Espresso English Podcast

You know that "right" and "wrong" are the same as "correct" and "incorrect" respectively. These words are also used in a lot of informal expressions and idioms in English - let's learn 10 of them! One of the hardest things about learning English is not being sure if what you're saying and writing is right or wrong... And one of the great things about many Espresso English courses is that they include opportunities for feedback and correction from our teaching team! Feedback on short answers: Vocabulary Builder Courses Phrasal Verbs Course Idioms Course Advanced Vocabulary & Collocations Course Feedback on paragraph writing: Reading Course Advanced Grammar Course Feedback on recorded speaking: Everyday English Speaking Courses Pronunciation Course & Shadowing Course (end-of-course evaluation) This way you can put your English into practice and find out what you're doing well, and what needs improvement.

Today we have a great question from a student who asked about the difference between the words lifetime, lifelong, and lifespan. These words all seem to refer to the time period of someone’s life, but we use them in different ways in English. You might have a lot of questions like this one, about the difference between English words that seem very similar or even identical – and you’ll find a lot of answers inside my e-book, 600+ Confusing English Words Explained. The lessons have easy-to-understand explanations and examples, so that the confusing words become clear to you!

Hello and happy 2022! It's a great time to make plans for the goals you want to achieve in the new year :-) Do you have a plan for improving your English this year? If you DON'T have a plan...  you won't know what to study you won't feel like you're making progress you'll lose motivation But if you DO have a plan for your English learning... it's easier to study consistently you'll know exactly what to learn next you'll be confident that your English is improving day by day! When you join my Complete Program, you'll get ALL my courses and e-books at 50% off - AND a suggested study guide that takes you from the easier lessons up through the more advanced ones. The New Year is the perfect time to join, because you can start 2022 with a study plan and make GREAT progress in your English skills throughout the year! And I have another piece of good news... You can divide the payment of the Complete Program into parts! Just choose which is best for you: Option A: 3 monthly payments of $99 each Option B:

Have you ever missed your flight? (Remember that in English we say "I missed my flight" and not "I lost my flight") Today we’ll learn some phrases you can use to talk about bad travel experiences and problems that can happen on a trip. I hope you don’t experience any of these things if you have a trip in the near future… but if you do, now you know some English expressions for describing them. When you’re in a difficult or stressful situation, it can be even harder to speak English while you’re nervous or upset – but when you know the right phrases to use, it becomes much easier! When you take my Everyday English Speaking Course, you’ll become much better prepared to speak English in any situation in daily life – so you can handle things calmly and confidently without panicking because you don’t know the right words to say. Come join the Everyday English Speaking Course – it’s my most popular course because it’s so practical and useful.

Today’s lesson is on two phrasal verbs – take back and taken aback. These look quite similar, but they have very different meanings, and I’ll explain them with examples. I think it’s helpful to learn phrasal verbs in context, inside sentences, in situations where we’d really use them. That’s the strategy we use inside my Phrasal Verbs in Conversation Course. It's an easy and effective way to learn the phrasal verbs that are so common in English!

In English, we use the word “please” to make requests and orders more polite – but have you ever considered where exactly to put the word “please” in your sentence? In today’s lesson I’ll show you several correct places to put the word “please” as well as a couple that sound unnatural, which you should avoid. "Please" is a word we use every day, so we want to use it correctly. It’s really important to know the most common words and phrases so that you can be more confident speaking English in daily life. That’s why I created the Everyday English Speaking Course, to help you know exactly what to say in lots of different situations! There are actually two levels of the course - so you can make progress and become a more advanced English speaker day by day.

No matter how much you like your job, there are always a few things to complain about. In today’s lesson we’ll use five sample sentences to learn phrases and expressions for talking about negative points at work. Are any of these complaints true for you presently? Or maybe you’ve experienced these things in the past. Try to write a sentence or two putting some of the expressions we learned into practice. Remember to come check out my Business English Course. In addition to the lessons focusing on practical situations, it also includes lessons on business idioms – yes, many informal expressions are actually used in the business world or when talking about work – so you’ll learn those as well inside the course.

Today’s lesson is going to be a challenge even for me... We’re working on 10 tongue twisters - short phrases that are very difficult to pronounce, even for native English speakers! I like tongue twisters because they’re a fun way to train ourselves to develop very precise pronunciation, and if you can learn to pronounce a tongue twister well, then regular English sentences will probably feel a lot easier by comparison. English pronunciation is really tricky, and I’d love to help you improve yours so that you can speak more clearly, confidently, and correctly. My American English Pronunciation Course is a great way to train your pronunciation, make it better, and also receive an evaluation at the end of the course!

In today’s lesson we’ll learn 10 idiomatic expressions with the word LIFE, including: - can't for the life of me - lead a charmed life - put their lives on the line - have a new lease on life - not on your life ...and more! Remember that idioms are short phrases that can’t be translated literally word by word; instead, you need to know the meaning of the whole expression. If you really want to remember the idioms from today’s lesson even better, try putting them in your own example sentence! If you’d like to learn more common idiomatic expressions, my 300+ Idioms Course can teach you in a way that’s easy and fun, and helps you put them into practice. Each lesson in the course includes short answer questions that help you use the idioms you’ve learned, and then you can send in your answers for feedback and correction.

