Easy English Expressions with "OUT OF"

Hi.

I'm Rebecca from engVid.

In this lesson you will learn how to use some common expressions and idioms, all of which

start with the words: "out of".

Okay?

Now, let's see exactly how this works.

First we'll start with some expressions, and then we'll look at idioms.

And all of them are going to use the words: "out of", but in different ways.

All right?

So, when we use the words "out of" as an expression, there, the meaning is consistent.

What does that mean?

The meaning is pretty much the same.

It means this, when we say: "out of x", it means I have no x left.

Okay?

For example, when I'm out of something, it means I have no something left.

I had something before, and now I don't have any remaining.

There's nothing left.

For example...

Okay? The examples always help you to really understand something.

So let's say you go to the fridge and you open it, and you're about to have a nice cup

of coffee and you say: "Oh my goodness, I'm out of milk."

What does that mean?

You had milk before, but now there's no milk left.

So then we say: "I'm out of milk", for example.

Now, here when we use it as an expression it always means something like that.

There is no something left.

There is no something remaining.

For example, in the office you go to use the printer and you can't print. Why?

Because you're "out of paper".

All right?

Or you get into the car and you have a really big problem because you're "out of gas".

Okay? "Gas" here means gasoline, petrol.

Okay?

All right, so that's a very common way that we use the expression "out of".

All right?

And here it always means that you don't have something left that you had before.

Let's look at some other examples where it means the same thing, but a little bit more abstract.

So, for example, you're at an exam, you have three/four hours, you have a lot of time when

you start; but at the end in the last five minutes, you have to hurry up and finish your

essay or whatever you're doing because otherwise you will be "out of time". All right?

That means you won't have no time left.

All right.

Or you go to the casino with a lot of money in your pocket, but after a little while the

money's gone, you have no money left or you are "out of money".

Or we could say: "out of space".

For example, let's say you're moving and you're packing everything into a truck, but you've

still got a lot of furniture left and there's no space, so you say:

"We're out of space. We have to come back one more time with another truck to fill the rest of the furniture."

Okay?

That's called being out of space.

So do you understand?

In all of those examples, and we use that a lot, with anything.

Okay?

And it always means you had something and now you had nothing left.

That's the straightforward way in which we use this expression, but we can also use "out of"

as an idiom, and then it doesn't mean that you have nothing left.

It means all kinds of things, and each time, each idiom means something different so you

kind of have to learn what that idiom means.

Okay?

So here when it's used as an idiom it can have different meanings.

Let's look at eight of these to see what they mean.

All right.

So the first one is: "out of touch".

You might have heard this, especially if you write to people by email, and what it means

to be out of touch means to not be in contact.

So, I haven't heard from John for a long time.

We've been out of touch.

All right?

We're not in contact regularly. All right.

Another idiom: "out of work".

If you say that John is out of work or Mary is out of work, what does it mean?

It doesn't mean that they don't have any work left.

It means something a little bit different from that.

It means they are unemployed, they don't have a job actually.

All right?

But it's kind of a nicer way to say that somebody's out of work, it means they're unemployed.

They don't have a job right now.

All right, the next one when you say:

-"Oh, have you talked to James?"

-"No. I haven't seen him. I think he's out of town."

Okay, what does that mean: "out of town"?

That means he's not in the place where he usually lives. All right?

And that could be a city, it could be a town.

It doesn't matter.

We use the expression "out of town" even to talk very much about cities.

It just means that you're away from the place that you normally reside or live.

All right?

And the last one of these: "out of order".

You might have seen this sign on some machines sometimes.

So, "out of order" means that it's broken, it's not working.

All right?

It needs to be repaired, needs to be fixed.

It could be a telephone, could be a printer, could be anything else.

All right?

So, let's just review this for a minute, the first segment.

So, if somebody is unemployed, what could you say?

You could say they are

"out of work".

Good.

I heard you.

Yeah, I can hear you.

All right.

The next one, let's say that something is not working.

Okay?

The refrigerator, not working.

It's actually

"out of order".

Okay?

Now, usually we don't talk about it so much for things at home.

We talk about it more, like, public machines. Okay?

Like a telephone or a printer, things that many people use.

All right?

Next, suppose you haven't been in contact with somebody for a long time, what could you say?

You could say that we have been

"out of town" or "out of touch", which one?

Do you know?

Good.

"Out of touch", not in contact.

And, of course, the last one: "out of town" means what?

That you have gone away from wherever you live normally.

So, that's that one.

Now look at four more.

All right?

So, the first one is: "out of character".

So, first of all, what does "character" mean?

"Character" is who you are, "character" is your personality, your mental and moral qualities

that make you who you are.

So, for example...

Let me give you the example first and then I'll explain.

All right?

So let's say that Mary is a very reliable person and she always does whatever she says

she's going to do.

And she always tells you if she's going to be late, or this, or that. Right?

And today you haven't...

She was supposed to be here at 7 o'clock, it's 9:30 and she hasn't called, she hasn't come.

It's very out of character for her, so you're getting a little bit worried because if she's

ever late she always tells you.

So that would be "out of character".

It means it's something that's not typical, not normal for that person.

It's out of character.

Okay? Some kind of behaviour which is different from what they normally do.

All right.

The next one: "out of practice".

Okay, this we use quite a lot.

