How to Use the 15 Most Common English Idioms

oh hi everybody welcome back to our

weekly live stream my name is Alisha and

today we’re going to talk about 15 of

the most common English idioms 15 of the

most common that doesn’t mean they are

the top but it means they are some of

the top English idioms as you join

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so as I said today’s topic is 15 of the

most common English idioms for a little

bit of background about this I chose

these from a study I believe I can’t

remember the university off the top of

my head I want to say Oklahoma there’s

this there is a study I was reading

about the moats the highest frequency

which means the most often used idioms

in American English so again as always

for me this is American English these

are very common idiomatic expressions

which means they kind of have a meaning

that might not be immediately

understandable so that means these words

don’t necessarily they don’t always have

exactly the meaning like the basic

meaning of the words so we’re going to

talk about 15 very common ones I hope

that everybody can find something of use

for them so we are four minutes in it is

time to get started I’m going to share

the video and then I’m going to begin I

have made five or rather three groups of

five idioms each so let’s take a look

one by one all right cool I have shared

the video I’m ready to go let’s get

started with this first one up here to

make sure is our first idiomatic

expression I’m going to slow down my

rate of speech now too so to make sure

to make sure means to do something so

there are no doubts about a situation to

do something so there are no doubts

so doubts means like there’s no worries

you have about a situation there are no

questions that you have about a

situation you don’t think something

might be wrong or there might be a

problem to make sure of something is a

common way to use this in an example

sentence I want to make sure you

understand this idiom

so I want as I said I want to make sure

make sure you’ll often hear like

presenters and like politicians use this

word in speeches we need to make sure

something something something so I want

to make sure you understand this idiom

for example I want to make sure you

understand so again make sure means I

want to do something so there are no

doubt so I want to in this case teach or

explain so that there are no questions

no doubts about something so this is

make sure make sure a nice one to lead

off with from today and I’ll try to

check your questions live throughout the

chat if you want to make example

sentences with these two please please

please feel free I will again I was

trying to catch as many as I can

let’s go on then to the second one for

today deal with deal with you’ll notice

maybe it’s really hard to see I’m going

to read what’s on the board here there

are several so several means many

multiple there are many different ways

to use deal with there are many

different senses of this idiomatic

expression so let’s take a look and I’ll

share a couple example sentences about

this so first to deal with something to

deal with something means to do

something about a problem to do

something about a problem or about a

challenge like I don’t want to deal with

this right now or can you please deal

with this later so that means to do

something usually to fix a problem so to

deal with has this meaning second it can

mean to make business

to make business agreements you’ll know

that it’s sense number two sense or

meaning number two when there’s usually

like another person or another company

or another organization after this verb

so for example I don’t want to deal with

that company anymore I don’t want to

deal with that company means I don’t

want to make business agreements or I

don’t want to do business with that

company anymore

so it can have this one third is to be

about a topic to be about a topic so I’m

going to write an example sentence about

number three here for example so again

number three since number three her

presentation her presentation this is

past tense then her presentation dealt

with the economy so her presentation

dealt with means her presentation was

about the economy her presentation was

about the economy so deal with in past

tense becomes dealt dealt

so de alt is the past tense form of deal

dealt her presentation dealt with is the

same as her presentation was about the

economy it just sounds like a little bit

more of a I guess a closer word so maybe

if you want to talk about someone that

you’re close to or if you just want to

have a more casual discussion about a

topic you might choose to use deal with

instead of was about so her presentation

dealt with the economy another sense the

last one here is to try to accept

something challenging to try to accept

something challenging usually something

that is emotionally challenging so

something that is difficult or something

that makes you sad or angry or upset to

accept that situation we use deal with

in cases like these two for example I’ll

write one more I don’t want to

