Feifei This is The English We Speak. I’m Feifei.
** Rob** And hello, I’m Rob.
** Feifei** Rob, would you mind wiping those crumbs from your mouth?
Rob Ooops, sorry!
Feifei Do you know, it’s very strange - I made a cake a last night and brought it to work today to share with you.
** Rob** That’s very kind!
** Feifei** Yes, but it seems to have vanished into thin air.
Rob Wow! You’re a magician! You’ve made a cake disappear!
Feifei No, Rob. The phrase ’to vanish into thin air’ means ’to suddenly, mysteriously and completely disappear’. You haven’t seen the cake, have you, Rob?
Rob No, Feifei – no sign of your ‘disappearing’ cake.
Feifei OK, well let’s hear some examples of this phrase. Let’s hope they haven’t suddenly disappeared!
Examples I can’t remember where I’ve parked the car! I think it’s vanished into thin air.
Have you seen the boss? Someone important needs to talk to him but I can’t find him anywhere. It’s like he’s vanished into thin air.
Has anyone seen my glasses? They’ve vanished into thin air.
Feifei This is The English We Speak from BBC Learning English and we’re learning about the expression ‘to vanish into thin air’, which can be used to describe a situation where something mysteriously and suddenly disappears. So any sign of my cake?
Rob No.
** Feifei** Very odd. I put it on my desk this morning and went to make a cup of coffee and when I returned, it had gone.
Dan Great cake, Rob! Thanks for sharing it! I hope you’ll be baking again soon! See you!
Feifei Rob!
Rob Sorry, Feifei! It was so tempting, so delicious, so I thought…
** Feifei** So you thought you’d eat it!
** Rob** It helped us demonstrate today’s phrase.
** Feifei** There’s just one thing I want to vanish into thin air.
Rob Oh yeah? And what’s that?
Feifei You, Rob! Now I’m off to bake a cake - for me.
Rob See you! Oh, she’s gone!