to milk X

This expression comes from farming and milking a cow. Yes in English milk can be used as a verb!

The original meaning is simply: to milk a cow. 



From this verb we got the expression to milk something for all it's worth. 

Hal: Did you hear that Tomo won an award?

Bill: Yeah, he's milking it for all it's worth! He's been telling everyone he meets about it.

This was eventually shortened to milk X. So this usage of milk means to exploit something as much as possible, to take of advantage of something as much as you can.

Husband: Oh, I'm so tired from yesterday's marathon. Can you do the dishes?

Wife: Stop milking that! Yes you ran a marathon but you haven't done any work since then!

Fred: He's really milking the sympathy card from his breakup.

Jeb: Yep, he's had a whole string of new ladies recently.

Fred: Well wouldn't you do the same thing?

Jeb: Yeah, probably. hahaha

Have a nice weekend,

Phil

Oh! You startled me!

As it is Halloween I decided to look at an expression that is commonly used when describing what happens when watching a horror movie. Today we'll look at the verbs: to startle (someone) or to be startled.

These verbs are talking about when someone is suddenly surprised and they jump & say Oh! or aargh!

To startle (someone)

In Japanese, this would be ケツ毛を抜く. 

(turns on the light)
Aargh! You startled me! What are you doing sitting in the dark?

When the murderer suddenly showed up in the third scene, it really startled me! I jumped in my theater seat!

To be startled

In Japanese, it would be　ギョッとする.

When she smiled and I saw her crooked yellow teeth I was really startled!

When the alarm suddenly went off, everyone in the office was startled.

Here are some examples:




Happy Halloween~!

Phil

Wanna go for a dip?

Hey everyone, summer vacation has started so I am not sure how often I will be posting on this blog so here  is a small lesson.

to dip

This is a verb that means to go down briefly. It can be used in many ways:

When he slow-danced with me, he dipped me & we kissed. It was romantic!

I dipped my toes into the pool to check the water's temperature.

Don't dip your chips into the dip twice! No double-dipping!

You can see in the last example that dip can also be a noun. The first meaning is a kind of sauce that you dip your chips or vegetables in to give it some extra flavor.

The second meaning is a short swim. This is a word we often use during the summer. So if someone asks you:

Wanna go for a dip?

They mean:

Do you want to go for a quick swim?

Have a great summer vacation!

Phil

must, have to, got to

Today we'll talk about things that you are obligated to do. You have no choice, you are required to do it. In those situations you can use the following verbs:

Must

This is very formal sounding and isn't really used in casual conversation.

I'm terribly sorry but I must be going.

Have to

This is a fairly standard verb used to talk about obligations.

I'm sorry but I have to go.

In more casual English you would say hafta.

I'm sorry but I hafta go.

I hafta clean my room, it's a real mess right now.

In the past tense, to talk about things you were obliged to do before, use had to.

I had to wear a uniform in high school.

If you want to sound more casual use had TA.

I had TA do my homework when I was a kid or I'd get in trouble.

Got to

Another verb with exactly the same meaning is got to.

I'm sorry but I got to go.

I got to work hard to realize my dreams.

In casual English, we say godda.

I godda call my Mom, it's her birthday today!

I think got to sounds slightly more friendly/casual than have to. It is also only used to talk about current obligations NOT things you had to do in the past.

Well, I godda go. I hafta get ready for work.

See you,

Phil

Fight or argue?

Hey guys, do you know the difference between these two words?

ARGUE is VERBAL you are just using words. You might shout, scream or yell or even just talk in an excited way. You are basically having a disagreement using words.

in a car...

Anne: I think Stacy is the cutest!

Betty: No, it's Heidi.

Anne: Stacy, she has dimples!

Betty: Heidi has round eyes!

Anne: Stacy!

Betty: Heidi~!

Mom: Stop arguing!!!

FIGHT can be verbal or PHYSICAL or even BOTH. Many times things start off verbally and then progress into a physical fight...

...later.

Betty: Heidi is cuter! Stacy is an ugly cow!

Anne: Take that back! 

Betty: No~! Heidi is the best!

Anne: POW~ ! (hits Betty)

Betty: Owww.... Mom, Anne hit me~!

Mom: I told you to stop fighting~~! That's it we're going home, no concert for you bad girls!

Girls: Mooooo~m~!

So fight is a bit more general, you aren't sure exactly what happened but you know that two people or groups disagreed and are enemies or opponents. Argue is a bit more narrowly focused, you know that people just yelled or raised their voices. Argue is therefore a bit weaker than fight.

