As an English teacher one naturally becomes more and more nit-picky over time (overly detail oriented.) Hopefully you'll find that quality useful when listening to my podcast. 

Nit-Picky English with Nika 

In this episode, we discuss a few different idioms or expressions for speaking about age. 

Idioms we use:
a bundle of joy 
a chip off the old block 
the awkward stage 
teenage angst
to spread your wings 
coming of age 
to make a name for yourself 
young at heart 

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See you soon! 




English with Eric

Informal English: Speaking about Age 

In this episode, we discuss some idioms for romance and relationships. Pay careful attention to the nuances of my definitions.

Expressions:
Absence makes the heart grow fonder 
Love is blind 
To play hard to get 
Opposites attract 
Lovey-dovey 

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Informal English: Speaking about Romance and Love

In this episode, I talk about common ways to ask someone to repeat what they said. 
Make sure that you do the quiz attached to the episode and subscribe to never miss an episode. 
Enjoy! 

Summary:
Say: 
Pardon? Pardon me? (rising intonation) 
Sorry? I'm sorry? (Rising intonation; informal)
I missed what you said.
I didn't catch that. 
I didn't get that. 

Avoid: What? Huh? (Sounds rude)
Avoid: "Can you repeat?" (Wrong; "repeat" is usually transitive, and therefore needs an object) 

Informal English: What to say when you don't understand

How should we apologize? What's the best way to say "sorry" in a casual situation? 
Expressions we use: 

My bad / That's my bad (casual). 
Hey, uh, Tim, I accidentally ate the food you made for yourself for lunch. Hh... my bad. I won't 
Honey, I forgot to take out the garbage again tonight. My bad. Look—I'll do it in the morning.

I'm sorry + forgive me (more serious, intimate)
I'm sorry, I broke your favourite coffee mug, hun. I'll get you a new one, and it'll be even better.
Paul, I'm sorry for missing your birthday party, I completely forgot about it. Can you forgive me for that? I... I need to be a better brother.

I'm so sorry I let your parrot escape! I'll go look for her. 
I'm so so sorry about that, Riley—next time I'm going to be late, I will call you. 

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Informal English with Eric: Apologizing

This is an important grammar topic at the intermediate level. This short episode introduces the idea of ergative verbs. 

Ergative verbs are a set of verbs which have a third option besides being active or passive: ergative. This means they are active in form, with the receiver of the verb's action as the subject. The meaning is the same as the passive. 

The examples I use in the episode: 
The store opens at 10. 
The movie will star at 8pm. 
The music stopped. 
The weather changed.
The chicken is cooking. 
The car is reversing. 
The plants grew. 
The window broke. 

I hope you enjoy the episode and find it helpful. Message me with any questions you have. 
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See you soon!


Grammar: Ergative Verbs

In this episode, we look at five idioms about meeting new people. Here are the example sentences I use in the podcast:

How did you and Sara meet?
Well, she saw me reading a book she liked, and asked me what I thought of it to strike up a conversation.
It felt a little odd at first, since I had been so focused on the book. Then, she made a joke about how boring we both must be, to read a book like that. It really broke the ice. 
I really wanted to put my best foot forward, so I told her everything I knew about the book and its author. 
Fortunately, she was interested in what I said about the book, and we really hit it off. 
However, when I met her sister, I said the wrong thing and really got off on the wrong foot. She doesn’t like me at all. 

Don't forget to subscribe, so that you never miss an episode. Send me a message if you would like to request a specific topic for an episode, or book a lesson with me. See you soon! 