welcome to this month's grammar focus
focus lesson this month will be covering
covering special kinds of phrases
phrases i call English fluency bits
bits i've taught these before in the
the program but since so many of them
them appear in this month's conversation
conversation I
I thought it would be a great chance
chance to review them again Master
Master the English fluency bits in
in this lesson and you'll increase
increase your conversational vocabulary
vocabulary and sound much more native
native as always remember that you
you haven't mastered the lesson until
until you can use what you learn without
without thinking in conversations
conversations even if this lesson
lesson seems easy please
please watch it repeatedly to push
push the ideas deep into your brain
brain
brain let's
let's begin english fluency bits are
are specific phrases used by native
native speakers similar to idioms
idioms
idioms unlike
unlike idioms though english fluency
fluency bits usually have meetings
meetings that can be understood without
without much explanation as an example
example the idiom at the drop of a
a hat means to do something instantly
instantly without hesitation this
this meeting has no obvious connection
connection to the words making up
up the idiom so
so it's hard to understand without
without someone telling you what it
it means the English fluency bit in
in the first place however
however as a pretty obvious meaning
meaning and is just a more colorful
colorful and conversational way of
of saying initially or at the beginning
beginning
beginning of
of course the computer crashed you
you didn't set it up properly in the
the first place you
you can also sound more professional
professional or educated by replacing
replacing a basic word or phrase with
with the more advanced english fluency
fluency bid without a teacher the
the class was cancelled in the absence
absence of the teacher the
the class was cancelled besides being
being different from idioms English
English fluency bits serve two important
important functions the
the first is to add more color and
and style two sentences when used
used in this way an
an English fluency bit will help you
you sound more native or educated
educated but don't really add or change
change anything important about the
the meaning of a sentence will cover
cover the examples of this usage later
later in this video the
the second and more basic use of English
English fluency bits is as advanced
advanced sentence connectors sentence
sentence connectors are used to connect
connect multiple sentences and or
or create more complex sentences will
will look at three general types of
of sentence connectors in this lesson
lesson simple one word sentence connectors
connectors more advanced multiple
multiple word sentence connectors
connectors and the most advanced english
english fluency bids let's
let's start with some basic sentence
sentence connectors he
he likes beef he
he chose the steak he likes beef so
so he chose the steak I enjoy diving
diving
diving I'm
I'm scared of sharks I
I enjoy diving but I'm scared of sharks
sharks
sharks I
I don't like dogs I don't like cats
cats
cats I
I don't like cats or dogs moving
moving on to more advanced sentence
sentence connectors notice that we're
we're still just connecting ideas
ideas but with multiple words I eat
eat too much candy I'm
I'm fat I eat too much candy thus
thus I'm fat computers are getting
getting more powerful computers are
are also getting more complex computers
computers are getting more powerful
powerful furthermore they're getting
getting more complex vinyl records
records are round vinyl record covers
covers are not vinyl records are round
round vinyl record covers by contrast
contrast are not next
next we'll look at the English fluency
fluency bit sentence connector these
these can be fairly complex phrases
phrases often used in more academic
academic and professional environments
environments and should be learned
learned and remembered as single units
units you can play a piano like you
you can play a drum in the same way
way as you can play a piano you can
can play a drum as she'll be running
running for hours she'll
she'll probably need water the
the fact that she'll be running for
for hours means she'll probably need
need water because of bad weather
weather
weather we
we couldn't have the picnic owing
owing to bad weather we couldn't have
have the picnic rather
rather than becoming a farmer I want
want to be an astronaut as
as opposed to becoming a farmer I
I want to be an astronaut concerning
concerning fish that can protect themselves
themselves the
the lionfish is one of the best when
when it comes to fish that can protect
protect themselves the
the lionfish is one of the best usually
usually I visit the beach on my days
days off for the most part I visit
visit the beach on my days off I wouldn't
wouldn't be a good driver I'm
I'm nervous in cars and what's more
more relevant to me being a good driver
driver
driver I
I don't have any arms I wouldn't be
be a good driver I'm
I'm nervous and cars and more to the
the point I don't have any arms now
now let's look at how English fluency
fluency bits can be used to make sentences
sentences more complex and impressive
impressive remember
remember that English fluency bits
bits used in this way will help you
you sound more native but they won't
won't really add anything important
important to the basic meaning of
of the sentence since the following
following examples are a bit more
more challenging will introduce each
each English fluency bit first along
along with its definition in text
text book english to make it easier
easier to understand then we'll give
give a text book english version of
of each example sentence before finally
finally showing the example containing
containing the English fluency bid
bid
bid to
to add insult to injury to make a
a situation worse or to hurt someone
someone mentally who's already been
been heard physically
physically the car was badly burned