I saw a woman arguing with her friend on the train, they were so loud!

I had a fight with my wife so I had to sleep on the couch.

When I was a kid, I always used to fight with my brother.

Try not to start any arguments! You don't wanna get into any fights~!

Phil 

P.S. Be careful, fight is a noun and verb but argue is only a verb! The noun form is argument.

It's a fake!

Do you know what the word fake means?

It means it is not real. It is a copy. In Japanese, you would say: にせもの.

A: Do you like my Louis Vuitton bag?

B: Hmm, it's nice but I think it's a fake.

A: What?!?! I'll never buy online again!

You can also use fake as an adjective.

Guard: Tickets please.

Man: Here you go.

Guard: Sorry, sir. This is a fake ticket.

Man: Really? Stupid scalper...

A scalper is someone who illegally resells concert/sports/event tickets, usually for a lot more money on the day of the event.
Fake can also be used as a verb.

Kid: Mom, I can't go to school today. I'm sick.

Mom: I think you're faking! I know you have a big test today.

Kid: Who told you?

Mom: Your teacher called me last night.

Kid: ...OK I'll go to school...

-------

C: My leg, ouch~!

D: Stop faking! Whenever there's work to do you suddenly get hurt.

Any questions?

Phil

Leave vs. leave for

Today, I will talk about the difference between leave and leave for.

Leave

This focuses on departing somewhere.

He already left.

He left work early because his kid is sick.

On the other hand, leave for focuses on going somewhere-it focuses on the destination!

She left school.

It means she WAS at school but is not at school anymore.

She left for school.

This means she is GOING to school.

It's time to go to work.

It's time to leave for work.

Obviously, leave for sounds more formal than go to. Any questions?

Have a nice day!

Phil

He claims he works for Mr. Smith...

Hey everyone, today we're going to look at the difference between these two sentences:

He says it was an accident.

He claims it was an accident.

Do you know the difference in meaning between the two???

Don't worry you will! So when we report speech we can either use SAY or CLAIM.

Say is a neutral verb, and we use it to just report the information someone told us. It doesn't carry any sort of judgement of the information.

She said that she didn't break the vase.

Claim is used when we want to imply that we DON'T BELIEVE the speaker. We are highly skeptical about what we're told.

She claimed that she didn't break the vase. (but I don't believe her)

Any questions?

Phil

The temperature keeps yo-yoing...

Hey everyone, here's a super short lesson today about the verb:

to yo-yo

It is usually used in the following three different tenses.

~ing

The weather has been yo-yoing alot recently, it's driving me nuts~!

~ed

When I was a kid, my weight yo-yoed up and down.

~s

This movie's pace yo-yos alot. The story moves slowly, then fast, then slow, it's kind of annoying!

As you can see, it means that something goes up and down like a yo-yo. So it's used when talking about frequent changes.

Have a good week,

Phil

How long have you been studying English?

Today's lesson is about the Present Perfect continuous. We use it to talk about actions that started in the past and continued to the present. It is formed using:

has/have + been + present participle.

I have been walking all day.

He has been talking non-stop for 2 hours!


So you'll often hear it in a question like:


A: How long have you been living in Japan?

B: I have been living here for about 5 years.

The pronounciation in casual English is:

A: How long've you been living in Japan?

B: I've been living in Japan for about 5 years.

So 've sounds like OF.

I have -----> I've = Eye-of

long have ------> long've = long-of

BE Careful!

We can also use the present perfect which is:

has/have + past participle

I've lived in Japan for about 5 years.

These have about the same meaning. But to me, have been living seems more temporary whereas have lived seems more permanent-I don't have any plans to leave.

So, onto today's question:

A: How long've you guys been studying English?

B: I've been studying it OFF AND ON for 10 years.

C: I've been studying it SERIOUSLY for about 6 months.

Let's look at these two useful expressions:

OFF AND ON means you start something and then stop, then start again, etc.

They've been dating OFF AND ON for 3 years.

Meaning they date, they break up, they get back together, break up, date, etc.

SERIOUSLY means you are focusing on it, it's like 真面目に (まじめに ) in Japanese.

I've been thinking about that problem seriously and I think I have a solution.

Have a nice day,

Phil

What are you implying?

You will hear this often in crime dramas. Today, I will teach you about the verb:

to IMPLY

It means to STRONGLY hint at something. You don't say something directly, instead you drop many hints.

