’re not using a person

when we’re using like an object it might

be a little bit more common to see an of

pattern used there in this case it’s

color of the shirts so color is like a

characteristic that belongs to the shirt

or in this case shirts so here it sounds

natural to use the of pattern because

there’s not a person here we’re talking

about the characteristics of an object

color of the shirts so of can be used to

talk about like characteristics of

things and the apostrophe s form can be

used to talk about like things that

belong to people let’s look at one more

example though that uses no people so

for example the color of the seats in

the cars or the color of the cars seats

so we could use either of these patterns

I personally would probably use the

color of the seats in the cars because

we can clearly see like the levels of

belonging first we have color and the

color belongs to the seats and the seats

are in the cars so I think that sounds

much nicer you might see that color of

the cars seats sentence though as we

talked about it’s a little bit less

natural maybe to use the possessive

apostrophe there with car because it’s

not actually a person I think you might

use that though I don’t think it’s

incorrect to use that but I personally

would prefer to use something that kind

of clearly shows the hierarchy the level

of belonging or the levels of belonging

as in the first example the color of the

seats in the car first question this

week comes from Reza hi Reza Reza says

hi Alicia what’s the difference between

in the beach

at the beach and on the beach are they

all correct okay

first in the beach is not used at the

beach and on the beach are both okay we

use at the beach when we want to talk

about the general location we use this

when we’re sharing pictures of ourselves

visiting the beach when we want to talk

about a place to meet and so on so if

you for example take a photo and you

want to post it to Instagram you might

use the caption Here I am at the beach

or today I’m at the beach with my

friends we use at the beach to talk

about the specific location where

something is happening we had a barbecue

at the beach and so on on the other hand

we use on the beach to talk about

activities that happen on the surface of

the beach so this is activities like

lying in the Sun to get a tan for

example or looking for shells on the

beach so these are things that happen on

the surface of the beach like you play

volleyball on the beach these are things

that happen like on the sand you can

think of it as the surface of the beach

so when you want to talk about a

specific location use at the beach let’s

meet at the beach or I saw my friend at

the beach when you want to talk about an

activity that you do on the surface of

the beach you can use on the beach for

example I found this beautiful shell on

the beach or I’m going to lie in the Sun

on the beach so at the beach okay on the

beach okay in the beach not used I hope

that that helps you thanks for the

question okay let’s move on to your next

question next question comes from Sabina

hi Sabina Sabina says hello Alicia I

would like to know the difference

between come back get back and go back

if there are any ok first let’s talk

about come back so come back means to

return to a place you were just at but

we use this when we’re talking from the

perspective of a person who remains in

the original location so if I am here in

front of the camera and son

our camera person leaves I might say no

comeback meaning please return to the

place you were just in I’m still in this

place but I don’t want you to go I want

you to come back return to the place you

were just in so come back in this way

means to return to a place you were at

originally please keep in mind this is

different from come back which does not

have a space to make a comeback means to

return to a place of former glory or a

former like kind of celebrity status so

for example an actor or an actress who

has not appeared in movies or TV for

quite some time might try to make a

comeback and appear in something big and

exciting in order to regain their former

status that is spelled come back with no

space to come back however has a space

between come and back so that’s an

important distinction between these

words now let’s talk about get back get

back and have a couple of different

meanings to get back can have the

meaning of to take revenge we use this

in a situation where someone has done

something wrong or something has

happened that is bad to us and we want

to get revenge on that person we use the

expression to get back at that person

like I’m going to get back at my

roommate for destroying my date or I’m

going to get back at my coworker for

ruining my meeting so to get back at

someone means to take revenge on someone

so like to return a bad action to get

back we can also use get back as a

warning so this means like step away

from a dangerous place so imagine for

example you are near the edge of a cliff

or you’re near a river that’s very

dangerous if you’re near the river very

close to the edge of the river and it

looks really dangerous someone might say

to you get back which means move away

from the edge of the river move away

from this dangerous position you might

hear this in movies a lot like in action

scenes especially one character might

say no get back meaning move your body

physic

in a backwards motion or in a backwards

direction from this dangerous thing so

get back also has this meaning and then

one more point about the expression get

back you might know this expression from

like the famous Beatles song they say

get back to where you once belonged this

has a similar meaning of comeback like I

talked about earlier so to get back to a

place means to regain your position

somewhere like if you’re playing a video

game and you die and you have to

continue the game again to get back to

