5 English Idioms You Must Know And Use Now

Hey, in today's lesson I'm going to teach you five English idioms.

You must know in order to speak English fluently and sound

like a native English speaker.

Are you ready?

Well, then I'm teacher Tiffani.

Let's jump right in.

Idiom number one, light a fire under someone.

Once again, after me light a fire under someone.

Excellent.

Now, this is a very interesting idiom.

This idiom literally just means to motivate or inspire

someone to take action.

For example, I want you to imagine a child.

A child that has a lot of homework, but the child only wants to play

video games or watch movies.

The child does not want to do his homework.

This little boy keeps saying, no, I don't wanna do my homework.

And then his father walks into the room and lights up fire under

him and says, listen, if you don't finish your homework, you won't be

able to go with us to Disney World.

Immediately the boy starts doing his homework.

Why his father lit a fire under him.

You got it right.

Again, it just means to motivate or inspire someone to take action.

The little boy.

Didn't want to miss out on the trip to Disney World.

Okay, check out these examples and dances using this idiom.

Here we go.

Sentence number one, the coaches halftime speech lit a fire under

the team and they won the game.

They were inspired, they were motivated, so they won the game.

Next sentence number two.

The deadline for the project is approaching.

We need to light a fire under the team.

We need to inspire the team to motivate the team.

Why?

Because the deadline for the project is approaching.

Make sense?

Good job.

And sentence number three.

The inspiring story of the successful entrepreneur lit a

fire for aspiring business owners.

This has happened to me before.

Reading a story about an amazing entrepreneur or watching a documentary

about an amazing entrepreneur actually inspired me, motivated me to keep

pushing forward, to keep working hard, to build this business for you.

So again, the inspiring story of the successful entrepreneur lit a

fire for aspiring business owners.

You got it.

Excellent.

So again, light a fire under someone.

Now we have four more amazing idioms that you must know, but I want to

remind you after each lesson, you can practice what you've learned.

That's right.

Practice the idioms.

Make sure you under the understand the examples and answers.

And all you have to do is download the English with Tiffani app.

The link is in the description, and once you download the app, you're going to

open it and you'll see the course section.

And you want to select weekly English fluency lessons with teacher Tiffani.

You'll see the list of YouTube lessons, and you'll find the one for today,

English idioms, and then you'll be able to either watch the video.

Or go directly to the practice lessons.

Now, these lessons are going to help you understand more of what you learned.

You'll be quizzed to see if you're able to put the answers in order, organizing

the sentences, and so much more.

So again, you need to practice after this lesson.

So download the English with Tiffani app and the link is in the description.

All right?

Okay, let's move on to idiom number.

Two idiom.

Number two is pull oneself up by the bootstraps.

Once again, pull oneself up by the bootstraps.

Good job.

Now you're probably wondering, what in the world does this mean?

So this idiom just means to improve one's situation through hard work and

determination to improve one's situation through hard work and determination.

I watched a YouTube documentary about three weeks ago.

It was about an individual that traveled to a certain part of India and he

was recording the individuals living in this area that was near a field.

And these individuals, according to the caste system, were on the

lower end of the caste system.

But the gentleman that was recording the documentary spoke to another gentleman

that used to be in the same community.

But he pulled himself up by the bootstraps, went to school, got an

education, and he was successful.

And he decided to come back to his old environment, his old neighborhood,

to help other people as well.

This was a great story, a great documentary about pulling

oneself up by the bootstraps.

Again, improving one's situation through hard work and determination makes sense.

Right.

Excellent.

All right.

Let's check out some example sentences, sentence number one.

After losing his job, he pulled himself up by the bootstraps

and started his own business.

He said, listen, I lost my job, but I'm not going to stop.

I'm going to keep moving forward.

I'm going to start my own business.

He pulled himself up by the bootstraps.

Next sentence number two, she pulled herself up by the bootstraps and overcame

the challenges of being a single mother.

So you're seeing now how this idiom can be used in so many different ways.

It can apply to so many different real life situations.

Right.

All right.

And sentence number three, the athlete pulled himself up by the bootstraps and

trained harder to win the championship.

Make sense?

So again, pull oneself up by the bootstraps.

It just means to improve one's situation through hard work and determination.

You got it.

Excellent.

Excellent.

Let's move on to idiom number three.

Idiom number three.

