To Drag One’s Feet
Example 1:
Tim: My first class is at 7:00 AM in the morning and it is so hard to get up.
Selene: I know what you mean. I had a really early class last semester. My roommate and I would just drag our feet to class every Monday and Wednesday. It was so hard to be on time!
Example 2:
Kitty: You really have to go to this new Yoga class I’ve been taking for the past two weeks. I feel amazing!
Jolene: Really? I’ve been wanting to take a Yoga class, but I just never seem to find the time to get started.
Kitty: Don’t drag your feet! If you take this class, your life is going to change. You’ll feel so much better!
Meaning:
To drag one’s feet means to do something slowly or to delay something. Usually, a person would drag his feet when it comes to doing something he doesn’t want to do like going to work early or taking an exercise class.
This idiom can be found in the LSI textbook Speaking Savvy. This book is used at LSI schools in the level 5 Listening/Speaking classes. For more information, please visit: www.languagesystems.com
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
To Pick Out
To Pick Out
Example 1:
Terry: I finally saved up enough money to buy a new car! I just don’t know which car to pick out.
Sandy: Oh, I know which one you should pick. That little red Fiat over there is adorable!
Terry: Great idea! Thanks for the advice.
Example 2:
Kitty: Have you seen the new uniforms they picked out for school this year!
Jolene: Yes! They are horrible. Those strips look ridiculous with plaid.
Kitty: I don’t know what they were thinking. They must have been drunk when they picked out those colors!
Meaning:
Pick out means to choose or select something. However, people will commonly use just “pick” without “out” as in the first example when Sandy says “I know which one you should pick.” In this case, she could also say “I know which one you should pick out.”
This idiom can be found in the LSI textbook Speaking Transitions. This book is used at LSI schools in the level 4 Listening/Speaking classes. For more information, please visit: www.languagesystems.com
Example 1:
Terry: I finally saved up enough money to buy a new car! I just don’t know which car to pick out.
Sandy: Oh, I know which one you should pick. That little red Fiat over there is adorable!
Terry: Great idea! Thanks for the advice.
Example 2:
Kitty: Have you seen the new uniforms they picked out for school this year!
Jolene: Yes! They are horrible. Those strips look ridiculous with plaid.
Kitty: I don’t know what they were thinking. They must have been drunk when they picked out those colors!
Meaning:
Pick out means to choose or select something. However, people will commonly use just “pick” without “out” as in the first example when Sandy says “I know which one you should pick.” In this case, she could also say “I know which one you should pick out.”
This idiom can be found in the LSI textbook Speaking Transitions. This book is used at LSI schools in the level 4 Listening/Speaking classes. For more information, please visit: www.languagesystems.com
Thursday, September 22, 2011
To Be Blown Away
Example 1:
Terry: I just got back from vacation and I had a wonderful time!
Sandy: Oh, really? Where did you go?
Terry: I went to Montego Bay in Jamaica. It was absolutely amazing! There was so much to do and the beautiful sunsets on the beach just blew me away! I really didn’t want to come back to work!
Sandy: Wow! That sounds great. I bet it was hard to come back home!
Example 2:
Ken: I just watched a news report last night on how poverty is so widespread in countries around the world. What is even worse is that people in those countries have a difficult time doing anything about their lives. Also, it is very hard to get clean food, water, and medical supplies to the ones who need them.
Joe: It blows me away how difficult life can be for so many people around the world. We should feel lucky to live in a place where we don’t have to worry about getting clean food and water every day.
Meaning:
The expression to be blown away is used to express surprise or shock at something that has happened. It can be used in both negative and positive situations.
In the first example, Terry just came back from an amazing vacation. The beauty of the place he visited surprised him in a very positive way.
In the second example, Ken and Joe are talking about poverty in the world and how hard it is for some people to survive. Joe is shocked in a negative way about this fact.
This idiom can be found in the LSI textbook Speaking Transitions. This book is used at LSI schools in the level 4 Listening/Speaking classes. For more information, please visit: www.languagesystems.com
Terry: I just got back from vacation and I had a wonderful time!
Sandy: Oh, really? Where did you go?
Terry: I went to Montego Bay in Jamaica. It was absolutely amazing! There was so much to do and the beautiful sunsets on the beach just blew me away! I really didn’t want to come back to work!
Sandy: Wow! That sounds great. I bet it was hard to come back home!
Example 2:
Ken: I just watched a news report last night on how poverty is so widespread in countries around the world. What is even worse is that people in those countries have a difficult time doing anything about their lives. Also, it is very hard to get clean food, water, and medical supplies to the ones who need them.
Joe: It blows me away how difficult life can be for so many people around the world. We should feel lucky to live in a place where we don’t have to worry about getting clean food and water every day.
Meaning:
The expression to be blown away is used to express surprise or shock at something that has happened. It can be used in both negative and positive situations.
In the first example, Terry just came back from an amazing vacation. The beauty of the place he visited surprised him in a very positive way.
In the second example, Ken and Joe are talking about poverty in the world and how hard it is for some people to survive. Joe is shocked in a negative way about this fact.
This idiom can be found in the LSI textbook Speaking Transitions. This book is used at LSI schools in the level 4 Listening/Speaking classes. For more information, please visit: www.languagesystems.com
It Beats Me!
Example 1:
Tina: Where is Tom? He said he would be here an hour ago!
Kerri: Yes, we made these plans last week and confirmed everything last night!
Tina: He only lives 5 minutes from here. Where could he be?
Kerri: It beats me! He really has no excuse for being late!
