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
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they offer english tutors from america
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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