Subtitle (219)
0:00Get ready to speak clearly and
confidently in English. Hi,
0:05I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com
and in today's lesson over the next 30 minutes,
0:12you are going to immerse yourself in clear English
so that you can speak clearly and confidently in
0:18your English conversations. And like always, I
have created a free PDF worksheet with all of
0:24today's important English tips, vocabulary, sample
sentences, and at the bottom of the worksheet,
0:31you can answer Vanessa's challenge question
so that you never forget what you've learned.
0:36You can click on the link in the description
to download that free PDF worksheet today.
0:41All right, let's get started speaking clear,
confident English by learning which five important
0:47mistakes in English you should avoid. Let's go. Oh
man, you look so boring. Oh, no. Please do not say
0:56this in English. This is extremely rude. The first
common speaking mistake is the one you just heard,
1:03boring versus bored. It's understandable that
these words are a common mistake because they
1:10both have a similar meaning. They talk about
something or someone that's not interesting,
1:16but the difference comes in how we use
them grammatically. The word boring is for
1:22something or someone that's not interesting.
That movie was boring. I went on a date with
1:29him and he was so boring. He just talked about
sports the whole time. It's not a compliment.
1:37But the word bored refers to the feeling you
have when you watch that boring movie. Or when
1:44you go on that boring date, you feel bored. So
at the beginning of this lesson when I said,
1:51oh man, you look so boring, oh no, that's not
nice. It means you're not interesting. Instead,
1:58I should have said, oh man, you
look so bored. It means you're not
2:03doing anything fun. You feel like you need
some more fun in your life. I feel bored.
2:10Let's look at a couple sample sentences. This
documentary about sand is boring. I feel so
2:18bored. Can we please watch something else?
I was so bored during that lecture. To me,
2:25physics is just boring. Sorry people who like
physics. So now I have a little quiz for you.
2:32I want you to choose is the word boring or bored
the best fit for this sentence? Vanessa's lessons
2:40are not... I never feel... What's the correct
answer here? I'll give you three seconds. 3,
2:492, 1. Vanessa's lessons are not boring. I
never feel bored. Oh, I hope that's true.
2:58Common speaking mistake number two is one that
native English speakers make too. It is well
3:05versus good. Have you ever heard someone say,
"Ugh, I don't feel good." You know what? That's
3:12a mistake. Instead, it should be I don't
feel well. What's the difference? Let me
3:19tell you. The word well is an adverb. That means
it adds something to the verb. So when you say,
3:26I don't feel well, well is talking about how
you feel. I don't feel well. I have a headache,
3:33I have a stomachache. I need to go lie
down. If you said I don't feel good,
3:39this means that my sense of touch is not
good. Maybe you burned your fingers. Yeah,
3:44I just don't feel good anymore. It's a
very unusual thing to say. So instead,
3:49when you're talking about your health, you can
use this correctly and say, I don't feel well.
3:54What about the word good? Well, the word good is
an adjective, so it needs to describe a noun. You
4:01might say, wow, Vanessa, this is a really good
lesson. Good is describing lesson. Or you could
4:08say, I really need a good grade in this class
or I'm going to fail. I do want to tell you
4:14of an exception in spoken English. I mentioned
that sometimes native English speakers use this
4:21incorrectly, but there is one case when we use
it incorrectly and I actually recommend using
4:27it like that so you don't seem too snobby. Let
me tell you about it. If someone asks you the
4:33common greeting question, how are you doing and
you want to answer with grammatical correctness,
4:40you would need to say, "I'm doing well, and
you?" But you know what? If you said this,
4:46someone might think, oh did you
come from the 16th century? Are you
4:51an English professor? Maybe you are. But
in this case it's grammatically correct,
4:57but it is not commonly used and it feels a
little bit weird in just daily conversation.
5:03So what should you say instead? Well, here you
have it. Your English teacher telling you to make
5:09a mistake on purpose, and that is if someone says,
how are you doing? You could say, pretty good, and
5:17you? Good is actually the most common response,
even though it's not technically grammatically
5:24correct. Who knew you should make mistakes? So now
it's time for a little test. Can you choose which
5:31word fits in which blank? Good or well? I need to
do on that test because I need a grade. I'll give
5:43you three seconds. 3, 2, 1. I need to do well on
that test because I need a good grade. Great work.
5:55Common speaking mistake number three is another
pair of similar words, and that is job versus
6:02work. These both mean your career, something that
you do generally to make money, but they function
6:09differently grammatically in a sentence. The
word work can be both a verb, I work, or it can
6:17be a noun. My work is as a teacher and the word
job can only be a noun. So let's take a look at
6:26a couple sentences. My job is to manage my team.
