Hi, I need a little help actually. My friend just sent me a message. I'll read it to you.
She says, I'm going to back out of today's plan and I really don't know what this means,
could you tell me what it means to back out of something? To back out of the plan, does
she mean she's going to attend the party or not attend it? Do you also ask these kinds
of questions sometimes? Well, if you do, then you are at the right place because today,
Sonia that's me, I'm going to take you through some casual everyday English phrases which
will be very helpful for you in your day to day conversation. So let's get started.
The very first one that I just discussed with
you was to back out of something. To back out means to fail to keep a promise or to
withdraw from something. So how do you use it in a situation? just like the one I just
explained, if you are going to plan a party, a surprise party for someone may be, what
you can do is, you can tell your friends, make sure that you don't back out of the plan
because I've really worked hard for this party and I want everyone to attend it.
The next one here is to come across. What does it mean to come across? This means to
find something accidentally. Okay, so mostly when you're looking for something, it's intentional
right? By intention, you look for something if you’ve lost something. However, if you
mean to say that, you come across it means that you find something by chance or by accident.
so in a situation or may be in a sentence, you could say something like, I'm going shopping
tomorrow and if I come across a good shoe store, I’ll definitely let you know. That
means you’re talking about finding something by chance or finding something accidentally.
The next one that I have for you is, to come down with. Now, what do I mean to say when
I say, to come down with something? To come down means it's mostly used when you’re
talking about some kind of an illness. You know sometimes, when you already have these
symptoms of cold or flu, you tend to get a headache, you feel a little itchy in your
throat and you know that you’re going to fall sick. It happens with us sometimes. So
when you are in a situation like that and may be you are at work. You know it's already
half day at work but you know that you can't really pull through the entire day. so you
could go to your boss and you could say, well I think, that I'm going to come down with
a fever so can I just go home right away instead of waiting till the end of the day? Okay,
so to come down with is mostly used like you're going to become ill. To become sick or become
ill. So it's a more casual way of saying, you know, I feel sick. Instead, you can say,
I think I'm going to come down with something, with flu or a fever or a cold may be.
Now the next one is to get around. What do I mean when I say, to get around something?
Now, this is an interesting one. This means to avoid or to evade something. Both the words
mean the same thing. Imagine a situation, alright may be there's a relative's wedding
over the weekend and you know that you’re gonna meet these cousins of yours whom you
don't really like, okay. I know we all have some relatives whom we don't really, we can't
really relate to much. We don't like some of them, okay and if you want to avoid them
or evade the situation of having to meet them at the wedding, that's when you can use this
in a sentence. So maybe you can tell your friend, that hey you know what, I'm going
for this wedding over the weekend and I really want to be able to get around my cousins.
Can you help me? Can you give me some kind of an excuse or a solution to avoid the wedding?
Or to get around the wedding? Okay, that's how you can use it, to get around means to
avoid a situation.
The next phrase I have here is to hear of something. Now to hear of means to learn about
something. So it's a very casual way to say, that you’re going to learn about something.
So for example, if you know you’ve heard of some restaurants which are there in the
southern part of town. You’ve just may be heard from someone or you read about the restaurant
somewhere. That’s the way you can put it in a sentence, you could say something like,
well I want to go for dinner tonight and I’ve heard of some fabulous restaurants in the
southern part of town, so let's go there tonight. To hear of means to learn about something
or some place.
The next one I have for you is, very casual, it's very commonly used and this is something
that you should definitely know of and use it in your conversation whenever possible.
It is, hang around. What does it mean to hang around? To hang around means to stay in a
place without any specific purpose, alright. Let me write that down for you. To stay in
a place without a specific purpose. I know we all have these you know favourite places
that we like to be at. You know for long times also sometimes without any reason at all.
For example, I love the beach, play I love beaches. So I can just stay you know at a
beach for a length of time without any specific reason. So if you are someone like that, you
could say, well I love going to the beach, okay I can just hang around at a beach all
day long. Which means you can stay at a beach without any specific purpose.
The last one on the board that I have here is, to go over. Okay, what does it mean to
go over something? To go over simply means to review something. Okay so review sounds
more formal alright and to go over is a casual way of saying the same thing. So maybe you
know you're a businessman and there are some plans that you've made. Some kind of a proposal
for your marketing. So in a sentence, you could say something like well I need to go
over these marketing plans in order to ensure that they will be effective. So to go over
something means to review.
So these are the 7 phrases that I have for you. Alright out of these 7, I'm sure you
can use something like, hang around or to come across, to hear of something. These are
phrases that are very common and make sure that you use them in your everyday conversation
whenever possible. This brings me to the end of the lesson. I hope that you enjoyed watching
the video today. Please make sure that you practise, watch the videos and improve your
conversation on a day to day basis. I'll be back soon with something new, till then you take care, bye.