Learn 9 ways to use ‘JUST’ in English

105,612 views ・ 2022-10-29

Learn English with Gill


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Hello. I'm Gill at engVid, and today we have a lesson on the use of one little word of
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four letters, "just". This word, "just". And you would think it would be quite simple,
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a little word like this. You might "just" use it in one way, but in fact there are many
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different ways that the word is used, so it's quite surprising, really, to see how many
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uses it has with slightly different meanings each time. So, I have some examples here to
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illustrate that. So, one meaning it can have is "recently", when you've recently done something.
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You could say, "Oh, I was just thinking. Maybe we could go on holiday soon. I was just thinking."
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So, maybe when people are making a suggestion sometimes, they might say, "I was just thinking,
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just now, just now", they might say. Or they might say something like, "Oh, I've just seen
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my friend in the street, so that would be very recent, a minute ago." So, it can mean
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"recently". Okay? But it can also mean "immediately", and it can be in the immediate future rather
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than in the recent past. So, "I'm just going to make a phone call." So, maybe we're going
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out, but I just... I'm just going to make a phone call quickly, and then we can go out.
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So, I'm just going... Because it's in the future, it's about to happen immediately.
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I'm just going to make a phone call. Okay?
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It can mean... Again, this is all about being quite close to the particular time. So, close
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to the time, one thing happening close to the time of something else happening. So,
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he arrived just as she was leaving. Maybe somebody arriving home just as the person
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they're living with is leaving, which is a bit sad. But he arrived just as she was leaving.
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Very close to the time, almost at the same time, really. Okay? Okay, then it can mean
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"only". "I'll just be a minute." You could say "I'll only be a minute", so it can be
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used instead of the word "only". "I'll just be a minute." If you're going out, again,
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you just need... You just need to do something quickly before you go. "I'll just be a minute."
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No longer. Okay? So, "I'll only be a minute. I won't be very long." Right?
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It can also mean "exactly". So, she's just the person for the job. If you've been interviewing
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people for a job, and you've interviewed ten different people, and some of them are more
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suitable than others, but there's one person who is exactly the right person for the job.
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She's just the person for the job. Okay.
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Then, different again, if someone is honest, they are a just person. He's a just man. A
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fair... If they're fair and honest, they're not devious, they're not deceptive. He's a
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just man. Okay? It's a little bit old-fashioned. I think it's used more in the negative. "Unjust"
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is used probably more than the positive "just". You know, if something bad happens to somebody,
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and it's not right, it's not fair, you would say that is unjust. So, "unjust" is used more
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probably nowadays. Sadly, it's needed a lot, unfortunately, the word "unjust". And it's
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like the word "justice". "Justice" and "injustice", that's an associated word. Okay. So, he's
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a just man, an honest man.
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And then we've got some expressions, like "just in time". We caught the train just in
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time. If we'd have been two seconds later, we would have missed it. We got the train
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just in time. It's a bit like this, close to the time. Okay. And then if something is
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just the ticket, it's not literally a ticket for something, for travelling, or a ticket
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for the theatre, or whatever. That's just the ticket. It means that's exactly the right
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thing that we need. So, "just" is close to this "exactly" meaning here. That's just the
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ticket. It's exactly what we need. Okay. And this one as well is close to the "exactly"
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idea. That's just what the doctor ordered. It's not really a doctor. This is metaphorical
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again. It's like "ticket". It's metaphorical. What would the doctor order in reality? Maybe
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a prescription. The doctor would give you a prescription for something to make you better,
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and you trust the doctor to, you know, get you the right thing to make you better. So,
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to say that's just what the doctor ordered, it means that's exactly what we need. It's
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just the same really as just the ticket, but it's a different way of saying it. And it's
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a little bit jokey as well. "Oh, that's just what the doctor ordered." It can be said in
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a sort of jokey way. Okay. So, I hope that's been a useful overview of the little word
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"just", and I think we could have a quiz on this one. So, if you'd like to go to the website
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www.engvid.com and do the quiz and test your knowledge. And thanks for watching, and see
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you again soon. Bye for now.
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