How to Use English Idioms Weather Idioms
Hello! I’m Emma from mmmEnglish!
In this video, I’m going to be sharing some of my
favourite English weather idioms.
Now, don’t forget to turn on the subtitles right here,
once you’ve done that we’re
ready to get started!
So what’s an idiom?
Idioms are English expressions that are quite unique
because the meaning of the expression is
different to the individual meaning of
each word.
Now, idioms exist in lots of different languages
but the reason that they can be
so difficult to understand and also
to learn to use is because of the
different meaning that you need to understand.
It’s also because most of the
time when you’re trying to learn these idioms
you’re looking in a book or
you’re looking on a website that has a
list of hundreds and hundreds of idioms
and you just end up getting frustrated
and confused. Some of them I haven’t even
heard of before! The secret to learning
English idioms is to focus on idioms
that are relevant and that are often
used in everyday conversation.
Like everything, idioms come in and out of
fashion.
Sometimes they’re popular. Sometimes
they’re not, they’re really daggy.
and no-one uses them anymore. It depends on who
you are, where you are, your age and the
people that you hang out with.
Idioms are quite unique like that but there are a
group of really common idioms that are
used across native speaking countries
And to make it easier for you, I’ve
chosen all of the idioms that I teach in
these lessons specifically because they are
currently in use. They are used every
day. I hear them all the time! So you can
feel confident that they’re worth
learning and it’s worth spending your
time on these idioms. So, don’t get your
knickers in a twist!
Don’t get upset! I’m going to teach you a
few really common English idioms right
here, right now in this lesson. Let’s get going!
When I say the word ‘weather’, what
kinds of ideas come into your head?
I think of sunshine, rain, clouds, storms,
lightning, thunder, wind, all sorts of words!
And all of the idioms that I’m
going to teach you today use weather
words in some way. OK the first one!
‘Under the weather’ To feel ‘under the
weather’. Now if you feel under the weather,
you’re not feeling very well at all,
you might be sick, like you might
have a cold or something like that.
You feel not as healthy as you usually do.
For example, “I said that I’d meet my
friends for dinner tonight but I’m
feeling a bit under the weather so I
don’t think I’ll go” Or, “You look a bit
under the weather today. Are you feeling OK?”
The second one. ‘When it rains, it pours’.
So this idiom is used when
something goes wrong and a whole bunch
of things go wrong at the same time.
THAT is the time to use this idiom!
So, think about this situation. You’re really busy
at work.You’ve got three projects that
are due by the end of the day and your
colleague has just called in sick
to say they’re not coming to work today.
So they’re not going to help you
complete the reports. And the power has
just gone off in your building which
means you don’t, you’re not able to use
your computer. So you decide to take your
laptop and go to the local library and
work there. So you go downstairs and you
go back to your car and you suddenly
realize that you’ve locked your keys
inside the car! ‘When it rains, it pours’
This is the perfect example of ‘When it
rains, it pours’. Lots of things went wrong
at the same time, so the problem felt
even bigger than it really was.
Number three!
‘Every cloud has a silver lining’
OK so your friend is having some
problems, maybe they lost their job or
their boyfriend broke up with them, or
their girlfriend. You can use this idiom to
help comfort them, to help make them feel
better. It means that it’s possible to
find a positive in a negative situation,
- no matter how difficult or how painful
it might feel at the time. Imagine if a
friend lost their job. You could comfort
them with this idiom. You could say “I’m
really sorry that you lost your job but
you know, every cloud has a silver lining.
Perhaps this will give you the
opportunity to work on your own business for a while.”
‘To get wind of something’.
‘To get wind of something’ means to hear
about something or to learn about
something, mostly when what you hear is
actually supposed to be a secret.
For example, your colleague might say,
“Did you hear the rumours about our CEO
resigning?!” It means he quit his job and
you might say, “Yeah! I did get wind of
that yesterday! Do you think the rumours are true?”
‘Come rain or shine’
If I say that I’ll be at a place ‘come rain or shine’,
it means that I will definitely be there, no matter what!
For example, my cousin said to me,
“Are you coming to my birthday
party on Saturday night?” And I told her
“Of course I am!
Come rain or shine, I’ll be there, don’t worry!”
So rain represents bad weather and
shine represents the sun, really good
weather, nice weather. So the idiom
suggests that it doesn’t matter if it’s
raining or if it’s shining with sun, you
will be there no matter what the weather!
‘To have your head in the clouds’
If someone has their head in the clouds it
means that they’re not focused on what’s
happening around them. They’re not paying
attention to what’s going on in the real world!
They’re stuck inside their own heads,
they’re thinking about their own
ideas, their own thoughts, their own
dreams, their own fantasies. Perhaps like
a daydream. For example, “You know, I’d
really like to visit Canada over summer this year!”
“Get your head out of the
clouds, Emma! We can’t afford that, it’s too expensive!”
“What’s the answer to question three?”
“Huh? Oh, ummmm… I don’t know.”
“Get your head out of the clouds Emma, pay attention!”
‘Lightning fast’. Now ‘lightning fast’ just
means really, really super fast and it
can be used with either time that
moves quickly or the speed of something
that physically moves quickly.
For example, “Did you see that car? It was
lightning fast!”
“I just couldn’t believe how early you left the room!
You finished the exam lightning fast! I hadn’t even
finished the second page!'
‘To take a raincheck’
Now this idiom means that you would like
to accept an offer from someone but you
can’t do it right now and you want to
accept the offer at a later time. So for
example, if your friend said to you “I’ve
got two spare tickets to the football
match tonight. Do you want to come?”
And I’d say “Yeah, that sounds awesome!
But it’s my grandfather’s birthday
tonight. I can’t, can I take a raincheck
and come some other time?”
And lastly, to ‘brighten up your day’. You know how good
it feels when you’re outside in the
sunshine and it feels so warm on your
skin, you feel so happy? This is where
this idiom comes from. Something that
‘brightens up your day’ makes you feel
really positive and happy.
For example, you run into an old friend on the street
who you haven’t seen in years. That would
brighten up your day! Or if you were sick
in hospital and a good friend came
to visit you, that would ‘brighten up your day’.
You’d say “Thanks for visiting!
You really brightened up my day!”
So did you recognize any of those idioms?
Perhaps you’ve heard of a few of them before,
but I hope that you learned a few
new ones as well. If you want to keep
practicing English idioms then check out
this playlist up here and of course, if
you love this lesson please share it
with your friends and family! I would
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would like to keep watching more video
lessons then check out this one for
pronunciation. This one for imitation
where you can imitate a native English speaker.
That’s all from me today but
I’m looking forward to seeing you in the
next lesson. Bye for now!