This is a noun and it's talking about your career.
6:34My job is to manage my team. Or you could say I
work on the marketing team. This is as a verb.
6:43What if we put these together in a sentence? You
could say I work with a lot of interesting people
6:50at my new job. I do want to teach you two things
to be careful of with these two phrases. One is
6:58the fixed phrase that you will use often and that
is at work. This is talking about the place where
7:06you work. Where were you at 6:00 o'clock tonight?
We were waiting for you at dinner. You might say,
7:12sorry, I was at work. I had to do something
extra before I left. Or you could say I was
7:17so busy at work today. Yes, it's talking about
the place, but this is a fixed phrase that you
7:23can use to talk about where you were. I
was at work. I was busy at work today.
7:30Earlier I mentioned that the word work can be used
as a verb or a noun, and the word job can be used
7:36as a noun. So can they be used interchangeably
at all? Take a look at this. You could say I
7:43love my job or you could say I love my work, but
be careful. There is a nuanced difference between
7:51these two. If you say, I love my job, cool.
It just means what you said. I like what I do
7:57to make money. But when you say I love my work,
this feels like there's a deeper significance to
8:04what you do at your job. For example, maybe
you help homeless people to find a home,
8:10or you're helping people who are in a domestic
violence situation get a better life. You
8:16are really changing people's lives kind of
with a deeper significance. So if you say,
8:21I love my work, this has the underlying idea that
you are changing the world or at least changing
8:29someone's world. It's a very deep feeling.
All right, now it's time for a little test.
8:34Can you choose which blank needs the word job and
which blank needs the word work? For my I need to
8:44late hours. I'll give you three seconds. Two, one.
For my job I need to work late hours. Great work.
8:54The next common speaking mistake are
two similar words again, in and at. Oh,
9:01my. I receive many questions from English students
asking, "Vanessa, how can I remember when to use
9:07in and when to use at?" Well, let me give you
some ideas. This is tricky because we use both
9:14at and in when we're talking about time, but we
use the word at specifically for specific times.
9:23For example, at midnight, at 5:00 o'clock,
at noon. This is at specifically that time,
9:32but the word in is used more generally. Take a
look at this. In the morning, in the evening,
9:40in five minutes, in six hours. You
didn't say at 3:30. You said no,
9:47we'll have a meeting in the morning, in
the evening, in five minutes, in six days.
9:55Let's take a look at some sentences. Can you meet
me at noon? I know that that's only in 30 minutes,
10:04but can you make it? So I'm asking you,
hey, I know this is last minute notice,
10:10but can you make it? Can you meet me at noon,
this specific time in the duration of time in 30
10:18minutes? Let's take a look at another one. You're
invited to my birthday party. The party is in 10
10:25days and it starts at 7:00 o'clock. Wonderful.
Are you ready for a little test? I want you to
10:32decide which blank needs the word in and which
blank needs the word at. Take a look. Three days
10:41when my vacation starts, I won't need to wake
up 6:00 A.M. anymore. I can sleep in. All right,
10:52I'll give you three seconds to decide.
In three days when my vacation starts,
10:59I won't need to wake up at 6:00 A.M. anymore.
It's so nice on vacation to sleep in.
11:07If you would like to dive deeper into this
topic, I made another video comparing in,
11:14on and at and over half a million
people have found clarity with this
11:18video. You can click on the link up
here to watch that in more detail.
11:22Our fifth and final common speaking mistake is
to talk with someone or to talk to someone. I
11:31want to show you two sentences and I want you to
guess which one is the best. I'm talking with my
11:37friend or I'm talking to my friend. Which one do
you think is better? I'll give you three seconds.
11:45Let's do our quiz now. 3, 2, 1. Well, you know
what? This is a trick question because both of
11:52these are equally acceptable in spoken English
conversations. I have heard that some people
11:59say when you use talk to someone, it has the sense
that there's an authority. I'm talking to someone
12:07who has less authority than me. I talked to my
employees, I talked to my child. But really in
12:15daily spoken English in the US we use both of
these phrases interchangeably. You could say,
12:22I talked to my boss about the important
meeting next week. I talked to my child,
12:27I talked to my friend. Or you could say, I
talked with my friend, I talked with my boss.
12:33You could use these interchangeably in spoken
English and it's not a problem. So if you are
12:39one of those English learners that has ever
wondered, should I say talk to or talk with,
12:43you know what? You could just take that concern
and throw it out of your brain. It doesn't matter.
