Phrases and practice

Learn a useful phrase in context, listen to its pronunciation and practise saying it.

• That unevenness was not an intended ornament, but I need not remove it to like my own bowl; I would like to talk about accepting imperfection without inventing a plan I never had while shaping it.C2 · #5401
• Show me where the shape starts to depart from my sketch before correcting it for me; when the tutor leaves her own mark on the piece, I find it harder to distinguish what I learned from what someone else's hands accomplished.C2 · #5402
• The series title suggests a coherence these vessels do not yet have; I would rather find a real kinship between their forms first than let a shared title do all the work of connecting separate ideas for me.C2 · #5403
• By calling the bowl raw, I meant its unrefined appearance, not an unfinished stage of work; let us clarify the caption so an aesthetic description does not become information about its state of completion.C2 · #5404
• I would also like to show the vessel I abandoned halfway through; beside the finished piece, it reveals a decision to change direction that an exhibition of successful results alone would leave invisible.C2 · #5405
• Agreeing to change partners during an exercise gives no one the right to comment on whom I prefer dancing with afterwards; a teaching arrangement ends where we start organising someone else's social life.C2 · #5406
• Let us identify the moment we lost our shared rhythm without competing over who made the first mistake; even correctly assigning blame will not tell us how to reconnect in the next figure.C2 · #5407
• I assumed a confident step meant agreement to a faster pace, although I never asked; I would not want to read someone's skill as a tacit commitment to keep up with every change I impose.C2 · #5408
• Let us retain the moment before the figure begins, since that is when we coordinate our entry; cutting out apparent stillness would hide the preparation we want to practise and show only its result.C2 · #5409
• Praise for freedom of movement is welcome, but in this exercise I am trying to maintain a deliberately chosen pattern; ask what someone is practising first so encouragement does not pull them away from their current goal.C2 · #5410
• The donor called the object priceless because of a family memory, not as a valuation; at the stall, let us distinguish the story of its significance from the amount we ask the buyer to pay.C2 · #5411
• We can explain the fundraiser's purpose, but I would not use it as a retort to every question about an item's condition; a charity fair should not turn an ordinary request for clarification into an accusation of ungenerosity.C2 · #5412
• I put two objects under one price because they looked good side by side, not because they must be bought together; let us separate the labels before an incidental stall arrangement starts imposing terms we never agreed.C2 · #5413
• One person reads what we called set aside this morning as reserved, another as withdrawn from sale; let us state what is to happen to those items rather than trust every volunteer to supply the same missing meaning.C2 · #5414
• Empty stalls may mean we sold everything, but also that some donations were taken away earlier; before the photograph becomes our success story, check which items actually disappeared through purchases.C2 · #5415
• I would not sign the card from everyone when two people do not yet know about the gift; that convenient shorthand would put wishes in their mouths that they have neither read nor had a chance to phrase themselves.C2 · #5416
• We treated his joke about collecting mugs as a request for another, though it may have been a complaint about lack of space; before buying something convinced we know his taste, let us revisit the tone of that conversation.C2 · #5417
• A group gift need not become a public test of emotion; we can present it discreetly and let the recipient respond in her own time, without waiting with a camera for a reaction that validates our efforts.C2 · #5418
• Our desire to preserve the surprise should not force us to guess a size we can ask about without revealing the whole idea; keep the element of surprise where it does not come at the expense of the recipient's comfort.C2 · #5419
• When thanking someone for a gift, I need not promise to use it daily; sincere appreciation of their thoughtfulness needs no declaration that later turns an ordinary object into a measure of my gratitude.C2 · #5420
• I stopped by a plant I cannot name and do not consider that moment wasted; if the walk is meant to develop attentiveness, a list of identified species should not become the sole record of what we noticed.C2 · #5421
• My note says I saw no birds by the pond, not that none were there; the limits of my observation should remain visible even when a shorter sentence would sound much more definite.C2 · #5422
• The caption a sound from behind the reeds indicates the direction the sound came from but does not identify its source; let us not name a performer just because imagination supplies the pond's most picturesque resident.C2 · #5423
• I drew a dashed line where we turned back before the path ended; the legend will explain the limit of our walk so a reader does not mistake missing notes for evidence that there is no way through beyond it.C2 · #5424
• We described the same bend as quiet in the morning and bustling in the afternoon; rather than delete one note as contradictory, retain the observation times, since the difference may reflect the place's rhythm rather than either observer's unreliability.C2 · #5425
• I am choosing these flowers because they remind me of her garden, not to convey a coded confession; a personal association is worth explaining rather than assuming she will read the bouquet through my private dictionary.C2 · #5426
• A lavish bouquet may express my enthusiasm, but in a small flat it also becomes a task of finding room for it; choosing for someone should take account of their daily life, not just the spectacle of the presentation.C2 · #5427
