Hi there, this is Harry and welcome back to advanced English lessons with Harry,
where I try to help you to get a better understanding of the English
language. And in this advanced English lesson, we're talking about weather,
yeah. So phrasal verbs related to weather. And weather is a really, really important topic here
in Ireland and also in the UK. Everybody talks about it. I'm not surprised that the weather
is usually pretty bad. And when we get it good, we like to talk about anyway. And when it's bad,
we like to talk about it even more. So these phrasal verbs are really, really important help
you to understand what English and Irish people are referring to when they talk about the weather.
Okay, so let's get stuck into these. We've got 10, in particular, and I've also got one agent
that's related to weather as well. First one brighten up. Well, this is a great phrase to
ask people do you think it'll brighten up later on, I'm going out for a run,
I'm going out for a walk or we're going to go for a picnic. I really hope it brightens
up. Meaning I hope there's even a little bit of blue sky, it doesn't have to be wonderful,
but as long as it's not raining, so yeah, I think the weather will brighten up later.
The forecast said it would. So perhaps it will to brighten up means that skies will lift that
clouds will drift away, and perhaps perhaps the sun will come out. Okay to brighten up.
Cloud over. Well, cloud over is a little bit of an opposite of brighten up. So usually when
the day starts off nice and sunny, you wake up and the sky is blue, you think off great,
it's gonna be really, really good day. But within two hours or just after your breakfast,
you look out the window, it begins to cloud over, the clouds are coming in from the north
or the west. And before you know it, the sky is completely grey. So when the blue sky is covered
by grey sky, we can then use this expression to cloud over Yeah, so it clouded over very early in
the day. And it just turned out to be another dull day, another dull day in Dublin to cloud over.
Clear up. So clear up is when things will change but change for the better. So you wake up in
the morning, there are pools of water on the ground, it's been raining during the night,
maybe there are still a few splashes of rain around. But it's quite evident that there was
quite heavy rain. But surprise, surprise, the weather forecast says they expect it to clear
up by lunchtime. So there you are waiting for lunchtime, waiting with your golf clubs hoping
to get out to the golf course, to hit that little white ball around the golf course if
the weather clears up. So all you're looking for is for the ground to dry a little bit,
the sun to come out, make it feel a little bit warm, and you'll feel really,
really good. So when the weather clears up, it means the rain stops, the wind dies down,
the trees stop moving, he got a little bit of blue sky the sun peeps through it warms everybody up,
everybody feels good because overall, we have a little bit of a cheer-up in the weather.
Warm up. Well, when it warms up, usually the temperature rises. Now,
depends on where you are. That's what you regard as warm. I was speaking to a student today,
and she lives in Dubai and she thought it was a little bit chilly where she was because today it
was 25 degrees. And all of last week it was 35 degrees. Now, when I was talking to her here in
Dublin, it was nine or 10 degrees. And if it got to 12 degrees, then I would consider that
it would warm up a little bit. So I might not need the second jumper. So it's all relative,
okay. So when the weather warms up, the temperature increases. So maybe it goes
from 15 degrees to 18 degrees, or 16 degrees to 19 degrees. So you could say yeah, the weather
has warmed up a little bit. And perhaps when you're waiting for the summer and late spring,
the weather over a few weeks will begin to warm up the temperatures will pick up
gradually. So instead of being on an average of 14 or 15 degrees, it's an average of 16
or 17 degrees. And you can certainly say that the weather has warmed up quite significantly.
Now, the opposite is when the weather cools down. And of course, as we get out of the summer and
into the autumn, then the weather naturally cools down. So those temperatures instead of going up,
go down. So the average of 18 to 20 during the September period suddenly become 16 to 18 on
average. And then by the time we get into the end of October or early November, you're down to the
low teens 13-14, perhaps 15 degrees. So yeah, the weather has begun to cool down. If you're enjoying
a really hot spell and the temperatures are 25 degrees plus, well then when it drops to 20,
you can say, Wow, it's great that the weather has cooled down a bit, I'll be able to sleep at night
because there's nothing worse than trying to sleep when you could not have air conditioning
and the temperatures are 25 degrees plus. So when it gets back down to 20, you can say,
yeah, the weather has finally cooled down. And we can all sleep nice and snug in our beds.
Break through. Well, the sun will usually break through, hopefully, the sun usually breaks
through. So yeah, you get up in the morning, there's clouds, but the clouds are quite high.
And they're, they're quite white, they're not dark race, there's no real rain in the area. So you're
happy for that. And then you see a few openings or breaks in the clouds. So you're hoping that at
some stage, the sun will break through and when it breaks through, the air temperature will rise
quite quickly. And you can enjoy a very nice, pleasant early summer, morning or afternoon. So
you can walk in the park with perhaps a light jumper or even just a t shirt. So we all like
to see the sun breaking through the rays of sun that hit us the shadows you can see forming on
the ground, that will tell you instantly that yet there's a bit of a breakthrough in the weather.
