English Idiom Practice Up In The Air
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Vanessa has a live English lesson right
now and that way you never miss it you
can come and join me I think it will be
a great time today we’re going to talk
about a useful idiom that I used last
week so I hope that for you you’ll be
able to use this idiom by the end of our
lesson and you’ll feel more comfortable
understanding when other people use it
as well thanks everyone who’s here live
Vivian in Canada Jorge in Brazil hello
Sully welcome welcome
Franz glad you’re here ELISA in Spain
totally Algeria wonderful voluntary in
Qatar in Vietnam Wow you guys are
awesome are you ready to learn a new
idiom today maybe you have an idea what
it already means maybe you don’t I want
to ask you a question first of all hmm
let’s see what are you gonna do this
weekend this is a basic question simple
question it’s Thursday today so maybe
you already have plans for the weekend
maybe you don’t what
are you gonna do this weekend for me I
have no idea what I’m gonna do this
weekend
my plans are up in the air so I want to
know for you what are you gonna do this
weekend maybe you already know maybe you
don’t know maybe you have no plans yet
or you think I’ll just do whatever I
want to do when the weekend comes what
are you gonna do ah Diana says I’m gonna
work
zuly Rica says I have no idea who shell
says I have no idea - oh yes
so if you have no idea what you’re gonna
do this weekend we can use today’s idiom
let’s say my plans are up in the air up
in the air this means I don’t know
there’s not a decision yet it is
undecided so let’s imagine let’s imagine
gravity gravity helps things to go down
to the earth it doesn’t usually keep
things up in the air so if something is
up in the air it’s it’s not certain it’s
not fixed it’s floating kind of like a
balloon it’s floating around it’s not
decided so it is up in the air we can
say all right this year my plans are up
in the air let’s imagine like a balloon
here whoo my plans are up in the air it
doesn’t mean that I actually plan to go
up in the air
I’m gonna go in a hot-air balloon or I’m
to go in an airplane now it doesn’t mean
that it means I don’t know it’s
undecided yet it’s undecided which thing
I’m gonna do this weekend a lot of you
have plans that are already decided oh
yes so row says I’m playing in a drama
production at my church this weekend or
Martin Martin hello Martin says I’m
gonna visit my family for Easter uh-huh
Federica - Arika says i’m gonna go to my
sister’s for a family get-together so a
lot of you already have a plan so let’s
make this negative how can we make this
sentence negative hmm because a lot of
you know what you’re gonna do your plans
are not up in the air simple right we
just add the word not my plans are not
up in the air hmm how can we use this
for English
onam has a great sentence that he’s
written here it is my plans for learning
English are always up in the air
oh so this means you don’t have a clear
path for how you’re gonna learn English
you’re always trying something and
trying something else it’s not decided
you’ve got a lot of ideas my plans are
always up in the air my plans for
learning English are always up in the
air so you can definitely say that for
for English for any kind of plan my
plans are up in the air
well can we use this for things that are
not plans can we use today’s idiom up in
the air up in the earth can we use this
in other situations I think the most
common is to talk about plans my weekend
plans are up in the air my dinner play
hands are up in the air I have no idea
what I’m gonna do it’s up in the air
well let’s talk about how we can use it
in situations that are not specifically
talking about plans ooh how about if we
used it for a relationship oh I think
that the like Ora and and I were on the
same wavelength here he says our
relationship is up in the air I was also
thinking about relationships we’re
thinking the same thing
we can use this for other uncertain
things so let’s imagine let’s imagine
that you and your boyfriend or your
girlfriend you’re talking and it’s not
going so well your relationship hasn’t
been so steady and when your friend asks
you oh how are things going with your
boyfriend you could say well our
relationship is kind of up in the air
right now we are not certain if we’re
going to stay together we’re not certain
if it’s a steady relationship it’s up in
the air so we can imagine this idea of a
balloon it’s floating it’s not fixed in
one location so we could say our
relationship is kind of and here we can
just add this to make it a little more
uncertain kind of up in the air at the
moment hmm
it means you’re not certain and it’s a
difficult place to be in so I hope that
your relationship is not up in the air
if it’s up in the air talk about it
define your relationship decide what is
happening it makes it easier easier for
your mind easier for them as well
Eduardo asks can we
use sort of up in the air great question
and the answer is definitely yes you can
use that so here we use kind of but kind
of and sort of are the exact same thing
so you can use kind of up in the air and
if you if you use this for your plans
maybe this weekend you have a plan to
visit your family but your husband’s
family calls and says oh do you want to
visit us instead or do you want to visit
us too you could say well my weekend
plans are sort of up in the air I told
my family I could come but maybe I could
see you instead it’s uncertain so you
can add any kind of word like this
definitely certainly sort of kind of not
you can add these kind of qualifiers to
your expression to make it strong or not
so strong egor says my weekend plans
aren’t up in the air I’m gonna study
English a lot beautiful you’ve got plans
for this weekend
excellent um we have a question about
other types of words that we can add in
front of here we have a question about
my health is up in the air my trip is up
in the air our dinner is up in the air
hmm so in this situation you’re talking
about let’s talk about health first of
all my health is up in the air this this
is a more general general concept my
health is up in the air we could say
this it’s possible and it’s
understandable maybe it’s not the most
common but it’s certainly not wrong to
say my health is up in the air it means
you’re not sure if you’re healthy you’re
not sure if you’re not healthy it’s
undecide
and let’s imagine that you have some
kind of a problem maybe something more
serious
like you have your arm hurts and the
doctor this happened to me in high
school I hurt my arm and the doctor said
you didn’t break your arm you pulled a
muscle
well after three months of going to the
