12 Easy English Expressions with “AT”

Hi. I'm Rebecca from engVid. Welcome back. Today,

you're going to learn 10 common expressions

that all have only two words, and they all

start with the word "at". Now, you're saying

to yourself, "10 expressions, oh my gosh. Can

I really learn 10 expressions in one lesson?"

Yes, you can, because I'm going to make it so easy for you, okay? What are we going to

do? I'm going to tell you exactly what they are, I'm going to show you how to pronounce

them as expressions, and also in a sentence,

alright? I'm going to tell you what they mean,

and we're going to use them... You're going

to learn how to use them not only while you're

speaking, but also in writing, in the correct

way. And I'm going to give you lots and lots

of examples, okay? So that you really understand

what they mean, and you can start using some

of them right away. Okay? Are you ready? Let's get started.

So, here first, on our first board, we have

four of them. They are, you can repeat after

me, "at first", "at last", "at best", and "at worst". Okay? Now, as we go through the

sentences, I'll show you exactly how we kind of

tend to use them, okay? In an actual sentence.

So, let's look at the examples first and understand

what they mean. So, the expression "at first",

what does it mean? It means in the beginning,

initially. Okay? Right at the start. Something

that you felt, or something that you thought,

or something that happened in the beginning.

Okay? So, for example, "At first, she enjoyed

living in the city." Now, in this kind of

sentence, and even from the way that I was

saying it, you can tell that probably something's

different is going to happen afterward. It could be that something was positive first,

and it became negative afterwards. It could be that something was negative first, and

it became positive afterwards. Okay? There's

usually some kind of contrast that we're going

to suggest when we use this expression "at

first". It tells you that at first, da-da-da,

but then later, da-da-da. Okay? So, "At first,

she enjoyed living in the city." Now, we expect

to hear that, but later, she decided that

she enjoyed living in a small town much more.

Okay? We expect to hear something like that.

We don't have to hear it, but we expect to

hear something like that at some point. Or another example, "At first, I thought the

exam was difficult, but once I got through

it, I realized it wasn't that bad after all."

Okay? You see what I mean? So, here you have

an example of something where someone thought

that something was negative first, but actually

it turned out to be much more positive. And

in the first one, somebody thought something

was positive first, and then it turned out

to be negative. So, it doesn't matter which

way you use it. All we're saying when we use

"at first" is that in the beginning, you thought

a certain way, you felt a certain way, something

happened in a certain way. Okay? All right.

So, that's "at first". Let's look at the next

example, "at last". Now, first of all, this

expression is interesting, and it's a little

bit different from the other ones because you

can actually use this expression by itself.

As in, "at last", it means finally. Okay? But usually, we say this expression... We

use this expression, "at last", when we've been waiting for something to happen for a

long time, and then finally it happens. So, imagine a situation where you're waiting to

hear from somebody that you really love, and

you haven't heard from them for too long,

and you're a little bit worried and tense, and then they call, and they finally call,

and you're so relieved, and you're like, "Oh,

thank heavens", and you say, "at last". So,

sometimes we just say that, "Oh, at last",

it means finally. Okay? So, that way, we can

use it by itself. Okay? Or you're waiting for

a letter, or you're waiting for your passport

to arrive before you go abroad. Okay? You finally get it, and you say, "Oh, at last."

Okay? So, it's usually a sigh of relief, you're

happy, okay, you're relieved, that kind of

thing. But let's see how we could use it in a sentence. "At last, he found a job." So,

let's say this person was waiting, looking for a job for a long time, and at last, he

found a job. See how I'm saying it? "At last,

he found a job." Okay? Say it after me. "At

last, he found a job." All right? So, that's

kind of the intonation of that expression.

Or, "At last, the ambulance arrived."

Now, I mentioned to you that usually we use

this when we've been waiting for a long time.

Now, in a situation like this, maybe you weren't waiting for a really long time,

but if somebody is critically ill or injured,

you feel like it's a long time. So, all that

matters is not technically how long you were

waiting, but just how you felt. So, maybe you

felt that it took a long time for the ambulance

to come, so you say, "Oh, at last, the ambulance

has arrived." Okay? It could be anything, it

doesn't have to be the ambulance. "At last,

the bus arrived." You're waiting in the rain,

and you're cold, and you're wet, and at last,

the bus arrived. Okay? Or, "At last, the flight

departed." Or, "The flight left." Okay? After

many delays, that kind of thing. Okay? Something

finally happens after a long wait. That's the

meaning.

Okay, next, we have two more. They kind of go together. "At best" and "at worst". So,

"at best" means if the most positive thing

happens, or looking at it in the most optimistic

way, and this one is the opposite. If the most

negative thing happens, okay, or looking at it

in the most negative way, then something,

something. For example, "At best", or looking

at it in the most positive way, "At best, you'll

pass the exam." So, let's look at this situation.

Somebody hasn't really studied enough, and they're really worried, and they're afraid

they're going to fail, they don't know whether

to go for the exam, not go. So, you think that

they are pretty well prepared, so you want to

encourage them, and you say, "Look, why don't

you just go? At best, you'll pass the exam, and

maybe everything will be okay." That means in

the most positive light. Or, you could say, "Or,

at worst, you'll have to retake the exam." Okay?

"At best, you'll pass. At worst, you'll have to

retake it." All right? Got that? Or, let's say...

Look at another example. "At best, our team will

win the gold medal." Okay? Our team is going to

win the gold at best. Or, at worst, we'll get the

silver medal. Not so bad. Okay? All right? So,

that's the... Those are the two expressions,

"at best" and "at worst". Got it? All right.

