Get ready to speak clearly and confidently in English. Hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com, and in today's lesson, over the next 30 minutes, you're going to immerse yourself in clear English so that you can speak clearly and confidently in your English conversations. And like always, I have created a free PDF worksheet with all of today's important English tips, vocabulary, sample sentences.
and at the bottom of the worksheet, you can answer Vanessa's challenge question so that you never forget what you've learned. You can click on the link in the description to download that free PDF worksheet today. All right, let's get started speaking clear, confident English by learning which five important mistakes in English you should avoid.
Let's go. Oh man, you look so boring. Oh no, please do not say this in English.
This is extremely rude. The first common speaking mistake is the one you just heard, boring versus bored. It's understandable that these words are a common mistake because they both have a similar meaning. They talk about something or someone that's not interesting, but the difference comes in how we use them grammatically. The word boring is for something or someone that's not interesting.
That movie was boring. I went on a date with him and he was so boring. He just talked about sports the whole time. It's not a compliment, but the word bored refers to the feeling you have when you watch that boring movie or when you go on that boring date, you feel bored. So at the beginning of this lesson, when I said, oh man, you look so boring.
Oh no, that's not nice. It means you're not interesting. Instead, I should have said, oh man, you look so bored.
It means you're not doing anything fun. You feel like you need some more fun in your life. I feel bored. Let's look at a couple of sample sentences.
This documentary about sand is boring. I feel so bored. Can we please watch something else?
I was so bored during that lecture. To me, physics is just boring. Sorry, people who like physics.
So now I have a little quiz for you. I want you to choose, is the word boring or bored the best fit for this sentence? Vanessa's lessons are not, I never feel. What's the correct answer here?
I'll give you three seconds. Three, two. Vanessa's lessons are not boring. I never feel bored.
Oh, I hope that's true. Common speaking mistake number two is one that native English speakers make too. It is well versus good.
Have you ever heard someone say, I don't feel good? You know what? That's a mistake. Instead, it should be, I don't feel... feel well.
What's the difference? Let me tell you. The word well is an adverb.
That means it adds something to the verb. So when you say I don't feel well, well is talking about how you feel. I don't feel well. I have a headache. I have a stomach ache.
I need to go lie down. If you said I don't feel good, This means that my sense of touch is not good. Maybe you burned your fingers. Oh yeah, I just don't feel good anymore.
It's a very unusual thing to say. So instead, when you're talking about your health, you can use this correctly and say, I don't feel well. What about the word good? Well, the word good is an adjective, so it needs to describe a noun. You might say, wow, Vanessa, this is a really good lesson.
Good is describing lesson. Or you could say, I really need a good grade in this class or I'm going to fail. I do want to tell you of an exception in spoken English. I mentioned that sometimes native English speakers use this incorrectly, but there is one case when we use it incorrectly and I actually recommend using it like that so you don't seem too snobby.
Let me tell you about it. If someone asks you the common greeting question, how are you doing? And you want to answer with grammatical correctness, you would need to say, I'm doing well. And you?
You know what? If you said this, someone might think, oh, did you come from the 16th century? Are you an English professor?
Maybe you are. But in this case, it's grammatically correct, but it is not commonly used and it feels like A little bit weird in just daily conversation. So what should you say instead?
Well, here you have it, your English teacher telling you to make a mistake on purpose. And that is if someone says, how are you doing? You could say, pretty good.
And you, good, is actually the most common response, even though it's not technically grammatically correct. Who knew you should make mistakes? So now it's time for a little test. Can you choose which word fits in which blank?
Good or well? I need to do on that test because I need a great. I'll give you three seconds.
Three, two, one. I need to do well on that test because I need a good grade. Great work.
Common speaking mistake number three is another pair of similar words, and that is job versus work. These both mean your career, something that you do generally to make money, but they function differently grammatically in a sentence. The word work can be both a verb, I work, or it can be a noun. My work is as a teacher.