I don’t want to deal with this don’t

want to deal with this so I don’t want

to deal with this is like maybe you have

a really hard situation at home or like

at school or at work and you don’t want

to accept the situation or you don’t

want to try to accept the situation so

deal with sounds like it’s again a

little bit more casual so unless unless

formal word but it means to accept okay

some examples are coming in Henry says

deal with it yes which means handle it

take care of it good hmm

I saw a different one Oh Andrew said I

used to deal with that company so when

you use that used to pattern you’re used

to grammar you don’t need to change the

verb to past tense

I used to infinitive form I used to deal

with that company is correct

okey dokey gertrudis says I can deal

with your bad mood good nice nice nice

on Facebook uh everyone is saying hello

I don’t see oh I don’t want to deal with

this something the past I don’t want to

deal with this close one boring okay

let’s go to the next one

the next one is at all at all uh oh I

spoke about this a couple of weeks ago I

think at all means in any way in any way

so an example of this is this is true I

can’t speak I can’t speak Vietnamese at

all I can’t speak Vietnamese at fall so

we use at all as an emphasis usually at

the end of something so in this case I

can’t speak Vietnamese is a simple fact

yeah I can’t in my case I can’t speak

Vietnamese I can’t speak Vietnamese at

all

that means totally not possible 100% in

any way so you often see it used with

negative situations like negative

expressions I can’t do this or I don’t

know that I don’t know anything at all I

can’t do this thing at all that means

that’s totally not possible

so at all is commonly used at the end of

sentences in this way okay on to the

next one is go ahead go ahead there are

two senses for go ahead first means

continue to continue something like oh

go ahead it’s fine go ahead with your

presentation you’ll hear their

preposition with following it in that

case so this one go ahead with your

presentation so in this case in sense

one you’ll see with after go ahead so go

ahead with something we usually use this

again because it means continue when

someone for example like this live

stream I’m like teaching about this

expression there’s an interruption and

someone says no go ahead

go ahead with your lesson so something

was happening before maybe there is an

interruption or a question and then we

want to ask the person to continue we

can use go ahead go ahead sounds less

formal than continue so please go ahead

with your presentation it means the same

thing as please continue with your

presentation though with continue you

don’t have to use with please continue

your presentation is also okay so go

ahead with your presentation don’t

forget it if you’re gonna use go ahead

second sense though is to go before

someone else so you can use this if

you’re waiting in line so imagine my two

markers I’m far away imagine hi two

markers are two people so if this person

is waiting but they’re taking a long

time like at the supermarket they might

say to this person oh go ahead which

means to go before me please go ahead so

that’s like please like take my place go

before me so this is a physical sense

please go ahead of me please go in front

of me

so this one is conceptual I please

continue that’s the new

all right last one in this group is in

other words in other words but in speech

it sounds usually it usually sounds like

in other words in other words so in

other words we use this to mean another

way to say that is another way to say

that is so this one maybe you can see

how how it actually is quite a direct

meaning of this expression in other

words so to say what I said in another

wave in other words so for example we’re

stuck in traffic

in other words we’re going to be late

we’re going to be like so you phrase it

in one way you say one expression we’re

stuck in traffic

in other words meaning another way to

say that is we’re going to be late so in

other words means another way to say

that all right some expressions are

coming in from you I’m gonna go ahead

okay what go ahead

someone said go ahead Alicia we are

learning with you good nice example

sentence go ahead with your presentation

good good good

Henry said please go ahead I’m not quite

ready nice example is everybody

painting on Facebook said so go ahead we

can’t use when I missed your message

ping we can’t use when being where did

you go when someone didn’t can you

scroll up on that Facebook I lost her

message or her message mmm it was a good

one

we can’t use it when where did your

message go when we’re following someone

else it was a good question take it okay

I’ll try to find it when you were with

someone else I answer that question I

missed it um okay we’ll try to come back

to that in a second I’m looking for your

message but for now we will take a quick

break and then we will come back to part

two so if you missed it earlier this is

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continue to part 2 part 2 for today so

