Feifei

OK, and that's it for this programme, but join us next time to learn more English phrases and expressions.

Hello and welcome to the English We Speak, where we explain expressions used by fluent English speakers so that you can use them too. I'm Feifei and I'm joined by Georgie. How are you? I'm very well, thank you, Feifei. How are you? I'm very well, thank you, Georgie. So, what are we learning in this programme?

Right, because wood in British English can mean something similar to forest. So, if you're standing in front of an individual tree, maybe looking at the details of the bark, you can't see the entire forest. You can't see the wood for the trees. Right, which is why in American English you might also hear can't see the forest for the trees. Yes.

Yes, the team can't see the wood for the trees. This idiom is often used gently to give advice rather than criticism. Shall we have some more examples? When I was writing my novel, I couldn't see the wood for the trees. I kept getting stuck on the same sentence, writing it over and over again.

So, can't see the wood for the trees is about not being able to assess the whole situation, because you're too focused on small details. It's about losing perspective. Yes, and there's some other useful language to use in this context. If someone can't see the wood for the trees, they should take a step back and look at the bigger picture. The bigger picture is a phrase meaning the situation as a whole. Yes, they shouldn't get bogged down in the details.

Now a bog is an area of wet, muddy ground. So if you get bogged down in the details, the details are slowing your progress. Those are all useful phrases to use. OK, let's recap. We learnt the idiom can't see the wood for the trees, which means you focus too much on smaller details that you forget to look at the whole situation. Join us again next time. Goodbye. Bye bye.

Hello and welcome to The English We Speak, where we're explaining expressions used by fluent English speakers so that you can use them too.

I'm Feifei and I'm joined by Georgie.

Hi Feifei, how are you?

OK, OK, Georgie.

There is a time for yapping and it's not now.

Yap is a slang word which means talk or gossip continuously for a long time.

It refers to informal, unserious chat.

So it's not used in formal settings.

We had a lot to catch up on.

Right, so yap can be used when one person is chatting endlessly –

but it's also something that you can do with another person.

You can both yap together.

Right, like what I said to you at the beginning of the programme.

Let's listen to more examples.