Podcast Inglês Online

Hello, everybody. Neste episódio, eu falo sobre a diferença entre as palavras do inglês early e soon. Se você não é ouvinte dos podcasts porque ainda não consegue compreendê-los, me escreva em analuiza @ inglesonline.com.br e diga se gostaria de uma lição aqui no blog sobre esse tópico!

Aqui, early aparece como advérbio

Hello, everybody. This is the new episode of the Inglesonline podcast. Please subscribe to this podcast using the Podcasts app for iPhone or iPad, or listen to the episodes using the Inglesonline Android app. Thanks for all the comments at the iTunes store and if you haven’t yet left a comment for this podcast please do so: the more comments for the Inglesonline podcast, the more people will find out about it and listen to the episodes. Thanks for telling your friends, your neighbours, your family and keep listening.

Let’s get right into it. Today I talk about common ways to use soon and early. Are they the same? Are they different? Stay with me and you’ll find out. Listen to this: I want to join a gym class, but it starts so early in the morning! I don’t think I can wake up that early. The gym class I’m talking about starts at 6AM. To me, that’s really early. What do you think? I’d have to wake up around 5: 20AM, which is so early in the morning. The problem is, I go to bed around midnight, which is kinda late. So, for me, to wake up so early would be a bit difficult.

Early is an adjective – most of the time – and we use it to talk about the first few hours, or the first few days, or the first few months… Or just some time near the beginning of a period. For example: if the morning officially starts at 6AM, then we can say 6:30 is pretty early in the morning. 7AM is early. 11AM is not early. We can say that the second day of January is early January. Classes will start in early January. That could be anywhere from the first to the tenth day of January, let’s say. Classes will start early in January. The 16th day is not early in January, but the 4th is. If someone tells you they’re going to buy a car in early 2016, they’re probably gonna do it in January, February or March. So, of course, January is earlier in 2015 than June. 7AM is earlier in the morning than 9AM. I had scheduled an appointment for 11AM on Wednesday, but my dentist rang me and asked if we could meet a bit earlier in the morning – earlier. Around 10:15, which is earlier than 11.

And how about  soon? Soon is an adverb, so it qualifies actions. If something happened too soon, that means the amount of time it took for that thing too happen was too short – in your opinion, of course. So that thing happened too soon. For example, you think your cousin and her fiancé got married too soon. They have only known each other for two months. That is too soon to get married, you think. By the way, they got married in early September – it was the fourth of September, and the wedding took place early in the morning. Yep, eight o’clock. So maybe something happened too soon. Maybe the car you just bought broke down as you were driving it to work – that is too soon for a new car to break down! And your neighbor, Mrs. Johnson, lost her husband a few months ago. You think she should start dating again and she says “It’s too soon.” Your friend John has been learning Japanese for two weeks and it is probably too soon for him to have a conversation with a Japanese person. It’s been only two weeks!

So let’s say your friend Angela says “We have to meet soon!” She means that you and her have to meet within a short amount of time – maybe in two or three days. It can’t take too long. Angela thinks you guys should meet soon. So two days after saying that, Angela gives you a call to organise a meetup. Why two days later? Because she wanted to meet with you soon. Probably as soon as possible. The sooner, the better. And you guys actually end up meeting late at night because you’re both so busy. However your meetup occurs only forty-eight hours after your initial contact – that is a very short amount of time. So it occurs very soon after your initial contact.

Picture this: your other friend Michael wants to see you. Today is the second of April, so you suggest to meet on April 25 at 8PM. However, Michael tells you that he’s going away on vacation on April 25. He says “Let’s meet sooner than that, and it has to be earlier in the evening. I have a knitting class every night at 8PM” So what is Michael saying? He’s saying that your meeting should be sooner than April 25. It should happen before April 25. And he wants to meet with you earlier in the evening. 8PM is a bit too late for him. It has to be earlier in the evening – maybe 6, maybe 7PM.

I hope this episode has helped to clarify the difference between early and soon. Let me know if that’s the case, and if you’d like additional posts about this topic here on the blog! Talk to you next time!

Key terms

Glossário

a meetup = um encontro

a knitting class = uma aula de tricô

Hey, all. Neste episódio, eu falo sobre dois idioms comuníssimos com a palavra story. Explico também o verbo to whine, que é usado para descrever alguém que está reclamando assim… meio choramingando.

