What do you waste time doing?
Jeanie, United States
Something that I waste a lot of time doing is worrying unnecessarily about different things in my life. One example is I often worry about what to do in the future so "Should I keep teaching? Should I go back to school?" I often worry about whether I'll be successful in life and whether I'll keep the respect of everyone I love.
Jeyong, Korea
I waste time using the internet, for example MSN and sending e-mails to friends and theirs a homepage in Korea called cyworld and it's really popular among the Koreans and you put up the pictures, go to other people's homepage and write up visiting comments and I think it's a good way to keep in touch with friends all over the world.
Martin, United States
What is something I waste a lot of time doing? Sadly, I'd have to say the playstation is a big waste of time. I play a lot of games, but especially baseball games. That usually takes up anywhere from thirty minutes to five hours. I had a lot of fun playing with my old roommate, baseball, as well as the old car chase games, but unfornutately, the play station is a big waste of time.
Simon, Canada
Ah, lately I've been wasting my time watching TV. I hate to admit it but recently my apartment building has given each unit a digital TV so I get about 5 sports channels, FOX TV with the Simpsons and I've been watching that way too much, so yeah, that's a nasty habit I've picked up lately.
Ruth, England
Something I waste time doing? Probably the worst thing for me is going on the internet, so I go to work, and I get there and I spend the first 30 minutes, or half an hour checking my e-mails which is a complete waste of time, and checking the news, which OK, is important but is not the most important thing I should be doing that day. Let's see, that's probably the thing I waste the most time on.
Todd, United States
Something that I waste time doing? Well, I waste way too much time talking. At work, I have a meeting, I have to talk with my colleague about something important, I go to their desk and we start talking about the news, about our friends, about our weekend, and we talk and talk and talk. Sometimes I forget what I even went to my colleague's desk about, or we have a meeting and we don't start the meeting for 30 minutes cause were just talking so the boss doesn't like it too much. He gets upset but yeah, at work I talk way too much.
unnecessarily
I worry unnecessarily about different things in my life.
Here, the word 'unnecessarily' is used to talk about things we don't need to do. Notice the following.
- Students often worry unnecessarily about their appearance.
- The teacher was unnecessarily strict about grammar.
whether
I often worry about whether I'll be successful in life.
The word 'whether' is very similar in meaning to 'if'. Notice the following:
- She doesn't know whether she can come to the party.
- She doesn't know if she can come to the party.
car chase
I had a lot of fun playing the old car chase games.
We use the word 'chase' to talk about hurrying after something or someone in order to catch them. Notice the following:
- Almost every action movie has a car chase.
- I hate to see beautiful cars damaged in chase scenes.
a nasty habit
Watching TV can be a nasty habit.
A habit is something we do again and again. And nasty means something very negative. Notice the following:
- Smoking is a nasty habit.
- In my culture, people spit a lot. It's just a nasty habit.
picked up
That's a nasty habit I've picked up lately.
The phrasal verb 'pick up' has many meanings, but here we use it to talk about a habit we have developed, usually from spending time in a particular place or with particular people. Notice the following:
- My dad picked up smoking when he was in the military.
- Taking off my shoes before entering a home is a habit I picked up while working in Japan.
Vocabulary Quiz
nasty habit • pick up
