married

single not married
 

divorced if you are divorced, you have officially ended your marriage to someone
engaged if you are engaged to be married, you have formally agreed to marry someone in the future
 

widowed if you are widowed, your husband or wife has died
be living together to be living as a couple in the same house without being married
 

spouse formal the person you are married to
 

partner your husband, wife, boyfriend, or girlfriend
 

marital status whether you are single or married - used on official formson

marriage

happy/unhappy marriage  

mixed marriage =between people of different races or religions

arranged marriage =your parents choose the person who you marry  

loveless marriage  

a marriage breaks down =it ends because of disagreements  

the breakdown/break-up of your marriage =the end of your marriage  

sex before marriage/outside marriage be born outside marriage =be born when your parents are not married  

propose marriage formal =ask someone to marry you  

consummate a marriage =make your marriage complete by having sex  

annul a marriage formal =a court or church leader officially ends a marriage

very good: excellent, fantastic, wonderful, great, terrific, neat American English,  

superb, amazing, outstanding, brilliant, impressive, fine, first-class, out of this world
 

of good quality: high quality, top quality, superior, deluxe, classy
 

morally good: decent, virtuous, respectable, honourable British English/honorable American English, upright, beyond reproach

Telephone English

Telephone English - The Phrases

There are a number of phrases and idioms that are only used when telephoning. Let's first take a look at an example dialogue: Here are the most common

• Operator: Hello, Frank and Brothers, How can I help you
• Peter: This is Peter Jackson. Can I have extension 3421
• Operator: Certainly, hold on a minute, I'll put you through...
• Frank: Bob Peterson's office, Frank speaking
• Peter: This is Peter Jackson calling, is Bob in
• Frank: I'm afraid he's out at the moment. Can I take a message
• Peter: Yes, Could you ask him to call me at . I need to talk to him about the Nuovo line, it's urgent
• Frank: Could you repeat the number please
• Peter: Yes, that's , and this is Peter Jackson
• Frank: Thank you Mr Jackson, I'll make sure Bob gets this asap
• Peter: Thanks, bye
• Frank: Bye

newspaper

the press newspapers in general 

 the media newspaper, TV, and radio  

tabloid a newspaper that does not contain much serious news, and mainly has short articles and photographs  

 broadsheet British English/ 

 quality paper American English a newspaper that mostly contains reports about serious news  

journalist/reporter someone whose job is writing articles for newspapers  

headline the title of a newspaper report, written in big letters article a piece of writing about something in a newspaper  

column  an article that appears regularly in a newspaper, in which someone writes about their opinions  

editorial a piece of writing in which the newspaper gives its comments on recent events  

the front page which has the main news stories  

the back page which has the less important news, and news about sport 

the sports/television/fashion/arts etc page

ask

request to officially ask for something
 

consult to ask someone for advice
 

demand to ask for something very forcefully
 

nag/pester to keep asking for something many times, in an annoying way
 

beg/plead to ask for something in an anxious or urgent  way, because you want it very much
 

question/interrogate to ask someone questions - used especially about the police or the army
 

grill informal to ask someone a lot of difficult questions
 

cross-examine to ask someone questions in court - used about lawyers
 

poll to ask a lot of people for their opinion about something

Ten Expressions to Use In Speaking And Writing

   1. Bye

   2. Goodbye

   3. Bye for now

   4. See you! / See ya

   5. Be seeing you

   6. See you soon

   7. I'm off.

   8. Cheerio

   9. Catch you later

   Good night   .10 

 How To Use These Phrases in Your English

o	Phrase 1 is the most common phrase that British people say. Note: we don't often say 'Bye-bye'. This sounds rather childish.
o	Phrase 2 is a little more formal.
o	Phrases 3, 4, 5 and 6 are quite informal and friendly. They mean that you expect you will see the other person again soon.
o	Phrase 7 is short and not very polite. You are saying that you are leaving without a farewell greeting.
o	Phrase 8 is a little old fashioned but quite informal.
o	Phrase 9 is also very informal and says that you expect to see the other person again soon.
o	We only say phrase 10 at night.

