Common English Euphemism Examples

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In English, a “euphemism” is a nicer way to say something that could be offensive or unpleasant.[1]https://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/euphemism.htm

We might use them to not be as direct in how we talk or not to offend someone.

Euphemisms Describing People

He is big boned. – He is fat.[2]https://www.clarkandmiller.com/25-english-euphemisms-for-delicate-situations/

  • She is vertically challenged. – She is short.
  • Frank is between jobs. – Frank is unemployed.
  • Susie is not the sharpest tool in the shed. – Susie is not the smartest.
  • They are on the streets. – They are homeless.

Euphemisms about Getting Fired

  • My boss let me go. – My boss fired me.
  • You have been made redundant. – You are not needed anymore. (you have been replaced at your job)

Euphemisms about Death

  • My mother passed away/passed on/met her maker last year. – My mother died last year.
  • My father lost his battle with cancer. – My father died due to cancer.[3]https://www.verywellhealth.com/euphemisms-for-dead-death-or-dying-1131903

Euphemisms about Bad

  • Your work just isn’t up to scratch. – Your work just isn’t good enough.
  • The repairman’s work left a lot to be desired. – The repairman’s work was bad and unsatisfying.

Other Euphemisms

  • My wife is expecting. – My wife is pregnant.
  • They come from an underprivileged family. – They come from a poor family.[4]https://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/euphemism.htm
  • I need a bit of peace and quiet. – Go away![5]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/91/9d/49/919d49e43bb8152657a1a2680c3a7dcd.jpg
  • My parents gave me the birds and the bees talk when I was young. – My parents told me about sex when I was young.[6]https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-euphemism.html
  • They are chronologically challenged. – They are late.
  • It has been a long week, I really need some adult beverages. – It has been a long week, I really need some alcohol.[7]https://peptalkindia.com/100-popular-euphemisms-in-english-language/
  • I need to go to the little boy’s room/little girl’s room. – I need to go to the restroom.
  • My cousin had to stay in a correctional facility for a few months. – My cousin had to stay in jail for a few months.

References[+]

Passive Causative

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In English, the passive causative is used for services.[1]https://blog.esllibrary.com/2014/02/20/the-passive-causative/

It is a mix of the causative-verbs and passive voice. The easiest way to understand it is by looking at each part separately and then combining the two.

passive causative

Passive Voice

In English there are two voices, active and passive.

The active voice is when the subject does the action. This is the easiest to understand and generally used in spoken speech.[2]https://www.myenglishteacher.eu/blog/causative-verbs-active-and-passive/

The passive voice is when the subject receives the action. This can be a bit more difficult to understand; however, it is commonly used in technology, science, textbooks, and reports.

If you would like to learn more about the passive voice check out this article!

Causative Verbs

A causative verb is when we talk about an action that someone else did for us.

In other words, we “caused” the action to happen. This could be through persuasion or even paying a person.[3]https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/causatives-have-get.html

The common causative verbs are:

  • have
  • let
  • make

Passive Causative

The easiest way to understand the this is through taking the same sentence and transforming to each of the 3 grammar forms.

For example:

Passive: The test was taken by the student.

Causative: The teacher had the student take the test.

Passive/Causative: The teacher had the test taken by the student.

References[+]

Cleft Sentence

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A cleft sentence is a phrase that takes a simple sentence and divides it into to part in order place emphasis on one of the parts.[1]https://www.slideserve.com/nusa/what-is-a-cleft-sentence

It Cleft Sentence

This type of cleft uses the word “it” to identify what it is placing emphasis on.

The pattern is:

it + be + “highlighted word or phrase” + that/who clause[2]https://www.slideshare.net/caticah/cleft-sentences-72374267

For example, if the original sentence is “Susie bought a movie from the store last month.”

We can make the…

Subject the focus

It was Susie who/that bought a movie from the store last month.

Object the focus

It was a movie that Susie bought from the store last month.

Time the focus

It was last month that Susie bought a movie from the store.

Place the focus

It was from the store that Susie bought a movie last month.

What Cleft Sentence

This type of cleft uses the word “what” to identify what it is placing emphasis on.

The pattern is:

what + be + “highlighted word or phrase”

For example, if the same original sentence as before “Susie bought a movie from the store last month.”

We can make the…

Word/phrase the focus

What Susie bought at the store last month was a movie.

Action the focus

What Susie did last month was buy a movie from the store.

Whole sentence the focus

What happened was Susie bough a movie from the store last month.

Other Types of Cleft Sentence

There are a few other types of cleft sentence structures you can use.

For example:

  • The person who said it was Fred.
  • The thing she wants is a hamburger.
  • The place I used to work at is closed.
  • The time I went to university was the best time of my life.
  • The reason she didn’t say anything was due to her shyness.

Practice Exercises

Rewrite the following sentences to put emphasis on the underlined part. Use “it” cleft sentences.

