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 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 332--expressions used for guests

 

Today, thanks to the fact that I had guests over, I used two important phrases you can use when dealing with guests.  These phrases are used to make the guests feel welcome, and to make them feel at home.  Both of them give permission for them to treat your house/apartment like they're home.

Be my guest

Help yourself

examples

If you want something to drink, just help yourself.

Can I have some of that?  Be my guest.

If you need something, be my guest.

Treat this like your home and help yourself to whatever you want.

Lesson 310--Be up to something

 

We use this phrase to indicate that a person is doing something sneaky, bad, illegal, deceptive, tricky or unfair.

examples

When Mellissa volunteered to clean the kitchen, her parents knew she was up to something.

"I don't like it.  He is up to something," John explained.

The teacher was suspicious that the students were up to something during the exam.

The judge knew the accused was up to something, but the lawyers couldn't prove it.

"What are you up to?" the Policeman asked the driver.

Lesson 264--Cut Your Losses

 

 

Idiom:  to cut one's losses

When things aren't going well, you might have to quit something and take a loss.   That loss might be in the form of money, reputation, territory or property.  You are going to lose something, but maybe if you wait, you will lose more.  Cutting your losses means limiting how much you will lose.

examples

 

The new product wasn't selling well, so the company decided to cut their losses and stop production.

Daniel was having trouble and decided to cut his losses and sell his house for less than he paid.

Lesson 247--order of prepositions

 

Prepositions are used for many things.  In today's lesson we look at prepositions of time and place and their order.

We went to the park. (place)

We went in the afternoon. (time)

When we put them together, we put place before time.

We went to the park in the afternoon. (correct)

We went in the afternoon to the park. (incorrect)

However we can rearrange the sentence to put the time at beginning of the sentence.

In the afternoon, we went to the park.

more examples. (All the sentences are correct)

I drove to work on Monday.  However, I took the bus to work on Tuesday.

On Monday, I drove to work.  On Tuesday, however, I took the bus to work.

On Monday I drove to work.  However, on Tuesday, I took the bus to work.