Hey, all. This is the new episode of the Inglesonline podcast. Please subscribe to this podcast using the Podcasts app for iPhone or iPad, or listen to the episodes using the Inglesonline Android app. Thanks for all the comments at the iTunes store and if you haven’t yet left a comment for this podcast please do so: the more comments for the Inglesonline podcast, the more people will find out about it and listen to the episodes. Thanks for telling your friends, your neighbours, your family and keep listening.

Today we’re going to open our episode with an expression that you can use when you feel like whining about something. Whining – first of all, what does “whining” mean? To whine, w-h-i-n-e, means to complain, but… in sort of a childish way, in a bit of an annoying way. Can you picture that? Picture someone – maybe you – complaining in a way that reminds you of a spoiled or bratty child. Imagine that it’s an adult doing it. A good way to describe that would be “This guy or this woman is whining… about something.” In movies or TV shows it is common to hear someone say “Quit whining” when someone else is going on and on complaining about something.

So imagine your friend Mary is whining about how she bought a beautiful shirt last week, and today that same shirt went on sale! Twenty percent off. Mary says it’s the second time this has happened to her, and then you say “Oh, story of my life. Last year I bought three jackets at my favourite shop and the next week they were 40 percent off.”

So when you say “story of my life” what you’re saying is, that thing your friend just mentioned is something that is typical in your life. Of course, it’s usually an exaggeration – it’s not like that happens every day. It’s a way to sympathise with the other person, though… So we use it when we’re talking about something unfortunate. Let’s say you’re waiting in line to pay a bill at the bank and you start to chat with the person in front of you. You’re telling her it took you twenty minutes to find a parking spot for your car. She replies “Story of my life.” She’s saying the same thing happens with her all the time.

And check out this one: to make a long story short. You use this one when you’re telling someone what happened, for example, but you don’t wanna go through every single detail so you’re just going to give them the basic facts. A short, summarised version of the story. I’m not sure we have a similar expression in Brazil – what do you think? Maybe “Bom, pra resumir…” but I’m not a hundred percent sure. We sometimes say “pra resumir” when we’re reaching the final part of our story so it’s not really the same meaning.

Let’s say you bump into a colleague in the office – Mark. So you haven’t seen Mark in three days, which is highly unusual. You’re used to seeing Mark all the time when he comes to speak to your boss like, two or three times a day. So when you see Mark after three days, you say “Hey, Mark. Haven’t seen you in a while. What’s up?” And Mark goes “Long story short, this may be the last time I see you. I’m being transferred to our office overseas. Sorry, I have to go now but I’ll see you tonight at happy hour”. So Mark didn’t get into the details; he didn’t even really explain why he wasn’t in the office for three days. He just gave you the short version: he’s being transferred overseas so maybe today is the last time you guys see each other. He’ll probably tell you more at happy hour.

In my opinion, this idiom is very applicable in daily life. Very often, it is impossible to tell everyone you run into every single detail of what’s going on in your life. And, you may not want to be talking about the same thing again and again, especially when the details are not very pleasant. So, for example, someone broke into your home and stole your TV and some of your belongings. You keep running into new people who want to know what happened and, while you appreciate their concern, you don’t want to recount the same story a hundred times. So you just say “Oh, it was very upsetting but we’re alright. Long story short, we’re going to replace one of the windows and probably go shopping for a new TV on the weekend.”

What are your examples?  Has anything happened in your life recently and are you giving people the short version of the story? Please let us know in the comments, and talk to you next time!

Key terms

Glossário

bratty = mimada, que faz birra quando não tem o que quer

Hi, everyone. Neste episódio, eu falo sobre uma expressão que traduz perfeitamente aquelas nossas indagações do tipo É pra esperar aqui? É pra preencher a ficha? O que é pra fazer? Veja que nem sempre a gente diz É pra…?, que é português bem informal. Às vezes começamos a pergunta de maneira diferente, como O que eu tenho que…? ou Eu tenho que assinar aqui? Se você ainda não é muito familiarizado com o uso de supposed to, ouça bem esse episódio e os exemplos, e comece a reparar nessa expressão daqui por diante.

