25 Advanced English Vocabulary Phrases for DAILY LIFE

Hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com. Can you use these 23 English expressions for daily conversation? Let's talk about it. Have you ever watched an English movie or TV show and thought, man, it would be great to speak like that? Well, I have some good news. Today, you are going to learn 23 important conversational expressions for daily life. All of these 23 expressions came from last week's video, the one and a half hour real English conversation that I had with my husband. I hope that you will be able to use these in your daily life as well. And to help you with that, I have created a free PDF worksheet with all 23 of today's expressions, definitions, sample sentences, and at the bottom of the free PDF, you can answer Vanessa's challenge question so that you never forget what you are about to learn. All right, are you ready to get started? Let's do it. Daily English expression number one that you need to know is this phrasal verb, to go on about something. In the conversation, Dan said that his grandma would go on about lots of stories. This means that she would talk a lot about something. Usually it's slightly negative because it means she talks for too long about something, but we can use this in other contexts too. Take a look at this sentence. I could go on about my love for books all day. Maybe you don't want to hear about my love for books all day, but it doesn't matter. If you asked me a question about books, I could go on about books all day. Is there something that you could go on about for hours and hours? Let's watch the original clip from the conversation so that you can hear Dan use to go on about. My grandma would always give lots of details about growing up there on the farm and how they didn't have electricity and, you know, she would go on about, you know, these stories about. Daily English expression number two is actually another phrasal verb, to scrub out. When you're scrubbing something, you're usually pushing really hard to try to get maybe some kind of burnt food off of a pan. You're scrubbing the pan. Well, we can use this a little more figuratively as well. In the conversation, Dan said that his grandparents' families came from Germany and as you can imagine, during the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, it wasn't very popular to have a German sounding name or to live in a German community in the U.S. because we were at war with Germany. So Dan said they were trying to scrub out a lot of German sounding things. So Dan's family changed their name slightly so that it didn't sound so German. Let's see how we can use this phrasal verb in another sentence. Maybe you had a really bad year in 2020. A lot of us had a hard year in 2020 and also 2021. I hope 2022 is better for you. Well, you might say, I just want to scrub out all of the bad memories from that year. It means you want to erase them from your memory. I just want to scrub out all those bad memories and start fresh. All right, let's watch the clip from the original conversation so that you can get more context. Obviously, for reasons that we can understand, we were at war with Germany a lot. So I think they were trying to scrub out a lot of the super German sounding things. Like apparently our last name was more German sounding at one point. Daily English expression number three is to get ahead of yourself. Is it possible that as you're walking, you can get ahead of yourself? Well, it's not possible physically, but it's possible when you're having a conversation. We usually use this in a verbal situation where you start talking about something prematurely. You're not ready to talk about something. So in the conversation with Dan, we were talking about our family histories and he asked me another question that I was going to talk about in the future. But we were talking about that and then I said, oh, we're getting ahead of ourselves. Let's slow down and try to follow this in order. And that's often how it's used. Take a look at this sentence. And I love reading books. And I talked to this lady at the library and then I got a job at the library, but then it was, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me start over. As you can see, I was kind of passionately telling this little story and it wasn't very clear, maybe not in the right order, the way I wanted to say it. So I said, oh, I'm getting ahead of myself verbally. So let me start over. Let me go back to the beginning and tell you it the proper way. All right. Let's watch this in the original conversation so that you can see the context. They were either in New York or Pittsburgh, but by the time my great-grandma came, they went to Pittsburgh. We're getting a little ahead of ourselves. So the next English expression for daily conversation is to sign up for something. Yes, you can use this to sign up for a class, to sign up for a marathon. But I want to talk about this in a slightly different way, a little bit more metaphorical, for example. In the conversation with my husband, Dan, he said that he loves to catch critters, little crawling things. And even on our honeymoon, when we were going for a hike, he was looking for salamanders. And Dan joked, she, me, she didn't know what she was signing up for. So what was I signing up? I was getting married. So this means I was signing the papers to get married, but I didn't know