Improve Your English: English in Everyday Life

’cause:
Short for 
because
.
curling:
A team sport similar to bocce and shuffl
eboard 
that is played on ice with large granite stones and brooms 

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The
 F
am
il
y
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in which the object is to get your team’s “stone” as close 
as possible to the target while preventing your opponent 
from doing the same.
day one:
Th
e very fi rst day or beginning of an event or 
period of time.
a dot on the map:
A very small town or location.
four and a half years old, going on fi fty:
An expression 
that means the speaker’s daughter is four and half years 
old chronologically but exhibits the maturity or mental-
ity of a much older person.
full-fl edged:
Complete, total, entitled to all the benefi ts 
and responsibilities. 
gotta:
Common verbal utterance of 
got to
, which means 
the same as
have to
.
grad school (graduate school):
Th
e collegiate educa-
tional level after the fi rst four years of college (baccalau-
reate) during which a person usually pursues an advanced 
degree.
the Hill:
An expression that refers to the area around the 
U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., where the 
members of Congress (Senate and House of Representa-
tives) and their staff s work. It is the center of the legisla-
tive branch of the U.S. federal government.
hybrid:
An object or entity that has a mixture or combi-
nation of characteristics taken from other things.
just roll with it:
An expression that means “to accept a 
situation or circumstance as it arises and deal with it or 
adjust to it.”
Kiwis:
A slang term referring to people from New Zea-
land, derived from the kiwi bird, which is native to New 
Zealand.

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