How To Stop Overusing Words and Phrases in English To Get A Higher CELPIP Score

Have you ever heard yourself talking and realize you tend to use the same phrase or the same word over and over and over again? In a previous episode, we talked about removing common interjections like um and uh from your CELPIP answers. But that's not what I'm talking about here. Interjections are one thing, and they can hurt your CELPIP scores if you use them too many times in your answers.

But today's topic is a little different than an um or an uh. It's about complete words or phrases that you find yourself repeating again and again, that you rely on them, likely because you feel more comfortable using them instead of other phrases or words that would help you express your ideas in the same way, but using different language.

In my case, in normal everyday conversations, I find that I often use the phrase, drumroll please, I don't know if that makes sense. When I've been trying to explain an idea or a problem to someone, I find that that phrase comes out so many times. I don't know if that makes sense. Now, asking does that make sense is actually a good thing to ask someone when you want to make sure they are actually understanding your ideas, right?

Problems arise when you use that word or phrase too many times during your conversation. I think that is one of my challenges when it comes to I do not know if that makes sense. I feel like I overuse it. Now that I'm thinking about it, I find that I use that phrase when I'm feeling a little nervous about what I'm trying to say.

I think my internal strategy is that I'm trying to get the attention off of me and onto my listener for a minute or two by asking them if they're tracking with me. My introvertedness is feeling uncomfortable and needs a bit of a break. Like I already said, doing this once is okay. But repeating it multiple times is a problem.

It's also a problem on the CELPIP because of something called listenability. Join me in today's episode as we talk about why repeating something too many times will hurt your score as well as what you can actually begin doing to fix it. Let's get started.

  📍 Well, hello there and welcome to the Speak English Fearlessly podcast.

This is the podcast for motivated English learners who want to speak English fearlessly and learn practical tips and strategies to conquer the CELPIP exam.

I also love to feature encouraging interviews with regular people, people just like you. Who are working towards becoming fluent in English so we can learn from their experience together. Who am I? My name is Aaron Nelson, and I've been an English teacher for over 16 years, and I now help students prepare for the CELPIP exam through online classes.

As I mentioned in the intro, Over reliance on a phrase or a word will cause lower CELPIP test results, and I know you don't want that. Test raters use several filters or ways of listening to your answers to give you a score. The error of using the same phrase over and over again falls into two of those filters. Listenability. And vocabulary. Listenability deals with your tone of voice, your rhythm as you speak, and how easy it is to actually hear you talking. In short, do you sound natural when you're speaking? Vocabulary, on the other hand, deals with the variety of words you use to express yourself.

Repetition, and if you use your words accurately. When you overuse a phrase or a word, you can get into trouble from both of those filters. From the listenability one, because it gets to be annoying hearing the same words being used over and over and over again in your answer, and I've shared about that on previous episodes where I'm listening to an interview in English on the radio, for example, and the one who is speaking overuses is.

Certain words or phrases and frequently ums and ahs or so When they're giving their answer once or twice, it's fine because everybody uses those kinds of words and phrases But if it's peppered throughout Everything that they're saying, oh It can get so frustrating and so annoying to listen to in fact I will frequently just switch it off and then If that person just keeps using the same words or phrases too many times.

On the vocabulary side of things. You can lose points because you're not demonstrating your ability to use a wide variety of words or phrases to express your ideas. That's what they want to hear. That's what a test reader wants to hear. Can you express yourself using words in a variety of different ways, or are you only using a comfortable set of words or phrases and you keep reusing them to say, or to express yourself?

Okay, so you already know that having words or phrases that you over rely on is not a good thing. I know you know that, but what can you do to stop relying so much on those comfort phrases? Because that's what they are, they are, they, you've used them so many times that you feel comfortable with them. And that is dangerous because when you are comfortable with something, you kind of like being there.

You kind of like using them because you know what to expect, you know how to use that phrase or that word, and you're just used to it. So bringing in something new can feel a bit like a challenge. It can feel pretty difficult, like you're trying on something new. So here are three simple things that you can begin doing today to break your reliance on your comfort words and phrases.

Number one, And this is probably one of the most important things that you can do. Notice what they are. Notice what they are. I've talked about this before in previous episodes, and I'll link to it in my show notes today. But one of the most important things that you can do to help you reduce how often you use certain words and phrases is to simply become aware of yourself using them.

You can accomplish this easily. Just grab your cell phone. And use the voice memo app to record yourself talking about a certain topic for a few minutes. Or, if you're practicing for the CELPIP exam, record yourself answering one of your speaking task questions. I don't think students do this enough. I really don't.

If you paid attention to the, if you pay attention to the things that you say, you'll be able to very quickly pick up on what your comfort words and phrases are. Because chances are, you're going to Chances are, you'll have one or two that you Chances are, you'll have one or two that you're Ha ha ha ha!

Chances are, you'll have one or two that are your unintentional favorites. You use them the most frequently. Start with those. Start working on

I skipped. Okay, I'm gonna do that part again.

You can accomplish this easily. Just grab your cell phone and use the voice memo app to record yourself talking about a certain topic for a few minutes. Or, if you're practicing for the CELPIP, record yourself answering one of the speaking task questions. In my humble opinion, I don't think students use this tool enough.

Your cell phone. There's, I don't know anybody except for maybe a few seniors that I work with who don't have a cell phone. Almost everybody that I know has one. You are literally carrying in your pocket everything that you need to begin working on this habit on reducing the number of times you use a certain word.

You have it. I bet you you do. I bet you you're actually listening to this podcast on your cell phone right now.

