Lesson 331--An incredibly useful phrase

 

First off, sorry this blog is late.  I was rushing around a bit this week and didn't get it prepared on time.  I wasn't particularly worried because it seems that most people check these lessons on Saturday or Sunday.  Additionally, it gave me a good idea for today's post.

The phrase I want to teach today is "better late than never".  The meaning of this phrase is pretty simple, but it is a good one to know.   This blog is one day late, but better late than never.

examples

Anthony scolded his students for being late.  They replied, "better late than never."

People criticized Blackberry for taking so long to update their design.  The company responded that it was better late than never.

Since I haven't got a cell phone yet, I am pretty late in joining the trend.  However, better late than never--unless cell phones go out of fashion.

Notes

Now, for all my students, please don't start using this phrase with me.  However, you might want to try it at the office once or twice.  Who knows, it might work.

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.

Lesson 268--make room, time and space

one of these cats needs to make room

 

The word make causes a lot of problems for my students.  I wish it weren't so difficult.  The problem is that make means create, but it also means a lot of other things depending on the collocation.  In today's lesson, I will teach you some collocations where the idea of make means to create something.

 

make room/space  =  create room/space

examples

Jim cleaned out the spare bedroom to make room for the new baby.

Timothy asked his parents to move over and make more space on the couch for him.

If you clean out the fridge you can make more room for food.

 

make time  =  set aside time to do something/ free up time to do something

examples

Pamela drove fast enough that she made time for a long lunch.

My boss asked me to make time for more meetings.

Most doctors recommend making time for breakfast.

Thank you for making time for this blog.

Lesson 249--Using Time as an adjective

 

 

Time is something special in English.  We have so many expressions and idioms that involve time. We also express time in so many ways.  Today's lesson focuses on using time to describe things.

When we normal talk about time, or duration we use plural nouns.

examples

It takes three hours to get there.

My vacation will last for about four weeks.

Jim's personal best marathon time is 3 hours, 24minutes and 17 seconds.

However, when we describe things using time (like all adjectives) we only use the singular form.

It was a three-hour trip.

Maria is taking a 6 week course at the university.

It is a 2 hour and 14 minute journey from my house to work every day.

 

The best part is that we can use either form.

Daniel is six years old.

Daniel is a six-year-old boy.

Maria works 40 hours a week.

Maria has a 40 hour work week.

Lesson 133--Collocations with time

 

In today's lesson I would like to present some useful collocations with the word time

make time:  to set aside time to do something.

 

I need to make more time for my family.  It will mean spending less time with my friends or at work, but it will be worth it.

 

spend time:  to use time in some way (positively or negatively)

I spent three hours doing my homework last night.

I spent three hours in a traffic jam on my way to Montreal.

Daniel is going to spend a few hours with my children.

waste time:  to use time badly, inefficiently and unproductively

I wasted an hour on the phone to customer service.

kill time:  to waste time on purpose, usually waiting for something else to happen.

I got to the movies early and had to kill 30 minutes before the movie started.