5 ENGLISH IDIOMS YOU MUST KNOW

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

You must know.

After this lesson, you will be able to use the idioms, like a native English speaker.

Are you ready?

Well, then I'm teacher.

Tiffani let's jump right in.

All right.

Our first English idiom is be in a tight spot.

I want you to repeat it after me for pronunciation practice.

Be in a tight spot.

Excellent.

Very good.

Now this idiom is very commonly used and it just means to

be in a difficult situation.

I want to explain it to you.

Think about tight when something is really tight.

Think about when you were a kid, right.

And your mom would buy clothes for you that were a little bit too.

You'd put on the shirt, but you just felt restricted.

Like you could not move.

It was very difficult for you to move because the clothes were too tight.

Well, the same idea applies to this idiom being in a difficult

situation or being in a tight spot.

Now let's look at an example sentence.

Here's the first example sentence.

You have put me in a tight spot.

I think I need to let you go, Hey, you you've made my situation very difficult.

And I think I'm going to have to let you go.

Imagine you were a manager or a boss and you were speaking to your employee that

did something really bad for the company and the company was negatively affected.

That's a difficult situation.

You are in a tight spot, so you have to let him or her go make sense.

Right?

Okay.

Let's look at the second sentence using this idiom, her divorce, put her in a

tight spot, but she is doing better.

Now.

I want you to think about this.

Divorce is never a good situation for.

Even when two people decide mutually to divorce, there are lots of difficulties

that come up after that divorce, financial difficulties, dealing with

the children, who's going to have custody, lots of difficult situations,

and many of them relate to finances.

You go from a two person household with income to income household

to now one income only one salary.

So that's a very difficult situation.

You've put me in a tight spot.

The divorce, put her in a tight spot.

Makes sense?

Alright.

Now what about this example sentence right here?

Jeremy put me in a tight spot, a difficult situation.

When he brought up the bankruptcy in front of everyone.

Oh my goodness.

It was a very difficult situation.

Put him in a tight spot.

All right.

So one more time after me be in a tight spot.

Excellent.

Very good.

Now the next English idiom that will really help you out is this one, right?

Be off the mark.

Be off the mark after me be off the mark.

Excellent.

Now this just means not achieving the desired result due to in accuracy.

I want to show you this visually.

I want you to think about a goal, maybe a goal that you have in your life.

Your goal is what to speak English fluently, right?

And maybe your goal is to do that within this year or maybe next year.

That is your.

So I wanted to imagine I have my marker.

I'm going to get a sheet of paper.

And I want you to imagine that this sheet of paper, I'm going

to write down your goal in the middle, speak English fluently.

That is your goal.

That is your target.

And your target is right in the center of this paper right here.

You see.

Speak English fluently.

That is your target.

However, you miss your target and you're not able to speak

English fluently just yet.

Keep watching these lessons.

You are off the mark.

You did not hit the target that can happen in business or in other aspects of life.

So let's look at an example sentence again, being off the mark

means not achieving the desired.

Here's the first example sentence.

I was really off the mark on my exams.

So think about it, your exams, your tests, maybe you want

to get an, a, you want an A+.

But instead of A+, on your test, you get a B minus.

So in this situation, your goal was to get an A+, but you got a,

B minus, you were off the mark.

You caught it, right?

Excellent.

Now the second example, sentence, his efforts were off the mark.

She was too hysteric to console.

She couldn't comfort him.

His efforts were off the mark.

He made an effort, but she was too hysterical.

He could not actually comfort her off the mark, his goal comfort, but

he was not able to off the mark.

All right.

What about this third example?

Sentence?

The weather forecast was really off the mark today.

They said it was going to be a really hot day to day, but instead it was, it

was really brisk outside, really cold.

The weather forecast was really off the mark today.

Makes sense, right?

Okay.

Excellent.

So one more time after me be off the mark.

Excellent.

Now this third example, idiom is very, very important.

The idiom is bend over backwards.

One more time after me bend over backwards.

Excellent.

I want you to think about this.

Bending over is not difficult, but bending backwards can be a little bit challenging.

This idiom actually means to work extra hard in an effort to make someone happy.

I want you to be happy.

I want you to achieve your goals.

I'm working hard.

I'm actually bending over backwards to make sure.

You achieve your English goals, make sense?

Right.

Okay.

Excellent.

Now I want us to look at the first example sentence.

Here we go.

Jamie's husband constantly bends over backwards for her.

He's trying to make an extra effort to make his wife happy, bend over backwards.

You see how useful this idiom actually is.

Next.

I bent over backwards for that guy.

And he still treats me poorly.

You went over above and over all that you had to do.

You worked extra hard to make him happy, but he still treats you poorly.