Example 2:
Ken: I just heard about a guy who survived five weeks in the middle of the ocean in a small lifeboat. He only had a small amount of food and water. Also, there was a big storm while he was on the lifeboat. How could he still be alive?
Joe: It beats me how he survived in such a dangerous environment! What an amazing story!
Meaning:
The expression it beats me is used when a person does not know the answer to a question. It is also something a person says when he cannot understand something.
In the first example, two women are waiting for Tom. They arranged this meeting far ahead of time and even confirmed it with Tom the night before. Also, Tom lives very close to the meeting place, so he really has no excuse for being late. Kerri does not know why he is late and cannot even imagine an excuse.
In the second example, a man survived at sea for five days in a lifeboat without a lot of food and water. It’s an unbelievable story and Joe cannot understand or figure out how the man could survive when many people would die in the same situation.
This idiom can be found in the LSI textbook Speaking Savvy. This book is used at LSI schools in the level 5 Listening/Speaking classes. For more information, please visit: www.languagesystems.com
Tina: Where is Tom? He said he would be here an hour ago!
Kerri: Yes, we made these plans last week and confirmed everything last night!
Tina: He only lives 5 minutes from here. Where could he be?
Kerri: It beats me! He really has no excuse for being late!
Example 2:
Ken: I just heard about a guy who survived five weeks in the middle of the ocean in a small lifeboat. He only had a small amount of food and water. Also, there was a big storm while he was on the lifeboat. How could he still be alive?
Joe: It beats me how he survived in such a dangerous environment! What an amazing story!
Meaning:
The expression it beats me is used when a person does not know the answer to a question. It is also something a person says when he cannot understand something.
In the first example, two women are waiting for Tom. They arranged this meeting far ahead of time and even confirmed it with Tom the night before. Also, Tom lives very close to the meeting place, so he really has no excuse for being late. Kerri does not know why he is late and cannot even imagine an excuse.
In the second example, a man survived at sea for five days in a lifeboat without a lot of food and water. It’s an unbelievable story and Joe cannot understand or figure out how the man could survive when many people would die in the same situation.
This idiom can be found in the LSI textbook Speaking Savvy. This book is used at LSI schools in the level 5 Listening/Speaking classes. For more information, please visit: www.languagesystems.com
Thursday, September 15, 2011
to make a fool of
To make a fool of someone means to do something to make another person or yourself look stupid/ foolish. It means to make another person or yourself feel embarrassed.
Example 1:
- - What happened at Julie’s birthday party last night?
- - Oh, you should have seen it! Daniel drank so much that he could not keep his balance at one point and fell in the pool! He always makes a fool of himself just after having a few shots of vodka.
Meaning: Daniel made himself look foolish falling in the pool drunk. People laughed at him, and that made him feel embarrassed.
Example 2:
- - Christine, I need your advice. My relationship with Bob is going south. We don’t spend much time together anymore. On the weekends, he says he is always busy or too tired to see me.
- - Anna, he is simply making a fool out of you. He has another girlfriend! He is dating two girls at the same time! My advice- dump him!
This idiom can be found in the LSI textbook Speaking Savvy. This book is used at LSI schools in the level 4 Listening/Speaking classes. For more information, please visit: www.languagesystems.com
This idiom can be found in the LSI textbook Speaking Savvy. This book is used at LSI schools in the level 4 Listening/Speaking classes. For more information, please visit: www.languagesystems.com
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
face to face
“face to face”
Meaning 1: within each other's presence. A face-to-face meeting, conversation etc is one where you are with another person and talking to them.
Example: She met with the boss face to face.
Meaning 2: directly facing or opposite one another. If two people are standing face to face, they are very close and are looking at each other
Example: They set face to face at the table to have their final conversation.
Meaning 3: in an open, personal meeting or confrontation. If you come face to face with something difficult, you experience it and have to deal with it.
Example:Mark is not afraid of many things. He is a very brave man. Once, when he traveled to Hawaii,he came face to face with his greatest fear: a shark attack.
This idiom can be found in the LSI textbook Speaking Transitions. This book is used at LSI schools in the level 4 Listening/Speaking classes. For more information, please visit: www.languagesystems.com
Friday, September 9, 2011
to chalk it up to
Example 1:
The expression chalk it up to something is used to explain the cause of a result. The something is the cause.
In the first example, Linda is rude and not behaving like herself. Her coworkers know that she has a lot of stress in her life, so her bad behavior is caused by the stress.
In the second example, Nathan knows everything about everything! All of his knowledge is caused by his life experience.
This idiom can be found in the LSI textbook Speaking Transitions. This book is used at LSI schools in the level 4 Listening/Speaking classes. For more information, please visit: www.languagesystems.com
Linda has been very irritable lately. She's not as friendly as she used to be and she doesn't always respond to questions in a polite way. Her rude behavior has made her co-workers uncomfortable, but they know she is having a hard time in her personal life because of her divorce. We know she's really a good person and this behavior isn't normal; we just chalk it up to stress.Example 2:
Nathan always knows what to do in any situation. In an emergency, he is calm helps others. In the office, he is a master at solving problems. At a party, he's the one getting people talking and dancing. He just always knows what to do! When I asked him for his secret, he just says, "Chalk it up to experience."Meaning:
The expression chalk it up to something is used to explain the cause of a result. The something is the cause.
In the first example, Linda is rude and not behaving like herself. Her coworkers know that she has a lot of stress in her life, so her bad behavior is caused by the stress.
In the second example, Nathan knows everything about everything! All of his knowledge is caused by his life experience.
This idiom can be found in the LSI textbook Speaking Transitions. This book is used at LSI schools in the level 4 Listening/Speaking classes. For more information, please visit: www.languagesystems.com
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