Shadowing Practice: 10 Important English Phrases: Advanced Vocabulary Lesson - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Are you ready to level up your English vocabulary to use the words that advanced English speakers use every day in daily conversation? Well, you are in the right place. A few weeks ago I shared with you this English conversation where my husband and I answered your questions about daily life. And today you are going to be able to master 10 English expressions that we used in that conversation so that you can use them when you speak English in the real world too. Hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com and like always I have created a free PDF worksheet for you with all 10 of these expressions, definitions, sample sentences and drumroll.

At the end of this PDF worksheet, there is a ten-question quiz. You can test yourself to see if you remember these expressions and can use them correctly in the sentences. Click on the link in the description to download this free PDF worksheet today. All right, let's get started with the first real English expression that was used in our conversation.

That was "to get out the door." We could just say, "I leave the house every morning at 8:00 AM." Boring. Or you could use this wonderful expression and you could say, "I need to get out the door every morning at 8 A.M." This kind of is implying that there's a little bit of urgency to getting out the door, going to your destination. In the conversation with Dan, I said, "I help Theo, our oldest son, to get out the door in the morning." Here I could have said, "I help Theo to leave to go to school in the morning," but I wanted to talk about that urgency. If you have kids that need to go to school in the morning, you know exactly what I'm talking about. You got to get up, get your clothes on, make sure you have some breakfast, get everything in their backpack prepared, make sure that they have everything that they need.

There's kind of this snowball of energy that happens in the morning before you get out the door. So that's the expression that was used to talk about this urgent leaving. What we're going to do now is I want you to see how it was used in the original conversation. So we're going to watch that clip from the original conversation two times, and this way it can stick in your memory. You heard my explanation right now, and then you're about to see it in the real conversation as well. The more input that you have for an expression, especially if it's new to you, the more you'll be able to remember it. So let's watch that clip and see how it was used. I make some tea, we breakfast together, and I help our oldest get out the door with Dan.

Dan: That could be a challenge.

Vanessa: I make some tea, we eat breakfast together, and I help our oldest get out the door with Dan.

Dan: That could be a challenge.

Vanessa: The second real life English expression that was used in our conversation is this one "have to say." Well, by itself this could mean several different things, but as a fixed expression, it has a very specific meaning. Take a look at this sample sentence. "My cousin is a lawyer and I'm really interested to hear what she has to say about the new law being passed." Here we're talking about the insight that she can give on the new law because she is a lawyer, she knows more about how the law works than me. So I want to know her insight, that really in-depth knowledge that she has. So I might ask you as an English learner, I'm curious what you have to say about the new technology with AI and learning language.

What do you think about learning language with AI? Is it possible? Is it a good idea?

What are some ways that we could do that? I'm curious to hear what you have to say.

This is a great way to ask for your insight, for your opinions and ideas about this. All right, let's watch the original clip two times so that you can see that original context for how this expression was used. Sometimes we also ask what was the most challenging part of your day?

If a day was particularly challenging or just if you remember it, and it's interesting to kind of hear what everyone has to say. Sometimes we also ask, what was the most challenging part of your day if a day was particularly challenging or just if you remember it, and it's interesting to kind of hear what everyone has to say. The third real life expression is a fun one. It is "to be zonked." This is a slang expression, and you can kind of get the meaning from this sentence. "At the end of the day, I'm just zonked and need to turn my brain off and just go to bed." It just means I'm really tired. I'm physically and mentally exhausted. I can't do anything else. I'm zonked. So in the original conversation with Dan, I said, "Yeah, by the end of the day, I am zonked. I have put so much energy into my day with my business, with teaching, with three kids, with a home, with a family, all of this. By the end of the day, I am zonked." This is another fun slang expression to mean completely exhausted. All right, let's see how this was used in the original conversation. And usually like Dan said, "I'm kind of zonked by the end of the day, brush my teeth, maybe take a shower and go to sleep." And usually like Dan said, "I'm kind of zonked by the end of the day and brush my teeth, maybe take a shower and go to sleep." The next important real-life expression is 50/50. Well, what is a whole? 100. So if we are going to say 50/50, both of these create a whole and it is an even split. So in the original conversation with Dan, we were talking about chores and how we divide the chores in our house. And I said, "I don't know if it's exactly an even 50/50. I do 50%, my husband does 50% of the chores.

