“Give it a shot”

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The link in today’s example takes you to game from this TV show. It is a good chance to practice your listening and speaking!

Pronunciation Guide

Listen to ‘in the “Interrogation room”‘ very carefully. Because ‘in the interro’ is not stressed, it is important to practice listening to this several times so that you can hear how to repeat it with the same rhythm and flow.

Other than that, just listen for the usual connected words and stress. It should be a fairly easy example.

If you have any other questions about pronunciation, please let me know in the comments.

Listen to the audio, try to shadow, and write your own notes. Then click ‘Compare’. Practice shadowing the audio with your notes.

Compare

Explanation

Today’s focus is on the idiom, ‘give it a shot’.

If you give something a shot, you try to do it or you make some effort to do it.

Some of the most common ways to use this idiom are:

(I, You, He, She, We, They) should give it a shot.
(I, You, He, She, We, They) will give it a shot.
Let’s give it a shot
I want to give (something) a shot.

When used with “should’, you are telling someone you think it would be a good idea for them to try something. When used with “will”, someone has already decided to try something. Also, when you say “Let’s give it a shot,” you’re saying you want to try something together with someone.

One thing to remember is that if the thing you will try has not been said yet, you will need to say that thing instead of “it.” For example:

“I want to give dancing a shot.”

If you were already talking about dancing, you wouldn’t need to say dancing again.

Also, it is common to say,

“I’ll give it my best shot!”

Remember though, using ‘best’ is the most common and natural adverb to include in this idiom. For some reason, it feels unnatural to use others. Just remember this with the song, “Hit Me with Your Best Shot“.

Finally, a phrase you can also use that means the same as ‘give it a shot’ is ‘give it a go’.

In the first sentence, we see a common habit in spoken English to leave off the “Do” at the beginning of the question. This is very casual.

Situations & Examples

Read the situations, but write down your own sentence using today’s target. When you finish, click ‘Show Example’. Share your own sentences in the comments!

Situation #1

You’re at a coffee shop with your friend. You are talking about things that you have wanted to try, but never have. She tells you it has always been her dream to sing on a popular TV show. She has never sent in her audition tape before because she is scared. You encourage her to send it in and try to get on the show. You say,

Show Example

Situation #2

You and your family just got back from vacationing at Hawaii. Your new tan is the envy of your coworkers who have all been stuck in the office while you were gone. Your friend welcomes you back and asks about your trip. He asks you what your favorite part about the trip was. You tell him it was your surf lessons. He is surprised to hear that you surf. You say it was your first time to try by saying,

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Situation #3

You are taking summer classes at college this year. You have a short break in the middle of the term, so you go back home. You run into one of your old teachers at the super market. After some small talk, he asks you about how your summer term is going. You explain that it is difficult, but you are trying hard. You say,

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Situation #4

You’re on a date with a woman you met at your new job. After dinner, you are talking about what to do. She really wants to go dancing, and knows a salsa dance club that is near by. You had tried salsa in college, but weren’t very good. Worried you might embarrass yourself on your first date, you explain,

Show Example