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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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