Full video

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hello to the pointers thank you for

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joining me again

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just a quick short video today because i

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want to explain

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three expressions that you can use to

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help you out of a sticky situation

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so to speak so those moments when you

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put your foot in it as it were and i

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think these expressions are really going

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to blow your mind

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if you will so yes i've just used

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the three expressions that i'm going to

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teach you so to speak

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as it were and if you will

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now these are expressions that we use in

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normal everyday english

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to emphasize that what we have just said

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is figurative

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it's not meant to be taken literally

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so often we use them with idiomatic

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expressions as i just have

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with a sticky situation put your foot in

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it

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and blow your mind but when you're in an

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exam

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situation in the speaking paper in

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particular

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you'll probably be nervous and you may

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find that you say something

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a little bit silly or inappropriate

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and using these expressions after you've

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you've said that

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inappropriate thing when you realize

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that moment you realize oh that's

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that's probably not the best thing to

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say then

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these expressions can tell the examiner

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that you're

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you you realize that it wasn't the best

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thing to say it wasn't really

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appropriate

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but you know let's move on okay so i'm

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gonna give you

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three more examples with each one they

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all basically have the same meaning

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and the same use so you can use them in

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each of the

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examples in the same way so the first

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example

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i can't live without my mobile phone

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it's my best friend

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so to speak okay so you're saying that

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the mobile phone is your best friend of

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course that's not literal

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but maybe it sounds a bit silly in the

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in the situation but just adding

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so to speak it makes it clear it's just

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a silly example

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okay the second example i have for you

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today is so much waste

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ends up in the oceans they've become the

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world's rubbish bin

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if you will okay so you're using a bit

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of a

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metaphor there you're calling the oceans

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of the planet

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a rubbish bin which yeah it's not a bad

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metaphor but you just want to emphasize

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that it's

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not literal it's just a figurative

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expression so if you will

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makes it clear to the to the examiner in

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this case

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okay one more example cars will be

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obsolete within the next 20 years

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they're on their last legs as it were

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okay so cars will be obsolete in the

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next 20 years

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that could be true or not but they're on

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their last legs

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that's a good idiom to use but with cars

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cars have wheels so it sounds a bit

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silly a bit strange

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it's okay but just using as it were

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really emphasizes that it's a figurative

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example

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okay so when you're in the exam

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situation when you're in the speaking

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part of the exam

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and you say something that's not quite

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right that you

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you kind of wish you hadn't said use one

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of these expressions and it signals to

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the examiner that you recognize

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that it's not quite right it can't save

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you from everything it's not an excuse

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for making

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uh vocabulary or grammar mistakes of

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course

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unfortunately there's no magic solution

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for that okay guys thank you for joining

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me and i'll see you

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very soon for another video okay bye