Okay?

We use it for all kinds of things.

"Out of practice" means that you haven't done something for a long time, and so now you're

not doing it at your best.

For example, let's suppose in school you learn French.

Okay?

But you...

And at that time you used to speak a little French and so on, but now you haven't spoken

French for years, so you're out of practice.

You're a little bit rusty.

So that means you're not going to speak French as well as you once spoke French.

All right?

It can also apply to things like playing an instrument, for example.

Okay? You haven't...

You used to play the piano when you were young and then you see a beautiful piano, and some friends say:

"Hey, John, you used to play the piano."

And you say: "No, I'm a little out of practice."

Okay? That means you haven't been playing recently.

All right.

Let's look at the next one.

"Out of sorts".

Okay, if someone tells you they're out of sorts, it means they're a little bit unwell.

Here, really, there's nothing to help you.

You just have to understand this expression the way it is.

All of them are like that.

Some of them you can figure out a little bit, but the main point about idioms is that the

words alone don't tell you what it means.

You have to really understand it overall.

So, "out of sorts" simply means that you're feeling a little bit unwell.

Not very, very sick, but a little bit unwell and you don't know exactly why.

Usually that's what they use that expression, okay?

And the last one is: "out of nowhere".

So when something happens out of nowhere, it happens suddenly, it happens unexpectedly.

You didn't think that this was going to happen.

You had no idea, and you say: "It happened out of nowhere."

Okay?

For example, you pick up the phone, somebody's calling: "Who's that? Wait a minute."

And, oh my gosh, it's your friend from high school about 20 years ago, and you're like:

"Wow, out of nowhere.

How did you find my number?

How did you get in touch with me?"

So it's something unexpected and sudden.

All right?

So let's review a little bit.

If somebody hasn't spoken a language for a long time, you might say...

And now they're not speaking it very well or they think they can't speak it very well,

then what...?

Which idiom would we use here?

It would be this one:

"out of practice". Good.

And if somebody's...

You'll look at your colleague and looks a little bit tired and unwell.

What could you say if somebody's a little tired or unwell?

You could say that they are:

"out of sorts". Good. Okay?

And somebody does something that's very different from the way they normally behave.

It's not their normal behaviour at all, so you say that this thing that they did was

very "out of" what?

"Out of character", good.

And the last one, of course: "out of nowhere" means that something happened suddenly, unexpectedly.

All right?

Okay.

So now let's see how we can use these in a little story.

Okay?

I'll be right back.

Okay, so before we read our story let's just review quickly.

So remember we can use the words "out of" as an expression or as an idiom.

When we use it as an expression usually with a noun, like "out of sugar" or "out of milk",

"out of salt", etc. then it's just a straightforward meaning; but when we use it as an idiom with

the eight that we looked at, then it has a special meaning which is quite different from

the words that are involved.

Okay? All right.

So, now, regarding the story there are two ways you can do this with me.

One is before I read it with you I will move aside like this, and you can stop or pause

the video, and just read it by yourself first and see if you can understand or what you

can understand.

All right?

And then I'm going to go through it and I'll explain as we go along.

Okay?

So if you want to pause the video, pause it now.

All right.

So now let's continue.

So: "When Jack and Susie were out of work, they were also out of touch."

What does that mean?

"When Jack and Susie were out of work" means when they were unemployed, when they didn't

have jobs, "they were also out of touch", they were also not in contact.

All right? With me.

Let's say, that's what we're going to find out.

"That was quite out of character because we are close friends.", "Out of character", that

was out of character of them to do that means it's not typical of them, not normal, not

the way they usually behave.

"I thought they might be out of money or even out of town.", "Out of money", now here it's

not an idiom, right?

It's just an expression.

"Out of money" means maybe they don't have any money left.

Maybe their money's gone, it's over, it's finished.

Okay?

They don't have enough. They had it once, but now they don't.

That's the expression.

So maybe...

I thought they might be out of money or even out of town.

Now, again, we're back to using the idiom.

"Out of town" means away from where they normally live.

Okay?

"When I finally reached Jack, he seemed out of sorts."

You remember that one?

What does it mean?

What did Jack seem?

He seemed to be a little bit unwell.

Okay?

"Out of sorts", feeling a little strange, a little unwell.

It can mean physically, it can mean mentally.

Okay?

Just not quite normal, a little weird.

All right.

"Then, one day", this has a happy ending, this story.

"Then, one day, out of nowhere", what does that mean?

"Out of nowhere"?

Suddenly, unexpectedly: "he called to say they had spent their last dollar

on a lottery ticket - and won $5 million!"

Okay.

Good for Jack and Susie.

Right?

Okay, but most important, good for you that you have learned lots of idioms that are used

actually very often in our normal speech.

Okay?

These are not special idioms or advanced idioms.

They're everyday idioms so you might hear them in social situations, you might hear

them in professional situations at work, so it's really good if you learn them.

So, in order not to be out of practice in using these idioms, you might want to do these

things: Go to our website at www.engvid.com.

There, you can do a quiz on these idioms

and you can also check out the thousand or more other lessons that we have.

Not all at one time, but a few that you like.

Okay?

And also subscribe to my YouTube channel so you can continue to improve your English with

lots of useful lessons.

All right?

Thanks very much for watching. Bye for now.