To Put Out

Idiom: “to put out”

Meaning:  To stop from burning; to publish; to inconvenience

Example #1:

Jenny: Hey, Johnny! No smoking is allowed in this building. You need to put out your cigarette now!

Johnny: It’s OK. No one will know. I’ll just blow the smoke out the window.

Jenny: Are you serious? The fire alarm might even go off any minute!

Johnny: Oh, all right. I’ll put it out.

Example #2:

Sarah: I’m so excited! My sister just put out a new crime novel!

Jacob: Wow! That’s great. What’s her name?

Sarah: Tammy J. Janison.

Jacob: Hmmm, I haven’t heard of her. Has she put out any other novels?

Sarah: Yes, she has already put out two novels in the past four years. I can’t wait to read her new one.

Example #3:

Sam: Megan, thank you so much for letting me and my family stay at your house last weekend. When the electricity went out at my house, I really didn’t know what to do.

Megan: No problem.

Sam: Well, I hope I didn’t put you out too much. My three-year old is really active and is always playing!

Megan: Well, since we don’t have any kids, it was fun having your family around. You didn’t put us out at all.

Meaning: In example #1 “to put out” means to stop something from burning. In this example, Johnny needs to put out his cigarette. In example #2, “to put out” means to publish a book. In this example, Sarah’s sister has put out a crime novel. In example #3, “to put out” means to inconvenience someone or trouble them in some way. In this example, Sam’s family stayed with Megan over the weekend because Sam’s electricity went out. Sam has a small child and he is worried that he put Megan out or inconvenienced her. This idiom can be found in Speaking Horizons, which is used in level 6 Listening/Speaking class. For more information, please visit: www.languagesystems.com. 

To Be Up For

Idiom: “To Be Up for”

Meaning: To be interested in doing something; to be one of a group of people that might get an award or win an election; to be awake for a period of time

Example #1:

Jan: Hey, Steve! I’m planning on going surfing this weekend at Huntington Beach. I heard you know how to surf really well. Are you up for it?

Steve: That sounds like a lot of fun! I’m always up for surfing!

Jan: OK. Then let’s meet at 6:00 AM on Saturday at the beach.

Steve: I’ll see you then!

 

Example #2:

Selena: Did you hear the news about Paul?

Jackie: No, what happened?

Selena: He is up for an award.

Jackie: Really? Which award?

Selena: He is up for “Father of the Year.”  

 

Example #3:

Bob: I’m so tired!!!! I was up for 24 hours and I haven’t slept at all!

Maggie: Why were you up for so long?

Bob: I had to study for my final exams and I didn’t have time to sleep.

Maggie: Oh. I hope you did well after all that work!

Meaning: In example #1 “to be up for” means to have in interest in doing something. In this example, Steve has an interest in going surfing on Saturday. In example #2, “to be up for” means to maybe get an award. In this example, Paul is up for the “Father of the Year” award. In example #3, “to be up for” means to be awake for a period of time. In this example, Bob has been up for 24 hours because he really needed to study for his final exams.  This idiom can be found in Speaking Horizons, which is used in level 6 Listening/Speaking class. For more information, please visit: www.languagesystems.com. 

To Put on Weight

Idiom:  To Put on Weight; used as a verb.

First Example:  During the holidays, it is customary for many Americans to have to a big family dinner that includes a big turkey and numerous rich desserts.  Because of all of this rich food, a lot of Americans tend to put on some weight during the holiday season.

Meaning:  To Put on Weight means to gain weight or to get fat.  In this example, it is common for a lot of Americans to eat big family dinners especially during Christmas and Thanksgiving.  Because they eat so much food at this time, it is common for a lot of people to gain weight during the holidays.  This idiom can apply to any situation where someone wants to point out that someone has gained weight in a non-offensive manner.  The idiom is most commonly used as a verb.

Here is another example:

Second Example:  I haven’t seen Elizabeth for a long time.  I heard that she had really put on weight after she gave birth to her first son.

Meaning:  In this case, the idiom, To Put on Weight, is used to point out that Elizabeth had gained weight after her first pregnancy.  It is common for most women to gain weight after they have had their first child.  In this example, the idiom is being used as a verb.

This idiom is from the book "Everyday Idioms – Book One" which is used in the LSI Intermediate Conversation Class.

For more information, please visit http://www.languagesystems.com/

Agree to Disagree

Idiom:  Agree to Disagree; used as a verb.

Example:  

Sam and Mary just had an argument on the topic of which came first, the chicken or the egg.  According to Sam, since eggs come from chickens, it is natural to assume that the chicken came first.  However, Mary pointed out that all chickens are born from eggs so she believes that eggs came first!  Both Sam and Mary refused to agree in this particular topic.  In the end, they both agreed to disagree with one another.

Meaning:  Agree to Disagree means to calmly agree not to come to an agreement in a dispute.  In this example, Sam completely believes that the chicken first appeared before the egg.  However, Mary strongly felt that the egg came first.  Because they were both unable to convince one another, they both agreed that they could not ultimately come to an agreement.  This idiom can apply to any situation where two individuals are unable to agree on a particular point.  This idiom is used as a verb in this example.

This idiom is from the LSI book "Speaking Transitions," which is used as the primary textbook in LSI’s Level 4 ESL Listening/Speaking classes.

For more information, please visit http://www.languagesystems.com/ 

Easy Money

Example 1: I thought my new job would be easy money, but I was wrong! I was working many hours and had to do a lot of hard work!

Example 2: I received an email from someone I didn't know. They offered to pay me $5,000 to help them transfer money into the United States from an overseas account. This was really easy money, so I didn't think I could trust it. I marked the email as spam and ignored it.

Explanation: Easy money is money you earn without doing much work, usually in large amounts. Often, easy money is too good to be true or doesn't actually exist.

This idiom is from LSI's  "Reading Transitions," which is used in the Level 4 Reading classes. For more information, please visithttp://www.languagesystems.com/

Open-minded

Example 1: Before David lived overseas, he believed that Americans had the best ideas; now he has become more open-minded and listens to people from different countries.

Example 2: These days, people are more open-minded about things like tattoos, gay marriage, and mental illness than they were in the past. Before, people didn't like to talk about them. Nowadays, more people are willing to discuss these topics.

Explanation: when a person is open-minded, they are able to accept different ideas. The opposite is true for closed-minded people, they don't like to learn about and accept new ideas.

This idiom is from LSI's Reading Transistions, which is used in the Level 4 Reading classes. For more information, please visit http://www.languagesystems.com/

To Be Better Off

Idiom: To be better off

 

Context #1:

 

Jim: How are we going to get to the beach tomorrow morning?  The morning traffic on the 5 freeway is horrible!

Sam:  I know!  We will be better off taking the 55 because that freeway is not that bad.

Jim:  Good idea! 

 

Context #2:

 

Sara: Last month my husband and I finally moved out of our little one-bedroom apartment.  Now we have two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

Jenny: That's great because you really need more room, especially with a baby on the way.

Sara:  Yeah, we are much better off now.

 

Meaning: to be better off is an idiom that is commonly used in American English.  It is used when you want to compare two things/situations/options and you want to say that one is better than the other.  Practical idioms like this can be found in LSI Speaking books like Speaking Savvy, which is used in Level 5 Speaking classes at LSI.  For more information please visit: www.languagesystems.com.