Are you a busy person? If so,
then this lesson is for you because I'm going to teach you some different ways
in which you can tell someone "I'm busy." That's coming up.
What's up everyone? My name is Wes. This is interactive English,
which is all about helping you practice and improve your English skills.
And the way that we're going to do that today is I am going to teach you some
useful expressions.
These are expressions that mean the same thing as "I'm busy,"
but instead of just telling somebody, you know, oh, I can't do that. I'm busy.
It's good to develop your speaking fluency by learning other phrases that mean
the same thing. We all have busy lives,
so it's great to learn different ways in which you can tell someone "I'm busy."
The first one that I have for you is - I'm preoccupied at the moment.
Or You could just say, you know, I'm preoccupied and preoccupied.
This is just a synonym for busy. You are occupied,
you are busy doing something else. So if you want to be polite to someone,
if you want to just say that you know you can't do something right now because
you are doing something else, you can just say, you know I'm preoccupied,
I'm preoccupied at the moment. I can't really help you out with that.
I'm preoccupied.
I want to talk to you. I'm a bit preoccupied.
Scrap seems very preoccupied at the moment.
What do you mean I'm a little preoccupied. What means preoccupied?
I'm sorry, I'm just preoccupied.
Then we have another one which I think is common,
especially in business because you might want to tell somebody,
you know my schedule is full.
I don't have any time right now because my schedule, if you look at it,
it's completely full, which means that I am busy doing other things.
So if you want to tell someone you're busy and you don't want to be rude or
impolite, you can just tell them, you know, my schedule is full.
That sounds like a real ranger.
But my schedule already chunked full home from Henry's already.
Henry has a fall schedule today. I've got a full schedule. Those boys.
Another great way to tell someone I'm busy is just to say I've got too much
going on. If you have too much going on,
then you're just telling somebody that they're,
there are other things that are happening in your life.
You're not telling them exactly what it is that you're busy with.
You don't know if it's work or if it's personal,
but it's a nice way of just telling somebody, look, I, you know,
I don't have any free time right now because I've got too much
going on. Yeah. It's so much going on right now.
Too much stuff going on to bother with people like us means when you're
overwhelmed,
when we got too much going on yet another way of saying that, which is very,
very similar. It's just to tell someone, I've got a lot to do. I'm busy.
I've got a lot to do.
I don't have any time available to do whatever it is you're asking me to do.
I can't help you out right now. I'm preoccupied. My schedule is full because
I've got a lot to do. I've got a lot to do. Think of.
Maybe taking work a little too seriously. I've got a lot to go. Huh? Lunch,
but since she's not here, do you have plans? Oh No,
actually I got a lot of things to do around here.
Then we have, and this one is one of my favorites. I've got a lot on my plate.
Again, this is another way of saying that that you've got too much going on.
You've got a lot to do, but you can say, I've got a lot on my plate, and again,
just, just think about it. You have food on a plate.
If there's a lot on it then then that. Yeah, that's pretty full.
That's pretty busy. So you can just say, yeah, right now
I've got a lot on my plate as a doctor. I have a lot on my plate. Unfortunately.
I have a lot on my plate today,
so I'm going to have to hand this off to my number two. Oh, well, um,
I've kind of got a lot on my plate right now.
Not that I wouldn't love a weekend in the country with a strange man.
Then we have an idiom. Well, it's actually a simile and you could just say,
I'm busy as a bee now. This one is it. It's probably,
it's not as common. It was just fun. I thought I'd throw it in there.
There is an idiom saying somebody is a busy bee,
but if you want to use a simile and compare yourself to something else,
you could say I'm busy as a bee because bees, they're working hard.
They're doing a lot. They're always busy,
so you could tell someone I'm busy as well.
Okay, come on, let's do a little bit.
You're going to tell my father and I'm busy to be wrapping boxes with the John.
Just the barrel now. Myspace. Yes. I'm still here. I'm busy as a bee.
