— Anne! Why are there so many sticky notes around the house??

— You mean the yellow ones?

— I mean all of them. Does the color matter?

— Well, kinda. The yellow ones are phrasal verbs with the preposition out.

— The what?? Are you okay? You look off.

— Off? What do you mean? PUT off? TURNED off? And by the way, could you stop messing with my sticky notes?

— Are you learning English again?

— Me?? No.

— Are you sure? You have that weird look on your face...just like when the doctor warned you that you had to take a break from it, and she meant it...

—Oh, that smarty-pants doctor. Don’t worry, nothing is OFF. Everything is right ON!

— Really? I’m not about to buy that — there’s a sticky note on the fridge that says "BEWARE OF DOG!”

— Okay, drop the grilling. It's true, I've been sort of....learning English.

— Sort of?

— I've been... acquiring English.

— All right, and what would the difference be?

— Have you ever heard of "Comprehensible Input"? Now I live immersed in the language, like in a bubble, and I no longer study grammar. Isn't that cool?

— You're scaring me...

— You have nothing to be scared of. It’s just an imaginary bubble.

— That’s even more scary…

(silence)

— So, what’s for dinner?

— Nothing. We’re dining OUT. So, take OFF your slippers, put ON your coat, and hurry UP!

— Do you need to speak so freaking weird?

— Do I sound weird? I’m just making sure I put the emphasis on the prepositions in phrasal verbs for a perfect intonation. Did you know that intonation can change it all? Shut the door.

— Like in Chinese?

— I don’t know. Have you ever heard of The Memory Palace Technique?

— Oh, jeez… can we just walk quietly? You’re getting me all worked up!

— Why?? I’m just talking to you! What’s wrong with that?

— It’s not so much what you’re saying as how you’re saying it. You’re talking non-stop without even listening! At this rate, I’ll need subtitles.