the position you were at you would use

that verb we do not use come back in

that way because we use come back for

like celebrity status or like same that

kind of thing to make a comeback we

might also use that in sports when we

want to talk about going back to a

position we were at before but it’s not

like a super cool position you’re just

kind of regaining lost time you can use

to get back so the last word in your

list is go back go back so to go back to

something is used in very specific

situations it’s usually used in like

presentations like PowerPoint

presentations or like if you’re showing

someone photos or something like that

and you want them to return to the

previous page or to the previous item so

if you’re doing like a PowerPoint

presentation for example and someone in

your audience says like oh can you go

back to the last slide it means can you

return so this go back means return we

can also use go back to mean return to a

physical place we were in like I talked

about with come back at the beginning of

this answer but we use go back when were

the person that’s returning so in my

earlier example about the camera person

leaving the room during the shoot the

camera person might say I’m going to go

back into the room so go back can have a

few different uses come back go back and

get back are all quite different though

so please try to keep this in mind okay

I hope that that helps you understand

the differences between these words

thanks very much for your question

alright let’s move along to your next

question next question comes from Dewey

citta again hi Dewey Dewey says what

says

take someone or something for granted

mean okay

so to take something or someone for

granted means to assume or to expect

that someone or something will always be

there to support you like you forget to

show appreciation for something so a

good example is like my boyfriend or my

girlfriend took me for granted that

means my boyfriend or my girlfriend

assumed I would always be there to

support them to help them to give them

what they need to do whatever it takes

to assist them in some way so this has a

very negative meaning about it because

each person chooses who to support and

in what way to support those people and

so when we don’t get appreciation we may

feel very bad about that so if I say my

boyfriend took me for granted or my

girlfriend took me for granted it would

show that I have a negative

understanding or a negative view of that

situation that person did not express

appreciation for my support and so I

feel upset about that so to take someone

for granted is not a good thing to take

someone or something for granted is

considered a negative thing so please

don’t do this okay the reason that this

seems quite negative is it’s almost like

the person who is taking someone else

for granted is like expecting a free

service almost so if I say oh my

boyfriend took me for granted it’s like

he’s just expecting me to for example

cook for him or to support his work or

something like that without showing any

appreciation or any kind of recognition

to avoid this kind of situation you show

your appreciation to the people who

support you this is a pretty easy way to

make sure that you never make someone

feel like they have been taken for

granted

so I hope that this helps you with the

understanding of this phrase thanks very

much for the question okay let’s move

along to your next question next

question comes from tram nuyen hi tram

tram says dear Alisha I hope you’re fine

I’m a fan of your podcast could you

please give me some rules or tips for

pronouncing proper nouns such as human

names geographical names and so on it’s

hard to say these names properly

if you haven’t heard them before thanks

yeah really good question

I would suggest using YouTube especially

if you’re looking for a famous place or

if you’re looking for a famous person I

would suggest searching YouTube to find

some videos about that place or about

that person so in many cases you can

just find like a presentation or you can

find maybe something about tourism in

that area and that will give you the

correct pronunciation of that places

name or that person’s name keep in mind

though that even though there are words

that are spelled the same in English

they don’t always have the same

pronunciation this is especially true

with names a great example is my name

it’s spelled al is H a I pronounce it

Alicia

some people might choose to pronounce it

Alicia so that’s up to personal

preference you have to ask the person

what they want to be called in those

cases so it’s up to you to ask that

person so those are kind of specific

cases with names if it’s a famous name

or a famous place you should be able to

find a resource on YouTube if you really

want to be sure about your pronunciation

if however you’re just reading a name in

a book and it’s a character in a book I

would say make your best guess this

happens with native speakers all the

time especially in like fantasy novels

where the names of characters are kind

of strange they’re unusual kind of

fantastic if you can’t read the name and

you’re not sure about the pronunciation

that’s totally okay just choose a name

choose an understanding or choose a

pronunciation that works for you to

understand the story this is what native

speakers do as well and then in

conversations we compare our

pronunciations if there’s anything that

happens like that if there’s like a

character a name that we don’t know we

ask each other how do you say this name

how do you save this person’s name and

then you can kind of decide on the

correct pronunciation in your group in

that case so in some Czech YouTube for

famous places talk to people

individually if you have questions about

their name pronunciation but if it’s

just something you’re reading in a book

and it doesn’t really affect other

people if you just need to know a

