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Are you ready to learn real English from
a real English conversation? I hope so,
because today you are going to learn 10
naturally used English phrases from the
conversation that I had with my neighbor
Michelle a few weeks ago here on my
YouTube channel. Not only will you learn
how they were used in that conversation,
but also how you can use them, including
one expression that if you use it in the
wrong way, could be kind of rude. So,
you have to be careful. But don't worry,
I will teach you how to use it well. Hi,
I'm Vanessa from
speakenglishwithvanessa.com.
And like always, I have created a free
PDF worksheet that includes all of
today's vocabulary, definitions, sample
sentences, and all of those nuanced
meanings that we'll talk about today so
that you can use these expressions in
your daily life without being too rude,
right? Plus, as a bonus, I have included
in the worksheet a little quiz. test
yourself and see if you can really
remember the expressions that you're
going to learn in today's lesson. So,
how can you get this worksheet? All you
need to do is click on the link in the
description, enter your name and email
address, and voila, just like that, the
worksheet plus the bonus quiz will land
in your email inbox. And do you want to
know something even better? You never
have to sign up for my free PDF
worksheets again. I will send them to
you automatically every single week. You
sign up once and you never need to sign
up again. How great. This is my gift to
you. So, make sure you click on the link
in the description to get today's PDF
and bonus quiz. All right, let's get
started with our real natural English
expressions. The first expression is
outside the box. I'm going to be telling
you what the expression is and then
you're going to see the clip where it
was used in the original conversation
with my neighbor Michelle. This will
give you some context and then we'll
talk about the expression and then
you'll watch that clip again. I have a
feeling that you're going to understand
that clip a lot better. So, your
listening skills will grow, your
vocabulary skills will grow, and I hope
you'll have a great time. All right,
let's take a look at the clip where we
used outside the box. Let's watch.
And I feel like your garden style is
like so much more outside the box
than mine. I've got like raised beds in
these orders, these little seed stars,
and you got like snails and bags.
That's because I spend too much time on
Instagram.
In this clip, I said, "I feel like your
garden style is more outside the box
than mine." And it's true. Michelle's
style of gardening is a little more
creative or unusual than mine. Mine is
pretty standard. I have little boxes
where I grow each of my plants and I
plant them in my garden beds. Now, this
expression was quite clever, if I do say
so myself, because I was talking about
garden boxes. And here the expression is
outside the box. Great. Well, let me
give you another example of how you can
use this. If you're having a marketing
meeting and you're trying to figure out
how to get more customers, one of your
co-workers might say, "Well, we can
spend more on our advertising." You
might say, "Well, I think we need to
think outside the box more. We've tried
spending more money on advertising and
it didn't lead to more customers." So,
what are you suggesting here? You're
suggesting different, creative, or
unusual ways to get more customers.
Let's not think of the usual ways. Let's
think outside the box and come up with
some new ways. All right, let's watch
the original clip again when we used
outside the box. I want you to listen
for that expression and understand more
than the first time. Let's go. And I
feel like your garden style is like so
much more outside the box
than mine. And I've got like raised beds
in these orders, these little seed
stars, and you got like snails and bags.
That's because I spend too much time on
Instagram.
The second real life English phrase is,
"I'm cheap.
Are we buying someone? Is this product
cheap?" Not exactly. Let's take a look
at the original clip and then I'll
explain it. Let's go. I You've been
growing like a lot of these starts at
home. Why don't you just go to the store
and buy
little tomato plants?
Because I am cheap.
So, this is cheaper.
This is This is a lot cheaper.
In this clip, Michelle was explaining
that she likes to grow things from seeds
at home by herself because she said,
"I'm cheap." It doesn't mean that we're
purchasing, Michelle. A product can be
cheap, but also a person can be cheap,
too. And this simply means that you
don't like to spend money. Michelle
doesn't want to spend money on buying
expensive plants. She knows that she can
try it herself and save money. I would
say that it's best to not call someone
else cheap. If you say you're cheap,
it kind of implies that they're stingy.