The teacher is implying I'm cheating! He doesn't believe I studied and passed the test on my own. What a jerk!

-------------------

A: Yesterday, you came over to play video games. When I got up this morning ,my new Monster Hunter 3 was missing...

B:What are you implying? Do you think I stole it???

A: Well, the game's gone...

B: You probably misplaced it or your brother took it. I can't believe you'd accuse me of stealing!!!

A: Hey calm down, I'm not accusing you of anything... yet. Let's look for the game and I'll text my brother to see if he took it.

As you can see, it's usually used in a negative way. Often when someone accuses you of something.

Have a good week, I hope to post 6-8 times this month.

Phil

Rinse vs. wash

Hey everyone, I just realized I haven't posted in awhile so I looked through my notes for lesson ideas and found this one about the difference between rinse and wash.

Do you know the difference?

Rinse

It means to wash lightly with water and NO SOAP. It also means to REMOVE SOAP by washing something lightly in water. In Japanese, it's 濯ぐ (すすぐ).

After swimming in the ocean, I always take a quick shower to rinse off the salt.

Shampoo bottle instructions:
1- Wet your hair.
2- Put the shampoo on your hair and massage your scalp(skin on your head).
3- Rinse
4- Repeat as needed.

Oh, one more thing! Remember, in Japanese Conditioner = Rinse in English and what we call Rinse, Japanese people say Conditioner! It is the opposite! So if you go abroad and want リンス ask for conditioner ^_-

Wash

This means to clean something USING SOAP or some other cleaning product like shampoo, laundry detergent, etc. In Japanese, it's 洗う (あらう).

Always wash your hands after using the restroom.

A: Where is your brother?
B: He's washing the car.

I wash my laundry once or twice a week.

If you don't stop using such bad words, I'll wash your mouth with soap!

Any questions? Enjoy your Monday off!

Phil

I'm gonna go mingle...

The other day I was at a party at work and told some students "I'm gonna go mingle" nobody knew what I was talking about so, here's a quick lesson about the verb:

to mingle

Have you heard this verb before? It is similar in meaning to mix but the most common usage these days is at parties or events when we want to say we will go around the room and talk to various people.

So the main meaning here is to move around and mix with a group of people. So it is a really useful word at parties.

Oh no, everyone is staying with their friends, no one is mingling~! This party is a disaster...

At business events, it is important to mingle to make new business contacts.

There's also a slightly different meaning with the phrasal verb:

to mingle in = to join a group and fit in

Bob's not really mingling in.

Meaning Bob is not fitting in with our group.

She mingled in to the department quickly!

Meaning she fit in quickly when she joined our department.

I hope you enjoyed this quick lesson, have a good weekend,

Phil

Do you like to cuddle?

OK here's one last quick lesson before I go on vacation. The other day I was teaching quite advanced students and they didn't know these verbs:

-to snuggle

-to cuddle

Do you know them? These are both warm, positive verbs often used when talking about getting comfortable or about being close to someone you love.

To snuggle means to lie or press closely together. It can also mean to curl up closely or comfortably. The second (weaker) meaning is one of hugging and holding someone closely to comfort them or to show your affection.

To cuddle, is very positive and is an expression full of love & affection. It has a strong meaning of hugging and holding in your arms. The second (weaker) meaning is to curl up closely or comfortably.

So as you can see these two verbs are really close and can pretty much be used interchangeably.

1- I like to cuddle up with a good book.

2- I like to snuggle up with a good book.

3- I like to curl up with a good book.

For me #1 and #3 sound the most natural, I wouldn't say #2 it sounds too cute so I guess women might be more likely to say it or people speaking a slightly different English dialect would use it.

My girlfriend likes to cuddle in bed, it keeps me from sleeping!

It was so cold yesterday, I snuggled into my blanket and didn't wanna get out of bed.

Alright that is it for now, I will post some videos from youtube over the break and try and post a few more lessons at the end of the month~!

Have a great summer vacation,

Phil

You have a terrible poker face.

Do you know this idiom? Today, we'll just have a quick idioms lesson. Enjoy!

A poker face is when someone's face doesn't show ANY emotion. It is used when someone lies to trick someone. In poker this is called BLUFFING. It is when you lie to trick people into thinking you have good cards and they decide to quit playing--which means you win~!

Jim has a terrible poker face, I always know when he's lying.

So the verb to bluff means to deceive someone, to trick them by using false confidence. You aren't good but you PRETEND to be good to get your opponent to quit.