character name pronunciation make your

best guess so I hope that this helps you

thanks for this question okay let’s move

on to your next question next question

comes from Douglas otávio hi Douglas

Douglas says hi Alicia I saw the phrase

let’s hope in a movie what does it mean

PS the movie was the American assassin

yeah so let’s hope is usually said after

a desired outcome so for example speaker

a might say this restaurant is really

popular but I think we can get a

reservation and speaker B might say mmm

let’s hope so

let’s hope is short for let’s hope for

that outcome that you just mentioned so

you have to go back to the previous

sentence and the conversation in this

case I think we can get a reservation

that’s the thing that the speaker wants

that’s the desired result speaker B is

agreeing with speaker a by saying let’s

hope which means I also want that

outcome I hope that we can achieve that

outcome so let’s hope connects to the

thing that was previously said so let’s

look at one more example that uses this

phrase speaker a might say the Sun is

going down but I think we can finish our

hike by sunset

speaker B could say let’s hope meaning I

hope that we have the ability to finish

our hike by sunset so it connects to the

previous phrase in the conversation so I

hope that this helps you understand the

expression and job interview questions

and a few responses to those job

interview questions so let’s go tell me

a little about yourself statement number

one is tell me a little about yourself

or tell me a little bit about yourself

this is a very common interview

introduction question or the first

question in an interview tell me about

yourself is just an open question please

share or basically introduce yourself

this usually means you should share what

you studied in college your work

experience any like personal projects

you’ve tried to do or have successfully

done other experience you think is

relevant so this is an invitation for

you to give like a general introduction

about yourself in an example sentence

well I got my bachelor’s degree in

biochemistry

how did you hear about the position how

did you hear about the position how did

you hear about the position this

question means how did you learn about

this job that you are interviewing for

how did you find this job opening so how

did you hear about the position this is

where you can explain maybe where you

found the information about the job so

you found it on the Internet in the

newspaper you heard from a friend you

were contacted by a recruiter so there

are a few different ways that you can

share with your interviewer how you

found the position how you heard about

the job in a sentence I found an

advertisement about the job on the

Internet

why are you interested in this position

next is why are you interested in the

position why are you interested in the

position this is your chance to explain

why you want this job why are you

interested in this position so usually

you should not say for the money or

because this is a really I don’t know

there are a lot of attractive people at

this company I don’t know you should say

something in response to this question

about your career goals or maybe

something specific about the company

that you like or something very specific

about the job that is available there

and how you feel your skills are a match

for that job

so explain why you’re interested in that

position the reason you decided to apply

for that job in a sentence I think I’m a

good fit for the company and its goals

why should we hire you the next

interview question is why should we hire

you why should we hire you so this is

your opportunity to explain why you feel

you are the best candidate for the job

so if you have any special

qualifications you have certifications

you have specific experience you have a

specific goal in mind this is the kind

of question you can share that

information in response to why should we

hire you because I can speak six

different languages and I know how

to create a website in ten minutes I

don’t know so if you have some kind of

special qualifications you can share

those qualifications in response to this

question in another example sentence I’m

a goal-oriented person who likes to work

at a fast pace what do you consider your

strengths and weaknesses the next

question is a common question what do

you consider your strengths and

weaknesses what do you consider your

strengths and weaknesses or what are

your strengths and weaknesses so

strengths means strong points things you

are good at weaknesses is your weak

points things you are not very good at

so you can you should be honest to a

degree but be careful so this should be

in a professional setting keep that in

mind it’s a professional setting if you

want to talk about your weaknesses don’t

say like I eat too much chocolate or

don’t say like I love sleeping or

whatever talk about your professional

strengths and your professional

weaknesses and also with your weaknesses

it would be a good idea to talk about

how you improve those weaknesses or how

you work with your team members or work

in a company to try to reduce the effect

of those weaknesses so for example I’m

very detail-oriented but I often take on

too much at one time so like in my case

that’s the case like I’m very

detail-oriented but I often take on too

much so do too many things at one time

so I could explain ok so I’m very

detail-oriented but if I’m trying to

take on too much I truck maybe I say I

communicate with my co-workers about

what should be prioritized and that

helps me organize my time better so when

you introduce your weakness talk about

the ways you kind of you try to reduce

the effect of that weakness that can be

one technique so your good points and

your bad points in this question tell me

about a time when you overcame a

challenge at work some interviewers may