Idioms with 'shoulder'

have a chip on your shoulderseem angry all the time because you think you have been treated unfairly or feel you are not as good as other people

He's got a real chip on his shoulder because he's so short. He thinks he always has to prove how strong manly he is.

head and shoulders above a lot better than

Of course she's going to win – she's head and shoulders above everyone else in the competition.

a shoulder to cry onsomeone who is willing to listen to your problems and give you sympathy, emotional support or help and encouragement

She's a great boss. If ever you've got any problems you can go to her and she'll give you a shoulder to cry on. 

Idioms with 'back'

get someone's back up annoy someone She's late practically every day. It really gets my back up. Why should I always have to come in on time when she doesn't have to? keep your back covereddo something now to make sure that if there is a problem later, you will not be blamed for it I know you don't want to do all this paperwork but you need to keep your back covered in case there's an accident.

Idioms with 'neck'

have to brass neck to do something not be embarrassed to do something I couldn't believe he had the brass neck to ask her how old she was.   stick your neck out for someonedo something risky or take a chance I told the boss that you were a really reliable worker. I stuck my neck out for you, so don't let me down, OK? be up to your neck be very busy or have a lot of work to do I'd love to come to your party this weekend but I don't think I can. I'm up to my neck just now, revising for my exams. get it in the neckbe blamed, criticized or punished for something If I'm late one more time this week, I'll really get it in the neck from the boss.

Vocabulary

Fancy a brew? informalWould you like a cup of tea or coffee our paths cross  we meet each other mates informal   friends hold a grudge  have a strong feeling of anger and dislike for a person who you feel has treated you badly

intelligent

similar words: clever especially BrE/smart especially AmE good at learning or understanding things quickly
 

bright intelligent - used especially about young people
 

brilliant a brilliant scientist, writer, student, historian etc is extremely intelligent and does very good work
 

brainy informal very intelligent and good at studying 
 

gifted a gifted child is extremely intelligent
 

wise a wise person has a lot of experience and knowledge, and can give good advice
 

cunning/crafty good at using your intelligence to trick people
 

intelligent people: genius someone who is extremely intelligent and has great ideas
 

intellectual someone who is well-educated and interested in art, science, or literature at a high level
 

intelligentsia a country's intellectuals, considered as a single group

colour

a particular kind of colour: shade, hint, hue
 

words for describing dark colours: dark, deep, rich
 

words for describing light colours: light, pale, soft, pastel
words for describing bright colours: bright, brilliant, vivid, garish disapproving, gaudy disapproving
 

having a lot of colours: colourful, multicoloured British English/multicolored American English

Every successful person has a painful story.

Every painful story has a successful ending.

Accept the pain and get ready for success.

If a problem can be solved, no need to worry about it

If a problem cannot be solved what is the use of worrying 

Do you know where happiness lives

It lives in the sky

Where every thing is blueDo you know where happiness lives

It lives in the mountainWhere every thing is high

Do you know where happiness lives

It lives in the seaWhere every thing is cleanSo if you want to see happiness

Go to the sky

And the mountain

And the sea

Be blue 

And high

And clean 

Don’t waste these three: Time, Money and Energy

Like these three: Kindness, Sympathy and Cordiality 

Hate these three: Injustice, Pride and Faithlessness

Love these three: Bravery, Gentility and Affection 

Leave these three: Laziness, Talkativeness and Hurried Judgment

Value these three: Intelligence, Ability and Happiness

Control these three: Temper, Desire and Tongue

Preserve these three: Good books, Good deeds and Good friends

Utensils and equipment

a knifea basic, hand-held tool for cutting food a peelera hand-held tool specially designed for removing the skin from vegetables such as potatoes a spatula a thin tool – sometimes made of wood – which is used to remove food from a pan a strainer / sievea tool used to remove water from food. It's bowl-shaped, with lots of holes to let the water run through a saucepan a basic metal pan that is often used to cook food in hot water a lidthe cover of a saucepan a frying pana shallow pan that is often used to cook food in a little hot oil a wok a deep pan that is often used in East Asian countries as a frying pan a cooker the machine which provides the heat for cooking; it is powered by electricity or gas an ovena part of a cooker. It is the box-shaped part of the cooker, which you open like a cupboard, and put food inside to cook it at a high temperature a hobthe top part of the cooker, where you cook with saucepans and frying pans