So, now, let's look at a few more. So, the next

two are "at least" and "at most". "At least" means

the lowest amount or the lowest quantity of

something. Okay? And "at most" means the greatest

quantity or the greatest amount of something.

For example, "I need at least 20 minutes."

Let's say somebody invited you out. "Oh, there's

a party tonight. Come on, let's go." And you say,

"Okay, sure, but I need at least 20 minutes to

get ready." Okay? "At least" means that much time

at a minimum. This is like a minimum; this is

like the maximum. Okay? You can also think of

it that way. "At least" means the minimum; "at most" means the maximum. Okay? So,

"I need at least 20 minutes." Number... The next one, sorry, "at most". "At most,

we need two employees to work overtime tonight."

Okay? So, that's an example that the maximum

number that we need is this, or the maximum quantity. Okay? "At most, it will take two

weeks to finish this project." All right? Something like that. You can use it in so

many different contexts. Okay? And all of

these expressions, you can actually use them

in your everyday life, you can use them in...

In... At school, you can use them at work,

you can use them in any context, and that's

why it's so useful to know them because we are

able to use them in so many different ways. Okay? All right.

Let's look at another pair. "At dawn" and

"at dusk". Now, perhaps you know these words,

perhaps you don't. I'll explain them to you. So,

"dawn" is the time of day when the sun rises,

and "dusk" is the time of day when the sun sets.

Okay? So, at dawn, when light is just starting

to come into the sky, be careful... Sorry. So,

here we could say, "She wakes up at dawn." Okay?

I don't wake up at dawn, but she wakes up at

dawn because she likes to meditate early in the

morning. Okay? She's a very spiritual person.

She wakes up at dawn. Okay? So, again, "at dawn"

means when the sun is rising. The opposite,

"at dusk", be careful when driving at dusk. So,

"dusk" is like twilight time when the sun is kind

of setting. It's also considered a time when you

have to be very careful if you're driving because

the light is changing, sometimes artificial

lights haven't started to come on yet, and yet the

natural light is getting less, and so you have to

be very careful when you're driving at dusk.

Okay? Say it after me. "At dawn", "at dusk",

"at least", "at most". Good. All right. Next.

Now, these are just for others. They're not...

They don't go in pairs or anything. Okay? So,

here's one. It's pretty easy to understand.

"At birth", birth is when you're born. Okay? So,

here's an example. "He had grey eyes at birth."

That means when he was born, he had grey eyes.

Okay? Or you could say, "She weighed 7 pounds

at birth." Okay? So, whenever somebody is born, we

can use this expression, "at birth", at the moment

that person was born, the baby was born. Okay? Next, "at fault". This means

whose mistake was it? Whose fault was it?

Okay? Who made the error? Who made the mistake?

So, for example, who was at fault? Let's suppose

it's a situation where there's an accident. Okay?

There's a car accident, and then the police come

in, and they try to figure out what happened,

because what are the police actually trying to

find out? They're trying to find out who was at

fault, who made the mistake. Okay? Sometimes

nobody is at fault, maybe there was something

else, maybe the lights weren't working, maybe

something happened, but usually somebody might

be at fault, and the police are going to try to

establish who was at fault. Okay? So, this is

sort of, like, a little bit of a formal

expression to say whose mistake was it. Okay?

Next, "at present". This is also a slightly more

formal way of saying "now". "At present" means

now. For example, in a business situation, let's

say somebody's applying... Looking for a job,

so he calls and says, you know, "Do you have

any... Any jobs available?" And the answer is,

"I'm sorry, we have no vacancies at present."

Okay? Could be for a job, it could be for an

apartment that you're looking for in a particular

building. "No vacancy" means no empty position,

no empty spot. Or in an apartment, it could be

no empty apartment. Okay? "We have no vacancies

at present." "At present", just like the present

tense, which you know and you must have studied,

"at present" just means right now. Okay? So it's a formal expression.

All right, and the last one here is "at

random". "At random" means there's no pattern,

there's no pattern that's followed, there's no

system that's followed, just by chance. Okay?

So, for example, "I chose the lottery ticket

numbers at random." Okay? I didn't follow any

particular system. Some people choose the

birthdays, or anniversaries, or special days,

or they have some lucky numbers when they're

choosing their lottery ticket numbers, but this

person says, "I chose the lottery ticket numbers

at random", with no particular system or pattern.

Okay? "At random". Okay? So, here you had another eight, here you had the first four,

one, "at first", "at last", remember? "At best",

"at worst". Okay? So, these are always a little

bit more challenging because we don't have that

preposition "at" in every language, as I said.

And that's what makes it a little bit more

challenges... Challenging, but I think if you

learn the expression, and you see the examples,

and you write your own examples, you'll find it

actually very easy. And don't worry about the

preposition "at", just learn the whole expression,

and then it makes sense. Okay? And you need...

But you need to practice it at least a few times

in order to learn them. Okay? So, what you

can do is go to our website at www.engvid.com,

there you can do a quiz on these. Okay? And you can also, in the comments section,

use... Use one of these expressions to write some

sentence about yourself, about your own life.

Okay? That will help you to start using it right

away. It's not enough... It's good to learn and

the meaning of something so you understand what

other people are saying, but it's even better

if you can bring these expressions into your

active vocabulary. Right? And start actually

using them yourself in your own writing, and

in your speaking, and so on. Okay? So do that,

and also don't forget to subscribe so you can get

lots of other lessons to help you learn English

more quickly and more easily. All right? Thanks very much for watching. Bye for now.

All the best with your English. Bye.