Expression: Up close

0:00Today, you'll get an up-close look at the English expression, up-close. Hi, I'm Jeff, and this is Plain English, Episode 850, for Thursday, March 26, 2026. The full lesson is at PlainEnglish.com-850. We used this expression up-close in a story about Iceland. After some volcanic eruptions there, tourists and scientists did something that most of us never get to do. They walked right up to the lava and watched it up-close. I would be too scared to do this, but it's not as dangerous as it sounds. lava moves slowly, and you can walk faster than lava flows.

1:04So if you're careful, you can get up-close and observe it safely. So that's how this expression, up-close, first appeared in Plain English. Now let's talk about how you can use up-close in your life. Before we start today's story, I'd just like to remind you that the podcast is just one part of how we can help you upgrade your English skills. At PlainEnglish.com you can make faster progress with active learning strategies. You can take quizzes, do activities, listen to the fast version of the audio, watch video workshops, practice what you learned, and even join a live call with JR and me. It's all about helping you build your skills to become a better, more confident English speaker. Sound good? Go to PlainEnglish.com to start your free 14-day trial today.

2:08Now let's jump into today's story. Today I'm going to show you how to use the expression up-close. This is a good one. It's not as easy as it sounds. Here's the basic definition. If you get up-close or if you see something up-close, you get very close to it. You're physically near it and you can look at it closely. It's often about examining something, looking at it closely because you are so close. And I don't mean zooming in on a screen. You have to see something in person to get up-close.

3:09But the tricky part is, you typically use this expression in situations where you, for whatever reason, are not typically close to something. In lesson 497, I told you about a challenge. This was part of an art class at Harvard. The challenge was to go to a museum and look at a painting for three hours. Just that. No phone, no distractions, nothing. Just look at a painting for three hours. And I did that, not for the full three hours, but for one hour. And I told you about it. I chose a painting at an art museum in Kansas City.

4:11And I saw it up-close and I was able to really examine it. I saw it up-close. Means I stood close to it. But it also means I saw it in person. This doesn't really work by looking at something on a screen. You have to see it up-close. You have to get close to the real thing. Up-close works here for a few reasons. First I stood close to the painting. Not for the whole time, but I was able to stand very close to it and look at it in detail. And second, remember I said this is used when you don't typically get close to something. So this is in a museum. So of course, it's not an everyday occurrence for me to examine this or any painting in detail.

5:21If you go to a zoo, you'll be able to see a lot of animals up-close. You can go right to the edge of the cage or the barrier and see them just a few meters away or less. You can see the animals up-close. Again, you're physically close to them. You can look at them carefully. And it's unusual. You're not usually close to these animals. That brings us to Iceland. In volcanic eruptions in 2021 and 2022, lava came to the surface in a remote area. And lava moves slowly. So tourists and residents and a lot of scientists, they went to this area to observe the lava,

6:28to look at it. And many people, for the first time in their lives, saw lava up-close. I have only ever seen lava in pictures. Even people who lived near volcanoes don't often get close to it. But in this area, you could. You could get up-close. They could get up-close because, lava, unless it's being forced out of event, lava doesn't move very fast. It's like a slow motion river. If it started moving your way, you could stay ahead of it by moving at a brisk walk. And for that reason, it was safe. At least these people decided it was safe to look at it up-close, to get in close proximity

7:33and examine it. Here are a few quick examples. JR went to a musical the other day. He sat up-close. That means he sat close to the stage, where he could closely observe what was going on. If you go to Sphere in Las Vegas, you can sit up-close or you can get seats farther back. If you sit up-close, you'll probably hear those thousand-plus speakers nice and loud. I still wouldn't get up-close to see the lava. I think I've seen too many cartoons where the characters have to run from flowing lava. I know it doesn't work that way, but still. Well, just remember, up-close works anytime that you can get physically near something

8:36that you would normally see from farther away. Could be a famous painting, a wild animal at a zoo, or even the stage at a concert. Well, that's all for episode 850. The full lesson is at plainenglish.com slash 850. We'll be back on Monday with a new story. See you then. Listen up if you speak Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, German, French, Italian, Japanese, Polish, or Turkish. One of the most frustrating things about listening and reading in a second language is being confused by unfamiliar words or phrases. When you listen to plainenglish or when you read the transcript, you probably encounter

9:37some words you don't know. When that happens, you have a few options. You can stop the audio, go look up the definition, then return to the episode, find your place, and press play again, but that's exhausting. Or you can just skip it and be confused. That's no fun either. But what if you could see the translation of the word into your language instantly without having to stop the audio, without having to look anything up? So you can at plainenglish.com. For each episode, we translate about 100 words and phrases from English to 9 languages. Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, German, French, Italian, Japanese, Polish, and Turkish.

10:41And we highlight those words in blue. All you have to do is hover your mouse over the highlighted word and you will see the translation instantly. It works great on mobile too. It really makes listening a lot more satisfying and it's a great way to expand your vocabulary in English. The best way to see these translations is to sign up for a free 14-day trial at plainEnglish.com. During your trial, you can read as many transcripts as you like, all with the translations into your language. So sign up for your free trial today at plainEnglish.com.