that I was going to be marrying someone who would be always looking for salamanders. Obviously, this is a little bit of a joke. It's not a big deal. And it's something that I like too. So it works out. But he said, oh, she didn't know what she was signing up for when she married me. Let's take a look at another sentence. Let's imagine that you meet someone who's also interested in speaking English. So you say, yeah, how about we meet up every Thursday at this cafe and we talk for an hour? And then after the first meeting, you realize, oh, this person is not very interesting to talk to. We don't have anything in common, but I've committed to this. I didn't know what I was signing up for. This is obviously a worst case scenario. Hopefully, if you do this, you find someone who has a lot in common with you and you have a good time. But you could use this expression and say, I didn't know what I was signing up for. Maybe I should find a different speaking partner. And you can. In my course, The Fearless Fluency Club, thousands of motivated English learners speak together each week, sometimes daily. There are a lot of wonderful people that chat together to improve their English speaking skills. If you would like to meet some of these wonderful members and participate and improve your speaking, you can click on the link in the description to join us in The Fearless Fluency Club. All right, let's watch the original context for this expression, to sign up for something. I think this was the first time I'd ever caught critters with you. Because I don't know, maybe when we were- She didn't know what she was signing up for. Maybe when we were dating, we just weren't in those situations. The next expression for daily conversation is to drill in a point. What's a drill? Well, this is a drill. This is a electric drill. You can use this to put a screw into a piece of wood, for example. But when we talk about drilling in a point, we're using it in a little bit more of a metaphorical way. In the conversation with Dan, we said, well, this will really drill in the point that Dan loves catching critters. So we were telling a story that emphasized the idea that Dan loves to catch critters. And that's the idea here when we're talking about it metaphorically. We are emphasizing a point. Let me give you another example. One of my English teachers was very passionate about theater and plays, and he used to act out scenes from literature to drill in the point that he was trying to make. So instead of just telling us about Romeo and Juliet, for example, he would act out the scenes to make sure that we never forgot it. To drill in the point. A great thing to do. All right. Let's watch the original clip from the conversation so that you can see the context. Well, do you want to share also while we're on this topic, your first memory, the frog? Oh, my very first memory. Yes. This will drill in the point that Dan really likes to catch critters. Yeah. I caught a toad. The next expression for daily conversation is to come full circle. So if you go 360 degrees, where are you? Well, you're back at the beginning. And that's the idea of this expression. In the conversation with Dan, I was talking about when I was a child, I love to play in the dirt. I love to catch tadpoles and do these types of things. And then when I was a teenager, I did those things less. But now as an adult, I do them again. So we could say, I have come full circle. The cycle is complete. Let's take a look at another example. You might say, fashion has come full circle from when I was younger. Now high-waisted jeans are back in fashion. Maybe there's something like this for you that when you were a child or when you were a teenager, something was in fashion, and then it fell out of fashion for a while. And now it's in fashion again. Well, we have come full circle. Now those things are fashionable again. All right, let's watch the clip from the original conversation. Maybe when I was like in eighth grade or so, I had a phase where I stopped playing in the dirt and did other things. But now I have come full circle and, well, I took a shower recently, so my nails are actually clean. The next expression for daily conversation is right and left. We're not talking about turn right, turn left. I'm talking about this full expression, right and left. In the original conversation, Dan said that he thought it would be really cool to be a professional athlete. And then he said, well, maybe I would just be beating everyone right and left because he'd be so good there wouldn't be any other competition. What did it mean in this context? Well, it meant to do things quickly without even thinking, right and left. So you could even say, well, that company is giving things away for free, right and left. If you just call them and say, hey, I really like that product, they'd say, hey, we'll give it to you for free. Hey, we'll send you a bunch of free samples. They are giving away things for free, right and left. I want to show you another sample sentence for something a little bit negative. You might say, she spends money right and left. Can you imagine what this means? Just without thinking, quickly, here and there, all over the place. She is always spending money. She just spends money right and left. All right, let's watch the original clip from the conversation so that you can hear how Dan used right and left. Let's watch. I would wake up