burned in the accident and the driver
driver had no insurance the
the car was badly burned in the accident
accident and to add insult to injury
injury the driver had no insurance
insurance
insurance would
would that it were if
if only it were true used when you're
you're wishing for something i want
want to be king so
so I can do whatever I want I want
want to be king so I can do whatever
whatever I want I
I would that it were it stands to
to reason that x.x is reasonable to
to assume it's reasonable to assume
assume that because so many young
young people are voting our candidate
candidate will win it stands to reason
reason that because so many young
young people are voting our candidate
candidate will win something like
like that
like that this
this is added two sentences when we
we can't express something exactly
exactly the juice he was drinking
drinking was something like pineapple
pineapple orange the Jews he was drinking
drinking was pineapple orange or something
something like that I
I find that I notice I
I notice that a good nap helps me
me relax before a flight I
I find that a good nap helps me relax
relax before a flight I
I wouldn't be surprised if X happens
happens x may happen we
we may see some shooting stars tonight
tonight
tonight I
I wouldn't be surprised if we see
see some shooting stars tonight that
that explains it used
used when you finally understand how
how something works the
the car didn't work because it had
had no oil now
now I understand the problem the car
car didn't work because it had no
no oil
no oil that
that explains it there will be times
times when sometimes sometimes you'll
you'll have to do something you're
you're scared to do there
there will be times when you'll have
have to do something you're scared
scared to do what's
what's known as x.x the
the doctor said i have crazy dangerous
dangerous disease the
the doctor said i have what's known
known as crazy dangerous disease to
to be in the position of X to be x
x
x it's
it's unfortunate that you're having
having to clean up after the party
party
party it's
it's unfortunate that you're in the
the position of having to clean up
up after the party finally
finally here's one last example of
of an English fluency bit that's
that's a great reply you can use when
when people ask you for a favor not
not at all used to make someone feel
feel it
feel it he's
he's when you offer to do something
something for them person 1 are
are you sure you can help me move
move I'd hate to trouble you person
person to not at all I'm happy to
to help using this phrase you're saying
saying that it's no trouble at all
all for me to help you now
now let's see how English fluency
fluency bits make a story more colorful
colorful as we learn about different
different instruments the
the cool thing about instruments is
is that there are so many different
different kinds not to be limited
limited
limited humans
humans have created an instrument
instrument to fit any mood or occasion
occasion and as one would expect you
you can also find them on every corner
corner of our planet as
as with many things instruments range
range from the simple to the complex
complex and what's more they can each
each make a unique sound it
it boggles the mind how we created
created so many tools just for the
the purpose of making beautiful sounds
sounds even within a class of instruments
instruments there's healthy variation
variation in shape and sound take
take the drums for example you've
you've probably noticed that drummers
drummers and rock bands use a whole
whole drum kid while
while some drummers in marching bands
bands play only a single drum if
if memory serves correctly I think
think some of my fondest childhood
childhood moments came while i was
was playing an instrument I'd
I'd wager that others probably have
have similar recollections heck
heck I'd even go so far as to say
say that music is life if
if you've never played anything why
why not give it a try if you want
want to make your own instrument what
what you want to do is experiment
experiment with different elements
elements would maybe an ideal candidate
candidate for one sound where
where is metal might produce something
something totally different find
find something that gives you a sound
sound you like and get playing finally
finally here's the same story but
but with text book english replacing
replacing the English fluency bits
bits
bits notice
notice how this version sounds less
less colorful and natural instruments
instruments are interesting because
because there are so many different
different kinds humans
humans have created an instrument
instrument to fit any mood or occasion
occasion and you can also find them
them on every corner of our planet
planet instruments range from the
the simple to the complex additionally
additionally they can each make a
a unique sound it's
it's almost difficult to comprehend
comprehend how we've created so many
many tools just for making beautiful
beautiful sounds even within a class
class of instruments there's
there's healthy variation in shape
shape and sound the drums are an example
example
example you've
you've probably noticed the drummers
drummers in rock bands use a whole
whole drum kit while
while some drummers in marching bands
bands play only a single drum I
I think some of my fondest childhood
childhood moments came while i was
was playing an instrument I
I imagine others probably have similar
similar thoughts I'd even risk making
making the bold statement that music
music is life as it's so important
important to people if
if you've never played an instrument
instrument why not try if you want
want to make your own instrument you
you should experiment with different
different elements would maybe good
good for one sound where
where is metal might produce something
something totally different find
find something that gives us sound
sound you like and get playing listen
listen for these words in your daily
daily life keep
keep practicing and have a great day