Espresso English Podcast

Lesson text & video: https://www.espressoenglish.net/whats-the-difference-between-clever-smart-and-wise/ 

Lesson text & video: https://www.espressoenglish.net/why-do-people-say-a-beer-and-a-coffee-if-those-words-are-uncountable/ 

Lesson text & video: https://www.espressoenglish.net/what-does-it-mean-to-take-someone-for-granted/ 

Lesson text & video: https://www.espressoenglish.net/whats-the-difference-between-incoming-and-upcoming/ 

Today’s question is about how to pronounce acronyms - terms like CEO - do we say their letters, or do we pronounce them as a word? Lesson text & video: https://www.espressoenglish.net/how-do-we-pronounce-acronyms-in-english/ 

Lesson text & video: https://www.espressoenglish.net/whats-the-difference-between-a-cook-and-a-chef/

Our question of the day is about the future in English - what's the most natural way to talk about future plans? Lesson text & video: https://www.espressoenglish.net/i-will-travel-im-traveling-or-i-will-be-traveling/

Should we say “in the end” or “at the end”? The answer is both, in slightly different situations. “In the end” is more metaphorical, and “at the end” is more literal. Let's look at examples. Lesson text & video: https://www.espressoenglish.net/in-the-end-or-at-the-end/

The answer is YES in some cases and NO in others! Lesson text & video: https://www.espressoenglish.net/can-you-end-a-sentence-with-a-preposition-in-english/

Our question of the day - is "look" a state verb or an action verb? It can be both. Lesson text & video: https://www.espressoenglish.net/is-look-an-action-verb-or-a-state-verb-in-english/

A student asks, “How do you pronounce CON at the beginning of English words?” It depends – there are two pronunciations depending on whether that syllable is stressed. Lesson text & video: https://www.espressoenglish.net/how-to-pronounce-con-at-the-beginning-of-english-words/

Question: what’s the difference between "rare" and "scarce"? Both of them describe things that are uncommon or hard to find, but there are two differences. Lesson text & video: https://www.espressoenglish.net/whats-the-difference-between-rare-and-scarce/

How well do YOU know prepositions in English? Let’s find out! This is a quiz lesson. I’ll show you a sentence and give you three possible words to complete it. You’ll have 5 seconds to decide which is the correct preposition before I tell you the right answer. There are 15 questions total – keep track of your score and let me know how you did! When you’re learning English, you want to get everything right – and these tiny words like prepositions can be very challenging. My Advanced English Grammar Course teaches you the rules (and exceptions) of the English language in detail. It will help you understand English grammar clearly and use it more confidently and correctly.  OK, are you ready to try this prepositions quiz? Let’s get started.

Hey! I’m doing a special series called “ask the teacher” in August, featuring questions from real students like you! Our first one is this – what does the phrase “awfully good” mean?! Lesson text & video: https://www.espressoenglish.net/what-does-the-phrase-awfully-good-mean/

Get ready for LOTS of pronunciation practice - today we have a lesson teaching you how to pronounce the names of 50 U.S. states! Want 250+ more words to practice? Take our FREE Pronunciation Power-Up Mini-Course! You'll learn how to pronounce: 50 jobs 50 food and drink words 50 countries 50 brand names 50 difficult words 20 bonus words The next step is to continue improving your pronunciation in my American English Pronunciation Course + Shadowing with Shayna - these courses are designed to give you nice, clear, confident pronunciation in just 10 minutes a day!

Hey everybody - listen up! Do you know what that means? Telling people to “listen up” means you want them to pay attention. This is an example of a phrasal verb being used as a command. Another one you probably know is “Watch out!” - we use this when we want to warn somebody about danger.  Today I’ll teach you 20 phrasal verbs that are often used as commands, and what they mean. Phrasal verbs like these are so common in everyday English, but they can be a little hard to learn because they’re all so similar – back off, back out, back up, back away, etc.  That’s why I created the Phrasal Verbs in Conversation Course – to help you learn them in a natural way, by studying conversations. You’ll learn more than 500 phrasal verbs inside this course, and I think you’ll really enjoy it.

Client and customer are two very common words in business English, but there's a difference between them... do you know what it is? If you’re learning English for your job or career, come join my Business English Course! You’ll learn hundreds of practical English phrases for speaking with clients, customers, co-workers, supervisors, and more - so you can speak more confidently at work. The lessons also teach you lots of professional vocabulary for management, finance, marketing, and even idioms that are commonly used in business English.

Have you seen any good movies lately? Today we’ll look at 10 phrases for talking about movies in English, learning useful vocabulary along the way. If you want to learn more English phrases and expressions for everyday life, my Everyday English Speaking Courses are a great choice. These courses teach you lots of phrases that native English speakers use all the time, to help you speak more fluently. There’s a discount when you join both levels together!

Affect and effect are two words that even native English speakers confuse - because they sound the same in spoken English, but they have different meanings. Today you'll learn not only the difference between these words, but also more than 50 COLLOCATIONS with affect and effect (common words used in combination with them).   Make sure to join my e-mail list: https://www.espressoenglish.net/500phrases    The English language has lots of confusing words, and you can learn a lot more of them in my e-book of 600+ Confusing English Words Explained! The "short and sweet" explanations in this e-book will make confusing words clear to you - so you can use them confidently. If you want to learn more collocations, we have two great options: 1000 Collocations E-Book (intermediate level) Advanced Vocabulary & Collocations Course (upper-intermediate / advanced level)

Has this ever happened to you – someone asks you a question in English, and you don’t understand it at ALL? One reason for the difficulty is that when native English speakers are talking fast, we often change how we pronounce the words at the beginning of questions. It can be frustrating and embarrassing when you don’t understand a question… but this video will help! When you know about these pronunciation changes, then you can recognize them when you hear them – and understand questions a lot better. The secret to improving your pronunciation is practice, practice, lots of practice – and you can get it inside my American English Pronunciation Course. It will help you speak English more clearly, correctly, and confidently!