tomorrow and I'd be like the best hockey player on earth. Wow. Maybe that'd be a little bit boring. Like I'm just like beating everybody right and left. I'm sure you still have to work though. The next expression for daily conversation is even though. In the conversation with Dan, we were talking about different parts of the country and we said, even though that is part of the US, it feels so different when you go from somewhere that has a wet, humid geography and climate and then go somewhere deserty and very dry. Well, it feels like a different country. So even though it's part of the same country, it feels very different. A phrase you can substitute for even though is despite the fact that it's the same country, it feels so different. We use even though more often than despite the fact that it's the same country, but that is a substitute that you could use. Let's take a look at a couple other examples. Even though it snowed while we were camping, we had a great time. Even though it snowed. So here's kind of the negative part. Well, what's the conclusion? We still had a great time. So you can see that the beginning of the sentence is kind of the opposite of the end of the sentence. Let's take a look at one other example. Even though the computer was on sale, it was still $2,000. So here we have the opposite. Something's on sale. You think it's going to be cheap or cheap-ish, but it was still $2,000. So even though it was on sale, it was still $2,000. Those have kind of opposite feels. All right. Let's watch the original clip from the conversation so you can get the context for this lovely phrase, even though. I feel like being somewhere like that, even though the US is the same country, it feels so different that it does feel like you've gone almost into a different world. The next expression for daily conversation is to be tied up in something. In the original conversation, when Dan and I were talking about food, we were talking a lot about nostalgia. And that's kind of the bittersweet feeling you have when you think back on something from your past. So a lot of our favorite memories about food are really tied up with nostalgia. If I just had that food by itself, maybe I wouldn't feel the same way. But because of those memories in the past, because the food is tied up with nostalgia, it means so much more. So we can use this expression when there is a deep connection between two things. Let's take a look at another example. I have so much time and energy tied up in this project. I don't want it to fail. I have so much time and energy tied up in this project that I don't want it to fail. We're talking about something that's closely connected, time and energy and the project. These are closely connected. So you know what? I don't want it to fail. All right, let's watch the original clips. You can see how this expression was used. We've had so many delicious meals in our travels, and we just love different food as well. And this is very tied up in nostalgia for me too, because we lived in South Korea for three years. The next expression is, when I think back to it. This is a full fixed phrase that we often use when just talking about the past. You're reflecting on something in the past. So in the conversation, we were talking about a trip that we took. And we said, when I think back to it, we did a lot of nice hikes. So this is just a memory that I have. So when you're talking about something that you are reflecting on, maybe there's some nostalgia tied up in this. When I think back on it, we took some nice hikes there. Let's take a look at another example. Let's say that you're a really creative person. Maybe now you're a designer or a writer or something like this. You might say, when I think back to it, I've always had a big imagination. So when you're trying to think about, hmm, did I just enjoy this job because it's for another reason? Or is it because, oh, when I think back to it, I've always had a big imagination. This is something that's been a part of my life ever since I was a child. So when I think back to it, you know what? It's a good fit for me. It makes sense. All right, let's watch the original clip from the conversation so that you can see how to use this phrase. That was also kind of a good vibe, nostalgic experience, because when I think back to it, we did a lot of beautiful hikes on that trip. The next daily life English expression is a fun one. A cop out, a cop out. In the conversation with Dan, when I asked him what was his preferred defense mechanism, he said, well, my answer is a bit of a cop out. It's flying. Well, flying is maybe not something we think about as defense, but he goes on to explain why he said that. So it made sense. But he said, you know what? My answer is kind of a cop out. We use this expression when we're talking about avoiding a problem or avoiding something that might be a little bit difficult. So he chose an easy answer. It was a true answer, but he thought he chose something that was maybe a little too easy. Let's take a look at another example so that you can use this fun phrase. My excuse was just a cop out. I wasn't actually sick. I just didn't want to go to the party. Have you ever done that? Have you ever given an excuse that wasn't true? Well, it was just a cop out. In the same sense, you can use it to defend yourself. Maybe you actually are sick and you feel bad about missing a party. You might say, oh, I'm