And the word job can only be a noun. So let's take a look at a couple sentences. My job is to manage my team. This is a noun and it's talking about your career. My job is to manage my team.
Or you could say, I work on the marketing team. This is as a verb. What if we put these together in a sentence? You could say, I work with a lot of interesting people at my new job.
Ooh. I do want to teach you two things to be careful of with these two phrases. One is a fixed phrase that you will use often, and that is at work. This is talking about the place where you work. Where were you at six o'clock tonight?
We were waiting for you at dinner. You might say, sorry, I was at work. I had to do something extra before I left.
Or you could say, I was so busy at work today. Yes, it's talking about the place, but this is a fixed phrase that you can use to talk about where you were. I was at work. I was busy at work today.
Earlier, I mentioned that the word work can be used as a verb or a noun and the word job can be used as a noun. So can they be used interchangeably at all? Take a look at this. You could say, I love my job, or you could say, I love my work, but be careful.
There is a nuanced difference between these two. If you say, I love my job, cool. It just means what you said. I like what I do to make money. But when you say, I love my work, this feels like there's a deeper significance to what you do at your job.
For example, maybe you help homeless people to find a home, or you're helping people who are in a domestic violence situation get a better life. You are really changing people's lives kind of with a deeper significance. So if you say, I love my work, this has the underlying idea that you are changing the world, or at least changing someone's world. It's a very deep feeling. All right, now it's time for a little test.
Can you choose which blank needs the word job and which blank needs the word work? For my, I need to late hours. I'll give you three seconds.
For my job, I need to work late hours. Great work. The next common speaking mistake are two similar words, again, in and at. Oh my, I receive many questions from English students asking, Vanessa, how can I remember when to use in and when to use at?
Well, let me give you some ideas. This is tricky because we use both at and in when we're talking about time, but we use the word at specifically for specific times. For example, at midnight, at five o'clock, at noon. This is at specifically that time.
But the word in is used more generally. Take a look at this. In the morning, in the evening, in five minutes, in six hours. You didn't say at 3.30.
You said, no, we'll have a meeting. In the morning, in the evening, in five minutes, in six days. Let's take a look at some sentences. Can you meet me at noon?
I know that that's only in 30 minutes, but can you make it? So I'm asking you, hey, I know this is last minute notice, but can you make it? Can you meet me at noon, this specific time in the duration of time in 30 minutes? Let's take a look at another one. You're invited to my birthday party.
The party is in 10 days and it starts at 7 o'clock. Wonderful. Are you ready for a little test?
I want you to decide which blank needs the word in and which blank needs the word at. Take a look. Three days when my vacation starts, I won't need to wake up 6 a.m. anymore. I can sleep in.
All right, I'll give you three seconds to decide. In three days when my vacation starts, I won't need to wake up at 6 a.m. anymore.
It's so nice on vacation to sleep in. If you would like to dive deeper into this topic, I made another video comparing in, on, and at, and over half a million people have found clarity with this video. You can click on the link up here to watch that in more detail. Our fifth and final comment.
common speaking mistake is to talk with someone or to talk to someone. I want to show you two sentences and I want you to guess which one is the best. I'm talking with my friend or I'm talking to my friend.
Which one do you think is better? I'll give you three seconds. Let's do our quiz now. Three, two, one. Well, you know what?
This is a trick question because both of these are correct. equally acceptable in spoken English conversations. I have heard that some people say, when you use talk to someone, it has the sense that there's an authority. I'm talking to someone who has less authority than me.
I talked to my employees. I talked to my child. But really, in daily spoken English in the US, we use both of these phrases interchangeably.
You could say, I talked. to my boss about the important meeting next week. I talked to my child. I talked to my friend.
Or you could say, I talked with my friend. I talked with my boss. You could use these interchangeably in spoken English and it's not a problem.
So if you're one of those English learners that has ever wondered, should I say talk to or talk with? You know what? You can just take that concern and throw it out of your brain.
