The English We Speak: Understood the assignment
The English We Speak

The English We Speak: Understood the assignment

B1IntermediateJuly 7, 20262 min
  • Language lesson
  • Language learning

This slang phrase is about knowing what you have to do for a task, and doing it perfectly. Hear examples and learn how to use it in this programme, with Georgie and Feifei. As always, find a free transcript here: ✔️ https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/the-english-we-speak_2026/ep-260706. For more great language tips and programmes visit bbclearningenglish.com We send a newsletter with our weekly highlights - subscribe here: ✔️ https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/newsletters

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Sentence 12 of 12 · 0:46

you're talking about a costume party.

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A1 36%A2 31%B1 15%B2 13%C1 5%
  • 82% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 164 words a minute: natural, fairly fast speech.
  • 8 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

Transcript

The opening of the episode. The whole transcript is in the player.

0:00

Hello and welcome to the English We Speak, where we explain expressions used by fluent English speakers so that you can use them too. I'm Feifei and I'm joined by Georgie. How are you? What have you been up to this week? Well, something that's really exciting is that I went to a costume party. The theme

0:19

was fairy tales and my friend came as a fairy. She wore these amazing purple wings. She got her makeup and hair done professionally and she looked incredible. She really understood the assignment. Oh wow, that sounds fun!

0:36

But what do you mean she understood the assignment? Assignments are usually something we do at school, like essays and coursework, but you're talking about a costume party. Yes, that's because understood the assignment is now being used as a slang phrase, meaning

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