10 ways to use the word WAY in English

Hi again. Welcome to www.engvid.com. My name's Adam.

Today's lesson is about expressions using the word "way".

Now the reason I decided to have this lesson is because English is

a funny language, and it's full of expressions, and for those of you who are studying English

and just getting into it, a lot of these expressions and the contexts they are used in will be

completely unclear to you; very confusing. So I'm going to clear up some of these.

There are 10 here, you'll be ready to go after these. Okay.

A very common expression: "a two-way street".

Now, you know you're driving, a one-way street means only cars...

Cars can only go one way; not the other way. But we use this expression

to mean a reciprocal relationship.

This is a high-end word for those of you who need

it also, but it goes both ways. So if we have a relationship and only one person is making

the decisions, or only one person is giving opinions, or only one person is deciding where

to go eat every night, for example - that's a one-way street. All the decisions, all the

ideas are coming from one person to the other.

A two-way street is when both people have

equal share in the relationship, equal responsibility, equal duties, etc., and both contribute to

their relationship. It's a two-way street. You can think about when you're talking about

your boss. If your boss is very tough and what he says goes, then it's a one-way street

in terms of command.

But if your boss is friendly and listens to his staff, then he has a two-way street relationship.

"Get out of someone's way" or "get out of the way",

so one like very straightforward

according to the words means get out of the way. I'm coming through, move. Get out of

my way. Okay? Very, like the physical get out of the way. But you can also get out of

someone's way, mean don't put an obstacle in front of them. Okay?

I am going to be the President of America, and if you think you're going to stop me,

I tell you: "Get out of my way", because nothing's going to stop me. I'm going straight to the White House. Okay?

So you better get out of my way, because I feel very sorry for you if you try to stop me.

But "get out of the way" has a different expression, that's why I put these...

It's a different expression, I put these in brackets. To get something out of the way or to get

it out of the way, for example, you go to university, and I know in Canada, we have

to take certain courses. It doesn't matter what we major in, what we study, some courses

we have to take. So, I studied philosophy, for example, but I had to take astronomy.

I had to take a science class. I chose astronomy. I figured, you know, stars, whatever, they're

interesting, they're pretty, why not? Right? So, what I did, my first year I took that

class and I got it out of the way. It's to the side, now I can continue doing what I

want to do, what I want to study. So to get it out of the way, finish it, put it away,

move on to the next thing.

Oh, "by the way", did I mention that this is another very useful expression?

"By the way" is probably the most commonly used of these expressions.

When you're talking to someone and you suddenly remember something,

or you suddenly thought of something that

is related to the idea or even not related, you can say... You can stop, you can interrupt

the person, and say: "Oh, by the way, I saw Suzie last week and she says hello."

We're talking about old high school friends, I remember:

"Oh, yeah, Suzie, we went to high school with her."

I just remembered her in the middle of the conversation, say:

"Oh, by the way"-it means I just remembered

-"I saw Suzie, she says hi. Okay, let's continue the conversation",

or talk about Suzie, whatever you want. It's a bit of an interruption, but not rude.

It's actually okay to use.

"Go all the way", this is a very good expression; a few meanings. Physically, you can go all the way to the end of street,

turn right, and be on your way. So "go", actually move

"all the way" means the full distance.

"Go all the way" means also to complete something.

You had an idea, you had a target, if you're going all the way, it means you're not stopping

until you reach your target. So I'm going all the way to the White House,

so get out of my way if you're trying to stop me. But a very common expression:

"go all the way", you will hear it in movies, you will hear it all the time, slang, more casual,

it means have sex. So, you're going... My friend's going out with a girl tomorrow night, and

I think... And I say to him:

"You think you're going to go all the way?" And he says:

"Well, I don't know. I'm not sure if she likes me or not."

I think we both understand, I think you guys understand what we're talking about.

"To be in a bad way", so the next day after my friend's date,

I went to see him and he was in a really bad way.

Why? Because he didn't go all the way with his girlfriend the night before. Okay?

"To be in a bad way" means to feel bad. It could be physically, like you're sick,

or if you went drinking one night and then the next day you have a hangover, then

you're in a bad way. You're very rough, you're very sick. Or if you broke up with someone

or if you lost your job, or if somebody, a family member passed away, then you could

be in a bad way. You could be very upset, very bad condition. Okay? And so somebody

will describe you this way.

"To have a way with", I should put that "to",

sorry about the squeak.

"To have a way", so some people have a way with words,

some people have a way with other people,

some people have a way with technology.

So, "to have a way with" means to be very good at or with

something. So, a very good writer, of course, has a way with words.

He or she can express anything they want,

they can do it very eloquently, very nicely, very interestingly, and people

understand they're looking at a writer, at a real writer.

Obama, President Obama has a way with words. He's a very good speaker.

He knows how to move an audience. Okay?

"Way off", so if you want to guess about something about me, then you're... And you make something

completely wrong, not even close to the truth, then you are "way off".

So, basically, we could say "way off", and sometimes we say "way off the mark".

It means you have a target or you have a guess you want to make, but you're completely wrong, completely away from

the actual correct answer. "The mark" being the truth, in this case.

If you think of darts, you throw the darts and you have to get the bullseye, the little red dot in the centre.

If you throw it like this and it goes to the wall, there, you're way off;

you missed the mark.

"Make way". "Make way" basically means move. "Make way".

Okay? "I'm coming through, make way!"

So I'm coming through a large crowd of people, and I'm running, and I shout:

"Make way!" and everybody sort of parts like the Red Sea.

But "make way" also means to progress.

So the boss comes to me and, like, my team, and he goes:

"How's the project coming along?"

And I say: "Oh, you know, we're making way."

It means we're getting ahead, moving forward.

"Way out there". So then, my friend comes to me and he says:

-"Do you want to take a trip to the Amazon Jungle next week?"

-"Okay, whoa, that's way out there."

It means I can't even imagine that, that's a crazy idea.

Okay? Or it could just be very, very imaginative.

My friend is way out there. He's always... His mind is in the skies. He's never thinking

about reality; he's always dreaming about different things. He's way out there.

A little bit crazy or a little bit imaginative, depending who you ask.

And last one: "be on your way".

If you go... This is a bit more formal, but if you go somewhere

and, like, you go to a restaurant, and you and your friends are speaking a little bit

too loudly, the manager will come and say:

"Excuse me, could you please be on your way?

Could you please leave?" Okay? So: "be on your way", leave.

But if I call my friend and I say: "Hey, I'm on my way" means I'm now coming to you or to your house.

"Be on your way", leave. "Be on my way", I'm coming over. Okay?

So, I hope you enjoyed some of these expressions. Very common. You will hear them regularly;

movies, talking to people on the street, books, newspapers, etc.

If you want to find out if you understood them correctly, go to www.engvid.com.

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Bye.