A: If you don't stop, I'm gonna tell Mom!
B: You're bluffing! If you tell Mom you'll get in trouble too.
A: Try me! I swear I'm gonna tell Mom.
B: OK, OK, I'll stop.

Alright, that is it for now. I'll try to post one more lesson before I go on vacation, have a good weekend!

Phil

School house rocks, verbs

Hey everyone, here is a quick Saturday lesson of an educational video I used to watch on Saturday mornings as a kid. They teach all kinds of things about English as well as about US history, culture and legal system.

Anyways here is the video about VERBS, I think I will post some more of these during August when I am on vacation...



That is all for now, there will be a new lesson this Monday!

Phil

I've been meaning to...

Have you ever heard this before? This comes from the verb:

to mean to do

which means to intend to do. So it means to PLAN ON doing something. Because of this it is most often used in the PAST TENSE when you planned to do something but then didn't.

Teacher, I meant to do my homework but I forgot.

meaning

I planned on doing my homework, I intended to do it but I forgot.

Now when we use it with the present perfect progressive you get a structure you can use to talk about something you are planning to do but haven't had the time to do yet. Maybe you've been too busy, you forgot, or you have to do it but don't want to do it---basically, it is on your to do list BUT it's not crossed off(done) yet.

A: Ouch~!

B: Oops, sorry. I've been meaning to fix that.

A: You should!!! It's freaking dangerous, I almost broke my neck!!

B: Ok, ok I get it. I'll fix it tomorrow.

In this example, B is PROCRASTINATING. That means he is putting off doing something. Someone who always says they will do it later is a procrastinator~! In Japanese it would be 延び延び (のびのび) or 先延ばしにする (さきのばしにする).

So this structure "I've been meaning to ___________" is really useful.

I've been meaning to post on my blog more often but I don't have enough time.

Have a good week,

Phil

Have a nice fall, see you next trip~!

"Have a nice fall, see you next trip" is something bullies say when they stick out their legs and you hit it and then fall down. Today, we will be talking about a few verbs describing tripping and falling.

to stumble = this is when you miss your step and fall or ALMOST fall down, I think it gives the image of starting to fall but catching yourself before hitting the grown.

A: Did you see the figure skating yesterday?
B: Yeah, the guy finished his spin and stumbled~!

to trip = this is when you are walking and you catch your foot on something which makes you fall or almost fall down. The key thing when using this word is that you hit your foot on something...

A: Ouch~!
B: What happened?
A: I tripped on your shoes~! Don't leave them lying around.

This verb is also used when you put something in front of someone to MAKE THEM fall down, which is not very nice...

A: Heh heh heh
B: What?
A: I tied a rope to the bottom of the door to trip my brother~! he he
B: That's mean~!

to fall down = this is when you are walking, running or standing and then you go down to the ground.

A: How did you hurt yourself?
B: I fell down.
A: Be careful.

Ok that is it for now, have a good weekend,

Phil

Go & get...

Ok, today we will talk about the difference between go and get...

GO

This means LEAVE for somewhere. The focus is on departing a place.

work -----> home

What time do you go home?

I go home at 7pm.

Meaning I leave work at 7pm to start on my way home.

GET

This means to ARRIVE somewhere. The focus is on arriving.

work -----> home

What time do you get home?

I get home at 7:45pm.

Meaning I arrive at home at 7:45, so it takes me 45 minutes to travel from my office to my home.

I hope that helped explained the difference between the two~!

Have a nice day everyone and good luck in your studies,

Phil

Owww my aching back~~!

Hey everyone, time for a small lesson about the verb to ache. You can use this verb to talk about any body part that has a low level constant paint, meaning it does not hurt so much but it hurts for a long period of time.

My aching back~!

Aww man do my muscles ache! I shouldn't have worked out so much!

My legs ache, I guess I walked too much today.

BUT the verb to ache is also used to turn some words into nouns:

1 - stomachache

2 - headache

3 - backache

4 - earache

5 - toothache

These words are all NOUNS not verbs so you must use the verb HAVE with them.

I have a toothache maybe I should go see a dentist.

Yesterday, I had a reall bad stomachache so I couldn't go to school.

These are fairly standard uses of to ache, please do not try to make a new noun with other body parts as it will sound VERY strange~!

I have a legache! ----> DO NOT SAY THIS it is incorrect~!

My legs ache. ----> This is correct ^_^

Any ideas for my next lesson?

Phil