Vocabulary practice · Episode 150

Review the useful expressions from the episode

Study the episode’s central expressions with English definitions, nuance and examples, plus reviewed support-language versions where available.

B1–B2Everyday EnglishAbout 15 min + dynamic ads5 PDF versions available
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  1. Choose one expression. Read its definition, nuance and examples.
  2. Make it yours. Write one true sentence from your own life.
  3. Return to the episode. Listen for the expression in its original context.

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Vocabulary from the episode

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Expression 1

a reason to get up

A purpose, responsibility or anticipated activity that gives you motivation to begin the day.

Nuance: The phrase is usually practical rather than grand. Here, get up means getting out of bed and engaging with life, not merely standing.

Her choir gives her a reason to get up on Tuesday mornings.

Planning breakfast with a friend gave him a reason to get up early.

Expression 2

look forward to

To feel pleased and excited about something that is going to happen.

Nuance: It is followed by a noun, pronoun or -ing form: look forward to the weekend; look forward to seeing you. The to is a preposition, not an infinitive marker.

What are you looking forward to this week?

I am looking forward to meeting the new team.

Expression 3

downshift

To deliberately reduce your pace or level of activity so that you feel calmer and more in control.

Nuance: Originally a driving verb meaning to change to a lower gear. In wellbeing contexts it is a vivid metaphor for slowing down; it can be a verb or an informal noun.

She downshifts with an hour in the garden every afternoon.

I need ten quiet minutes to downshift after work.

Expression 4

unload stress

To release or reduce accumulated mental and emotional pressure.

Nuance: Unload literally means to remove a load. With stress it creates the image of regularly putting down a burden rather than eliminating stress forever.

A regular walk helps her unload stress.

He called a friend to unload some of the pressure he was carrying.

Expression 5

clock in for somebody else’s stress

To begin absorbing another person’s anxiety or conflict as if it were your own job.

Nuance: This is a humorous metaphor built from clock in, meaning to record the start of a work shift. It is not a fixed idiom, but it is vivid and reusable when describing doomscrolling or unnecessary emotional labour.

Doomscrolling can feel like clocking in for somebody else’s stress.

Do not clock in for every argument you see online.

Expression 6

cognitive reserve

The brain’s capacity to cope with age-related change, injury or disease by using its networks flexibly.

Nuance: A research term, not a promise that one activity prevents dementia. The episode carefully says challenging learning may support it while the evidence about late-life language learning is still developing.

Researchers are studying how lifelong learning relates to cognitive reserve.

Cognitive reserve may help explain why people cope differently with similar brain changes.

Expression 7

take up something

To begin a new activity, hobby or subject and spend time doing or learning it.

Nuance: A separable phrasal verb: take up chess; take it up. In this meaning it does not mean occupy space or time, although take up also has those senses.

Dorothy took up Italian at eighty-four.

I have taken up swimming, and I am still learning the technique.

Expression 8

at the edge of what you can do

Working close to the current limit of your ability, where a task is difficult but still possible.

Nuance: The phrase frames difficulty as productive challenge. It does not mean pushing into danger or ignoring pain; the edge is the boundary of present skill.

Making mistakes can mean you are working at the edge of what you can do.

The course keeps me at the edge of what I can do without overwhelming me.

Expression 9

belong to something with a calendar

To be part of a group or activity that meets at regular, scheduled times.

Nuance: The phrase contrasts vague social intentions with a recurring commitment. With a calendar means the connection has a predictable structure, not that the group literally owns a calendar.

A weekly choir lets her belong to something with a calendar.

I joined a book club because I wanted to belong to something that met regularly.

Expression 10

turn up

To arrive or appear at a place, especially as expected or repeatedly.

Nuance: A common informal British phrasal verb. In the episode, keep turning up means that reliable presence matters more than being naturally sociable or charming.

You do not have to be charming; you have to keep turning up.

Only six people turned up for the first class, but they returned every week.

Expression 11

put your people first

To give priority to the relationships and people who matter most to you.

Nuance: Your people is warm, informal language for close family, friends or chosen community. Put first describes priority in choices and time, not unconditional agreement or neglecting your own needs.

The final habit is to put your people first.

She put her people first by protecting time for a weekly call.

Expression 12

same time next week?

A short way to suggest repeating a meeting or activity at the same time the following week.

Nuance: A natural elliptical question: the full form would be Shall we meet at the same time next week? Its light tone can turn a one-off encounter into a recurring ritual.

That was useful. Same time next week?

After their first walk, Maya asked, ‘Same time next week?’

Expression 13

small enough to be embarrassing

So modest and easy that the action almost feels too insignificant to mention.

Nuance: A deliberately playful exaggeration used to lower the barrier to starting a habit. It recommends a tiny first step, not literal shame.

Choose one habit small enough to be embarrassing.

Her first goal was small enough to be embarrassing: walk for two minutes.

Expression 14

put something in the diary

To schedule an activity by recording it in your calendar or planner.

Nuance: A common British expression. Diary here means a calendar or appointment book, not a private journal. Put it in the diary makes an intention concrete.

If nothing excites you this week, put something in the diary.

Let us put lunch in the diary before the month gets busy.

Expression 15

a full life

A life rich in meaningful relationships, activities, experiences and purpose.

Nuance: Full does not necessarily mean busy. In the episode it contrasts quality and meaning with simply accumulating more years.

A long life is not the goal; a full life is.

She built a full life around friends, learning and time outdoors.

Expression 16

keep something alive

To continue caring for, maintaining or supporting something so that it survives or remains active.

Nuance: It can be literal, as with plants, or figurative, as with a tradition, relationship, memory or idea. The object comes between keep and alive.

Looking after the garden gives him a reason to keep it alive.

A monthly dinner helps them keep the friendship alive.

Expression 17

work out

To discover, calculate or understand an answer through study or thought.

Nuance: In the episode, scientists are still working out how much language learning contributes. This meaning differs from exercise and from a situation ending successfully.

Scientists are still working out how language learning affects the ageing brain.

We need to work out why the plan failed before we try again.

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