Put one's nose to the grindstone.

Again, put one's nose.

To the grindstone.

All right.

Now this is a very good idiom for you to understand, one

that you must actually know.

So this just means to work hard and diligently on a task.

We've been talking about idioms that relate to challenges, right?

And this one is similar again, to work hard and diligently on a task.

For example, I record English lessons.

For you to help you improve your English fluency.

I also record English lessons for my students in my academy to help

them improve their English fluency.

So when I have to record, I have to put my nose to the grindstone.

I have to work hard and diligently focusing on the task at hand.

Makes sense.

Right.

Excellent, excellent.

All right, so let's check out some examples and sentences.

Here we go.

The students put their noses to the grindstone and

studied for the final exams.

The students put their noses to the grindstone and

studied for the final exams.

Make sense?

Excellent.

Here we go.

Sentence number two, the writer put his nose to the grindstone and

finished the book before the deadline.

Once again, the writer put his nose to the grindstone and finished

the book before the deadline.

Finally, sentence number three, the team put their noses to the grindstone.

They worked hard and completed the project ahead of schedule.

One more time.

The team put their noses to the grindstone and completed

the project ahead of schedule.

You got it.

Excellent.

So again, idiom number three that you must know.

Put one's nose to the grindstone.

Let's move on to idiom number four.

Another great one.

Bite the bullet.

Bite the bullet.

Now remember we're talking about idioms that relate to challenging situations.

So I want you to repeat after me before we go to the meaning bite the bullet.

Good job.

Now.

This just means to face a difficult or unpleasant situation

with courage and determination.

Think about a fireman.

He or she, there are a lot of fire.

Women as well have to fight fires in order to save people.

Biting the bullet, facing a difficult or unpleasant situation with

courage and determination moving forward, even though it's hard,

check out this example sentence.

She had to bite the bullet and tell her boss the truth about the mistake she made.

Not easy, but she bit the bullet and she did it.

Second, the athlete had to bite the bullet and play through

the pain to help his team win.

The athlete had to bite the bullet and play through the

pain to help his team win.

And finally, sentence three, the company had to bite the bullet and

make some tough decisions to stay.

Afloat, the company had to bite the bullet and make some

tough decisions to stay afloat.

Not easy, but they had to bite the bullet.

Makes sense, right?

Again, idiom Number four, bite the bullet.

All right, and now idiom number five, another idm.

You must know.

Keep one's eye on the ball.

After me, keep one's eye on the ball.

Excellent.

Now, this just means to stay focused on the goal or objective.

To stay focused on the goal or objective.

For example, you know that my goal is to help 1 billion English learners

around the world, including you, speak English with confidence.

That is a huge goal.

So in order for me to achieve that goal, I have to stay focused.

I have to keep my eye on the ball, focused on my goal.

You got it.

Excellent.

All right.

Here's the first example sentence.

The project manager reminded the young man to keep his eye on the ball and

not get distracted by minor issues.

Stay focused not to get distracted.

By minor issues.

Sentence number two, the athlete kept his eye on the ball

and scored the winning goal.

He was focused as he came down the court and he shot the ball.

He was focused on the goal.

He kept his eye on the ball.

And finally, the entrepreneur kept her eye on the ball and

achieved her business goals.

Once again, the entrepreneur kept her eye on the ball and

achieved her business goals.

You got it.

Once again, idiom number five.

Keep one's eye on the ball.

Now, remember, these idioms are ones that you must know.

They will help you speak English fluently and sound more like a native speaker.

Your lesson has not ended.

I want you right now to download the English or Tiffani app or

open it and start practicing.

This lesson has practices that go with it.

Practice lessons that go along with it.

So download the app and start practicing and you will master

these must know English idioms.

All right, I hope you enjoyed the lesson.

I will talk to you next time, but as always, remember to speak English.

You still there?

Ha ha.

Sing it with me cuz you know what time it is.

It's story time.

Hey, I said it's story time, uh, Uhuh Uhuh story time.

One more time.

I said it's story time.

All right.

Today I'm gonna tell you a story about something that happened to me when I was.

In high school, you know, we just went over these English idioms

and we talked about keeping one's eye on the ball, right?

We talked about biting the bullet and moving forward even

when something is difficult.

So I wanna tell you about a time that I had to keep my eye on the

ball and also bite the bullet.

