Learn the English Phrases "to eye something" and "to have an eye for something"

In this English lesson, I wanted to help

you learn the English phrase to eye something.

When you eye something, it means you look

at it usually because you want it.

It can have other meanings as well, but usually

when I eye something, it means I want it.

If I'm sitting in a room and there are

cookies on a plate, I will eye the cookies

while I'm talking to people because I'm thinking, hmm, those

look yummy and I want to eat one.

So I will eye the cookies.

This happens sometimes at school as well.

Sometimes we're having a staff meeting and there will be

treats for us to eat when we have our coffee

break and I will eye them during the meeting.

I'll think, do I want a cookie or

a doughnut when we have our coffee break.

So when you eye something, it means you look at it.

Now, the second phrase is to have an

eye for something, and it's slightly different.

And I think I explained this one in a previous video.

When you have an eye for something,

it means you're good at it.

And we're usually talking about something visual.

Some people have an eye for home decorating.

Some people are just really good at choosing paint

colors and making a room look really good.

They have an eye for it.

As I said in my previous explanation of this phrase,

I think Jen has a real eye for making bouquets.

She knows what flowers to put together and how many

of each flower and what colors look really good together.

She has an eye for it.

So when you have an eye for something, it means

you're good at something, but it's usually something visual.

You have an eye for decorating a room.

You have an eye for making bouquets.

You might have a real eye for something like art.

You might use that phrase as well.

So to review to eye something means to

look at it because you want it.

And to have an eye for something means to be

really good at something visual, something that people can see.

But anyways, let's look at a phrase from a previous, uh...

let's look at a comment from a previous video.

This is from Mohd Ags. Back to where it all started.

Under the backdoor of your van on

a rainy day after seven full years

Learn English with Bob the

Canadian has come full circle.

Good phrase by the way.

Man, so many amazing memories came flooding back to me.

Very cool. My response.

Yes, except this time I actually got really wet.

When I went back to work, a

few people gave me a funny look.

I guess I should start to carry an

umbrella with my video gear in the spring.

So that's something I don't do. By the way, Mohd.

Thanks for the comment.

I don't carry an umbrella with me.

I should start doing that.

I think it's really common in

Britain to carry an umbrella.

In Canada, umbrellas actually aren't that common, I think,

because we're just used to if it's bad weather,

you just get in your car as quickly as

possible and then you get into your house or

get into your building at work as quickly as

possible and just try to avoid the weather.

Maybe Canadians don't walk as much as they should and

so we don't tend to always have umbrellas with us.

What was I going to talk about today?

It is spring break for me.

As you watch this, I'm making

this video on a Thursday evening.

I just finished my last day of

work and I am now on break.

So it's Friday.

If you're watching this, that's when

this video will come out.

My first day of spring break.

I'm really looking forward to it.

Some people go away during spring break.

Jen and I will be going away for a

couple of days, but most of spring break we

will probably spend time with our kids.

We'll probably do things with our kids.

We'll probably do a few chores around the farm.

We'll probably take a crack at getting all

our paperwork done for the business, our tax

paperwork and all that kind of stuff.

But mostly I just won't work.

Like I won't do any schoolwork for

the next week and a day.

I will intentionally not do any schoolwork just so that

I have a bit of a mental break from that.

I'm having a good semester.

I'm all caught up on all my

grading and everything, so that's fun.

And I'm going to enjoy the spring

break by not working on schoolwork.

Should be really fun.

Anyways, thanks for watching.

I'll see you in a couple of

days with another short English lesson. Bye.