Then we have the sentence. I'm tied up right now, so again, think about it. If,
if you're tied up, then that means, well, you can't move.
You can't help someone do this thing or that thing. You just have to tell him,
look, I can't help you. I'm tied right now. I'm
busy. I think I have your letter too. We'll see right now I'm a bit tied up.
Actually, Maggie, I'm a bit tied up at the moment.
I'm supposed to be meeting with Ron Swan.
I understand that he's tied up right now. What a shocker.
I've been trying to meet with him three months.
Next is another one of my favorite ones and that's just to tell someone I'm
swamped that you have so many different things going on right now almost to the
point where it will, it's just too much.
This is another good one that you can use just in everyday conversation.
You can also use it at work if,
if you were just super busy with so many different things,
you could tell someone, look, I'm swamped boss. I can't help you out right now.
I'm swamped
because I can't. I'm already covering for Doug.
He's on a his and her spa day with his mom. What dawn asked.
The point is I'm swamped. What I'd like to hang out. I'm sorry, I'm swamped.
Yeah, I'm swamped enough with schoolwork and kind of swamped here.
You think you could give me a hand with some of the catalog? I'm sorry.
What kind of swamped.
Then we have another one which means the same as I'm swamped and that's just to
tell someone I'm overwhelmed. I have way too much going on right now.
I'm just overwhelmed and again, this is a good one because people might even,
you know,
they may feel a little sympathetic towards you and if somebody is asking you to
do something and look, look, look, I'm just, I'm overwhelmed. Then maybe the, okay,
don't worry about it. I don't want to stress you out. I'll,
I'll find somebody else. I will ask somebody else to help me. You're too busy.
You're overwhelmed.
Nothing. I'm just really overwhelmed. I'm just a little overwhelmed right now.
Could use a drink or overwhelmed with work
then we have,
I'm buried in work and in this case you can replace work with something else.
I'm buried in something and whatever something is that is the thing that you
were very busy with and oftentimes you would use it with work because work is
what it consumes much of our lives. You could say, yeah, you know, I'm,
I'm buried in work. I'm buried in research.
I'm buried in comments. And, but that's a good thing.
We love getting buried in comments because we love hearing from you.
They're trying to bury you in paperwork. Huge Corporation. Oh,
here's some paperwork for the next 15 years.
This next one is, uh,
another one of my favorites and that is I'm knee deep in work. Again,
in this case you could just say I'm knee deep in something and that something is
what you were very busy with. And uh, I think about it.
If you are knee deep in something,
then that means that you are consumed by it.
It's surrounding you. You were very busy with this thing. For example,
I could say I'm knee deep in work or I could get more specific and say, you know,
I'm knee deep in editing videos. I spend a lot of time doing that.
Or I'm knee deep in creating lesson plans for these videos.
So whatever it is that you're busy with,
you can it and just say that you are knee deep in this thing.
What do you need deep in, I really want to know
I no straps. Then again, I'm knee deep in research.
Most people would agree that I'm knee deep in a pretty rank crash,
can not meet their need. Deep Fungus, this guy knows fungus.
Another great one which I really like and I do use from time to time is just to
tell someone I'm up to my ears in something and again,
something is is just the thing that you're busy with so it allows you to be
specific when you want to tell somebody exactly what it is that that you're busy
doing.
That can be up to our ears and I have work up to my ears. I'm busy, busy,
busy, busy, can't step away. I just wanted to check in. Okay.
Am Up to my ears in work.
I'm up to my ears in answering comments and that is something that I want to be
busy with. I want to be up to my ears in common so help me out with that.
Right to me in the comments I want to hear from you and if you understood all of
these expressions,
if you think you can now go out and use some of these expressions,
then let me know in the comments and just write to me and say I'm knee deep in
interactive English. That way I know, yes, this person gets it.
This person understands because they are knee deep in interactive English.
If you enjoyed this lesson,
you can let me know by hitting that like button down below. As always,