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Advanced Vocabulary | 5 English idioms about CHANGE


[Music]
hello I’m Emma from English in this
lesson I’ll go over five common idioms
that sound very similar their meaning is
also very similar they’re all about
change but the way that we use each of
them in English is a little different in
some of my previous lessons like this
one I explained why idioms are important
and what strategies you can use to learn
them and remember them idioms can be a
little tricky to learn but they’re fun
to use and they definitely make English
more interesting and more entertaining
this lesson is an advanced lesson one
that will teach you the subtle
differences between some very similar
idioms it will help you to use them
correctly and sound more natural like a
native English speaker now my advice
with learning idioms is always to think
about a situation in your own life where
the meaning of the idiom is relevant so
you can associate the idiom with a
memory or an experience that you have
it’s going to help you to remember the
idiom but it will also mean you can use
the idiom whenever you talk about that
memory or that experience in English
super cool right okay so in this lesson
we’re focusing on idioms with the word
change
now something my dear dad used to tell
me is that change is the only constant
in life it’s the one thing that stays
the same everything around us is
changing our lives change we change so
these idioms are super relevant and
helpful so that you can express yourself
when we move to a new house or we start
a new job we meet new people things
change as we grow older we change as
certain things happen in our lives we
also change change
isn’t always easy but being able to talk
about it in English should be so let’s
start with to change your mind now it’s
a common one one that you’ve probably
heard before it’s used when you make a
decision or you form an opinion that’s
different to the one that you first had
I was going to travel to Europe in
September but I’ve changed my mind I’m
gonna go to Asia instead when I first
met Paul I thought he was odd but now
that I’ve got to know him a little
better I’ve changed my mind
I think he was probably just shy when I
first met him have you changed your mind
about something recently perhaps about a
holiday or maybe even your plans for the
weekend perhaps you’ve changed your mind
about somebody you’ve changed your
opinion about them if you can think of
something tell me about it write a
sentence in the comments so I can check
it for you maybe you always wanted to
study in America but now you’ve decided
you want to study in Australia perhaps
you’ve changed your mind
so that was change your mind
what about to change your tune or a
change of heart a change of scene a
change of pace now all of these idioms
are similar but the way that we use them
is slightly different something that you
need to understand and you need to pay
attention to if you want to sound
natural when you’re speaking English to
change your tune is usually used when
someone’s opinion changes or someone’s
behavior changes and usually it’s from a
negative to a positive one so imagine
that you have a colleague who’s been
complaining about your boss for months
they don’t get on well together they
disagree on most things and your
colleague can be quite stubborn about it
but
suddenly your colleague comes into the
office and start saying that your boss
is really nice and that he’s really
great to work with he even goes and gets
him a coffee every morning and you think
you’ve really changed your tune they’ve
changed their opinion and they’ve
changed the way that they behave around
this person this whole year I’ve been
trying to convince char my fiance to go
on a holiday and he’s been saying no
it’s too expensive we can’t afford it
but last night he came home and he and
he said he wanted to buy tickets to
Tokyo and I thought hmm he’s really
changed his tune his opinion about the
holiday has completely changed he’s
changed his tune now a change of heart
is slightly different you can see that
it’s treated like a noun phrase it’s
always a change of heart and it’s
usually singular and this idiom is about
a change in attitude a change in the way
that you feel about something so imagine
that you found a dress and it’s perfect
to wear to your friend’s wedding it’s
gorgeous you love it but you’re not sure
if it’s going to go with the shoes that
you’ve already got at home you’re not
sure if you should buy it but the shop
assistant says if you have a change of
heart you can return it tomorrow
now be careful that you don’t use this
idiom in the same way as the previous
ones you can’t say he changed his heart
or I changed my heart it doesn’t work
it’s not the same it sounds a bit weird
it’s usually used with the verb have he
had a change of heart she will probably
have a change of heart I still remember
when I was 18 years old and I moved out
of my family home
I was moving into an apartment with some
friends in the city and as I was saying
goodbye to my parents I started feeling
really sad that I was leaving so my mum
said well if you have a change of heart
and you decide to move back home you’ll
always be welcome which made me feel a
lot better about leaving now speaking of
moving house we have our next idiom a
change of scene or a change of scenery
and this idiom is used when you move to
different surroundings you know a
different environment it could be used
to talk about where you live or where
you work Tim was tired of working at his
father’s company he wanted a change of
scene so he applied for a job in Sydney
I’m so tired of this little tiny town
I’ve been living here for 12 years I
need a change of scenery I’m gonna move
to New York a change of pace is used in
a similar way it talks about a change
from your normal daily routine so you
can use it to say that you need to try
something different for a while a change
from what you’re used to if you’re not
feeling very inspired by English these
days or very motivated to practice
perhaps you need a change of pace you
could travel to another country where
you have to use your English and
practice more so there you have it five
useful idioms all about change ones that
all have very similar meanings but are
used slightly differently you can be
confident using any of them with native
English speakers from all
english-speaking countries they’re
really useful ones to learn because
they’re so common the best way to
understand the difference between them
is to practice using them so get down in
the comments and write a few sentences
using these idioms for me I’ll let you
know if you need to
change them or rewrite them in any way
don’t be shy if you change your mind
about your sentence you can always edit
your comment later if you enjoyed
learning new ways to talk about change
in this lesson I want to recommend a
book for you where’d you go Bernadette
it’s a funny entertaining book about a
mother who goes missing before a family
trip to Antarctica and it offers
countless opportunities to use the
idioms that you learned in this lesson
and to think about change generally
throughout our lives there’s a link to
the book and the audio book in the
description below
you know I recommend audible to all of
my students as a way to learn new
vocabulary and the correct pronunciation
the natural pronunciation of English
words in context now if you’re new to
audible you can actually get this
audiobook for free
using the link in the description below
enjoy hey have you subscribed to my
channel yet make sure you do show your
love for English and click that red
button down there and of course you can
keep practicing your English with me
here are a couple of other great lessons
that I recommend I’ll be back here next
week with another lesson just for you bye for now
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