How to Speak English Fluently in 1 Week Lesson 5

SECRET BONUS - 50 Most Commonly

Used English Words

Here are 50 of the most common used words of English language.

● The

● He

● At

● But

● There

● Of

● Was

● Be

● Not

● Use

● And

● For

● This

● An

● What

● On

● A

● Have

● All

● To

● Each

● Are

● From

● Which

● Were 

● In

● As

● Or

● We

● Is

● She

● With

● Mine

● When

● You

● Do

● Had

● His

● Your

● How

● That

● By

● They

● Can

● It

● Their

● I

● Word

● If

● Said

Make it a point to study these the most, since daily conversation will involve these words!

EXERCISE

1. Write these words down and look up their meanings. 

2. Practice pronouncing or learning one daily for 5 minutes 

Conclusion

Clearly, English is a confusing language to learn. It cannot be done alone so you need to get a tutor or ask friends to help. Do not hesitate in speaking; you are a learner, not a person committing a crime! Also, be confident. You could think of learning a language as a personality development exercise. This causes you to go out as much as you can, making you use the language as well as being confident. After all, what is the use of learning a language when you do not plan on using it? However, remember not to flaunt your brand new skills. Chances are you will make a fool of yourself. Keep it simple!

Now, there are a few words in this eBook that you might not have understood
completely. I trust that you have a notebook at the ready. Add these words to your notebook and learn their meanings and use them in sentences.

I hope this eBook help in one way or the other. I wish you all the very best in your endeavors. Hopefully, if you stick to your goals, you will be speaking English like any other English speaker in about three months. Remember not to translate every word you have a difficult time with! 

Idioms

As I mentioned earlier, an idiom is a group of words that have a figurative meaning.

Figurative means something that is metaphorical or non-literal. The phrase used if taken literally, will not make much sense in the context it was used. Without the knowledge of English idioms, you are pretty much where you were when you first started learning. Nowhere! In today’s time and age, English is driven by idioms, and I do not mean in a car!

Idioms exist in every language! You just have to use your imagination to figure them out.

There are said to be about twenty five thousand idioms in the English language. I shall introduce you to some of them.

Hit the sack

If you open a dictionary and look for the meaning of ‘sack’, you would find about ten different meaning. Here, ‘sack’ means bed. You are not literally hitting the bed, the phrase means ‘to go to sleep’. It generally refers to being extremely tired.

“I am going to go home and hit the sack” means “I am going to go home and sleep”… probably for the next ten hours!

Pulling someone’s leg

Pulling someone’s leg means to trying fooling them by making them believe in something untrue. I get my leg pulled a lot by my elder sisters! It is all fun and game.

Piece of cake

“The examination was a piece of cake” means that it was an easy exam, just like eating a piece of cake is easy to do.

Hit below the belt

A low blow, an unfair blow, a cruel blow! In olden times, in a duel it was against the law to strike a person below the waist. In the same way, saying something mean or acting in an unfair way would be considered to be a low blow!


To stab someone in the back 

This does not mean literally stabbing someone in the back with a knife. That would send you to jail for murder! The phrase means secretly betraying someone’s trust.

‘Spilled the beans’ or ‘let the cat out of the bag’

This is an extremely common phrase. It means to let out a secret. People accidentally let the ‘cat out of the bag’ all the time.

Nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs

This one is pretty self-explanatory. It means to be extremely nervous, verging on neurotic.

Butterflies in ones stomach

The feeling in your stomach right before an important job interview or before a date with a special someone; those are butterflies in your stomach. Not literally of course! It means beings anxious.

Face the music

Facing the music does not literally mean turning around to face the source of the music; it means to deal with the harsh reality. If you crossed the curfew set my your parents, you are probably going to go home and face the music.

Cut to the chase

If you are telling your very American friend a incident or story, and you are taking a long time in explaining the unimportant part, your friend might say ‘cut to the chase’. It means ‘hurry up and get to the main part of the story’. It means ignoring the smaller details and explaining the important part.

These are just a few examples of idioms. You would come across many more on your journey towards learning English.

Colloquialism

Colloquialisms, like idioms, are important elements in understanding the English
language. They are used in informal speech. However, colloquialism is not the same as slang. According to Wikipedia, Slang refers to words used only by specific social groups, such as teenagers or soldiers. Examples of colloquialisms are ‘gonna’, ‘ain’t’, ‘what’s up?’ etc.