Blend in

If someone blends in, they become inconspicuous/ less noticeable.. they don’t stand out. They look natural in their environment or even “camouflaged”.

1.      Chameleons, as everyone knows, have the unique ability to blend in to their environment.

2.      When you travel to another city or state in your country, can you successfully blend in, or do people know that you are “not from that neck of the woods” because your appearance or accent stands out?

3.      “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”  If you want to blend in while in another culture, you may have to imitate their customs and habits. For example, in India, Turkey and some Middle Eastern countries they consider it good manners to burp after a meal as a sign of appreciation.

4.      When you go to the beach, do you like to blend in to the crowd or do you like to stand out by the bikini you wear, the music you play or the activities you do?

5.      When I eat Pizza in public in Brazil, I should use a knife and fork if I want to blend in. I once ate with my hands at a Pizza Hut, and many people kept glancing at me… or was it just my imagination?!  

6.      It is almost impossible for me to blend in when I catch a bus, go to Centro, eat at a “lanchonete”, go to a hairdresser, buy coconut water, etc. Sometimes I just want to be a local and blend in.  

7.      If people who are not from Fortaleza want to blend in, they usually need to dress down and wear more casual clothes in general. Shorts and flip-flops are the status quo here in the Northeast. 

Get + adjective

When we use the combination get + adjective, the verb “get” means “become”.

1.       Children get excited about everything. As we get older we get excited about fewer and fewer things. That’s sad! What do you usually get excited about these days?

2.      Most of the time I watch a really boring movie right until the end while I wait for it to get interesting.

3.      The only women in the world you can say, “You’re getting fat” to are your sisters. I wouldn’t recommend saying that to anyone else. You have been warned!

4.      When you get hungry between meals, do you snack on sweets/ candy and other junk food, or do you look for something a little healthier. What would you consider a healthy snack?

5.      When I used to get embarrassed I would (used to) blush and go red… but now I am able to hide the fact that I am feeling awkward, and I can face the world.

6.      Sometimes I get stressed out about the most inconsequential things. If you’re like me, would you be honest in a job interview or psychological test and admit that you get frustrated over tiny things?

As we speak...

This popular expression is self-explanatory: Something is actually happening at the time we are speaking. We usually say this when the other person may not be aware that something is actually happening right at the very moment.

1.      Somewhere in the world a bank robbery is probably in progress as we speak.

2.  –  There’s a civil war going on in Syria?!

–  Yes, it’s happening as we speak.  

3.      Do you know of anything significant happening in the world right now as we speak?

4.   –  When will season 4 of “Game of Thrones” start?

  –  Well, it is currently under production, so they are filming as we speak. It will air on April 7th, 2014.

5.  –  I didn’t know that they had already started building the aquarium in Fortaleza!

–  Yep, they’re actually building it as we speak.

6.      I’m an English teacher and I regularly give conversation classes, so at any given time I could say to my students: “I’m making money as we speak!". This is a pun (trocadilho) because it has a double meaning.

7.      The humidity level in Fortaleza, Brazil combined with the constant year-round sea breeze causes everything to rust (oxidize) quicker than in other parts of the world. In fact, something you own is rusting as we speak.

8.      When we’re writing an email, it is possible to say that something is happening as we speak, even though we should really write, “as I write”.

9.      Do you think that someone is thinking of you even as we speak?

Should have + participle

 We use “should have” to talk about past events that did not happen. It is used when we regret something we did or didn’t do.

1.      When you have bought a T-shirt or item of clothing that is too small, you would say, “I should have bought a bigger size… I bought the medium one, but I should have bought the large one.”

2.      When most shops are closed on a public holiday, usually I regret not having gone to the supermarket the previous day: “I should have known that the shops would be closed today… I should have gone yesterday.”

3.      Looking back at your choices in life, can you now see that you should have done something differently? Do you think you should have studied a different career or maybe saved more money?

