8 Idioms I regularly use

Here we go, eight idioms I use regularly.

Short, simple, and that will make you stand out

from the crowd.

(upbeat instrumental music)

Hello, it's Keith from the Keith Speaking Academy,

and this YouTube channel, English Speaking Success,

here to help you become a more confident speaker of English.

So today I'm gonna share with you eight idioms

that I use on a regular basis.

And what's more, I've invited in some of my students

to practice the idioms

so that they will stick in your memory a little bit better.

Do remember, I haven't even told you yet,

but just to let you know, you can also download the PDF

of these idioms for free down, click on the link below,

so that later you can go through them.

At least it will help you understand them.

And maybe with practice you can start to use

one or two of them as well.

That's it, let me know in the comments

(clears throat) which one you like in particular.

And if you are ready, if you're sitting comfortably,

then let's begin.

Right, number one is to nail it.

To nail it.

You can link nail it.

This means to do something perfectly.

Imagine you take a nail, right?

And you hammer the nail into the wall

and you put a picture on the nail

and the picture looks perfect, right?

It's idiomatic, meaning you've nailed it for anything

that you've done perfectly.

For example, tomorrow my daughter is going

to do a presentation, right?

And I said to her, relax, everything will go smoothly.

You are going to nail it.

Also, the other day my wife did a new recipe.

She was trying out a new recipe and I said to her, oh,

after she'd finished, this dish is delicious.

You've nailed it.

She did it perfectly.

And here's another example.

- I'm gonna take the test in two week's time,

and I hope I'm gonna nail it.

- Number two, to be spot on.

To be spot on.

It means to be well exactly right, or perfect.

For example, I was listening

to the weather forecast the other day,

and it said that today it was going to be sunny.

Sure enough, look outside and it's sunny.

The weather forecast was spot on.

It was perfect.

It was exactly right.

Do you remember that dish I told you about

that my wife prepared the other day?

Well, when she'd finished, she did say to me,

"Okay, yeah, I've nailed it, but is there enough salt?"

And I said, "It's spot on."

There was exactly enough salt,

not too much, not little, spot on.

Here's another example.

- My friend told me,

"Kristen, you like eating mangoes, right?"

And I said, "Spot on."

- Number three, to be on a roll, to be on a roll.

The idea of rolling is like a snowball.

When it rolls and it gets bigger and bigger and bigger.

So it's rolling and getting bigger.

It's this idea to have a series of successes.

One success after another after another.

You're getting better and better, to be on a roll.

For example, some of you may know I'm studying French again

and practicing French.

'Cause I needed to brush up on my French, to brush up on,

to improve, right?

To polish my French.

And in the last class it was great.

I was giving one example, then another, then another.

I was giving so many examples, I was on a roll.

Even the teacher said to me, he said, you are speaking

so much French today.

You are really on a roll, right?

We can look to Manchester United for my next example.

United have won their last three games.

They are on a roll.

Nice.

Here's another example.

- Novak Djokovic, the famous tennis player,

won 10 Australian open titles.

It was obvious he was on a roll.

- Now, number four is to get a word in edgeways,

which means to have a chance to speak.

In actual fact, we normally use it in the negative.

We say, I can't get a word in edgeways.

Again, when you listen to this,

you'll be hearing the linking.

I can't get a word in edgeways.

This comes from the idea, well, imagine you are walking

through a crowd of people.

There's lots of people,

and you normally have to go like this, right?

You have to, this is the edge, the front, the edge.

You need to go edgeways through the gaps.

In fact, we even say to edge forward, right?

Is to move forward slowly.

So the idea of getting a word in edgeways is to

go on the side and to move forward slowly, trying to speak.

This is apparently where it comes from,

although some people say it's a nautical term from

sailing as well.

But it's the idea that you,

I can't get a word in edgeways even going slowly,

I can't speak normally

because the other person is speaking so much.

So for example, to make it very, very clear,

I have a boss who talks a lot.

Whenever we have a meeting,

I can't get a word in edgeways,

meaning he doesn't let me speak.

He just rabbits on and on.

I can't get a word in edgeways.

We had a meeting last week,

I couldn't get a word in edgeways.

Another example,

and this is quite a common scenario here in Spain,

I met up with some friends in a bar the other day,

and Miguel, one of my friends, was telling jokes.

