Practice English Speaking&Listening with: Everyday English Expressions & Pronunciation #2

I have five really useful English

expressions which you can use in your

daily life to impress your listeners and

to sound more like a native let's do it

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hi everybody it's me Elliot from ETJ

English and today I'm going to be

sharing five really useful expressions

in fact all of these expressions are

used in my podcast episode 11 when I was

listening back and editing it I realized

wow I used a lot of idioms and

expressions here so I thought today I'd

delve into these expressions give you

some useful information about them and

tell you how you can use them and

hopefully you'll be using them naturally

in no time with some good pronunciation

speaking of accents remember I do have

an accent course which includes whatsapp

and WeChat voice message support you can

find all the information below at the

ETJ English comm so expressions the

first one I noticed that I used in my

podcast the other day it was when I was

talking about my headphones I was

talking about them in my podcast about

how I wanted to get some new ones and

the reason why is because my current

headphones well they're on their last

legs if something an item is on its last

legs it means that it's not working the

same as it used to it's it's near the

end of its life or of its kind of time

of being useful I've been wearing these

headphones for such a long time okay

I've worn them in the rain I've worn

them at the gym you know six days a week

for months and months since the

beginning of this year and they're just

getting tired so tired in fact that

they're on their last legs they're going

to break any moment I know it I can just

feel it there they're at the weakest

they can be so they're on their last

legs you can say this about an animal

it's on its last legs you can say this

about an item you own so some electronic

item you own or something like that okay

it can be on its last legs you could

even say is hanging by a thread

imagine a thread write a string

and you have something heavy on that

string it's going to start breaking and

eventually the string will break and the

item will fall it's the same thing in a

way it's very similar if something is

hanging by a thread for example our

relationship is hanging by a thread that

simply means that just one more pull on

that string and it will break so that's

another useful expression I just thought

of that while I was talking now this one

is a little bit naughty it involves a

word which could be considered to be a

little bit rude and as I said I used

this in my podcast I use this quite a

lot I work my ass off I work my ass off

now if you work your ass off it means

you work really really really really

really hard really hard right I work my

ass off I could say I've been working my

ass off all week I worked my ass off to

make my course now it doesn't really

make sense because your ass your bottom

it can't really fall off technically

don't quote me on that I don't know if

there are any doctors in the house it

doesn't really make sense but that's the

whole point of this it's an expression

we use this expression a lot but please

remember the word ass is slightly rude

and slangy so I wouldn't recommend using

it in the workplace maybe just use it

with friends and in informal situations

okay so I work my ass off let's just

talk about the pronunciation of the word

work because so many of my students who

join my course have a problem with the

earth sound the first thing I want you

to know is that with this word work we

don't pronounce the letter R okay so

it's just a WA but the difficulty is the

sound everybody has a problem with this

sound look at my mouth okay it's quite

relaxed it's a bit like how you would

breathe when you're sleeping right if

you sleep with your mouth open you kind

of just have your mouth relaxed but we

just need to curl the tongue slightly in

the middle of the mouth and release a

sound take a deep breath

work there's no or don't pronounce the

our next one

have you ever poured your heart out to

someone now really this again doesn't

make sense but we associate our heart

with our emotions with our feelings with

love right so if you pour your heart out

to someone you're you're telling them

how you feel when they're hot whether

you're telling them how much you love

them how strongly you feel about

something you're saying all of that

until your heart is empty to pour your

heart out it's a very good one to use if

you're talking about a relationship you

know our last night my my girlfriend and

I we had an argument okay we didn't

really and I poured my heart out to her

ah you a sucker for something I'm a

sucker for you for example I'm a sucker

for chocolate anything right if you're a

sucker for something it means that you

love it you give in to it you need it

it's just something that's really really

nice and you love it you can't help but

love it you're a sucker for it

it's a bit more again of a informal

expression okay but you can be a sucker

for someone as well it's in a lot of

songs in music where we would say I'm a

sucker for you it means that you are

something which I adore I love and I

enjoy using or talking to or being

around or whatever it is for example my

friend said to me the other day that

he's a sucker for romantic movies I want

to finish with a phrasal verb which is

in touch because again I use this in my

podcast episode I said that I'm in touch

with my sensitive side in touch with my

sensitive side firstly to be in touch

there are a number of ways that you

could use this I'm staying in touch with

my friend while he's travelling in

Australia okay that means he's in

Australia but we're still contacting

each other with staying in touch now on

a similar note if you're in touch with

your emotions then that means you're not

afraid to show your sensitive side you

understand your emotions

and you might be quite a sensitive

emotional person okay so some people

aren't in touch with their sensitive

side meaning that then they don't like

to show their sensitive side or maybe

they don't have a sensitive side to

themselves an emotional side right so it

basically is just another way of saying

that you are sensitive okay and that's

it but I'd love you to write in the

comments below which one of these was

your favorite did you know all of them

or was there a one particular that you

learned today which was really really

useful why don't you try and use one of

them in a sentence maybe tell me about a

time when you worked your ass off maybe

tell me about a time when you poured

your heart out to someone is there

something that you own right now which

is on its last legs maybe let me know

and practice in the comments below now I

know you love it when I share these

expressions videos and when I include a

little bit of pronunciation and I love

sharing these things which I know that

you wouldn't learn in school you know

these expressions you'd never learn in

school but remember that my real

profession is being a pronunciation

teacher an accent coach so if you're

looking to reduce your accent and to

replace it with a full British accent

with a professional teacher through

voice conversations and videos

downloadable content everything you

could possibly need to change your

accent you can join my course by

clicking the link in the description

below go to ETJ English comm and if

you're watching this around the end of

November beginning of December 2019 it's

Black Friday ok we're around that period

of time so there is currently a 15% off

sale so be quick I can't wait to talk to

some of you and give you your first

accent evaluation when you join the

course but for now those of you who

don't join thank you very much for

watching please give me a thumbs up if

you found it useful press that subscribe

button and I will see you next time

cheers guys bye

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you

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