so sorry. I can't come to the party. I'm feeling so sick. But trust me, it's not a cop out. I'm actually sick. I would really love to come. So you can use it to kind of defend yourself too. All right, let's watch the original clip from the conversation. If you could imagine having an animal's defense mechanism, what would it be? Mine would be, this is a little bit of a cop out. Okay. Flying. The next expression for daily conversation is a fun one. To win someone something. Usually we say to win you something. And in the conversation with Dan, I was talking about a silly animal, a horny toad that can squirt blood out of its eyes. If you haven't watched that conversation yet, I recommend it. There's a link in the description. And he said, well, you know what? That's pretty cool, but it's not going to win you a lot of dates. This is a very silly thing to say. If someone can squirt blood out of their eyes and they go on a date with someone and they do that, or they tell someone that, that other person might be a little bit scared and not go on a date with you again, I imagine. So Dan said this funny thing, that's not going to win you a lot of dates. Let's see how you can use this in another context. Yelling at people isn't going to win you a lot of friends, just enemies. Or you might say, you know what? Telling the truth isn't going to win you a lot of votes as a politician, but at least you will have your integrity. Telling the truth isn't going to win you a lot of votes. Do you see that we usually use this in a negative way? It's not going to win you a lot of dates. It's not going to win you a lot of friends. It's not going to win you a lot of votes. This is the most common way, but you might also see it used positively. All right, let's take a look at the original conversation. Oh, I probably would fly away instead of fighting, but shooting blood out of your eyes- It's not going to win you a lot of dates. No. Hey, baby. Look what I can do. The next expression for daily conversation is to set the stage. A stage is the raised up place in a theater where the actors are, but we're not talking about a play here. Instead, I'm just trying to paint a picture. Let me set the stage. I was telling you about my Christmas experiences in the conversation. I said, okay, I'll set the stage. I told you some background things. There was popcorn, there was music. I'm trying to give you an image of what it was like. Let's take a look at another example. Let me set the stage for what holidays with my family are like. Well, I have two brothers, three sisters, and they all have children of their own. As you can imagine, it's a really busy time. Here I'm giving you a general idea to paint the picture so that you can imagine what it's like. I'm setting the stage for you. All right, let's watch the original clip. When I was a kid, we didn't have a real Christmas tree. We had a fake tree, but even in that, I was so excited about it. First of all, I'll set the stage. My mom popped popcorn, so we ate popcorn and it smelled great. We listened to Christmas music. The next expression for daily conversation is to be experienced. Don't forget the D at the end of this word. In the conversation, Dan was talking about people who are experienced with rock climbing. He said there were people who were more experienced than he was. Let's take a look at some sentences so that you can use this in the correct way. If you're going hiking in the mountains, it's best to go with someone who is experienced, someone who knows where they're going and has some experience in the mountains. Or we might say the only way to become experienced is to practice a lot. So if you want to be experienced and be able to have English conversations, well, you need to practice a lot. You want to be experienced. Yes, you have this great skill or knowledge. All right, let's watch the original clip from the conversation. There's nothing except for a crack and little tiny ledges. So they're experienced. So they got up the first part really easily. The next daily English conversation is to size up someone. This is a fun expression. In the conversation with Dan, he was talking about rock climbing and everyone's talking to each other about different climbs that they did. They're trying to size each other up. How experienced are you? How inexperienced are you? They're trying to size each other up. This could be a positive thing or a negative thing where you feel judged by someone else. Or it could be a situation like this. When I saw the bear in the woods, he was sizing me up to see if he could eat me. We have a lot of bears around here where I live, but thankfully they don't eat people. They very rarely attack people too. But if I saw a bear, I imagine it would size me up and say, should I attack? Should I run away? I don't want to be in that situation. You can also say, I sized up my competition at the hot dog eating contest. This is something that often happens at state fairs in the US. There's a contest to see who can eat the most hot dogs. Seems like a very American thing. But as you sit at the table and you see the other people who are also competing, you might look at them and think, hmm, I wonder what they could do. You're judging them. You're sizing them up. What are they capable of? All right. Let's watch the original clip from the conversation so that you can get more context. One guy walked up and there was a climb