10 Essential Advanced English Phrases
Hi, I’m Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.
Are you ready to speak advanced English?
Let’s do it.
It’s a fact, the more advanced English vocabulary
you know, the more you’ll be able to understand
advanced, normal, natural English conversations.
And that’s what I’d like to help you with
today.
Today, you’re going to learn 10 essential
advanced English phrases.
These aren’t phrases for only business English,
but you can use some in professional situations.
These aren’t phrases that are just slang.
These are phrases that you will hear and you
can use in everyday conversation.
I use these phrases all the time, and I have
a feeling that you will be able to use them
all the time too.
All of these phrases that you’re about to
learn were in my course the 30 Day English
Listening Challenge Pack 5 that came out on
January 1, 2021.
Each daily lesson featured three new vocabulary
words, so a total of 90 words over the 30
lessons.
Make sure to check out the course up here.
Well, as we practice these words today, I
challenge you to speak out loud and try to
imitate my sample sentences.
This will help your speaking practice.
It will help your pronunciation.
And I hope it will also help your confidence
to grow in English as well.
All right, let’s get started with the first
essential advanced English phrase.
Phrase number one, nothing wrong with that
or nothing wrong with…
Let’s imagine that you’re in school and a
bully says, “Where’d you get your haircut?
Did you trip and some scissors cut your hair?”
This is very rude, very mean, and so your
friend might say to you, “Don’t listen to
those bullies.
There is nothing wrong with your haircut.”
So, this is a comforting or consoling way
to help someone feel better.
There’s nothing wrong with your haircut.
Don’t listen to that rude person.
Or you might say, “There’s nothing wrong with
not following every fashion trend.”
Maybe you like a classic style of clothing,
something that will be in fashion forever.
So, you don’t follow yearly fashion trends.
Well, you might say, “Yeah, there’s nothing
wrong with not following every fashion trend.
I dress the way that I want to dress.”
Advanced phrase number two is, “A man of few
words.”
We might say, “My grandfather is a man of
few words.
So, when he speaks, I give him my full attention.”
Can you imagine what this means?
It means someone who doesn’t speak much, but
when they speak, they have a lot of importance
in their words.
Maybe they are a person of action, instead
of a person of words.
Now, in this phrase, it says “a man of few
words”, and let’s be honest, it is often men
who are this type of person, but of course
we could use this for women as well.
Let’s take a look at this sentence.
“My boss is a man of few words.
So, when he gave me a compliment I felt really
proud.”
He doesn’t say much.
He is a man of few words, but he gave me a
compliment.
Wow.
He said my presentation was really organized
and helpful.
This really was a high value to me.
That meant a lot to me because he doesn’t
say much.
So when he says things, oh, it’s so valuable.
He is a man of few words.
Essential phrase number three is “the be-all
and end-all”.
Take a look at this sentence and try to guess
what you think it means.
Some people think that money is the be-all
and end-all.
Or we could say, “Some people think that money
is the be-all and end-all in life.”
What do you think this means?
It means that this is the most absolutely
important thing in life.
Sometimes this phrase can be changed.
There’s a couple of different ways to say
this phrase.
We might say, “Money is the be-all and end-all.”
I don’t exactly agree with that, but that’s
our sample statement here.
Or we could say, “Love is the be-all and end-all.”
Or we could say, “Love is the end-all and
be-all.”
So here, we’re switching those two phrases,
or we could take out the word “and” completely
and say, “Love is the end-all, be-all,” or
“the be-all, end-all in life.”
So, there’s a couple of different ways that
you might hear this.
My recommendation is our original expression,
“Love is the be-all and end-all in life.”
You can use that full phrase, but you might
hear it in a couple of different ways.
Here’s another sample sentence.
“I thought that the actor was the be-all,
end-all until I realized that he was rude
to his manager and then I stopped caring about
him.”
So, that means that I thought this actor was
the best, the most amazing person, or the
most amazing actor, celebrity until I learned
some bad news about his character or his personality.
