Phil Welcome to Authentic Real English, with me Phil…
Feifei And me, Feifei.
Phil We have a phrase which is about building something up carefully, or taking it apart – it’s ‘brick by brick’.
Feifei ‘Brick by brick’. This sounds like something related to construction.
Phil It can be, but actually we often use it more metaphorically, especially where we can use the verb ‘build’ in that way. So, for example, my brother is really proud of his business. He built it brick-by-brick.
Feifei So, your brother’s job has nothing to do with building, has it?
Phil No, he’s an accountant. It’s his company that he built. He grew it carefully and gradually and now it’s really successful.
Feifei Your brother built his success brick-by-brick! You also said that it can be used for taking things apart?
Phil Yes, that’s right. If you take a house apart brick-by-brick you are doing it carefully enough that it could be rebuilt somewhere else. Again, it’s not just literal – if you’re trying to disprove someone, you can take their argument apart brick by brick.
Feifei That would when you carefully argue against each of the points someone has made.
Phil Yes, that’s right – listen to these examples.
Examples It’s nice to be recognised with this award. I’ve spent years building up my career brick-by-brick.
The historic building was moved brick-by-brick to the museum.
I thought I was well-prepared, but the professor pulled my argument apart brick-by-brick.
Feifei You’re listening to Authentic Real English from BBC Learning English, and we are learning the expression ‘brick by brick, which is a way to refer to something done carefully and gradually.
Phil As well as the idea of something done carefully and gradually, it often suggests that something is the result of hard work.
Feifei It someone says that they have built their success brick-by-brick, they are likely to be proud of the effort that they’ve made.
Phil We’ve come to the end of this episode, but we’ll be back soon to help you build your knowledge of English, brick-by-brick!
Feifei See you next time!
Phil Bye!