and they all have funny names. And he was like, oh, did you do chalk line? Cool, bro. It was like- Trying to size each other up. Surfer vibes. Yeah. I could see that. Yeah. The next expression for daily conversation is up until... And here we're talking about a change. You're doing something and then you're stopping at a certain event. So in the conversation with Dan, he said that he played baseball up until coach pitch. So this is a different level when the coach is throwing the ball a lot harder, but he played baseball and then he stopped at coach pitch. He played baseball up until coach pitch. So you might say, I played the flute in our high school band up until my senior year. So that means that I stopped at my senior year. What's the difference between up until and until? Well, not very much. It's just a personal preference. So you could say, well, I liked that cake up until I saw that it had mold on it. Or I liked that cake until I saw that it had mold on it. Both of these are used equally and it's just your choice, but I want to make sure that you know about both so that you have the option. All right. Let's watch the original clip. So when I was a kid, I played baseball up until coach pitch, which is where the coach is pitching, not the players. And then I started getting scared of how fast the ball was coming. So at least back then, that's how I felt. The next expression for daily conversation is one that I don't think I've ever shared on my YouTube channel before, and that is, for lack of a better word. So in the conversation with Dan, I said, there must be a tiny robot, for lack of a better word, that fights cancer. Well, maybe in the biotech field, they don't use the word robot, but that's just the word that I used. So we could say, well, for lack of a better word, this means I don't have a better word to describe it, but you get the point. Let's take a look at another example. I learned that trees can, for lack of a better word, talk to each other. If you've ever looked into trees or researched them, you might know that trees can communicate with each other through their roots, through these types of systems that really, it's almost impossible for us to imagine. And I don't really have a better word to describe it than talk. So I said trees can, for lack of a better word, talk with each other. They're obviously not using voices, but that's the best word that I could think of, and you get the point. All right, let's watch the original clip. I think there is like, it's some kind of micro or like tiny robot, for lack of a better word, that can find certain diseases or cells in the body. The next daily English conversation is, I must say that... In the conversation with Dan, I said, I must say that Dan's cancer fighting robots are a better idea than mine. Do you kind of get the sense from my voice that I'm emphasizing? Well, it is true, but also a little bit reluctantly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Your idea is better than mine. Let's take a look at another example. Let's say that you're telling me, you know what? I just put peanut butter on celery and it's the best snack ever. This is pretty common in the US. And I say, ah, that sounds terrible. I would never like that. And then you convince me to try it. And I eat it and say, I must say, celery and peanut butter is a pretty good snack. I'm reluctantly agreeing with you. You know what? You were right. I was wrong. I must say, it's a pretty good snack. You should try it sometime. All right. Let's watch the clip from the conversation. Yes. So I would like our glass sliding door to be closed more easily so that it is not a personal hassle or an annoyance in our home. But I must say that Dan's cancer fighting robots are probably a better idea. The next daily English expression is to justify something. In the original conversation with Dan, we said that real estate is something that you can justify sometimes because you say that it's an investment. We usually use the word justify when you're trying to convince someone or convince yourself that something is okay. It's okay to buy real estate because it's not just throwing away money. It's an investment. You can also use the word justify for other things. Let's take a look. I wanted to justify buying a piano by saying, hey, I'll learn how to play. But the reality is I probably wouldn't take the time to learn how to play. So I couldn't really justify the purchase. All right. Let's take a look at the original clip so that you can see how to justify something was used. I know for sure I want to have some more property. And you can always, you know, justify it by saying, well, this is an investment too. You can always resell it. The next daily English expression is a fun one. To cut someone some slack. When something is not slack, for example, let's just take my hair. This is tight. But slack is when it's loose. So that's more flexible. Something is more flexible. There is slack. So if you said to someone, hey, cut me some slack. I've been sick all week. I haven't had any time to finish my work projects. That means stop being so serious with me. Be kinder. Deal with me in a less critical way. And in the conversation with Dan, that's how we used it. Some people, when they play board games, they are very serious. But whenever I play with someone like that, I just want to tell them, hey, stop being so serious. Cut me some slack. It's just