Carpentry || fixing and building

Here are five important phrases you probably don't know, but should!

1. off the grid
   Heard of this one? The "grid" refers to the power grid (like grid paper), or where electric power is connected and available. Most people live in places connected to power, like cities. But some people like off the grid in nature, so they must produce their own power if they want it.
   You can also use this when you want to talk about getting away from life, people or work for a while, even if you only mean turning off your phone for a few hours.

"Many celebrities try to get off the grid from time to time just to be alone."

1. to eat your lunch
   There's the normal meaning of this, which is to have a midday meal. But the idiomatic meaning is to be injured badly or defeated, like if one company badly beats another in the marketplace.
   "Get too close to that saw and it'll eat your lunch."

2. to do someone a solid
   This is a conversational way of describing a favor, or help you give.
   "A friend did me a solid when he convinced his boss to give me a job."

3. to work out the kinks

A kink is something that's folded over or twisted, like long hair can become if its not brushed. So brushing hair "works out" or removes the kinks from hair to make it nice again.
Similarly, many new things have kinks, or small problems that need to be solved. A new product launch might have a few kinks that need to be worked out, like software having a few bugs that need to be fixed after release.
"I'm still working out the kinks at my new job, but I think my boss likes me."

1. How much did it run you?
   This is a more native and conversational way to ask about the price of something, especially when you guess something is expensive. So, rather than asking a friend how much something cost, try asking how much it ran them and see if they're impressed!
   "That new car looks AMAZING! How much did it run you?

There are actually over 400 useful words and phrases covered in the lesson set this conversation comes from...

And you can see them ALL by downloading the FREE vocabulary guide linked below.

FREE vocabulary guide linked

Of course, between the first step of exploring the vocabulary and the final step of watching the conversation lies the real key to developing understanding and fluency...

It's because the conversational speech of natives can be so fast, hard to understand and full of odd vocabulary that many learners struggle when watching movies, TV shows and when speaking with natives.

And this is why you need the steps between the vocabulary and the conversation to make everything simple and clear.