That Word I Dont Think You Know What It Means
By Robby
If you are new here please read this first.
I often touch upon the bailiwick of English idiomatic expressions on this blog for the simple reason that more oft than not our every-day speech consists of such and similar give-and-take combinations and information technology'due south making our spoken communication and then much more easier !
Merely look at the above paragraph – information technology's stuffed with various idiomatic expressions and collocations, and the i common trait they all share is that you have to larn the EXACT mode they're used so that y'all can learn them off by heart and then use them in your own conversations.
And then there are proper English language idioms you tin can't even empathize unless you lot actually know what they mean – such every bit "Information technology's no skin off my nose" or "Until the cows come up home".
There are, nonetheless, certain English phrases that may at first audio as if they don't take any double-meanings AT ALL, yet they mean something completely unlike!
If you're an advanced English speaker and you've been communicating with real people in real life for years, this listing volition probably reveal cipher new to yous.
If you're someone who's simply starting off in an English language speaking country, for instance, the post-obit phrases might turn out to be an eye-opener for you! 😉
You don't want to do that!
If y'all take this phrase literally, it sounds equally if someone is making a statement that you don't want to exercise something (in which case information technology doesn't really make an awful lot of sense – I mean, how can someone else mayhap know what I do or what I don't want to do?!)
In reality though, this phrase is used when advising someone not to do something, so the real bulletin behind this expression is "You shouldn't practice information technology!"
Why practice English language speaking people say "Yous don't want to do that!" instead of but saying that 1 SHOULDN'T do it?
Well – it's but the way conversational English goes! Don't inquire WHY – merely accept that it's the manner native English language speakers speak, and life is going to be a whole lot easier for you lot.
Another version of the same phrase – "You don't want to be doing that!" – is used only like the original one, and one time again – don't enquire WHY at that place are 2 different versions of this phrase in apply.
Just take it and utilize whichever i you lot want to apply! 😀
He can't assist himself
When I heard the English language verb "to help" used in this context for the first time, I thought the person in question must exist physically handicapped in one case they can't help themselves.
I mean – the give-and-take "to aid" is quite simple and straightforward, so when someone tin can't help themselves, they quite literally tin can't help themselves with performing sure tasks, isn't that right?
Turns out it's non the case!
When someone says about some other person that they tin can't help themselves, it means the person in question can't RESIST doing something, they're too weak to say NO to themselves ❗
Let'southward say, you're eating too much chocolate on a daily ground, and your work colleague asks you one 24-hour interval why you're eating so much chocolate every twenty-four hour period. You lot tin simply respond by saying "I just can't help myself!" which means that it'south a habit so potent yous tin can't resist it.
Shut upwards!
When someone tells yous to shut up, information technology's quite clear what they want to tell you, isn't that right?
They're telling you lot to close your oral cavity, and needless to say, it'south quite rude to exist talking to someone similar that.
Sometimes, all the same, the phrase "Shut up!" can be used to limited something completely different – namely, your amazement at something the other person is telling you about.
So if you lot're speaking with an English speaking person and they respond to you lot by maxim "Shut up! I can't believe it!", it doesn't necessarily hateful they want yous to shut your mouth and stop talking to them. Information technology just means they're and so surprised at what y'all just said that they're using the phrase "Shut up!" as means of expressing they atheism or excitement.
Sure enough, you lot'll be able to read the true meaning of those words off the other person's face up and tone of phonation – the office of torso linguistic communication can't be underestimated, later on all.
There might be some occasions, however, when you'd think the other person is being rude to you while in reality there'south no harm intended, so please acquit in mind that the expression "Shut upward!" can also accept a pretty harmless meaning!
Go away!
I don't know about you, only where I alive (Ireland) this phrase is used the same manner as the one higher up ("Shut up!") when expressing your surprise at something the other person has merely said.
Basically information technology's just some other way of saying "Really?!", and when they say "Go away!", nobody means information technology literally. Information technology' but a way of letting the other person know that you're shocked to hear information technology, and y'all may likewise start using this phrase in your own daily English language conversations.
I see!
This is a very, very elementary English phrase, merely when an average beginner English student sees it, on nine times out of x they'll recollect it ways that someone is saying that they Come across something.
In fact, the phrase "I see!" is used conversationally all the time when people want to say that they get it, that they UNDERSTAND it, and this is really something that a lot of foreign English language speakers should learn pretty early in their lives.