 17%

Question 1 of 6

1. Solar panels are a great way to invest in renewable energy.

Question 1 of 6

Question 2 of 6

2. They climbed to the top of the mountain last weekend.

Question 2 of 6

Question 3 of 6

3. The fire made many people suffer.

Question 3 of 6

Question 4 of 6

4. The professor explained how to solve the problem during the lecture.

Question 4 of 6

Question 5 of 6

5. You will do better on the exam if you study.

Question 5 of 6

Question 6 of 6

6. We need a house with a yard before we can get a dog.

Question 6 of 6


 

References[+]

Wishes and Hypotheses

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In English, you can use “wish” and “if only” to talk about wishes and hypotheses.[1]https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/intermediate-to-upper-intermediate/wish-and-if-only

The main difference is that “if only” is a stronger expression for wishes and hypotheses.  

Wishes in the Past

You can use “wish” or “if only” with the past perfect tense to talk about what you would like to change about the past.

For example:

  • They wish they had studied more for the test.
  • If only I had closed my window before I left, then the robbers wouldn’t have been able to get into the house.
  • She wishes that she had prepared more for the driving test.

Wishes in the Present

You can use “wish” or “if only” with the past simple and past continuous to talk about what you would like to change in the present.[2]https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/english-grammar-reference/wishes-and-hypotheses

For example:

  • I don’t like this food. I wish I chose something different.
  • I don’t like this seat in the car. If only I were sitting in the front seat.
  • I’m dying here. If only it was not so hot here!

Wishes in the Future

You can use “wish” or “if only” with the modal verbs “would” and “could” to talk about what you would like to do in the future.

For example:

  • I don’t like my job. I wish I could quite, but if I quite then I won’t have any money!
  • If only I would have studied more, then I would have easily passed the test.
  • I wish I could stop smoking. It is a very bad habit.

References[+]

Expressing Past Habits

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In English, you can use both “used to” and “would” for expressing past habits to emphasize that they are not true anymore.[1]https://blog.off2class.com/habits-and-repeated-actions-past/

Because they are used to talk about habits, it is slightly different than the past simple tense or the past continuous tense.

expressing past habits

Would

You can use the word “would” to talk about repeated actions in the past. A repeated action is an action that happens at a specific moment in time in the past.

You can use “would” for:

  • Moral formal situations
  • Events that happen many times

Examples include:

  • I would practice the piano every day.
  • She would hide every time I tried to find her.
  • They would have loud parties every Friday evening.

Used to

You can use the words “used to” to talk about states in the past. A state is a condition that happens over a period of time in the past.

You can use “used to” for:

  • Questions
  • Negatives
  • Stative verbs

Examples include:

  • We used to live in Paris when I was younger.
  • He didn’t use to be shorter than me.
  • Did she use to go to school with us?

Expressing Past Habits Practice Exercises

Choose the correct the correct form between “would” and “used to” for expressing past habits.

Please go to Expressing Past Habits to view this quiz

References[+]

Narrative Tenses

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Narrative tenses are verb tenses used to talk about things in the past.

Normally you can use them in stories, descriptions of past events, and personal anecdotes.[1]https://prezi.com/ja2fl95x7feq/narrative-tenses/

Some common narrative tenses that are used in the narrative tense are the past simple, past continuous, and past perfect.[2]https://www.test-english.com/explanation/b1/past-simple-past-continuous-past-perfect/

Present Tenses

Do not mix the present and past tense when narrating past events.

This will only confuse the reader or listener as to when an event happens.[3]https://www.slideshare.net/marolmedo/narrative-tenses-10054596

For example, avoid using the present simple, present continuous, or the present perfect.

Past Simple

For regular verbs, the past simple is formed by adding –ed to the end of a verb such as talked, walked, and played.[4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYVfYRzdTF0

For irregular verbs, you must memorize the past simple such as for eat (ate), go (went), and buy (bought).

If you would like to learn more about the past simple tense, check out:

Past Continuous

The past continuous tense is formed in the following way.[5]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYVfYRzdTF0

Was/were + verb – ing

For example:

  • They were walking.
  • She was eating.
  • I was sleeping.

If you would like to learn more about the past continuous tense, check out:

Past Perfect

The past perfect is formed in the following way.

Had + past participle

For example:

  • I had eaten breakfast.
  • Susie had studied for the exam.
  • We had lived there for 5 years.

If you would like to learn more about the past continuous tense, check out:

References[+]

Modals – Can’t Have/Needn’t Have

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Modal verbs are a type of verb that allows the speaker to express things such as advice, obligation, order, suggestions, capacity, request, permission, ability, and likelihood. Two important ones are “can’t have” and “needn’t have”.[1]https://phoneenglish.es/blog/2017/04/modals-cant-have-and-neednt-have/

While they seem similar they actually express quite different things.

Can’t Have

This modal verb expresses something that you are very sure didn’t happen in the past or when you believe something was impossible in the past.

