30 SUPER COMMON English Phrases - You can use them every day! (+ PDF & quiz)

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- Hello, lovely students.

And welcome back to English with Lucy.

Today, I am going to teach you 30 advanced idioms.

These are advanced phrases that you can use

in everyday conversations.

This lesson is really going to help you

sound more natural when you speak,

and it's going to help you understand native speakers.

As always, I have a free PDF that goes with today's lesson.

It's got everything you're going to learn today,

all 30 idioms, and it contains some exercise questions.

So you can test your understanding

and put what you've learned into practise.

If you would like to download that free PDF,

just click on the link in the description box,

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Another thing I will mention is that I now offer

a 30 day idioms course.

In 30 days, you will learn over 230 idioms

and take over 600 exercises.

You can take this at your own pace,

but you receive 30 video lessons,

along with 30 written lessons,

and 20 daily exercise questions.

So many students have taken the idioms challenge,

and had amazing results.

It's been wonderful to hear all their feedback.

If you'd like to sign up, you have lifetime access,

so you can take it at any time,

and go back the next year and review the lessons,

and retake the quizzes.

If you'd like to sign up,

click on the link in the description box, and you will see

that there is a special discount code for you.

It's a limited time offer,

so don't miss out.

I really hope you enjoy it.

Right, let's get started with the lesson.

The first idiom is, to eat one's words,

to eat one's words.

This means that you take back what you've said.

If you eat your words, you take back what you've said.

An example, she ate her words

when she realised she'd been talking badly about the boss

right to his face.

Number two is, to make a splash, to make a splash.

And this is to attract a lot of attention.

You can imagine in a swimming pool, you make a big splash,

you attract a lot of attention.

An example, Fred made a splash in the meeting today

when his phone started ringing.

Number three is, to be on the safe side,

to be on the safe side.

And this is to minimise any possible risk

and to create a feeling of security.

An example, we recorded a video of the incident

just to be on the safe side.

It's like saying, just in case, just to be sure,

just to make sure that we're safe in the future.

Number four is, as far as one can tell,

as far as one can tell.

And this is according to all of the available information,

you make a conclusion

based on the information that's available.

As far as I could tell, the shop was closed today.

Based on what I could see, based on the information online,

the shop was closed today.

Number five is, to go down the drain,

to go down the drain.

And this means to be completely wasted, lost.

All of his efforts on the new product went down the drain

when the office caught fire.

His efforts were wasted, they were lost.

It's like you can imagine dropping a coffee over a drain,

it's all wasted, it's all lost.

Number six is, to go down in history,

to go down in history.

And this means to be remembered forever.

His speech will go down in history as one of the greatest.

It will be remembered forever.

We can also use it with friends.

If somebody did something that was so crazy

or so ridiculous or so amazing

that your friendship group will never forget about it.

Your behaviour at that party will go down in history,

we'll never forget it.

Number seven is, to go down a storm,

to go down a storm.

If something goes down a storm,

it means it's well received by an audience.

The opening band went down a storm,

it was their first concert.

The audience loved them.

They went down a storm.

We do often use this sarcastically.

We say, well, that went down a storm,

if something actually was really badly received.

Number eight is, to take a rain check,

to take a rain check.

And this is to politely decline an offer or an invitation,

but with kind of the possibility to do it another time

at a later date.

I can't go to the museum today,

but I'm happy to take a rain check.

How about next week?

It comes from postponing outdoor events because of rain.

We just postpone it, move it to a week later.

Number nine is, to take the biscuit,

to take the biscuit.

I wonder if in American English they say,

to take the cookie.

This is to be the most foolish

or remarkable part of something.

Tara has done some pretty terrible things,

but stealing Joe's cat took the biscuit.

That was the most incredible

or terrible thing she's done out of everything.

Number 10 is, to take advantage of,

to take advantage of.

And this means to make unfair use of someone or something

for your own gain or your own benefit.

He took advantage of the boss

by showing up late to work each day.

We can use to take advantage of

in a more positive or neutral way.

I took advantage of the good weather

by going on a walk in the sunshine.

To make use of it, it doesn't necessarily mean it's unfair

in that sense, but in certain contexts,

it means to make unfair use of something

at someone's expense.

Number 11 is, to call something off,

to call something off.

And if you call something off, it means you cancel it.

Focus on the pronunciation.

To cool off is to make something colder,

to call off is to cancel it.

It's very similar in the RP accent.

Cool,

call,

cool,

call.

It's all about my tongue placement with all,

it's further back in my throat.

Sorry about that face, I just pulled off.

We had to cool the festival off

when we found out it was going to rain.

That idiom is also a phrasal verb

and it is separable,

to call something off or to cool off something.

Number 12 is, to come to a head,

to come to a head.

And this means to reach a critical point.

The situation came to her head

when she showed up to a family party drunk.

Obviously there's lots of history to this story,

lots of bad behaviour, but it reached a critical point.

It came to her head when she turned up to a party drunk.

Number 13, this one's incredibly common,

it is, to make a bee-line for,

to make a bee-line for something.