• The card with the flowers should not pretend the bouquet has settled the issue without the conversation we kept postponing; I can invite reconciliation, but do not want to declare it complete on behalf of someone who has not yet replied.C2 · #5428
• A request for a modest bouquet is not an invitation to prove I can afford more; increasing the scale against an expressed wish can turn a thoughtful gesture into a display of my generosity at the recipient's expense.C2 · #5429
• When showing the florist a bouquet photograph, I want to recreate its airy character, not every individual flower; identify the important proportions so fidelity to the inspiration does not become insistence on a detail that does not determine the effect.C2 · #5430
• I do not expect you to play deliberately below your ability to encourage me; I would rather revisit a crucial moment after losing than win through courtesy, since I want a chance to learn, not a success staged to keep my spirits up.C2 · #5431
• Let us record the position we will return to after a break in the analysis; reconstructing the pieces from memory can leave us discussing a different problem while still using names and arguments from the previous line.C2 · #5432
• When a spectator suggests a move, the distinction between my game and joint analysis becomes blurred; let us agree on a time for comments so that help does not quietly change whose decisions we compare at the board.C2 · #5433
• Taking back a move can help us try another idea, but afterwards I would not cite the result as proof of an earlier advantage; once we reopen the line, we are telling a different story of the game.C2 · #5434
• I need not immediately memorise a line's name to explain why I am considering it; in our discussion, the term should abbreviate an agreed meaning rather than replace a justification with the prestige of a famous name.C2 · #5435
• I read agreement to one film as a liking for the whole genre, though it may have applied only to that evening; before planning a series of screenings, let us ask what persuaded the others about this particular suggestion.C2 · #5436
• When presenting a film as ideal for our group, I want to leave room to decline without defending one's taste; an enthusiastic recommendation should not cast a sceptic in advance as the person spoiling everyone's evening.C2 · #5437
• The trailer promises a light comedy, but I know the film and its later shift in tone; I would rather warn the group about that shift without revealing events than hide behind the advertising when our expectations diverge.C2 · #5438
• After the screening I asked what the film meant to say, as though we had to agree on one message; perhaps start with the scenes that moved us, so the discussion does not turn different readings into a contest to guess the author's intent.C2 · #5439
• I would not want someone who knows the ending to conduct the conversation solely through knowing allusions; they can keep the secret and still participate openly rather than make other people's first viewing a display of their informational advantage.C2 · #5440
• Asking everyone to smile helps stage the photograph, but its later caption should not present that smile as proof of unanimous joy; posing and an account of feelings are not the same kind of evidence about the gathering.C2 · #5441
• We arranged people by height, not degree of kinship; before anyone reads a supposed family division from the frame, explain the practical reason for an order no one designed as a map of our relationships.C2 · #5442
• We chose one photograph for the album, but I would not delete the other shots merely because they are unsuitable for publication; laughter between poses may also matter to us without needing an outside viewer's judgement.C2 · #5443
• If we choose the photograph solely because I look best in it, the group portrait becomes my calling card; show several shots and agree on a choice rather than treating my satisfaction as the whole family's consent.C2 · #5444
• I can call the gathering a return to tradition in the caption, but do not want that to promise next year's reunion on everyone's behalf; describing today's significance should leave future commitments for a separate discussion.C2 · #5445
• Beside the visit date, note who is going and who is handling the remaining tasks at home; the entry alone describes an event, but without assigned roles it may burden someone who was only meant to know about the plan.C2 · #5446
• An empty box does not mean someone's evening is ours to allocate; the calendar shows only recorded commitments, so before filling a gap with a shared plan, ask about time no one wanted to turn into an event.C2 · #5447
• A recurring entry should remind us of a habit rather than establish an endless obligation; if the meeting does not happen for several weeks, check whether the calendar still reflects what we want or merely an old decision.C2 · #5448
• I moved the entry to another day, but that did not agree a new date with the people involved; the calendar change should follow a conversation rather than pretend dragging an entry has moved someone else's commitments.C2 · #5449
• The note family does not yet say whether I am inviting everyone or reserving time with one person; expand the shorthand where others use the calendar so a shared label does not generate expectations beyond the actual plan.C2 · #5450
• I understand the conductor's request for my voice to stand out less as a change in balance in this passage, not an invitation to sing hesitantly; I would like to hear the sound we are working towards together rather than merely make sure I go unnoticed.C2 · #5451
• Let us clarify whether the mark added to the score means silence for everyone or just a place for me to breathe; while the others continue the phrase, my own need for breath should not impose a new division of the piece on the whole choir.C2 · #5452
• When rejoining a rehearsal halfway through a piece, I need to know where to come in, not have everything repeated from the beginning; I would not want making my return easier to interrupt the continuity of work the others have already done.C2 · #5453
