hi guys and welcome back to love English I'm Leila and today I want to help you
have an amazing conversation in English now this is not about grammar or topics
that you should be having conversations about but rather it is the language that
we use all the times that native people use all the time when they are having a
conversation with each other I'm going to be looking at 10 idiomatic
expressions we commonly use when we are having general conversations in the same
way that we would use Proverbs in English to help explain maybe more
deeper meanings in conversation we would use idiomatic expressions to speak more
naturally to speak a little bit faster sometimes you can use an idiom and it
kind of makes everything more concise and of course some expressions actually
help soften your language meaning you're not gonna sound too rude or direct in
asking particular questions or giving instructions to someone before we get
started do make sure that you click that subscribe button and of course the
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Instagram and Twitter so on with the lesson 10 idiomatic expressions for an
amazing amazing English conversation
expression number one to cut to the chase
cut to the chase to talk about the most interesting most important or relevant
part of the conversation of the topic and not waste time giving too much
detail with things that really aren't very important I didn't have much time
to talk so I cut to the chase and asked for his help
number two to make a long story short very similar to to cut to the chase but
it's more about giving factual information and again leaving out the
detail that might not be as relevant or interesting to the main point you're
essentially given the conclusion of a story rather than telling the whole
story itself and it means that you're not really going through a long
narration and boring someone so to make a long story short I got the job now if
you want somebody to get to the point if you want them to explain something or to
ask a question that you know they want to but might be scared to do you could
say don't beat around the bush don't beat around the bush or I won't beat
around the bush if it's you saying something
so when you beat around the bush you are essentially avoiding talking about what
is the most important thing this might be because it's a sensitive issue you
might feel it's a little bit difficult and you're not sure how to approach the
situation the conversation with someone but when you say come on don't beat
around the bush or you know what I won't beat around the bush you're saying you
don't want to talk about the things that aren't important and you'd rather talk
about the main issues don't beat around the bush get to the point do you want to
come out tonight or not number four spit it out now spit it's
not a very nice action it's to expel water from your mouth saliva soap
spitting but it essentially means to spit it out you are telling
someone come on I know you want to say something so say it it's when you're
feeling frustrated and you want them to say the thing that's on their mind and
it might be that they're unwilling to speak or speaking really slowly so you
would say come on spit it out what happened so say it tell me what you are
thinking now number five is a great expression when you are talking about
something that you might not be sure about the outcome or the final situation
if you tell someone things are a bit up in the air at the moment then you're
explaining that you don't really know what's happening things haven't been
planned or things haven't been secured and dates haven't been set so for
example if you've sold your house and your friends ask you how's it going are
you moving soon and you don't have a date yet and you're still waiting for
things to progress then you might say really don't know it's all a bit up in
the air at the moment so essentially you haven't fixed plans
or made important decisions just yet it's all a bit up in the air now number
six is a really useful expression especially if you can't remember a word
or worse a person's name it's on the tip of my tongue what's that word what's his
name oh it begins with an S Sam Smith Simon Scott so when something is on the
tip of your tongue it means there's a word or a name or at the name of a place
and you can nearly remember it but it's there it's it's on the tip of my tongue
what's the name of that film with Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts it's on the tip
of my tongue Notting Hill number seven is a wonderful expression that we use
regularly in English to pull someone's leg if someone is pulling your leg and
you say come on are you pulling my leg or if someone says to you just pulling
your leg so you would use this expression when you're trying to tell us
one something is true and it's actually not true you're basically having a joke
I have tea with the Queen last weekend no really you're pulling my leg
you didn't have tea with the Queen did you
no I'm pulling your leg remember it's only one leg not legs number seven is a
lovely expression when you are talking about something that was perhaps a
negative thing something negative that happened to you but actually the outcome
was positive it was just hard to see at the time we'd say it was a blessing in
disguise it was a blessing in disguise for example if you were fired sacked
from your job and then two weeks later you were offered a better job with more
money you would say well getting fired was a blessing in disguise
something good and positive that came from something quite negative number
eight easier said than done this is a very simple expression when someone
gives you some advice and actually the advice sounds really good but doing it
actually committing yourself to the action to doing this thing is a lot
harder than perhaps it sounds oh come on just quit smoking easier said than done
number nine is a great expression but it might not sound very nice to kill two
birds with one stone it's an expression that I love to use
and I frequently do use it because I love to kill two birds with one stone
now this is not literally killing birds that's not very nice
but it means to achieve two things with one action for example why don't you go
to the bank on the way to the supermarket kill two birds with one
stone often we do shorten this down to two birds with one stone people
generally understand what you're talking about number ten is an expression that
I'm sure you all know it's not my cup of tea again this is an
expression that we would use to soften a language rather than say I don't like it
I don't like him we'd say hmm not my cup of tea he's not my cup of tea it just
sounds a lot more polite and it is such a British idiomatic expression that you
will regularly hear people using it after all we love to be polite in the UK
so have a go try using just one of those expressions a day in your conversation
with a native speaker or with friends of course
so make sure you let me know which of those expressions are new for you can
you try and put them into a context that is personal to you explain to me a word
that was on the tip of your tongue recently or a time where you killed two
birds with one stone comment below and let me know thank you so much for
watching don't forget you can watch some of these lessons to help you with your
English conversation as well bye