ask this question tell me about a time

when you overcame a challenge at work so

it’s not really a question they’re

asking you to tell a story so tell me

about a time when you over

a challenge at work so they want to hear

an example from your professional

experience about how you solved a

problem what did you do to solve a

problem at work they want to know what

kind of problem it was and how you

approach the problem and the results of

that problem so you could say for

example our company party was scheduled

for the day before Christmas but the

restaurant exploded and I had to find a

new place to have the party I don’t know

that’s not a course a crazy example but

giving your employer an idea of how you

solve problems and maybe the kind of

mental state you have when you solve the

problems can be helpful in making a

hiring decision so in an example when I

was having trouble communicating with a

client I reached out to a co-worker for

support what are your career goals the

next question is what are your career

goals your career goals

so not necessarily in this company but

in your career overall in the interview

it’s probably a good idea to include the

company and where you are currently

interviewing in your career goals but

keep in mind like you should be

explaining a goal or you should be

sharing a goal that is in line with the

company’s work so if your goal is to

open a cupcake shop but you’re

interviewing for like an IT job where

you’re going to be like I don’t know

installing Windows 10 on people’s

computers maybe this doesn’t really

match so make sure that your career goal

and the job you’re interviewing for

align those two should be kind of

aligned it’ll help your interviewer and

it will help you I think so in an

example sentence I want to create a

global advertising campaign strategy so

maybe you’re interviewing for a

marketing job for example you could say

that’s your career goal I would love to

design a global marketing campaign

strategy for example where do you see

yourself in five years

the next question a very common one

where do you see yourself in five years

where do you see yourself in five years

this question means after five years

five years

from this point in time what is your

vision for you what is your vision of

yourself professionally so what do you

want to have achieved after five years

so a good tip for this question is to

explain where you will be having made

contributions to the company where you

are interviewing so if I’m interviewing

an apple and apple says where do you see

yourself in five years Elisha and I say

I see myself at Microsoft like that

sounds really bad so try to share your

your goals for yourself in a five-year

period but again try to align them with

the company where you’re interviewing

and explain like how you plan to

contribute to the company and develop

yourself professionally that can be a

really good way to answer this question

for example I see myself in a managerial

position in this company working on

multiple projects for multiple markets

why do you want to work here the next

question is why do you want to work here

why do you want to work here so similar

to why are you interested in this

position that one’s like that question

is very much about this job in

particular but the question why do you

want to work here means why do you want

to work in this company like in this

place specifically so share something

about the company that you like or share

something some reason the company is

attractive to you as a candidate so

maybe it’s the location or maybe it’s

the ability to work overseas or maybe

it’s an international environment or

maybe you can use your English skills

some reason why you’re interested in

working at this company specifically

share that after this question so

example I think there’s a lot to learn

and I think there are opportunities for

promotion do you have any questions for

me last one the last question is very

common do you have any questions for me

do you have any questions for me

interviewers will often ask this

question at the end of an interview

inviting the candidate to ask questions

about the company it is usually a very

good idea to prepare some questions for

the interviewer so it’s it’s also a good

idea to

research your company or research the

university or interviewing four before

the interview so if you have questions

about the company company policy that

sort of thing it’s a great chance to ask

your interviewer generally however it’s

not a good idea to ask specific

questions about pay or vacation in the

interview as you can be seen as maybe -

being - money or to vacation focused

that might come a little later if you

say what’s the salary for this job like

unless it’s a situation unless it’s a

kind of a closed situation that might be

too direct a question but instead ask

some things about the company ask your

interviewer what it’s like to work there

what your interviewer thinks is good

about working for the company or maybe

what your interviewer thinks the

company’s planning to do over the next

few years

ask something of your interviewer so it

shows that you are interested in that

company and that you want to learn more

and participate more with that company

so make sure to have some questions

prepared when your interviewer asks do

you have any questions for me so example

question what do you think is the most

rewarding part about working here ten

internet and texting phrases these are

acronyms so words that are made from the

beginning letter of other words you’ll

see let’s get started okay lol the first

word the first acronym is lol you could

read it as law if you want lol stands

for laugh out loud or laughing out loud

we use this in text and on the internet

when something is funny you receive a

funny picture lol you see something

funny in a video lol you read something

funny lol so lol is used to express