So yeah, I don't think most students take full advantage of this helpful tool that they carry with them almost on a regular day to day basis. Your cell phone. Use it. I guarantee you that if you start doing this, it will transform the way you are speaking. Because it's going to help you to see, and well, it's going to help you to hear, the things that you say, and you'll be able to notice when you are over relying on a certain way of saying things.

Not being aware of what you're saying is the best way to just keep committing the same mistakes again and again. You need to know when you're over using something. And the best way that you can notice that is by recording yourself and paying attention to those words or those phrases that keep coming up.

And when you notice one, write it down. Write it down! Write down those comfort words or comfort phrases. As a bonus, As you are recording this, and this will be a harder challenge for you, but it, oh, it's so helpful. Try creating a transcript of everything that you said. Now, like I said before, if you try to do this, be prepared to spend a while writing.

It's not easy to write down the things that you are saying. You can probably find some online tools that would help you with this transcribing process. But honestly, if you can create a transcript of what you said, you'll not only be able to hear what you said, but you'll also be able to read what you've said, which makes it even easier to spot words or phrases that you love to reuse.

So step number one, record yourself. Find out what your favorite go to phrases and words are so that you can begin replacing them. And that's what step number two is all about: what's a different way to say what you're trying to say? If you find yourself repeating a phrase or a word, it might simply be a matter of needing to learn a different way to express yourself. Maybe you have no other words or phrases in your language toolbox to help you say what you want to say.

You can add that new language tool by finding a new phrase to say what you're trying to say. There are a few ways you can do this. The easiest way is just to ask someone who is more advanced than you or your English teacher. Tell them what you keep saying and ask them if they could help you to figure out.

A new way to say what you've been trying to say. A more challenging way to find replacement words and phrasements and phrasements? Oh my gosh. A more challenging way to find replacement phrases or words is to listen to the conversations happening all around you.

Chances are you'll eventually stumble upon someone saying exactly what you've wanted to say.

In my case, with my over reliance on I don't know if that makes sense, it's not because I don't have the right language tools to work with. I know I do. I just need to train myself to start reaching for those new phrases when I need them. And that in itself can be challenging, which is why that first point of noticing your crutch is so important.

For me, And my crutch phrase, I can accomplish the same goal of getting the attention off of me momentarily by simply saying, What do you think about, and just fill in the blank with whatever topic that I've been talking about. So instead of me saying, I don't know if that makes sense, I need to purposefully replace that statement with, What do you think about, And then I fill in the blank with whatever topic that I'm talking about.

It will work for me because I'm asking my listeners if they're understanding what I'm talking about. And I'm also giving myself a short break from being the one doing all the talking, which is probably one of the reasons why I asked that question to begin with, I just need to get out of the spotlight a little bit.

All right, let's move on to number three, get supportive feedback. Okay. When you know you overused a certain word or phrase, it's so helpful to find someone who can kindly alert you as soon as you pull out that overused language tool. Getting instantaneous feedback is helpful because Well, it's instant.

You know immediately that you've used that phrase, which will give you the chance to correct yourself. And you totally should correct yourself. As soon as your friend lets you know, hey, you're swinging your favorite language tool again, reach down into your toolbox and pull out the new phrase you learned in step number two.

And use it instead. If you're working on this all alone, like you don't have someone that you can ask because, you know, sometimes that happens, you'll likely as you become aware of that phrase and aware of that word that you love to pull out. As you are aware of it, you will start becoming aware of the times that you use it.

You'll hear yourself say it. You'll realize it in the moment as you say it. Oh, I use that phrase again. And as soon as you do, immediately do what I just finished sharing with you. Stop, reach back into your toolbox for that new phrase or that new word. and correct yourself right in the moment. And kindness matters a great deal here.

It can feel terribly frustrating to be battling with a persistent word or phrase that you just seem to love using, but you are trying to stop using. Be kind with yourself and the feedback that you give. Avoid calling yourself stupid or allowing yourself to say, even silently, things like, I'm never going to get this.

Oh, I'm so stupid. Why can't I be like so and so who never seems to make this mistake? Maybe I'm just not good in English. No, don't ever allow yourself To do that to yourself, making mistakes, which is what I'm going to be talking more about next week is natural. In fact, mistake making is a good thing. It means you're trying.

It means you're taking risks. Making mistakes with your English means that you're trying to move forward. Never making mistakes on the other hand means the opposite. You're not taking any risks with your English and that means you're not making progress because you're likely Not using it enough. But like I said, I'll talk more about mistake making in the next episode.

Just know that working to change words or phrases you use too much is totally something normal that happens to everyone. Everyone has to deal with this. But if you consistently focus on noticing what those catchphrases or what those comfort phrases are, And if you consistently work on learning new ways to say the same thing, and if you get supportive feedback, even if it's you giving it to yourself, you will get this right.

I promise. Don't give up. You can do this. Thanks for listening to today's episode. If you would like to get a quick and easy checklist of the things that I talked about today in this episode, that will help you as you are working to replace, to change those comfort words or those comfort phrases.

I've got that checklist waiting for you. All you have to do is go to https://celpipsuccess.com/resources/ , sign up, And you'll immediately be taken to a magical place where there's a whole bank of resources waiting for you, including a checklist of what I talked about today that will help you begin noticing what those comfort words are.

It will also help you to begin figuring out new ways to say the same things. as well as what you should do once you figure out that you've made the mistake of saying that same phrase again for the umpteenth time. Yeah, if you want to get your hands on that resource, just go to https://celpipsuccess.com/resources/, and you'll be able to download that and any other of the resources that you have found.

that are available for you as one of my listeners to this podcast. They're there for you. They're free. Grab whatever ones you like. And thank you so much for listening. I'll see you again next Tuesday. Bye bye.