The English We Speak: Passing Ships
Learning English Conversations

The English We Speak: Passing Ships

A2ElementaryJuly 14, 20262 min

This phrase comes from a longer idiom, ‘like ships that pass at night’. It’s used when two people have busy schedules, and struggle to find time to meet for more than just a brief encounter. Learn how to use it here, with Georgie and Feifei. Find a free transcript here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/the-english-we-speak_2026/ep-260713 We send a newsletter with our weekly highlights - subscribe here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/newsletters

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Sentence 8 of 12 · 1:18

when you're back at your desk, I'm doing something else, somewhere else in the office building.

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learning in this programme. The longer version is like ships that pass in the night.

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A2

A2 · Elementary

Everyday topics, clear speech

A1 51%A2 42%B1 2%B2 5%C1 0%
  • 95% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 168 words a minute: natural, fairly fast speech.
  • 11 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

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0:00

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Pääosassa makutestin voittaja Felix. Mayoneesit. Eli herkku ja ruokapäytä. How are you? I'm very well, thank you. Feifei, how are you? I'm very well, thank you, Georgie.

1:04

I haven't seen you much lately. What's going on? I know. I think our schedules are quite different at the moment. Whenever I'm at my desk, you seem to be in meetings. And then when you're back at your desk, I'm doing something else, somewhere else in the office building. We're like passing ships at the moment. Passing ships. That's the expression we're

1:23

learning in this programme. The longer version is like ships that pass in the night. Yes, so let's actually imagine that. Two ships at night. They briefly see each other in the darkness and then they continue in different directions. The encounter is brief and the people on board the ships probably don't have time to speak to each other. Right, so recently our schedules are different, so we're not seeing each other very much.

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