Mastering English Vocabulary and Phrasal Verbs

Memory and Recollection

• Blot out: Forget
• Evoke: Bring to mind
• Recall / Remind / Reminisce: Remember
• Suppress: Forget
• A trip down memory lane: Reminds you of pleasant or sentimental memories
• Come flooding back: Suddenly or strongly remembered
• Memory like a sieve: Very bad memory
• Jog your memory: Cause to remember
• Know something by heart: From memory
• Rack your brains: Try hard to remember
• Ring a bell: Remind of something
• Take you back to: Remind you of a specific time

Common Phrasal Verbs and Meanings

• Walk out on: Leave
• Stand up for: Defend
• Go for: Decide on
• Look into: Investigate
• Turn out: Happen or develop
• Play up: Behave badly (portarse mal)
• Sign up for: Enroll in (matricularse en)
• Account for: Cover from total
• Go down: Decrease
• Look down on: Despise (despreciar)
• Pass something on: Give to the next person
• Come across: Encounter
• Stand out: Noticeable
• Blend in: Camouflage
• Put up with: Tolerate
• Fit in: Belong
• Turn down: Refuse
• Make up: Invent
• Come down to: Depend on
• Get away: Escape or avoid blame
• Take after: Resemble (parecerse)
• Carry on: Continue
• Put off: Postpone or repel (apartar)
• Make up for: Solve or compensate
• Bring about: Provoke

Literary Genres and Narrative Terms

Genres: Comic book, fable, fairy tale, fantasy, folk tale, graphic novel, myth, novel, play, poetry, short story.

Narrative Elements: Action, central, drawn, red herrings, hinges, narrative, opens, point of view, portrayal, recommend, set, twists, unfolds, written.

Adjectives for Storytelling

• Frightening: Chilling, macabre.
• Funny: Humorous, light-hearted.
• Boring: Predictable, tedious, slow-moving.
• Exciting: Breathtaking, compelling, fast-moving, nail-biting, sensational.
• Sad: Sentimental, touching, poignant.

Reading Habits and Idioms

• Bedtime reading
• Be a bookworm
• Heavy going
• Get into it
• Judge a book by its cover
• Page-turner
• Read between the lines
• Cut a long story short

The Stages of Friendship

Making Friends

• Bond with somebody over something: Hacerse amigos por algo
• Get acquainted with somebody: Conocer
• Strike up a friendship with somebody
• Friend somebody
• Get talking to somebody

Being Friends

• Be inseparable
• Keep a friendship going
• Stay in touch
• See a lot of
• Keep track

Losing Friends

• Drift apart
• Fall out with somebody
• Wreck a friendship
• Unfriend
• Drop

Emotional States and Adjectives

Aggrieved (ofendido), baffled (desconcertado), devastated, ecstatic (eufórico), elated, gobsmacked (boquiabierto), gutted (destrozado), honored, impervious (insensible), outraged, perplexed, perturbed, privileged, stunned, troubled, unconcerned.

Common Idiomatic Expressions

• Get sick and tired of
• Spend a fortune on
• Rough it: Live without comfort
• Without a trace
• Keep your cool
• The whole point of
• Out in the open
• Be kept waiting

Similes and Comparisons

• Be like two peas in a pod
• Bumpy ride: Difficult
• Plain sailing: Easy
• Act like a sheep
• Cry like a baby
• As blind as a bat
• As dry as a bone
• Fight like cats and dogs
• As cool as a cucumber
• As light as a feather
• Fit like a glove
• Eat like a horse
• Sleep like a log
• As quiet as a mouse

Grammar: Using 'If Only' and 'I Wish'

• If only / I wish + Past Simple: Situation you would like to change in the present.
• If only / I wish + Would: To change an annoying situation.
• If only / I wish + Past Perfect: To express regret about the past.

Prepositional Phrases and Locations

• In: The world, Africa, a valley, the landscape, those parts, the cozy atmosphere, the silence of the desert.
• On: Earth, the first night.
• At: Sunrise, an oasis, ease in.