9 Easy 2-Word English Expressions: “on call”, “on edge”, “on board”...

Hi. I'm Rebecca from engVid. Sometimes, English  can be challenging and a little more difficult,  

and at other times, it can be quite easy. This  is one of those quite easy times, alright?  

Because today, we're going  to learn some expressions,  

they all have only two words, and they are pretty short and easy to understand. Okay?  

And easy to learn, easy to pronounce. So, you're not only going to learn the vocabulary,  

you're going to learn a little bit of the pronunciation, which is not hard, and also the  

meaning, of course. Alright? So, are you ready? Let's get started.  

So, when you don't know the expression, you  might use a lot of words to kind of say the  

same thing. But when you know these short  expressions, you can also speak more effectively,  

more efficiently, and at a  more advanced level. Also,  

these expressions will help you to understand  

what others around you mean when they're  saying... When they're using them. Okay?  

So, suppose you want to say, "They refuse to  work because they want more money." Usually,  

this refers to workers or employees, alright?  They refuse to work because they're protesting,  

they're demanding a higher salary, better  working conditions. So, what is the expression  

that captures that idea? Do you know what it  is? You say, "They are on something. They  

are on strike." Okay? So, if you say that  certain employees are on strike, it means  

they refuse to work because they are protesting  and demonstrating for better working conditions,  

or hours, or salaries, or something  like this. Okay? Alright.  

Let's look at number two. "She's feeling nervous."  So, this could be for any kind of situation.  

Maybe she's feeling nervous because she's  waiting for her exam results. Maybe she's  

feeling nervous because she's waiting for  the results of some... Of a medical test,  

or she wants to find out, "Did she get the  job?" So, she's feeling nervous, so we could  

also say "on something", because as you can  see, all these expressions start with "on",  

right? So, she's... She's what? She's on edge.  Alright? Perhaps you've heard some of these  

before. Okay? And perhaps you haven't. So,  "on edge" basically means that somebody is  

very nervous and scared about something. They're  waiting for something and they're feeling  

on edge. Alright? Got that? Good. Let's look at number three. If we want  

to say, "The doctor is available", but we mean by that maybe the doctor's not here at the moment,  

but he is available, or she is available. There's an expression for that. We would say,  

"The doctor is on call." "On call" means that even if you're not there at that moment,  

but you're somewhere, and if you're needed, you will be called and then that doctor will be  

able to arrive. Okay? Now, this is usually used... It's used for all kinds of people,  

certainly for medical professionals like doctors and so on. Also, first responders or firefighters  

and so on, they are on call. But it doesn't only have to be for people like that. It could  

also be just people who work at the... In different positions in an organization,  

or if you're... Perhaps you're working at home, but if you're needed, then you're saying that I  

will be available even though I'm at home. So, instead of saying, "I will be available",  

then basically you're... The idea is that you're on call. Okay? Alright. Good.  

Let's look at number four. So, if you want to  ask, "Who's working right now?" Okay? Who's  

in charge right now? Who is on duty? Okay?  "Who's on duty?" means that there are different  

people who have this job, let's say manager,  and some days maybe one manager works, and  

another day there's another restaurant manager,  perhaps in a restaurant. Right? Or some other  

kind of situation like that, or in a factory.  Alright? There might be people who have different  

shifts. Sometimes someone works the morning  hours, sometimes someone works the evening  

hours, and you want to know who's working  now, or who is on duty. Okay? Got that? Good.  

So, as you can see, these words are pretty short,  right? They're not... And these expressions  

are easy to say, to understand. Let's just  repeat them, alright? "On strike", "on edge",  

"on call", "on duty". Okay? You can pronounce  the "t" here, or you could not. You could  

say it like "on duty". North Americans would  probably say "on duty", but I think it might  

be easier for you and easier for others to  understand you if you do pronounce that "t",  

"on duty". Alright? You decide. Next, suppose you want to say, or someone wants  

to say, "Everyone's on the plane. Everybody's on the plane now. All the passengers are on  

the plane." So, what's the expression for that? "Everyone is on board", "on board".  

Right? If you're... When you've traveled at the airport, you'll announce... You'll hear  

the announcement, right? We're starting the boarding procedure. "To board" means to get  

on a plane, or a ship, or anything like that. Okay? And once you are already on the plane or  

the ship, you are on board. That is the... This particular meaning of this expression.  

Okay? There is another meaning. This is kind of more physical. You're actually physically  

on board the aircraft, or the cruise ship, or whatever. There is another meaning which is  

not physical, and it means this. Suppose you're at a meeting, and they're discussing various  

subjects, and deciding, making decisions about how to move forward, and then they say, "Okay, so  

this is what we've agreed. Is everyone on board?" So, what do they mean? They're not talking about a  

plane or a ship. When they ask in that context, if everyone is on board, what they mean is,  

is does everyone agree to this? Does everyone think in the same way? Does everyone support this  

path, or this choice, or this decision? Okay? That's another meaning of "on board". All right.  

Number six. Suppose you want to express the idea that you can buy it for less. It can be anything,  

any product. You can buy it for less. Why can you buy something for less? Because it's... What?  

It's on sale. Yes. This is a very popular word around the world. Right? And something's on sale,  

that means it's available to buy... To purchase, or to buy for a lower price. All right? On sale.  