He was telling so many jokes

that no one could get a word in edgeways.

And here is another example for you.

- Yeah, when three people in breakout room,

and I'm one of them when they two are talking,

I can't get a word in edgeways.

- Now idioms are very, very useful.

And it's really gonna help you

to understand when you're listening to films, TV series,

even daily conversation when we are using idioms.

If you want to learn more idioms,

check out my 150 idioms course.

I also have an idioms book

that can help you at least understand a lot more idioms.

Now, I recognize it's very hard to use idioms

and it's probably best for you to learn them in context as

and when you are improving your English.

if you're doing IELS

and IELS speaking, idioms, they're important.

At least idiomatic expressions are important,

which is a much wider area of idiomatic phrases,

but it's also good to learn some idioms.

The thing is, you only want to use one or two

and be really confident about using them.

So if you want to improve your overall understanding

of idioms, on the one hand, keep learning

as you're going one by one.

But you can also check out my idioms course

and idioms book that's full of stories and context.

It's a fun and engaging way of learning more idioms,

helping your, well make your language more colorful

if you like.

Check them out in the link below.

There's a nice discount or a little bundle there for you.

And that's it.

Let's get back into today's eight idioms I use regularly.

Number five, it turns out, duh, duh, duh, duh.

Which means it happens in a particular way.

It happens to be the case.

So here, certain things happen, this happens, that happens.

Then this happens.

And then in the end, the result was

something happened in a particular way, often a surprise

or an unexpected result or an unexpected way.

For example, right, yesterday I had an appointment,

I missed the bus

and I arrived late at the dentist.

But then it turns out the appointment was

for the week after.

It turns out, right, this happened in a particular way.

It was a surprise.

So I was late for my appointment,

but it turns out it was next week.

I was nervous about my French exam.

But when I did the exam, it turned out to be really easy.

Here's another example.

- Last week when I know I need to do a mock test with Keith,

I felt super duper nervous.

But today it turns out my score is pretty good.

I got band seven in this exam.

- Number six to crack me up.

If you imagine an egg cracking, if you crack up

you laugh a lot or very hard.

So it cracks me up

is it makes me laugh very hard, very strongly.

Last week I watched "The Office"

and it cracked me up.

Another example, my friend Miguel, I talked about,

he's very funny.

He always cracks me up.

And here's another example.

- When I watch "Mr. Bean," he cracks me up.

- Number seven in a way, meaning

to some extent.

It's idiomatic 'cause in a way doesn't mean

I'm on a path, it's just to some extent.

For example, right, I work from home.

In a way, working from home is easy,

but it can be boring to some extent.

In a way, I like living here in Santander,

but it does rain quite a lot.

And here is another example.

- In a way, living in the city is more convenient than

living in the countryside.

- Number eight, to make head

or tail of something means to understand something,

usually something complex or difficult to understand.

So head and tail, you've got the head of an animal

and the tail of an animal, like the top and the bottom.

And if you can't understand the top

or the bottom, it just, no, it makes no sense.

Something complicated.

So for example, something complicated.

If you've ever made an IKEA table,

IKEA is the Swedish furniture shop.

They provide you with a instruction manual paper,

slightly complicated instructions, right?

It's very hard to make head or tail of it,

or it's hard to make head or tail of the instructions.

Maybe sometimes at work you receive a very complicated email

and you really don't understand what they're trying to say.

I can't make head or tails of it.

Another example, my friend had a plan to go on holiday,

but it was super complex and I couldn't understand it.

I couldn't make head or tail of her plan.

And here's another example.

- Yesterday I bought a

bookshelf for myself.

When I open the instruction, I need to figure out

how can I put them together to become a bookshelf.

I couldn't make head or tail of it.

- This manual is very complicated.

I can't make head or tail of it.

- So there you have them,

eight idioms I use on a regular basis.

And if you want to review them, do remember,

you can download the PDF for free

and just build up your bank of idiomatic vocabulary.

If you want to learn more idioms, go check out my course.

150 Idioms for You to Learn.

It's fun, it's engaging.

There are stories, audio, you can listen, practice.

I think you'll love it.

Make your English more colorful.

That's it for today.

Thank you so much for watching the video.

Give me a like, if you liked it, remember to subscribe

and turn on notifications.

Hopefully I will see you in the next video.

Take care my friend.

Bye-Bye.

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