Monday, March 30, 2015

Lesson 326--tread carefully and tread lightly


 
Today's expression is one you will often hear in movies or on television.  You will hear this in scenes between a judge and a lawyer and you will hear it during very intense scenes between people.

Tread carefully/Tread lightly

The exact meaning is to "walk carefully", but when we use it, we usually mean that the person is talking about something personal and upsetting, or that they are talking about an area which they shouldn't.

examples

The judge warned the lawyer to tread carefully with her line of questioning.

Margot had to tread carefully when talking about her boyfriend with her father.

Daniel couldn't tread carefully and often got into trouble with his coworkers.

Friday, March 27, 2015

Lesson 325--go for a stroll

Two celebrities go for a stroll.

Sometimes we need time to think, or at least get away from everyone and take some time to think.  The following expressions include this idea.  Sometimes they are just meant to explain physical exercise, but sometimes they are meant to explain needing time to think.

go for a stroll

take a walk

go get some air

clear my head

examples

I can't think straight.  I am going to go out and get some air.

I have a lot of decisions to make so I am going to take a walk and sort things out.

Whenever I have a lot on my mind, I go for a stroll.  It helps clear my head.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Lesson 324--Leave!


 
 
If you want someone to leave, you could just ask them to leave.  However, English has lots of other more interesting ways to say the same thing.  Some of them are colourful and some of them are just interesting.  For today's lesson, I would like to share a few with you.

                          
Get lost!

Take a hike!

Hit the bricks!

Scram!

Get out of here!

Amscray (this one is not popular anymore, but is "pig Latin" for scram.

Take off! (very Canadian)

Be gone!

Monday, March 23, 2015

Lesson 323--Describing Mistakes


 
 
crossing the line

gone too far

 

These two expressions are really good for describing a situation in which you have

a)      said something you shouldn't have.

b)      done something you shouldn't have.

c)      said or done something that cause a person so much pain that they will never forget it.

examples

Paul crossed the line when he insulted Julia's weight.

Megan was okay when Philip got drunk, but when he kissed her sister he crossed the line.

Theresa didn't think she had crossed the line by disagreeing with her boss, but she got fired anyway.

Everyone stopped laughing when Daniela went too far with her joke.

Friday, March 20, 2015

Lesson 322--tight schedule


 
In our last lesson, we looked at the phrase "money is tight".  Today, we will look at two related phrases: time is tight, schedule is tight (tight schedule).

definition

We use this phrase to indicate that we do not have a lot of time, or that we have planned things to fit the schedule exactly and there is no extra time.

examples

John couldn't go out to lunch because his schedule was tight.

The schedule was too tight, so they had to cancel several events.

Because time was tight, the teacher decided to skip some activities.

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Lesson 321--Money is tight


 
"money is tight"
 
Phrases that deal with money are always useful.  Today and Friday, I will present some useful ones dealing with your financial picture.

money is tight = you are worried about how much money you have and you are worried about spending it.

examples

When money was tight, Chris brought his lunch to work.

Paul wanted to go to the concert, but money was tight.

Money was always tight growing up, so Martha made sure to be generous to her daughter.

Monday, March 16, 2015

Lesson 320--Reflexive Verbs


One of my students said the sentence

"We met ourselves yesterday." (wrong)

I had to explain that such a thing was quite impossible.  We would probably say, "We met one another yesterday."  or "We ran into one another yesterday."

This got me thinking about reflexive verbs.  There aren't so many in English because not all verbs are reflexive.

Here is a partial list

  1. taught
  2. introduce
  3. kill
  4. talk to
  5. proud of
  6. be angry at
  7. enjoy
  8. laugh at
  9. promise
  10. be proud of
  11. entertain
  12. feel sorry for

Examples

I was angry at myself for making such a silly mistake.

Jimmy nearly killed himself when he was playing with his father's gun.

I promised my self that I would lose weight by Christmas.

Melissa introduced herself to everyone.

Friday, March 13, 2015

Lesson 319--Urge


 
To urge someone to do something is to strongly recommend it.  There is a strong emotional part of this word that makes it a little closer to begging.

examples

I urge you to reconsider.

Thomas urged his brother to give up smoking.

Greg's wife constantly urges him to lose weight.

adjective (urgent) = it must be done right away.

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Lesson 318--The Gravy Train


This expression refers to easy money given for little or no work.  It also refers to perks that some workers get.

examples

The mayor said he would end the gravy train at City Hall.

Bruce liked his job.  He called it riding the gravy train because he mostly got paid for standing around and doing nothing.

Monday, March 9, 2015

Lesson 317--take a toll


Studying has taken its toll on these studens
Great expressing to explain the negative effect something is having on you is "to take a toll" or "to take its toll."

examples

All the work Melanie did in the garden really took a toll on her body.  She was sore for a week.

Abusing alcohol took its toll on Dan.  He looked much older than he was.

The doctor warned all the children that smoking takes a toll on a person's lungs and heart.

The students complained that too much homework was taking a toll on their social lives.

Friday, March 6, 2015

Lesson 316--Easy ordering


I like food like pizza and hamburgers because I can have as many toppings as I want on them.  I like toppings and I wanted to teach you two convenient phrases for getting a whole lot of toppings.
This pizza has the works.

The two expressions are quite simple, but you should be able to use them in many places involving food that has a variety of toppings.


The works

Everything

examples
I'd like a hamburger with the works.

Jimmy always orders his pizza with the works.
 

Grace always has her hotdog with everything.

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Lesson 315--a tool




 
One of my favourite insults is the phrase: You're such a tool!  This can mean everything from stupid or foolish, to useless and obnoxious.  It is so useful that I recommend you try it some evening when you're out.

In the examples, I have used the exclamation point (!) but feel free to use the simple period (.) if you don't want to sound very angry.

examples

Don't be such a tool!

You are such a tool!

You'd have more friends if you weren't such a tool!

He's a complete tool!

Charles is the biggest tool in the whole box!

Monday, March 2, 2015

Lesson 314--A Labour of Love


Helping someone fix their bicycle can be a labour of love.
 
 
One of my favourite expressions is "to be a labour of love."  I like it because it is quite fitting for my life.  A lot of the things I do are a labour of love.  What that means is, I do it because I love it, not because I will get some reward.  Things that are labours of love are not cost efficient and usually require more work, time and sometimes money than the person will get out of it.

This blog is a labour of love.  I have spend many hours doing it, but financially the advertising has only accumulated to less than 10 dollars.  That's fine, because I am not doing it for the money.  It is a real labour of love.

examples.

Daniel spends a lot of time trying to fix his 1967 Mustang.  It is a real labour of love.

Philip loves baking, but his family doesn't care.  They just eat his food and hardly ever tell him how delicious it is.  He doesn't complain, though.  For him it is a labour of love.

Every Sunday, Maria washes her car.  It takes hours to wash, wax and polish her car but it is a labour of love and she wouldn't have it any other way.

Raising children is a labour of love.

 

Spelling reminder

labour is also spelled labor.  Choose wisely.

Sunday, March 1, 2015

About Friday's Post

 
I am very sorry that I was unable to post a lesson last Friday.  I had a very full week and Friday's post got lost in the shuffle.  However, next week I will be posting lessons on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
 
Also, please don't forget to go back and review old lessons.  The more of them you look at, the more prepared you will be when you see these words or phrases again.
 
Thanks again for taking a look at this page.  The views continue to climb and I am happy with the response.  Please feel free to make a comment (you don't have to log in--just use the anonymous tag).
Thanks to those of you who are sharing my blog with your friends.  I hope someday to have a thousand visitors a day--right now it is about 50.
 
Thanks again and see you on Monday.