a game. But then some people might say, it's not a game. It is a way of life. You can also use this expression if you are the one who is being gentler with someone else. You might say, I cut my student some slack because I know he's been having a hard time at home lately. That means I wasn't so strict with my student because I understood that it wasn't a good time for that. I cut my student some slack. All right, let's take a look at the original conversation. I played this game with people who are so serious that they are not fun to play with. As in, if you set the dice down, they'll say, oh, your turn's over. It's my turn now. What? Give me some slack. Cut me some slack. The next daily English expression is to bring myself to do something. And usually we use this in a negative way. I can't bring myself to do something. And that's how Dan used it in the original conversation. He was talking about an expensive fish. And he said, I could never bring myself to spending that much money on an expensive fish. I couldn't bring myself to do that. Let's take a look at another example. I might say, I can't bring myself to post on Instagram. Something about Instagram just makes me feel a little bit like I'm just showing the best things and comparing myself with others. I don't think it's social media in general is a great thing. So I can't bring myself to post on Instagram. We're talking about taking action about this. I can't bring myself to get an office job again. I've been working in a different way for the last seven years. And I just can't bring myself to getting an office job again. I can't take that kind of action. All right, let's take a look at the original conversation clip. I wouldn't want to spend money on it. I'd never bring myself to spend money on it. You can't justify spending money on it. But if somebody just gave me the supplies and the fish, I'd set it up and be happy. Okay. The next expression for daily conversation is another fun one. A twinge of something. In the conversation with Dan, he said, I saw a twinge of regret in her eye when she talked about her cow. We were talking about a farmer who has to take care of this cow relentlessly, twice a day, continually. It's a lot of work. And she said, yes, I love this cow. I am committed to this cow. But we saw a little, small, quick sign of regret. We call this a twinge. It's a twinge of regret. Let's see some other phrases where we can use this because you don't need to use it only with the word regret. I felt a twinge of envy when I heard my friends talking about their travels. This is slight, fast, and sudden. It's just a little bit. I felt a twinge of envy. I didn't let it take over me, but I just felt a twinge of envy. Or you could say, I had a twinge of regret about not ordering that chocolate cake for dessert. If someone else orders the chocolate cake and I see it, I wish I'd gotten that instead. I felt a twinge of regret and then I got over it. My dessert was just fine. All right, let's take a look at the original conversation clip. They didn't hire anyone to help them, so they never get a vacation, which they could hire someone to help occasionally. I will just say I saw a twinge of regret in her eyes when she was talking about this decision. Yeah, they love those cows and they took good care of them. But the final expression for daily conversation is to Google something. Well, you might know Google is the most popular internet search engine. So we use this now commonly as a verb, to Google something. And in the conversation with Dan, I said, I Google a lot of things that I don't know. If I don't know how to fix something, I don't know how to do something in the garden. Well, I just Google it. So you can also say, I was trying to decide where to go on vacation. So I Googled top vacation destinations 2022, and it looks like I'm going to Portugal. Oh, wouldn't that be great? Well, I wish that were true, but you can Google a lot of things. Maybe you Googled some English expressions and that's how you found my YouTube channel. I hope so. And I hope it's helpful to you. Let's take a look at the original clip so that you can see how to Google something was used. When I need to, for example, do something with the garden, what do I do when I don't know? I Google it. I watch a YouTube video. It's very useful in many ways, say for education or even for entertainment. Well, congratulations on learning 23 common daily life English expressions. Now I have a question for you. Do you remember that first expression that we talked about to go on about something? I want to know what is something that you could go on about for hours and hours, something that really makes you feel passionate. Let me know in the comments and don't forget to download the free PDF worksheet for this lesson. There's a link in the description. You can learn all of these phrases, definitions, sample sentences, and answer Vanessa's challenge question so that you never forget what you've learned. Well, thank you so much for learning English with me, and I'll see you again next Friday for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye. The next step is to download the free PDF worksheet for this lesson. With this free PDF, you will master today's lesson and never forget what you have learned. You can be a confident English speaker. Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for a free English lesson every Friday. Bye.