10 English Expressions for Change and Changing the Subject

Katie announces the format and Mark answers with one dry word: "Hopefully." What follows is ten colloquial expressions about change, described one at a time, with Mark guessing. Some he gets instantly. Others he circles — "so it’s what fourth hand? Or the car has been moved on" — before landing on the phrase Katie had in mind. Along the way you get an honest discussion of which of these expressions are polite, which are direct, and which you say only when you're a bit annoyed.

What you'll hear in this episode

The first three items aren't idioms at all — they're the small phrases English speakers use to take over a conversation: by the way, that reminds me and speaking of.... Mark's first suggestion is anyway, which he immediately picks apart as "a bit rude, and quite dismissive", because "you’re essentially telling the other person to stop speaking". Katie steers him towards the gentler options, and Mark describes what they really do: "flipping the initiative from one person to another person, without breaking...the communication flow".

Then the expressions proper. A used car with three previous owners has changed hands. Saying yes to dinner and then backing out an hour later gets you you've changed your tune — and the two of them work out the difference between that and changing your mind: one is a decision, the other is "almost like you’re, you’re saying something different rather than thinking it".

In the second half, a change of heart prompts a nice slip — "your head is the rational, your head is the emotional" — before the pair move on to a change of scenery, described as a short trip out of town that leaves you feeling refreshed. Change the record! gets explained through turntables and needles: "when the record gets stuck, you hear the same thing again and again and again." And the last one is a saying about an animal. Katie asks Mark whether he believes it, and he almost talks himself out of agreeing before concluding: "and a tiger can’t change its stripes, but that doesn’t work in English, we only talk about leopards."

Quick facts

Episode	Colloquial 3.11 – Discussing life changes
Pack	Colloquial 3
Level	3
Duration	16 minutes 30 seconds
Audio	Free to download
Workbook	Included in the all-in-one pack (€39)

What you'll learn

The real lesson here is register. Every expression in this unit is usable, but they are not equally safe, and the conversation keeps returning to that. Anyway is dismissive. You've changed your tune is almost always critical — one speaker says he wouldn't personally use it "meaning in a positive way". Change the record! is direct enough that Katie says you'd only use it "if you’re a bit angry". The workbook glossary gives each expression a number from 1 to 3 so you can see at a glance which ones are fine with almost anyone and which need care.

You'll also hear the head/heart split that runs through English: you change your mind about what you think, but you have a change of heart about what you feel. And you'll pick up the grammar traps that catch learners out — it's a change of scenery, not the change of scenery, and that reminds me, never that remembers me.

Because this is two people talking rather than reading, you're also listening to genuine hesitation, self-correction and disagreement — the noise real English comes wrapped in. The Meaning and Pronunciation drills then strip it back: a question, a pause, an answer, and a beep for you to repeat.

The expressions covered

By the way... – used when you want to introduce a different topic.
That reminds me... – used when someone says something that makes you think of something else that you want to talk about.
Speaking of... – used when you want to link something that has been said, to something else you want to say.
to change hands – for ownership to be passed from one person to another person.
to change your tune – to change your ideas or opinions and what you said about them.
to have a change of heart – to feel differently.
A leopard doesn’t change his spots – people cannot change their characters.
to have a change of scenery – to go somewhere new and different.
to get changed – to put on different clothes.
change the record! – stop saying the same thing again and again (direct and impolite).

What's in the workbook

The workbook contains the full transcript of both conversations, so you can go back and see exactly how Mark arrived at changed hands or why anyway got criticised. It also has the scripted Meaning and Pronunciation sections written out, the glossary above with its 1–3 informality ratings, and two practice exercises with answers.

Practice Exercise 1 gives you five plain sentences to rewrite using this unit's expressions — "She feels completely differently now", "That’s not what you said earlier!" Practice Exercise 2 is error correction, and it targets exactly the mistakes learners make: By a way, She changed her heart, that remembers me, You’ve changed a tune. Both have full answer keys.

The workbooks for every episode come together in the all-in-one pack for €39, alongside the free audio.

Get the complete courseAll workbooks and audio — €39

Common questions

Is the audio free?

Yes. All the Zapp! English conversations are free to download. The workbook that goes with this unit is part of the paid pack.

Is the conversation scripted?

No. Katie and Mark are talking unscripted, which is why you hear pauses and half-finished sentences. The teaching sections that set up the tasks and give the answers are scripted, so the instructions stay clear.

What level do I need?

This is a Level 3 Colloquial unit. You'll get most from it if you can already follow two native speakers talking at natural speed.

Can I use these expressions at work?

Some of them. By the way, that reminds me and speaking of are fine in most situations. Change the record! and you've changed your tune are marked as more informal in the glossary — save those for friends.

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