laughter in a sentence what a funny

picture lol go8 e next is go8 e it

spells goat but it actually means

greatest of all time greatest of all

time goats this is this acronym goat you

can use this after something that you

think is really great like the best of

something the

amazing of something you have an amazing

I don’t know amazing lunch and you take

a picture posted on Instagram geo 80

like this salad something like that or

like a in this sentence I made of that

Beyonce performance Geo 80 like greatest

of all time so you think something is

the best you can use Geo 84 that okay

FYI next one is fYI fYI is used in text

and internet communications but we also

use it in speech we can also use fYI in

speech it’s okay in business as well fYI

means for your information for your

information blah blah blah just giving

you some information so anytime you want

to provide extra information you can use

FYI

so fYI the BBQ is still on tomorrow

though it’s gonna rain or fYI I’m

leaving in 30 minutes so if you need to

talk to me do it now or in this sentence

fYI I have to leave early today

BRB the next one is BRB BRB BRB means be

right back be right back I’m going to go

away for a moment and come back very

quickly so be right back means very soon

I’m coming back be right back

BRB sometimes especially young people

use BRB in speech as well like they’re

leaving the room for a moment at Mare

Bay and then they come back to so some

of these words are used actually in

speech particularly among young people

in a sentence I’m gonna grab a snack BRB

oMG the next one is extremely popular

the next one is OMG OMG means oh my god

oh my god oh my god so very very useful

expression you can use oMG for surprise

for anger for sadness for any extreme

emotion causes surprise causes some

whenever whenever you want to use oh my

god to express an extreme emotion you

can use this so you see something funny

oMG lol you can

buying these like the first word lol oMG

lol that video haha you can use hey hey

hey and hahaha for laughter by the way I

use that H eh eh e or HHH a so you can

use that or you can use lol but oMG oh

my god that’s what we use to express

that feeling that OH

shock feeling oMG so in a sentence we

could say oMG I can’t believe it oh my

god I can’t believe it okay what the

next one is w UT actually sorry this one

is not an acronym this is not an acronym

it’s a misspelling actually so the

pronunciation of this is what what so a

very strong u sound

this comes from the word what wh eighty

what what but we use a misspelling in

the on the internet and with text and

stuff to imply like kind of a dumb

feeling like when you when you want to

say what like you’re confused about

something but the situation is very very

dumb or it’s just um it’s hard to

understand or confusing or doesn’t make

sense you can use what like a very it

has like a very like kind of dumb sound

the same you sound in dumb is in what so

it’s like what instead of what which has

a stronger a sound so we use what in in

situations where yeah something doesn’t

make sense so like my roommate didn’t

come home last night

what so it’s something that’s a little

bit confusing that might be a little

more of an extreme example actually in

this sentence your roommate wants a dog

but doesn’t want to pay for it what so

again this is something that’s used more

in text it’s hard to make the sound

accurately in speech I suppose it’s it’s

hard to detect but when you spell what

incorrectly w UT it gives the impression

that the situation doesn’t make sense

it’s it’s kind of stupid or strange and

it shows you are confused it shows

something doesn’t make sense to you so

this is more common well actually this

is primarily used this is mostly used in

text only we don’t use it so much in

speech okay

bTW the next one is bTW bTW means by the

way by the way young people will use BT

Dubbs or yeah BT Dubbs instead of bTW in

conversation by the way is just giving

extra information about something so

like anytime you would use by the way in

conversation you can use bTW on the

internet I don’t recommend this for

business emails or business writing but

in like on Twitter or Facebook Instagram

so on you can use bTW to mean by the way

very convenient in a sentence bTW can

you give me back the money you owe me

afaik the next one is afaik afaik means

as far as I know as far as I know this

expression means with the information I

have here is my understanding of the

situation so as far as I know means my

understanding is blah blah blah so as

far as I know our barbecue is going to

happen at 3:00 tomorrow or as far as I

know the meeting is still on for today

or as far as I know I’m dog sitting for

my neighbor this weekend so according to

my information this is the situation as

far as I know a a I K okay one more

afaik we’re still meeting on Sunday iirc

the next expression or the next acronym

is i RC III RC means if I recall

correctly recall means remember if I

recall correctly so meaning if my memory

is correct this is the situation if I

recall correctly

spider-man’s real name is Peter Parker

or if I recall correctly donuts have no

calories lol so if I recall correctly

um Tokyo at the capital city of Japan so

this is like if I remember correctly or

if my memory is correct this is what I

think or this is the information iirc so

you might see this like on message

boards and discussion boards in

particular here one more sentence iirc

we’re supposed to meet in front of the

station diem the next one is DM DM means

direct message direct message so this is

very common on like Twitter and Facebook

and Instagram very common on social

media and other social media portals DM

direct message so for example on Twitter

we can send public messages among users

but to send a direct message means other

people cannot see that message so a DM

is a direct message to someone so in a

sentence you could say DM me your email

