Speak Better English with Harry | Episode 544

In this episode, you'll learn English vocabulary related to breathing. Improve your spoken English with 10 useful words and phrases that fluent speakers use every day. This lesson will help you sound more natural, speak with confidence and understand what people really say in everyday English. You’ll learn advanced vocabulary and natural collocations that are often missing from textbooks. 

This episode is ideal for intermediate and advanced learners who want to expand their vocabulary, stop sounding like a learner and speak more like a fluent English speaker. Whether you're preparing for IELTS, CAE or just want to feel more confident in conversation, these are the words that will help you make real progress.

Transcript

0:09

Hi there, this is Harry and welcome to Advanced English Lessons with Harry where we try to help you to get a better understanding of your English language. So in this particular lesson, we're going to look at vocabulary that we use to describe breathing. So we're going to look at the difference between breath and breathe. Like, that's my breath. Breathe. Breathe in. Breath and breathe. We've got 10 in total, so I'll go through them one by one and then hopefully give you some examples that will explain properly what we mean. Okay, so when you breathe, the B-R-E-A-T-H-E, you breathe, breathe the fresh air. You go along to the beach to breathe in the fresh air. If you go outside and it's really, really hot and sticky, you say there's not a breath of fresh air. There's not a breath. There's not any air or wind around. So breath, B-R-E-A-T-H, and breathe, B-R-E-A-T-H-E. Okay? To breathe is a verb. Breath is a noun. Okay? A breath of fresh air. Breath. Okay, breathe, breath. Now, let me give you the vocabulary to describe breathing. Inhale and exhale. We'll take them together, one and two. Inhale, exhale. So when you go to the doctor and you're going to have an examination, the old classic examination is, okay, I want you to take some deep breaths and I want you to let out the air. So I want you to inhale and exhale. Yeah, okay, or if you're doing some P exercises, the P instructor will tell you to relax and get warmed up. Inhale, exhale, inhale, and that goes on for a few seconds or minutes, whatever it might be. So inhale and exhale are the actions of breathing in and then letting it out. Breathe in and let it out. Okay, inhale and exhale. To gasp or a gasp for breath. Okay, so if you're trying to swim underwater, when you're young and you're like me, you see how far you can get under the water in the swimming pool, but when you can't reach the other end, you come up gasping for breath. Yeah, okay, trying to gasp for breath. Or if you've got a dog and the dog's been out running in the hot summer sun, he'll come back or she'll come back looking for water and the tongue hanging out, gasping for breath. Okay, so to gasp for breath means to have difficulty getting your breath. And when the weather is really hot, we'd often gasp for breath because we can't seem to get any fresh air. Somebody suffering with some breathing difficulties will also gasp for breath. Okay, so they might need to use an inhaler. So they gasp or they gasp for breath. They struggle. And for those of you and your friends or family who want one-to-one lessons, well, you know what to do. Just get in touch, www.englishlessonviaskype.com and you can apply for a free try lesson and we'll be very happy to hear from you and very happy to help you. Pant. Pant is that constant heavy sound like pant. So if you go for a run and you haven't been running for a while, you'll come back panting, okay? Or if you go cycling and you haven't been cycling for a while and you go up a few hills, you might struggle at the last bit and you that's to pant, okay? The dog also pants. This is to pant. Very quick, successive breathing patterns. Pant earlier under a little bit of pressure. Wheeze. Wheeze is one of these sounds we make when we've got some bronchial problems. We've got a little bit of a chest. Anybody who's suffered from bronchitis or any illnesses like that will know exactly what I mean when they're like an organ, a noise. You wheeze and when you try to breathe, the air going into your lungs makes a little bit of a noise and you wheeze. Or if you have somebody in your household who smokes a lot or has smoked very heavily, they will very definitely wheeze when they're breathing because that years of smoking has blocked some of their lungs and therefore they have great difficulty getting enough oxygen into their lungs. So they wheeze, wheeze, and when they're trying to breathe. Shallow breath. Well, again, a shallow breath is somebody trying to breathe, but they can't get enough oxygen. Shallow breath. And that, again, will be a sign of somebody having some bronchitis problems, some bronchial problems, some issues in relation to their overall breathing. They've got very shallow breath. Often if somebody's suffering from pneumonia and therefore part of their lungs contains some liquid or some fluid, then the doctor, when they examine them, will hear and very definitely notice shallow breathing. So they don't have normal breathing of those deep breaths, okay? To