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! 👉 Learn more inside the 600+ Confusing Words Explained E-Book: https://www.espressoenglish.net/600-confusing-english-words-explained/

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: 6 monthly payments of $49.50 each You'll get INSTANT ACCESS to the Complete Program (all 600+ lessons) when you make the first payment, and then the other monthly payments will happen automatically. When all the payments are finished, then you won't need to pay anything more - and you'll keep your permanent access to the Complete Program. There's no time limit :-) This is a great way to take advantage of the 50% discount... and still "spread out" the payments over time!

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. 👉 Learn more inside the Everyday English Speaking Course: https://www.espressoenglish.net/everyday-english-speaking-course/

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! 👉 Learn more inside the Phrasal Verbs in Conversation Course: https://www.espressoenglish.net/phrasal-verbs-intensive-course/

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. 👉 Learn more inside the Everyday English Speaking Course: https://www.espressoenglish.net/everyday-english-speaking-course/

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. 👉 Learn more inside the Business English Course: http://www.espressoenglish.net/business-english-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! 👉 Learn more inside the Pronunciation Course: http://www.espressoenglish.net/american-english-pronunciation-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. 👉 Learn more inside the 300+ Idioms Course: https://www.espressoenglish.net/english-idioms-course

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 correctly!

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.

Does this ever happen to you? You study and study and learn lots of new vocabulary... ...but then when you want to use it, you can't think of the words! How can you make sure you don't forget the vocabulary you're learning? Here's one simple thing you can start doing today to remember vocabulary better! Improving your vocabulary can take a long time because there are SO MANY words to learn in the English language. You can accelerate the process by joining my Vocabulary Builder Courses! - https://www.espressoenglish.net/vocabulary-builder-course There are two levels, and you'll learn 1,000+ words inside each one. It's a fast, focused way to expand your vocabulary quickly.

I always ask new students what their biggest difficulty is in English... ...and the #1 difficulty is speaking. Many, many English learners have a really hard time with it! So today I'm sending you my top 10 strategies for improving your speaking. Check them out and make sure to put them into practice! Now you know HOW to improve your speaking... ...but how can you learn exactly WHAT to say? You can learn tons of useful phrases and expressions inside my Everyday English Speaking Courses! These courses are designed to improve your speaking fast by teaching you what native English speakers say in daily life. When you know what to say, then you can speak more confidently. I hope to see you inside Everyday English Speaking :-) ⭐ Everyday English Speaking Course: https://www.espressoenglish.net/everyday-english-speaking-course

Today I wanted to clarify the difference between the words CON-tent, con-TENT, and contents, since it can be really hard to figure out. The English language is full of words like these, and I’ve collected a lot of them inside my e-book, 600+ Confusing English words Explained. Like the title says, the e-book will explain them to you so that you’ll understand when to use one word and when to use the other one. So you don’t have to be confused, instead you can use those words confidently! ⭐ 600+ Confusing Words Explained E-Book: https://www.espressoenglish.net/600-confusing-english-words-explained

Chance can mean a possibility (which could be good or bad) or an opportunity (which has a more positive connotation) and we use it in combination with lots of other words. Let's learn 30 collocations with CHANCE. These are all words that go together naturally with the word chance. When you learn these common combinations of words, then it’s easier to put them together so that your speaking sounds natural (and not a little "strange.") Come get your copy of the 1000 collocations e-book to learn even more! This is one of our most popular e-books because the lessons are really quick, so it’s easy to make progress fast. ⭐ 1000 Collocations E-Book: https://www.espressoenglish.net/1000-english-collocations-in-10-minutes-a-day/

Today we’re going to focus on how to use two small but very common words in English – even and ever. I'll show you how to use them correctly, with lots of examples. It’s important to be able to use these words correctly so that your grammar sounds good and you can avoid mistakes. I know a lot of you are worried about mistakes or nervous about making them, and that’s why I created a course on 200 common errors in English. You can check to see if you’ve been making any of the mistakes in there... ...and more importantly, the course will help you fix them and say things the right way, so you can speak and write more confidently! ⭐ 200 Common Errors in English Course: https://www.espressoenglish.net/200-common-errors-in-english-course/