address 10 words for talking about sleep

let’s go to wake up the first word is to

wake up to wake up is to open your eyes

probably in your bed or the place where

you are sleeping to wake up is to to

become conscious to become awake every

day you wake up presumably hopefully in

a sentence I woke up three times last

night to get up to get out of bed all

right the next word is to get up or to

get out of bed so that means to

physically move your body from your bed

out of bed to stand up from your bed to

get out of your bed we say to get up or

to get out of bed in a sentence I got up

at 8 o’clock this morning to snooze the

next word is to snooze so we have to

snooze and alarm and also to snooze so

to snooze means to take a short sleep to

have a short sleeping time or to snooze

and alarm is when your alarm goes off in

the morning you have a button most alarm

clocks have

button you can press so the alarm will

turn on again in like you know five or

ten minutes or something so to snooze an

alarm is to like to ask your alarm to

wake you up again a few minutes later

that’s to snooze so we have to snooze an

alarm and to snooze meaning like a short

light sleep in a sentence I always

snooze my alarm at least once that is

usually true to oversleep the next word

is to oversleep to oversleep means to

sleep too much or to sleep late actually

no it doesn’t mean to sleep late to

sleep late means just to sleep until a

late time in the day oversleep means

sleeping beyond the time you wanted to

get up so for example if my alarm is set

for 8 o’clock

but I wake up at 9 o’clock I overslept I

slept beyond my wake-up time so we can

use oversleep to talk about times when

you sleep too much you sleep more than

your body needs you to so maybe your

body needs depending on the person like

six to nine hours or so but if you sleep

like 14 hours we can say that’s over

sleeping you’re sleeping too much hmm

that’s the nuance here in a sentence I

overslept on my first day of work

nap the next word is nap nap is a short

sleep so a nap is maybe 30 minutes one

hour just a short sleep a short rest so

a lot of people will take a nap in the

afternoon for example or maybe children

actually take naps for example in

preschool or when they’re very very

young they have a an afternoon nap a

short sleep like yeah just a like an

hour or so I imagine in a sentence I

love naps actually I do like naps I

don’t like naps because when I take a

nap it becomes asleep it’s always like I

wake up four hours later and I’m like

okay well I’ve destroyed my sleep

schedule dream the next word is dream

dreams so dreams are those those vision

those images you see those experiences

it seems like you have when you are

asleep in a sentence I always have weird

dreams nightmare so the next word is

nightmare nightmare is a word which

means bad dream or scary dream negative

dream so children maybe have nightmares

a lot they wake up crying or they’re

really upset by nightmares monsters

terrifying things happening and so on

in a sentence do you ever have

nightmares to go to bed the next word is

to go to bed so before we talked about

to get up or to get out of bed this is

the opposite to go to bed means to get

in your bed to to try to go to sleep to

go to bed in a sentence I usually go to

bed fairly late to hit the hay to hit

the sack the next expression is kind of

a I don’t know a slang expression we

have to hit the hay and to hit the sack

these both mean to go to bed they both

mean to try to fall asleep but we just

use them in more casual situations the

image here of hit the hay is with your

body hitting hay like laying down in hay

I believe historically because hay was

used to stuff things that people slept

on so that’s why we have this expression

to hit the hay with your body

same thing for to hit the sack so a sack

full of something soft to sleep on is

where this expression comes from in a

sentence I think I’m gonna hit the hay

to fall asleep the next expression it is

to fall asleep to fall asleep you’re in

bed and you finally you lose

consciousness you you stop being aware

you are asleep in that moment we say you

fall asleep in a sentence it takes me a

long time to fall asleep all right

okay let’s begin with the basic

definition of the verb cell cell means

to give money in exchange for an item or

a service to sell something examples I

sold my car we’re selling our house

let’s look at the conjugations for this

verb present cell cells past sold past

participle sold progressive selling

okay so now let’s talk about an

additional meaning for this verb so a

different meaning for the verb cell is

to convince someone of something or to

convince someone about something to

persuade someone of something examples

you’ve sold me on this idea he’s

terrible at selling himself he always

fails interviews so to sell is like to

convince someone of something we see

that in the first example you sold me on

this idea you convinced me that this was

a good idea in other words you’ve

persuaded me about this thing so you

were successful in convincing me

something of something that you want me

to believe you sold me in the second

example sentence he’s terrible at

selling himself so to sell yourself in

that case means to convince someone else

that you’re a good choice or you’re a

good option to sell yourself in this way

in this context means you’re trying to

convince someone persuade someone that

maybe you’re a good candidate for a job

for example so this meaning is like to

convince someone of something usually

that something is good really to

convince to sell someone on an idea or

to sell yourself to sell oneself as well

so there are a lot of variations that I

want to talk about for this verb now so

let’s look at some variations for the

verb cell the first variation is to sell

out to sell out actually there are two

different meanings for this so let’s

