Premier Vocabulary is a mini-podcast for you to learn football English one word at a time. We have three different levels for you: easy, medium and hard.

This episode is hard so we’re looking at more difficult football phrases and idioms.

Summary

Learn more football vocabulary with Premier Skills English. Each lesson in our Premier Vocabulary section looks at one football word or phrase. This lesson looks at the phrase to get into the swing of things.

You can find more lessons on the side of this page.

Transcript

Rich: Hello my name’s Rich and welcome to Premier Skills English - Premier Vocabulary.

Jack: Hi there! I’m Jack. We’re here to help you with your football English. Premier Vocabulary is a mini-podcast for you to learn football English one word at a time.

Rich: We have three different levels for you: easy, medium and hard.

Jack: This episode is hard so we’re looking at more difficult football phrases and idioms.

Rich: The phrase we are looking at in this episode is: get into the swing of things.

Jack: To get into the swing of things is an idiom which we use to say we are getting used to something. It’s a colourful expression. The swing of things is the rhythm of an activity.

Rich: When you get into the swing of things, it’s like you find the rhythm. This means that the activity is easier and you feel like you’re getting better at it.

Jack: It’s used to talk about complicated situations.

Rich: It’s often used to describe something that is new to us. It’s similar to saying to get used to something.

Jack: Lots of people have started to work from home in recent months.

Rich: Yes, it was difficult at first, there were lots of interruptions and I found it difficult to concentrate but now I’m getting into the swing of things and I’m finding it much easier.

Jack: When we start a new job it can take a few weeks to get into the swing of things and understand how people in your new organisation do things.

Rich: I think we can use it to talk about football. It can take a new player a few matches to get into the swing of things.

Jack: Yes, a new player has got to get used to a team’s tactics and how their new teammates play.

Rich: The phrase is also often used to describe something that we used to do but haven’t done for a long time and are now doing again.

Jack: When we are in this situation we add the word ‘back’ and say get back into the swing of things.

Rich: I think it will take me some time to get back into the swing of things when I return to the office.

Jack: Why? Because you are used to working at home now?

Rich: Exactly. I’m happy working at home now.

Jack: I think it has taken football teams a while to get back into the swing of things after matches were postponed due to COVID-19.

Rich: Yes, the players were a little slow in the first few games but I think they are back into the swing of things now and there have been some great games recently.

Jack: To get into the swing of things - a phrase we use when we are in a new situation or returning to a situation and getting used to it.

Rich: There is the final whistle!

Jack: We’ll be back soon with more Premier Vocabulary from Premier Skills English.

Rich: Bye for now and enjoy your football.

Discuss

Do teams find it easy to get back into the swing of things after a long break?