12:48Now that you can avoid those five mistakes
in English, I want to help you learn five
12:54secrets of American English pronunciation
that will help you to speak English like
13:00a native speaker because sometimes we speak
clearly and sometimes we link words together,
13:06and native speakers feel like it's such a
normal thing to do. But English learners
13:11often struggle understanding this and
using it themselves. So let's practice.
13:16All right, are you ready to get started with the
first secret of American English pronunciation?
13:22Let's start. Have you heard this phrase before,
the early bird catches the worm? This means that
13:28if you wake up early or you get started now,
well, you will succeed. Only the birds that
13:36wake up early in the morning get the best
worms. If you wait, if you procrastinate,
13:42well too bad for you, you won't be able to
succeed. But this wonderful phrase uses an
13:49important American English pronunciation
point. There are three words, early bird
13:55and worm that use a colored R. So in American
English, this R is a strong hard sound. Early,
14:06bird, worm. Do you see how that's almost
like an angry dog? Worm, bird, early. Make
14:17sure that when you're using American English
pronunciation, this colored R sound is hard.
14:23Phrase number two that uses key American English
pronunciation is this one. Have you ever heard
14:28someone say, your guess is as good as mine? Your
guess is as good as mine. This means that the
14:34other person has no clue. Maybe you could say,
I don't know how to get to the beach. Your guess
14:43is as good as mine. But there is something
important happening with the pronunciation
14:47of this phrase. At the end of the word guess and
at the end of the word is, there is an S. But in
14:55American English pronunciation, we often link the
S with the vowel next to make a Z sound. So listen
15:03carefully when I say this phrase. Your guess is as
good as mine. It sounds a lot like zzz and that's
15:12what's happening here. We are linking together
the S plus a vowel from the next word. Try to
15:19say it with me. Your guess is as good as mine.
I have no clue. Your guess is as good as mine.
15:27Key phrase number three that uses American
English pronunciation is this fun one.
15:32Don't bite the hand that feeds you. Have
you ever been trying to help someone and
15:38then they complain about how you're helping
them? You can use this phrase and say, hey,
15:43don't bite the hand that feeds you. I'm just
trying to help you. Well, it's the same idea.
15:48If you argue with your boss, if you yell at your
boss, he's the one that gives you your paycheck.
15:56So don't bite the hand that feeds you. But there
is important American English pronunciation here
16:02that happens three times. Don't bite, and then
a little later in the sentence is the word that.
16:10What is similar between all three of these
words? It's the letter T. Listen when I say this
16:16contraction, don't, don't. Do you hear don't with
that puff of air coming out? Nope. In American
16:25English, oftentimes a T at the end of words will
be cut off. We call this a stopped T because your
16:31mouth is making that shape, don't. My tongue is at
the top of my mouth trying to make that T shape,
16:38but there's no puff of air that comes out.
Listen carefully as I say this and I want you
16:43to hear that stopped T. Don't bite the hand
that feeds you. You think you can say that
16:52with me? You can do it. Let's say this phrase
together. Don't bite the hand that feeds you.
17:01All right, let's go to our next phrase. Has this
ever happened to you before? You invite a lot of
17:06people over to your house and you think it's going
to be a fun party, it's great, and then it just
17:11becomes so many people in your house, so much
chaos and you have to say this. Oh no, I think
17:18it's going to get out of hand. This doesn't
mean that anything is really in your hand and
17:24it's getting out of your hand. Instead, this means
it's getting out of control. But this phrase, get
17:31out of hand, uses an important American English
pronunciation tip, which is that the T at the end
17:38of words, another T tip, that has a vowel next
often changes to a D sound. So listen when I say
17:47this, the party will get out of hand. The word get
is surrounded by vowels. There's a vowel on either
17:58side, G-E-T, and then the next word starts with
an O. So that T is surrounded by vowels and that
18:06means that it's going to change to a D sound. Get
out and then it's going to happen with out and of.
18:14Out of. In fact, the word of changes to just a.
Get out hand of hand. Can you say it with me? The
18:23party will get out hand. The party will get out of
hand if you invite 50 people over to your house.
