12 English Collocations for Every Life Stage: From Baby to Senior

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In this episode, you’ll learn natural English collocations and expressions used when talking about different stages of life.

Many learners know the vocabulary, but they are not sure which collocations sound natural in real conversations. This often leads to hesitation, repetition, or expressions that sound slightly wrong.

In this lesson, I explain clear, commonly used collocations, show how they are used in context, and help you choose the right expression for the right situation.

This episode will help you:

• improve your spoken English
• build natural, usable vocabulary
• sound more confident and fluent when you speak

My Business English Phrase Guide shows you exactly what to say in meetings, emails, and when problems happen - and which common phrases make you sound unprofessional.

Inside: Professional phrases for meetings, emails, delays, and corrections. Plus phrases to avoid.

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Transcript

0:09

Hi there, this is Harry. Welcome back to Advanced English Lessons with Harry, where I try to help you to get a better understanding of the English language, to help you with your conversational skills, your business English skills, interview skills, whatever your goals are, we're here to help. 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. Okay, let's get back to our lesson today. And today's advanced English lesson, again, we're looking at co-locations and these are co-locations relating to different stages in your life from young to old. Okay, so unfortunately, I've gone through most of those stages. I'm now in the latter stage, but however, we press on. So these are co-locations, advanced English co-locations, looking at the various stages of life. Okay, now I've got 12 of them in total. If I can remember them all, 12 of them, I'll go through them and give you a simple example of when you can use them. Number one, well, when you're young guys or girls, you're out running and playing and you're doing all sorts of things, climbing trees, jumping over walls, getting over gates, playing football, chasing, riding bikes, and occasionally we fall down and we graze our knees. So and often graze our hands at the same time because our hands come out automatically to try and break the fall. But we get the little cuts on the palms of our hand and the grazes on our knees. And it certainly stings. It stings when you get into the bath or into the shower. It stings when you put your pajamas on and it's certainly a little bit painful. So to graze your knee is that little step that you have to take through life. We all have grazed knees and I see my grandchildren now. They fall in the playground. The playgrounds are much softer than they were in my day, but they still graze the hands, graze the knees and of course, the tears inevitably come with it to graze your knee. And also when I look at my grandchildren these days, this next expression is certainly something I can use to have a tantrum. Okay, so a tantrum is when the child, not always a child, sometimes an adult, just refuses to do what you want them to do. So they stamp their feet, they jump up and down, they scream, they cry. And we describe that as having a tantrum or indeed throwing a tantrum. Oh, he threw a terrible tantrum yesterday in the supermarket. He wanted this sweet and that sweet and I refused to buy them. So what did he do? He just stood there, jumped up and down and screamed. I felt like walking away and disowning him. Yeah, so he had a tantrum. Okay, so that's the situation about having, or indeed, as I said, you can also use to throw a tantrum. Okay, number three is to swat for an exam. This is quite an informal collocation. When we swat, we study very hard, but we usually study very hard over a short period of time. So, you know, we swat up for the exam or we swat for an exam. So the two weeks or even two days before the exam, we stay up really, really late. We're reading all the books and hopefully all the notes that we have taken over the previous time with the hope that it will stick in our minds. And that when we go into the exam, we'll have all the information. So we SWAT for an exam. And often when somebody was a permanent studio, somebody who used to study a lot, they would often just be referred to, ah, he's a SWAT. He's constantly got his head in a book, constantly studying, and he's trying to be the best guy in the class, a SWAT, or SWAT for an exam, specific focus or concentration on studying over a short period of time, but very intensely. Okay, number four, again, to do with exams. Now, this is an area where often students get a bit confused. So there are three simple verbs we can use. We can take, we can do, and we can sit an exam, and it means exactly the same. So if I have an exam next week in English, I can take my exam next week, I can do my exam next week, or I can sit the English exam next week. The meaning is exactly the same. But don't say I'm going to pass an exam next week. You will hope to pass the exam next week if you're successful, but you first of all have to sit, take or do the exam. So sit, take or do it. And then if you're successful and you get above the pass rate, then you can say, I have successfully passed the exam or I passed it last week and