Hi, everyone. This is the new episode of the Inglesonline podcast. Please subscribe to this podcast using the Podcasts app for iPhone or iPad, or listen to the episodes using the Inglesonline Android app. Thanks for all the comments at the iTunes store and if you haven’t yet left a comment for this podcast please do so: the more comments for the Inglesonline podcast, the more people will find out about it and listen to the episodes. Thanks for telling your friends, your neighbours, your family and keep listening.

Everyone, I love talking about idioms that I don’t hear people use a lot. And by people, I don’t mean native speakers… I mean Inglês Online visitors and Brazilians in general who are learning English. There are so many little expressions and idioms that are insanely useful and pop up all the time in native conversation – and they are usually mentioned in an English lesson along with some examples and all you need to do for English school purposes is know how to use them on the test. Memorising will help you do well on the test, but it won’t really help you a lot with speaking with confidence and becoming progressively more fluent.

So I’m happy to present to you today the expression that you will use whenever you wanna say, in English obviously… stuff like “É pra gente esperar aqui?” and “O que que é pra gente fazer?” Now, granted. There’s more than one way of saying those. For many of the examples I’m gonna give, we could use ‘should’. That’s not the term I’m gonna focus on, though. I’m going to focus on supposed to with the meaning I just exemplified in Portuguese.

So listen to this: Are we supposed to wait here? That means – Is there an expectation that we wait here? Is that what we are expected to do? Do you expect us to wait here? Is that what we should do, according to the rules, or according to the process, or according to what you want…? Are we supposed to wait here? When you ask the question “Am I supposed to do this or that?”, you’re asking “What am I expected to do?” “What do you or other people expect me to do?”

So let’s imagine you’re a student and you go somewhere with a couple of your classmates to register for a national exam or something. You guys arrive at the place and see a reception desk. The receptionist looks up, says “Good morning”, and looks down again. You look at one of your classmates and ask “Are we supposed to wait here?” but he doesn’t know. He doesn’t know what the three of you are supposed to do. What are you expected to do? Walk up to the receptionist and speak to her? Take the elevator to the second floor, maybe? No one knows. So finally you decide to walk up to the reception desk and say “Good morning. I’m here to register for the exam. I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to do first.” And the receptionist explains that she’s just put in a call for the exam representative who will be with you in a minute.

“What am I supposed to do?” is something people say a lot when things don’t go the way they expected. You will hear it in movies and TV shows very often, when there’s a couple – boyfriend and girlfriend, for example, and one of them suddenly has to go away for a long time. The other one will say “What am I supposed to do without you?” That means, I will be so lost without you, I won’t even know what to do next. How will I live my life? What should I do if you’re not here? What am I supposed to do if you leave? Just wait here? Just be on my own? I don’t know what I’m supposed to do!

Let’s say your favourite TV show, Fantástico, which used to be on every Sunday night, has just been canceled. You say to your friend Fantástico has just been canceled – what am I supposed to do with my Sunday nights now? Let’s say your boss said she would text you by 5 o’clock with instructions on how to finalize a very important report that is due by 6 o’clock the same day. It’s now 5:50 and she has not texted you yet! You call your colleague and say “The report is due in 10 minutes and she hasn’t contacted me with instructions! What am I supposed to do?” And how about this one: on your third day on your new job, your supervisor calls you a for quick meeting and says “When you come in every day you’re supposed to say good morning to everyone in the office and you haven’t been doing that!”

What are your own examples?  Please let us know in the comments, and talk to you next time!

Key terms

Hello, all. Neste episódio, falo sobre usos muito comuns e corriqueiros da voz passiva no tempo passado na conversa em inglês de todo dia.

Hello, all. This is the new episode of the Inglesonline podcast. Please subscribe to this podcast using the Podcasts app for iPhone or iPad, or listen to the episodes using the Inglesonline Android app. Thanks for all the comments at the iTunes store and if you haven’t yet left a comment for this podcast please do so: the more comments for the Inglesonline podcast, the more people will find out about it and listen to the episodes. Thanks for telling your friends, your neighbors, your family and keep listening.

So today let’s take a look at these sentences: I was told to look for you. He was paid last week. I was given a phone number during my visit to that office. During our last meeting, it was said that profits are on the rise. What do all these sentences have in common? They use the passive voice, in the simple past.