English spelling can be a real challenge. Because of the way the English language has changed over time, there are LOTS of irregularities and exceptions in the spelling. Although it's difficult, it's important to learn to spell correctly because it gives a bad impression when there are spelling mistakes in your written English. Today you'll learn 15 common spelling mistakes that even native English speakers often make - so you can be aware of them, avoid them, and spell these words correctly! Please don’t feel bad if you’ve been making some of these spelling mistakes – like I said at the beginning, these are mistakes that even native English speakers make because English spelling is tricky. Mistakes are an opportunity to learn and improve, and you can do exactly that inside my 200 Common Errors in English Course. I’ll teach you the WRONG way to say things and the RIGHT way to say them, so that you can speak and write more confidently and more correctly in English.

Today let’s expand your vocabulary by learning 40 interesting collocations (combinations of words) with the key words comment, conversation, and speech. This is a free sample lesson from our newest course - Advanced Vocabulary and Collocations - so if you like the lesson, join the course to get more! Do you want to take your vocabulary from "average" to "amazing"? The Advanced Vocabulary and Collocations Course will help you express yourself more fluently, without using the same basic words over and over. You'll learn 1,000+ high-level English words AND how to put them together in ways that sound natural. This helps you sound more sophisticated when you speak and write in English :-)

Today’s lesson is a quick tip about a small difference that could really mix you up – do you attend English class, or attend to English class? Watch the lesson to find out! (I'll also explain when to use call vs. call to) It’s in these tiny little details where English learners – even more advanced ones – often make mistakes. And that’s why it’s so important to get some feedback and correction on your writing from a native English speaker. You can get that inside our Advanced English Grammar Course. In addition to 45 lessons teaching you grammar in great detail, you also have the option to add teacher feedback – you can practice your writing and get it corrected by the Espresso English teaching team. This is really for the most dedicated English learners and it’s super valuable to get personalized feedback – so I hope we’ll see you inside that course!

Let's practice pronunciation together! We'll work on pairs of words with confusing pronunciation - in which the same combinations of letters are pronounced differently. One very frustrating thing about the English language is that the pronunciation is irregular. There aren’t strict pronunciation rules that you could memorize and always know exactly how words are pronounced – it’s just not possible. There ARE some pronunciation patterns… but there are also exceptions to those patterns! Some letters and combinations of letters have multiple different pronunciations, and you can’t know which one to use just by reading the word; you need to hear the word. That’s why listening and repeating is so important. You can improve your pronunciation fast inside my American English Pronunciation Course – we’ll learn and practice all the sounds of the language, helping you to make the differences between similar sounds and avoid pronunciation mistakes. This course will help you speak English more clearly, confidently, and

Do you know the difference between business and busyness? They're pronounced differently... ...and they mean different things! Let's learn them in this quick lesson. If you need to use English in your job or career, I can help you speak more confidently when you join my Business English Course! It will teach you what to say in lots of professional situations like interviews, meetings, phone calls, and much more. The lessons are very practical - full of useful words and phrases that native English speakers often use at work.

Today I’m going to explain two phrases in English – one is saying “something speaks for itself” and the other is telling someone “speak for yourself.” These are very different, and I’ll teach them to you by using examples of situations where we’d use these expressions. To learn a lot more common English phrases for daily situations, you can join our Everyday English Speaking Courses – these will teach you so many of the expressions and phrases that native English speakers use all the time. The lessons in those courses will help you improve your speaking and your ability to have natural-sounding conversations in English :-)

This lesson is a quick tip to help you avoid mistakes that can make your English sound unnatural. I’ll explain them and tell you what you should say instead.   Don't say "today morning"!   I’ve noticed this error in a lot of student homework.   Many of our courses at Espresso English include homework that you can send in and get feedback and correction on your answers – one of those is our Advanced Grammar Course.

Do you know what it means to "run interference," "jump the gun," and "show someone the ropes"? Today you'll learn these expressions and more idioms from sports! If you're looking for a fun and easy way to learn more than 300 idioms in English, check out our Idioms Course.

Today you’re going to learn the difference between the words human and humane. These are different by only one letter, but they’re pronounced differently and are used in different ways. By the way, if you want to learn a LOT more confusing word pairs like this, check out my e-book 600+ Confusing Words Explained! Inside that e-book, I’ll help you understand confusing English words easily and clearly.

Today I'm sharing my top 8 tips for improving your writing in English :-) Even when you know a lot of English words, it can be really hard to form good sentences and write well. But when you put these strategies into practice, you’ll be able to improve so that you can write confidently in English. We have two courses where you can get your writing evaluated! Our Advanced Grammar Course and our Reading Course both have the option to include writing tasks with teacher feedback – so at the end of each lesson, there’s a question or topic and you’ll write your response. Then, send it to our teaching team, and we’ll reply with comments, corrections, and suggestions for making your writing even better. Students LOVE this feedback, because the it helps you fix any mistakes or bad habits and bring your writing up to a higher level. If you’re serious about improving your writing, join those courses and select the version with teacher feedback. I hope you’ll put all 8 tips from this lesson into practice!

Your pronunciation is one of the first things other people notice about your English. If you have nice, clear pronunciation, you'll make a good impression. But if your pronunciation is difficult for others to understand, then it will be very hard to communicate - and frustrating, too! The good news is that you CAN improve your pronunciation with practice - by using my top 5 tips for getting better pronunciation :-) To practice and improve your pronunciation FAST, you can join my American English Pronunciation Course! - https://www.espressoenglish.net/american-english-pronunciation-course/ It will help you reach your goal of speaking clear, correct, and confident English. You'll learn and practice all the sounds of American English, and also work on connecting words and phrases together for more natural speaking.