I don't know if it's exactly even, but we try to split the chores in our house." So here we're talking about splitting the work. We can use this expression for splitting a lot of different things. We might say, "It's becoming more common to split the bill 50/50 on a first date." I would say traditionally it's more common for the man to pay for the first date, but it's becoming more common for the woman to say, "Hey, let's split 50/50. This is our first date. Let's split 50/50." Or you could say, "Let's split the bill 50/50." I have to tell you a funny story about when I was little. I had some best friends who lived across the street and we would often have schemes for making money. One of those schemes was to set up a lemonade stand, which is a pretty common thing to do in the US for kids at the end of the driveway because there were some construction workers who were working on a house down the street and it was a hot day and we thought they might want some lemonade. Maybe we can make some money off of them. So we created a lemonade stand at the end of my driveway. There was four of us. As we were discussing how much money we might make, what we would do with the money. One of my friends said, "I don't want to split the money with you guys. I'm going to make my own stand across the street." At her house by herself so that she didn't have to split the money 50/50 with us. Instead, she could have the money all to herself. And I remember being so angry at the time, but also thinking, "Oh, that's a smart idea." This was one of my first experiences with economics. But in that situation, we were going to split the money, I guess 25/25/25/25. But for the sake of this expression, splitting the money, 50/50 between us. And here, she wanted to have the money all to herself and decided to come up with a scheme to be able to do that.

I think in the end we probably all made a dollar. We were probably really happy about that. Anyway, let's watch the original clip from this expression so that you can see how it was used. Let's watch.

Dan: Doing the dishes. That's my job. I don't know if it's 50/50, but we split the chores. We try to be relatively even about it. Doing the dishes. That's my job. So I don't know if it's 50/50, but we split the chores. We try to be relatively even about it.

Vanessa: The fifth real life daily English expression is pro and con. We usually use this in a plural version. So let me give you a sample sentence. You might say, "Working remotely has some pros and cons." People get flexibility with their schedule, but they also sometimes feel lonely because they don't have coworkers around them. So here we're talking about the benefits and the disadvantages, the advantages and the disadvantages, the good things and the bad things. Most things in life have a flip side. They're not just all 100% good or 100% bad, so we can use this for our daily life as well.

In the conversation with Dan, we were talking about traditional food in the US and how a lot of people kind of struggle with knowing what to eat, what's healthy to eat. We don't have an extremely long hundreds of years of history of traditional foods. Now, if you are a recent immigrant to the US or have held onto your original heritage, maybe your family does have more of that. But for a lot of Americans, we don't really have traditional foods that our ancestors have been eating for hundreds of years. So that's kind of a pro and con in the U.S.

On one hand, we can have a variety of foods that we eat, have an experienced palate, but on the other hand we often struggle with knowing what are good things to eat and what aren't good things to eat. We can kind of be susceptible to fad diets and things like this because we don't have this rich history of food culture and those types of things. So there are pros and cons to a lot of things. I'm curious, what do you think are some pros and cons to learning English online? Let me know in the comments. I can think of a few here myself.

What do you think are the pros and cons of learning English online? Well, let's watch the original clip so that you can see how this expression was used. Let's watch. So there's kind of that food tradition, and so I think in the US that's like a pro and a con. That people often struggle with knowing what should I eat? What should I make? So there's kind of that food tradition, and so I think in the US that's like a pro and a con. That people often struggle with knowing what should I eat? What should I make? The next daily life expression is "to up" something.