And this means to go directly towards someone or something.

Tommy made a bee-line for his mom

when he saw her after school.

Or I always make a bee-line for the canopies

whenever I'm at a party, I just love canopies.

Canopies are little individual appetisers,

those small things that you can eat.

I just love them.

At our wedding, we had eight types of canopies.

I wanted to have the whole wedding based on canopies,

but it was denied, I wasn't allowed to do that.

Number 14 is, to draw a blank,

to draw a blank.

And this means to fail to remember,

to not be able to remember something.

I'm sorry, I'm drawing a blank,

I can't remember her address.

Number 15 is, to put it mildly, to put something mildly.

This is to express that something is worse

than what is being said about it.

To put it mildly, I don't really like Mary.

That means that I hate Mary,

I am just not exaggerating.

Or the boss said, he was unhappy with her behaviour.

I think he was putting it mildly.

I think he was furious with her behaviour.

Number 16 is, to have the upper hand,

to have the upper hand.

This is to have a superior or more powerful position.

Patrick has the upper hand in receiving the promotion

as he has been with the company for over 10 years.

He's in the more superior position.

Number 17 is, to have one's work cut out,

to have one's work cut out for them.

This means to be faced with a difficult or lengthy task.

We have to paint the entire house this weekend.

We've got our work cut out for us.

We have got a difficult and lengthy task ahead.

Number 18 is, to hit the ground running,

to hit the ground running.

And this is to start something successfully or quickly.

Miguel hit the ground running

when he was promoted to manager.

He made lots of amazing changes.

He was immediately successful.

Number 19 is, to keep your nose clean,

to keep one's nose clean.

And this is to stay out of trouble.

It can also be used to stay out of gossip.

Keep your nose clean when you go out tonight.

I don't want a phone call from the police

in the middle of the night.

Keep out of trouble.

Number 20 is, to look alive, to look alive.

And this means to move more quickly

or to engage in a more active way.

For example, it's the final half of the game,

look alive out there.

Come on, let's get moving.

Number 21 is incredibly common,

it is, to go out on a limb,

to go out on a limb.

And this means to put yourself

in a vulnerable position normally to benefit others.

He went out on a limb

when he proposed to his girlfriend at the Beyonce concert.

I'm relieved she said, yes.

He put himself in a vulnerable position.

Number 22 is, to go to the dogs, to go to the dogs.

This is to be ruined or to become worse.

This TV show has really gone to the dogs.

What were the writers thinking?

Number 23 is, to run the gauntlet,

to run the gauntlet.

And this is to experience criticism

or harsh treatment from others.

Celebrities have to run the gauntlet of journalists

every single day.

They have to experience that harsh treatment and criticism.

Number 24 is, to lie low, to lie low.

And this means to avoid attention or to hide.

We are lying low for now

until our neighbours forget about the big party we had.

We are not attracting any attention to ourselves.

Number 25 is, to bury the hatchet,

to bury the hatchet.

And this means to end an ongoing conflict.

Tom and Greg buried the hatchet

by drinking a few beers together

and discussing their problems.

Number 26 is, to go to town, to go to town.

And this means to do something with great enthusiasm

and sometimes with great expense as well.

The production team really went to town on the set design.

It looks like we're actually in Rome.

They've put in a lot of effort and probably a lot of money.

Number 27, this is one that my husband,

Will uses all the time, to come in handy,

to come in handy.

And this means to be useful.

That book about phrasal verbs came in handy

when I started my English course.

It was useful.

Number 28 is, to buy time,

to buy time.

This is to temporarily delay something from happening,

usually so that you can have more time

to come up with a solution.

He hadn't finished his project,

so he tried to buy time

by saying that he'd been under the weather.

Number 29 is, to be there for someone,

to be there for someone.

This means to be available to provide support

or comfort for somebody

when they're having a difficult time.

You are my best friend.

I'm always going to be there for you no matter what happens.

And number 30,

the final one is, to put a dampener on something.

Also, it could be, to put a damper on something.

In British English, I hear dampener more frequently.

And in American English, I hear damper, but both are fine.

This means to make something less exciting

or less enjoyable.

Sandy's bad attitude

really put a dampener on her surprise birthday party.

Right, that is it for today's lesson.

You have learned your 30 idioms.

Now it's time to download that PDF

and complete the exercise questions.

Again, the link is in the description box.

You just have to sign up to the mailing list

and it comes straight to you.

Also, don't forget to check out the idioms challenge

where you can learn over 230 idioms in 30 days,

you gain lifetime access.

Click on that link for a special code.

Don't forget to connect with me on all of my social media.

I've got my Facebook,

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my English page, EnglishwithLucy.

I've also got my website englishwithlucy.co.uk.

And on there,

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So you can click on the phonics

and hear me say those phonics

and say words that contain those phonics, it's awesome.

Finally, you can check out my personal channel,

Lucy Bella, where we've vlogged our lives here

in the English countryside.

And all of the vlogs are fully subtitled,

so you can use them for vocabulary practise

and to improve your listening skills.

I will see you soon for another lesson.

Bye.

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