Learning English is not always an easy job and it requires persistence. When you start learning English, you need to begin with the basics of the languages. To understand English, you have to be aware of idioms and phrases that are used in daily conversation. When these phrases are understood in totality, they can provide a base to help beginners understand grammar and sentence structure. Once you are familiar with basic phrases and its meanings, you can move ahead to use the more sophisticated ones. Let us learn some must know English phrases that are generally used in our everyday conversation.



Must know everyday English phrases and how to use them in sentences:

1. Step up your game - to start performing better. You need to step up your game if you want promotion.

2. Cut somebody some slack - to give somebody a break. As it is your first day today, so I'll cut you some slack.

3. Shoot from the hip - to speak directly. Sometimes, in order to make people understand, we need to shoot from the hip.

4. Blew me away - when something blows you away, you’re extremely impressed by it. This time my salary check blew me away.

5. Couldn’t care less - used to express total lack of interest in something. I couldn't care less, whether he is getting the promotion or not.

6. Feeling under the weather - to be ill or unable to do regular activities. I need half day leave as I am feeling quite under the weather.

7. Skeleton crew - the minimum number of people needed to keep a service/office operating. Till the company's handover is complete, we need to have the skeleton crew.

8. No-brainer – an easy decision. Throwing him out of this company was a no-brainer

9. Freak out - to lose your "normal" usual self and go crazy, either due to extreme fear, anger or excitement.We freaked out in the party. 

10. Bite off more than you can chew - to take on something that is too much for you to handle. The key to success lies in not biting off more than we can chew.

11. Miss the boat - when someone has missed their opportunity to do something.When this opportunity came, I somehow missed the boat.

12. Don’t judge a book by its cover - this means don’t make a decision based on a brief impression or outward appearance. When giving appraisals, never judge a book by its cover.

13. Costs an arm and a leg - when something is very expensive. I cannot purchase this as it costs an arm and a leg.

14. Be a catch - be someone worth marrying/having. He seems to be a catch for you.

15. Let the chips fall where they may - to let something happen, no matter what happens next. Do not worry, you carry on. Let the chips fall where they may.

16. Get out of hand - when you lose control of things, they get out of hand. This situation is really getting out of hand.

17. Crunch time - the period of time just before the completion of a project  and everyone has to work hard. I can't allow you to leave just now as it is the crunch time.

18. Pound the pavement - to walk the streets looking for a job. I had to pound the pavement for months before I got this job.

19. Pull a rabbit out of a hat - to do something unexpected that may have seemed impossible. She was worried about her finances as she just could not pull them out of a hat.

20. To paint the town red – To go out and enjoy or to engage in a wild spree. When he got an unexpected hike in his salary, he wanted to paint the town red.

These are some of the phrases that are used in day-to-day conversations. Join our online spoken English training program to speak English fluently.

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