catch our breath or to catch your breath. So you need a moment. So you've been working in the garden, you've been walking fast, you've been running, you've been playing with the kids. Oh, look, just give me a minute. I need a few minutes to catch my breath. Meaning, I need a few minutes just to rest. Come on, granddad. Come on, let's play football. Look, just give me a moment, guys. And you just need to catch my breath. So it's that few moments when you just want to rest because you're a little bit exhausted, a little bit tired. You've been cycling for a while. You've been on that long walk, perhaps you've been walking uphill that you haven't done for a while. And you take a breather, you sit on a rock just to catch your breath, admire the view, and then you get up and walk a little bit further, a little bit later. Okay, so to catch your breath or catch our breath. But it can be used more generally. You know, if the company or the business has been going very, very strong, very busy, you say, oh, I think we need to take a break. I think we need a holiday just to catch our breath. I mean, things have been crazy since Christmas. I don't know what's happened, but thankfully, touch wood, it will continue. But let's just take a breather. Let's take a few weeks off and catch our breath. Suffocate. Well, when somebody suffocates, they literally cannot breathe. Other somebody has their hand around their neck, in which case then it's impossible. Or somebody, you know, some of these movies, they put a bag over somebody's head, they will certainly suffocate. Okay. Or if you go into a very, very hot room and the windows are all closed, there's no air conditioning, it's suffocating in here, meaning it's hard to breathe. Or if I stand in there, I'll really suffocate. I have to go outside and get some fresh air. So the atmosphere can be suffocating, might just be difficult to work in that atmosphere. The air might be so hot and warm that you almost feel like you're suffocating. Yeah, so you really have some problems. And occasionally, really occasionally, very, very sad news when you read stories about people trafficking and they put these people into these refrigerated vans and they transport them from country to country and then they abandon the vans. And unfortunately, when they open them, people have died inside these vans because literally they have suffocated. Very, very, very sad. So to suffocate means to have no air to breathe. And then finally, well, not finally, number nine, actually, you've got two more to go. Ragged breathing, number nine, ragged breathing. When your breathing is ragged, it's not normal. So hopefully when I'm breathing at the moment, it's a normal breathing pattern. But when your breathing is ragged, it fluctuates. It's up and down and up and down. And it's a sense and it would indicate that something's wrong. Either you're out of breath or out of condition or not fit or you're suffering from some illness. So real ragged breathing. And the doctor will tell you to relax. Perhaps you need to check your blood pressure to see if you're really, really okay. So you go in to visit your friend, been in hospital, suffering from COVID or something like that. And the doctor said, well, look, you can't go in to see him. He's had a couple of nights of very ragged breathing. So we've put him on a ventilator. That should help to stabilize it. But he's out of trouble and he should be okay in a few days. So ragged breathing. And then finally, definitely finally, number 10, this is the really went heavy breathing. Okay. And what does it mean? Well, if you watch horror movies and movies where there's somebody really dark and nasty and he wants to frighten somebody, he phones them and he's on the other end of the phone and he's... And the other person's gone, who's there? Who's there? Somebody there. That's heavy breathing to frighten the other person. I'm coming to get you. And so you want these movies like Halloween or murder on whatever street it is. There's Amity Street or Amityville or any of these classic horror movies. There really, really are those sort of heavy breathing situations and the people dressed as a clown or dressed as somebody who's going to really cause mayhem and havoc in the town. Come for revenge. Yeah, okay, so I don't like watching horror movies, as I've often said on these particular videos, and that's the reason why I don't really like listening to that sound. Okay, so that's the 10th, the last on the list, heavy breathing. Let me get into it one more time. Inhale, exhale. Opposites. Inhale, exhale. Gasp or gasp for breath. Pant. Wheeze, different types of breathing. Pant, wheeze, shallow breath. Catch our or your or my breath. Suffocate, ragged breathing. And then finally, heavy breathing. Okay, so they're all different words, vocabulary to describe breathing. And remember the difference between breath and breathe, breath and breathe. So try and practice them. Try to use them where you can. If you need any further examples, come back to me or check them up in the internet or check them up in a good dictionary. And I'll always help you if you need some additional help. Okay, well, as always, thanks for listening. Thanks for watching. Join me again soon.