Learn the English Phrases TO BREATHE NEW LIFE INTO and TO BREATHE A SIGH OF RELIEF

In this English lesson, I wanted to help you

learn the English phrase, to breathe life into,

or we also sometimes say, to breathe new life into.

We use this phrase whenever someone

or something makes a situation better.

Here's a great example.

Let's say they are fixing all of the roads in your town,

but they're running out of money.

If the government suddenly decides

to give your town more money to fix the roads,

that money would breathe new life into the project.

When you think about a person,

let's think about a party that's really, really boring,

and if a person comes to that party

who's really happy and excited,

we would say that that person

would breathe life into the party

or they would breathe new life into the party.

So, when you have the phrase,

to breathe new life into something,

it simply means that someone or something

makes the situation better.

The second phrase I wanted to look at is,

to breathe a sigh of relief.

A sigh of relief sounds like this. (sighing)

And a sigh of relief is something that you do

when you were worried about something

and now you are no longer worried about it.

Probably the best example I can give

is from my own childhood.

When I was a teenager, sometimes I would stay out late

and my mom would actually stay up

and wait for me to come home.

And when I came home,

I think my mom would breathe a sigh of relief.

Basically, my mom would have been worried

when I was out with my friends,

and when I got home and she knew I was home

and that I was safe,

I'm pretty sure she would breathe a sigh of relief.

So she would just sit there and probably go,

(sighing) "Oh, good, Bob's home."

So anyways, to review,

when you breathe new life into something

or when you breathe life into something,

it means that you make a situation better

or something makes a situation better.

And when you breathe a sigh of relief,

it means that you were worried

and now for some reason you are no longer worried

and you can just breathe a sigh of relief

and be happy again.

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

This comment is from the video I did

on what a class clown is, and this is from Qiu Park,

and Qiu Park says "Every class has a class clown."

And my response was, "You are right.

I think every class I've ever been in as a student

and every class I've ever taught as a teacher

had a class clown in it."

So I just want you to read that sentence again

on the screen.

That's a pretty complex English sentence,

but it's a great model sentence for talking about the past.

So again, I said, "I think every class I've ever been in

as a student and every class I've ever taught as a teacher

had a class clown in it."

So anyways, I'm sure some of you were class clowns.

I know in the comments on that video,

some of you shared that you were class clowns,

some of you shared that you weren't class clowns,

but you certainly found class clowns funny.

Hey, let's talk a little bit more about being a teenager.

I know some of you are teenagers,

I know some of you are parents with teenagers,

and I know some of you are parents

and you're going to have teenagers someday,

and I know all of you at some point were a teenager.

Let's talk about staying out late.

I don't think I was very nice to my parents

when I was a teenager.

I stayed out late a lot.

I was supposed to be home at midnight,

and sometimes I would come home

at one or two or three in the morning.

I was a good kid,

but I still tended to stay out late all the time

and I think it really worried my parents.

So, if you are a teenager right now,

just kind of think about that

when you go out and you stay out late.

If your parents are expecting you home

at 11:00 p.m. or midnight,

at least give them a little text message,

send them a text message, if you're gonna be late.

Be as nice to them as possible.

And if you're a parent of a teenager like me,

I totally understand what you are going through.

Sometimes when your kids are out late,

you just can't wait for them to get home

so that you know that they are safe and sound.