The passive voice is useful to put the focus on the action, and sometimes on the person or object receiving the action. Notice that we’re not really interested in whoever did that action when we say I was told to look for you. Or It was said that profits are on the rise. Someone told me to look for you… but whoever that was, I don’t think it’s relevant to name that person right now so I’m saying that I was told to look for you. I can’t really remember who said that profits were on the rise during our last meeting, and who said it is not important anyway… So I’m going with It was said that profits are on the rise. This is very similar to what we do in Portuguese: “Disseram que os lucros estão crescendo.” “Me disseram pra eu te procurar.”

This structure is very, very common in everyday speech – particularly those kinds of examples I mentioned. So, obviously, you’ve got to use the past participle of verbs, such as told, paid and given. For this episode, I’m gonna focus on these verbs because they’re so common and I would like to see a lot more English learners using them in past passive form.

So here we go with the examples – and notice that since I’m using the simple past, all examples refer to a specific event in the past. So when I arrived at school, I was told the teacher was ill. And I was also told I should go home. At the theatre, last night, we were told our session had been canceled. When we arrived at the stadium, we were told we needed to show IDs.

My friend was paid two thousand a month in her first job. That man revealed that he was paid to sabotage our equipment. We were paid a lot of money to solve this problem and that’s what we’re going to do. That actress was paid three thousand pounds to promote our company.

How are you doing so far? Can you think of your own examples? Do you have a job? How much were you paid last month? What’s your example for “I was told to do this, I was told to do that” and where and when did that happen?

So let’s keep going: before I left the party, I was given a gift bag. We were given a hotel room that was so dirty we could not sleep in it. As soon as I joined the company, I was given the freedom to make any suggestions I wanted. You were given many opportunities to do the right thing but you failed to take them.

So – can you think of any examples from your life?  Please let us know in the comments, and talk to you next time!

Key terms

Glossary

on the rise = crescendo

ID = algum documento que comprove sua identidade

Olá! Tudo bem por aí?

Hoje vou te falar sobre uma palavrinha que eu escuto TODA HORA na conversa do dia a dia aqui na Inglaterra. E os americanos também a usam muito. Mas acho que foi preciso que eu estivesse in loco pra perceber de verdade como ela é comum. Nossa palavra hoje é THOUGH.

Clique no player abaixo para ouvir os exemplos ou fazer o download do áudio.

Though já foi assunto de dica aqui no site e o post do link é uma boa introdução – só que esse é um daqueles casos de palavra ou expressão de inglês que eu só ouço sair da boca de quem tem muita, muita vivência mesmo no inglês. Tipo, mora no exterior há anos e tem inglês fluente. Mas não precisa ser assim. Se precisasse, não haveria casos de pessoas que nunca nem saíram do seu país natal e mesmo assim falam inglês que nem americano. E esses casos existem, pois eu mesma conheço alguns exemplares. :-)

Então, o que vou fazer na dica de hoje é dar vários exemplos de como though é realmente usado na conversa do dia-a-dia. E, além disso, vou colocar um arquivo de áudio no fim da dica onde eu falo todos os exemplos, pra você baixar, colocar no seu player e mandar ver no listening!

Though é quase um apêndice no fim de muitas sentenças, apesar de ter sempre aquele sentido de “mas…” ou “no entanto”. Outra coisa que não costuma mudar é que, como acabei de mencionar, o though aparece no fim de um período (ou sentença).

Imagine essa situação: duas pessoas se conheceram online e vão se encontrar pela primeira vez, em pessoa. Uma delas diz “Só não sei se vou conseguir te reconhecer.”

Esse é um caso perfeito para o though: I don’t know if I’ll be able to spot you though.

Percebeu que o though não precisa necessariamente corresponder ao nosso MAS, ou NO ENTANTO? Ele pode corresponder também ao SÓ QUE, ou outras palavras/expressões que introduzam essa ideia “contraditória”, vamos dizer assim. Mas olha que interessante – ele aparece no fim da ideia. :-)

Quer ver alguns exemplos de coisas que diríamos no Brasil começando com “Mas…”, e que em inglês diríamos com Though? Repare que às vezes o “mas” ou “só que” fica implícito – a gente acaba nem falando, mas o sentido está lá. E com esse sentido, na minha experiência, o though aparece bem mais na fala que seus equivalentes brasileiros. Vamos lá:

Ih, mas acho que vai chover. I think it’s gonna rain though.

[Jane diz] “Vou levar essa camiseta” I’m taking this t-shirt.