if you are just joining today’s lesson

is about 15 of the most common English

idioms very common I hope very very

useful in many different situations so

let’s continue to part two and if you

have not already please make sure to

like and share this video so that other

people can find our lesson for today

alright let’s carry on to our Chi which

is over here figure out to figure out is

our next idiom I’ll go to this side I

guess to figure out so to figure out

means to learn or discover after

research so research is like you’re

checking books or you’re looking for

information so we use figure out when we

finally find the answer to something we

finally solve a puzzle

there’s something we now know the answer

to so to discover or to learn something

after research so figure out is used

when we solve a puzzle so some examples

and figure out I finally figured out how

to fix my computer so I’ll write it here

I finally figured out so figured out

this is past tense so it takes the

regular edy ending I finally figured out

how to fix my computer so you’ll often

see figure out paired with so that means

together with a word like finally I

finally figured out how to fix my

so this finally emphasizes it took me a

long time maybe I had a virus a computer

virus or there was some really strange

problem it took me a few days or a few

weeks but I finally I at last after lots

and lots of trying figured out how to

fix my computer so to figure out means

discovering after research this is a key

point here after research after a long

after a long time already on to the next

one the next one so far I talked about

this in a grammar lesson recently I used

it in an example sentence so let’s

review so far means until the present

point in time until the present point so

the present point in time is now until

the present point in time so you’ll see

so far used together usually with

another point in time or maybe like a

length of time so in example mmm like so

far this year so far this year my

company my company has made $100,000

it’s only what January 1560 great ok so

so far this year so far means until the

present point in time starting at the

beginning of the year so that means this

year is like the beginning point for

this this situation so from that point

in time in this case from the beginning

of 2020 until the present until now my

company has made $100,000 so another

point about so far is you’ll often see

it with this present perfect tense so

far this year my company has made

$100,000 or so far in this live stream

maybe a thousand people have commented

or whatever

so so far plus some kind of point in

time or some length of time is used here

it means up until the present point from

some other points so we usually have

this here there there are some cases

where you may not see so far all right

some examples are coming in some spam is

coming in to uh some examples over on

Facebook uh hello everybody everyone is

saying hello I don’t see some examples

there’s lots of spam on YouTube at the

moment so I’ll continue on to the next

one and come back let’s go to the next

one make sense to make sense for

something to make sense means it has a

clear meaning it has a clear meaning so

you’ll often see make sense used in the

negative

for example this recipe doesn’t make

sense this recipe doesn’t make sense

so something is hard to understand or

it’s unclear so makes sense is here and

as I said you’ll often see it with a

negative that the recipe does not make

sense means this recipe does not have a

clear meaning or in like a meeting in a

business meeting you might say that

doesn’t make sense like this data

doesn’t make sense or that idea doesn’t

make sense that means it doesn’t have a

clear meaning or like we can’t

understand it it’s not it doesn’t match

the situation so to make sense to make

sense someone writes makes sense to me

whew good good good someone on facebook

says comments are flying yes I can’t

catch up the comments are all over the

place today okay so other ones I don’t

see any make sense one so I’ll continue

on to the next one the next one is keep

in mind to keep in mind I use this all

watch in live streams and in lessons to

keep in mind means to consider so a

helpful hopefully a helpful visual

something to remember is keep so to keep

means like to hold yeah

your mind is your brain your head yeah

so to keep something in your mind is

like to hold an idea in your head so

when I say please keep in mind or

keeping in mind bla bla bla

that means please hold this in your mind

as you do this thing or please consider

this as you do this thing so I use this

a lot in lesson so keep in mind

something something about like grammar

points so a good example for today is

like please keep in mind please keep in

mind I can’t catch all your comments so

if you are sad or didn’t see your

comment please keep in mind I can’t

catch all your comments so please hold

this idea in your mind so please

consider that I can’t catch all your

comments alive okay let’s see some

questions are coming in makes sense when

something is reasonable for you you

could say it makes sense yes nice

example of pasta Kim

whatever you say makes sense to me good

good good

some others Nora says please repeat that

sentence it didn’t quite make sense it

didn’t quite make sense so maybe if you

can’t catch something if you didn’t hear

something you can say repeat the

sentence when you use makes sense it’s

like the concept was hard to understand

not the words so those are slight those

are actually very different ideas very

different issues so makes sense is about

a concept or perhaps about grammar like

the grammar doesn’t make sense for

example some examples of keep in mind so

keep in mind not everything can go your

way nice one from Henry Sharif says keep

in mind we are invited to a pool party

tomorrow sounds good mm others others

others others people saying hello who a

dark one from rune says keep in mind

that we all die one day oh my gosh okay

grammatically correct somewhat dark

let’s move on

go to the last one we just come up with

come up with to come up with something

means to produce or to create to produce

or to create something in response to a

challenge or a problem so like you are

at work or you’re at school you have a

homework assignment or a task your

responsibility is to create an idea so

when you create something new or you

produce something new you can say you

can use come up with to describe that

process so an example of this our team

came up with some great ideas our team

came up with some great ideas so points

here great ideas all right again we use

with as I said before our noun phrase

here to come up with an idea to come up

with a solution to come up with

something some kind of now needs to go

there and past tense came up with so

come up with me comes came up with in

past tense we if we want to use it in

present present perfect tense we could

say our team has come up with some great

ideas this year for example so to come

up with a solution or to come up with

something new in response to a challenge

or in response to an issue all right

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let’s go to the last part the last part

