Start with short recordings, then work through longer phrases. Listen once for the situation and again for the words.
Use myself when it refers back to I in the same clause, as in I introduced myself to the group, or when it adds emphasis, as in I myself checked the details. Use me after a verb or preposition when another person acts on you: Please send the details to me.
Put the main events in the order they happened. Use time expressions such as first, after that, later, and finally when the listener needs help following the sequence. Use before, after, and while to show how two events relate to each other.
A needle in a haystack is a person or thing that is extremely hard to find among many similar possibilities. Use the idiom to describe the search or the item being sought.
A nerd is an informal word for someone who is very interested in and knowledgeable about a subject. It can be friendly, playful, or insulting depending on the context.
Put no before a noun. Use none without a following noun, or use none of before a named group. Say no money, but say none left or none of the money.
Use nought when you mean zero or nothing. Use knot for a tied loop in material, or for a nautical unit of speed.
Keep common noun partnerships together in your notes. Learn a piece of advice, a parking space, customer service, and a burst of laughter as complete phrases.
When a noun comes before another noun, the first noun usually stays singular. Say car door, book shop, and shoe shop. Some established expressions use a plural first noun, such as clothes shop and savings account.
Read all the words, look for the strongest connection between most of them, and choose the word outside that connection. In bus, train, bicycle, and sandwich, sandwich is the odd one out because the other three are forms of transport.
Use of to show a relationship, amount, material, or part. Use off for separation, removal, or movement away from something.
Use on the grapevine after hear or heard when you learned something through informal talk: 'I heard on the grapevine that Maya is moving.' It tells the listener that the news did not come from an official source. Check the person or organization involved before you act on important news.
Use one to replace a singular countable noun and ones to replace a plural countable noun. Use them when the listener knows what noun you mean: the red one, the red ones.