Hi and welcome back to love English I'm Leila and today I want to share 10
idiomatic expressions with you now I know you've probably seen a lot of
lessons on idioms before but this one is a little bit different in this lesson
I'm going to share 10 idiomatic expressions that you can use to give
advice advice that you are giving from your own personal experience and
knowledge these idiomatic expressions are going to make you sound incredibly
wise meaning you'll be drawing on your knowledge and experience of life to
share this with friends or perhaps a younger member of your family these
idioms are exceptionally common in British English and so you may even hear
them in a movie or when you're listening to native speakers having a conversation
but there is a lot of meaning behind them there is wise and sensible advice
so hopefully next time you're having a conversation in English and someone is
explaining a problem or asking for your advice directly you'll be able to use
one of these idiomatic expressions to help them make a decision or to
understand a particular situation and don't forget before we get started and
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so on with the lesson at 10 idiomatic expressions to make you sound
intelligent wise and to give very sensible advice
number one take it with a pinch of salt take it with a pinch of salt so a pinch
is this this is the action to pinch sometimes you might say pinch me if you
don't believe something is true but when we're talking about a pinch of salt
we're meaning that don't listen to what somebody has said it's quite likely that
somebody has exaggerated as something it's probably not the whole truth so
you'd only really want to believe part of what's been said she told me she was
earning loads of money but I can't understand how I'll take what she says
with a pinch of salt I wouldn't believe everything you hear number two don't put
your eggs all in one basket this is some very sensible advice meaning don't put
all your hopes into one thing make sure that you have options opportunities so
for example you may see one job that you really want but in fact it would be
sensible to apply for more than one job to apply for many jobs just in case you
don't get the one you want don't put your eggs all in one basket
you can't depend on your success from one person or one thing make sure that
you have options don't put your eggs all in one basket if
you want to avoid or recommend that somebody doesn't make a situation worse
than it already is you should say you don't want to add fuel to the fire you
don't want to add fuel to the fire when you're talking about adding fuel to of
the fire you're talking about making the situation much worse encouraging it
almost so for example if your boss was a little bit moody maybe almost rude to
you and you want to go over there and tell them what's what you want to tell
them that they shouldn't talk to you like that and that they're being very
rude someone might say to you really don't add fuel to the fire maybe you've
had an argument with your boyfriend or girlfriend and actually what you could
do with is some space don't start arguing more and complaining about some
other things that they've done that annoyed you don't add fuel to the fire
to bite off more than you can chew if you tell somebody don't bite off more
than you can chew you're not literally talking about
eating and how much they eat what you're talking about is how much they are
taking on are they taking on a task that is too big or too much work for them
you're never going to finish that presentation in time you've got until
tomorrow you're really biting off more than you
can chew number five to cut to the chase if you tell somebody
would you mind cutting to the chase or could you just cut to the chase you're
asking them to be direct just get to the point it's not necessarily rude but be
careful of your intonation you don't want to be too blunt and direct cut to
the chase know would you mind would you mind just cutting to the chase if you're
pitching an idea to your boss it's much better to cut to the chase don't get
distracted by lots of little details just tell them the highlights the main
points and the main benefits cutting to the chase is often much more
professional and efficient in business and of course even in a relationship if
someone's trying to tell you something you could just say look just cut to the
chase or you could say it yourself look I'm just going to cut to the chase I
really don't think the way you behaved last night was appropriate number six
this is a great one to say that it takes two to tango
now be careful it is always two to tango there's a nice little bit of
alliteration going on there so you wouldn't say it takes two to cha-cha or
it takes two to waltz it is always it takes two to tango and we can often use
this when we're referring to people that are arguing or difficulties in a
relationship where you might not know each side of the situation it's
important to realize that it takes two to tango actions and communications take
two people therefore it's always useful to use when giving relationship advice
we argue all the time I just can't believe it come on it takes two to tango
meaning you can't have an argument by yourself it does take two people so this
is a great expression and one that you'll hopefully remember just think
about the dance can you believe how he's behaving come on it takes two to tango
meaning you can't put all the blame on one person it often takes two to argue
number seven to kill two birds with one stone now don't worry animal lovers
this does not mean that a bird all birds are being killed but what it's referring
to is solving two problems with one action essentially you're being much
more efficient so I decided to cycle to work that way I can save money and get
exercise number eight don't judge a book by it's cover
don't judge a book by it's cover or you can't judge a book by it's cover meaning
you can't judge someone or something simply by the external appearance you
need to understand the situation better before you can make a judgement she
never seems to smile I don't think she's very friendly don't judge a book by it's
cover number nine to give someone the benefit of the doubt the benefit of the
doubt in this case you're saying that you should listen to somebody and
believe them without needing proof I gave him the benefit of the doubt he
said he was late to work because of the busses and I chose to believe him number
10 to hit the nail on the head if somebody hits the nail on the head they
basically got it exactly right they were spot-on exact I asked if she was
stressed because of money problems she told me I hit the nail on the head when
you said our marriage problems were because we needed to communicate more
you hit the nail on the head so there we have it 10 idiomatic expressions to help
you sound much smarter wiser intelligent and to give good effective advice and of
course to sound super natural and native weather in conversation with friends or
giving advice to friends and family those idioms are really going to help
you have the conversation in English and give fantastic advice so why not comment
below are any of these idiomatic expressions similar in your language how
does some of the idioms in your language translate into English idioms are a very
peculiar thing often they just don't translate into English you may have some
that are similar but if you translate them word-for-word they can often sound
a little bit strange so let me know which idioms are similar in your
language and how do they differ thank you so much for watching I look forward
to seeing you soon bye