In this mini episode, you will learn the common phrase “toss and turn.”
Episode 485 of the Everybody ESL podcast is a mini episode that teaches you the common phrase “toss and turn.” 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
“Hi! This is Nitun here, from Bangladesh. You are listening to Everybody ESL.”
Welcome to episode 485 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 am going to teach you a common expression. The expression is “toss and turn.” Toss and turn.
That’s spelled t-o-s-s, a-n-d, t-u-r-n. Toss and turn.
Before I talk about the special meaning of this expression, let’s look at those two verbs, toss and turn.
Toss has many meanings, but the most common meaning of toss is “to throw lightly or to throw gently.” We would use this word if we were talking about throwing a ball gently to a child or throwing something gently or lightly into a trash can. We would use the phrase “tossing a ball” or “tossing the trash.”
Turn is a more common word, and you probably already know this. Turn means “to change direction or to spin or move in a rolling motion.”
When these two words are put together in this phrase, they have a very special, specific meaning. When we use those two words together in the phrase “toss and turn,” it means this:
It means “to have difficulty sleeping or to have difficulty going to sleep, usually because somebody is distressed or anxious.” They are worried about something. So, if somebody is having a difficult time sleeping because they are worried about something, we often use the phrase “toss and turn.”
Here is an example that will show you how we use this phrase:
“He is so worried about his exam that he will probably toss and turn all night long.” He is so worried about his exam that he will probably toss and turn all night long.
In other words, because he is so worried about his exam, he will have a very difficult time sleeping. He will be very uncomfortable and worried and restless. He will not sleep well.
I think the turn part of this expression is easy to understand. Because if somebody is tossing and turning, I imagine that they are continually moving in bed. I can picture somebody turning, continually moving, or even spinning as they try to get comfortable in bed.
The toss part of the expression might be harder to understand. That’s because this expression uses a different, not-very-common meaning of toss. It uses a meaning of the word toss that is “to move with great force.”
Now we can see how putting these two verbs together—toss and turn—can have this special meaning: “to have a difficult time sleeping," or "to be restless in bed, to keep moving in an uncomfortable way instead of sleeping."
And that is “toss and turn,” an interesting and common expression that I think you should know.
Outro
This is the end of episode 485 of Everybody ESL. Remember: If you have any 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 Nitun 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!