Learn the English Phrases "in hindsight" and "Hindsight is 20/20!"

3,168 views ・ 2023-08-30

Bob's Short English Lessons


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:00
In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase
0
33
3036
00:03
“with hindsight”, or sometimes we say “in hindsight”.
1
3069
3270
00:06
And this simply means when looking back in time.
2
6439
3571
00:10
So I could say this, “With hindsight we know that dumping garbage into
3
10076
4338
00:14
the ocean is a bad idea.” If we look back 50 or 100 years,
4
14414
4204
00:18
we know that some of the things we did were bad.
5
18852
2702
00:21
So with hindsight, when we look back in time,
6
21554
3237
00:24
we realize that those are bad things.
7
24791
2769
00:27
You can use the phrase, too, to talk about your own personal life.
8
27560
2803
00:30
You could say, in hindsight, I should have taken the job at the factory.
9
30363
4471
00:34
Maybe everyone at the factory just got a $50 a day raise
10
34901
3370
00:38
and you're still at your old job because you decided not to work there.
11
38271
3771
00:42
But you could say, “In hindsight, I should have taken the job.”
12
42175
3070
00:45
So when you look back in time, you think, Oh, I should have made
13
45478
3504
00:49
a different decision.
14
49015
1668
00:50
And then we also have this phrase in English.
15
50683
1902
00:52
Hindsight is 20/20.
16
52585
1769
00:54
So this is interesting because hindsight refers to looking back
17
54354
3937
00:58
in time and 20/20 refers to how good your eyesight is.
18
58291
4171
01:02
If you have 20/20 vision, it means that you don't need
19
62695
3671
01:06
to wear glasses to read or just to see things.
20
66366
3003
01:09
So when you say, “Hindsight is 2020.”, you're basically saying that
21
69602
4505
01:14
when you look at a situation in the past from the future,
22
74207
5072
01:19
it's pretty easy to see clearly if you made a good or bad decision.
23
79345
4238
01:23
So to review “with hindsight” or “in hindsight” simply refers
24
83683
3971
01:27
to looking back in time from your current place in time
25
87654
4738
01:32
and realizing that something was a good or bad decision, and saying that hindsight
26
92459
4537
01:36
is 20/20 simply refers to the fact that it's much easier to see now
27
96996
5406
01:42
if a decision you made a long time ago was good or bad.
28
102502
3670
01:46
But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video.
29
106239
2870
01:49
Sorry these shorts of weird pockets, it's hard to get things in and out, it’s
30
109109
3503
01:52
all crumpled.
31
112612
734
01:53
Sorry, This comment is from DimbikeY.
32
113346
3771
01:57
Such a poor little tree behind you. R.I.P.
33
117250
3337
02:00
Mr. Tree. That means rest in peace. And my response?
34
120587
2702
02:03
I'm sure it will come back strong next year.
35
123289
3003
02:06
So yeah, in the last video I showed you all of the beautiful trees,
36
126326
3837
02:10
but one tree was kind of sad looking and I do think it will come back.
37
130230
4070
02:14
I'm not too worried about that tree.
38
134367
2035
02:16
I'm sure that it will look beautiful in the future.
39
136402
3404
02:19
We just have to wait a year.
40
139806
1868
02:21
Anyways, I'm out here.
41
141674
1936
02:23
Thanks for the comment, by the way, I’m
42
143610
1635
02:25
out here walking along, the flowerbeds are in full bloom.
43
145245
3703
02:29
Sorry. My battery went dead there.
44
149182
1969
02:31
That's never happened before.
45
151151
1368
02:32
I'm using my old trusty camera, but I haven't used it for a few weeks
46
152519
3770
02:36
because I've been using my new gimbal and my phone.
47
156289
2302
02:38
So sorry I've charged it up.
48
158591
1969
02:40
I'm kind of holding a battery pack here while I use it.
49
160560
2936
02:43
I'm sure it will last for another minute or so.
50
163496
2536
02:46
So I'm just out here by the flowerbeds.
51
166032
2469
02:48
They look beautiful.
52
168501
1735
02:50
Jen has done a wonderful job this year.
53
170236
2603
02:52
We have been harvesting flowers like crazy.
54
172839
3003
02:56
We have been selling a lot.
55
176075
1268
02:57
And I thought it was time for me to kind of give you a little bit of a look
56
177343
4705
03:02
at what they look like.
57
182148
1502
03:03
These are the zinnias.
58
183650
2602
03:06
These are a very, very popular flower.
59
186352
2770
03:09
People are always wanting zinnias.
60
189122
2636
03:11
Oh, What do we have here?
61
191758
1234
03:12
Oh, Did it fly away?
62
192992
1902
03:14
Oh, it's coming back. There is a butterfly.
63
194894
2269
03:17
Oh, this is a rare treat.
64
197163
2302
03:19
I hope that it's in focus and you guys can see.
65
199465
3003
03:22
Oh, there it goes.
66
202468
2169
03:24
Oh, this is kind of fun.
67
204637
1101
03:25
Sorry if I'm getting distracted by this butterfly.
68
205738
3571
03:29
It's not often that we have things come and join us
69
209375
4638
03:34
when we're doing an English lesson, so that's pretty cool.
70
214013
4205
03:38
Anyways, flowers are doing well.
71
218284
2202
03:40
We have about six
72
220486
1102
03:41
or seven weeks left here to harvest and sell flowers before frost comes.
73
221588
4070
03:45
So we really hope things go well.
74
225725
2035
03:47
The rains that I've been complaining about have certainly helped them grow.
75
227760
3971
03:51
So we're happy about that.
76
231764
1869
03:53
Anyways, thanks for watching this lesson.
77
233633
1668
03:55
I don't know if I've gone over time or if it's too short,
78
235301
2803
03:58
but I'll see you in a couple of days with another short English lesson. Bye.
79
238104
3203
About this website

This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.

https://forms.gle/WvT1wiN1qDtmnspy7