• If the correction concerns the ending of one word, let us say so before discussing my voice as a whole; the more precisely the difficulty is identified, the easier it is to treat the comment as something I can work on rather than a verdict on my singing.C2 · #5454
• The word stresses in the translated song fall differently from those in the text we learned; I would like to agree on what should be emphasised in the new version instead of mechanically stressing a syllable merely because the old emphasis fell in the same place.C2 · #5455
• The word 'kitchen' on a box may show where the contents came from or where they should go, and during a move these are not always the same; add the destination room before someone carries a heavy box somewhere it will have to be lifted again.C2 · #5456
• Recreating the old shelf arrangement in the new flat can make familiar order seem the only sensible option; before unpacking every book, let us check whether it still suits how we use the room rather than only how we remember it.C2 · #5457
• After the dishes have been taken out, the box still contains items wrapped in paper, so labelling it 'unpacked' would be premature; record what remains inside so tidying up after the move does not turn unchecked leftovers into accidentally discarded belongings.C2 · #5458
• I am happy to keep the mementoes, but do not want my attachment to make you automatically responsible for sorting them; separate the decision about what we take from the division of work, since one person's sentiment can become another's invisible obligation.C2 · #5459
• We put things needed until departure and again on arrival in the last box, so it should be the first accessible in the new flat; the packing order does not tell us the unpacking order here, and repeating it literally would make our first night harder.C2 · #5460
• I would love to hear your impressions, but please do not write them in the margins of this copy; someone else's notes can become part of the next reader's path through the text, and I want to decide for myself which traces remain in my book.C2 · #5461
• Keep the bookmark left in the book separately if you want to mark your own progress; it showed where I had reached, so moving it would erase the trace of my reading even though for you it would be an ordinary way of using a borrowed volume.C2 · #5462
• Returning the book before finishing it does not mean I am asking you to explain the ending; we can settle the return while leaving the story open, since the volume going back on your shelf does not mean I no longer want to discover the ending myself.C2 · #5463
• When lending you the third volume of a series, I do not assume you remember everything from the earlier books; I can recap where we start, but would first like to know which volumes you have read so my help does not reveal what still lies ahead of you.C2 · #5464
• I will not lend this copy because its inscription connects it for me with a particular person, though I am happy to discuss the text with you; my refusal concerns this object, not access to the story, which we can read in other editions.C2 · #5465
• Sitting between two conversations does not oblige me to relay every comment from one end of the table to the other; I would like to take part in dinner rather than spend the evening as a messenger simply because my chair happens to be in the middle.C2 · #5466
• With food on a shared platter, it is hard to know whether someone leaves the last portion out of courtesy or because they have had enough; ask before treating hesitation at the table as agreement for one person to take everything that remains.C2 · #5467
• What I said quietly to the person beside me at the table was not yet an anecdote for the whole group; before repeating my words more loudly, let me decide whether I want to tell that story to the people who did not hear its beginning as well.C2 · #5468
• You can clear the other plates and leave mine until I finish; I do not expect everyone to delay the next part of the evening, but I would like to finish eating without feeling that I am holding the entire gathering up over one mouthful.C2 · #5469
• The name cards were meant to help people find their seats, not establish a hierarchy of closeness to the hosts; if someone wants to move, let us arrange it freely before a practical seating plan is read as a map of whom we value more.C2 · #5470
• I want to try another way of finding pieces, but we need not dismantle the section you have already assembled; make room for a trial beside it so curiosity about a method does not turn someone else's patient work into material for endlessly starting over.C2 · #5471
• I gathered the blue pieces to make them easier to find, not to reserve the whole sky for myself; if we divide the work, say what that division means before a neatly sorted pile starts to look like one person's private territory.C2 · #5472
• Let us leave the last piece for the child if they want to complete the picture, but not later say they did the whole puzzle alone; we can give someone the joy of the finish while honestly remembering the hands that assembled the rest throughout the evening.C2 · #5473
• We agreed not to look at the picture on the box, so the unfamiliar section remains part of our game; if we now want a hint, acknowledge that change rather than quietly use knowledge the others are still denying themselves.C2 · #5474
• For me, the finished puzzle is ready to put away; for you, it is only now ready to look at properly. Before I take the image apart, let us leave a moment for closure, since finishing the task need not mean everyone is ready to part with its result at the same time.C2 · #5475
• When I return to my own language to find a missing word, let us focus on that one point rather than immediately translate the entire story; I want to pick up the thread in the language I am practising, not turn temporary support into an escape route from the conversation.C2 · #5476
