BOX SET: English In A Minute 12 – TEN English lessons in 10 minutes!

'break' can have many meanings but today  we're only going to look at three. Number one:  

it means to separate into pieces. Oh I sat on my  glasses but thankfully they didn't break. Two:  

'break' means that something doesn't operate or  doesn't function properly. Why is my laptop not  

working? Don't tell me it's broken! And meaning  number three: it means to surpass or do better  

than something else. Have you seen that new horror  film? It broke all the box office records. As an  

adjective, 'breaking' is very often used together  with the word 'news' to mean that the news is very  

very recent. I get breaking news notifications on  my phone. And finally, as a noun 'break' means to  

stop working for a short time time. It's time  for a break. Hi, I'm Tom and today I'm going  

to show you how to use tag questions. We use tag  questions to ask for confirmation, for example:  

It's a melon, isn't it? 'Isn't it?' has a similar  meaning to 'Do you agree?' When the statement is  

positive, we make a negative question, and when  the statement is negative we make a positive  

question. It isn't a banana, is it? We can use  other auxiliary verbs with tag questions and these  

show a change in tense and meaning. For example:  you won't eat my melon, will you? When there's  

no auxiliary verb, we make a question using  'do'. Elly, you really like melons, don't you?

She really does. Hi, the word 'dead' has so many  meanings and we're going to look at five of them.  

The first one is simple - it means not living.  Monkey! Monkey! He's dead. You know when you  

sleep on your arm - when you wake up you can't  feel anything - it's numb. It's gone dead.  

I tried to catch monkey but my arm had gone dead.  'Dead' in reference to batteries means they have  

no power. Hi I need to ... oh no the battery's  dead. In informal British English, 'dead' can  

also mean 'very'. This English in a Minute is  dead interesting. Lastly, in speaking about  

directions or time, 'dead' can mean 'exactly'. The  post office is dead ahead. We should arrive dead  

on time. Why should you never talk to a ghost?  Because they're dead boring. Hi this is Kee from  

BBC Learning English. Today I'm going to tell you  three different ways of using the phrasal verb  

'pick up'. First we use 'pick up' to describe  learning something. So, for example, I can say:  

children pick up languages very quickly, and so  can you at BBC Learning English. Second, we use  

'pick up' informally to describe buying something,  for example: I often pick up some milk on my way  

home. Third, we use 'pick up' to describe getting  an illness. I think I picked up a cold. So we  

can pick up languages, pick up some milk, and  pick up a cold. Let's take a minute to look at  

some of the many meanings 'while' can have. As a  conjunction, 'while' can mean at the same time as.  

While we were sleeping, it snowed. We can swap  the two clauses around, but notice the comma  

goes away. It snowed while we were sleeping.  'While' can have the same meaning as 'but'.  

One of the twins is shy, while the other is  outgoing. And 'while' or 'whilst' in more formal  

contexts can also be used in the same way as  'although'. While I know that sugar is bad for me,  

I can never say no to dessert. As a noun 'while'  can mean a length of time, and in the expression  

'worth your while' it can mean 'worth the time and  effort used'. So, finally, even though we only had  

a short while together, we hope this lesson was  worth your while. Hello ladies and gentlemen,  

Tom here for BBC Learning English. Today, I'm going  to explain the difference between 'everyone' and  

'anyone'. When I say: 'Hello everyone!', I'm talking  to all the people in a group or all the people  

watching this video. 'Anyone', however, relates to  any one individual person in a group, and we often  

use it to ask questions. For example, 'Is anyone  listening?' or 'Can anyone answer today's question?'  

Here I'm asking if any individuals in the group  are listening. If the whole group is listening,  

we can say 'yes, everyone is listening'. Which  is something that English teachers love to hear.  

Hi, I'm Saskia from BBC Learning English.  Today, I'm going to tell you four ways to  

use the word 'just' as an adverb. One way we use  'just' is for things happening at this moment.  

Do you want to go for a coffee? Hang on, I'm just  finishing this video. 'Just' can also mean 'only'.  

This book cost me just one pound. Wow that  was cheap! 'Just' often means 'exactly'.  

What time is it? It's just four o'  clock. Saskia, here's a present for you.

Thanks! It's just what I wanted. You can also use 'just'  to emphasise other words and expressions. I just  

love this shirt. So, that's four ways to use  'just'. Just in time, better go for that coffee.  

Hello everyone, I'm Tom from BBC Learning  English London and I'm here to explain  

'be used to'. We use this expression to talk  about things which are normal for us now,  

for example, 'It's winter here in the UK'. I've  lived in the UK for quite a long time so this  

is not a problem for me. So, I can say 'I'm used  to the cold weather'. If we want to use a verb  

phrase with the expression we need to add -ing,  for example, 'I'm used to wearing warm clothes  

outside'. If something has not become normal,  I can use 'not' to make the negative form.  

For example, 'I am not used to wearing warm clothes  in my office'. What are you used to or what are you  

still not used to? Leave us a comment below the  video to tell us. Hi guys, it's Phil from BBC  

Learning English. Today we're going to look at how  we can make conditional sentences easy. So, let's  

start with a real conditional, something like: If  it rains tomorrow, I'll bring an umbrella. It's  

real because it might happen. Guys, it's London, it might happen, it might rain tomorrow. To make  

them, you just need to remember there are two  bits. We've got the 'if' bit and we've got the  

results bit. For the 'if' bit, just use a present  tense. For the results bit, we can use 'will' like  

the future. The other thing to remember is that  the order doesn't matter. You can put them any  

way around. So now it's over to you. Why don't you  leave a comment down below and tell us what you'll  

do tomorrow if it's raining or if it's sunny or  if it's windy or if it's foggy or you know...?

We're going to take a look at four different  uses of the adjective 'fair'. I sold my car  

for two thousand pounds - it was a fair deal. In  this example, 'fair' means 'equitable'. It means  

that I received the correct amount of money. My  car is worth two thousand pounds and I received  

two thousand pounds. It looks like there's a fair  chance it will rain tonight. 'A fair chance' is  

a set phrase and it describes the likelihood of  something - it means that there is a good chance  

or a high likelihood of something happening.  My sister has fair hair and fair skin. 'Fair'  

is used to describe the colour in this example. It's like saying that my sister has light-coloured  

hair and light skin. I have a fair understanding  of Spanish but I'm not fluent. In this example,  

'fair' means 'average' or 'not bad but not  great' - it means I know a little Spanish  

but not a lot. If you have a fair understanding  of the word 'fair', why not leave us a comment?