You probably know that an English word ends in -E, the -E is usually silent; we don’t pronounce it - like in the words date, cheese, fine, spoke, and rude. But there are a few exceptions! Many of these words came into English from other languages and so they don’t follow the typical trend of a silent E at the end. Repeat after me to learn 12 words in which we DO pronounce the final -E. I know that English pronunciation can be SO confusing with all these exceptions to the rules! If you want to improve your pronunciation fast, come join my American English Pronunciation Course. Inside it, we’ll do lots of practice so that you can master the sounds of the language and say them clearly. And when you can pronounce things clearly, you’ll be able to speak English more confidently. I hope you’ve enjoyed today's lesson and learned something new!

Do you want to learn more than 1000 advanced vocabulary words, so you can speak and write like a master of the English language? Keep listening, because this course is for you. ⭐ Advanced Vocabulary & Collocations Course: https://www.espressoenglish.net/advanced-vocabulary-and-collocations-course/ ✔️ Save $15 with discount code ROCKET If you’ve been studying English for a while, then you already have enough English to communicate. Your English is fine for most situations… but you might feel like your vocabulary is just a little too “simple.” You want to express yourself more fluently, without using the same basic words over and over. Maybe you’ve tried reading a lot to build your vocabulary, but progress is slow. You might read a whole article and only learn a couple new words. And most English-learning apps and online lessons are too easy for you because they teach words you already know. What if you could learn 1,000 advanced words in the next few weeks – by studying just a few minutes a day? You can do that inside our Advanced Vocabulary & Collocations course, which will teach you sophisticated vocabulary for speaking English at a high level. It’s Time To Take Your Vocabulary From “Average” To Amazing. This brand-new course starts on April 16, 2021, and if you register right now, you can save $15 by using discount code ROCKET. The Advanced Vocabulary & Collocations Course Will Help You: ✔️ Build your vocabulary with advanced words ✔️ Put words together naturally (the same way a native speaker would) ✔️ Practice your new vocabulary so you’ll actually remember it ✔️ Sound more intelligent and well-educated in English This course includes 45 lessons in video + audio + text formats You’ll receive a daily lesson for 45 days beginning April 16! Each lesson includes a quiz to help you practice and review your new vocabulary. And there’s also the option get feedback from a teacher on your writing – if you choose the version of the course that includes extra writing exercises, then you can send in your answers to get personalized feedback and correction from a teacher on the Espresso English team! Are you ready to advance your vocabulary to a higher level? Join the Advanced Vocabulary & Collocations Course and learn 1,000+ high-level words FAST! Remember, use discount code ROCKET to get $15 off the course when you register today. ⭐️ https://www.espressoenglish.net/advanced-vocabulary-and-collocations-course/

I hope you’re ready to learn some awesome words! You don’t want to use the same basic English words over and over... instead, you want to use interesting and powerful words to express yourself better. Today I'll teach you 20 verbs that will supercharge your vocabulary. That’s actually a good example – I could say “improve your vocabulary” or “expand your vocabulary” but the word “supercharge” is so much more descriptive; it creates a mental picture of getting a huge boost in vocabulary power! If you like this lesson, then you’ll probably love Level 2 of my Vocabulary Builder Course, where you'll learn 1,000+ words that will really enrich your vocabulary. Every lesson inside the course includes ways for you to practice - quizzes and short-answer questions to help you use these new words yourself. Come join if you’d like to supercharge your vocabulary even more!