• I am asking for a slower pace, not for everything beyond the textbook to be removed from our conversation; I may need more time to recognise words while still wanting to discuss matters worth thinking about for both of us.C2 · #5477
• Today I choose to practise declining and negotiating a date because that conversation awaits me after our meeting; I do not want to finish with nothing but polite agreements if the real situation will require setting a boundary without breaking off contact.C2 · #5478
• After the conversation I will note which questions I answered from a prepared sheet and which answers I composed on the spot; both forms of practice are valuable, but without the distinction it is easy to mistake prepared support for the spontaneous fluency I hope to have next time.C2 · #5479
• That expression worked for you while joking with friends, but I do not yet know how it would sound to a stranger; note the relationship between the speakers so the example does not turn the ease of one setting into a promise of universal appropriateness.C2 · #5480
• Two similar umbrellas are lying side by side, so recognising the colour alone does not establish which is yours; before you take one, let us compare a detail you remember rather than treat the first familiar object as the one you are looking for.C2 · #5481
• An announcement about a found notebook should help its owner recognise it without quoting private entries; we can describe the cover and where it was found without making the exposure of its contents the price of getting it back.C2 · #5482
• When you say 'leave that bag for me', I do not know whether it is yours or you are collecting it for a friend; clarify on whose behalf you are taking it so help with handing something over is not remembered as a mistake about its owner.C2 · #5483
• I moved the found scarf from the cloakroom to the table by the entrance, so I will update the earlier collection message; otherwise someone may search where it no longer is and think it has gone missing again when only its storage location has changed.C2 · #5484
• Thank you for returning what I lost, but I would rather not tell the whole group why the object matters so much to me; I can express gratitude without revealing a story that, for you, began only when you found it.C2 · #5485
• A visible patch can be part of the jacket's new look for me, not the trace of a failed attempt to hide a hole; agree on whether the repair should disappear from view or be deliberately shown before judging the result against conflicting expectations.C2 · #5486
• Marking a new sleeve length is a suggestion to try on, not permission to cut immediately; I would first like to see both sleeves in motion so the decision about comfort is not based solely on a still pose in front of the mirror.C2 · #5487
• I want to preserve my grandmother's stitching, even though replacing the whole section would be easier; for me, the repair should also retain a trace of her work, so the effectiveness of a new solution is not the only measure of a well-restored garment.C2 · #5488
• A different button can remain a deliberate quirk of this coat if that is how you like it; I will not replace all the others just to disguise my need for uniformity as the only correct way to finish a small repair.C2 · #5489
• When I say I want to restore this shirt, I mean to keep wearing it, not remove every sign of its age; before promising an 'as new' appearance, ask whether complete newness is actually the result I care about.C2 · #5490
• I would rather spend time with a few works than walk through every room just to say I saw the entire exhibition; I would not, however, present my preference as proof that people who visit differently look less attentively.C2 · #5491
• I am asking you to read the label because I cannot see the small print from here, not because I expect a lecture on the whole period; I would first like to know what is written before we give it a meaning that goes beyond the description itself.C2 · #5492
• The closed room leaves a gap in our visit, but does not invalidate our encounter with the works we have seen; we can honestly say what we missed without reducing the entire afternoon to one unfulfilled item on the itinerary.C2 · #5493
• As the group moves on, I have only just found a place with a good view of the display case; tell the guide I need a moment rather than assume that no question means I have finished looking, when for most of the time I saw other people's backs.C2 · #5494
• Before splitting up to explore, name the specific entrance where we will meet again; 'where we started' sounds unambiguous only until we realise that for some the beginning means the museum gate and for others the first room we visited.C2 · #5495
• I can hand you a card during the show, but do not want to be drawn into a joke about my supposed gullibility; agreeing to help with a trick does not automatically include every role that could be written for me to amuse the rest of the audience.C2 · #5496
• When asking you to repeat the trick, I want to experience the surprise again, not necessarily learn its secret; ask whether I want another performance or an explanation before kindly revealing the mechanism and taking away the pleasure I came for.C2 · #5497
• If you tell me from the outset which card to choose, let us treat that part as a scene we perform together; I would not later want to assure the audience I made an independent choice when its conditions had already been agreed out of their sight.C2 · #5498
• From the side I saw the hand hidden by the front of the table, so my experience differs from yours; I will describe what was visible from my seat, but not make my own surprise or its absence a measure of everyone's reaction when they sat facing the table.C2 · #5499
• When you say onstage that the object has vanished forever, I accept it as part of the story, but would like the ring I lent you back after the trick; agree on a return to our usual arrangements so the theatrical ending does not leave unfinished business between us.C2 · #5500