They're kind of rude and don't want to
spend money on necessary things. But
really, you can call yourself cheap and
it's totally fine. I think that goes for
a lot of kind of rude things. You can
call yourself that, but you shouldn't
call someone else cheap. If you want a
little bonus expression for how we can
talk about someone not wanting to spend
money but in a nice way, you can use the
word frugal. If you say he's frugal,
that means the same thing. He doesn't
like to spend money, but the nuance is
that it's positive. He's careful with
his money. It's not just that he's
cheap. He doesn't want to spend any
money. He wants to keep it for himself.
No, instead he's frugal. He's careful
with his money. All of these little
nuances of the expressions will be
included in the PDF worksheet. So, make
sure that you download it so that you
can remember all of them. All right,
let's watch that clip one more time and
hear how Michelle said the word cheap. I
You've been growing like a lot of these
starts at home. Why don't you just go to
the store and buy
little tomato plants?
Because I am cheap.
So this is cheaper. This is this is a
lot cheaper.
The next expression is kind of an
advanced one. It is the least I could
do. Hm. I want you to watch the original
clip and then we're going to break down
the nuance of this so that you can use
it accurately. Let's watch. I released
them elsewhere. One of them accidentally
died. Um and you buried that. Thank you.
I felt like I had this. The least I
could do is bury the groundhog.
But like what's it going to be this
year? In this clip, Michelle said, "I
felt like the least I could do was bury
the groundhog."
So, we trapped many groundhogs. I think
it was seven groundhogs that were eating
our vegetables last summer. I trapped
them. I relocated almost all of them,
but one of them died. It was pretty sad.
So, what would we do with that? What
should we do with that dead groundhog?
Well, Michelle felt like she owed me.
She felt like she had a debt to me. I
was taking care of the other six
groundhogs. I was doing that work and I
was happy to do it, but she felt a
little bit guilty. So, that's the nuance
here. She used this expression, it was
the least I could do to bury the
groundhog because she felt like she
should do more. She felt like I need to
do more than just bury the groundhog.
So, I'm going to do this to kind of make
myself feel less guilty. So, let me give
you another scenario for when you can
use this because you're probably not
burying groundhogs, I imagine. But, let
me give you a common scenario. So, a
couple weeks ago, one of my friends had
a new baby. And I know when you have a
new baby, you have no time to do
anything else except for care for that
baby. So, I made her a lot of food. I
made her a couple dinners. I made her
family some muffins, some desserts. I
brought over food several times. This
was my pleasure. I was so happy to do
this for her. And even though it was my
pleasure, she still felt a little bit
guilty. She wanted to do something for
me, even though she did not need to. I
told her this is just me giving back
because so many people gave to me when I
had my babies. But even though that was
the case, she still felt like she wanted
to do something for me. So when she gave
back the containers of the food after
she ate it and she washed it and gave it
back to me, she put in there some
packets of tea that I love. This was a
little gift for me. And when I opened
it, I said, "Oh, you didn't need to do
this for me." And she used this
expression. She said it was the least I
could do. She felt a little bit guilty
that I gave her so much and she was only
giving me a little bit in return, just
some tea. But it was my pleasure. I was
very happy to do it. I didn't expect
anything in return, but she felt a
little guilty. So, that's a great way to
use this phrase, and it's a good way to
show I appreciate all your hard work. It
was the least I could do. I am happy to
give you this. Let's watch that clip one
more time and I want you to hear that
expression. It was the least I could do.
Let's go. I released them elsewhere. One
of them accidentally died. Um, and you
buried that. Thank you.
I felt like I had this. The least I
could do is bury the groundhog.
But like, what's it going to be this
year? The next expression is a fun
question and it has a nuance with the
way that you say it. What else do you
need? What else do you need? Notice this
excitement, this heightened
anticipation. What else do you need?
I'm not asking this sincerely. What else
do you need? No. Instead, this is a
rhetorical question. I am not expecting
an answer. I want you to listen to the
way that it was used in the conversation
with Michelle and then I'll help you use
it yourself as well. Let's watch. Also,
we have lots of extra eggs right now.
Extra. See, think about it. We got eggs.
We have tomatoes. We can make omelets.
It's fine. What else do you need?
It's true. Yeah.
Yeah.
In the conversation, we were talking
about all of the different types of food
that we grow or have at our houses
already. We have eggs. We have tomatoes.
We could make an omelette. That's fine.