In the sentence, I just said he is the be-all
end-all.
Great.
But we could use any of those other variations
too.
I’m curious to know, what do you think is
the be-all and end-all in life?
Let me know in the comments.
Essential phrase number four is to “hit close
to home”.
We’re going to think about this in a figurative
sense.
And I’d like to explain how this phrase was
used in the listening challenge course.
And then, you can get kind of a better picture
for it.
So, in the listening challenge, we heard a
clip from a speaker.
Her name is Alysha, and she works in a fabric
mill or in a fiber mill.
This is a business that’s close to my home.
And I was talking with her and this is where
she works.
She works with fiber or materials like wool
every day.
This is her business or her job.
Well, she heard about a fabric or fiber mill
collapse in Bangladesh.
Maybe you remember this?
I think it was back in 2011, it’s called the
Rana Plaza Factory collapse.
Really tragic situation.
And it was a similar business, but in Bangladesh.
So, it was a similar type of job that she
has.
Her job is a good job.
It’s safe.
She loves this job, but this same type of
job that was happening in Bangladesh ended
in tragedy for these people.
So, for Alysha, when she heard about that
factory collapse and over a thousand people
died in that collapse, well, she might say
that factory collapse hit close to home for
me.
She doesn’t live in Bangladesh.
She doesn’t know anyone who lives in Bangladesh.
She doesn’t know anyone who works at that
factory, but because she feels connected to
those people because they have the same job,
well, that tragedy was kind of a deeper level
of sadness for her.
It hit close to home.
Let’s take a look at another example.
The movie about a sick grandmother hit close
to home for me because my grandmother recently
passed away.
In this situation, there is something similar
to my personal life circumstance, a movie
about a sick grandmother.
Well, maybe for other people, it’s sad, but
you know, it’s just a movie.
But for me, that was very personal.
It was another level in me because of something
that happened in my personal life.
So, my grandmother passed away.
And then when I watched this movie, it hit
close to home.
It reminded me of a personal situation in
my life.
So, you can use this if something happens
that is not really connected to you, but is
kind of a sad situation or a tragic situation.
But you feel like, “Oh, that could have been
me.”
Or, “Oh, that reminds me of a sad time in
my life.”
There is a connection to you from this event
that’s not necessarily part of your life.
It hits close to home.
All right, let’s go to our next expression.
Expression number five is “to last”.
We might say, “To last a long time” or “that
won’t last.”
For example, we could say, “You should eat
some brownies now.
They’re so good, they won’t last.”
This means that this dessert, these brownies,
which are kind of like chocolate cake in a
way, these brownies are so good that everyone
is going to take them.
And if you wait five minutes, there will be
no brownies left.
So, we said, “They won’t last.”
They are not going to endure.
They’re not going to remain.
They won’t last.
So get them while you can.
Or we could say, “I didn’t expect the snow
to last, but it hasn’t melted yet.”
For me, where I live in the south of the US,
when it snows, usually within two or three
days, the sun is too hot and all of the snow
melts.
So, it’s not common to have snow for one week
at a time.
This is just typical of the south in the US
where I live.
So, we might say, I didn’t expect the snow
to last.
I didn’t expect the snow to remain or to endure,
but it hasn’t melted yet.
It’s been a week.
This is pretty unusual.
I didn’t expect the snow to last.
We could say this also about a relationship.
“I didn’t expect their relationship to last,
but they’ve been dating for two years now.”
Or we could say, “I hope that our relationship
will last.
I hope it will endure or remain for a long
time.
I hope our relationship will last.
I hope your passion for English will last
a long time.
Essential advanced expression number six is
“what goes on…?”
There’s a couple of different ways that we
can use this.
We might use it in a question, “What is going
on here?”
Or we might use it in the past and say, “What
went on?”
Let me give you a couple examples.
In the 30 Day English Listening Challenge,
the speaker, David is a lawyer.