When using this modal verb, it follows the following formula:

  • Can’t have + Past Participle

For example:

  • The prisoner can’t have escaped through that window because it is too small.
  • The kid can’t have been at the movie theater. He was at home all weekend studying for the exam.
  • Susie can’t have said that. She is too nice and wouldn’t say such mean things.

Needn’t Have

“Needn’t have” expresses when an action was done but was most likely a waste of time and unnecessary.

When using this modal verb, it follows the following formula:

  • Needn’t have + Past Participle

For example:

  • You needn’t have cooked so much food. We already ate before we came here.
  • She needn’t have bought a new car. I was going to give one to her for her birthday.
  • We needn’t have studied so hard for the test. It ended up being canceled.

References[+]

Relative Clauses

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Relative clauses give extra information about a noun or pronoun in a sentence.[1]https://www.st-agnes.manchester.sch.uk/year-6-circles/relative-clauses/https://www.st-agnes.manchester.sch.uk/year-6-circles/relative-clauses/

They usually start with a relative pronoun.

Who

“Who” is a relative clause used as the subject or object pronoun for people.[2]https://englishstudyhere.com/grammar/relative-clauses-detailed-expressions/

For example:

  • People who do sports are fit.
  • The student who studies in the library will do well on the test.
  • The person who does yoga is flexible

Whom

“Whom” is a relative clause that refers to the people used as the object of a sentence.[3]https://www.slideshare.net/Ifahanwar/passive-voice-relative-clauses-causative-and-subordinating-conjungtion

For example:

  • He is the person whom I told you about.
  • From whom did you receive this present?
  • To whom did you give the cake?

Which/That

“Which” or “that” is used as the subject or object pronoun for animals or things.

For example:

  • The car that I was driving is very old.
  • The horse, which you were feeding, was very hungry.
  • The house that she lives in is very big.

Where

“Where” is used to refer to a place.

For example:

  • I found the house where I used to live when I was little.
  • The school where I went to is very small.
  • The town where she lives is very far away.

When

“When” is used to refer to time.

For example:

  • I will never forget the day when I first met you.
  • When I was young, I used to go to the beach every summer.
  • She was very short when she was young.

Whose

“Whose” is used for possession for things, animals, and people.

For example:

  • The dog whose master is not home is very sad.
  • The little girl whose birthday is today is very happy.
  • The father whose son is graduating today from university is very proud and happy.

Example Exercises

Choose the proper relative clauses to complete the sentences.

Please go to Relative Clauses to view this quiz

References[+]

Future Perfect Continuous Tense

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In English, the future perfect continuous tense is used to talk about actions that will continue up until a point in the future.[1]https://7esl.com/future-perfect-continuous-tense/

Conjugation

The tense uses the verbs “will”, “have”, “been”, and the present participle (+ing).

future perfect continuous

When to Use the Future Perfect Continuous Tense

Event that continues up to a specific time in the future

You can use this tense to talk about an event in the future that will continue up to a particular time or event.

For example:

  • Susie will have been working at this company for 5 years by December of this year.
  • I will have been studying English for 6 months by the end of this month.
  • We will have been living in the same apartment for 3 years by the time we finally fixed the leak in the ceiling.

Event that just finished before another action or event

You can use this tense to talk about an event in the future that has just finished before something else.

For example:

  • I will be tired when I get home this evening because I will have been working nonstop for 36 hours.
  • Susie will be energized on Monday because she will have been relaxing for the previous week on vacation.
  • He will be sad because he will have been studying all weekend and not had any time to relax.

Example Exercises

Fill in the blanks with the future perfect continuous tense of the verbs.

Please go to Future Perfect Continuous Tense to view this quiz

References[+]

Future Perfect Tense

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In English, the future perfect tense describes an event that is planned or expected to happen before something else that is coming.[1]https://7esl.com/future-perfect-tense/

Conjugation

This tense uses the verb “will” to indicate the future and the verb “have” to indicate the perfect tense.

future perfect tense

When to Use the Future Perfect Tense

Action that will finish before a certain time in the future

You can use this verb tense to talk about an action that will finish before a specific time in the future.

For example:

  • By 10:30 am tomorrow, I will have completed my final test.
  • By 8 pm tomorrow, she will have already departed on her vacation.
  • By 7:30 am tomorrow, we will have finish the project.

Action that will be done before a certain event in the future

You can also use this tense to talk about actions that will take place before another event in the future.

For example:

  • I will have learnt French before I move to France.
  • They will have finished the project before they leave to go home.
  • Susie will have eaten dinner before she cleans the dishes.

To express belief that something happened in the near past

You can also use this tense to talk about the near past when you are convinced something has happened.

For example:

  • They will have arrived by now. (I am sure that they have arrived by now)
  • Frank will have finished his test already. (I am sure that Frank has already finished his test)
  • Elisabeth will have cleaned the dishes by now. (I am sure that Elisabeth has cleaned the dished by now)

Example Exercises

Fill in the blanks with the future perfect conjugation of the verbs.

Please go to Future Perfect Tense to view this quiz

References[+]