everything went really, really well. Okay, so to pass is to pass the mark, 40%, 45, 50%, whatever the mark is. And then you get awarded your certificate. But before that, you must do it, you must sit it or you must take it. And then unfortunately, if you're not successful, well, you have the option to redo, resit, retake. So we put that prefix in front, redo, resit, retake. Okay, but don't say repass. Yeah, you pass it only once and you only need, of course, to pass it once. Now, number five is a little word that you might not have heard of, teeter. Teeter. To teeter is to be a little bit unsteady on your feet. So if you're feeling a little bit faint, you might teeter, okay? Or if you're standing on the very edge of a balcony, you might teeter and fall over. Or if you're in the fashion business and you like wearing really, really high heels on your shoes, then you teeter on the high heels, very unsteady on your feet, not sure are you going to fall down, fall over or fall off. Okay, so to teeter on the high heels, particularly if you're just breaking into your teenage years and perhaps you've taken a pair of mum's heels and you're wearing them and they're a little bit difficult and awkward to get used to to teeter. So there is an expression, teeter on the brink, and that could be used in many situations, can teeter on the brink of a breakdown if you're really, really stressed and nervous, but teeter on the edge of the cliff, teeter on the edge of the balcony where you might physically fall over and hurt yourself. Next one, to go clubbing. So we're a bit older now, okay? So we've come out of the young and teenage years and we're into the 20s and perhaps 30s where we're living a bit. So we like to go clubbing. And to go clubbing means to go to nightclubs on a regular basis, usually Friday night, Saturday night or whenever, but perhaps it's also during the week. If you're burning the candle at both ends, then you're going to the nightclub or you're going clubbing probably a little bit more than you should. And you have to work the next day or go to university the next day. So to burn the candle at both ends means to live life to the full in the evening time and also have to work during the day. But to go clubbing, go back to our expression, the collocation, to go clubbing means to hit the town, to go to the nightclubs, to go to the discos, to go to the bars, to go clubbing. So where has Jonathan gone? Ah, he's gone clubbing with his mates. We won't see him until tomorrow. He's gone clubbing with his mates. Number seven, now we're getting a little bit older. And usually what happens when we get a little bit older, our hair turns grey or it goes grey. Or if you're like me, not only does it go grey, but it eventually falls out and you go bald. So usually men, of course. So the men, they go grey and then they go bald. Or in my case, I went bald a little bit before I went grey and eventually just no hair left at all. So, you know, people talk about going grey in their old age. Some people, because they have perhaps a shock, which can happen, they go grey prematurely. So we can say he is prematurely grey or prematurely bald, where he's lost his hair a little earlier than others, or others might generally lose it. Okay, so to go grey or to go bald. Okay, so these are the verbs we use when we are talking about that unfortunate stage or step in the life cycle. But both men and women, of course, can both go grey. And the men usually are the ones that go bald. And we often use an expression to go grey gracefully. So not to try to colour your hair to hide the fact that it's turning grey, but just accept it. And it looks very distinguished among certain people. And to go bald gracefully as well, it's not to hide it or to cover it up. And we get these comb overs where people try to comb the hair from the left to the right or from the right to the left to hide the bald patch that they have on top of the head. And unfortunately, when the wind blows, then the hair sticks up and the bald patch becomes very, very evident. And very, people are very conscious of that. So to go grey or go bald gracefully. Okay, so just accept it. Part of life, one of the steps. And at all ages, no matter whether we're young, middle-aged or old age, we tend to watch our weight. Okay, so this is the next co-location to watch our weight. Do it more so as we get middle-aged. So, you know, we can't do the things we used to. We can't eat everything on the table and then go out and exercise and never put on weight. The problem is, as we get a little bit older, we do a little less exercise, but we don't eat any less. And therefore, we can gain weight if we're not careful. So we're always told by our doctors, watch your weight, or every magazine you pick up, watch your weight. And of course, there's an organization called Weight Watchers, where people go or used to go to take various diets and undergo various diets to lose weight. Okay, so to watch your weight means to keep an eye on your waistline, to keep an eye on the kilos, to watch out for excessive intake of calories that you don't burn off, or just to increase the amount of exercise you do. And the same thing will happen. Okay, so to watch your weight, watch your weight. And if you don't watch your weight, particularly if you're a man and you drink beer, you end up with a pot belly. So that's our next co-locations