18:32All right, let's go to our last American English
pronunciation tip. Has it ever happened to you
18:37that you travel abroad and then you realize that
you're just meeting people from your own home
18:43country? It's like you're magnetic towards
each other. Well, we could use this phrase,
18:49birds of a feather flock together, and this means
that common things are attracted to each other,
18:57for better or for worse. So there is a key
American English pronunciation point we can talk
19:02about with this phrase. We already talked about
the word bird and how it uses that colored R,
19:08that hard R sound. Bird. And there is another
R tip in this phrase as well. Look at the end
19:14of the word feather and together. Here is an E-R,
and it's going to be a strong R sound. Feather,
19:25together. Again, pretend that you are an angry
dog and try to make that hard R sound. Feather,
19:33together. Can you say this wonderful idiom with
me? Birds of a feather flock together. Wonderful.
19:43Now that you've avoided five mistakes, learned
five pronunciation tips, now it's time to improve
19:50your English vocabulary. You're going to learn 30
important phrasal verbs with a fun lesson about a
19:58picture frame. All of these phrasal verbs are
going to be used to talk about a picture frame
20:04so that you can use them in your daily life as
well and speak clearly and confidently. Let's go.
20:10Are you ready to start learning 30 phrasal
verbs with just this little picture frame?
20:15Let's do it. This is a lot of picture frames.
I need to sort through my picture frames to
20:22decide which one would be best for this
project. Oh, I'm going to use this one.
20:28I'm going to look through my pictures to
decide which one would be best with this
20:33frame. I'm going to use this one. Before
I put the picture in, I need to brush off
20:39the frame. It's been collecting dust in
my closet. Then I need to clean off the
20:46fingerprints. Does this happen to you? There's
always fingerprints on my picture frames.
20:52Next, I'm going to open up the back of
the frame. Oops, the little tab just
20:58broke off. I guess it was kind of a cheap picture
frame. I take off the back of the picture frame
21:06and I will now put in my lovely picture and make
sure that I put it facing the right way. Ta-da.
21:15I'll put the back back on the picture frame and
I'll close up the little tabs. Unfortunately,
21:22there's only one tab left. All of the others
broke off. Such a cheap picture frame, but
21:28it'll do. I could set this picture frame down on
the table or maybe just place it on the counter,
21:35but I think that I want to hang it up. I was
just about to hang this up on the wall when
21:41the back kept coming out, so I decided that I
needed to tape the back on. Such a cheap picture
21:49frame. But you know what? That's how it goes
sometimes and you'll never see it from the front.
21:55To put this picture frame up on the wall,
I'm going to need to hammer in a nail. Okay,
22:01so here's one extra thing in the video.
Don't blame me, don't yell at me. Yes,
22:07it's more than just one picture frame. I'm
going to hammer in the nail. I could put it
22:15on the wall high up and try to keep
it away from my children's fingers,
22:21but I'm not too worried about it. I'm going to
hammer it in a little bit low down, around here.
22:32Looks good. Now I just need to carefully
set my picture frame on the nail. Looks
22:42pretty straight. I'm sure that when my kids come
home from school, they're going to point out,
22:47hey, look mom, there's a new picture on
the wall and I'll be sure to tell them,
22:51don't lift it up. Don't even pick it
up. It's pretty fragile. And someday,
22:56if I don't want this picture here, I'll just take
it off the wall. And you know what? Unfortunately,
23:04this is not a picture frame that I'm going to
be passing down through the generations. It's
23:11pretty cheap. And you know what? I probably
wouldn't even give it away. I don't think
23:17many people want a picture frame that has to
have tape on the back to keep the picture in.
23:25Oops. Now I have to sweep up the pieces.
I'm going to have to dump it out in the
23:32trash and tell my kids to watch out for
little pieces of glass that might have
23:37gone across the room. All I can do now
is throw it away and I guess I'll have
23:42to look through my pictures again and pick one
out that's good for the next frame. Maybe one
23:51of these frames will be a little bit more
durable and not fall apart like this one.
23:57Great work immersing yourself in English over
the past 30 minutes. You're awesome. Don't
24:03forget to download the free PDF worksheet
that goes along with today's lesson. This
24:08PDF worksheet includes all five mistakes
you should avoid, five pronunciation tips,
24:13sample sentences and ideas and all 30
phrasal verbs that you can use when
24:19you're having conversations in English.
Plus, you can answer Vanessa's challenge
24:24question at the bottom of the worksheet so
that you never forget what you've learned.
24:28You can click on the link in the description to
download this free PDF, my gift to you today.
24:34Well, thanks so much for learning English
with me and I'll see you again next Friday
24:38for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel.
Bye. But wait, do you want more? I recommend
24:44watching this video next, where in 30
minutes you will learn about American
24:48English pronunciation. This video has over four
and a half million views, so don't miss out.
24:55Make sure that you learn American English
pronunciation here and I'll see you there.