take a look at the first one the first

meaning of to sell out means to

compromise for the sake of an advantage

so this is often used in like arts and

entertainment so an artist will

compromise his or her work in order to

get some advantage usually money

examples my favorite band sold out many

politicians have sold out over the last

few years so both of these examples

refer to someone changing their artistic

viewpoint or changing their opinions

changing their behavior in order to

receive some advantage in the first

example sentence my favorite bands sold

out it sounds like the band stopped

doing something that made them unique

and instead for example joined a label

or joined a company and they are now

following the company’s orders in

exchange for money in the second example

sentence politicians have sold out it’s

like the politicians have changed their

opinions or their behaviors in exchange

for some money or some kind of

compensation so this is changing your

ideas for advantage let’s move on to the

second variation for how to use sell out

to sell out means to run out of

inventory so you sell everything you

sell completely all the stock all the

inventory of something there’s nothing

left examples we sold out of shirts this

morning

they’re worried they’re going to sell

out of products so to sell out means to

have nothing left of anything so one

point of caution to sell out while there

are these two different meanings of

compromising your artistic ideas and not

having any inventory of a product

because you’ve sold everything in cases

like the first example sentence in the

first meeting we talked about my

favorite band sold out depending on the

context that can mean the band’s sold

out of concert tickets for example if a

band or an artist is coming to a city or

some other performer is coming to do an

event that can refer to like the event

selling out or maybe a product offered

by the band selling out so listen

carefully to the context if it’s a

criticism of the artist or the performer

it’s probably referring to the artist

compromising their ideas if it’s talking

about like an event a performance and

like no tickets being left or no

products being left then it’s probably

about no inventory so pay attention to

the context here to understand the

correct meaning of sell out in these

cases okay

let’s continue on to the next variation

which is to sell someone or something

short to sell someone short to sell

something short this expression means to

not consider something as valuable as it

actually is

examples don’t sell yourself short don’t

sell your friend short I think he has

hidden talents so you can see that I’m

using don’t at the beginning of both of

these examples we commonly use don’t

with this expression don’t sell yourself

short don’t sell someone else short

means don’t devalue yourself or don’t

devalue another person or another thing

in other words explain the true value of

yourself or explain the true value of

that thing don’t sell yourself short

don’t sell your friend short so

recognize the actual value in the thing

you’re discussing the next variation is

to sell one’s soul to the devil so

sometimes we’ll drop this to the devil

we use the expression to sell your soul

or to sell

one’s soul this expression means to

agree to do something which is usually

negative in exchange for some kind of

advantage usually money or some other

kind of I don’t know compensation so

examples of this she sold her soul when

she signed the contract he’s going to

sell his soul in exchange for Fame so in

these examples sentences we see that

someone has made a decision that is very

serious we know that because we see the

expression sell your soul or sell one’s

soul so when we imagine like a soul is

kind of like the core perhaps of a human

being and we’re selling it it’s like the

most important thing we could sell it’s

like the most valuable thing we have so

to sell it implies a very important or

big decision in the first example

sentence when it says she sold her soul

when she signed the contract it’s like

she lost a key part of herself she gave

a key part of herself to this company

perhaps when she signed a contract in

exchange for some kind of advantage in

the second example sentence the he in

the example he wants Fame and he’s going

to sell his soul he will give something

in order to get famous in other words so

these are sort of situations that also

imply a negative thing that the other

person has agreed to do so maybe in the

second example sentence he’s agreed to

do something negative or something

that’s suspicious in exchange for Fame

so there’s there’s a negative nuance

here for sure

the basic definition of the verb pole is

to move something usually towards your

body this motion to pull examples of

this he pulled his coffee mug across the

table she pulled the lamp string okay

now let’s look at the conjugations for

this verb present pole poles past hold

past participle pulled progressive

pulling

so now let’s talk about some additional

meanings for this firm

the first additional meaning is to

remove something from its place some

examples my brother and I used to pull

weeds every summer I pulled out a few

gray hairs this morning so to pull in

this case is to remove something from

its original place in the first example

sentence my brother and I used to pull

weeds it means we’ve removed weeds from

the ground we pulled weeds from their

original place in the ground and took

them out in the second example sentence

it’s about pulling grey hair so removing

gray hairs from their original place to

pull we use to pull to describe this

okay let’s go on to the second

additional meaning now the second

additional meaning is to remove

something from a publication this can

mean TV

it can mean magazines newspapers to

remove something usually because that

thing is offensive or it’s incorrect or

it’s inappropriate there’s some problem