to have a pot belly. And a pot belly is that round belly that has the shape of a barrel that suggests that you've been drinking one or two liters of beer a week more than you probably should have done. Okay. I laughed one time, I think the second time, I went to the beer festival in Germany, the Oktoberfest. And on the plane on the way back, there were two guys sitting beside me, a father and a son. And it was the father's 40th or 45th visit to Munich for the beer festival. And it was the son's fourth or fifth. But the one thing they had in common, even though there was at least 20 years difference in their age, both of them had a pot belly. The father, much bigger than the son's, but the son was heading in the right direction. So they both had pot bellies. And it was easy to see that they enjoyed it, but they had to be really, really careful. So a pot belly. Number 10, aches and pains. Well, as we get older, we suffer from aches and pains. You know, if you're like me, when you try to jump out of the bed or jump out of the chair or jump off the bicycle, you can have a few little creaks and moans and groans because you've got some aches and pains. And it's the aches and pains of old age. Nothing specifically hurting, but just the fact or the action of doing a little bit of a workout the day before, going for a long walk. The next day, inevitably, you wake up with those aches and pains. Yeah, so it's nothing to be blamed for it, only old age. So when somebody says, what's wrong with you? Ah, just the normal aches and pains of life. Just these are the things we have to go through. And this is how we struggle, aches and pains. Number 11, to have your wits about you, to have your wits about you. As we get a little bit older, one of the benefits we have, one of the few benefits of getting old is that we are a little wiser, yes. And so when we are wiser, we are very conscious that we don't want people to pull the wool over our eyes or in any way try to get one over on us, which means to take something from us without us knowing it. So we have our wits about us, meaning we're conscious of people trying to con us or to do something that they shouldn't do. So to have your wits about you is to be alert, to be watching out for anybody who might try to sell you something that you don't need, insurance or something, try to get your bank account details that you shouldn't give them, in some way trying to part you from your money. So you must at all times have your wits about you. And one of the benefits, as I said, of old age is that generally we end up having our wits about us and we're not easily fooled, I hope. And then number 12, to go gagger. Okay, not Lady Gagger, the singer, but to go gagger. This is an expression used long, long ago before Lady Gaga came on the scene. To go gagger is to unfortunately go a little bit stupid. Oh, well, don't mind Granddad. He's gone a little gagger. He's lost his marbles or he says silly things or he calls sons and daughters by the wrong name. And, you know, he calls the son by the dog's name and the dog by the son's name. So everybody gets a giggle because granddad has gone a little gagger, meaning he's gone a little silly, a little bit forgetful. And these things happen. It's not so serious. Of course, it can be if somebody unfortunately is suffering from dementia or something like that. But generally, we just get a little bit muddled in the head as we get a little bit older and we can get a little bit confused, particularly with names and dates and all sorts of other things. Don't mind me. I'm just going a little gagger. Okay, so here we've got then our co-locations related to various stages of life, 12 in total. I'll run through them one more time. Graze your knee. Have a tantrum. Swat for an exam. Take, sit or do an exam. And then when you've done it, taken it or sat it, you can then pass the exam. And if you don't, and if you fail it, well then redo, retake, resit. To titter on high heels. Titer means just about to be on the edge, just about to fall off, unsteady on your feet. To go clubbing, go to the discos, go dancing, go clubbing. To go grey and go bald. And as I mentioned in my examples, to go grey or to go bald gracefully. Okay, so don't try to hide it. Watch your weight. Watch out for any extra kilos that you put on to watch your weight. And if you don't watch your weight and you drink too much beer, you end up with a pot belly, a pot belly. There's a pig, a breed of pig called a pot belly pig. I think they're Korean or Vietnamese or something, but a pot belly pig, a very fat pig. To suffer from aches and pains, aches and pains. Have your wits about you to make sure that nobody dupes you, nobody takes your money or in some way tries to con you out of something, to have your wits about you. And then finally, unfortunately, to go a little bit gagger. Don't mind granddad, grandma, he or she's gone a little bit gagger or is going a little bit gagger. Well, hopefully I haven't got gagger yet and I've given you something to focus on relating to various stages in life. And if you have any questions before I do go gagger, well then you can contact me on www.englishlessonviaskype.com and I'm very happy to help you, very happy to give you some additional examples. Okay, this is Harry saying thank you for listening, thank you for watching and just a reminder to join me for the next lesson.