Meaning of UP IN THE AIR - A Really Short English Lesson with Subtitles

4,913 views ・ 2019-11-27

Bob's Short English Lessons


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

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So, in English when we say that something is
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"up in the air", it means that it is undecided,
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or that it is not for sure yet when, or if it will happen.
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A good example of this would be when a family plans
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to have Christmas dinner together.
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Sometimes they need to find a date, so they might decide
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that Christmas dinner will be on the 22nd of December,
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but that date will be up in the air until everyone
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in the family agrees that it works, so we would say,
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Christmas dinner is most likely going to be on the 22nd,
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but the date is up in the air at this point, because we
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still haven't talked to everyone in the family.
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So, again, when something is up in the air,
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it means that it is decided, undecided, sorry,
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it means that it is undecided, or it hasn't been
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determined yet when it will happen, so anyways,
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up in the air.
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Another phrase that we have, that kind of relates to this
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is if something is on hold.
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When something is on hold, it means that it was planned,
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but now other things have come up and it is
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currently on hold, so that would mean you planned something
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for a certain date, but after you planned to have it
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on that date, other information has come foreword,
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or other things have happened that make the plan
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to be on hold.
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That means that you have to kind of wait to figure out
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if that date still works.
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So, when something is up in the air, it is not
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quite determined to be on that date.
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When something is on hold, it means that you planned
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to have it on a certain date, but now that date
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might not work anymore, so you've put the plans on hold.
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Anyways, Bob the Canadian here and you're learning
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just a little bit of English with me everyday.
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Thanks for watching.
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