Veja esse jeito muito, muito comum de usar though, quase como uma ênfase:

“Não aguento mais esse relacionamento. Tô cansada de brigar com meu namorado”. I can’t take this relationship anymore. I’m tired of fighting with my boyfriend.

“Tenho certeza que vai dar tudo certo.” I’m sure everything’s going to work out fine.

“Eu treinei a Cristina no que era pra fazer.” I coached Cristina on what to do.

E mais uma observação: realmente não é tão comum começar uma sentença com BUT. O exemplo que me vem à cabeça onde se faz isso é aquele de “protesto”:

I want you to pay for this.

You were supposed to meet me there.

You shouldn’t invite those people to our barbecues.

Repare que nos exemplos acima o BUT inicia uma forma de protesto, de defesa, etc. e soa mais dramático, vamos dizer assim, do que o though usado na conversa do dia-a-dia.

Não deixe de reparar no uso de THOUGH se você ouvir podcasts ou assistir séries e filmes!

Hey, everyone. Neste episódio, falo sobre dois idioms em inglês com a palavra chance.

Hey, everyone. This is the new episode of the Inglesonline podcast. Please subscribe to this podcast using the Podcasts app for iPhone or iPad, or listen to the episodes using the Inglesonline Android app. Thanks for all the comments at the iTunes store and if you haven’t yet left a comment for this podcast please do so: the more comments for the Inglesonline podcast, the more people will find out about it and listen to the episodes. Thanks for telling your friends, your neighbors, your family and keep listening.

So let’s get started today with a very simple and very useful expression that I don’t hear a lot when Brazilians speak English. So take a listen to this episode and start noticing every time you hear this term from here on out so you get used to it. I’m talking about the expression by chance. Have you heard it before? If you’re used to watching films or TV shows in English and paying attention to what is actually being said, chances are… you’ve heard “by chance” before.

“By chance” means accidentally; without planning. For example, I’m reading a book now that I found by chance at a used-books shop. I didn’t know I was gonna find it – it was a complete surprise. In fact, I wasn’t even looking for it. I’d tried to find this book before but quickly realized it was out of print. So one day I walked into a used-books shop just to check their stuff out and stumbled upon this book. I found it by chance.

Someone posted this on Twitter: “The best things in life don’t happen by chance; they happen because you worked for them.” What do you think? I think it depends. Some great things happen in our lives by chance (obviously, that’s true for bad things as well.) Some people are born into a great family, for example. Some people are born with great musical talent. Others are born with a gift for sports. All that happens by chance, right? Or does it? What do you think? Now, it’s true that you can achieve lots of amazing goals if you work hard for them. You can build a great career. You can become a specialist in something if you study hard. You can learn a second language! So those results won’t happen by chance, of course! Here’s what someone said: “My life experience has taught me that nothing happens by chance.” I guess it depends on your view of the world, or your beliefs.

So our second idiom for this episode is kind of a funny one. Here it goes: fat chance. Yep, fat chance. Fat chance this is gonna happen. You think your friend is going to lend you money? Fat chance… The expression “fat chance” is used in a sarcastic way. The word fat here is equivalent to large, or big or something like that. So it’s like you’re saying “Oh, really… There’s a great chance that this is going to happen.” Only you’re saying it in a sarcastic way so what you mean is… you guessed it, the opposite. What you think is that there’s actually no chance that that thing is gonna happen… And that’s where “fat chance” comes in.

Your friend says “Do you think I’m gonna win the lottery this week?” You say “Fat chance.” Mark thinks he’s getting a promotion next month. “Fat chance… He got hired just two weeks ago.” Do you think we can get cheap tickets for the next World Cup? Fat chance… Can we plan a one-month long vacation for twenty dollars? Fat chance.

So what are your examples? Where in your life would you use the idiom “by chance”? Please tell me about it in the comments and talk to you next time!

Key terms

Glossary

from here on out = daqui por diante

chances are = é provável que

Or does it? = Ou será que não?

Hi, all. Neste episódio, ouvimos expressões como “dinheiro não dá em árvore”  e “vê se cresce!” em inglês.

Hi, all. Here’s a new episode of the Inglesonline podcast. Please subscribe to this podcast using the Podcasts app for iPhone or iPad, or listen to the episodes using the Inglesonline Android app. Thanks for all the comments at the iTunes store and if you haven’t yet left a comment for this podcast please do so: the more comments for the Inglesonline podcast, the more people will find out about it and listen to the episodes. Thanks for telling your friends, your neighbors, your family and keep listening.