What else do you need? So, here this
phrase is implying we don't need
anything else. If you sincerely ask,
"What else do you need?" It's a
question. You want an answer. You want
to know what else that person needs. But
when you say it like this, what else do
you need? What else do you need? Notice
that inflection. It implies you don't
need anything else. You're not expecting
an answer. This is called a rhetorical
question. You're not expecting an
answer. You're just making this
statement as part of the conversation.
So you might say that about learning
English as well. You might say, "I'm
learning English with Vanessa. What else
do I need?"
Which implies, "You don't need anything
else. All you need are my lessons." All
right, let's watch the clip from the
original conversation one more time. I
want you to listen for the inflection in
our voice. Let's go.
Also, we have lots of extra eggs right
now.
Extra. See, think about it. We got eggs.
We have tomatoes. We can make omelets.
It's fine. What else do you need?
It's true. Yeah.
Yeah. The next phrase is rain or shine.
I want you to watch the original clip
and hear about what it's like to have a
cow.
Let's watch and then we'll talk about
rain or shine.
Like it's just every day you milk them,
right?
Twice a day. Rain or shine. They're out
there for 30 minutes.
Otherwise, they're in pain.
The cow's in pain. You have to milk your
cow.
And they even have like a little
machine. In this clip, I was talking
about someone I know who has a milk cow,
and they said they have to milk their
cow, rain or shine, every day for 30
minutes. Well, yes, they have to do it
if it is raining or if the sun is
shining. But this has more nuance to it.
This expression is more figurative. It
means if there are bad things happening
or good things happening in their life,
it doesn't matter. Maybe the farmer has
the flu and they can't get out of bed.
They have a fever. It doesn't matter.
They have to still milk that cow. Maybe
it's a beautiful day and they're so
excited to be outside, they have to milk
the cow. So, it implies it doesn't
matter the circumstance, you still have
to do it. Rain or shine. So, let me give
you another example that doesn't involve
going outside or the weather to show you
you can use this expression to not talk
about outside at all. Well, let's say
that you are a mother like me. You are
in charge of feeding your family. That's
me.
Well, your kids and your family are
hungry probably three times a day. So,
what does that mean? You have to cook
dinner. Rain or shine every day. Okay,
who cares about the weather? You're
inside. That's probably where you make
dinner. Well, if you're feeling not too
well, you have to cook dinner. If you're
tired, you have to cook dinner. If
you're busy, you have to cook dinner.
Hopefully, you have some help in your
life. So, you actually do get a break.
For me, my husband and I often split
cooking duties. He cooks a couple times
a week. I cook a couple times a week.
though he can help if I'm actually
really sick. But in general, my family
has to eat dinner every night, rain or
shine. So, I need to cook rain or shine.
All right, let's watch how this was used
again in the original conversation, and
I want you to feel empowered to use this
yourself. Let's watch. Like, it's just
every day you milk them, right?
Twice a day, rain or shine, they're out
there for 30 minutes.
Otherwise, they're in pain.
The cow's in pain. You have to milk your
cow. Yeah. And they even have like a
little machine. The next real life daily
expression that we used in the
conversation was I looked into it or
just the phrasal verb to look into
something. To look into something. Let's
watch the original conversation clip and
then we'll break it down together. Let's
go. Someone else would have a cow.
Goats would be the same way. You know,
they'd be the same. And plus, you have
to have like a setup to send the goat in
that holds them still while you're I
looked into it. I'm not doing it. Yeah.
In the conversation, Michelle was
talking about having a goat.
She said you have to have a setup for
where you milk the goat. I looked into
it and I'm not going to do it.
So, she has researched getting a goat.
What does it mean to have a goat? How
much work is it? Is it easy? Is it worth
it? She researched it or she looked into
it and she decided, uh-uh, this is not
for me. So, this phrasal verb to look
into something means that you research
it. Simply that. You could use this to
mean I'm looking into the box. But
that's a figurative way. We use that
less often. Instead, we can use it in a
more figurative way to talk about
researching something. Let me give you
another example for how to use to look
into it. Well, if you have ever watched
the news, you know that the media tries
to portray everything as big news,
infuriating news, get angry about this,
get worked up about this, this is so
important. But often the news and what
goes on in the world is way more complex
than the news really wants to show. So,
if you are talking about the news with
your friend, you might use this phrase
and say, "You know what? I looked into
it and this topic is way more
complicated than the media is trying to
tell us. The media is making it seem
like this is the good guy, this is the
bad guy." But really, I looked into it.
