Learn English with Rebecca · engVid

Do you know these English idioms?

Do you understand English idioms? Idioms are expressions where the whole meaning is different from the individual words – so it’s difficult to guess what they mean by yourself. That’s what I’m here for. Join me and learn seven common English idioms. I’ll show you how to use expressions like *calling the shots, taking the plunge, sitting on the fence, skating on thin ice,* and more. Make friends with idioms and take your English to a higher level today! https://www.engvid.com/learn-7-common-english-idioms/ Improve your English every day with my course: https://10.bexenglish.com More of my lessons about English idioms: https://youtu.be/S3kVkUaafm8 https://youtu.be/XkV1wkvl3Ws In this lesson: 0:00 7 Common English Idioms 1:03 sitting on the fence 2:22 having a whale of a time 2:50 pulling your leg 3:43 calling the shots 4:39 keeping his head above water 5:45 skating on thin ice 6:43 taking the plunge 8:26 Quiz Transcript: In this lesson, you'll learn seven very common idioms that you might hear anywhere. You could hear them when you're out with your friends, you could hear them at school, you could hear them at work, okay? So, let's learn what they are so that when people use them, you'll understand what they're saying, and perhaps after that, you'll go to the next step and you'll also start to use some of them yourself. They're not very hard, okay? So, let's see what they are. So, first of all, there are about seven of them on the board, and they can be used in this way. So, before any of them, okay, you need to put the name of a person or you need to use a pronoun, because they all start with kind of a verb. So, we need to say, for example, "I'm sitting on the fence", "He's sitting on the fence", "She's sitting on the fence", "We're sitting on the fence", "They're sitting on the fence", "Are you sitting on the fence?" Okay? Like that. So, you need to put a subject here before that, okay? So, let's get started with the first one, alright? I just put these at the top so that we can use them in our examples. So, the first one is "He's sitting on the fence". So, what does that mean? And first of all, what's a fence anyway? Well, first of all, if they're idioms, you don't have to know the exact meaning of each word, you have to know the overall meaning, but just for you to understand. So, let's suppose you have two houses and they're divided by something, by some sort of a structure. That structure is usually a fence, it might be made of wood or metal or something else, right? That's a fence. So, if somebody's sitting on the fence, it means that he is undecided, he's not sure which way to go. This way? That way? He can't decide, okay? So, somebody is sitting on the fence when they are undecided. For example, let's say somebody is sitting on the fence about who they're going to vote for, okay? In an election. Or they're sitting on the fence about which university to join, or which boy or girl to go out with, okay? They're sitting on the fence, they're unsure, they're thinking still, they're not sure. Sitting on the fence means being undecided, okay. The next one, she's having a whale of a time, okay? She's having a whale of a time means having a wonderful time, an exceptional time, a great time, a really fun, marvelous, superb time, okay? So, if you say I'm having a whale of a time, I'm having a beautiful time. So, let's say when you go on holiday, if somebody's on their honeymoon or something like that, they're having a whale of a time, they're having a wonderful time, okay? Alright, the next one. If we say, oh, he's pulling your leg, okay, this doesn't actually mean that somebody's pulling your leg. It's an idiom, which means that somebody's kidding you, somebody's joking with you, okay? They're not - don't take them seriously. So, brothers and sisters, you know, do this a lot to each other. Let's say the brother says to the little sister, oh, there's a spider in your bed, or there's a mouse in your closet, and the sister goes, oh my gosh, okay, whatever. Or the other way around, okay? So, they're not being serious, they're telling a lie, but not in a serious way, it's just to joke with somebody or to kid someone. So, when that happens, we say that she's pulling your leg or he's pulling your leg, okay? Not serious. Alright. The next one. If we say, he's calling the shots. He's calling the shots. That means that he is in charge, he's in control, he's the one who's making the important decisions, okay? So, we could say the manager's calling the shots, the general manager's calling the shots, the director's calling the shots, okay? So, usually, it's talking about somebody who is in charge and making the important decisions. So, that's the meaning of calling the shots. […]