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Video Response
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- Vocabulary
Jeanie, United States
Something that I waste a lot of time doing is worrying unnecessarily about different things in my life. One example is I often worry about what to do in the future so "Should I keep teaching? Should I go back to school?" I often worry about whether I'll be successful in life and whether I'll keep the respect of everyone I love.
Jeyong, Korea
I waste time using the internet, for example MSN and sending e-mails to friends and theirs a homepage in Korea called cyworld and it's really popular among the Koreans and you put up the pictures, go to other people's homepage and write up visiting comments and I think it's a good way to keep in touch with friends all over the world.
Martin, United States
What is something I waste a lot of time doing? Sadly, I'd have to say the playstation is a big waste of time. I play a lot of games, but especially baseball games. That usually takes up anywhere from thirty minutes to five hours. I had a lot of fun playing with my old roommate, baseball, as well as the old car chase games, but unfornutately, the play station is a big waste of time.
Simon, Canada
Ah, lately I've been wasting my time watching TV. I hate to admit it but recently my apartment building has given each unit a digital TV so I get about 5 sports channels, FOX TV with the Simpsons and I've been watching that way too much, so yeah, that's a nasty habit I've picked up lately.
Ruth, England
Something I waste time doing? Probably the worst thing for me is going on the internet, so I go to work, and I get there and I spend the first 30 minutes, or half an hour checking my e-mails which is a complete waste of time, and checking the news, which OK, is important but is not the most important thing I should be doing that day. Let's see, that's probably the thing I waste the most time on.
Todd, United States
Something that I waste time doing? Well, I waste way too much time talking. At work, I have a meeting, I have to talk with my colleague about something important, I go to their desk and we start talking about the news, about our friends, about our weekend, and we talk and talk and talk. Sometimes I forget what I even went to my colleague's desk about, or we have a meeting and we don't start the meeting for 30 minutes cause were just talking so the boss doesn't like it too much. He gets upset but yeah, at work I talk way too much.
unnecessarily
I worry unnecessarily about different things in my life.
Here, the word 'unnecessarily' is used to talk about things we don't need to do. If you worry 'unnecessarily' about something it means there is no reason to worry about it. Notice the following.
- Students often worry unnecessarily about their appearance.
- The teacher was unnecessarily strict about grammar.
whether
I often worry about whether I'll be successful in life.
The word 'whether' is very similar in meaning to 'if'. Notice the following:
- She doesn't know whether she can come to the party.
- She doesn't know if she can come to the party.
car chase
I had a lot of fun playing the old car chase games.
We use the word 'chase' to talk about hurrying after something or someone in order to catch them. Notice the following:
- Almost every action movie has a car chase.
- I hate to see beautiful cars damaged in chase scenes.
a nasty habit.
Watching TV can be a nasty habit.
A habit is something we do again and again. It is something that is very natural for us. A 'nasty habit' is a bad habit that we should not continue to do. Notice the following:
- Smoking is a nasty habit.
- In my culture, people spit a lot. It's just a
nasty habit.
picked up
That's a nasty habit I've picked up lately.
The phrasal verb 'pick up' has many meanings, but here we use it to talk about a habit we have developed, usually from spending time in a particular place or with particular people. You can 'pick something up' like this by seeing it many times and then starting to do it yourself. Notice the following:
- My dad picked up smoking when he was in the military.
- Taking off my shoes before entering a home is a habit I
picked up while working in Japan.