English
日本語
한국어
简体中文
繁體中文
Italiano
español
Deutsch
Русский
Hello, and welcome to Speak good English with Yishu. Sometimes people say something that you can’t help but agree with. Maybe it’s because you have a shared experience, or because you share the same opinion or feelings about something.
Earlier this morning, my friend Sam told me she was so exhausted that she felt like she could fall asleep right away. I responded, saying ‘Tell me about it!’ Did I mean I want to hear more about why she was tired? No. ‘Tell me about it’ is a fixed expression we use to mean we agree with something that someone has just said, or to say you’ve had a similar experience. It can also be used to acknowledge a shared feeling or opinion about something. So, in this case, I meant to say that I’m also tired. Get a little bit confused?
Let’s hear more examples of this phrase to get a clearer image.
- When I told my boss I was working too much, she just said ‘tell me about it’.
- You’re not happy with the new trilogy of films? Tell me about it.
- Tell me about it! I know exactly what you mean when you said the cricket team wasn’t performing.
You' are listening to Speak Good English with Yishu and, and we are hearing about the expression ‘tell me about it’. We use it to say we agree with exactly what another person has said, to say we’ve had a similar experience, or that we have the same opinion or feeling about something. so when you said ‘tell me about it’, you didn’t want me to tell you about it…you were saying you felt the same. That’s a bit strange, isn’t it? Well, Language can be a bit strange at times – especially with fixed expressions!
Do you like the phrase today? I am Yishu. And see you tomorrow.
Vocabulary:
- trilogy: a series of three books, plays, etc.
- cricket: a sport
Comments (0)