It is so complicated. And isn't that the
truth? Most topics, especially when it
comes to politics, are really
complicated. And if you look into it,
you see there's a lot more nuance than
the media would like to portray. All
right, let's watch this clip one more
time so that you can see how to look
into it was used. Let's watch. Someone
else would have a cow.
Goats would be the same way. You know,
they'd be the same. And plus, you have
to have like a setup to send the goat in
that holds them still while you're I
looked into it. I'm not doing it. Yeah.
The next real English phrase is a long
one. You just never know. This is used
often altogether as a fixed phrase. You
just never know. So, let's listen to how
it was used in the conversation and then
we'll talk about it together.
I would rather if it's available, buy
meat
and not have to be that person. I'd
rather grow tomatoes and
but you want to be able to if you have
to. You know, you just never know. And
prices are going up. I mean, I don't
know about other parts of the world, but
eggs are seven bucks a
for a dozen. Now,
in the conversation, we said you need to
be able to take care of yourself because
you just never know. Notice this
pronunciation. The word just is reduced
so much is said so quickly that it's
hardly there. Listen when I say it. You
just never know. You just just
My lips don't even move. You just never
know. You just never know. You just
never know. But it's still important
that it's there in the sentence. You
just never know. You just You just never
know. Here we're talking about scenarios
that we can't plan for something
unexpected. So I often say that about
recording these English lessons for you.
I have a lot of moving parts in my life.
I have three kids. Two of them are in
school. One of them is taking a nap
right now. Who knows? Maybe one of those
kids is going to get sick. Or maybe my
child won't take a nap. How am I going
to record this lesson? Well, I need to
record them a little bit in advance
because you just never know. You never
know what's going to happen. So, when I
tell my friends, "Hey, sorry, I can't
get together today. I need to record
some lessons for my students." They
might say, "Hey, didn't you just record
lessons last week?" And I would use this
phrase. Well, you just never know. My
kids could be homesick from school
tomorrow and then I can't record
anything. So, I need to do it in advance
when I am available and can because you
don't know what's going to happen in the
future. You just never know. All right,
let's watch this clip from the original
conversation so that you can use it
yourself. I would rather, if it's
available, buy meat and not have to be
that person. I'd rather grow tomatoes
and
but you want to be able to if you have
to. You know, you just never know. And
prices are going up. I mean, I don't
know about other parts of the world, but
eggs are seven bucks a
for a dozen. Now,
the next real life expression is feels
like. This is often used with
temperature. So, I want you to listen to
this clip from our real conversation and
hear how feels like is used with
temperature and then we'll talk about
it. Let's go.
During the day, you can't come out here.
I know. The other day I went downtown
with the kids and it said 92 feels like
106.
Yes. Like, what are we doing out here?
In this clip, we were talking about the
hot hot hot summer weather and I said I
went downtown with my kids and the
temperature said 92. feels like 106. So
here often, especially where I live,
it's really humid. So that means that
whatever is the real temperature, it
feels way hotter because of the
humidity. If you live somewhere dry, you
probably don't experience this on a
daily basis, but if you travel to
somewhere that's humid,
the heat is just a totally different
thing. So, this phrase feels like is
often used to talk about what the
temperature actually feels like. We can
also use this in the winter. So, if
there's a lot of wind and it feels a lot
colder than the actual temperature, it
might say, "Well, the weather today, the
temperature is 31° F." Okay. So, 2° the
temperature is 2° feels like -10. Ugh.
So that means the wind is blowing so
much that it's going to feel that much
colder than the real temperature. So you
can say, well, it's 92, but feels like
106, whatever that is in Celsius. I'll
put it here.
But it's talking about the difference
between the real temperature and what it
feels like. All right, let's watch that
original clip so that you can see how
this expression was used. And you can
use it, too, to talk about temperature.
Let's go. During the day, you can't come
out here.
I know. The other day I went downtown
with the kids and it said 92 feels like
106.
Yes. Like, what are we doing out here?