It doesn't matter. Now that you can avoid those five mistakes in English, I want to help you learn five secrets of American English pronunciation that will help you to speak English like a native speaker because sometimes we speak clearly and sometimes we link words together and native speakers feel like it's such a normal thing to do, but English learners often struggle understanding this and using it themselves. So let's practice. All right. Are you ready to get started with...
The first secret of American English pronunciation. Let's start. Have you heard this phrase before? The early bird catches the worm. This means that if you wake up early or you get started now, well, you will succeed.
Only the birds that wake up early in the morning get the best worms. If you wait, if you procrastinate, well, too bad for you. You won't be able to succeed. But this wonderful phrase uses An important American English pronunciation point. There are three words, early, bird, and worm that use a colored R.
So in American English, this R is a strong, hard sound. Early, bird, worm. Do you see how that's almost like an angry dog?
Worm, bird. early. Make sure that when you're using American English pronunciation, this colored R sound is hard. Phrase number two that uses key American English pronunciation is this one.
Have you ever heard someone say, your guess is as good as mine? Your guess is as good as mine. This means that the other person has no clue.
Maybe you could say, I don't know how to get to the beach. Your guess is as good as mine. but there is something important happening with the pronunciation of this phrase. At the end of the word guess and at the end of the word is, there is an S, but in American English pronunciation, we often link the S with the. Vowel next to make a Z sound.
So listen carefully when I say this phrase, your guess is as good as mine. It sounds a lot like zzzz. And that's what's happening here.
We are linking together the S plus a vowel from the next word. Try to say it with me. Your guess is as good as mine. I have no clue.
Your guess is as good as mine. Key phrase number three that uses American English pronunciation is this fun one, don't bite the hand that feeds you. Have you ever been trying to help someone and then they complain about how you're helping them? You can use this phrase and say, hey, don't bite the hand that feeds you. I'm just trying to help you.
Well, it's the same idea. If you argue with your boss, if you yell at your boss, he's the one that gives you your paycheck. So don't bite the hand that feeds you. But there is an important American English pronunciation here that happens three times. Don't bite, and then a little later in the sentence is the word that.
What is similar between all three of these words? It's the letter T. Listen when I say this contraction. Don't, don't. Do you hear don't with that puff of air coming out?
Nope. In American English, oftentimes a T at the end of words will be cut off. We call this a stopped T because your mouth is making that shape.
Don't, my tongue is at the top of my mouth trying to make that T shape, but there's no puff of air that comes out. Listen carefully as I say this, and I want you to hear that stopped T. Don't bite the hand that feeds you. You think you can say that with me?
You can do it. Let's say this phrase together. Don't bite the hand that feeds you.
All right, let's go to our next phrase. Has this ever happened to you before? You invite a lot of people over to your house and you think, it's gonna be a fun party, it's great.
And then it just becomes so many people in your house, so much chaos, and you have to say this, oh no, I think it's gonna get out of hand. This doesn't mean that anything is really. in your hand and it's getting out of your hand.
Instead, this means it's getting out of control. But this phrase, get out of hand, uses an important American English pronunciation tip, which is that the T at the end of words, another T tip, that has a vowel next often changes to a D sound. So listen when I say this, the party will get out of...
Hand. The word get is surrounded by vowels. There's a vowel on either side, G-E-T, and then the next word starts with an O.
So that T is surrounded by vowels, and that means that it's going to change to a D sound. Get out, and then it's going to happen with out and of. Outa.
In fact, the word of changes to just a. Get outa hand. Can you say it with me?
The party will get out of hand. The party will get out of hand if you invite 50 people over to your house. All right, let's go to our last American English pronunciation tip.
Has it ever happened to you that you travel abroad and then you realize that you're just meeting people from your own home country? It's like you're magnetic towards each other. Well, we could use this phrase, birds of a feather flock. together.
