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 I see that people have been stopping by the blog.  I am glad that all the work I put in years ago is still continuing to help people.  Let me know if you have any questions or want new lessons.  I am still teaching English.

Lesson 351--talking about rain

I am sorry that this post is a little late  For many reasons, I just didn't get it done in time.  I had planned to do a lesson on  interesting science words, but then I looked out my window and realized how hard it was raining.

So probably some rain expressions would be useful.
Everyone know the old classic
"It's raining cats and dogs."

However, we really don't use that one any more.  Here are some more useful expressions that you are likely to hear.

1. It's really coming down out there.
2. It's raining heavily.
3. I've never seen so much rain.
4. It's just like the days of Noah's Ark.
5. I might need to take a boat to work.
6. It's really raining.
7. It's pouring.
8. You'll get soaked to the bone.

Lesson 350--A great expression for crazy.

Out to Lunch

 

 

I have already taught you some expressions for crazy, but I think you need another one.  One of my favourites is the phrase "out to lunch".  This is great because the in a different context, this would mean exactly what it says.

example

A:  Where's Mr. Johnson?

B:  Oh!  He's out to lunch.

A: Please let him know I stopped by.

B:  Absolutely.

Mr.  Johnson is out to lunch and after he has eaten he will return.  However, if we use the phrase in a slightly different context, a person or a plan is described as being crazy or sheer lunacy.

examples

I can't believe we are following that person.  She is completely out to lunch.

There is no way that plan will work.  His idea is so far out to lunch I don't know what to say.

Everyone though Gregory was out to lunch when he spent all that money on a car.

Lesson 349--talking about schedules

 

English has lots of ways to say that we are late.  My two favourite are behind schedule and playing catch-up.  Both of these expressions can be used when we are not on schedule.

examples

I was late for work this morning and have been playing catch-up all day.

Greg was two weeks behind schedule and his boss was very unhappy.

The product launch was way behind schedule and there was a lot of tension in the office.

Because Marion was always playing catch-up with her projects, she was fired.

Lesson 348--an expression with lead

 

Monday's lesson (347) was an interesting one.  It got me thinking about related expressions that I should teach you.

one thing led to another

This expression is used when we want to explain that a bunch of things happened to lead to some conclusion, but that we are not going to explain all of them.  We are going to edit the chain of events and just tell you what happened in the end.

*remember lead is an irregular verb
lead-led-led

examples

Johnny met Irene at a party and one thing led to another and now he and Mary have broken up.

We started talking and one thing led to another and now we are seeing each other.

I wasn't planning on going out last night but I met a friend for coffee and one thing led to another....and now I have a massive hangover.

Lesson 347--Chain of Events

The goal of English Chunks is to teach you chunks of English that you can go out and use immediately.  Hopefully, you find these phrases useful.  Today's phrase is no exception.  Today's phrase is:

Chain of events

The meaning of this phrase is that a bunch of events are linked together.  One event causes the next one, and that event causes the next one after that.

examples

I told one lie and that chain of events got me fired from my job.

His actions started a chain of events that led to the start of a war.

If we examine the chain of events, we will find who is responsible.

 

Question

 

What is the chain of events in the following crash?  Feel free to write your answer in the comment section.

Lesson 346--Important Expressions

 

There are times when you aren't paying attention.  Usually, like my students, you are paying attention to your phone or your computer.  Other times you aren't really paying attention to anything in particular.  We have some great expressions in English to explain that.  They include:

staring into space

daydreaming

zoning out

Examples using the phrases

Daren's parents yelled to get his attention when he started daydreaming.

"I'm sorry.  I zoned out for a moment.  What did you say?"

Mellissa thought her boyfriend was listening to her but actually he was just staring into space.

"Stop daydreaming and focus!" the teacher yelled.