doctor another doctor said oh yeah you
just broke your arm you need to cast and
when I got a cast a cast is the hard
thing after I got a cast I felt better
it was perfectly fine so the first
doctor was wrong but at the beginning
when I had the wrong diagnosis I had
some wrist therapy because the doctor
thought that it was a muscle problem not
a bone problem well thank you volleyball
volleyball helped me to break my wrist
in high school don’t worry not now but I
can use this expression because we could
say the diagnosis was up in the air and
this means the doctors can’t decide they
don’t know the diagnosis is up in the
air maybe I maybe I broke my arm
maybe I sprained my arm maybe I pulled a
muscle they’re not certain so we could
say the diagnosis the diagnosis is up in
the air if we’re going to talk about
dinner I recommend using dinner plans
instead my dinner plans are up in the
air I don’t know what I’m gonna do
tonight I don’t know what I’m gonna cook
maybe I’ll visit friends maybe I’ll just
eat a piece of toast my dinner plans are
up in the air
I agree Eduardo Eduardo has a good point
that this expression is better used for
thoughts or
ideas yes something that’s not so
physical or concrete and I think that
dinner is a good example for this
because if we add my dinner plans are up
in the air that’s great
no problem my decision is up in the air
no problem my trip is up in the air this
is not a physical thing but if we say my
dinner is up in the air then someone
might look oh really
oh is it possible someone might actually
look up in the air if it’s a physical
thing so let’s keep this I agree with
your point let’s keep this to ideas
something that’s not quite so concrete
your plans your trip trip is okay my
trip to Turkey is up in the air Oh
cleaning my plan to clean my house is up
in the air my plan to visit you is not
in the air my career plan is still up in
the air oh that’s a great word to add
here let’s add another word still I
guess I’ll use another marker let’s add
still ooh when we add still it shows
that you’re trying to make a plan my
career plan is still up in the air I
have been trying to plan my career for
the last two years and it’s still up in
the air I still have no idea what what
I’m gonna do with my life
oh we have some excellent sentences here
my Christmas dinner plans are up in the
air my plan for Easter is actually still
up in the air thank you for sharing
these sentences my exam results are up
in the air ooh
yes that’s similar to the diagnosis
they’re not certain they don’t know
what the result is actually going to be
it’s up an ear and often let me give you
a final a final tip for this expression
often we use this just as a response to
a question if someone says what are you
doing this weekend you could say I don’t
know it’s up in the air what are you
doing this weekend I don’t know it’s up
in the air so you can use this just by
itself and I think this is pretty common
in fact this is how this is how I used
it uh last last week maybe two weeks ago
because I went to New York I already
talked about this I think a couple weeks
ago I went to New York at the beginning
of April and a lot of people asked me
what are you doing in New York what are
you gonna do what’s your daily plan and
I only had one plan visit my sister
everything else was up in the air so
when someone asked me what are you gonna
do in New York I said it’s up in the air
and it doesn’t mean my plan is up in the
air I actually did go up in the air up
into the one World Trade Center tower is
beautiful great view so ice
I physically went up in the air but I’m
not sure if our internet connection cut
off or something but we’re back okay I
went up in the air but my plan in New
York was up in the air so I just said
it’s up in the air what am I gonna do it
is up in the air I have no idea it’s up
in the air so I have a final sentence
that I’d like to say with you to help
you use this because there’s quite a few
words in this idiom it’s up in the air
or just up in the air I want to help you
say this and use it together so let’s
say a sentence about English let’s say
something together how about my plans
for study in English are not up in the
air my plans for studying English are
not up in the air this is a good
dictation practice try to write exactly
what I’m saying
try to write this exact sentence my
plans for studying English are not up in
the air up in the air and notice we’re
not saying the air we’re saying the air
I’ve said that a lot during this lesson
so I hope that it feels comfortable to
you my plans for studying English are
not up in the air Thank You Gabriela you
are the winner the first person to write
this sentence my plans for studying
English are not up in the air and that
means I know what I’m gonna do I’m gonna
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wonderful and maybe you have a podcast
that you love listening to great you
have a plan every day when I Drive to
work I’m gonna listen to that podcast or
maybe you have a speaking partner every
Saturday I’m gonna talk with that
speaking partner your plans are not
undecided your plans are decided they’re
certain my plans
for studying English are not up in the
air so let’s say this slowly I want you
to repeat with me repeat each word try
to follow my pronunciation and let’s say
it together are you ready my plans for
studying English are not up in the air
my plans for studying English are not up
in the air my plans for studying English
are not up in the air really fast my
plans for study in English are not up in
the air whoo all right I hope you had
some pronunciation muscle and speaking
exercise today my recommendation is to
go back and try to read and say out loud
each sentence that uses today’s idiom
that I use during our lesson this is
going to give you a broad context some
ideas for how to use this and I hope
that for you you can integrate up in the
air this idiom I hope you can integrate
it into your conversations so instead of
saying I don’t know you could say it’s
up in the air if you want to say I
haven’t decided yet you could say I
don’t know it’s up in the air if there
are really a lot of situations where you
can use that which dentist are you gonna
go - I don’t know it’s up in the air
what are you gonna do this weekend I
don’t know it’s up in the air what are
you gonna eat for dinner I don’t know
it’s up in the air so I hope you can use
this and integrate it into your
conversations and the next time that you
hear it in a movie or TV show or if I
use it you’ll realize
aha I know what that means because I
studied it so thanks for learning with
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