11 time idioms and expressions English Vocabulary Lesson Common British English Expressions
hello everyone and welcome back to
english with Lucy today I have got lots
of idioms relating to time it’s a very
important lesson I can’t believe I
haven’t already covered this topic so
grab a pen and paper and make sure you
take notes quickly before we get started
this video is going to help you with
your speaking and your listening and
your reading and your writing it’s going
to help with everything because it’s
building your vocabulary but I know a
lot of you want to improve your
listening in particular and your
pronunciation I highly recommend
listening to audiobooks and reading the
actual book at the same time it’s like
creating your own listening exercises
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download the audiobook of your choice
I’ve got lots of recommendations in the
description box for ones with British
English narrators listen to it as you
multitask or as you commute to work or
whenever you like or listen was reading
the actual book that’s the best thing
you can do for your listening and
pronunciation because you’re hearing how
the words are pronounced as you are
seeing them written down just a little
tip from me there let’s get on with the
lesson number one to be or not to be no
to be or not to be born yesterday
if you are born yesterday it means you
are easily fooled or very naive it’s
often used in a sarcastic ironic way do
you think I was born yesterday
do you think I’m an idiot or I wasn’t
born yesterday I’m not an idiot I don’t
believe you
number two better late than never
this one’s kind of self-explanatory it
means that doing something late is
better than not doing it at all but if I
mention it in this video because it’s
also used in a sarcastic way I might say
better late than never if somebody is
especially late number three at the
eleventh hour at the eleventh hour this
means almost too late
or at the last possible moment it’s
often used in business situations for
example we barely made the deadline I
turned in my project at the 11th hour
number 4 to beat the clock to beat the
clock this means to finish something
before time is up or before a deadline
in game shows the hosts will normally
talk about beating the clock finishing
the game or the competition before time
is up number 5 it’s high time it’s high
time means it’s the right time or
actually past the appropriate time to do
something for example if I say it’s high
time we met to talk about the issue I’m
trying to say that it’s actually past
the appropriate time we should have met
before and we really need to meet right
now number 6 I wonder if you’ve heard
this one before or if you’ve got an
equivalent in your language
time flies or time flies when you’re
having fun
this means that time passes incredibly
quickly and time flies when you’re
having fun means time passes quickly
when you’re having a good time and that
is so incredibly true number 7 third
time’s a charm or third time lucky this
means that the third time you do
something it will usually work it’s
normally said ironically if you’ve had
to repeatedly try something and you’ve
been failing each time third time’s a
charm number eight in the long run in
the long run means in the long term or
over a long period of time for example
studying English is hard but in the long
run it will be worth it number nine in
the nick of time this like the eleventh
hour means at the last possible moment
at the latest possible moment for
example I made it to the bus in the nick
of time
I only just made it number ten the ship
has sailed
this means that an opportunity has been
missed I wanted to apply for the job but
the ship had sailed I missed the
opportunity I ran
of time and the last one in next to no
time in next to no time and this means
in almost no time at all in next to
means almost so next to nothing means
almost nothing next to no time means
almost no time at all for example I
arrived at the club and then in next to
no time I was asked to leave right
that’s it for today’s lesson I hope you
learned something and I hope you enjoyed
it
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will see you soon for another lesson
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