Your English Five a Day #37.2

E321: 🎙️ Welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast! I'm your host, Anna, and you're listening to Week 37, Day 2 of Your English Five a Day. In this series, we expand your active vocabulary by diving into five new words each day, Monday to Friday.

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👀 In today's episode, we kick off with the idiom "catch someone's eye", followed by the noun "nuance". We then move on to the phrasal verb "size up" and another idiom, "bide your time". Finally, we finish the list with the phrasal verb "get on with it".

💞 Tune in for some pronunciation practice and a quick quiz to encourage you to recap the words we've covered. In today's story section, John, on a train ride home from university, notices a girl trying to catch his eye. After hesitating and contemplating his approach, he finally musters the courage to offer her a coffee.

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Transcript

0:01

Hello and welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast. My name is Anna and you're listening to Week 37, Day 2 of Your English Five a Day. We are pumping up and expanding your active vocabulary. This is achieved by focusing on five items of vocabulary every day of the working week and I will explain the vocabulary and then bring it all together in context during a story at the end of the episode. So, sit back, relax, and listen. We start today's list with the idiom to catch someone's eye. Catch someone's eye. Catch is C A T C H. Catch someone's eye, E Y E. So to catch someone's eye is to get their attention usually by looking at them, or waving a hand at them. We often do this in a restaurant. Listen to this example,"Can you try to catch the waiter's eye so we can ask for the bill?" Alright, next on the list is a noun and it is nuance, nuance. We spell this N U A N C E, nuance. A nuance is a subtle difference in meaning, expression, or sound. Nuance. Here's an example,"The nuance in Linda's voice indicated that she was not entirely happy with the decision to move to the country." We often talk about nuances in language. So there are subtle differences in different regions of the UK. So it's all English, but there are subtleties and differences depending on the area, but also depending on the group of people you're talking to. Youngsters will have a slightly different set of vocabulary to the older generations. Some people will use words in a certain way that's kind of new and quite fashionable, and so there are lots of nuances that you have to become familiar with to really become fluent in any language. I'm sure it's the same for many other languages as well as English. Alright, next on the list is a phrasal verb, and it is size up, size up. We spell this S I Z E, size. Up, U P. To size up, to size up something, or someone is to assess them, or to evaluate them or it. So, for example, if I am going into the boxing ring and I'm going to be fighting against someone I've never met before. I don't know very much about this person. When we first get into the ring, before starting our fight, we're both going to size each other up. We're going to look at each other, look at each other's bodies, look at each other's size, how the other person is moving, look at their face, look in their eyes, get an idea of who they are and how they might move and how strong they may be. We are assessing them and evaluating them. If you are looking for a box to act as a parcel to send something valuable, you may look at a number of different options and evaluate each option to decide which would be the best, which would be the strongest, the right size, the perfect box to send my valuable item. So you're sizing up the boxes. Here's another example,"The detective carefully sized up the suspect, noticing the nervous twitch in his hand and the way his eyes darted around the room." Next on the list is the idiom, bide your time, bide your time. We spell this B I D E, bide. Your time, T I M E. Bide your time. This means to wait patiently for a favourable opportunity. For example, maybe there is a celebrity at an event and everyone is queuing up to have a chat with this celebrity. They all want to have a piece of this celebrity and you're hanging back even though you absolutely adore this celebrity. You're hanging back. You're not getting over-excited. You're not queuing up and trying desperately to get the celebrity's attention. And someone says to you,"I thought you loved this person. Why are you not trying to go and talk to them?" And you might say,"Well, I'm actually biding my time. I'm waiting, I'm waiting to find an opportunity to talk to them when it's not so chaotic when they're more relaxed. Maybe I'll wait for them to go and have a coffee and then while they're standing at the coffee machine, I'll just be there and we'll start to have a bit of small talk. I'm biding my time. I'm waiting for an opportunity." Here's another example,"The hunter bided his time, waiting for the perfect moment to strike and catch the deer." Okay, next on the list is a phrasal verb and it is get on with it. Get on with it. I'm not sure I need to spell this out, but let me do that for you anyway. Get, G E T. On, O N. With, W I T H. It, I T. Get on with it. To get on with it, if you say this, then you're asking someone to start or continue doing something, especially after a delay or an interruption. So, for example, if my son is begging me to have five minutes to draw his picture,"Mummy, mummy, please can I finish my picture? I really, really need to finish my picture. I really, really, really, really, really need to finish my picture." And we are late for school, but he's desperate to finish this picture. It's really important to him. He has already started the picture, but we had to stop because we had to put on his uniform, brush his teeth, put his suncream on, all those kinds of things that we need to do to start the day. And now he's desperate to finish it. So I might look at him and say,"Okay, get on with it! Quick. Come on! Do it. Get on with it!" Here's another example,"I'm tired of waiting for you to hoover the lounge, will you please just get on with it?!" Alright, so that's our five for today. We started with the idiom catch someone's eye. So that's to get someone's attention, especially by looking at them. Then we had the noun nuance, which is a subtle difference in meaning, expression, or sound. Then we had the phrasal verb, size up, which is to assess or evaluate someone or something. We had the idiom, bide your time, which is to wait patiently for a favourable opportunity. And we had the phrasal verb, get on with it, which means to start or continue doing something, especially after a delay or interruption. Okay, so let's do this for pronunciation purposes. If you are able to, please repeat after me. Catch someone's eye. Catch someone's eye. Nuance. Nuance. Size up. Size up. Bide your time. Bide your time. Get on with it. Get on with it. Very good. What idiom do we use when we want to get someone's attention? Catch someone's eye. Absolutely. And what phrasal verb is to assess someone? Size up. Yes. We had another idiom, didn't we? Which is to wait patiently for a favourable opportunity. What was that idiom? To bide your time. And if someone has delayed and you want them to continue doing something, what phrasal verb would you use here? Get on with it. Absolutely. And finally, what noun is the subtle difference in meaning, expression, or sound? Nuance. Very good. Okay, listen out for today's items in our storytime. John stared out of the window as the fields flew past outside. He was on the train, going home for the summer holidays after finishing his second year at university. He already missed the freedom of university life, but he didn't want to pay rent all summer. And his summer job was in his hometown, so he went back to live in his childhood bedroom at his parents' house. While John was contemplating his summer back home, the girl opposite him, lowered the novel she was reading. She looked over at him, smiling, as if she was trying to catch his eye, John looked away, embarrassed. He wasn't great at sizing up these kinds of situations. Was she looking at me, he wondered, or someone else? John decided to bide his time."Maybe she'll smile at me again," he thought,"or maybe not. There'll be another chance. I could offer to get her a cup of coffee from the train bar, or carry her suitcase for her when she gets off. But what if we get off at different stations?" John's mind was imagining all sorts of situations, making him more nervous. Eventually, he decided to get on with it before it was too late. They were on a train, after all, and perhaps the next stop was hers. He hoped not. John took a deep breath and announced:"Um I'm going to the bar. Do you want anything?""A coffee would be great, thanks," she said."Sure. Erm, I'm John, by the way." I'm Sarah. Nice to meet you.""Likewise." He found it hard to notice the nuances of communication, but her tone of voice and body language suggested she appreciated his offer. As he went to get their coffees at the bar, he looked forward to getting to know his fellow passenger. His summer away from university was starting better than he ever expected. If you enjoyed today's episode and you'd like to get hold of the Master Sheet, the master spreadsheet that includes all the vocabulary from today and every other day of this entire series, then you can for free by clicking on the link in the show notes. Until tomorrow, take very good care and goodbye.