That one, I'm sure you have heard. All right. Next, number seven. She did it with intent. Now,  

I know that word is a little bit harder to understand. Let me explain it to you. So,  

it means she did it not by  mistake. She really wanted  

to do it. Okay? She didn't do it by mistake or  by accident. She wanted to do it. And usually,  

this one is talking about something negative.  Okay? So, the expression we have for this is  

she did it on purpose. Okay? Now, this word, if  you look at it, you might end up pronouncing it  

a different way, so be careful. The correct way  to pronounce this is "on purpose", purpose. Okay?  

Don't worry about the "p-o-s-e" here. Don't  try to pronounce that the way you see it.  

Just repeat after me. On purpose. On purpose.  So, it's shortened a lot. Okay? It's reduced.  

It's reduced here, it's reduced  here. On purpose. Okay? Good.  

Number eight, "The flight  arrived at the expected hour."  

Okay? The flight arrived when you were expecting it to arrive. So,  

we could say, "The flight arrived..." We have a few options here. The easy one is we could say,  

"on time", right? "The flight arrived on time." Or you could say, "on schedule". On schedule.  

All right? "The conference began on time." On... Or, "The conference... The meeting began  

on schedule." On time. At the time that it was expected to begin. All right? So,  

those are the ones. Let's repeat  the last four for pronunciation  

again. "On sale", "on purpose", "on time", "on  schedule", and also "on board". All right?  

So now, let's take one more step to make sure  that you've understood the meanings of these and  

just to review them and make sure you got them.  So, we're going to jump around a little bit,  

and I'm going to ask you if you remember  what they mean. So, here we go. So,  

let's start with an easy one. If something  is on sale, what does that mean?  

It means that it's available for a lower price.  All right? Good. That's done. All right.  

If someone is on call, what does that mean? That means that person is available  

if you need them, and when you call them, they will come and be available to do whatever  

work you need them to do. Okay? They're on call. All right? Good. Let's look at this one. If  

something is on time or on schedule, what does that mean? That means it happens at the time  

you expected it to happen,  the time it was supposed to  

happen. All right? Good. Very nice. The next  one, let's jump up here. If someone is on edge,  

is that a good thing or a bad thing?  Is that positive or negative?  

It's probably going to be negative, because if  you're on edge, you're what? You are nervous,  

scared. Okay? You're waiting for something. All  right? And you're on edge. Like, we talked about  

the exam results, the interview, did you get the  job, did you not? I don't know, I'm on edge.  

Okay? Or you're waiting for some results from  a doctor, or you're waiting for your wife to  

give birth. All right? So you might be a little  bit on edge. All right. If someone is on board,  

what does that mean? When you're talking about on  board, what could it refer to? Remember it had  

two meanings? So let's talk about the physical  meaning first. It means that you are actually on  

board on a plane or a ship or something like  that. Okay? On board. I'm on board right now.  

So sometimes before your plane or your flight  leaves, you call someone, you say bye and  

everything, okay, I'm on board the aircraft  now, I'm on board now, and I'm going to switch  

off my phone, I'll talk to you after I have  arrived wherever. Okay? So that's on board.  

And do you remember the second meaning of on  board? The second meaning was is everybody on  

board? Does everybody agree? Does everybody say  yes, we should do this? Okay? Those were the two  

meanings of on board. Good. If somebody did  something on purpose, usually is this positive  

or negative? This is usually kind of negative.  Okay? So, for example, sometimes when kids are  

young, they don't still know, they don't know yet  what they should do and what they shouldn't do,  

and so they might hit other children, for example,  and they're doing it on purpose, let's say,  

okay, because maybe they don't know better,  or they're jealous or something like that,  

and they might hit another child on purpose until  the parent explains that that's not what you  

should do, you can't do that, and so on. Or a  child may do something wrong if they're angry,  

okay, they might throw something, and  then again, the parent has to explain,  

don't do that, but the child might have done  it on purpose before they understood that you  

shouldn't do those kind of things. All right?  But again, it doesn't have to refer only to  

children or anything like that, it can also  mean an adult does something with intention,  

but the intention is a negative kind of intention.  Okay? All right. And if people are on strike,  

remember we spoke about that? It could be  factory workers, employees are on strike,  

it means that they are not working. Why?  Because they want something better, okay?  

Their employer to give them something better,  better working hours, better working conditions,  

better salaries, and so on, or some other issues.  All right? That was on strike. And this last one  

here, if someone is on duty, what does that mean?  That means right now they are working. That is  

their shift, they're working from 9 to 5, or 8  to 4, or whatever it may be, they're on duty,  

they're working right now. Okay? All right,  

very nice. So, you see, you've  learned these expressions.  

What can you do now to make sure that you  know them? First, you can go to our website  

at www.engvid.com, and there you could do a  quiz on these, it's a great way to review,  

and make sure that you've really got them,  because you've taken the time to watch this,  

I know you're serious. So, take that extra  step, okay? Do the quiz, lock it in. Then,  

you could also try to write your own sentences  using some of these expressions. You could say,  

"Oh, I bought a laptop on sale." Okay? Or, "John  is on duty on Friday." Whatever, write some  

sentences about your own life using these  expressions, that way you will really know  

and connect them in a meaningful way to your own  self and your life. All right? And don't forget  

to subscribe to my YouTube channel for lessons  like this on various kinds of subjects to do with  

vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and exams,  and everything else. Okay? So, thanks very much  

for watching. All the best with  your English. Bye for now.