Lesson 327--One Hit Wonders

 

As most of my students like music, today's lesson contains an important piece of vocabulary for talking about music, musicians and song writers.  I hope you find it useful and use it in conversation in the near future.

One hit wonder = a band, singer, or song writer who has one great song but then never makes another great one.  Songs like "unbelievable" by EMF or whomever wrote "who let the dogs out" come to mind.

examples

Even though I love the song, I am pretty sure the artist is going to be a one hit wonder.

I heard that song every day, all summer long, but then I never heard another song by that band again.  They were such a one hit wonder.

Every year MTV does a whole show on one hit wonders.  Last year, I knew every song.

Lesson 265--bail out

There are many reasons why learning English is difficult.  The one that really seems to frustrate my students is when a word or phrase has more than one meaning.  This is especially difficult when an English word or phrase has two meanings which are almost the opposite.  In this lesson, I will feature such a phrase.

Bail out/Bale out

 

1  to quit, escape, jump out of

examples

We had a plan, but Philip bailed out at the last second.

The boat was sinking, so everyone bailed out.

Maria and her friends wanted to take a trip to Paris, but once they figured out the cost, half of them bailed out.

 

 

 

2  to help someone (this comes from the idea of someone providing money so you can stay out of jail)

examples

Martha's mother bailed her out when she couldn't find anyone to look after her children.

After being stuck at the airport for more than 3 hours, John's friends picked him up.  He thanked them for bailing him out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3  to scoop water out of a boat so it doesn't sink.

examples

In the storm, everyone had to bail out water so that the boat wouldn't sink.

 

Lesson 251--two idioms using "hit".

Hit the Books

definition:  To study

examples

Terry had a big test, so he hit the books.

If you want to succeed in school, you should hit the books.

 

Hit the Hay

 

definition:  To sleep

examples

Maria had had a bad day, so she hit the hay early.

Thinking it was time to hit the hay, Jonathon said goodnight to everyone.

Doug always hits the hay around 10:30.

Lesson 209--Sometime vs Some Time

 

 

some time means quite a bit of time.

examples:        It will take some time to fix your car.

                        Sana spent some time with Rachel.

sometime means some unclear, indefinite time in the future.

examples:        I will see him sometime next week.

                        We will eat dinner sometime later.

Lesson 188--"ever" words

Using "ever" words

These words include whenever, whoever, whomever, wherever, whatever and however*

(However is used differently than the conjunction use of however)

These words incorporate the idea of "any" within them.

examples

You can go wherever you want.

You can go anywhere you want.

You can talk to whomever you want.

You can talk to anyone you want.

You dress however you want for the party.

You can dress any way you want for the party.