with it examples pull the story from the

newspaper

TV show pulled the controversial photos

from its segment so in both of these

examples content is being removed from

some kind of media source or some kind

of publication because there’s a problem

with it in the first example sentence

it’s pulled the story so that means the

story the entire story there’s some

problem with it it needs to be removed

in the second example sentence it’s

about controversial photos controversial

photos are pulled from a segment so that

means there’s some problem there’s some

issue they have to be removed we use the

verb pole to refer to this usually in

media situations let’s go on to the

third additional meaning for this verb

to attract a person or people meaning to

draw people in examples fake celebrities

always pull big crowds we pulled in a

lot of new customers at the event so

here it means attracted or drew people

so in the first example sentence big

celebrities always pull big crowds means

attract pole means attract big

celebrities always draw in or attract a

lot of people in other words in the

second example sentence which was we

pulled in a lot of new customers

it means we drew we attracted a lot of

new customers you’ll also notice that

I’ve used pulled in there so you can use

pulled in to refer to attracting people

as well to pull in so you might see that

or you might see as in the first example

sentence to pull big crowds okay let’s

go on to the fourth additional meaning

of this verb the fourth additional

meaning is to get information like from

researching something examples pull all

the files about the criminal

investigation I pulled this photo from

his website so this means to get

information but usually with the kind of

feeling of doing some research so in the

first example sentence pull all the

files about the criminal investigation

it means go and get all the files or go

do some research find all the files and

get them so we’re doing some kind of

research or some sort of investigate

and we need information we can use the

verb pole to refer to getting that

information in the second sentence I

pulled this photo from his website it

means I got this photo from his website

but it sounds like I went to his website

for some kind of research purpose and I

got the photo there

so now let’s move along to some

variations and other ways to use this

verb the first expression is to pull

oneself together to pull oneself

together it means to regain your

composure to become calm once again

examples

pull yourself together it’s just a small

mistake he needs to pull himself

together and get back to work so in both

of these examples there’s someone who’s

kind of panicking maybe or they’re

having trouble staying calm and composed

we can use the expression pull yourself

together

to mean like imagine pulling yourself

pulling all the parts of yourself

together again to make like this calm

composed person in the second example

sentence he needs to pull himself

together and get back to work it means

he needs to regain his calm composed

manner and go back to his job so to pull

yourself together means just to regain

your calm state I guess you’ll also

notice that this is commonly used

reflexively he needs to pull himself

together reflexive means that the

subject and the object of the verb are

the same person so he needs to pull

himself you’ll see there or you should

pull yourself together

so the subject and the object are the

same person the next variation is the

expression to pull one’s weight to pull

one’s weight this means to do your fair

share of a job or a task to do the

things that you are assigned to do your

parts okay so oh this could be for work

it could be for another activity a job a

project whatever examples everyone needs

to pull their weight on the team he’s

not pulling his weight on this project

what happened so in the first example

sentence everyone needs to pull their

weight on the team it means each person

needs to do his or her job each person

needs to do his or her tasks each person

has some responsibilities it’s their job

to do those things that’s pulling their

weight in the second example sentence

he’s not pulling his weight on the

project what happened that means because

it’s negative he’s not doing his part in

the project he’s not doing the things he

was assigned to do why what happened

what’s

problem so to pull your weight is

typically something you should do at

work you want to pull your weight you’re

fulfilling your tasks you’re doing the

jobs that are assigned to you it’s your

responsibility okay let’s go on to a

third variation another way to use this

verb the expression is to pull rank to

pull rank this means using your power or

using authority to make someone do

something examples

my supervisor tried to pull rank on me

to get me to write fake customer reviews

but I refused

seems the CEO pulled rank on the

department manager they’re working on

his new project so to pull rank means to

use your rank to use your position in

order to make other people do something

so in the first example sentence where a

supervisor tries to pull rank on the

speaker it means the supervisor tries to

use his or her power to get this person

the speaker in this case to write

customer reviews that are not real

customer reviews so they’re trying to

get this person to do something they

don’t want to do because of their

position of power or authority we see

this in the second example sentence 2

but it was a successful situation so the

CEO pulled rank on the department

manager we know this because the people

in the department presumably are working

on the CEOs new project so that means

the CEO was successful in convincing the

department manager to work on this

project so to pull rank means to use

your power or use your authority to make

something happen

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