We say bend over backwards.

And the third one, I only bend over backwards for my family.

I only make an extra effort for my family to make them happy.

Again, I only bend over backwards for my family.

Now I want to talk to you about something really quickly because

this idiom is so important.

Again, bending over backwards, you all know that I bend over backwards to

help you achieve all of your English goals, but actually the sponsor

of today's video also bends over backwards for you each and every.

Cambly, right here.

I want to thank Cambly so much for sponsoring this video.

You see Cambly offers English tutors to English learners

like you around the world.

They offer English tutors from America, Canada, Australia, and the UK.

And they are available 24 7 every day.

Every time of day, every week for you, they are bending over backwards because

they want to help you achieve your.

Now, you all know how much I love Cambly, because Cambly wants to help you by

giving you a free 10 minute lesson, they want to help you reach your goal.

They want to help you finally speak English fluently.

And they said, Tiffani, we want your students to get an opportunity to practice

with an English tutor an amazing English.

Now if you're really serious about truly taking your English to the next

level, they have a 40% off in the 12 month plan coupon just for you.

Now, the link is in the description again.

Remember Cambly has English tutors that bend over backwards

to help you reach your English.

Cambly thank you so much.

I want to encourage everyone to click that link in the description

and get your English tutor today and start speaking English fluently.

Thanks again Cambly.

All right, guys, let's jump back into the lesson.

Remember hit the link in the description.

Now our fourth English idiom is right here.

Bite off more than you can chew again, bite off more than you can.

Excellent.

Very good.

Now this just means to make a commitment, you cannot fulfill to make a commitment,

a promise that you cannot fulfill.

I want you to think about a big sandwich, right?

Maybe you like burgers, right?

And there's a huge burger and you want to eat this burger.

So you go to take a bite.

But you're not able to eat this entire burger, but you try to stuff it in

your mouth and you're not able to talk.

You've bitten off more than you can chew.

And your commitment was to eat the whole thing, but you're not able to.

So in the idiom, it's the same taking on a commitment, making a

promise that you can not fulfill.

So I'm actually kind of hungry.

Now, here we go.

Here's the first example.

I think I bit off more than I can chew with this new job.

I thought I could handle it, but there's too much responsibility.

I really bit off, more than I could chew.

Makes sense?

All right.

Now the second example sentence is I need to expand to build my company, but I don't

want to bite off more than I can chew.

I don't want to make a commitment that I cannot fulfill bite

off more than I can chew.

Don't forget that big burger.

All right.

And the third example sentence is right here.

He is about to bite off more than he can chew by marrying Sabrina.

She's a wild one.

Now I'll say it again.

She's a wild one just means, whew.

She's a little bit much for him to handle.

She's a little wild.

She's a little excited and a little bit too much.

So again, he is about to bite off more than he can chew by marrying Sabrina.

She's a wild one.

He's trying to commit to her, but I don't know if he's going to stay in this

marriage bite off more than you can chew.

All right.

Last time.

Bite off more than you can chew.

Excellent.

All right.

Now the fifth idiom, you must know this idiom is bitter pill to

swallow bitter pill to swallow.

Excellent.

Think of a pill.

You know, you have to take a pill as medicine and you swallow it, right.

Usually pills are small, right?

Not huge because they're too difficult.

To swallow when they're big.

So doctors and companies make them small.

Now a bitter pill means when you actually take the pill in, oh my goodness.

I can't take this pill.

It's difficult.

The meaning is an unpleasant happening that is difficult to endure and unpleasant

situation that is difficult to proceed forward in, difficult to endure.

So let's look at an example sentence.

Here we go.

The first one moving away from family.

This situation was a bitter pill to swallow unpleasant, not

something that you would like to do.

I don't want to move away from my family.

I'll miss them a bitter pill to swallow.

Very difficult.

I don't want to accept this bitter pill to swallow.

The pandemic is a bitter pill to swallow, but we will overcome this.

It's not something that you like.

It's not something that you enjoy.

It's unpleasant, it's a bitter pill to swallow.

And finally this one failing the bar exam again, was a bitter pill to swallow, but

I will make sure I pass next time again.

I wanted to pass the bar exam to become a lawyer.

But I didn't, and that was unpleasant, but I had to accept it.

It was a bitter pill to swallow.

Makes sense.

Right.

So again, after me bitter pill to swallow.

Excellent.

Very good job.

Now, you know what time it is?

It's time for your quiz.

I want to see how much you remember out of these five idioms

here's question number one.

And I'm going to start the timer.

The pandemic is a...

But we will overcome this five seconds

time.

What's the answer?

Excellent.

The pandemic is a bitter pill to swallow, but we will overcome this excellent job.

