When You Do Something Right People Will Hardly Know Youve Done Anything at All
By Robby
If you are new hither please read this first.
I often bear upon upon the bailiwick of English idiomatic expressions on this web log for the simple reason that more oftentimes than not our every-day spoken communication consists of such and like word combinations and it's making our speech so much more easier !
Just expect at the above paragraph – it'due south stuffed with diverse idiomatic expressions and collocations, and the one common trait they all share is that y'all have to learn the EXACT way they're used so that you lot can learn them off by heart and then use them in your own conversations.
Then there are proper English language idioms yous tin't even sympathize unless y'all actually know what they hateful – such equally "Information technology'southward no skin off my nose" or "Until the cows come home".
At that place are, however, certain English language phrases that may at showtime sound as if they don't accept whatever double-meanings AT ALL, however they mean something completely different!
If yous're an advanced English language speaker and you've been communicating with real people in real life for years, this list will probably reveal zippo new to you.
If yous're someone who'southward just starting off in an English speaking country, for example, the following phrases might turn out to be an eye-opener for you! 😉
Yous don't want to practise that!
If you take this phrase literally, information technology sounds as if someone is making a statement that you don't want to do something (in which case it doesn't really make an atrocious lot of sense – I mean, how tin someone else possibly know what I do or what I don't desire to practice?!)
In reality though, this phrase is used when advising someone not to practice something, so the real message behind this expression is "You shouldn't exercise it!"
Why practise English speaking people say "You don't desire to practice that!" instead of simply proverb that i SHOULDN'T exercise information technology?
Well – information technology's just the way conversational English language goes! Don't enquire WHY – just accept that it'southward the way native English speakers speak, and life is going to be a whole lot easier for you.
Some other version of the aforementioned phrase – "You don't want to be doing that!" – is used just like the original one, and in one case again – don't ask WHY there are ii different versions of this phrase in apply.
Merely take information technology and use whichever one you lot want to use! 😀
He can't help himself
When I heard the English verb "to aid" used in this context for the first fourth dimension, I thought the person in question must be physically handicapped once they tin can't help themselves.
I mean – the give-and-take "to help" is quite unproblematic and straightforward, so when someone can't assistance themselves, they quite literally can't assist themselves with performing certain tasks, isn't that right?
Turns out it's not the case!
When someone says most another person that they can't help themselves, it means the person in question can't RESIST doing something, they're too weak to say NO to themselves ❗
Allow'south say, you lot're eating too much chocolate on a daily ground, and your work colleague asks y'all one 24-hour interval why you're eating so much chocolate every day. You can merely respond by saying "I just tin't aid myself!" which means that it'due south a addiction so strong you tin can't resist information technology.
Shut up!
When someone tells y'all to shut up, it's quite clear what they want to tell you, isn't that correct?
They're telling y'all to shut your oral cavity, and needless to say, it's quite rude to exist talking to someone like that.
Sometimes, however, the phrase "Close upwards!" can be used to express something completely different – namely, your amazement at something the other person is telling yous about.
So if yous're speaking with an English speaking person and they respond to you past proverb "Shut up! I can't believe it!", it doesn't necessarily mean they want y'all to shut your mouth and stop talking to them. Information technology merely means they're so surprised at what yous but said that they're using the phrase "Shut upwardly!" equally means of expressing they disbelief or excitement.
Sure plenty, y'all'll be able to read the true pregnant of those words off the other person's face and tone of voice – the role of torso language can't be underestimated, afterward all.
There might be some occasions, however, when you lot'd think the other person is being rude to you while in reality there's no impairment intended, so please bear in mind that the expression "Shut up!" tin can also have a pretty harmless meaning!
Become away!
I don't know about you, but where I live (Ireland) this phrase is used the same fashion as the i above ("Close upwards!") when expressing your surprise at something the other person has only said.
Basically information technology'south but another way of saying "Actually?!", and when they say "Become away!", nobody means it literally. It' just a way of letting the other person know that you're shocked to hear information technology, and y'all may as well start using this phrase in your own daily English conversations.
I see!
This is a very, very unproblematic English phrase, only when an average beginner English educatee sees it, on 9 times out of 10 they'll call up information technology ways that someone is saying that they Meet something.