One HUGE step towards fluency is learning how to think directly in English. This will help you speak with fewer pauses and express yourself better! But many students say... “It’s too hard! “I don’t know enough English words!” “I need to think in my native language and translate.” "I'm not advanced enough to do that." Today I'm going to show you 4 simple steps to help you develop the skill of thinking in English, without translating from your native language. If you practice these steps, you will succeed and you'll see a big improvement in your English :-)   I hope you can see that you don’t need to be super advanced to learn to think in English – you can start today. Try one of the four steps this week. Thinking in English is a very important skill for fluency, but you’ll need a lot of other skills, too – like a strong vocabulary, clear pronunciation, listening comprehension, and the ability to understand common phrasal verbs and idioms in English. You can improve all your skills inside our courses at Espresso English, because we have courses that focus on each specific area of the language! Not sure which course is right for you? Here are two ways to find out: Take the quick "course finder" quiz Try free sample lessons from all our courses Wishing you the best in your English learning!

Do you know the difference between “making trouble” and “taking the trouble”? What about “having fun” and “making fun”? Today I’m going to clarify 20 confusing collocations with the words do, have, make, and take. The meaning often changes depending on which verb is used. If you want to remember these collocations better, I’d encourage you to try writing your own example sentences using each one – this will help establish the differences in your memory. You can learn even more with my e-book, 1000 Collocations in 10 Minutes a Day. It’s full of quick lessons and quizzes that will teach you tons of common collocations, so that you can expand your vocabulary and be able to express yourself better in English – and also avoid mistakes with collocations, avoid putting words together in a way that sounds unnatural. I believe this is actually my most popular e-book; everyone loves how easy it is to complete the lessons! Thanks for watching and I’ll talk to you next time :-)

Welcome to the final lesson in our pronunciation power-up mini-course! So far we’ve practiced 200 English words for jobs, food/drink, countries, and brand names – and I’ve saved the best for last. The theme of today’s lesson is difficult words to pronounce, so I’ve selected 50 of the words that English learners often find hard to say. If you’re serious about improving your pronunciation and you want to practice more with me, you can join my American English Pronunciation Course, which will help you speak English more clearly and confidently. Are you ready to try these difficult words? Let's jump in - listen and repeat! If you’ve made it to the end of this list, great job! Those words aren’t easy. A lot of students ask me, “How can I know if I’m pronouncing a word correctly or not?” and I always encourage you to check an online audio dictionary. For example, if you look up a word in thefreedictionary.com, you can click on these audio icons to hear the American pronunciation and the British pronunciation. Whenever you learn a new word – or if you’re just not sure how exactly to say any word – go to an audio dictionary, listen, and repeat. You want to get into the habit of using the correct pronunciation so that you don’t have to try to fix problems later. Another great way to evaluate your pronunciation is to get feedback from an English teacher or a native English speaker – someone who can tell you exactly what you’re doing well, and exactly what you need to change or improve. When you join our American English Pronunciation Course, you actually get a pronunciation evaluation included with the course! At the end of the course, you can send in two audio recordings of yourself speaking English, and a teacher on our team will listen to you and then send you detailed comments and any corrections on your pronunciation. Some teachers or schools charge around $100 just for a personalized evaluation like this, but you’ll get one included right inside the American English Pronunciation Course when you join. Don’t miss the opportunity! Thank you so much for joining me in this mini-course :-) I hope you’ve enjoyed this pronunciation practice - and just remember, your pronunciation training shouldn’t end here. Keep doing a little bit every day, and those small exercises, over time, will add up to a big improvement in your pronunciation and confidence.

Hi! It's day 4 of our Pronunciation Power-Up Mini-Course, and today's theme is brand names. Nowadays a lot of brands and companies are really big and well-known – so we’re going to practice pronouncing 50 of the biggest and most famous brand names. Remember, in your native language, you might pronounce these exact same names differently – because of the different pronunciation rules of your language. But when you’re in a conversation with an English speaker, you’ll want to modify your pronunciation and say these brand names the same way native English speakers would say them. All right, get ready to practice repeating after me – 50 brand names in English.   Thanks for practicing with me! Tomorrow is the final day of our mini-course, but if you want to continue training and improving your pronunciation, make sure to check out my American English Pronunciation Course, which has 30 lessons to help you even more. Inside it, you’ll practice all the sounds of the language – both in individual words and in sentences. I’ll give you tips to avoid pronunciation mistakes. We also cover linking words together and speaking with the right intonation, so that you can sound more natural when you speak English. If you want to see the lesson list for the American English Pronunciation Course, just click here see the topics you’ll learn and practice inside it. OK, I’ll say goodbye for now, and I hope to see you tomorrow for the last lesson in this mini-course – it’s a really good one. Take care!

