8 Common Phrasal Verbs and Idioms

 

Hello! It’s Kristine here with the Express to Impress Podcast. This episode follows the previous episodes, How to Improve Your Listening Skills With Movies With Cara Leopold and Listening Expert Shares How to Understand More of the English Language. If you haven’t checked out those episodes yet, you won’t want to miss them! 

Today’s episode is for English language learners, and you’ll learn eight phrasal verbs and idioms for everyday conversations. Using these phrasal verbs and idioms will allow you to connect better with native English speakers. Plus, you’ll recognize them when you hear them. As always, there will be an exercise at the end to improve your American English pronunciation.

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Now, let’s begin!

Phrasal Verbs and Idioms in English

I will introduce the phrasal verbs and idioms, share how I used them in the previous episode, and provide definitions.

Tune Into Something

There’s evidence to suggest that we’re already tuning into the language that surrounds us from the womb.

Definition: To tune into something means paying attention to someone or something.

To Get Caught Up in Something

So, for me, it was especially helpful to learn through listening and repeating and not getting so caught up on the structure of what I was saying.

Definition: In this instance, to get caught up in something means to be so focused on an activity that you become unaware of other things.

To Feel on Top of the World

They succeed and feel on top of the world, but then they don’t understand a lot of what’s being said in meetings.

Definition: To feel on top of the world means to feel very happy or extremely successful.

To Pick Something Up

(Reducing words when speaking) could make picking up new expressions or idioms more difficult because you don’t catch all the parts of the expression or idiom.

Definition: In this context, to pick something up means to increase, accumulate, or improve knowledge or skills in a particular subject.

Jump-Start

How would you recommend they jump-start their English listening learning again?

Definition: An action or event that serves to start, reinvigorate, or reactivate some activity, process, or situation.

To Break Out of Something

So I think the question is, how do you break out of these repetitive situations that you’ve mastered at this stage, and how do you go off and do something else?

Definition: To move away or separate from someone or something or a pattern of behavior.

Now we have Pick On.

Here’s how it was used: Their kids pick on them or tease them or tell them to work on their accents, and it can be humiliating.

This means to repeatedly criticize, blame, or unfairly mistreat someone.

To Mix Up Something

So mix up your routine and try different things.

Definition: To mix something up, in this context, means to change something or do something different from normal.

Now you know some phrasal verbs and idioms in English to use in a conversation. I encourage you to start using these English expressions today!

English Learning Homework

Learning takes repetition and implementation. So, I’ll give you an exercise! Listen to this episode again and repeat the words out loud to practice. It will expand your English vocabulary and help you improve your American English pronunciation, listening skills, and intonation. You’ll be doing the Shadowing Technique! If you need a reminder about implementing the Shadowing Technique, check out my episode, Introducing the Shadowing Technique for English Learning.  

Thank you so much for listening to the Express to Impress Podcast. If you found this episode helpful, please remember to share it with a friend. See you next time. Bye!