Do you want to know how to express your New Year's resolutions in English? In this dialogue, you'll find all the necessary sentences and words to do so. Remember to also listen the audio version to improve your pronunciation and to check the vocabulary at end of the article.
Thomas: Happy New Year!
Emily: Happy New Year to you, too! Shall we go for a drink or a bite to eat?
Thomas: Let’s go for a coffee and a sandwich. I’m giving up alcohol for a while.
Emily: Oh, new year’s resolution, is it?
Thomas: Yes, exactly. I’m laying off the booze and taking up running. Got to get in shape.
Emily: Well done, you! I’m giving up smoking myself.
Thomas: Hey, that’s great! I was wondering why you hadn’t nipped outside yet.
Emily: Yes, well, it’s not easy. I’m having quite a hard time of it, actually.
Thomas: I��m sure. It’s one of the hardest things I’ve done myself, but I feel all the better for it — especially when I run.
Emily: Yes, maybe I should join you!
Thomas: That’d be great! It’s really boring by myself. I go before breakfast around 6am.
Emily: Ugh, perhaps not then. I hate early mornings…
NOW LET’S REVIEW THE VOCABULARY!
- A bite to eat is an idiom referring to a snack or a small meal.
- The phrasal verb to give up in this context means to stop doing something, usually a bad habit like smoking or drinking. Other verbs used include ‘to quit’ or ‘to stop’.
- Making new year’s resolutions is a tradition of setting personal goals for the year ahead.
- Lay off the booze is a colloquial phrase for giving up alcohol. You can also say ‘lay off the bottle’.
- To take something up means to start a new habit, like running or painting.
- To get in shape means to get fit, usually through exercise or a healthy diet.
- To nip is an informal way of saying ‘to go quickly’.
- When you have difficulty doing something, you have a hard time of it.
- When you feel (all) the better for something, you experience an improvement as a result of it, in this case, quitting smoking.
- By myself means ‘alone’.