Word for telling the truth

Welcome to our Daily English Listening Practice with this week’s series:

Have you ever needed to give some advice to someone who is stressing out or starting to get emotional, and they need a little encouragement?

Listen to the English audio clips for information and pronunciation.

A White Lie

Notes: a small lie that’s told to protect someone’s feelings or to make someone feel better; it’s usually not important and is usually forgotten quickly after

Fibbing

Notes: telling little lies, often with kids; very young kids can make up stories and can sometimes fib very easily

Leading me On

Notes: when someone deliberately makes you believe something; when someone lies to you for a long time or creates a story that seems real, but it’s actually fake

Lied to My Face

Notes: when someone lies to you directly, face to face; sometimes when you know someone is lying, you can use this phrase to confront them to tell the truth

Telling Porkies

Notes: British slang; pork pies rhymes with lies; don’t tell porkies = don’t tell lies

It’s Written All Over Your Face

Notes: when someone tries to tell a lie, but they let their emotions show that they’re lying; can be used when someone is trying to hide their true emotions like anger or guilt or love

That’s Total BS / Bollocks

Notes: very informal; NSFW: don’t use these phrases at work or in a professional setting; American slang: BS – Bullsh*t; British slang: Bollocks; BS can be used pretty openly with friends; you need to be very casual with people before you’d use Bullsh*t as it can be taken very seriously

‘Fess Up

Notes: much more casual way of saying: confess or tell me the truth; often lighthearted for teasing or keeping something from someone

Come Clean

Notes: pretty serious, used when you want to confess or tell the truth because you made a mistake or you’re in the wrong

Be Straight with Me / Be Real with Me

Notes: used when you want to hear the truth from someone and you don’t want them to cover up the truth to protect your feelings; “be straight with me” can be used in any situation, even at work; “be real with me” is a little less formal and should probably be said with friends

Narc’ing on Someone/Grass Someone Up

Notes: very informal slang; to tell the police or teacher or parents that someone was doing something wrong; Narcing on Someone: American slang; Grassing Someone Up: British Slang

Thanks,

Kat and Mark

Wanna improve your English Speaking skills?
Get a free 30-minute trial from HLL

Chat with us!