Very good.

What about this second quiz question?

I know.

Jeremy.dot dot.

When he brought up the bankruptcy in front of everyone.

Five seconds time.

What's the answer.

Come on.

Yes.

Put me in a tight, a difficult spot.

Excellent job.

Now what about this question right here?

Question number three.

I need to expand my company, but I don't want to five seconds starting now

time I gave you an extra second.

What's the answer.

I don't want to bite off more than I can chew.

Excellent.

You're so smart.

Now what about this fourth question?

The fourth quiz question.

The weather forecast was really dot, dot.today.

Five seconds

time I gave you another extra second.

What's the answer?

Yes.

Off the mark.

Not accurate.

Excellent.

And what about question number five?

I dot.dot.

For that guy and he still treats me poorly five seconds.

Here we go.

Time.

What's the answer.

Excellent.

I bent over backwards for that guy and he still treats me poorly.

Excellent job.

You are amazing today.

You learned five English, idioms that you must know in order to finally

sound like a native English speaker.

I hope you understood them.

I hope you enjoyed them and I hope you use them.

Don't forget to click the link in the description because Cambly tutors

are waiting to bend over backwards to help you reach your English goals,

hit that link in the description, and I will see you next time.

You still there, you know what time it is?

Here we go.

It's story time.

Hey, I said it's story time.

All right.

So today's story is actually connected to one of the idioms that you learned.

The idiom that we're going to be talking about is be in a tight spot.

So I want to tell you about when I was in South Korea.

Now during my time in South Korea, I was an English teacher as a missionary.

I also was a student studying Oriental painting and also learning Korean.

And I started this YouTube channel to help you speak English.

So I was a very busy individual.

But I always had a passion for helping people in need.

And during my time in Korea, I saw many different individuals.

You know that no matter where you go, you're going to find someone in need.

And I saw lots of homeless people when I went downtown.

Even in America, when you go downtown in the city, you'll

see quite a few homeless people.

And Korea was the same.

And I felt like I needed to do something.

I didn't just want to enjoy this wonderful country and

teach English and learn Korean.

I wanted to do something.

So as you know, I'm a Christian, I prayed and I said, God, what can

I do to help the homeless people?

I see when I go downtown, he said, okay, I want you to start something.

And I started this monthly group.

We would raise money and then take food to people downtown that were in need.

Now I had actually done the same thing when I lived in

America prior to going to Korea.

So I was continuing the same thing I did when I was in America.

So every month we would raise money and we would, our goal was

to hand out 100 meals every month.

It was so inspiring.

People inspired me by how excited they were to help.

It was so nice to talk to the homeless people.

Again, I spoke Korean so I could have conversations with them and it

was very interesting to learn their life stories and what happened.

So every month, our goal was 100 meals, which meant we had

to raise about four to $500.

And every month, you know, we'd send out messages to our friends and say,

Hey, we're trying to raise money.

People in America, my family and friends would donate money.

My Korean friends in Korea would donate money because we all wanted to help.

But one month we went out at the end of it.

We were scheduled to go out at the end of the month.

And it was about maybe a week away the day that we were going to

leave to go out, there was about a week period prior to that date.

And we didn't have the money.

We only had about $300.

So we needed about 100 to $150 more and the money wasn't coming in.

So I said, God, you know, I am doing this to help you.

You your people, Lord, I want to feed people.

That's what I'd like to do, but God, I'm in a tight spot.

I don't have the money.

We need to actually purchase the meals.

I was in a tight spot.

So I prayed and I said, God, I don't know how you're going to do it, but

you have seven days to figure it out.

I prayed hard.

Then I went to work.

I was still teaching.

And a few days later I got.

Salary.

I received my notice that said, Tiffani, you've received your salary

for the month from the Institute that I worked at now, we had a set salary

every single month as missionaries.

We made a certain amount of money and we received at the same time every month.

So I wasn't looking for any extra money, but then I went to the bank

and I looked at my stub that had the paper that showed me how much.

And it was exactly what I needed to get the food for the homeless.

It was about $150, the exact amount I needed to add to what we

had raised to get food for that month for the homeless people.

And I was in shock that God answers prayers like that, the simple prayers.

And so quickly come to find out that my job at the time

decided to give us all a bonus.

Randomly...

And this bonus, I use the bonus to help feed the homeless that month.

We were all able to go out and we were able to hand out a hundred meals and

I will never forget that situation because when I was in such a tight

spot, God came through and gave me what I needed to help somebody else.

Maybe you've also been in a tight spot and someone, God or

someone else has helped you.

If so, let us know in the comment section, I hope you enjoyed today's story

and I can't wait to see you next time.