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ring a bell: meaning and explanation

This is most commonly used with names. It’s impossible to remember everyone that you meet, and I’m sure you’ve experienced situations where you hear a name, and can’t quite remember whether you have met the person or not. You kind of recognise the name, but you can’t recall the person. The name ‘rings a bell’.

This can be a useful expression to use to ‘buy time’, when you’re trying to remember something: “hmmm, the name rings a bell, let me think…”.

This expression is often used negatively (to mean that something doesn’t sound familiar, e.g. “the name doesn’t ring any bells”) and as a question, to ask if someone remembers something (e.g. “does the name Peter Smith ring any bells?”).

Have a go at these micro-dictation exercises to hear this expression being used in context – how much can you understand?

Listening exercises

Micro-listening #1

Accent: England (RP)

... ?
isn’t ringing ...do photo ?

About the sentence

…do you have a photo of him?…

Notice the weak pronunciation of ‘do’ and ‘you’ as /də jə/ (or almost /djə/). This is very common in questions, and can make them difficult to understand.

Micro-listening #2

Accent: Ireland

Micro-listening #3

Accent: Scotland

 

Extra practice

Here are some questions/links to help you learn the new vocabulary:

  • Think of a story (real or made up) about a time when you bumped into someone who knew you, but who you didn’t recognise. Try and use the expression ‘to ring a bell’.

Photo by Chris Barbalis on Unsplash

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