“Impossible” by James Arthur – listen to this song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mhj15W23IjA
Perhaps you have already heard this song ten million times… Take a look at the lyrics and then participate in the activites below to practice some expressions that you may know but not use enough!
I remember, years ago
Someone told me I should take
Caution when it comes to love, I did
And you were strong and I was not
My illusion, my mistake
I was careless, I forgot, I did
And now
When all is done, there is nothing to say
You have gone and so effortlessly
You have won, you can go ahead, tell them
Tell them all I know now
Shout it from the rooftops
Write it on the skyline
All we had is gone now
Tell them I was happy
And my heart is broken
All my scars are open
Tell them what I hoped would be impossible
Falling out of love is hard
Falling for betrayal is worse
Broken trust and broken hearts
I know, I know
And thinking all you need is there
Building faith on love and words
Empty promises will wear
When all is done, there is nothing to say
And if you’re done with embarrassing me
On your own, you can go ahead, tell them
Let’s now expand your word power!
Click on every triangle to learn a different way of expressing the same idea!
It will help you find your words when you are having a conversation with someone.
Of course, it’s a good idea to imagine some ideas for rephrasing BEFORE you actually check the answers…
How else can you say….
Please take caution with this cooking robot! It’s supposed to be good quality but it breaks all the time.
= please be careful with this cooking robot
= please handle this robot carefully
= please handle this robot with caution
When it comes to Youtube videos, I only like funny ones.
= On the topic of Youtube videos, I ….
= As far as Youtube videos are concerned, I …
You are driving this race car so effortlessly!
= so easily, so naturally
You are driving this race car so effortlessly!
– Can I open a window? It’s really hot in here.
– Sure, go ahead.
= sure, feel free to open the window.
= sure, I don’t mind if you open the window (= it’s not a problem for me)
= sure, please do so
The Internet site promised a 10% discount, but in fact it was a special offer for regular clients only. I didn’t realize this, so I ended up buying the product full price. I can’t believe I fell for this promise that was just business trick!
= I believed this promise
= I trusted this promise
= I got tricked by this promise / I got fooled by this promise
I didn’t have faith in this empty promise, in fact.
The expressions will be similar here:
= I didn’t trust this promise (don’t say “I didn’t trust IN this promise”!
= I didn’t believe this promise
You are not a baby anymore! You can solve this problem on your own.
= you can solve this problem by yourself
= you can solve this problem without any outside help
VOCABULARY NOTE: Take a look at the phrase “empty promises will wear“. “Wear” doesn’t seem to mean the same thing as when you say that someone wears a shirt or a pair of jeans.
In fact, it sort of does. When you’ve been wearing an item of clothing for a long time, it becomes “worn” = old and tired-looking.
So, the phrase in the song means “empty promises will get old and will not seem fresh and believable anymore.
Pronounciation corner:
When you tell someone : “go ahead!” (= you can do something if you want to do it, feel free to do it), pronounce it [ehed]. Don’t say [ehe-ad]
You can listen to the word here: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english-french/ahead
Everybody knows the word “heart”, but a lot of people still pronounce it wrong! They say [hurt], but if fact, it’s [hart]. It’s very simple and you can ignore the letter “-e-” in this word!
You can quickly listen to the word just to make sure you say it correctly:
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english-french/heart
Before we finish, let’s practice with the sound “h” in general! You need to pronounce (except in the word “hour” or “honest”), and when you say it, make sure that it’s a very light sound like when you are just a little sad, so you are letting the air out of your mouth. Listen and pronounce the following words, and remember to keep it soft!…
hear https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english-french/hear
huge https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english-french/huge
hard https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english-french/hard
behave https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english-french/behave?q=behave+
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