On style too many occasions my boyfriend foreigners say "I understand" while the phrase they should be using is "I come across"!
You lot see, "I empathize" sounds way likewise formal when used during your daily conversations, so I warmly suggest you start using the much more than friendlier version of it "I see!" instead.
See where I'm coming from?
If someone asks you lot if you run across where they're coming from, you may assume they hateful information technology quite literally, in which case you may exist thinking "How on Earth am I supposed to know where they're coming from?!"
When people inquire you this question, what they actually mean to say is "Do y'all empathise the reasons why I'one thousand saying this?"
Basically the conversation would go something like this:
"I retrieve we should bandy this automobile for the other 1 because the production output is much lower now that the busy season is over."
Y'all: ???
"You see where I'm coming from?" (Do you understand why I'chiliad suggesting we should bandy the machines on the production line?)
Yous: "I haven't got a inkling what you lot're talking about! Tin can you explain everything to me step-by-step delight?"
You may want to…
This phrase may seem a flake confusing at get-go. You lot may… You desire… Why "You MAY WANT" and then? Why are the ii words grouped together? Does it hateful you lot're giving the other person a permission to do something as in "Yous may do it"?
What this phrase actually means is quite the reverse to giving someone a permission to do something – information technology'south all virtually giving the other person a suggestion that they should probably choose to do whatever it is you're telling them to practice!
Why not simply say "Y'all should…" instead?
Well, you meet – "You may want to…" is a very polite fashion of letting someone know as to what would be the right class of action while "You should…" might really audio similar a control rather than a suggestion!
I don't buy information technology!
This English phrase has goose egg to do with buying stuff, information technology's all near Assertive what you're told! 😉
If someone makes an empty hope to you or yous're told some news you don't believe, yous can respond with maxim "I don't buy information technology!" in which case you're simply making information technology articulate you don't believe what you lot're told.
I'm looking forward to…
As a beginner English student you may think this phrase ways to be looking straight ahead of you lot (as opposed to exist looking backwards or sideways, for example).
In conversational English language and also in English language in full general, nevertheless, this phrase has a completely dissimilar meaning – it simply means to be expecting something, to exist really waiting on something to happen!
I remember when I'd just started living in Ireland 11 years ago, my supervisor asked me at piece of work if I was looking frontward to my holidays, to which I didn't really know what to say considering the sentence didn't make a lot of sense to me.
Now I know only too well that information technology means to be expecting something, and in case you didn't know it – information technology's about time to add this English language phrase onto your vocabulary!
Tell me about it!
"Tell me about it!" doesn't hateful "TELL me About it".
It means "Yes, I know exactly what you're talking about – I accept the same experience!"
Hither's a situation to depict exactly what I'm talking about here:
You: "My piffling sister is existent nightmare – she constantly makes demands to our mom and cries if she doesn't become what she wants!"
Your friend: "Tell me about it!"
What your friends is telling you is – "Yeah, I can completely relate to that because I also have a little sister who's behaving that way!"
So now that you know what this phrase means, you wouldn't showtime telling your friend More than Almost it. You'd simply sympathise your friend is going through a like experience!
Information technology doesn't hurt to…
When someone tells y'all that information technology doesn't hurt to exercise something, they don't literally mean that information technology's not going to be painful.
What they mean to tell y'all is that the activeness in question is going to result is something really beneficial to you, so it'southward definitely worth doing it!
How do you notice this…?
I recollect someone asked me how I found my job to which I started telling them about the recruitment agency who helped me to country my job with the company…
What that person really meant was – "What practise you THINK Almost your job?" – so in this case the English verb "to find" has another meaning on top of the about mutual one which is to actually find something subsequently you've been looking for it!
* * *
Now, did you notice this article interesting?
Did yous learn a few new English phrases you lot didn't know existed?
If so – let your friends know almost them by using the social sharing tool below!
Thanks for reading,
Robby 😉
P.South. Would you lot like to observe out why I'grand highlighting some of the text in red? Read this article and you'll learn why it'due south then important to learn idiomatic expressions and how it will assist you to improve your spoken English language!
P.Southward.S. Are you serious about your spoken English improvement? Check out my English Harmony System Hither!
P.S. Are you serious almost your spoken English improvement? Cheque out the English Harmony Organisation HERE!
Source: https://englishharmony.com/phrases-with-different-meanings/
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