Today's story is B1 level with lots of B2 phrases added. This let's you improve little by little without getting lost because the text is too difficult to understand. I'm listing below the phrases I explain in the audio.I also talk about ellipsis, which is where you omit words from a sentence in an "economy of words". We still understand the meaning - only the grammar is affected. Ellipsis is common in informal prose and speech. The examples are:- Not a nice place, the street.- No nice mat by the fire to sleep on either.- Got to keep away from the police.The expressions I talk about are:B1 level.take it easymake a facein case (of) keep somebody waitingbe willing to do somethingkeep something a secretB2 level.taking everything into considerationmake your wayin actual fact / as a matter of factthe look of somebodybe out of practicebe a disgracenone of your businessListen for these expressions and examples of ellipsis as you listen to the story.You can see a better version of the painting which inspired my story at my website:https://www.practisingenglish.com/podcast-182.htmAt https://www.practisingenglish.com/ I offer learners of intermediate-level English, grammar help and exercises and other English learning pages.https://www.practisingenglish.com/My latest novel for learners of B2 English is called The Tudor Conspiracy. You can see it on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/33Axu2Nhttps://amzn.to/33Axu2NBe back soon with another podcast!Mike Bilbrough (Secondary school English teacher and Doctor in English philology)