So I had planned to do an episode that kicked off with… kind of a saying in English, which would be equivalent to what we say in Brazil: “dinheiro não dá em árvore.” Here you go: in English we say money doesn’t grow on trees. There you go. Notice the verb grow. Money doesn’t grow on trees. Is that something that someone in your family used to say, or still does? I think one of my grandparents, probably my maternal grandfather, used to say that one. Money doesn’t grow on trees. Be careful with your spending, try to save some money or better yet – just open a savings account with a bank and make a deposit every month. Save some money for a rainy day… Why? Because money doesn’t grow on trees.

So after I remebered the saying “money doesn’t grow on trees”, I thought of another one with the word grow.  Let’s say your brother is into golf, and right in this moment he is watching a golf tournament on TV. He’s been following golf for a while. He knows everything about it. When you enter the room he doesn’t even notice – he’s completely focused on the scenes of the tournament. So you sit down and start watching it. Only, you couldn’t care less about golf, that’s the truth. You know very little about it because… you’re not, you’re just not interested. So you try to watch the tournament for a few minutes, but you find it so boring. Watching the golf tournament is like watching grass grow.

Now, don’t be offended if you like golf. You know different people like different things! Nowadays many of us seem to be addicted to action sports, action movies – so I’m sure some people will find golf boring because it’s a more slow-paced sport. In fact, I found this comment on Twitter: How do people watch golf? I’m sure watching grass grow is more exciting.

Can you think of a specific example of something you’ve done recently where you had to struggle to keep your eyes open, or pay attention to over a period of time? It could also be something that goes on in your life pretty regularly, like your commute to work or school. Maybe you’re super bored on that bus on your way to work. Commuting to work is like watching grass grow, you think. Actually, watching grass grow would be more exciting than being on that bus. For me, watching a film that’s heavy on the drama is like watching grass grow. Meaning, I find it very boring. That is my personal example. What’s yours?

And let’s wrap up this episode with one more cool term with grow. The expression, or phrasal verb, ‘grow up’ means to become mature, to become an adult. When you first meet someone and are having a chat with them, and you’re getting to know each other, that person may ask you “So where did you grow up?” But here’s a bit of a different use for grow up… It’s when someone is being childish or immature. When someone is being childish, it means that they’re behaving like a child when they shouldn’t be. So you can basically tell them to stop behaving like a child by saying “Oh, grow up!” Let’s say you met someone and you’re starting to like them, and you’ve confided in your best friend about it. Only now your friend can’t stop teasing you about it and telling you you’re gonna marry this girl. You finally tell him “Please grow up. I’m just getting to know her.”

Can you remember a specific situation where you told someone “Grow up!”? Please tell me about it in the comments – talk to you next time!

Key terms

Glossary

save for a rainy day = guarde (quase sempre, dinheiro) para uma situação de emergência

slow-paced = com um ritmo mais lento

commute = a viagem que você faz para o trabalho, escola, etc.

Hey, everybody. Neste episódio eu falo sobre duas expressões muito comuns no inglês – ambas com a palavra two.

Hey, everybody. Here’s a new episode of the Inglesonline podcast. Please subscribe to this podcast using the Podcasts app for iPhone or iPad, or listen to the episodes using the Inglesonline Android app. Thanks for all the comments at the iTunes store and if you haven’t yet left a comment for this podcast please do so: the more comments for the Inglesonline podcast, the more people will find out about it and listen to the episodes. Thanks for telling your friends, your neighbors, your family and keep listening.

So today I’ve got two terms for you, both of them with the word TWO. Here we go: have you ever heard anyone say that so-and-so is two-faced? Here’s the term again: two-faced. It’s an adjective, right? We say that Josh is two-faced, for instance. So when you say “Josh is two-faced”, what do you mean by that? What you’re saying is that you think Josh is hypocritical, insincere. A flat-out lier, maybe.

