“To be on top of sth” is an idiom that means “to be in control of a situation” or “to be fully informed about something.” It’s frequently used to assure someone that a problem or task is under control and is being dealt with appropriately.

Likewise, Christina uses this idiom in today’s dialogue to assure her boss that the team is in control and the work is being done.

“I hate knowing that” is a phrase we use to express our discomfort or dislike for a particular fact. For example, in today‘s lesson, the speaker says, “I hated knowing that I was adding to the systematic suffering and exploitation of animals.” In this case, the speaker knew that he was adding to the suffering of animals and, because he disliked this fact, decided to change his habits.

Likewise, we can use the opposite phrase “I like knowing that” to express knowledge that we like having. For instance, “I liked knowing that I could get support if I needed it.”

The idiom “to be at a/the crossroads” means to be at a point in which an important change happens or decision must be made. For instance, “As a new graduate, I’m at the crossroads. I can choose to find a job or continue on to a master’s degree.“

The relative pronoun “where” can also be added to this phrase to further explain the situation. For instance, “As a business, we’re at the crossroads where we need to decide if we want to play it safe or start taking risks.“

Likewise, in today’s lesson, the speaker said, “It seems we’re at a crossroads where consumption patterns and technology have met in a serendipitous way.” Here “the crossroads” refers to the point at which consumption patterns and technology have met to create a good change.

“The tip of the iceberg” is an idiom that means that the subject is a small part of something (usually a problem) that is actually much larger. For example, “These complaints are just the tip of the iceberg. You haven’t even seen the worst ones!“

The idea behind this idiom is that an iceberg is usually mostly hidden underwater, and we can only see the small portion of it that is above water. Thus implying that there is a larger portion of this situation that is hidden. However, there are a few variations in this idiom, and it is not always negative.

For instance, in today’s dialogue, Rick says, “I feel like I’ve barely begun to scratch the tip of the iceberg that is NYC.” Here “to scratch” means to uncover or discover, and the iceberg is NYC. So, Rick means that he’s barely begun to discover the many things that NYC has to offer.

In today’s lesson we learnt that part of Amazon’s mission statement is to be customer-centric. What they mean is that they believe in putting the customer first, or regarding the customer as the most important.

Centric is used quite commonly in physics and astronomy. In ancient times, people believed that all of the stars and planets revolved around the Earth. This is what is known as the “geocentric” model. A model where the Earth revolves around the Sun by contrast is called “heliocentric.“

Whenever you want to express putting someone or something first, putting them in the center, or regarding them as the most important thing, you can use “-centric.” It doesn‘t really matter if you use a hyphen or not, although if you are being creative and making your own word, it’s usually safer to use one.

“This” and “that” are a pair of words that by now you are quite familiar with. Today we’d like to talk about a great use for both of these words: complaining!

This type of complaining is especially useful when your complaint is that another person always talks about the same things.

You can use the same word before “this” and “that.” For example, he’s always talking about “money this and money that.” But you can also change one of the words, like we see in today’s dialogue: “social construct this” and “postmodern that.”

“When in truth” is a dramatic phrase that is used to reveal a truth or an opposing opinion. For instance, “She said that she was happy, when in truth she was not happy at all.“

Likewise, in today’s lesson, the speaker said, “On one hand, society has ingrained that factors such as wealth can lead to happiness, when in truth, Gilbert argues, this is a false belief that does more to protect the economy.”

Here, Gilbert is arguing that society has created this false belief that wealth can lead to happiness in order to motivate those in society to make money and propel the economy.

Note that the conjunction “when” can be substituted with “but” in this phrase. It can also be removed so that “in truth” starts the next sentence, e.g., “In truth, Gilbert argues, this is a false belief that does more to protect the economy.“ Here is the pattern:

(False idea/common opinion) + when in truth + (truth/opposing opinion).

Native English speakers love to use “it’s time” to refer to actions that should happen now, or should have already happened. A relative “that” clause follows the phrase, but “that” is often omitted.

For example, “It’s time I went home.” Here, I’m expressing that it’s late, and I should leave.

But why use “went”? This is called this “the past subjunctive.” It’s a past tense verb that expresses that something should have happened earlier.

We can use it to express regret, or to criticize someone for doing something late.

Here is the pattern: It’s time (that) + subject + past subjunctive verb

We can also say “It’s about time” to make it more polite and softer, and we can say “It’s high time” for added emphasis.

In today‘s monologue, the speaker used the past participial phrase “consumed by passion” to modify the subject of the sentence “he.” Participial phrases are common in novels, newspapers, academic writing and speeches. They allow the speaker/writer to add information about the subject without making the sentence too long, which can help readability and give it more impact.

For instance, the speaker could have said, “He becomes consumed by passion and abandons his wife and embarks on a quest to fulfill his artistic vision.“ However, the repetition of ”and“ makes this sentence overly long and boring. But the speaker shortens the sentence with the participial phrase like this: ”Consumed by passion, he…” This gives the sentence more impact while keeping it easy to read.

As you may have guessed, we often use past participial phrases to give reasons for someone‘s actions. For instance, “Angered by the events, he refused to participate.”

The suffix “-wise” can be used for many different purposes. We see it in the words “lengthwise” or “clockwise,” in which case it means “in the direction of.” In this lesson, however, it means “concerning” or “as for.” When it has this meaning, we use a hyphen to attach it to the noun, and it forms an adjective or adverb.

For example, in the dialogue, we see the sentence “Culture-wise, it‘s a great place too.” This means that Vancouver is also great regarding its culture.

A common scenario is when someone asks us how we’re doing. We might reply by saying, “Work-wise my life is good, but money-wise, I’m having trouble.” This means that work is going well, but there are some financial problems.