Pick up. Okay, so we'd like to hear the sound and words uttered that the weather
will pick up next week long term forecasts coming in from the the weatherman that the
weather is expected to pick up next week, we'll have long periods of sunshine,
some light wind or breezes. But generally from next Tuesday for the rest of the week,
you can expect the temperatures to be rising, and the temperature will pick up, and we'll have some
nice sunny days. Okay, so that's a really good long term, long term forecast to hear because,
of course, you can plan your days you can plan what you're going to wear, you can plan what
you're going to do in the evenings and the weekends. So a nice pickup in the weather.
Next die down. Well, usually we refer use this when we refer to the wind. Yeah. So
here in Ireland, we get lots and lots of strong winds. And they come from nowhere. And they come
very quickly. And they pick up and get quite wild. And you can hear the windows rattling
and then the chip trees moving. But over a period of time, the wind, the strength,
the wind drops, and then eventually the wind will die down and disappear. So when we use the
expression to die down, it means that the wind strength gets less and less, and eventually,
it disappears completely. And you have a nice, quiet, peaceful evening. And you can go to
bed without the windows rattling or the trees brushing against the wall of the house. Okay,
so to die down. Rain can also die down from really heavy rain to perhaps just
a little light drizzle or some raindrops, but the heavy rain dies down or disappears.
And as always, if you like this particular lesson, and please like the video, and if
you can subscribe to the channel, because it really, really helps.
To blow over. But again, when you're living on an island, like Ireland or the UK, winds are a very,
very important factor when the wind blows, it usually brings rain and rain clouds with
it. But the important issue is that when there's wind, the weather patterns will
move quite quickly. So we have rain for an hour or two hours and the sun wind,
it will blow the clouds away. And therefore we can say that the rain has blown over it has
gone so it was heavy rain for the morning. But in the afternoon, the rain clouds have
disappeared that blown away. And we're left with a dry day for the rest of the day. So
this will soon blow over. So if you're used to the weather and you're used to the weather patterns,
perhaps you can look at your window, you see some rain and some wind and you say ah that will blow
over in a couple of hours. So it won't be so bad. So by one o'clock, everything should be okay,
we can go out for that walk. And sure enough, one o'clock, no wind, no rain,
and off you go. So when we talk about something blowing over, it means it will last for a little
while and then it will disappear and will go on to some other parts of the island or across the sea.
And then finally, hold off. So when we use that as a phrasal verb to hold off means we hope it won't
happen. It might eventually but we're hoping that it will hold off for a period until we do some
something so perhaps you've got a very important wash to do and you want to hang your clothes out
to dry and you take a look at the sky and you see it's a bit dark and you say to your partner,
Hmmm... I hole... I hope that rain will hold off for a couple of hours until I get
these clothes dry because there's a strong wind there. So if we get a couple of hours,
they'd be dry in no time. So you're hoping and praying and keeping your fingers crossed,
that the rain that's threatened will hold off means it will not happen quite as the weatherman
expects. So if you read the weather forecast, or listen to the weather forecast, they might
tell you to expect heavy rain showers throughout the day. But you look at the clouds. And if you
think it's not going to rain, you run out and put your washing on the line hoping that that
rain will hold off for the period of two weeks to get your washing dry. Okay, so to hold off.
And then finally, as I said, we have an idiom and that idiom is to be snowed in. Now,
we use an idiom snowed under when we're talking about our work, which means we've
got work right up to our eyes up to our neck, put in weather terms, when we say we are snowed in,
it literally means we can't get out of a house because there's a lot of snow,
we don't often get snow. And the problem is when we get it, we don't know what to do. So usually
people just stay at home. And they don't go to work because they have no winter tires on the cars
so they can't drive at the buses stop because they can't get up the road. The roads are not gritted,
there's not enough machinery to clear the snow from the streets. So we just stay at
home. So if you're lucky enough to be snowed in, meaning, you can't get your car to drive,
you can't get to the bus stop, you struggle to get down the street because of deep snow,
well then, literally that means you are snowed in for that day or half a day or two or three days.
But in Ireland, we get those sort of situations once every six, seven years. It doesn't happen
so often. But yeah, I've experienced quite a few times when I have been snowed in but
they don't happen so often because I can usually remember all of them. Okay, so to be snowed in.
So let me give them to brighten up, cloud over, clear up, warm up,
cool down, break through, pick up, die down, blow over and hold off. So
that's our 10 phrasal verbs and the one idiom to be snowed in, snowed in. Okay,
so they're the useful or super useful phrasal verbs relating to weather and as I said,
it's always a topical conversational piece. So it's, it's important to know what they are,
it's important to know what they mean. It's important to know how you can use them.
So practice them, have a look at your weather conditions to see if any of these phrasal verbs
are a good description of what you are experiencing. And if you need any help
you know the drill by now, come back to me www.englishlessonviaskype.com. Very,
very happy to help you and to give you more examples when needed. Okay, so this is Harry
saying goodbye. Thanks for joining the lesson. Thanks for listening and join me for the next one.