struggle to understand. This is very frustrating for the speaker and for the
listener.
One of the easiest ways to improve speaking, therefore, is to learn phrases
and to speak in phrases rather than word by word. This simple change will
make your English speaking much clearer and much easier to understand.
You’ll sound more natural. The words will flow out more easily. You’ll
improve both pronunciation and fluency. You’ll even learn grammar.
Where to Find Phrases
So where does a student get these phrases? How do you know which ones to
learn? The good news is that you can find them everywhere. Any natural
English content contains a wealth of phrases. In a future chapter, I will tell
you specifically where to get useful English phrases. But for now, focus on
getting phrases from whatever English you are listening to or reading.
To do this you need to start keeping a “phrase” notebook. Every time you
see or hear a new word or phrase, write that phrase in your notebook. When
you find new English vocabulary in a lesson, in something you are listening
to, in a book, or in an article, write down the phrase. Not just one word, write
down the entire phrase, and then review that phrase again and again each
day. By doing this, you will create a notebook full of phrases and sentences
you can use, not just individual words. You’ll be programming yourself to
speak in phrases instead of word by word.
If you’re watching a movie about a bank robbery, for example, you might
hear a character say, “They’re getting away!” You know get means “to
obtain” something, and you’re pretty sure away refers to “being at a
distance” – like far away. But it’s confusing. So you write it down, “They are
getting away.” Then when you look it up in an idiomatic dictionary, you
learn that one meaning of “to get away” is to escape. You might also
discover that sometimes when people are going on vacation, they say they
are “getting away.” Even if you had previously memorized the words get
and away on some vocabulary list, you still might not understand what the