last one or the last group starts with

work out work out oh we have super chats

hello thanks very much Hector that’s

awesome on YouTube many thanks cool

appreciate it let’s go to the last one

then we begin with work out to work out

there are two senses for this for this

idiom we have first to exercise to

exercise so we commonly we very commonly

use work out instead of exercise like I

need to work out that means I need to

exercise so that’s a very common use of

this however number two I’ll slow down

again

number two sense to hear is to solve to

solve something through a process so

this is different from figure out like

to figure something out means to

research something to work out something

imagine like you have um you have a

complicated problem and everything is

like a mess together like string kind of

and you have to one by one like solve

each little problem until the whole

problem is finished we would use work

out to describe that situation to work

out you can use it any negative as well

as in the plan didn’t work out so that

means like something we didn’t solve or

we didn’t resolve the situation did not

happen as planned so it didn’t work out

it’s like we weren’t able to solve this

problem or this thing did not happen

as we planned so to work something out

is like to solve an issue or to have

something go as planned okay on to the

next one get back to to get back to has

a couple senses but they both have the

ones I’m going to introduce have the

feeling of returning one is physical to

return to a place to return to a place

so I need to get back to the office for

example I need to get back to the office

means I need to return to the office I

need to get back to the office so don’t

forget this too I often see in comments

on the YouTube comments in facebook

comments this too gets forgotten many

people forget to I need to get back to

the office use this too so you’re

talking about a location yeah you’re

moving to a location you’re returning to

a location so don’t forget your

preposition here to there the second one

is to return a message to return

correspondence to return communication

like on the phone maybe you pick up the

phone but you’re busy you can say ah can

I get back to you later

can I get back to you later it’s often

phrased as a question can I get back to

you later

so again that’s question mark so again

don’t forget your preposition in this

case as well get back to you yes it’s

true you’re not moving but we do we keep

that preposition there let me get back

to you later or can he get back to you

later can she get back to you later

that means can he or she return your

message later so there are two senses we

know which one it is depending on the

context okay let’s go to the last three

because time is running out quickly and

actually these I chose I wanted to

include these because you often ask me

about them

so in time and on time the difference

between in time and on time is perhaps a

little bit challenging too

damn let’s look at them individually

first to be in time for something to be

in time for a meeting to be in time for

some noun phrase means to be early

enough for something to be early this is

a key point a key difference between on

time for something so early is as a key

things like please keep this in your

mind as we practiced earlier so to be in

time for something like is often used in

the negative I wasn’t in time for the

office lunch I wasn’t in time for the

office lunch or I didn’t arrive in time

for the office lunch in time for again

don’t forget your prepositions

I didn’t arrive in time for the office

lunch means I did not arrive early

enough for the office lunch so I was

late in other words let’s compare this

then to on time on time to be on time

for something means to do something or

to arrive somewhere at the appointed

time at the appointed time so arriving

somewhere or submitting something at the

appointed time so this does not have the

meaning of early that we see within time

to do something on time needs to do

something at the planned time so for

example I’m on time for the meeting I’m

on time for the meeting that means I

arrived at the appointed time at the

planned time I’m on time or the meeting

so here’s the expression again my

preposition is for I’m on time for the

meeting so please consider please keep

in mind these are very different in time

and on time so there are some cases

where both are grammatically correct but

they communicate different ideas like

for example I’m in time for the meeting

means I have arrived early

enough to attend the meeting that’s also

correct so you need to consider you need

to keep in mind what you want to say all

right on to the last one to take off

which has three senses oh my gosh so the

last one to take off has three senses

three meanings first is to remove like

removing clothes so take off your jacket

take off your hat please take off your

shoes so we follow take off with the

item we are removing take off your socks

whatever to take off second sense is to

leave the ground so this is used for

aircraft aircraft means things that fly

well mechanical things that fly so

numbers aircraft is like airplanes

helicopters jets so to take off refers

to this motion so that moment when the

aircraft when the airplane leaves the

ground so let’s watch the airplane take

off that means the moment it leaves the

ground last point though is number three

maybe the one that you will hear most

often in meetings especially I would say

in business situations it is to succeed

to succeed like a new idea for a new

idea to take off means for a new idea to

succeed often very quickly so for

example our new product took off

immediately our new product past tense

took off immediately

so immediately means right away or very

very fast after starting our new product

took off

sorry hard to see took off past tense of

take off so that means it’s succeeded

right away it succeeded very quickly our

new product took off immediately so

there are three different senses of this

word oh right

whew that is everything so yes today I

talked about 15 of the most common

English idioms yes but as we talked

about many of these have multiple uses

so I hope that you found some

new today I’ll try to do some more idiom

lessons in the future as well but if you

have any questions or comments or

whatever please send them in the

comments on youtube or on Facebook I do

check after the lesson so send along

whatever thoughts you have there but

that’s it for today I’ll step off screen

for a second so you can take a

screenshot and then be done so I have to

finish there but thanks for all of your

questions and comments is fantastic next

week we will be back as always next week

January 23rd oh my gosh it’s already at

the end of the month I’m going to talk

about a high-frequency phrasal verb so

you often request phrasal verbs lessons

this week I did high-frequency English

idiom so high-frequency means they’re

very common they’re very commonly used

next week I’m going to look at 20 more

high-frequency phrasal verbs I put more

here because I did a lesson about some

very common phrasal verbs last year so

I’m going to introduce some more very

very common phrasal verbs next week so

please join us again next week that is 9

p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Wednesday

or whatever your local time is just set

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