Learn another common, idiomatic English phrase; it's one that you'll likely hear whenever people discuss the value of intense effort to accomplish a goal
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| Chihiro: Hi guys, Chihiro here. |
| Daniel: Daniel here, Take it to the Max. |
| Daniel: Hello and welcome to buzzwords season one at EnglishClass101.com, where we study modern English in a fun, educational format. |
| Chihiro: So brush up on the English you started learning long ago, or start learning today! |
| Daniel: Ever taken something to the max? In this lesson you’ll learn about how ‘max’ is short for maximum, which you may know as the highest number or amount that a person or thing can hold or tolerate. |
| Chihiro: So, to do something to the max can also imply that you’re putting your best effort into it or that you’re really trying hard to take full advantage of something. |
| Daniel: So, if you work out at a gym and you have a personal trainer, the trainer might tell you, “push yourself to the max and you’ll see results fast… no pain no gain!” Apart from being a very tough trainer, he or she wants you to put all your effort into the exercise. |
| Chihiro: Which is exactly why we need trainers, so we don’t go soft on ourselves! Another example is if your boss says, “we’re working our employees to the max, let’s give them a well-deserved holiday” apart from that sentence being highly unlikely, it means that the employees are working to their full capacity. |
| Daniel: Right, I’m still waiting for that phrase to be said! As you can see, in both examples, “to the max” means to reach a point where there’s no more room for improvement. |
| Chihiro: But going to the max can also sometimes have a negative connotation because using something to the max or “maxing something out” may have disadvantages. People often talk about how they’ve maxed out their credit cards or used all of the available credit on them. |
| Daniel: For example, I can say, “I have to stop shopping. All of my credit cards are totally maxed out.” This means you cannot buy anything anymore with your credit cards because you don’t have any available credit left. |
| Chihiro: Another example is if your computer hard drive is maxed out. This means that you won’t be able to save any more files on it because it’s full. In both of these cases, maxing out your credit cards and maxing out your hard drive are not situations you’ll be happy to be in. |
| Daniel: Definitely not! But going back to something more positive, you can take your English skills to the max by maxing out on our lessons! |
| Chihiro: Yes, please do! Go ahead and max out this lesson by using the lesson notes to get the maximum results! |
| Daniel: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| Chihiro: to tolerate [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: to endure, to permit |
| Chihiro: to tolerate [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: to tolerate [natural native speed] |
| Next we have: |
| Chihiro: to take advantage of [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: to use something so that it is beneficial |
| Chihiro: to take advantage of [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: to take advantage of [natural native speed] |
| And next we have: |
| Chihiro: to work out [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: to do physical exercise to improve fitness |
| Chihiro: to work out [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: to work out [natural native speed] |
| And the next word is: |
| Chihiro: connotation [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: Idea that is implied by a word |
| Chihiro: connotation [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: connotation [natural native speed] |
| Next word is: |
| Chihiro: capacity [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: maximum amount that can be held |
| Chihiro: capacity [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: capacity [natural native speed] |
| Next we have: |
| Chihiro: to boot up [natural native speed] |
| Keith: to turn on a computer and wait for the operating system |
| to get ready |
| Chihiro: to boot up [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: to boot up [natural native speed] |
| The next word is: |
| Chihiro: effort [natural native speed] |
| Keith: work that is done by the mind or body |
| Chihiro: effort [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: effort [natural native speed] |
| Next we have: |
| Chihiro: to deserve [natural native speed] |
| Keith: to be worthy of |
| Chihiro: to deserve [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: to deserve [natural native speed] |
| The next word is: |
| Chihiro: totally [natural native speed] |
| Keith: completely, entirely |
| Chihiro: totally [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: totally [natural native speed] |
| And the last word is: |
| Chihiro: positive [natural native speed] |
| Keith: good, optimistic |
| Chihiro: positive [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: positive [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: Well, that just about does it for today. Till next time, bye! |
| Chihiro: See you guys! |
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