Improve Your English: English in Everyday Life

Impr
ov
e Y
our Englis
h: Englis
h in Ev
er
yda
y Life
54
for a movie.” And, uh, she could not say that, “Oh, we 
want to go for a movie.” He has to—she had to suggest in 
a diff erent way, “Oh,” that, “I was talking to that neighbor 
and, uh, she went for a movie,” so the father has to catch, 
and if he’s not in a good mood, he will say, “OK, OK, 
that’s fi ne.” So she had to pray for him to suggest some-
thing so we can, we can get it because he’s the man who 
decides because he has money. But my wife, I mean, she’s 
much independent here, and if I say I’m tired, she picks 
her own car and go. So it’s-it’s like two extremes. But, uh, 
I think—
by and large
I-I-I feel—there-there is a genera-
tion gap, too, of course, and, uh, my wife would not have 
been like my mother back home if we were in India. She 
would have been little more independent, but, of course, 
she is much more independent here because she drives 
herself, she has her own money, she has, uh, I mean, uh, 
she has a good job, so there’s a lot of diff erences.
INTERVIEWER:
A lot of diff erences.
DEFINITIONS
by and large:
An expression that means “generally speak-
ing,” “for the most part,” or “ in most cases.”
’em:
Common shortened pronunciation of 
them
.
full-time:
Working at a job or a task for all of the time 
specifi ed or needed to accomplish it. When used in refer-
ence to work, it usually means working at a job for forty 
hours per week.
gonna:
Going to.
laid out:
Predetermined.

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