Usually the word up is a preposition. I walked up the stairs, but here we're going to be using it as a lovely verb to up something. So take a look at this sentence. "I deleted social media from my phone and after I did that, I upped my reading a lot." So here we can see the correlation. "I deleted social media off my phone, so now I have more time, more brain space, all of this. And as a result, I upped my reading. I have read so many books since deleting social media off my phone." I highly recommend it. So here we're talking about increasing something.

Let me give you another example so that you can see the sentence structure for using this. Because up, yes, is usually a preposition, but as a verb we need to use it in a specific way. You could say this, "I upped my water intake after I realized that I was dehydrated." So here I increased my water intake when I realized I was dehydrated. So we could really substitute the word increase here. I increased my water intake. I increased the amount of books that I read, my reading.

But if you want to have a little bit more of a daily life conversation flair to your speech. In daily life, we are more likely to use the word up. I upped my water intake. I upped the amount of books that I read. This is a great expression to use. All right, let's watch how it was used in the original conversation. I deleted social media stuff off of my phone. So that really helped. I upped my reading when I did that. I deleted social media stuff off of my phone. So that really helped. I upped my reading when I did that. Important expression number seven is to be "over your head" or "over his head" or "over my head." We often use this expression with this gesture and sometimes we don't even say the expression, we just go, "Whew." So let me give you an example of how you might use this. For me, the first time that I watched the movie Inception, it was over my head. All of the confusing plot lines and jumping through time and all of this, it was too much for me. So here you can get the idea that I just didn't understand it. It was too confusing and complicated. If I want to take out that expression and just use the gesture, this is what I could say. "The first time that I watched Inception, it wasn't for me." I didn't even need to say it was over my head. You understand why it wasn't for me? It's not that it was too violent, it's not that it was too boring, it's just that it was over my head. The whole idea was something I could not understand and that's how we used it in the original conversation. We were talking about what Dan and Theo, my son, do when they're commuting to school every day because they have to drive 30 minutes to get to school every day. What do you do in that time? Well, they often listen to audiobooks and one of the books that they tried to listen to is a famous one called Anne of Green Gables. It's a great story, but you know what? It was over his head. My son is six and that book is probably better for ten-year-olds maybe. So he wasn't very interested in it. It was kind of boring to him and he wanted to listen to something else instead. So we could say Anne of Green Gables was over his head. It wasn't something that was a good fit for him. Just a little note about grammar.

When you use this expression, make sure that that word his, my, your head, it matches the person that you're talking to. You might have noticed this because I said, "The book was over his head," or we could say, "Inception was over my head." The person that you're talking about needs to match the expression. All right, let's watch how that was used in the original conversation.

Dan: And we started Anne of Green Gables too, but that one was a little bit over his head. Very verbose. And we started Anne of Green Gables too, but that one was a little bit over his head. Very verbose.

Vanessa: Important expression number eight is "to be pressed." You can get the idea here that there is some pressure going on and we're not talking about this in a literal pressure kind of way. We're talking about mental pressure. So if at your work you have deadlines, I think this is kind of a standard feature of any job. You might say, "We are going to be really pressed to finish this report by the deadline. It's supposed to be done in three hours. I don't know how we're going to do it." So here you're talking about feeling the pressure of time. We often add on to this expression and say to plus something else.

So I just said, "We are going to be pressed to finish the report on time." But we could also insert a lot of other things here. In the original conversation I was talking about trying to balance my work and life and family. It's a lot. So a lot of you asked me this question, "Vanessa, how do you do that?" And I said, "You know what? It is a work in progress and I'm still learning how to do that, but my goal is to not work in the evenings after my kids go to bed. I need that time to be just detox time. But you know what? Sometimes I have a project that I'm working on and I'm pressed to finish it at a specific time. So I need those extra hours in the evening to be able to work." So you can kind of feel that pressure that I need to do it, even though usually this is my relaxation time. All right, let's watch how it was used in the original clip. And you can use this expression too, when you feel pressure. "Oh, I feel pressed to be able to do this. Oh, I'm so pressed right now at work. I'm having a hard time." You can do it. All right, let's watch.