So when I was in high school, I loved playing basketball.

I've always loved basketball.

And I remember when I was in high school, every day during lunch, I'd

eat lunch, and if I had time, I would go to the gym and just shoot around.

I loved just shooting around in the gym, and sometimes my other

friends would come and we'd actually play a pickup game, right?

We'd just play three on three or four on four or five on

five if we had enough females.

So one day.

It was actually during a longer lunch period, we decided to play three on three.

So I was the point guard.

One of my other friends was playing down low, she was taller, and I had

another friend that was the shooter.

So we're playing and I, I passed the ball to my friend and then

she passed to my other friend, and my other friend shoots the ball.

Now, my friend that shot the ball, she has a really nice shot,

but it didn't go in that time.

So the ball popped in the air, and so I went up to get the rebound.

Like we're all, you know, we say crashing the boards.

Some basketball lingo for you.

Crashing the boards means everyone goes towards the basketball area

to get the rebound right where the basketball hoop is to get the rebound.

So I go up to get the rebound.

Now I got the rebound, but when I had the ball in my hand, I felt this

sharp pain shoot through my pinky.

Actually, the pinky on my left hand right here.

If you're watching the video, but I got the ball, got the

rebound, and I dished it out.

I handed it out to my, uh, teammate and my teammate scored.

So we got the ball back.

So I was at the top of the key and I was dribbling the ball, and everyone looked

at me and they said, TIFF, what's wrong?

And I was like, what do you mean tears were streaming down my face?

And I didn't even realize it.

They were like, you're crying.

And I was like, huh.

And right at that moment I looked down and now my pinky, my pinky.

This happened when I was in high school.

I think it was about 14 years old.

So it's been about, man, 26 years or so.

So I looked down and my pinky literally was crooked.

I couldn't straighten it.

But.

I was such an athlete and I wanted to win.

I wanted our team to win.

I wanted to be there for my team that I decided to bite the bullet

and fight through the pain.

I said, no, I'm okay.

They were like, TIFF, are you sure?

I'm like, it's okay guys.

It's okay.

Come on, let's keep playing.

I didn't wanna give up for my team, so I decided to bite the

bullet and fight through the pain.

It.

Was excruciating pain though, because tears kept coming down my face.

I was still playing hard, you know, dribbling and everything.

Handing the ball, auditioning the ball.

I don't remember if we won.

I think we might have, but again, it was just a game between friends.

But my pinky was like that.

For quite a long time, I would try to straighten it.

I honestly thought it was just a sprain, right?

A sprain, not a break.

But by the third day I said something's wrong because I

couldn't straighten my finger.

And if I tried to, I would wanna scream.

That's how much it hurt.

So I showed it to my mom and she said, yeah, this is not a sprain, this, you

broke your pinky, but we wanna make sure, so let's take you to the doctor.

So I went to the doctor and I got an x-ray and they were like, yes, you did

sprain your um, you did break your pinky.

Now, when I was going to the doctor, people said, TIFF, hopefully

they won't have to re-break your pinky, because it had been stuck

in that position for so long.

So I was so worried.

So anyways, I got to the doctor and they said, no, Ms.

Tiffani, we're not gonna have to break your pinky, but it's gonna be painful

as it heals because they had to put a brace on it to straighten it back up.

So I had to wear the brace all day.

Um, and then at night I could take a little bit of a break

and then put it back on.

Each time I put it on, oh my, Goodness.

I wanted to cry, but I didn't.

But it was extremely, extremely painful.

But this just shows you my determination when there's a challenging situation.

I didn't wanna give up for my teammates.

I didn't wanna give up because we were all playing together

and I was enjoying the game too.

So I had to bite the bullet and I pushed through.

So now, 26 years later, my pinky is still a little bit crooked, not as

much as my other one, but this is what happens when you're an athlete, and I'm

sure some of you watching or listening, you probably were an athlete or you're

still an athlete and you understand you have to bite the bullet a lot.

When you're an athlete, you just kind of push through the pain,

the adrenaline starts rushing and you continue playing the game.

So hopefully you guys enjoyed that.

Story, I'm still a very determined woman.

I'm determined to help you speak English fluently, so don't worry.

Just like I didn't give up on my teammates, then I won't give up on you,

so you shouldn't give up on yourself.

I'll talk to you in the next lesson.