And this means that common things are attracted to each other for better or for worse. So there is a key American English pronunciation point we can talk about with this phrase. We already talked about the word bird and how it uses that colored R, that hard R sound, bird.
And there is another R tip in this phrase as well. Look at the end of the word feather and together. Here is an ER. and it's going to be a strong R sound.
Feather together. Again, pretend that you are an angry dog and try to make that hard R sound. Feather together. Can you say this wonderful idiom with me? Birds of a feather flock together.
Wonderful. Now that you've avoided five mistakes, learned five pronunciation tips, now it's time to improve your English vocabulary. You're going to learn 30 important phrasal verbs with a fun lesson about a picture frame.
All of- These phrasal verbs are going to be used to talk about a picture frame so that you can use them in your daily life as well and speak clearly and confidently. Let's go. Are you ready to start learning 30 phrasal verbs with just this little picture frame? Let's do it. Whew, this is a lot of picture frames.
I need to sort through my picture frames to decide which one would be best for this project. Oh, I'm gonna use this one. I'm gonna look through my pictures to decide which one.
would be best with this frame. I'm gonna use this one. Before I put the picture in I need to brush off the frame.
It's been collecting dust in my closet. Then I need to clean off the fingerprints. Does this happen to you? There's always fingerprints on my picture frames.
Next I'm going to open up the back of the frame. Oops the little tab just broke off. guess it was kind of a cheap picture frame.
I take off the back of the picture frame and I will now put in my lovely picture and make sure that I put it facing the right way. Ta-da! I'll put the back back on the picture frame and I'll close up the little tabs. Unfortunately there's only one tab left. All of the others broke off.
Such a cheap picture frame, but it'll do. I could set this picture frame down on the table or maybe just place it on the counter, but I think that I want to hang it up. I was just about to hang this up on the wall when the back kept coming out.
So I decided that I needed to tape the back on. Such a cheap picture frame, but you know what? That's how it goes sometimes. And you'll never see it from the front. To put this picture frame up on the wall, I'm going to need to hammer in a nail.
Okay, so here's one extra thing in the video. Don't blame me, don't yell at me. Yes, it's more than just one picture frame.
I'm going to hammer in the nail. I could put it on the wall high up and try to keep it away from my children's fingers, but I'm not too worried about it. I'm going to hammer it in a little bit low down around here. Looks good.
Now I just need to carefully set my picture frame on the nail. Looks pretty straight. I'm sure that when my kids come home from school they're going to point out, hey look mom there's a new picture on the wall! And I'll be sure to tell them don't lift it up, don't even pick it up, it's pretty fragile.
And someday if I don't want this picture here. I'll just take it off the wall. And you know what? Unfortunately, this is not a picture frame that I'm going to be passing down through the generations. It's pretty cheap.
And you know what? I probably wouldn't even give it away. I don't think many people want a picture frame that has to have tape on the back to keep the picture in. Oh. Oops!
Now I have to sweep up the pieces. I'm gonna have to dump it out in the trash and tell my kids to watch out for little pieces of glass that might have gone across the room. All I can do now is throw it away.
And I guess I'll have to look through my pictures again and pick one out that's good for the next frame. Maybe one of these frames will be a little bit more durable and not fall apart like this one. Great work immersing yourself in English over the past 30 minutes.
You're awesome. Don't forget to download the free PDF worksheet that goes along with today's lesson. This PDF worksheet includes all five mistakes you should avoid, five pronunciation tips, sample sentences and ideas, and all 30 phrasal verbs that you can use when you're having conversations in English.
Plus, you can answer Vanessa's challenge question at the bottom of the worksheet so that you never forget what you've learned. You can click on the link in the description to download this free PDF, my gift to you today. Well, thanks 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.
But wait, do you want more? I recommend watching this video next where in 30 minutes you will learn about American English pronunciation. This video has over four and a half million views, so don't miss out. Make sure that you learn American English pronunciation here and I'll see you there.