Today's story is B1 level with lots of B2 phrases added. This let's you improve little by little without getting lost because the text is too difficult to understand. I'm listing below the phrases I explain in the audio.

I also talk about ellipsis, which is where you omit words from a sentence in an "economy of words". We still understand the meaning - only the grammar is affected. Ellipsis is common in informal prose and speech. The examples are:
- Not a nice place, the street.
- No nice mat by the fire to sleep on either.
- Got to keep away from the police.

The expressions I talk about are:

B1 level.
take it easy
make a face
in case (of)
keep somebody waiting
be willing to do something
keep something a secret

B2 level.
taking everything into consideration
make your way
in actual fact / as a matter of fact
the look of somebody
be out of practice
be a disgrace
none of your business

Listen for these expressions and examples of ellipsis as you listen to the story.

You can see a better version of the painting which inspired my story at my website:
https://www.practisingenglish.com/podcast-182.htm

At https://www.practisingenglish.com/ I offer learners of intermediate-level English, grammar help and exercises and other English learning pages.
https://www.practisingenglish.com/

My latest novel for learners of B2 English is called The Tudor Conspiracy. You can see it on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/33Axu2N
https://amzn.to/33Axu2N

Be back soon with another podcast!
Mike Bilbrough (Secondary school English teacher and Doctor in English philology)