In-depth Example

So now let’s actually look at a real example of someone asking for advice about how to get in shape or get fit and how we can actually give advice to that person.

So two friends talking.

I’m having a hard time losing weight.

Now we know they’re trying.

I’m having a hard time.

Hard time means it’s difficult.

It’s difficult having a hard time losing weight even though I don’t overeat.

We use even though to say that something is kind of against something else I feel thirsty even though I just had a glass of water.

OK.

I feel happy even though today was actually a pretty terrible day.

I feel happy even though it was a bad day.

OK so I’m having a hard time losing weight even though I don’t overeat.

I don’t overeat.

That means I think you can guess eat too much.

Could you give me some advice.

That’s one of the simple ways to get advice.

Very direct way to get advice that we talked about at the very beginning of this lesson.

Now we give the answer we give the advice to our friend and pay attention to some of the phrases that we learned earlier in the class.

Have you tried actually counting calories.

Calories are things that we have in food things that we eat which give us energy.

But also if we eat too many calories can make us make us fat.

OK.

Have you tried counting calories OK.

That means you actually pay attention to how many calories you eat.

If so that means if the answer is yes.

If so that’s a great way to make sure you aren’t overdoing it.

So to overdo something means to do too much of that thing.

What is overdoing it here overdoing it means eating too much overeating.

If you want to know if you’re overeating maybe you think you’re not overeating maybe you think that you don’t overeat but maybe really you are maybe you’re not eating very often but maybe the foods you’re eating are very high in calories.

OK.

So count calories whenever I need to lose a few pounds.

So now we use the one that shows that we are sharing our experience and also shows empathy whenever I need to lose a few pounds.

I keep track of all my meals in a diet journal.

OK.

So this diet means what we eat is what we eat is our diet our diet is the food that we eat usually.

OK keep track of something means you pay attention to it.

You follow it carefully.

OK.

Anyway you should definitely try that.

Definitely makes it sound a little stronger.

You should remember.

You should.

Means it’s a bit more forceful.

You’re not saying you could you can you should say a little stronger.

If that doesn’t work you might try fasting.

This is the same as you could try.

So you might try you could try is the same.

You might try fasting which I’ve been reading about lately so fasting means you don’t eat for a long period of time.

Someone says I’m fasting.

That means maybe for this whole day or maybe for a week or whatever they’re not eating you don’t eat for a period of time.

It’s called fasting fasting.

People do it for many different reasons.

So let’s continue with the advice again.

Pay attention to the phrases that we learned earlier in the lesson as far as exercise goes as far as what does that mean.

So sometimes when we want to change the topic and talk about something else we talked about diet.

Now I want to change and talk about a new thing and we want to say what that new topic is we can use as far as or we can also use when it comes to whatever that is when it comes to exercise.

As far as exercise goes these are basically the same used to change the topic used to mentioned what topic we’re going to say as far as exercise goes.

You should definitely be doing some exercise every day every day.

First you can try going for a 30 minute run every morning.

And if that doesn’t seem to be working after a few weeks we learned if that doesn’t work.

But because it’s kind of a continuous thing because it’s kind of ongoing then we can say if that doesn’t seem to be working OK.

If that doesn’t seem to be working after a few weeks go to the gym at least three to four times when we say when we see this and we read it we say three to four times three to four times a week.

Notice that this doesn’t say one week we usually just say a week three to four times a week.

And because this is three or four we can actually use or if we want to if it’s three to six.

Then we have to say three to six.

But because these two are side by side we can say three or four five or six six or seven but we can’t say three or six because that means you can’t go four or five times which is very weird.

OK.

If that doesn’t seem to be working after a few weeks go to the gym at least three to four times a week and do both cardio and strength training.

Anytime you see the word cardio it’s going to be related to your heart or the system in your body where the blood moves pumped by your heart.

It’s usually about heart health.

So if you run if you jump if you go on a treadmill if you ride a bicycle.

This is cardio and strength training is lifting weights lifting weights weight lifting maybe you have some dumbbells or barbells or whatever you’re trying to build muscle build muscle.

OK so this is how we can give advice about getting fit getting in shape.

There are many different ways we can do it of course.

This is just one example but hopefully you have a pretty clear idea for how we can use some of these different phrases to help our friend.

So as we usually do when we learn something the best way to make it stick is to actually practice it.

If you don’t have somebody to practice with.

I always recommend that you record yourself get your phone out.

Record.

Record writing is good.

OK you can write.

That’s fine.

But if you write are you really going to be a better English speaker.

Well they are very different skills.

You can be a great writer and not a great speaker.

So I recommend that you get out your phone you turn on the record function and you try to use some of the words and phrases that we learned in this lesson for giving advice.

The assignment is to imagine that you have a friend who wants to quit smoking.

A big problem.

Addicted to smoking.

Your friend is addicted to smoking.

So he or she has tried many things and everything has been unsuccessful.

Nothing is working.

So what advice would you give.

What advice would you give.

Try to use the words and phrases we learned.

Good luck.