Taking a load off (#idiom)

Taking a load off

Monday is President’s Day, a holiday in the U.S., so we’re getting a three-day weekend, which means I finally get to TAKE A LOAD OFF. It’s been so busy at work lately that I’m making it a point to take it easy this weekend. Sure, I still have a list of things to do, but… Read more »

Christmas 2015

It’s Christmas!

We’re having an unseasonably warm Christmas here in New York City. It’s strange, but no one’s complaining. Most of us are enjoying it, especially as we know the brutal wintry weather will eventually return. I, myself, have been busy lately, so Christmas this year means slowing down, taking it easy, and getting plenty of rest…. Read more »

Pasta dish for English vocabulary lesson

It’s Thanksgiving!

It’s Thanksgiving once again! I wish you all a day of fun, great food, quality time with family and friends, and plenty of things to be grateful for. If you are celebrating Thanksgiving, you will most likely pig out on a huge meal with some fantastic desserts. You will probably have seconds. You will be… Read more »

Image of autumn leaves for English lesson on the future perfect

Reviewing the Future Perfect

. We’re halfway through November. The autumn leaves have fallen, and winter is fast approaching. The year 2015 is almost over, and we just have a month or so before the new year begins. Do you have anything that you want to accomplish by the end of the year? Are you working on a task… Read more »

cute pumpkin photos for Halloween post

Is Halloween becoming less scary? :-|

Halloween has always been a spooky holiday where people put up creepy decorations and wear scary costumes. When you think of Halloween, you think skeletons & vampires & haunted houses & witches flying in the dark. People get pumpkins and carve Jack ‘o lanterns that are supposed to give passersby chills, right? SPOOKY, CREEPY –… Read more »

photo of lunch for #vocabulary lesson

Calling in sick & feeling under the weather

I’ve been home feeling under the weather the past two days. I think I caught my cold early last week when I started sniffling off and on. I must say I did a pretty good job keeping it at bay until Sunday, when it suddenly got worse and my nose started to run nonstop. 😐… Read more »

image of the simple present and the present progressive from a grammar booklet

Have you mastered the English present tenses?

The Simple Present and the Present Progressive/Continuous are the first two tenses that you learn when you first start studying English. Because of this, many students who have been studying English for a long time don’t want to practice them anymore because they think these tenses are too easy. Unfortunately, even advanced students can have a… Read more »

photos for English lesson on the slang phrase "the skinny"

Here’s the skinny on “the skinny”!

You probably already know that the word “skinny” also means “thin,” which is the opposite of “fat.” A person who doesn’t need to lose weight and who probably needs to gain weight is skinny, right? However, did you also know that the phrase “the skinny” is slang for “information” about some topic? That’s right! This… Read more »

photo to teach English vocabulary

Are you a night owl or an early bird?

People are usually either a night owl or an early bird. If you love to stay up until the wee hours of the morning, you are definitely a night owl. On the other hand, if you prefer to hit the sack early and get up early the next day, you can call yourself an early… Read more »

PB&J photo for an English vocabulary blog post

Becoming FOND OF blueberry jam

I usually make a PB&J to take to work every day–or my wife does it for me. 🙂 Recently, we decided to try blueberry instead of my usual raspberry, but I quickly realized I wasn’t too fond of the flavor. 😐 I like blueberry in pies and cakes, but it just didn’t go with peanut… Read more »

Latest
  • go overboard

    Alright, this one is easy because it’s similar to yesterday’s expression. When you’re going overboard on something, you’re getting carried away, which means you’re doing more than you originally planned or expected. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’re getting caught up in something; it just means that you are overdoing whatever activity you are engaged in…. Read more »

  • get carried away

    Last month, on our May 25 blog, we talked about getting caught up in something. Do you remember what to get caught up in something means? If you don’t, it’s ok; but check out the May 25 blog first before reading on. It’s good to review old lessons now and then, anyway. Getting carried away… Read more »

  • call it a day

    Calling it a day means to stop doing something for today to be continued another day. This is another idiomatic expression that’s commonly used. You can say it anytime you want to stop working or studying or practicing something, and you want to finish what you’re doing some other day. For example, if you’ve been… Read more »

  • call it quits

    This phrase is an idiomatic way of saying stop or quit usually when you are tired of doing something and don’t want to do it anymore. For example, when you are trying to fix your car and you can’t figure out how to do it, after a couple of hours, you can say “that’s it…. Read more »

  • It’s about time

    Yesterday, we learned the phrase it’s high time. Today, we’ll learn a similar phrase: it’s about time, which can have the exact same meaning and used the same way as the expression, it’s high time. From our example yesterday, when a mother wants her teenaged son to put his money in the bank, she can… Read more »

  • It’s high time

    If you tell a friend,”it’s high time you learned how to drive,” this means that your friend doesn’t know how to drive yet, and you’re suggesting that your friend really learn how to drive now. If you tell someone,”it’s high time I got a raise at work,” it implies that you have been expecting a… Read more »

  • on the verge of

    This phrase is similar to the one we learned yesterday: about to. However, while about to is widely used, on the verge of is a little less common, a little more formal and sounds somewhat dramatic. Also, while you can use about to for just about anything, using on the verge of is a little… Read more »

  • about to

    We’ve seen this expression before on a past blog. Since it’s a widely used and idiomatic phrase, we’re going to focus on it today. About to + verb means getting ready to do something or something is almost going to happen. For example, you can look up to a cloudy sky and say it’s about… Read more »

  • Cut it out!

    Cutting something out can mean removing or deleting something. For example, if you are writing an essay and you don’t like one paragraph in your essay, you can cut out that section or cut that section out. People who make movies often cut some parts out when they are putting the film together. However, there’s… Read more »

  • get caught up in

    When you get caught up in something, you usually forget something else important. Getting caught up in something means to become so engrossed, so interested in what you are doing that you forget about what you are supposed to do. If you are supposed to call a friend at 3 p.m., but you forget about… Read more »