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Yesterday I told you about the key to natural English that most courses barely touch. Today I want to show you why it's so hard to learn on your own. |
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Let's try something. I'm going to give you four phrases. See how many you can work out: |
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- "We're going to have to do this on a shoestring budget."
- "He was trying to explain it but it was all Greek to me."
- "If you play your cards right, you might get that promotion."
- "We got to the airport in the nick of time."
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Maybe you got a couple. Maybe you got all four. Maybe you're staring at number one thinking... shoestring? What has a shoestring got to do with money? |
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Here's what they actually mean:
- on a shoestring budget = with very little money
- it's all Greek to me = I can't understand it at all
- play your cards right = do things in the right way to get a good result
- in the nick of time = just barely in time, at the last possible moment
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Unfortunately, you can't learn phrases like these from a grammar book. You won't figure them out by looking up the individual words. And unless someone specifically teaches them to you, you're left guessing.
Or worse, you just nod along and pretend you understood.
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And native speakers use idioms like these constantly. So if you don't know them, there's a significant chunk of what people are saying to you that's just... going over your head. |
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(That's an idiom too, by the way. "Going over your head" means you don't understand it. See? They really are everywhere.) |
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The other problem is that you can't just memorise a list. The only way to actually learn and remember idioms is in context. In stories. In real situations. Where they make sense and stick in your brain naturally. |
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Tomorrow I'm sending you something fun: a proper idioms test. I want to see how many you actually know. Let's just say I don't expect anyone to get a perfect score.
Keep an eye out for that email. And be honest about your results!
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P.S. Want to practise speaking English without pressure and get instant feedback? Try Langua, the world's most advanced AI for language learning. Save 20% on the Unlimited Annual Plan with the code ENGLISH20. |
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