“I'm a little worried about what would happen if we were to have an earthquake.”

In your apartment, you have a tall bookshelf set up near your bed with some heavy boxes on top of it. Earthquakes aren't common in your area, but you're worried that the boxes would fall and hurt you if one happened. You communicate this fear to your wife.

I'm a little worried about what would happen if we were to have an earthquake.

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“OK, OK. No need to get all melodramatic.”

Your daughter has told you that she's going to quit school. Your wife gets really upset and says that your daughter's life will be ruined. You're not happy either, but you don't think she should get so upset. You say:

OK, OK. No need to get all melodramatic.

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“Hey, don't sweat it.”

You're having a party at your house. The guests were supposed to bring some food or drink for everyone to share. One of your friends came without anything. He’s apologizing for not bringing anything, but you don’t want him to worry. You say:

Hey, don't sweat it.

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“The situation in Fukushima is deepening the public's concern over the safety of nuclear power.”

A nuclear power plant has had an accident. It is getting too hot and is in danger of a meltdown. The news has already been reported for the last day. Now you're watching a news program, and they're talking about how people are reacting to this scary news. The news announcer says:

The situation in Fukushima is deepening the public's concern over the safety of nuclear power.

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“That's unlike him. He's usually so clean-cut.”

Your coworker came to work looking really scruffy. His hair is messed up, his clothes are wrinkled, etc. He doesn't usually look this way, so you're worried about him. When someone comments on how he looks, you say:

That's unlike him. He's usually so clean-cut.

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“Try not to draw attention to yourself.”

You're from a small town. You're visiting a big city in a foreign country with your fiance, and you're a little intimidated. You're worried about getting robbed or scammed, so you want to try to act like someone who lives in that city. You tell your fiance:

Try not to draw attention to yourself.

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“Do you have an upset stomach?”

You're out with a friend, and she starts to look like she's uncomfortable. She's holding her stomach. You think that she might be sick.

What's wrong? Do you have an upset stomach?

(someone) has an upset stomach

When you "have an upset stomach", it means that your stomach feels strange. It feels like you might need to throw up or have diarrhea soon.

This is similar to "having a stomach ache" but a little different. A "stomach ache" sounds like you have some kind of pain there. An "upset stomach", on the other hand, doesn't mean that you have pain. It just means that the food in your stomach is going to need to come out soon in one way or another.

You can also say "(someone's) stomach is upset":

What's wrong? Is your stomach upset?

“I didn't want to make her feel self-conscious.”

Today your daughter made a really funny mistake on her science homework. You wanted to laugh about it, but you didn't want to upset her so you stopped yourself from laughing. Now you're telling your husband about it and explaining why you did that. You say:

I didn't want to make her feel self-conscious.

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“That looks serious.”

Your brother cut his finger while cutting some onions. There's a lot of blood coming out of the cut, and you're worried about it. You say:

That looks serious.

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“I've had this presentation looming over me for weeks now.”

You have an important presentation for school that's due this week. You've been thinking and worrying about the presentation for 3 weeks. Now you're talking with your boyfriend, who you've spoken to about the presentation before.

I've had this presentation looming over me for weeks now.

this (thing)

In the example above, the speaker says "this presentation". Using "this" makes it seem like the speaker wants to continue talking about the presentation.

(someone) has had (something) looming over (them)

When something "looms" over you, it means that it's floating or hanging ominously. It feels threatening and makes you worry that something bad is going to happen. The best example of this is when dark clouds are floating in the sky. You can describe it this way if you write a story about a scene:

There were dark clouds looming overhead.

People also use "looming over" to talk about a bad event that they know is going to happen in the future:

My 40th birthday is looming right around the corner. I'm not looking forward to that!

for (length of time) now

You can use the phrase "for weeks now", "for two days now", "for 5 years now", and so on. When you use the word "now" after a length of time, it shows that you think this was a pretty long time. Not a really long time, but maybe longer than you expected. For example, if you're telling someone how long you've been studying English:

I've been studying it seriously for over three years now, but there are still little things that trip me up.