In this mini episode, you will learn the common and useful expression “no such thing.”
Episode 376 of the Everybody ESL podcast is a mini episode that teaches you the common and useful expression “no such thing.” Send your questions about English and your comments and suggestions to EverybodyESL@gmail.com! (And let me know if you’d like to record the introduction to a future episode.)
Intro
“Hello, everyone. This is Sumin Lee, from South Korea. And you’re listening to Everybody ESL.”
Welcome to episode 376 of Everybody ESL, the podcast for everybody who wants to improve their English, practice their English, or just learn more English. My name is Ben, and I have a mini episode for you today, where I am going to teach you about one English topic. You can subscribe to the Everybody ESL podcast at Apple podcasts and wherever you find your podcasts. If you like Everybody ESL, leave it a good review so other people can find out about it too. And if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for me, please send an email to EverybodyESL@gmail.com. Okay! Let’s get on with this mini episode.
The episode
In this episode, I want to teach you a common and useful phrase. The phrase is “no such thing.” No such thing. That’s n-o, s-u-c-h, t-h-i-n-g. No such thing.
What does “no such thing” mean? “No such thing” means “that thing, or that kind of thing, does not exist. That kind of thing doesn’t exist. It is not real.”
Imagine that a little child thinks that a monster is hiding in his bedroom. And he tells his parent that he is afraid, because there’s a monster in there. And then the little child’s parent tries to make the child feel better and says, “Monsters! Oh, there’s no such thing.” There’s no such thing. In other words, “That kind of thing, the kind of thing you are worried about—monsters—does not exist.” There are no monsters. Monsters are not real. Monsters don’t exist. There’s no such thing.
There’s one other construction that we use that’s very similar. Instead of just saying, “There’s no such thing,” or “There is no such thing,” you can say, “There is no such thing as (a-s), as… the thing that you’re talking about.” There’s no such thing as.
Going back to the example about the monster or about monsters, that parent could say, “Don’t worry about it. There is no such thing as monsters.” There is no such thing as monsters. Monsters do not exist. There are no monsters. Monsters are not real.
We can use these sentences—“There’s no such thing” and “There’s no such thing as … (something)” for all kinds of things. Not only things like monsters or unicorns or other things that, of course, we know are not real.
You could also use this expression in a situation like this:
Let’s say that your friend is trying to find a new job. And she thinks that none of the jobs that she’s finding are good enough. None of them is perfect. I guess she is looking for the perfect job, a job with only positive things and no negative things.
You could say to your friend, “Remember, there’s no such thing as the perfect job.” Or “There’s no such thing as a perfect job.” Perfect jobs don’t exist. Nothing is perfect. So, there cannot be jobs that are perfect. Remember, there are no perfect jobs. There is no such thing! There is no such thing as a perfect job.
That is “no such thing,” a very useful and common expression that I think you should know.
Outro
This is the end of episode 376 of Everybody ESL. Remember: if you have questions about English, or if you have comments for me, or if you would like to record an introduction that I can play at the beginning of future episodes—the same way Sumin recorded the introduction you heard at the beginning of this episode—send an email to EverybodyESL@gmail.com. I’ll be back soon with a new episode. And until then, keep going, keep practicing, and keep learning. I’ll see you soon. Goodbye!