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Outside the uk hello and welcome to the English We Speak, where we explain phrases used by fluent English speakers so that you can use them too.
I'm Fay Fei and I'm joined by Georgie.
Hi, Georgie.
Are you ready to begin?
Yes, I am.
But actually, Fei Fei, I was thinking about switching up the format of this program a bit.
Try something a little different.
Do you think?
Hmm, I'm not sure about that.
Georgie, we have to do things by the book around here.
We can't just make up last minute changes whenever we like.
Okay, I suppose that makes sense.
Well, you just said we do things by the book, and that's the phrase we're looking at in this program.
Can you explain what you meant by we do things by the book?
Fei?
Fei?
Yes.
I mean that we follow the rules exactly without improvising.
So to remember it, maybe imagine a book of rules that you follow.