Learn 8 Popular English Expressions

Hi. I'm Rebecca from engVid. In this lesson, you will learn eight new idioms

which are used very commonly in personal, social, and professional

situations. Okay? Now, I've divided them for you. There are eight, but four of

them are a little bit more on the negative side, and four of them are

quite positive. So, let's see what they are. Now, we could start all of them,

just in order to make a kind of a sentence... we could start all of them

with the word: "It's", or "It is", or "It was", okay? Whatever. But we'll say:

"It is".

So, let's take the first one: "It's a tough break." So, what does that mean:

"It's a tough break"? It means something unfortunate happened or something bad

happened that really was kind of sad. Okay? For example, let's say somebody

bought a house, which is a good thing, but then he lost his job. So, that was a

tough break. Okay? Because now he has to cope with that situation, and it's a

difficult situation. So, it was a tough break that he lost his job shortly after

buying a new house.

All right, let's look at the next one: "It's a long shot." A "long shot" means

that there's very little chance of success. So, for example, we know that

lots of people around the world buy lottery tickets, even though it's a long

shot that you're actually going to win millions of dollars. Okay? So, that

means there's very little chance of success.

Okay, the next one, number three: "It's a raw deal." So, when we say that

somebody "got a raw deal", or that "it was a raw deal", it means that somebody

was treated very unfairly. Okay? Not in a good way; it was a bad deal. So, for

example, if somebody got a job, and then he found out or she found out that the

person in her job before then got paid much, much more — so she got a raw deal,

or he got a raw deal. He got a bad deal, and was treated unfairly. Okay? That's

"a raw deal".

The last one here in the negative section: "It's a necessary evil." So,

that seems a little bit strange, right? So, "evil" means something bad;

"necessary" means something that you need. So, what's an example of "a

necessary evil"? Let's say taxes. Right? We all have to pay income taxes in most

parts of the world. And we don't like to do it, but we need to do it because our

taxes pay... allow the government to take care of lots of things for us and

provide us with all kinds of services. Right? Looking after our roads, giving

us a fire department, and all of these kind of things. So, we could say that

taxes are a necessary evil. Okay? Did you get those?

Let's review them a little bit. So, if we say something is "a long shot", it's

unlikely to succeed, such as a lottery. Or if we say it was "a tough break", it

was a difficult thing that happened, like that person who lost his job after

buying a house. Or if something is "a necessary evil", we say it's necessary,

but we still don't like it. For example, taxes or exams, or other things like

that. Okay? So, what's "a raw deal"? "A raw deal" is where someone is treated

unfairly or badly. For example, if somebody did some work, and was promised

$200, but then at the end of it, they got only $100. So, they got "a raw

deal". Okay?

So, let's look at the next four; these are a little bit brighter, a little bit

more... a little bit happier. Okay? "It's a no-brainer." Okay, so let me

give you a nice example of that one; a good, happy example. So, let's say that

somebody didn't have work for a long time —could be this guy up here, okay?

Who lost his job — but then after a long time of not having any work and not

having enough money, he was offered a great job with a high salary and

everything else. So, should he have taken that position? Of course. Yes.

It's very clear and obvious that he should. So, that's "a no-brainer". "A

no-brainer" is something that's very clear and obvious; you don't have to

think about it very much. It's very... You don't have to use your brain very

much to figure out the answer. So, it was a no-brainer that he should take

that job when he had no work. Okay.

"A turning point". "A turning point" is a time when everything changes for the

better. For example, if there is a couple and they've been trying to have a

child, and they couldn't have one for many years, and then they had a baby and

they were so happy, and that was a turning point in their lives. That's

what you can say. Okay?

"A safe bet". So, what's "a safe bet"? Do you have any idea what it could be?

Something that you can be sure of — okay? — something that you think is safe

to do. For example, most people consider that if you go to university, it's a

safe bet. That means that if you go to university, you invest the time and

money, but then for the rest of your life, you will benefit from that; you'll

have a career, you'll have an income. So, going to university is often

regarded as a safe bet; a good thing to do.

And the last one is "a win-win situation". So, what's "a win-win

situation"? It's a situation in which both sides win; both sides are happy,

both sides come out ahead. For example, let's suppose you want to improve your

English, and you meet someone who is an English speaker who wants to learn your

language. So, you could do a kind of language exchange, and both of you would

benefit; both of you would win. So, that's called "a win-win situation".

It's often used in business situations, when there's some sort of negotiation

between two sides. And finally, everybody is really happy. So, that

means it's a win-win situation. All right?

So, again, what's "a no-brainer"? Something that's very clear and obvious.

What's "a safe bet"? Something that you can be pretty sure and certain it will

succeed, or it's a good thing to do. What's "a turning point"? It's a time

when everything changes for the better. And what's "a win-win situation"? A

situation in which both sides or all sides are happy with the results. Okay?

So, maybe as a way to review this, you can do a few things. First, go to our

website at www.engvid.com; there, you can do a quiz on this. All right? Just

to make sure that you really understood these well. While you're there, you can

leave a comment for me in the comment section, and maybe use one or two of

these idioms. For example, you could tell me about a turning point in your

life, something that happened and... and a good time when something good

happened. Maybe you met somebody, maybe you started a business, maybe you did

something. And... or you could give me an example of some win-win situation in

your life. Okay? But find an idiom that you like and that you can apply, because

when you use your own examples, that's when you really understand something.

Okay? And last of all, subscribe to my YouTube channel so you can continue to

get more lessons that will help you to improve your English. Okay? All the

best. Bye for now.