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Thursday, October 20, 2011

to fit in with

to fit in with
"to fit in with" means to be accepted by a group of people because you are similar to them. 

Example 1: 

      - Joanne: Hey Alex! How are you? I heard you are now working at a different company. How is it going?

 
      -  Alex: Hey Joanne. It's going great! I love my new position. It's just what I wanted! 
      -  Joanne: Great! But you know, to really enjoy your job it's important to have good relationship with people who work with you! And now you are in this new office with a bunch of people you have never met before. Is it difficult for you? 
       - Alex: No, not at all! I fitted in with my new colleagues right away! They treat like a friend, with respect!

Example 2:
- Christine didn't fit in with the people at my party at all!I shouldn't have invited her. My guests were all business professionals and she showed up in a mini skirt talking about her crazy trip to Amsterdam!

Meaning 1

     Alex feels good at his new job because he and his coworkers are probably similar in some ways: their passion to the job, life styles etc... He feels like he is one of them! 
Meaning for Example 2

Christine is very different from the people she met at the party. She looks different and they probably have different  interests, that's why she doesn't "fit in" with the business people she met there.
This idiom is from LSI's book "Reading Savvy," which is used in the Level 6 Reading classes. For more information, please visit http://www.languagesystems.com/

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Under the weather

Idiom: to be/feel under the weather
First Example:
Alan: Oh man! It’s midnight and I have to drive 100 miles to my house! I shouldn’t have drunk so much! I am not feeling good!!!
Jeremy: Alan, you shouldn’t drive. You can spend a night at my house. Many fatal accidents are caused by drivers who are under the weather.
Meaning: This idiom is use to explain a feeling of sickness, sadness, lack of energy or hangover. From the example, we see that Alan is not feeling good. He might have headache, feel nauseous or have hammering sound in his ears. It’s all caused by drinking too much.

Second Example:
Teacher: Ayaka, why are you so late today and why didn’t you do your homework?
Ayaka: Tim, I am feeling a bit under the weather today. I could not concentrate on my homework and I overslept this morning.
Teacher: Yeah, you don’t look good. You should go home and take care of yourself.  
Ayaka, the student, could not do her homework and had a hard time waking up in the morning because she was not feeling good. When the teacher said “ you don’t look good”, he meant that she looked sick, not that she didn't look pretty.
This idiom is from LSI's book "Speaking Savvy," which is used in the Level 5 Speaking classes. For more information, please visit http://www.languagesystems.com/