4.      In retrospect we see many things that shouldn’t have been done, simply because of the consequences. Japan shouldn’t have bombed Pearl Harbor. The US shouldn’t have gone into Iraq. I shouldn’t have spent so much money over the weekend… neither should I have eaten that whole bag of Doritos.

5.      I shouldn’t have gone to bed so late last night when I knew that I would have to wake up at 5:30am today!

Don't hold your breath!

If you tell someone not to hold their breath, they shouldn’t put their hope in something, have high expectations or wait for it to be successful. People hold their breath in anticipation of something happening, sometimes quite literally… and it’s not physically possible to hold one’s breath for more than a few minutes.

1.      In Brazil, if you expect public works to be finished on schedule, you shouldn’t hold your breath.  

2.      If you’re hoping for a lasting peace treaty between Israel and Palestine any time soon, don’t hold your breath. Not everyone can get exactly what they want out of that situation.

3.      The damage done by the global financial crisis in Europe will take many more years for them to recover from, so don’t hold your breath waiting for the Euro to regain its strength against the US Dollar.

4.      BRICS is the title of an association of leading emerging economies including Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The BRICS members are developing or newly industrialized countries, but they are distinguished by their large, fast-growing economies. If you were hoping for Kenya to join the BRICS countries and make it “BRICKS”, don’t hold your breath… they are a long way off in their development.

5.      When I ask my students if they think it’s possible to eradicate (totally eliminate) corruption in Brazil, the answer is never optimistic… and now with an expanded vocabulary they can tell me not to hold my breath.

Brush up on...

When you brush up on something, you revise it so that it is fresh in your mind, because maybe you have gotten a little bit "rusty" or forgotten some details over time.

1. Season 4 of game of thrones is about to start in April… I need to brush up on the names of the characters because it's been so long since I last watched. 

2. From time to time I get students who come to me just to brush up on their English before a job interview. They tell me that they have gotten a little rusty over time because of a lack of opportunity to practice their English in the workplace.

3. One of the best ways to brush up on something, of course, is to read a book... whether it is language or anything statistical. Do you need to brush up on any area or field of knowledge?

4. To be honest, I must admit that I don't keep tabs on (follow) the world of soccer… so maybe I should brush up on soccer statistics if I want to join in on World Cup and soccer conversations in general. Do you ever brush up on anything so that you can impress your friends? 

5. Do you brush up on things that you are not really interested in but you know that other people are? I had a student who used to read classical poetry simply because he thought it was something one should do, even though it was not something that he personally enjoyed himself.

Some + noun

When we use this structure, we are emphasizing either how extreme something is/ was, or how incredible it is/ was. It could be positive or negative depending on your tone and the situation.

1. During a trip in Central America I climbed up an active volcano in Guatemala called Volcan Pacaya. It was some climb!... You need to be fit to do that climb. The views were spectacular at sunset. It was some trip!

2. I’ve heard most people who watched the last Marvel Comics movie, “The Avengers” say, “Man! That was some movie!” The special effects are awesome and the dialogue is pretty humorous too.

3. We’ve all had days that we thought would never end because they were so long and difficult. At the end of the day you can say, “This was some day!”

4. If you think someone has done something crazy or extreme or if you want to express your frustration about someone in a very diplomatic way, you can say, “He’s some piece of work”.

So far...

 “So far” means: until now/ up to this moment/ up to the present moment. Saying this gives us the idea that something is still not complete… it is ongoing or continuing. (Até o momento/ Até à data/ Até agora)

1. Are you happy with your English classes so far? In other words, are you happy with your progress so far? Do you think you will ever perfect your English?

2. If you are positive about your progress in anything and you want to express that you are satisfied or happy with something, you can say, “So far so good!” It is usually given as a response to, “How are things going?”

3. - How is your job interview process going?
- So far so good… I just have to pass through the English interview now!

4. Of the R$165,000,000 that was stolen from the Central Bank in Fortaleza, Brazil in 2005, only R$20,000,000 has been recovered so far, which was apparently left on purpose by the robbers as a red herring (distraction).

5. How many ministers has Brazil's president, Dilma fired so far? Do you think she still needs to fire some more?