When you're studying for the IELTS, TOEFL, or you just want to improve your conversational English, you may feel like giving up. However, you have to keep persevering, or working toward your goal. Here are some idioms to improve your vocabulary about perseverance that you can use to up ("Up" is used as a verb here.) your vocabulary score and your confidence.

When you're in your next meeting or presentation, listen for the idioms in the video below that use the words "give" and "take." They'll help you to understand the flow of the conversation. Then try to use them in your emails, presentations, or in your conversations with your colleagues to improve your English!

You can improve your listening comprehension for the IELTS exam or for understanding presentations and lectures when you listen for the very transition words you use when you're writing an essay or speech.

These transition words tell you what the speaker is trying to tell you that may not be very obvious. They may be trying to emphasize a point, relate to something they said earlier, illustrate a concept, etc. When you can identify the function of the transition words you hear, you're going to better understand what is being said.

Check out this compilation video for some short, helpful lessons to improve your listening comprehension in English.