06-Aug-2025

Greetings from Fluent & Fearless,

Good day, dear readers! This week’s issue is all about “giving”… effort, resistance, and even returns.

ESL Word/Phrase of the Week

English Phrase: “Give up.”

Meaning: To stop trying; to quit doing something because it’s difficult.

Examples:

• “Don’t give up — learning English takes time!”

• “She gave up smoking last year.”

Quick Tip:
Use give in when someone stops resisting pressure and give back when something is returned — they’re cousins in the give family!

• “No te rindas, ya casi terminas el curso”.

• “Se dio por vencido con los verbos irregulares y cambió de tema”.

Highlighted Language Mistake of the Week

Mistake: “She don’t give up easily.”
Correct: “She doesn’t give up easily.”

Why?
“Doesn’t” must be used with he/she/it, never “don’t.”

Examples:

• ✅ “He doesn’t agree.”

• ❌ “He don’t agree.”

How to Fix It:
Memorize the pattern: I/you/we/they → don’t ; he/she/it → doesn’t, no matter what verb comes after.

Punctuation Tip of the Week

Spotlight: Colons ( : )

What is it?
Colons introduce a list, explanation, or example after a complete sentence.

Examples:

• “She had one goal: improve her speaking confidence.”

• “There are three steps to learning: practice, persistence, patience.”

Quick Tip:
Only use a colon after a full sentence — never right after a verb or preposition.

Featured Story of the Week

DON’T MISS YOUR BREAKTHROUGH MOMENT BY GIVING UP

Alejandra, a nurse from Peru, loved everything about English — except speaking it. She had spent years watching Netflix with subtitles, repeating lyrics from Adele songs, and filling notebooks with new vocabulary. But every time she had to speak in front of someone? Her voice disappeared.

“I freeze,” she told me during our first session. “I don’t want people to think I’m stupid.”

After a particularly frustrating day at work — where she could have helped a foreign patient but stayed silent — Alejandra messaged me, “I think I should give up. Maybe English just isn’t for me.” I told her a secret many learners never hear: fluency is not a talent — it’s stamina. She agreed to keep going, not perfectly, but consistently.

For the next three months she practiced tiny brave moments: ordering coffee in English, asking one question during a webinar, speaking up once during her team meetings. No dramatic leaps. Just small actions repeated. Then one day, she sent a voice note, her voice bright and shaky with pride: “I gave a presentation today… in English!”

It wasn’t flawless. She stumbled, paused, even mispronounced “temperature.” But she did it. And afterward her supervisor said something that made her tear up: “You should do that more often.”

Alejandra didn’t become fluent overnight — but she didn’t give up. And that made all the difference. So if you feel like surrendering? Don’t. Sometimes the biggest victories come right after you almost walk away.

Cultural Corner – Idiom/Slang of the Week

Idiom: “Piece of cake.”

Meaning: Something very easy.

Example:

• “The interview was a piece of cake — they hired me on the spot!”

Spanish Equivalent: “Pan comido”.

Ejemplo:

• “Esa prueba fue pan comido, terminé en diez minutos”.

Note: Both expressions use food to express “this was easy” — a reminder that language can be delicious, too.

Reader Poll / Puzzle / Comment

Brain Teaser:
Before you give up on riddles… try this one:

What has many keys but can’t open a single lock?

Answer: A piano.

Your Turn:
Which phrasal verb with give confuses you the most — give up, give in, give out, give away, or give off? Reply with your pick and an example sentence — We may feature it in an upcoming issue.