And he explained that when you’re a lawyer,
there’s some things that you can’t see.
There’s some experiences that you are not
allowed to be part of in the courtroom.
In the US court situation, there is a jury.
This is kind of a complicated system to explain
here in a YouTube video, but it’s like a normal
citizens, maybe if you’ve watched some court
dramas or court movies, you know about this,
like 12 people, usually who are normal citizens
like me, I’m not a lawyer.
And they are kind of like the judges of the
case.
So, if there is a crime, the judge and the
jury are trying to figure out if the crime
is true or not, what’s happening, but a lawyer
cannot listen to what the jury is saying.
So, the jury has some private conversations
together and the lawyer is not allowed to
listen to that.
It might affect the way that the lawyer talks
or behaves.
So, in the listening challenge, David said
this sentence, “I want to see what goes on
in the jury room, but lawyers aren’t allowed
in.”
So, for him, he is a very curious about what
is happening or what goes on in the jury room.
So, here we can just exchange goes on for
happening.
What is happening in the jury room?
What goes on?
Let’s take a look at another example.
I asked my son, “What is going on here?”
When I caught him playing instead of taking
a nap.
So, we could exchange the word happening,
“What is happening here?”
When you’re surprised about something, “What’s
happening here?”
Or you could use this wonderful phrase and
say, “What’s going on here?
What’s going on here?”
If we want to use this in the past tense,
maybe you walk into your house and everything
is a mess.
You could use the present tense and say, “What
is going on here?”
Or we could use it in the past because something
obviously happened in the past, in your house
to make it a mess.
And you might say, “Oh no, what went on here?
Something crazy must have happened.”
This is a great phrase to be able to integrate
into your daily conversations.
Advanced expression number seven is “on either
ends of the spectrum”.
There’s a couple of different ways that we
can modify this expression.
In fact, it’s a great way to advance your
vocabulary if you know kind of a core expression
and then some modifications you’re able to
use all of them, even though you’ve pretty
much just learned one expression.
So, we can say on both ends of the spectrum,
on opposite ends of the spectrum, on the other
end of the spectrum, or our original expression
on either ends of the spectrum.
So here, the idea is that we have a scale.
On one side, we have an item or an idea.
And on the other side, it’s the opposite.
Let me give you a sample sentence.
My husband’s taste in movies is on the other
side of the spectrum from mine.
He likes sci-fi movies and I like historical
dramas.
So, sci-fi, science fiction, is the opposite
of historical dramas.
Give or take.
So here, we’re talking about the other side
of the spectrum.
Or we could use one of the other expressions
and say, “We are on either side of the spectrum.”
We are on opposite sides of the spectrum.
Or we might say, “My friend loves going to
loud parties, but I’m on the opposite end
of the spectrum because I like to stay home
and read a good book.”
We have a scale here, loud parties and staying
home and reading a book.
These are quite opposites, right?
So, we might say you are on the opposite side
of the spectrum or you are on the other side
of the spectrum.
What a beautiful phrase.
Essential advanced phrase number eight is
to “perfect something”.
Perfect.
Something.
Notice this pronunciation.
Perfect.
The final part of this phrase is what we’re
going to emphasize.
Per-FECT . Can you say that with me?
Per-FECT.
Per-FECT . Let me give you a sample sentence.
My dad is always perfecting his apple pie
recipe.
That means he’s always trying to make it better.
Does this word look like another word to you?
Does it look like the word perfect?
Ooh, yes.
This is the same spelling and it’s kind of
a similar idea, but when we use this as a
verb to perfect something, there’s a different
emphasis in pronunciation.
So, let’s practice this.
My dad is perfecting his Apple pie recipe.
The emphasis is on the end of this word, but
if you say, “I want to speak perfect English.”
Well, the emphasis is on the beginning of
that word, perfect.
I want to speak perfect English.
The emphasis is at the beginning.
So, make sure that that emphasis is correct
in order to say this word accurately.