If you take this expression literally, it kinda makes sense. If someone is two-faced – that would literally mean that they have two faces. They’re capable of presenting two faces to the world, depending on the situation. Let’s go back to Josh. So let’s say Josh is an acquaintance of yours, and when he’s with you… he’s really nice. He actually goes out of his way to compliment you. Basically, you think Josh is a fan of yours. So it really surprises you when you find out that Josh has been badmouthing you. He’s been doing that behind your back, obviously. So that’s pretty much it: Josh is nice to your face, but once you’ve left the room… There’s Josh badmouthing you like there’s no tomorrow. Josh puts on a nice face when you’re around, and once you’ve left he puts on a different face – the face of someone who really doesn’t like you. Josh is two-faced. He is being two-faced in his treatment of you.

I guess that is something most people will have experienced in their lives. Most of us, at one time or another, have been disappointed to find out that someone we thought of as a friend was talking about us behind our back, or spreading lies even. So let us know about your experience with two-faced people in the comments. Has anyone ever accused YOU of being two-faced? C’mon, tell us everything!

And here’s the other interesting expression of today: two-timing. As in, “I think your boyfriend is two-timing you.” So what does that mean, exactly? That basically means that I think your boyfriend is being unfaithful, he’s cheating on you. “Two-timing” can be used in a more general context, when someone is being deceitful in general, but more often than not you’ll see it applied to relationships. I’ve found an online article titled “11 Signs That He is Two-Timing You.” So, of course, the article tries to tip you off to signs that suggest your boyfriend is two-timing you – in other words, that he is cheating on you.

The article says that one of the signs is a sudden change of behavior… For example, if your boyfriend all of a sudden becomes very sweet and starts buying you presents for no reason, watch out. Here’s another sign that your boyfriend may be two-timing you, according to the article: he suddenly has lots of work. All of a sudden, he’s got this giant workload and you can’t reach him. He calls less often and when you call him, two times out of three, he doesn’t pick up. So, watch out! That may be a sign that he is two-timing you.

So what is your opinion? Do you think those are signs that someone may be two-timing their boyfriend or girlfriend? What are the other signs that someone may be two-timing their partner? Please let me know in the comments – talk to you next time!

Key terms

two-faced

two-timing

Glossary

so-and-so = fulano de tal

a flat-out… = um ……. total

an acquaintance = um conhecido

goes out of his way to = faz até um esforço extra para

to badmouth someone = falar mal de alguém

someone we thought of as a friend = alguém que a gente considerava um amigo

behind your back = pelas suas costas

watch out = fique alerta

Hello, everyone. Não perca: neste episódio eu falo sobre uma estrutura comuníssima do inglês, cujo significado pode ser sintetizado em “realizar algo através de um certo comportamento ou ação”. OK, foi muito vaga essa definição – mas não se deixe enganar! Se você ainda não tiver ouvido esse tipo de estrutura por aí, depois desse podcast vai começar a percebê-la. It’s everywhere!

Hello, everyone. Here’s a new episode of the Inglesonline podcast. Please subscribe to this podcast using the Podcasts app for iPhone or iPad, or listen to the episodes using the Inglesonline Android app. Thanks for all the comments at the iTunes store and if you haven’t yet left a comment for this podcast please do so: the more comments for the Inglesonline podcast, the more people will find out about it and listen to the episodes. Thanks for telling your friends, your neighbors, your family and keep listening.

Today I’m gonna talk about a very interesting structure in English. It is very, very common not only in everyday conversation but also in news reports, lectures, TV, radio – basically you’ll hear it everywhere. Let’s start with an example: Billy talked his way into his new job. Listen again: Billy talked his way into his new job. What does that mean? Ok, so let’s break this down. Billy has a new job, right? That’s easy to get from that example. Now, the part that says… “Billy talked his way into…” – that means basically that Billy used his powers of persuasion to get his new job. He talked, he had a chat with someone or maybe two, three or more people, and through talking, he was successful in getting his new job. Billy is probably a persuasive guy.

Listen to this one: the killer talked his way into the victim’s home. There’s a killer; there’s a victim. And the killer got into the victim’s home. How did they do that? Through talking. They probably got to chatting with the victim and persuaded him or her to invite them in. The killer talked his way into the victim’s home. The killer used talking to achieve his or her goal.

And check this one out: a student lied his way into Harvard University. I’ve actually read this on the news. This is a guy who forged all the documents that are required to apply to Harvard University. He forged letters of recommendation, test results, transcripts, essays and so on. In other words, he lied, a lot. And using all the fake documents to apply, he actually was successful and got accepted by Harvard. This guy lied his way into Harvard. He got into Harvard through lying.

