Espresso English Podcast

The English language has many homophones – words that have the same pronunciation, but different spellings and meanings. A lot of English learners confuse these, but today you'll learn how to use  10 English homophones  correctly! Lesson text:  https://www.espressoenglish.net/dont-mix-up-these-10-english-homophones   Pronunciation and Shadowing Courses:  https://www.espressoenglish.net/american-en...

You know the basic meaning of the word "cold," but do you know these  10 idioms with "cold"? Today I'll teach you the expressions "out cold," "pour cold water on something," "cold comfort," and more. Lesson text:  https://www.espressoenglish.net/10-cold-english-idioms 300+ English Idioms Course:  https://www.espressoenglish.net/english-idioms-course  

Are you wondering if there's a difference between  make sure  and  ensure ? We also have the expression  make it a point.  I'll teach you how to use each one in this lesson! Lesson text:  https://www.espressoenglish.net/difference-between-make-sure-ensure-and-make-it-a-point   600+ Confusing English Words Explained E-Book:  http://www.espressoenglish.net/600-confusing-english-words-explained  

We use  depend  and  depending  when one thing is strongly affected by another thing. However, a lot of students are confused about when to use  depend vs. depending.   You'll learn exactly when to use each one in today's lesson. Lesson text:  https://www.espressoenglish.net/when-to-use-depend-vs-depending   Advanced English Grammar Course:  https://www.espressoenglish.net/advanced-english-grammar...

Do you know what it means to  jump ship,   jump the gun,  or  jump down someone's throat? You will learn these idioms and more in today's lesson about  10 expressions with "jump." Lesson text:  https://www.espressoenglish.net/10-english-idioms-with-jump   300+ English Idioms Course:  https://www.espressoenglish.net/english-idioms-course  

English spelling and pronunciation can be complicated – and these 10 words are especially confusing! Even native English speakers sometimes make mistakes with them. In today's lesson, you can practice repeating  10 words with surprising pronunciation. Lesson text:  https://www.espressoenglish.net/10-english-words-with-surprising-pronunciation/   Pronunciation and Shadowing Courses:  http://www.esp...

Do you know these 10 expressions related to business and companies?  Take the quiz to find out! Lesson text:  https://www.espressoenglish.net/business-expressions-quiz/   Business English Course:  https://www.espressoenglish.net/business-english-course  

Today I'd like to teach you some common  expressions with the word "think." You'll learn: inclined to think shudder to think can't think straight think nothing of (doing something) and many more! Lesson text:  https://www.espressoenglish.net/10-english-collocations-with-think   1000 Collocations E-Book:  https://www.espressoenglish.net/1000-english-collocations-in-10-minutes-a-day/  

Some English words have what we can call " disappearing or dropped syllables " – reductions or eliminations of sounds in the middle of the word. One example is the word  favorite:  We don't say  FAV-o-rit   with three syllables We say it more like  FAV-rit  with two syllables – the "o" syllable disappears In today's lesson, you're going to practice your pronunciation with some of the most common E...

"Know" is one of the most common verbs in English, and I know that you know what it means! But what you might not know is that we use this word in many idiomatic expressions, such as: for all I know know the drill not know what hit you you don't know the half of it You can  learn these expressions with "know"  in today's lesson! Lesson text:  https://www.espressoenglish.net/10-more-english-express...

The English language has a lot of colorful words, which are great for improving your vocabulary. You'll  learn 10 interesting verbs  in today's lesson. Lesson text:  https://www.espressoenglish.net/10-interesting-verbs-to-improve-your-english-vocabulary Vocabulary Builder Course:  https://www.espressoenglish.net/vocabulary-builder-course/  

Are you confused about how to use HAVE HAD and HAD HAD in English? Today's lesson will help you! First, we need to understand the  present perfect tense  and  past perfect tense.  Both of these tenses are formed by using an auxiliary verb + main verb. Lesson text:  https://www.espressoenglish.net/have-had-and-had-had Advanced English Grammar Course:  https://www.espressoenglish.net/advanced-englis...

In today's lesson I'm going to give you four important tips for speaking English faster. A lot of English learners notice that native English speakers tend to speak fast, so they think that speaking faster will help their English sound more fluent. But you have to be careful – it can be dangerous to try to speak very fast in English if you don't follow these tips. Lesson text:  https://www.espress...

In today's lesson, I want to teach you some phrases that you can use in a specific situation – that is when you want to say something but you're not completely certain that it's correct. There are a few different phrases that we can actually use to show that we are saying something that we believe to be true, but we recognize that we might be wrong and we are open to correction. Lesson text:  http...

Today I want to talk to you about a phrase that's I've seen some students use – and that phrase is "According to me" – to express their opinion. Can we use this in English? Hmm. Lesson text:  https://www.espressoenglish.net/learn-english-phrases-can-we-say-according-to-me Everyday English Speaking Course:  https://www.espressoenglish.net/everyday-english-speaking-course

I want to teach you about a mistake that I often hear students making when speaking. It has to do with the difference between " I like …"  and  "I'd like …"  It's a very small difference, but it actually changes the meaning of the sentence and the way we use these phrases. Lesson text: https://www.espressoenglish.net/learn-english-phrases-i-like-vs-id-like Everyday English Speaking Course:  https:...

In today's lesson, I want to teach you some phrases that native English speakers use when talking about making mistakes. Because you don't just want to say, "I made a mistake. I made a mistake. I made a mistake" over and over, it gets boring and repetitive, so here are some different phrases you can use. Lesson text:  https://www.espressoenglish.net/learn-english-phrases-for-acknowledging-mistakes...

I want to teach you about a phrase that one of my students asked me about. That phrase is,  "It can't hurt."  This is an interesting expression. Lesson text:  https://www.espressoenglish.net/learn-english-phrases-it-cant-hurt Everyday English Speaking Course:  https://www.espressoenglish.net/everyday-english-speaking-course

Today I want to answer a student question about the phrases  I'm afraid  and  I'm scared . Is there any difference between them? How do we use these in spoken English? Lesson text:  https://www.espressoenglish.net/learn-english-phrases-im-afraid-im-scared Everyday English Speaking Course:  https://www.espressoenglish.net/everyday-english-speaking-course

This month, I want to focus our lessons on phrases, some kind of informal phrases that you might hear in every day spoken English. You might not be sure how to use them or what they mean. Today's lesson is going to focus on a few different phrases all using the word 'kidding,' like 'I'm just kidding,' or, 'no kidding,' or, 'are you kidding me?' You're going to learn how to use each of these in con...

Today we're going to practice pronunciation of words ending in -ow. Make sure to check out my   Pronunciation and Shadowing Courses  for a lot more pronunciation training, including an evaluation of your English pronunciation. I noticed a mistake that some of my students are making with this word: ALLOW. They are saying it like "alloe," but it's actually pronounced "allow." It's funny, the words ...

Today I want to teach you about the confusing words criticize, criticism, critique, critic, and critical. These are all similar and they come from the same roots, but they have different functions and some slightly different meanings. Lesson text: http://www.espressoenglish.net/difference-between-criticize-criticism-critique-critic-and-critical 600+ Confusing English Words E-Book:  https://www.esp...