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 tiffany 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 small 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

makes 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 people

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

make sense

all right 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 here

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

inaccuracy 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 goal

so i want you 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

that

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 result here’s

a 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 plus

but instead of an a plus

on your test you get a b

minus so in this situation your goal was

to get an a plus but you got a b minus

you were off the mark

you got 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 today 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

makes 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 up 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 day

cambly right here i want to thank

cambrie 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 goals now you all know how much i

love canely 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 tiffany

we want your students to get an

opportunity to practice with an english

tutor an amazing english tutor now if

you’re really serious about truly taking

your english to the next level they have

a 40 off any 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 goals

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 cainly 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 chew

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 then 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 cannot fulfill so

i’m actually kind of hungry now here we

go here’s the first example sentence i

think i bit off more than i can chew

with this new job i thought i could

handle it but whoa there’s too much

responsibility i really

bit off

more than i could chew make 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

fight off more than i can chew don’t

forget that big burger alright

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

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 gonna stay in this

marriage bite off more than you can chew

all right last time after me

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

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 i can’t take this pill

it’s difficult

the meaning is an unpleasant happening

that is difficult to endure an

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

next

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 after i read it

the pandemic is uh

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 you can do it

jeremy

dot 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

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 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 today 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 today

the idiom that we are 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

in need 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

else

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 to them so every month

our goal was 100 meals which meant we

had to raise about four to five hundred

dollars

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 people

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 dollars

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

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 my

salary i received my notice that said

tiffany 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

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 i made

and it was exactly what i needed to get

the food for the homeless it was about

150 dollars 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 used 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