My goal is to try to not work in the evening after the kids go to bed, but sometimes I would be pressed to have to do that and now I try to delegate tasks. That means give tasks to other people. My goal is to try to not work in the evening after the kids go to bed, but sometimes I would be pressed to have to do that and now I try to delegate tasks. That means give tasks to other people. The ninth important daily life expression is "to have it or that in you." So here we're talking about being capable of doing something and often we use this either as motivation or as surprise. So let me give you a couple sample sentences, a kind of silly example, but a good starter one is, "Wow, you ate that whole pizza. I didn't know you had it in you." So this means I didn't know that you had the skill to eat a whole pizza. It's maybe not really a skill, but you know what I mean. I am surprised that you could eat that whole pizza. This is kind of a basic example, but let's take it up to the next level. A couple of months ago, one of my neighbors who's 13 years old was part of a local theater performance of a musical and we went to go see her and I was blown away.

She's usually pretty shy, but she was standing on the stage singing and dancing sometimes by herself in front of the whole audience. I didn't know that she had that in her. Here we're talking about the skill and the courage to be able to sing and dance in front of other people. I think most people in the whole world would be terrified at that. But even though she's usually kind of quiet and shy, she was able to do that. So here I'm expressing surprise in her skill. I didn't know that she had it. And here we don't usually mention the thing. Usually we just say it because it's implied based on the context. She was singing and dancing on the stage. I didn't know she had it in her. And we know that it is the skill to be able to sing and dance on the stage. "Wow, I didn't know that she had it in her." And the fun thing is you can use this expression about yourself as well. So you are here because you were learning English, but let's imagine that your boss tells you, "Hey, guess what? We have some new clients that come from the US and I'm going to need you to call them and ask them some specifications about the product that they want and help us to negotiate an offer." Holy cow, this is a big deal. This is a big deal professionally, but it is a big deal to do in another language, in English. So when you do this and you do it successfully, you might say to yourself, "Wow, I didn't know that I had it in me to do that and I did it successfully. Great work. I didn't know that I had it in me. Wow, I'm so proud of myself. I worked so hard to do this and I did it successfully. I didn't know that I had it in me. I didn't believe in myself at first, but here I am on the other side. Success. Great." All right, let's watch how this was used in the original conversation. It feels actually pretty calming like a break.

Dan: You might go to the gym and find Vanessa just punching a punching bag. You're like, "I didn't know she had that in her." Vanessa: It feels actually pretty calming like a break.

Dan: You might go to the gym and find Vanessa just punching a punching tag. I didn't know she had that in her.

Vanessa: Our 10th and final important English expression is the "cherry on top." Have you ever had a big bowl of ice cream or maybe seen one in the movies and they put some chocolate fudge syrup and then on top, boink, they put a cherry on top of the ice cream bowl? Well, the cherry is not the most fundamental element of the ice cream, but without that cherry, the bowl of ice cream would not be complete. This is perfection. So usually we use this to talk about the finishing touch on something that's already really good.

So in the original conversation we said that, "Yeah, we think that our family with just two boys is great. But you know what? Now that we have our third and special baby girl, she is the cherry on top. This is the perfect finishing touch to our family." And you can use this in a lot of different situations. You might use it to talk about your job. You could say, "I love my job and the fact that it pays well is the cherry on top. I love the work that I do, but also guess what? I get paid well, that is the cherry on top." Yes, it is a great combination.

All right, let's see how this was used in the original conversation so that you can use it too, this 10th and final expression. Let's watch.

Dan: I can only speak for myself because it just feels like our family's complete. She's like the little cherry on top to our family.

Vanessa: Our baby.

Dan: She's really sweet. I can only speak for myself because it just feels like our family's complete. She's like the little cherry on top to our family.

Vanessa: Our baby.

Dan: She's really sweet.

