Hi there i'm andrew and welcome to this my latest video which is all about
helping you speak more naturally in english in order to help you do that
we're going to look at things like phrasal verbs idioms collocations and
some less common words these videos are especially useful for anybody taking
English tests especially the IELTS exam and they're good for anybody that wants
to learn to speak English in a very natural way so in this video we're going
to look things like collocations such as a real treat phrasal verbs such as to
chill out less common words such as barmy and idioms such as jack of all
trades master of none we're going to look at these words and expressions in
context and the context I've chosen is possible answers to questions about the
travel topic in the IELTS speaking exam but as always I've tried to make this
quite general so most of these expressions you can use in all kinds of
different contexts in English ok on with a lesson so a first IELTS type question
this is maybe a part 1 il type question what type of holiday do you prefer well
in my job I have a boss that does my head in
so for me it's really all about getting away from it all so I need time to just
completely chill out and it's really for that reason I like to go somewhere where
I can just kick back and gain some peace of mind I'm not overly fussy about the
type of location it could be a mountain resort or a beach one for example but it
has to be pretty laid-back and quiet I like to do a lot of walking a lot of
swimming and a lot of sunbathing but above all I like to have my nose in a
really good book as I'm an avid reader okay so that's a sample answer to this
question what type of holiday do you prefer I wonder if perhaps you were able
to guess the meaning of some of these expressions like chill out kick back
pretty laid back etc I don't know if you could let's have a look on the next
slide and we'll see so to do someone's head in this means to really annoy them
or really stress them out make them feel stressed getting away from it all this
means to take a good break from something by taking a holiday away from
your home peace of mind when you have peace of
mind the other kind of calm feeling where you just don't really worry to
have your nose in a book means simply to be very focused on reading a book you
can imagine a know such as my big one like this in a book an avid reader this
is a collocation it means that you are very keen on reading that you do it a
lot so out of it means very clean and this word particularly collocates
with the word reader I am an avid reader then we have a couple of phrasal verbs
to chill out and to kick back both of which mean to relax so we also have some
less common words such as overly this means not too much fussy a fussy person
insists on being very specific about what they like so you could be fussy
about where you go on holiday you could be a fussy eater which means you would
have very specific tastes in what you eat for example when we say pretty and
we have another objective following it down in this context pretty means the
same thing as quite or quite a lot so he's a pretty fussy person would mean he
is quite a fussy person whereas if we just say she is pretty and
fussy that means she looks nice she looks
attractive and she's fussy so you see that a difference they think between
pretty and something pretty and fussy versus pretty fussy if somebody is
laid-back then they are a person who doesn't take things too seriously and
doesn't get stressed very often okay so let's have a look at another question a
typical IELTS speaking part two question in this case describe an interesting
journey that you once took well I'm a bit of a train enthusiast so last year I
finally decided to book myself a trip on the Siberian Express I'd been coming and
honoring about this for quite some time but then I finally took the plunge and
committed to it and it was a real treat this was an amazing trip the scenery was
a joy to behold and I met some fascinating people during the nine days
that I spent on the train for example there was this one guy who told me that
he changed his job every single year something which sounds barmy really I
mean he opted to do something completely different every year he told me that
he's been a truck driver a teacher a gardener a security guard and even a
professional poker player I thought to myself that he was probably a jack of
all trades and master of none until he told me that he'd taken home 100 grand
from a single poker tournament scenery wise I saw snow-capped mountains
verdant forests and some shimmering lakes so let's have a look at the
meaning of these terms an enthusiast is somebody who really likes to do
something barmy means the same thing as mad or a
bit crazy too opt is a verb that means the same thing as to choose a grand is a
slang word which means a thousand pounds so three grand three thousand pounds
five grand is five thousand pounds etc scenery wise when we attach the suffix
wise suffix means the word that goes on the end of another word so when we
attach the suffix wise then what that means is that we mean in regard to the
thing before the suffix so scenery wise means in regard to or talking about the
scenery if you were negotiating a salary for a new job you might say money-wise
what can I expect for example snow-capped snow-capped
means with snow on the top of the mountains verdant verdant means very
green so a verdant forest a very green forest shimmering if something is
shimmering then that means that light reflects off it
so these shimmering lakes you had the light reflecting off the water on the
surface of the lake a real treat this collocation means that something is very
enjoyable umming and ahhing this means to spend a lot of time trying to decide
something a joy to behold that means that something is great to see so in the
example I said the scenery was a joy to behold so it meant that the scenery was
great to see to take the plunge means to make a decision after a period of
humming and airing and finally a jack of all trades and master of none this means
to be quite good at or things but excellent that's
absolutely nothing so this is not a compliment
if you describe somebody as a jack of all trades and a master of none it's not
a compliment okay so I hope that this video was
useful please feel free to rewind etc if you need to have another look at the
examples if you found the video useful please do subscribe there you'll find a
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