And here’s a popular one: Mary sang her way into our hearts. Mary is a singer, or at least she can sing. And what was the result of her singing? She got into our hearts. That’s a figure of speech, of course, and it means that we love her now. She’s in our hearts, we’re fond of her, we like her. And how did Mary accomplish that, so to speak? Through singing. Mary sang her way into our hearts. We probably saw her sing on a TV show, let’s say.

Now check this out: our boss appointed Tony to chair the next meeting, but Tony somehow talked his way out of it. So the boss said to Tony – you’re going to chair this meeting; you’re gonna be the leader or the facilitator for this meeting. And then what happened? Tony used his powers of persuasion and talked to his boss, and somehow got out of it. Tony talked his way out of it. What is “it”? Acting as the chair of the meeting, leading the meeting. My friend talked her way out of meeting with the company CEO next week. Mike’s father told him he had to stay in tonight and study… Mike somehow talked his way out of studying, and is going out tonight. Joanne wanted us all at the office party tonight, but Sandy talked her way out of it. Smart! What is “it”? The office party, or attending the office party. Sandy talked her way out of it.

So tell me – were you familiar with this structure before listening to this podcast? And please let us know in the comments how you talked your way into something or out of something. Talk to you next time!

Keywords

talk (one’s) way into (something)

lie (one’s) way into (something)

talk (one’s) way out of (something)

Glossary

forged = falsificou

transcripts = históricos escolares

essay = redação (ensaio)

figure of speech = figura de linguagem

to be fond of someone = gostar de alguém

chair a meeting = ser o líder, o condutor da reunião

Hi, all. No episódio de hoje, falo de como foi meu Natal no ano passado, e como será esse ano.

Hi, all. Here’s a new episode of the Inglesonline podcast. Please subscribe to this podcast using the Podcasts app for iPhone or iPad, or listen to the episodes using the Inglesonline Android app. Thanks for all the comments at the iTunes store and if you haven’t yet left a comment for this podcast please do so: the more comments for the Inglesonline podcast, the more people will find out about it and listen to the episodes. Thanks for telling your friends, your neighbors, your family and keep listening.

How are you doing? Ready for Christmas? What’s your Christmas going to be like? Are you going to be on your own or with family? I think in Brazil the overwhelming majority of people spend this holiday with their family. Even people who don’t like their family spend Christmas with their family. I think it is probably the same in every country where Christmas is a major holiday. Here in England, it’s all about Christmas now. I’m at a café and they’re playing Christmas songs. The adverts are all over, everywhere you look, and I hear from many people that they’re attending Christmas parties and lunches.

What’s your end-of-the-year ritual, so to speak…? Do you have to join Secret Santa in the office? Is there an office party that you, well, have to attend? Back when I had an office job, there was always a little party at the end of the year. I remember I was never too excited about it because it was… in the office, which was a downer for me, and the food was usually not that great either.

Last year was my first Christmas after moving to London and I almost spent it completely on my own, which to me, to be honest, is not that big a deal. Someone had told me that London would be completely empty around Christmas, which is, of course, an exaggeration, but in early December last year I began to realize that everyone I knew was going away. Some were going back to their home countries, some had simply booked a vacation during the holidays and so on.

In the end, a few days before Christmas, I came across a cheap plane ticket to Brazil and ended up buying it and spending about six days in my home country. This year I’m going to a friend’s house. She lives outside of London so I’ll have to hop on a train to get there. And check this out: there’s no train service connecting her city to London on Christmas day, or on the next day, the 26th! I was kinda surprised to see that. That means I’m coming back home only on the 27th.

So I’ve done my Christmas shopping: a few presents, and then wrapping paper, gift tags and ribbon. And a nice pecan tart to take to my friend’s. It’s the twenty-third today and the streets aren’t as busy now as they have been for most of the year. Whatever the case may be for you, I wish you a great end of the year :) but here’s what I wish you the most: huge progress in your English learning! If you’re taking a few days off over the holidays, slowing down a bit – why not take the opportunity to have another look at your favorite Inglês Online tips?

Let me know what your Christmas plans are, and talk to you next time!

Glossary

the overwhelming majority = a enorme maioria

so to speak = por assim dizer

Secret Santa = amigo secreto

a downer = algo que te desanima, deprime

not that big a deal = nada demais

ribbon = fita para embrulhar presente

to my friend’s = para a casa da minha amiga