Welcome to day 3 of our pronunciation power-up mini-course! Today we’re going to practice pronouncing the names of 50 countries in the world. Some of these might be similar to how they’re said in your native language, but others will NOT be the same, so pay close attention to any small pronunciation differences from what you might be used to. I really wish I could do ALL the countries in the world, but unfortunately we don’t have time in this short video – so I just took the top 50 countries by population size. Listen and repeat so you can practice saying these countries’ names in English. One of my favorite things about teaching at Espresso English is that I have students from all over the world. And I know you’re all working hard on your English! I wanted to clear up one question about my American English Pronunciation Course. Someone asked, “Will this course give me an American accent?” But the problem is, that’s the wrong question to ask. The reason it’s called the American English Pronunciation Course is that it’s from an American English perspective, because that’s what I speak. But don’t make the mistake of thinking you MUST sound EXACTLY like an American in order to be fluent in English. The truth is, there are many different accents of English, and this is one of the things that makes global English so beautiful – so your English is not “bad” just because you might have a foreign accent. Instead, the goal you should aim for is speaking English CLEARLY so that your pronunciation doesn’t cause any misunderstandings or miscommunication. You want other people to understand you easily when you talk. Do you see the difference? You don’t have to speak exactly like an American, but you do have to speak clearly and understandably – and that’s what my course will help you achieve. Remember, keep training your pronunciation! Don’t give up! If you practice persistently, you WILL make great progress towards nice, clear pronunciation. That’s all for now – I’ll talk to you in the next lesson.

Hi everyone! It’s day 2 of our pronunciation power-up mini-course, and today we’ll be practicing 50 words for food and drink. Remember - in order to get the most benefit out of these lessons, you need to actually SAY the words yourself. Don’t just watch... speak! Actually, if you want to challenge yourself even more, try listening and repeating with your eyes closed. Why? Because sometimes it’s actually better for you to use ONLY your ears, and NOT your eyes. In English, the way a word is written often doesn’t seem to match the way it’s pronounced. So seeing the word can sometimes lead you in the wrong direction, because you think or assume it’s pronounced one way, but in fact it sounds different. OK? So maybe try this video once with your eyes open, and then once with your eyes closed. Ready to pronounce 50 food and drink words? Repeat after me! One final thing I want to remind you is that practicing your pronunciation is like doing exercise at the gym – you don’t go to the gym once or twice and then suddenly you have a perfect body! Instead you need to exercise consistently, do some training every day. It’s the same way with pronunciation, because you’re re-training your mouth and lips and tongue to change the habits you have from your native language and pronounce words in English. This re-training takes time and consistent practice. I can help you practice more inside my American English Pronunciation Course, and when you join, there’s no time limit on your access. It doesn’t expire. So you can keep using the videos to practice over and over, for as long as you want. Click here to take a free sample lesson from the course! Thank you for practicing with me today, and I’ll see you in tomorrow’s lesson.

Hello and welcome to our Pronunciation Power-Up Mini-Course!   We’re going to practice pronouncing 50 words a day for 5 days - a total of 250 words. This will give you a quick boost in your pronunciation.   The #1 most important thing is for you to PARTICIPATE in these lessons by listening and repeating the words aloud. There's space in the video for you to say each word immediately after I do. Try to pronounce it exactly the way I did. When you do this, you’re training your mouth to say each word correctly. Each day of the mini-course will have a theme, and today's theme is jobs - so we’re going to practice saying 50 common job titles.   Those were 50 words for common professions, and now you know how to pronounce each one like a native English speaker. If you want to continue training your pronunciation with me, I have an American English Pronunciation Course that will teach you all the sounds of the language. In that course we focus on the sounds themselves, like the difference between seat and sit, or pool and pull, or they and day. You'll improve your pronunciation fast by repeating words and sentences after me. I hope you found today’s pronunciation practice helpful - make sure to tune in tomorrow for the next pronunciation power-up lesson.