All right, let’s look at another sentence.
My son learned a new song and he is trying
to perfect it.
So, he sings it all the time.
He’s trying to make his singing better and
memorizing the lyrics.
All of this.
He’s trying to perfect it.
Perfect it.
In my opinion, this is a better verb to use
with English than saying, I want to speak
perfect English.
I would rather you say, “I am trying to perfect
my English.”
That means you’re just trying to make it better.
You don’t have the unrealistic expectation
that someday your English will be absolutely
perfect.
This is kind of overwhelming and stressful
to think that, but instead, if you have the
mindset that I’m just going to improve my
English well, great.
You can perfect your English every day.
That is a journey that continues.
Do you think you can say that sentence with
me?
I want to perfect my English.
I want to perfect my English.
And congratulations, that’s what you’re doing
here in this video today.
Let’s go to the next expression.
Phrase number nine is “to see if…”
We use this all the time.
So, I want to make sure that you can use it
correctly.
We might say, “I wanted to see if the roads
were cleared of snow.
So, I slowly drove through my neighborhood.”
Okay, you were just checking something.
You’re verifying something.
I wanted to see if the roads were safe to
drive on, if they were clear of snow.
So, I did a little tiny drive around my neighborhood.
We can also use this to kind of investigate
or ask a question.
You might say, “Yeah, I wanted to see if you
were interested in ordering pizza.”
I wanted to see if you wanted to order pizza.
You’re kind of asking, “Hey, do you want to
order pizza?”
I wanted to see if you wanted to order pizza.
So, I use this commonly when I’m texting or
calling someone, I might say, “Hey, yeah,
I’m calling because I wanted to see if you
could come to my house today.”
I wanted to see if you’re done with that project.
I wanted to see if you’re checking or verifying
something.
Our final 10th essential advanced English
phrase that we’re going to learn today is,
“there is no such thing.”
There’s no such thing.
The most common phrase with this is “There’s
no such thing as a free lunch.”
This phrase is not only talking about free
food, a free lunch.
Instead, we use this expression in general
to talk about if something is free, usually
there’s a hidden cost.
Maybe you need to pay later or maybe they’ll
send you an advertisement or there’s something
hidden that’s happening.
So, if a company comes up to you and says,
“Hey, yeah, we’re doing some free estimates
to see if your windows are secure and they’re
insulated well.”
You might think, “Hmm, they’re doing a free
estimate, but there’s no such thing as a free
lunch.
So, probably I’ll get a lot of phone calls
from them asking if they can fix my windows.”
So, really it’s not possible to have only
something for free.
Or we could say, “I used to think that there
is no such thing as a sea monster, but then
I saw some pretty scary looking animals that
live deep down in the ocean.”
There’s no such thing as a sea monster, this
doesn’t exist well, unless you’ve seen some
of those very strange animals that live at
the bottom of the ocean.
Great work learning these 10 new phrases so
that you can understand fast English and express
yourself clearly you need to expand your vocabulary
and that’s what you did today.
Great work.
Would you like to continue learning essential
advanced vocabulary like this and challenging
your listening skills?
Well, I recommend joining the 30 Day English
Listening Challenge Pack 5.
Every day, you will learn three new phrases
and improve your listening skills so that
you can hear and understand fast English.
Join thousands of other English learners to
see if you can build some language skills
that will last a lifetime.
To find out more about what goes on in this
course, you can click on the link up here
or in the description and it is my pleasure
to be your teacher.
Well, now I have a question for you.
What is something that you are trying to perfect?
Let me know in the comments what you’re trying
to perfect and I will look forward to reading
your answers.
Thank you so much for learning English with
me and I’ll see you again next Friday for
a new lesson here on my YouTube channel.
Bye.
The next step is to download my free ebook,
Five Steps to Becoming a Confident English
Speaker.
You’ll learn what you need to do to speak
confidently and fluently.
Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel
for more free lessons.
Thanks so much.
Bye.