Hello, everyone. Não perca: neste episódio eu falo sobre uma estrutura comuníssima do inglês, cujo significado pode ser sintetizado em “realizar algo através de um certo comportamento ou ação”. OK, foi muito vaga essa definição – mas não se deixe enganar! Se você ainda não tiver ouvido esse tipo de estrutura por aí, depois desse podcast vai começar a percebê-la. It’s everywhere!
Transcrição
Hello, everyone. Here’s a new episode of the Inglesonline podcast. Please subscribe to this podcast using the Podcasts app for iPhone or iPad, or listen to the episodes using the Inglesonline Android app. Thanks for all the comments at the iTunes store and if you haven’t yet left a comment for this podcast please do so: the more comments for the Inglesonline podcast, the more people will find out about it and listen to the episodes. Thanks for telling your friends, your neighbors, your family and keep listening.
Today I’m gonna talk about a very interesting structure in English. It is very, very common not only in everyday conversation but also in news reports, lectures, TV, radio – basically you’ll hear it everywhere. Let’s start with an example: Billy talked his way into his new job. Listen again: Billy talked his way into his new job. What does that mean? Ok, so let’s break this down. Billy has a new job, right? That’s easy to get from that example. Now, the part that says… “Billy talked his way into…” – that means basically that Billy used his powers of persuasion to get his new job. He talked, he had a chat with someone or maybe two, three or more people, and through talking, he was successful in getting his new job. Billy is probably a persuasive guy.
Listen to this one: the killer talked his way into the victim’s home. There’s a killer; there’s a victim. And the killer got into the victim’s home. How did they do that? Through talking. They probably got to chatting with the victim and persuaded him or her to invite them in. The killer talked his way into the victim’s home. The killer used talking to achieve his or her goal.
And check this one out: a student lied his way into Harvard University. I’ve actually read this on the news. This is a guy who forged all the documents that are required to apply to Harvard University. He forged letters of recommendation, test results, transcripts, essays and so on. In other words, he lied, a lot. And using all the fake documents to apply, he actually was successful and got accepted by Harvard. This guy lied his way into Harvard. He got into Harvard through lying.
And here’s a popular one: Mary sang her way into our hearts. Mary is a singer, or at least she can sing. And what was the result of her singing? She got into our hearts. That’s a figure of speech, of course, and it means that we love her now. She’s in our hearts, we’re fond of her, we like her. And how did Mary accomplish that, so to speak? Through singing. Mary sang her way into our hearts. We probably saw her sing on a TV show, let’s say.
Now check this out: our boss appointed Tony to chair the next meeting, but Tony somehow talked his way out of it. So the boss said to Tony – you’re going to chair this meeting; you’re gonna be the leader or the facilitator for this meeting. And then what happened? Tony used his powers of persuasion and talked to his boss, and somehow got out of it. Tony talked his way out of it. What is “it”? Acting as the chair of the meeting, leading the meeting. My friend talked her way out of meeting with the company CEO next week. Mike’s father told him he had to stay in tonight and study… Mike somehow talked his way out of studying, and is going out tonight. Joanne wanted us all at the office party tonight, but Sandy talked her way out of it. Smart! What is “it”? The office party, or attending the office party. Sandy talked her way out of it.
So tell me – were you familiar with this structure before listening to this podcast? And please let us know in the comments how you talked your way into something or out of something. Talk to you next time!
Keywords
talk (one’s) way into (something)
lie (one’s) way into (something)
talk (one’s) way out of (something)
Glossary
forged = falsificou
transcripts = históricos escolares
essay = redação (ensaio)
figure of speech = figura de linguagem
to be fond of someone = gostar de alguém
chair a meeting = ser o líder, o condutor da reunião
Ana criou um blog de dicas de inglês em 2006, e depois de muito pesquisar o que faz alguém ganhar fluência numa segunda língua, criou seu primeiro curso de inglês em 2009.
I might confess ive never heard about it before, just the phrasal verb ” talk into and talk out of doing ” but as usual, once we learn a new word, we start hearing the phrases all the time…
Hi Ana! I’m not sure, but I think is safe to say that everybody talking they way into some matter when asking some favor to someone.Specially kids…haha they are the expert about talking they way into our hearts in order to get what they want.
Bye!!
Hi Ana Aluiza! Thanks for this new podcast! I always check them before any doubts. You’re always make it so clear. I really recommend your job to all of my English lovers friends. Have a nice day! ;D
I have already seen this structure before, and this is my example: “Children when want something from their parents they talk their way into them until getting what they want.” Am I right?
Thanks!
