500 frases en inglés realmente útiles (La serie completa) by Jenny Smith Page A
Book: 500 frases en inglés realmente útiles (La serie completa) by Jenny Smith
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Authors: Jenny Smith
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on blogs etc.
Example: The video of the man being rescued in a storm went viral and had 500,000 hits within a day.
To catch wind of something: this means that you hear about something. It has the feeling of hearing about something indirectly.
Example: I caught wind of the riots while I was on holiday in that country so I left immediately.
To steer clear of something: to stay well away from something.
Example: I used to love chocolate but now that I’m older it’s easier to put on weight so I steer clear of it now.
Do Children Still Play Outside?
Part One
I lived for many years abroad so when I finally returned to England I got what you might call reverse-culture shock. It was the small things that got me at first, like the fact that it is ok to wear shoes indoors or that men instinctively hold doors open for women. But after I got used to all of that there were still a few things at the back of my mind that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. One of the things I noticed was that there were no children playing out on the streets any more. Also I noticed that my friends were always ferrying their kids around to one event or another. This was in stark contrast to when I was younger. My mother would always tell us to “ to stop getting under my feet ” and to “ make yourselves scarce ”.
Phrases:
What got me/What gets me: this means that something affected you. That you noticed something slightly odd. This is often used for things that you don’t particularly like .
Example 1: I wasn’t particularly offended by what she said, what got me was the way she said it in that arrogant manner.
Example 2: What gets me about politicians is that they do one thing and say the complete opposite.
At the back of one’s mind: this means that deep down you are thinking this thing. It is sometimes subconscious. It is not at the front of your thoughts but you have a ‘feeling’ about this thing.
Example 1: He seemed nice enough but something at the back of my mind told me to not trust him.
Example 2: Even when I agreed to marry him, at the back of my mind I was thinking ‘No don’t do it, don’t say yes’.
To ferry someone around: this means to drive someone from place to place like a taxi service. This is usually used when talking about driving kids to school etc. It has a feeling that you don’t really want to be driving this person everywhere.
Example: I seem to spend half my life ferrying my son from one birthday party to another nowadays.
In stark contrast to: 100% different to…. For Example, ‘ Bill, in stark contrast to his brother John, is very nice’ means that John is not nice at all.
Example: In stark contrast to London, the surrounding areas are actually quite clean.
To get under someone’s feet: to get in the way. To obstruct someone by accident. This is usually used to describe when children are playing in the house and getting in the way of their parents doing things such as housework etc.
Example: It’s nice having the children home during the holidays but they tend to get under my feet. which makes doing things take twice as long.
To make oneself scarce: this is a polite way to say ‘go away’. To not bother someone and go somewhere else. Again this is often used in relation to children.
Example: I have to clean the house so why don’t you make yourself scarce for a few hours so I can just get on with it.
Part Two
I asked a friend of mine who has kids what was going on? Was it my imagination or did kids actually not play outside any more. She told me that there had been a big change due to a lot of reasons. In some cases it was just parents wrapping their kids up in cotton wool and being overly protective. Also it was that, while in our day we didn’t really have personal computers, now they are 10 a penny and almost every child has a games console. So lots of kids stayed inside playing computer games. I asked her what she felt about this development, and she said that
Example: The video of the man being rescued in a storm went viral and had 500,000 hits within a day.
To catch wind of something: this means that you hear about something. It has the feeling of hearing about something indirectly.
Example: I caught wind of the riots while I was on holiday in that country so I left immediately.
To steer clear of something: to stay well away from something.
Example: I used to love chocolate but now that I’m older it’s easier to put on weight so I steer clear of it now.
Do Children Still Play Outside?
Part One
I lived for many years abroad so when I finally returned to England I got what you might call reverse-culture shock. It was the small things that got me at first, like the fact that it is ok to wear shoes indoors or that men instinctively hold doors open for women. But after I got used to all of that there were still a few things at the back of my mind that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. One of the things I noticed was that there were no children playing out on the streets any more. Also I noticed that my friends were always ferrying their kids around to one event or another. This was in stark contrast to when I was younger. My mother would always tell us to “ to stop getting under my feet ” and to “ make yourselves scarce ”.
Phrases:
What got me/What gets me: this means that something affected you. That you noticed something slightly odd. This is often used for things that you don’t particularly like .
Example 1: I wasn’t particularly offended by what she said, what got me was the way she said it in that arrogant manner.
Example 2: What gets me about politicians is that they do one thing and say the complete opposite.
At the back of one’s mind: this means that deep down you are thinking this thing. It is sometimes subconscious. It is not at the front of your thoughts but you have a ‘feeling’ about this thing.
Example 1: He seemed nice enough but something at the back of my mind told me to not trust him.
Example 2: Even when I agreed to marry him, at the back of my mind I was thinking ‘No don’t do it, don’t say yes’.
To ferry someone around: this means to drive someone from place to place like a taxi service. This is usually used when talking about driving kids to school etc. It has a feeling that you don’t really want to be driving this person everywhere.
Example: I seem to spend half my life ferrying my son from one birthday party to another nowadays.
In stark contrast to: 100% different to…. For Example, ‘ Bill, in stark contrast to his brother John, is very nice’ means that John is not nice at all.
Example: In stark contrast to London, the surrounding areas are actually quite clean.
To get under someone’s feet: to get in the way. To obstruct someone by accident. This is usually used to describe when children are playing in the house and getting in the way of their parents doing things such as housework etc.
Example: It’s nice having the children home during the holidays but they tend to get under my feet. which makes doing things take twice as long.
To make oneself scarce: this is a polite way to say ‘go away’. To not bother someone and go somewhere else. Again this is often used in relation to children.
Example: I have to clean the house so why don’t you make yourself scarce for a few hours so I can just get on with it.
Part Two
I asked a friend of mine who has kids what was going on? Was it my imagination or did kids actually not play outside any more. She told me that there had been a big change due to a lot of reasons. In some cases it was just parents wrapping their kids up in cotton wool and being overly protective. Also it was that, while in our day we didn’t really have personal computers, now they are 10 a penny and almost every child has a games console. So lots of kids stayed inside playing computer games. I asked her what she felt about this development, and she said that
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