“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.”

In this lesson, the speaker says “What I find fascinating is that…” This is an example of a cleft sentence. It can be said another way: “The thing that I find fascinating is…” Cleft sentences are very common. What they do is introduce and emphasize what you’re about to say and they can often help to contrast it with other things or even what somebody else said.

For example: A: I don’t really like Siri’s voice. B: Really? What I dislike about Siri is that she never understands me. (Here, “she never understands me” is emphasized and this is being contrasted with A’s statement.)

Here are a few patterns:

As you know, many English idioms come from sports. As you may also know, maybe competitions take place in a “ring.” So it should come as no surprise that a ring in English has come to represent any competitive space. The idiom “throw one’s hat into the ring” means to signal your intention to join a competition.

Often, we will see the phrase followed by the preposition “for” or “to” to express a purpose. Or, you can place an adjective before the word “ring” to modify it. You can also go one step further and use a noun (like “flying car”) to modify “ring.”

In this lesson, we saw the sentence, “Applying deep work to your work ethic is anything but easy.” It can be rephrased: “Applying deep work to your work ethic is not easy at all.”

The phrase “anything but” is a great way to emphasize what something is not. It means “it can be many things, but it is absolutely not this.” Verbs, nouns or adjectives can follow “anything but.”

“Such being the case” is a formal phrase that means “since this is the case” or “under these circumstances.” Here “such” is a pronoun that refers to a previous statement.

In today‘s lesson, the speaker says, “Such being the case, he argues we should focus less on goals and more on the actual systems that will put us on the right trajectory.” Here “Such being the case” refers to Clear’s philosophy that incremental changes compound over time to have massive effects. And, since he believes this to be the case, he argues we should focus more on those systems that can help us make those incremental changes.

Often this phrase is used to express why a certain decision or action was made. For instance, “There was an overwhelming number of complaints about the product. Such being the case, they decided to suspend the project until they come up with a viable solution.”

Since this phrase is formal, it’s mostly used in writing or formal speeches.

A parenthetical phrase is an explanatory phrase that is separated by commas. And, as a result, it can be removed from a sentence without changing the meaning. For instance, “The project, I assume, will be completed shortly.” Here “the project” is the subject, and “I assume” is a parenthetical phrase that can be removed.

Parenthetical phrases make the sentence tone more dramatic or impactful. Compare these two sentences:

The problem, I admit, is entirely my fault. (Dramatic)

I admit that this problem is entirely my fault. (Not dramatic.)

Likewise, in today‘s lesson, the speaker said, “But in truth, he contends, gaining traction has more to do with reframing our approach to innovation.“ Here, the parenthetical phrase ”he contends“ adds a dramatic touch, making the sentence more impactful to listeners.

Did you know that tables are useful? It‘s true! Not only in life, but also in language. While the idea of the table can refer to many different things, in English when we say “something is on the table,” we mean that something “is available to take or use.”

Perhaps it could be a job offer that is on the table. Perhaps it’s a good offer. Perhaps it’s a bad one. We can see that in today’s lesson when Jim tells Judy that ignoring weak ties can lead us to leave a lot of potential value on the table. In other words, he’s saying that ignoring weak ties means that we are not making use of this valuable thing.

Basically, the three verbs we use with this idea of table are “put,” “take,” and “leave.” However, we can also say, “it’s still on the table” when we talk about valuable things like job offers.

“To be (stuck) in a rut” is an idiom that means to be stuck or trapped in a pattern of life, work or personal behaviour that is typically boring or unproductive. For instance, if you find yourself doing the same tedious tasks everyday and are frustrated with your lack of growth, you could say that you are stuck in a rut.

“A rut,” in its literal sense, is a deep narrow channel (or hole) in the ground made from wheels. Thus, the idiom implies that this person feels that they are stuck in a hole that they now need to climb out of.

We can see this idea in dialogue when Roger says, “support networks are vital to help you stay grounded and get you out of that rut.” In other words, he is emphasizing how important networks are in helping you move past your problems and the cycle of negative thinking.