Daily English Phrases
Learn advanced English that you can use in the real world, not just on a test. Each phrase is natural, useful, and easy to rememberSubscribe to the RSS feed.

Entries in housework (6)

Monday
May092011

“It must be clogged.”

It must be clogged.

You tried to flush the toilet at home, but it doesn't flush. You're trying to figure out what's wrong with it. You think to yourself:

It must be clogged.

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Saturday
May072011

“Fold it yourself!”

Fold it yourself!

You just finished doing a load of laundry. Your live-in boyfriend comments that you need to fold the clothes quickly or else they'll get wrinkled. You're annoyed that he expects you to fold the laundry instead of helping, so you say:

Fold it yourself!

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Monday
Sep132010

“Have these been run?”

You open the dishwasher and you can't tell if the dishes are clean or dirty. You ask your husband:

Have these been run?

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Monday
Sep132010

“Anant, can you load up the dishwasher?”

You've finished eating dinner. Someone has to clean up the dishes, and you want your son to help you do it. He's usually pretty helpful. You ask him:

Anant, can you load up the dishwasher?

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Saturday
May222010

“Let's just not bother cooking tonight.”

Memorize

Last night, you had a party and you have a lot of leftover food. You don't want to cook tonight. You suggest to your family:

Let's just not bother cooking tonight.

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Sunday
May022010

“Baby, would you mind giving me a hand with this?”

You're cleaning the kitchen. Your wife isn't helping you. You want to ask her to help, but you'd like to ask politely so that you don't start a fight. You say:

Baby, would you mind giving me a hand with this?

Baby

Words like "baby", "sweetheart", "darling", and "dear" are sometimes used between couples in place of each other's names. These words are called "terms of affection". It can sound more sweet and loving to use these words than to call someone by name.

would you mind (doing something)

"Would you mind ___ing?" is a good way to politely ask for something that isn't too much trouble for the other person. Some more examples:

Would you mind passing me that bottle over there?

Would you mind watching my bag for a few minutes?

Would you mind sending me a list of everyone who's coming?

give (someone) a hand with (something)

"Give (someone) a hand" means to help someone. The word "help" has a wide meaning. It can be used to describe helping someone with a small problem, or with a serious emergency. So when you're asking for help, it's important to express how serious the problem is. For big emergencies, you just yell:

Help!

For smaller but still serious problems, you can ask:

Can you help me?

And for small problems that aren't an emergency, you ask:

Can you give me a hand?