In fact, the phrase "I run into!" is used conversationally all the fourth dimension when people desire to say that they get it, that they UNDERSTAND it, and this is actually something that a lot of foreign English speakers should learn pretty early on in their lives.
On fashion too many occasions my young man foreigners say "I sympathise" while the phrase they should be using is "I see"!
Yous run into, "I sympathize" sounds fashion too formal when used during your daily conversations, so I warmly suggest you start using the much more friendlier version of information technology "I meet!" instead.
See where I'm coming from?
If someone asks yous if you see where they're coming from, yous may assume they mean it quite literally, in which example you may exist thinking "How on Globe am I supposed to know where they're coming from?!"
When people inquire you this question, what they actually hateful to say is "Do you sympathise the reasons why I'm saying this?"
Basically the chat would go something like this:
"I call back we should swap this car for the other ane because the production output is much lower at present that the busy flavour is over."
You: ???
"You run into where I'thou coming from?" (Do you understand why I'm suggesting we should swap the machines on the product line?)
You: "I haven't got a clue what you're talking about! Can you explain everything to me step-by-step delight?"
You may want to…
This phrase may seem a chip confusing at first. You lot may… You want… Why "You lot MAY WANT" and so? Why are the two words grouped together? Does it mean you're giving the other person a permission to practice something equally in "You may do it"?
What this phrase really means is quite the opposite to giving someone a permission to do something – it's all about giving the other person a suggestion that they should probably choose to exercise whatever it is you're telling them to do!
Why non simply say "You should…" instead?
Well, y'all run across – "You lot may want to…" is a very polite way of letting someone know equally to what would be the right course of activeness while "Yous should…" might actually sound like a command rather than a suggestion!
I don't purchase it!
This English phrase has aught to do with buying stuff, information technology'south all about BELIEVING what you're told! 😉
If someone makes an empty hope to you or you're told some news you don't believe, y'all can respond with saying "I don't buy it!" in which case you're but making it clear you don't believe what you're told.
I'm looking frontward to…
As a beginner English student you may retrieve this phrase ways to be looking straight ahead of you (every bit opposed to be looking backwards or sideways, for example).
In conversational English language and also in English language in general, however, this phrase has a completely different meaning – it simply means to be expecting something, to be really waiting on something to happen!
I remember when I'd merely started living in Ireland 11 years ago, my supervisor asked me at work if I was looking forrard 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 exist expecting something, and in case you didn't know information technology – it'south about fourth dimension to add this English phrase onto your vocabulary!
Tell me about it!
"Tell me about it!" doesn't mean "TELL me Well-nigh it".
Information technology means "Yep, I know exactly what yous're talking about – I have the same experience!"
Here'south a state of affairs to describe exactly what I'thousand talking about here:
You: "My footling sister is real nightmare – she constantly makes demands to our mom and cries if she doesn't go what she wants!"
Your friend: "Tell me almost information technology!"
What your friends is telling yous is – "Yes, I can completely relate to that because I likewise have a little sister who's behaving that manner!"
So now that you know what this phrase means, y'all wouldn't start telling your friend MORE Virtually information technology. You'd only empathise your friend is going through a similar experience!
It doesn't hurt to…
When someone tells yous that it doesn't hurt to do something, they don't literally mean that it's not going to exist painful.
What they mean to tell you is that the action in question is going to outcome is something really beneficial to you, so it's definitely worth doing it!
How do yous find this…?
I call back someone asked me how I found my job to which I started telling them about the recruitment agency who helped me to land my job with the company…
What that person actually meant was – "What do you Retrieve Almost your job?" – so in this case the English verb "to detect" has another pregnant on top of the well-nigh mutual one which is to actually observe something after you've been looking for it!
* * *
At present, did you find this article interesting?
Did you learn a few new English phrases y'all didn't know existed?
If so – let your friends know about them by using the social sharing tool beneath!
Cheers for reading,
Robby 😉
P.S. Would you like to find out why I'm highlighting some of the text in red? Read this article and you'll larn why information technology's so important to learn idiomatic expressions and how information technology will help you to improve your spoken English!
P.S.South. Are you serious about your spoken English improvement? Bank check out my English language Harmony System HERE!
P.S. Are you serious nearly your spoken English improvement? Check out the English Harmony System HERE!
Source: https://englishharmony.com/phrases-with-different-meanings/
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