Meaning of KEEP A LID ON IT - A Really Short English Lesson with Subtitles

5,147 views ・ 2019-09-03

Bob's Short English Lessons


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

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So we have a phrase in English, "..keep a lid on it..", and this means to keep a secret.
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If you don't know what a lid is, I have a pan right here and I also have a lid for the
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pan and I can put the lid on the pan.
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So now you know what a lid is.
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When you say to someone that you want them to keep a lid on it, it means that you want
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them to keep a secret.
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Maybe you've just applied for and been accepted at a new job but you don't want everyone to
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know yet because it's not quite official, but you still want to tell someone that you
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trust like a good friend or your mom and dad.
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So you might say, "I just applied for a job and I got the job but keep a lid on it because
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it's not official yet.
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Please keep it a secret because not everyone knows."
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00:54
So when you say to someone that you want them to keep a lid on something it means that you
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want them to keep it a secret.
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01:01
So if we use this phrase in the past tense we would say, "The other day someone told
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me a secret and I kept a lid on it."
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Notice "keep" turns to "kept".
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01:13
So, the other day someone told me a secret and I kept a lid on it.
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01:18
Today someone told me a secret and I am keeping a lid on it.
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Or tomorrow someone will tell me a secret and I will keep a lid on it.
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So there you go, past, present and future.
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Keep a lid on it means to keep it a secret.
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