Next week I'm giving a FREE mini-course called "Pronunciation Power-Up!" In video games, a "power-up" is something that increases your skills quickly - and that's what we're going to do with your pronunciation  :-) This 5-day mini-course will help you practice 250 words so you can pronounce them correctly and confidently. The mini-course will run from March 1-5. To get the lessons, just register (again, it's free!) by visiting EspressoEnglish.net/minicourse and entering your e-mail address. Or keep listening because the episodes will be published on this podcast :-)

When should you use the word drank and when should you use the word drunk? They are pronounced differently AND used differently! Today you'll learn how to use drank & drunk correctly. To learn more about confusing English words - how to understand them clearly and use them correctly - get my e-book called 600+ Confusing English Words Explained. It covers TONS of words that are often mixed up by English learners. I'll explain these words to you and include examples to make them perfectly clear!

Learn 16 American English slang words and expressions about food and drink!  Read the slang words and example sentences, listen to the pronunciation and repeat the words and sentences out loud to improve your English speaking. At the end of the lesson, try the quiz to test your understanding of these American slang words. Learn slang & informal English easily with our e-book.

Some English phrasal verbs are easy to understand, like "give away" or "wake up." But others are hard to figure out - like beef up, fawn over, and wipe out! What do these phrasal verbs mean??? Let's have fun today by learning 10 interesting phrasal verbs! The problem with English textbooks is that they often teach you only the "basic" phrasal verbs like wake up, turn off, and get out - but there are thousands and thousands of interesting phrasal verbs in English, as you can see from this lesson! Examples are very important because they show you the situations in which you can use the phrasal verb. If you study only a list of phrasal verbs and definitions, without seeing the context, it will be harder to remember and easier to make mistakes. That's why I teach phrasal verbs inside dialogues in the Phrasal Verbs in Conversation Course! This makes it more fun to learn them, and you can see exactly how to use each one in context - so you can use them in your English, too.

Do you feel like you keep forgetting what you learn in English? Maybe you study words and phrases and grammar… but then it doesn’t stick in your mind, and you can’t seem to remember things when you need to use them. So what can you do about this problem? How can you actually remember what you learn, so that it becomes part of your English and you can use it confidently? I do have some tips to help you review and remember English more effectively - so you can grow and expand your skills! I can also help you further when you join my courses. The lessons inside are quick, so it’s easy to do them every day – and many of them also have quizzes and exercises that can help you practice and review. Also, when you’re following a course, you can just take the lessons in order instead of constantly looking around the internet for something new to learn.

Today we’re going to talk about the differences between the words review and revise. They’re used slightly differently in American English vs. British English. But by the end of the lesson you’ll understand clearly when to use each one. There are so many confusing words like this in the English language, and that’s why I wrote a book about them – it’s called 600+ Confusing English Words Explained. Everything in it comes from questions asked by students like you. So if you have a question about a pair of confusing words, you’ll likely find the answer inside!

Sometimes students write to me and say “I need to learn English FAST.” Maybe they have a deadline, like “I’m starting a new job or taking a test two months from now, so I need to be fluent by then” or maybe they just don’t want to waste time; they want to reach their goal of fluency as quickly as possible. Is it possible to reach fluency fast? And how can you do it? I’m going to explain my opinion and give you some tips in today’s lesson. Now go put these 5 tips into practice! I’d love to hear if you try some of these things and they help you - so please let me know how it goes. Our courses at Espresso English can help you learn faster and in an efficient way. More than 10,000 students have benefited from these courses, and I hope you will, too!

