5 ESL vocab words (5)

 

to be diligent – basically this means to be hard working and focused on details. i.e. Our last accountant, Bob, had a good education but he just wasn’t diligent enough. He always seemed to make mistakes that others had to correct. Or: No student is going to do well in school unless he/she is diligent about reading the materials assigned and doing thorough (complete) research.

to be or feel overwhelmed – to experience too much of something  i.e. I had so much work to do and then my boss gave me three extra projects to finish by the end of the week. I felt so overwhelmed by work that I wanted to scream. Or (used positively): When I visited China two summers ago people were so kind to me; I was overwhelmed by their kindness and cannot even express my gratitude to this day. Or: I decided to go to a nightclub in Manhattan by myself but there were so many attractive and cool people that I felt overwhelmed and I went home. I now realize few people go to nightclubs alone.

to bail on someone or something – to abandon someone or something, to run away from someone or something. This term comes from “to bail out of an airplane” – in a war if an airplane is damaged a pilot will jump out (bail out) of the airplane and glide down with his parachute. ‘bail’ can be a confusing word because you can also ‘bail someone out of trouble’ or someone arrested by the police can pay ‘bail’ and stay out of jail before his/her trial. So ‘bail’ has a few meanings, but I want to focus on ‘to bail on someone or something’. i.e. When I got to the dance club I realized that everyone there was a teenager, so I bailed on the club and went elsewhere. Or: Joe had a blind date from an internet dating site (he was meeting the person for the first time without having seen her before). At the restaurant he realized that his date was a nasty and insulting person, so he made an excuse to leave and bailed on her.

a rant – this is when a person complains loudly about something, for a significant amount of time. i.e. At the press conference Trump launched into (began) a long rant about how much journalists hate him and how unfair everyone is to him. Or: Sometimes crazy people launch into crazy rants on the subway in New York City. They just start complaining loudly about anything and everything.

to be booted from some place – to be kicked out of some place, to be removed from some place. i.e. A crazy woman launched into a scary rant on an airplane recently and started saying that the airline was corrupt and they were all going to die. The plane landed early so she could be booted and arrested. Or: Two people wouldn’t stop talking at the concert hall recently and this upset many people who had paid a lot for their tickets. So the security guards booted these two people from the concert hall.