The next expression is dense. You have
to be careful with this one. I will
teach you how to use it carefully, but
we're going to watch how it was used in
the conversation and then we'll break it
down. Let's go.
Let's see. The one that I just showed
you
is uh vintage wine.
Dense this is.
And then there's another one called San
Marzano. I know. I tried to prop them up
in the conversation. We were going on a
tour through the garden and said, "Look
how dense this part of the garden is."
When we're talking about a thing, it is
absolutely okay to use the word dense.
It means it's packed together. So, you
might say, "The dense rows of corn were
difficult to walk through." Okay, it's
all packed together. But, warning,
warning, warning. Do not say that
someone is dense. If you use this or you
hear someone use this to talk about a
person, it means they're not smart, they
are dumb. It's not a nice thing, right?
So, if you hear someone say maybe in a
movie or a TV show, "Man, he's so
dense."
It's not nice. I could imagine this used
in a scenario where maybe the girl is
flirting with someone and the guy just
has no clue. She says, "Oh, yeah, we're
friends and we're going over here and
we're doing this and the girl is
flirting so much she's trying to make
him see, I like you. I want to be with
you." But he has no clue. Well, she
might say, "Man, he's so dense. He
doesn't see that I'm trying to flirt
with him.
So, it's not a positive thing when we
use dense to talk about a person, but to
talk about something, it's no problem.
All right, let's see how this was used
in the original conversation. I want you
to listen for that word dense. Let's go.
Let's see. The one that I just showed
you
is uh vintage wine.
Dense this is.
And then there's another one called San
Marzano. I know. Oh, I I tried to prop
them up.
Our final real life English phrase is as
you can see. There's a little nuance to
this phrase. So, let's watch how it was
used in the conversation and then I'll
break it down for you so you can use it,
too. Let's go. So, yeah. As you can see,
like a lot of my pathways are taken over
because I don't have good uh planning
skills for how big plants get.
Me neither. Me neither. In this clip, I
said, "As you can see, a lot of my
pathways in the garden are taken over by
plants."
A lot of the plants by that point in the
summer had grown so big that we couldn't
walk on the pathways that were planned
for us to walk on. But it's kind of
obvious, right? If you look at it, you
can see there's no pathway.
But it's kind of a little bit rude to
just say all of the pathways are
covered. Instead, I want to acknowledge
that it's something obvious. As you can
see, all the pathways are covered by
plants. I didn't plan it very well and
they just grew so big, which I guess is
a good problem to have, right? But you
can use as you can see when you're
pointing out something obvious, but you
want to be polite about it. So, let's
imagine this scenario. You're having a
business meeting and you're showing a
graph. You're showing all of the
purchases made for the last quarter and
it goes like this.
It goes up. Great. That's a good thing,
right? But if you're talking about this,
you might say, "Oh, our purchases have
gone up or our revenue has gone up."
It's fine. But if you add this
expression, it shows, hey, I know that
you're not dense. You can see that the
revenue has gone up. So, you can add
that phrase. As you can see, the revenue
has gone up because we have been selling
more products. This is just a nice
expression to add when something's
obvious and you want to show the other
person, I trust you can see this, but
I'm going to say it anyway. All right,
let's watch how that was used in the
clip one more time so that you can use
it yourself. Let's go. So, yeah, as you
can see, like a lot of my pathways are
taken over cuz I don't have good uh
planning skills for how big plants get.
Me neither. Me neither.
Well, great work practicing all of those
real life English expressions. Now, my
challenge for you is to download the
free PDF worksheet for all of these
phrases. I have included all of the
nuance, the extra expressions, the
sample sentences, everything so that you
can use these correctly yourself as
well. And when you're watching a movie
or TV show, you'll be able to remember,
oh yeah, that's what they're really
trying to say, even though that's what
their words are saying. Maybe the nuance
is a little different. So, you can click
on the link in the description, enter
your name and email address, and voila,
just like that, the free PDF worksheet
plus the bonus quiz will land in your
email inbox. This is my gift to you. I
will continue to send you my free PDF
worksheets every single week. You never
need to sign up again. 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. But wait, do you want more? If you
haven't had a chance to watch it yet, I
recommend watching the original
Conversation with Michelle. Immerse
yourself in real English conversations
and be able to use real English
yourself. I'll see you there.
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