What’s the difference between homework and housework? These two words seem practically identical, but they actually have separate meanings and uses. I’ll explain in today’s lesson, so that you can be sure to use the right word. And at the end I’ll also tell you about a common mistake that English learners often make with homework and housework. Now you know the difference between homework and housework – and remember, doing homework is really important for reviewing and practicing what you learn!   A lot of our courses at Espresso English include homework. Sometimes that’s a quiz so you can test yourself on the lesson, and sometimes the homework is a writing task or speaking task where you can send your answers to our teaching team and get feedback.   Our students often find this the most valuable part of our courses, because then you’re not just watching or reading or listening to me in English, but you’re also using English yourself. It really makes a difference in helping you remember better!

If you want to make your English sound more natural, more like a native speaker, then pay close attention to today’s lesson. I’m going to teach you five phrases that English learners often use, but that native English speakers would never say – either because they’re incorrect or because these phrases just don’t sound natural. Remember – I don’t want you feel BAD about these mistakes; I want to help you learn from them instead! As you can see from these examples, these are NOT major, serious mistakes. They won’t cause communication problems; however, they do make your English sound a little strange, and they make it obvious you’re not a native speaker. So if your goal is to be fluent in English, then you should continually check for these small problems and fix them so that you can sound more natural. Of course, it can be hard to check for your own mistakes... and that’s why it’s nice to join a course where you can get some correction and some feedback from a teacher and native speaker. A number of our courses have this feature - learn more here!

There are two phrases I hear many students say: "My English is terrible." "Sorry for my BAD English." Have you ever said these things? Be careful, because these two phrases are dangerous to your English learning! Listen to today's lesson to find out why you SHOULDN'T say these phrases... and what you SHOULD say instead.   I want to see you both succeed in learning English AND enjoy the process of learning! Another thing that can help you improve your skills and feel confident about your progress is joining a course at Espresso English. The lessons inside our courses are organized and teach you step by step to help you make real progress. Thanks for watching, and remember – your English is not “bad.” It’s simply a work in progress, and that progress should be celebrated :-)

Today you’ll learn some common English words that are often misused because they are so similar. The only difference between them is a space, or one letter. The context of the sentences will help you understand how to know whether to use one word or two. Already vs. all ready Sometime vs. some time Anyway vs. any way Everyday vs. every day Everyone vs. every one Apart vs. a part Altogether vs. All together Learn more inside the 600+ Confusing English Words Explained E-Book!

During this month of December, we have some holidays… and during holidays, many people give gifts to each other. So I thought it would be a good time to learn 25 collocations with GIVE! We’re going to start with some simpler ones and then learn some more that might not be so obvious, or might not mean what you think. Studying collocations is wonderful for learning how to put words together naturally. You can learn collocations fast inside my e-book, 1000 collocations in 10 minutes a day. Each lesson is full of useful expressions, and it’s really quick to read the lesson and then take the quiz to practice. I hope you’ve enjoyed this lesson full of expressions with “give,” and I hope you have a wonderful rest of the year!

Native English speakers use a lot of informal expressions in day-to-day life! Lately, I’ve been paying attention to my own conversations – and today I’ll teach you 10 English expressions I’ve used in recent situations. It's much easier to learn and remember phrases when you can see them in context. But if you don't live in an English-speaking country, where can you find conversations to learn from? You can listen to podcasts and interviews, but they don't explain the expressions you might not know. In my Everyday English Speaking Course, you'll listen to short conversations and then learn the phrases frequently used by native speakers!

Today I'm going to give you some tips for pronouncing "world" - a lot of students find this very difficult. We'll also practice work and word, since these are two more that English learners have a hard time pronouncing clearly and correctly. Remember, you CAN master these difficult words with practice! If you want to be fluent in English, your pronunciation doesn't have to be "perfect" (there's really no such thing as perfect pronunciation) - but it does need to be CLEAR so that other people can understand you. I can help you get that nice, clear, confident pronunciation in my Pronunciation & Shadowing Courses. The lessons inside will help you practice and improve fast.