The English We Speak: Scratch the surface
Learning English Conversations
BBC
4.6 ⢠1.1K Ratings
đď¸ 1 July 2025
âąď¸ 3 minutes
đď¸ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
This phrase is about dealing with only a small part of something. Learn how to use it with Georgie and Feifei.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Want more from BBC Learning English? |
| 0:03.6 | Test your level with our online quizzes. |
| 0:06.9 | Learn new phrases from your favourite presenters |
| 0:09.3 | and find transcripts of our programmes to help you read along. |
| 0:14.0 | Head to our website, BBClearningEnglish.com. |
| 0:20.1 | Hello and welcome to the English we speak where we explain expressions used by fluent |
| 0:26.3 | English speakers so that you can use them too. I'm Faye Faye and I'm joined by Georgie. How are you? |
| 0:32.9 | I'm very well, thank you Fafi. How are you? |
| 0:34.9 | Quite stressed actually. I've got so many things on my to-do list, and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface. |
| 0:42.5 | Oh, that's a rubbish way to start the week. Well, Scratch the surface is the phrase we're looking at in this program. What does it mean, Fafi? |
| 0:49.9 | Well, let me paint a picture in your mind. Imagine you want to dig a deep hole in the ground. |
| 0:57.0 | I arrive five minutes later, after you start. |
| 1:00.0 | See, you haven't made much progress and say, |
| 1:03.0 | you've barely scratched the surface. |
| 1:06.0 | What am I telling you? |
| 1:07.0 | Well, in other words, I've only broken up the surface of the ground |
| 1:10.0 | and I've still |
| 1:11.0 | got a long way to go if I want to dig a deep hole, right? Now, that's a very literal way of |
| 1:17.4 | thinking about this phrase. We mostly use it metaphorically. If you've only scratched the |
| 1:23.1 | surface of a subject or a problem, you've dealt with it only in a very superficial way without going |
| 1:29.9 | into it deeply. That's right. Let's hear some more examples from our BBC Learning English colleagues. |
| 1:39.3 | I'm supposed to clean the flat in time for a dinner party tonight. I've hardly scratched the surface. |
... |
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