Vanessa: Congratulations on learning these 10 important daily life expressions. Now, I would like to share the cherry on top with you. Don't forget to download the free PDF worksheet with all of today's expressions, definitions, multiple sample sentences and the cherry on top at the bottom of the PDF. You can answer a 10 question quiz so that you never forget what you've learned. That's the goal, right? To be able to use these expressions the next time that you speak in English. So make sure that you click on the link in the description to download that free PDF worksheet today. 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? I recommend watching this video next where you will learn to think and speak in English, including why you should not say, "I put the kids to sleep." Not very good in English, but why is that? Check out that video to find out and I'll see you there.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This video has 39 sentences and 4179 words to shadow. The speech runs for 24:44. The speaker talks at a natural 169 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 87% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

cherry /ˈt͡ʃɛɹi/ (noun) — A small fruit, usually red, black or yellow, with a smooth hard seed and a short hard stem.
clip /klɪp/ (noun) — Something which clips or grasps; a device for attaching one object to another.
skill /skɪl/ (noun) — A capacity to do something well; a technique, an ability, usually acquired or learned, as opposed to abilities that are regarded as innate.
delete /dɪˈliːt/ (verb) — To remove, get rid of or erase, especially written or printed material, or data on a computer or other device.
punch /pʌnt͡ʃ/ (noun) — A hit or strike with one's fist.
con /kɑn/ (verb) — To trick, lie or defraud, usually for personal gain.
intake /ˈɪnteɪk/ (noun) — The place where water, air or other fluid is taken into a pipe or conduit; opposed to outlet.
curious /ˈkjʊɹ.i.əs/ (adjective) — Tending to ask questions, or to want to explore or investigate; inquisitive; (with a negative connotation) nosy, prying.
successfully /səkˈsɛs.fə.li/ (adverb) — In a successful manner; with success; without failing.
pizza /ˈpi.tsə/ (noun) — A baked Italian dish of a thinly rolled bread crust typically topped before baking with tomato sauce, cheese, and other ingredients such as meat or vegetables.
insight /ˈɪnsaɪ̯t/ (noun) — A sight or view of the interior of anything; a deep inspection or view; introspection; frequently used with into.
bore /boɹ/ (verb) — To inspire boredom in somebody.
brush /bɹʌʃ/ (noun) — An implement consisting of multiple more or less flexible bristles or other filaments attached to a handle, used for any of various purposes including…
dish /dɪʃ/ (noun) — A vessel such as a plate for holding or serving food, often flat with a depressed region in the middle.
deadline /ˈdɛdˌlaɪn/ (noun) — A time limit in the form of a date on or before which something must be completed.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

talk about (verb) — Used to draw attention to the speaker's characterization of someone or something.
get out (verb) — To leave or escape.
do in (verb) — To kill or end; to defeat.
work in (verb) — To find time or space for, amid other things.
look at (verb) — To observe or watch.
speak for (verb) — To speak on somebody's behalf.
work on (verb) — To apply mental or physical effort to (something) in order to shape, form, improve, investigate, solve it, etc.
ask for (verb) — To request; to order.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 78 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, didn't, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: theater /ˈθi(ə)tɚ/, ninth /naɪnθ/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: brush /bɹʌʃ/, dish /dɪʃ/, explanation /ˌɛkspləˈneɪʃən/, destination /dɛstɪˈneɪʃən/, motivation /ˈmoʊ.tə.veɪ.ʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: successfully /səkˈsɛs.fə.li/, disadvantage /ˌdɪsədˈvæntɪd͡ʒ/, complicated /ˈkɑm.plɪˌkeɪ.tɪd/, explanation /ˌɛkspləˈneɪʃən/, economics /ˌiːkəˈnɒmɪks/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like cherry, clip, skill.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	being passed · be zonked · was dehydrated
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	have created · have put · have held
Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certain	might ask · might say · might use
Past continuous was/were + -ing — an action in progress at a moment in the past	were talking · were working · was talking

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: 10 Important English Phrases: Advanced Vocabulary Lesson - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Pronunciation to watch

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Grammar in this video

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