Learn the English Phrases TO RUN THE RISK and AT RISK

In this English lesson,

I wanted to help you learn the English phrase

to run the risk.

This is a phrase we use when we're talking about something

that might happen if you don't do something else.

Here's a good example.

When you get in a vehicle,

if you don't put your seatbelt on,

you run the risk of getting a ticket, or even worse,

you run the risk of getting injured

if you're in an accident.

So when we say, "To run the risk,"

it means that you are at risk.

I know I'm using the same phrase I'm gonna teach later,

but there is a danger or a possibility

that something might happen

because of a choice you're making.

I just used the second phrase.

The second phrase is the phrase at risk.

You could use this phrase in the same way.

Let's say you go to a coffee shop

and you buy a cup of coffee and you take a big gulp.

You take a huge sip without determining

if it's too hot or not.

You are at risk, at that point, of burning your throat.

You're at risk of burning your tongue

because you didn't take a little sip at first.

So to review when you run the risk,

it means that you do something and there's a possibility

that something else might happen if you do that.

If I go to class without a lesson plan,

I run the risk of the students being all crazy

and not knowing what to do.

Classes usually get out of hand really quickly

if you don't have a plan.

And the similar phrase at risk, to review,

if I went to class without a lesson plan,

I would be at risk of the principal getting annoyed with me

because the class was not well run.

So to run the risk and at risk,

two very similar phrases that talk about something

that might happen if you do something else.

There's usually a relation between the two.

But, hey, let's look at a comment

from a previous video, sorry, I'm having trouble

putting the papers in my pockets today.

This comment is from Natalia,

and I picked this one because I thought this would be funny.

Natalia says, "Bob, You're more than welcome

to pick my comment for the next video.

It will be interesting to see how you politely refuse."

And my response was ah-ha!

I didn't actually say that,

but ah-ha, "Natalia, maybe I won't refuse.

Maybe I'll choose this one. Who knows."

So that was just a little fun for me

and hopefully for Natalia,

thanks so much for leaving that comment.

How do I pick the comments?

Well, I just read through them

and usually there's one that makes me laugh or smile,

or it's just a great question

or it relates to the past lesson.

There's really no rhyme or reason to how I pick them.

I just pick ones that strike me

as being kind of cool or interesting.

And I try not to pick the same person every day.

I always try to pick someone new.

There's kind of a bit of a rotation. I actually keep track.

If I choose a comment from someone,

I won't choose their comment again for a few days,

because I feel like it's good to have some variety

in the comments I choose.

Anyways, we are in front of my local library,

slash, arena, slash, community center.

It has a number of different names.

This was built just in the last few years.

Let's see if I can get a better look for you.

And this is a really cool place.

This is where you come if you want to play hockey,

or if you want to go skating,

if you want to check a book out from the library,

there's also a basketball court in there.

So it's really cool for young people as well.

There's an enormous walking track

around the outside of the ice rink.

So older people often come and they will walk in the winter.

And what did we use this for mostly?

Mostly we've been using this as a vaccination center.

It's closed now, but for months on end,

this was a mass vaccination center for COVID vaccines.

This is actually where, yeah,

I think I got my second vaccine, I can hardly remember now.

Jen got her second vaccine here, I think.

I can't remember where I got mine.

Anyways, see you in a couple of days

with another short English lesson, bye.