PhraseMix Articles

How do you feel about calling yourself "fluent"?

Do you feel comfortable calling yourself "fluent" in English?

I started thinking about this topic recently when I was telling someone about my experiences living in Japan. She asked whether I'm fluent in Japanese, and I started to give my usual complicated answer.

I'm never sure what to say. On...

How to respond to "How are you?", "What's up?", and other conversation starters

There are a few questions that English speakers ask at the beginning of a conversation. These questions are simple tools to find out if there are any interesting topics to discuss:

How are you?

How's it going?

What's up?

What's happening?

You've certainly heard these...

15 ways to say "Hello" in English

You might know two or three ways to say "Hello" to someone, but there are actually dozens of different expressions.

Why do we need so many different ways to say "Hello"? One reason is that English speakers like to avoid repeating words. If one person says "Hello", the other person might...

The PhraseMix Method

This is how I suggest using the audio lessons on PhraseMix to improve your English skill:

1. Read the lesson. Start with the situation. Try to imagine yourself in that situation. Then read the example sentence.
2. Read the explanation. The goal is not to understand everything about the...

99 English Phrases to say 'I love you'

When you're learning English, you can find a lot of phrases that seem to mean the same thing, but are a little bit different. It can be really hard to know which phrase you should use. A good example is phrases that you use to tell someone that you love them. There are so many different...

Phrases for thanking someone in English

This is a list of phrases for showing appreciation or gratitude to someone in English.

Light "thank you" phrases

If someone does something small for you, you can say:

Thanks.

Thank you.

It's common to follow "Thanks" with a person's name or a word to address them:

Thanks darling.

Thanks...

Halloween English phrases

(Photo courtesy of Gaudencio Garcinuño)

Halloween is a holiday that happens on October 31st each year. People dress up in strange costumes. Kids wear these costumes to walk around the neighborhood and ask their neighbors for candy. Adults go to parties or street fairs. Here are some...

English expressions that waiters, waitresses, and restaurant staff use

When you go to a restaurant, you usually have a good idea of what's going to happen. That's because eating at a restaurant usually follows a set script. The wait staff isn't actually given a written script to memorize, of course. But even so, waiters and waitresses usually stick to a very narrow...

Ways to talk about crime in English

There are a lot of specialized words and phrases in English. There is formal terminology that judges, lawyers, and newspaper reporters use. There's also informal language that people use when talking about crimes in casual conversation. This list will get you started with some common phrases...

Wedding phrases in English: the reception

A wedding "reception" is a party that happens after the wedding ceremony. Here is a list of things that happen at the reception:

• The bride and groom, and their families, greet the guests.
• Guests mingle and have cocktails.
• There's a catered dinner. Seating is usually assigned.
• Guests may get...