Real English conversations: Lori scores a year’s supply of toilet paper

 
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Now, I’m really sticking my neck out with today’s podcast, because this informal conversation between me and Michael reveals some of my bad speaking habits. The worst offender: when I’m telling a story, I use the word “like” to introduce reported speech, a mannerism that “careful users of English” really don’t approve of. I also use some expressions that could be considered slang, such as…

English idioms: to wing it (to improvise)

 
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To wing it is an idiom that means to improvise, to do something without proper preparation or time to rehearse. People often talk about winging it when they have to do something difficult that they didn’t have time to prepare — like a make speech or give a presentation. They might say something like “Sorry if I seem a bit disorganized, I’m totally winging it.” You tell people that you’re winging it, that you’re improvising, so that they won’t expect too much from you, or so that they will be more forgiving if you make a mistake.

idioms: to deal with (something)

 
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Welcome to 2-minute English, brought to you by Better at English dot com.
Today’s phrase is to deal with.

The government proposed a treaty designed to deal with the problem of global warming.

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