Cooking

to peel a vegetable to remove the skin from vegetables, such as potatoes to chop an onion to use a knife to cut some food into small pieces to slice a cucumber to cut food in a careful way so that you make thin pieces to dice a carrot to cut food into small cube-shaped pieces to boil an egg to cook food in very hot water; the water is bubbling strongly to simmer to cook food in hot water, but below boiling temperature (100 degrees C) to bake a cake to cook food in an oven to fry a sausage to cook food in hot oil, usually in a frying pan or wok to roast some beef to cook meat, with a little oil, at a high temperature in an oven

Miscellaneous:

ingredients the different types of food that you need to cook a dish a recipe the instructions for how to cook something an apron an item of clothing that you wear to protect your clothes a cook a person who prepares food and makes the dinner etc. a chefWe use this word to refer to a professional cook who works in a restaurant

Vocabulary

spuds potatoes    slang/colloquial

cut

chop to cut vegetables, meat, or wood into pieces
 

slice to cut bread, vegetables, or meat into thin pieces
 

dice to cut vegetables into small pieces
 

peel to cut the outside part off an onion, apple etc
 

grate to cut cheese or vegetables into small pieces by  

rubbing them against a special tool
 

carve to cut pieces from a large piece of meat
 

saw to cut wood using a special tool called a saw
 

chop down to cut down a tree, using an axe
 

snip to cut something quickly using scissors
 

shave to remove hair from your face or body
 

trim to remove small parts of something to make it look neat
 

mow to cut grass
 

prune to cut off the top part of plants, in order to make them grow better cut

give

put something in someone's hand: hand, pass
 

officially give something to someone: award, present, grant, confer, allocate
 

give something to people in a group: hand out, pass around, distribute 

give to a charity: donate
 

give something to people after you die: leave, pass on, bequeath

run

for exercise: jog
very quickly because you are in a hurry: dash, tear, sprint

break

smash with a lot of force
shatter into many pieces
split into two pieces
snap into two pieces, with a sudden loud noise
tear paper/cloth
burst pipe/tyre/balloon
crumble break into a lot of small pieces
disintegrate break into a lot of small pieces and be destroyed
fracture if a bone fractures or you fracture it, it breaks slightly so that a small line appears on the surface

in tears =crying  

in floods of tears British English =crying a lot   

close to tears/on the verge of tears =almost crying 

 burst into tears =suddenly start crying

 fight back (the) tears also choke back tears =try not to cry  

moved to tears =so upset that you cry 

bring tears to somebody's eyes =make someone cry 

shed tears/a tear =cry 

reduce somebody to tears =make someone cry 

somebody's eyes fill with tears  

tears well up in your eyes =you start to cry 

 tears roll/run/stream down somebody's face/cheeks  

tears of joy/rage/frustration etc =crying because you are happy, angry etc

labour

skilled labour (=workers who have special skills) unskilled labour (=workers who have no special skills) casual labour =workers who do jobs that are not permanent 

 cheap labour  

child labour  

slave labour 

 labour costs  

labour shortage 

 labour market =all the people available to work

film

types of film: comedy, romantic comedy, drama, thriller, western, action film, horror film, war film, art house film, silent film, feature film
 

films that use drawings or models: cartoon, animation, animated filmfilms in general: cinema
 

where you go to see a film : cinema British English/movie theater American English, multiplex
 

the people in a film: actor, actress, star, cast
 

the people who make a film: director, producer, film crew, cameraman/camerawoman, scriptwriter 

the music for a film: soundtrack
 

the words and the instructions to the actors: screenplay
 

a short film advertising another film: trailer