๐ฐ Episode 102 โ Reacting to News | EnglishDrops
Five phrases natives reach for the second a story breaks. Master them and you'll react to news like you grew up speaking English. ๐ง
The 5 Chunks
- out of the blue (idiom) โ completely unexpected, no warning. "He called me out of the blue after ten years." โ ๏ธ Keep the "the" โ never "out of blue".
- spread like wildfire (idiom) โ travels extremely fast. "The clip spread like wildfire within hours." โ ๏ธ spread never takes -ed โ spread โ spread โ spread.
- make headlines (collocation) โ become big news. "The merger made headlines worldwide." โ ๏ธ Make, never take โ and no "the" before headlines.
- a hot topic (collocation) โ everyone is debating it right now. "Remote work is still a hot topic." โ ๏ธ topic, not theme; "hot" means intensely debated, not spicy.
- take with a grain of salt (expression) โ don't fully believe it. "Take online rumors with a grain of salt." โ ๏ธ UK speakers say "pinch of salt" โ never "grain of rice".
โจ Magic Sentence
A story came out of the blue at breakfast, spread like wildfire by noon, made headlines by dinner โ and now it's a hot topic we're all taking with a grain of salt.
๐ฃ๏ธ Real-Life Dialogue (fill in the blanks!)
A: Did you see the news about the stadium? B: Came totally out of the blue! A: Right? And it's spread like wildfire since lunch. B: It'll make headlines by tonight. A: It's the hot topic at work already. B: Take it with a grain of salt till then.
๐ง Translations
| English | ไธญๆ | ๆฅๆฌ่ช | Franรงais | Espaรฑol |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| out of the blue | ็ชๅฆๅ ถๆฅ | ๅบใๆใใซ | sortir de nulle part | de la nada |
| spread like wildfire | ็ฏไผ | ้็ซใฎใใใซๅบใใ | se propager comme une traรฎnรฉe de poudre | propagarse como la pรณlvora |
| make headlines | ไธไบๅคดๆก | ๅคง่ฆๅบใใซใชใ | faire les gros titres | ser titular |
| a hot topic | ็ญ้จ่ฏ้ข | ใใใใช่ฉฑ้ก | un sujet brรปlant | un tema candente |
| take with a grain of salt | ๅไฟกๅ็ | ่ฉฑๅๅใซ่ใ | prendre avec des pincettes | tomarse con reservas |
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