Everyday phrases for communication — Post 14
Read post 13 here
Today’s mini-dialogue:
— Why are you so sleepy?
— I couldn’t help staying up to watch the film till the end last night.
What you need to remember:
A. 𝗖𝗮𝗻’𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 means you can’t stop doing something or you can’t control it. It’s short from 𝗰𝗮𝗻’𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝗺𝘆𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 — “can’t control myself”.
There are 4 structures with this expression:
- 𝗰𝗮𝗻’𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 = can’t stop doing something
— I am / feel so sleepy I can’t help yawning.
— I can’t help eating sweets when I am stressed.
— I can’t help loving you.
— I couldn’t help thinking about her.
2. 𝗰𝗮𝗻’𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 — the same meaning but a different verb form after BUT
— Sorry I couldn’t help but notice you lost it.
— I couldn’t help but wonder what was going on.
3. 𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻’𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝗶𝘁. — a set expression meaning ‘I can’t do anything about it’.
— Stop smiling. — I can’t help it.
— Why do you keep thinking bad things? — I can’t help it.
4. 𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻’𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝗶𝘁 𝗜𝗙 = It’s not my fault that…
— I can’t help it if there is so much traffic.
— I can’t help it if I snore.
B. Stay up is a phrasal verbs with a meaning ‘to not go to sleep’.
UP shows in some phrasal verbs that you are not in bed.
Compare:
get up — to leave the bed in the morning
stay up — not to go to sleep
be up — be awake, not sleeping
— I stayed up late last night. (= I didn’t go to bed till late)
— Why are you up? (=Why are you not asleep?)
Today we have learnt how to use 𝗰𝗮𝗻’𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 (𝗶𝘁) and the phrasal verb 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘆 𝘂𝗽.
If you speak Russian, you can read these lessons in Russian (and practise) in my Telegram channel. Join us!
My name is Daria Storozhilova and this is a series of mini-lessons teaching you how to communicate in English with helpful phrases and spoken expressions.
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