Hello, and welcome to Speak good English with me, Yishu. Are you ruled by your head or your heart? If you get upset by someone’s feedback or advice, it’s probably your heart that’s in control! We teach an English phrase that describes this feeling which you may experience. Find out more in this episode.

If someone takes something to heart, it means they react to someone’s criticism or advice personally and seriously so that they become upset by it.

Let’s hear some examples to have a better understanding.

• Don’t take her comments to heart. I thought your performance at the show was excellent!
• He was only joking about your shoes – don’t take it to heart!
• Freya tends to take things to heart, so be careful how you deliver your feedback.

You’re listening to Speak good English with Yishu, and we’re talking about the expression ‘take things to heart’. We use this expression to mean someone takes advice or criticism personally and very seriously. I think we all have had feedback from others that is not very good, so next time you did, try not not take it to heart maybe they are just not good at giving constructive feedback. 

Ok, that's our piece of authentic English for today. See you soon. Bye bye~

Key words and phrases

criticism: the act of saying that something or someone is bad

feedback: information or opinion about something

constructive: useful and can be helpful or improve something