Hi there, teacher Harry here. And welcome back to the English lessons where I try to
help you to get a better understanding of the English language. I can help you with
your grammar, English expressions, phrasal verbs, whatever it might be. That will help
you to put yourself in a position to have better conversations with your friends, your
colleagues. Put you in a position to get a better job, whatever it might be. So what
am I going to talk to you about today?
Well, today we're going to talk about expressions, and in particular expressions with the word
KNOW. And that's K-N-O-W, not N-O, so K-N-O-W.
In English, we often use I know, or, you know, as a way of filling in a conversation. So
you'll hear it a lot from native English speakers. I know. Yeah. Yeah, I know. So you use it
as sort of as an acknowledgement that you understand what the person is talking about.
Or indeed, you know, you know, what I'm trying to say, you know, the person that lives down
the street, or you know, the guy on the second floor with that unusual dog yet, you know,
yeah, so we use it in that context a lot. But here, we're going to use some specific
phrases. So that, let me give them to you. First of all, I go through them one by one,
and I give you some examples. And then hopefully, you'll be able to practice those and get a
better understanding.
So as far as I know,
to know something inside out, God or Heaven only knows. To know or not to know someone
from Adam, to know, something like the back of your hand, to know a thing or two about
something, to know your place. Not to know his OS from his elbow, and that one's a little
bit rude. So I'll explain that specifically, Knowing my luck. And then finally, before
you know it, so let's take them
one at a time. As far as I know. So when we use this expression, as far as I know, we're
going to give some additional information, or we're going to give somebody some advice,
or somebody might ask you for some advice. And he said, Well, as far as I know, the best
bus that you can get to get you to the... town is the number 66. And you just walk across
the street here, wait for that boss, and that'll take you into the centre of the city.
As far as I know, the boss left an hour ago, and I'm not sure he's going to be back for
the next couple of days. So as far as I know, is the information or that you have on a particular
issue that might be helpful to the other person. Now, it might change. But when we use the
expression, as far as I know, that means the information that you have to hand, this is
the situation this is the boss you get, this is where the person is, this is what you should
do with that. So if you have a technical problem, as far as I know, what you're expected to
do is contact the IT department, as far as I know, to
know something inside out, but when we know something inside out, we know every little
detail. So the teacher might tell the class before this exam, you have to do a lot of
preparation. And really, particularly with history, you got to know these topics inside
out. Because there's certainly going to be a lot of questions based on this part of history.
And the examiner is going to be looking out for some specific information. So you need
to study really hard. And you need to know this topic inside out, meaning every little
detail. He knows this city inside out. Sure, he has been living here most of his life.
So there's any part of the city that you don't know you need to get to just as Peter because
he knows everything about it, he knows it inside out.
God or hen... Heaven only knows. So this is one of these exclamations that we use when
somebody says, you know, what are we going to do about that customer? He's really annoyed
me, he's looking for some answers today. And you've just put your eyes up to heaven say,
God only knows what I'm going to tell him, I have no idea. I'm going to have to wait
until the boss comes back. Or Heaven only knows. I mean, it's an explanation that we
use to suggest that we have no idea and nobody else will know. And the only person is likely
to know is God. And he's not likely to tell us Yeah, so God only knows what's going to
happen.
What's going to happen at the end of this pandemic? What's going to be the situation
with regard to employment? What's going to be the situation with vaccinations? God only
knows. Heaven knows. Yeah, what are we going to do? Nobody really knows.
Not to know someone from Adam. So when we use this expression, it means we don't really
know who you're talking about. Yeah. Okay. So if you're talking about a guy or a woman
on the next... on the next floor or the next apartment block, or somebody in the university,
I don't know him from Adam, I've never met him, I don't really know who you're talking
about, perhaps I didn't meet him. But to be honest, I really don't know, from Adam. And
if you walked through the door now, I had no idea who he is, or I have no idea who she
is. I don't know her from Adam. I don't know him from Adam. So the reference to Adam is
referenced in the Bible of the first person that God's supposedly created. So Adam and
Eve, so when we don't know anybody from Adam, we wouldn't recognise them, we don't know
them. And really, we'd have to be introduced to them to understand exactly who they are.
So I don't know him or her from Adam.
To know something like the back of your hand. But earlier, we explained about knowing something
inside out, and this is very, very similar. So when you know, something like the back
of your hand, okay, so you know everything about it. I know this city like the back of
my hand, I used to work for a taxi company. So I've driven every street, I used to work
in a courier company delivering packages. So I don't think there's any street in this
city that I don't know. In fact, I could say that I know, it's like the back of my hand.
Or I've been working in this company for many, many years. And I know everything about it.
I know the rules, the regulations, I know it like the back of my hand. So that document
about our marketing strategy. I wrote that two years ago, there's been a few little changes.
But to be honest, I know it like the back of my hand.
To know a thing or two about something. Well, when we know a thing or two about something,
we know a little bit more than other people. Yeah. So if you're having a problem with your
car, the best person to ask is David, he's always tinkering around with his car, on the
weekends, if you go to see him, he's always got the bonnet of the car up. And he's got
his head in the engine. And he's fiddling around with this and fiddling around with
that. So if you've got a problem with your car, you should really talk to him because
he knows a thing or two about it. If you've got an IT problem, the best person to talk
to is Mary, she knows a thing or two about technology, I think she she studied it at
university. So she she knows a bit more than the rest of us. Okay, so it always helps to
know a thing or two about something.
A thing or two about small talk so that you can carry on conversations, a thing or two
about sports, that if you get stuck in a conversation with some colleagues, you're able to make
some contribution to the conversation. So to know a thing or two about something, a
thing or two about cooking. So if you're stuck on your own, and you've got some food in the
fridge, you'll be able to rustle up a quick meal to know a thing or two about something.
To know your place where they used to use this a lot in high society to know your place
in society who should talk to who so you know, particularly in the army or some hierarchical
organisation like that, you have to know your place. So if you were a just an ordinary private
or sergeant, you didn't mix with the the majors and the captains and the colonels and the
general. So you had to know your place who you were, where you stood relative to other
people. So it's not so relevant today in a society where we are supposed to be equal.
But in many societies, there are some people unfortunately, a little more equal than others.
So in some respects, we still have to know our place. Where are we? Where do we fit in?
Yeah. Okay.
So if you join a new company, what you'd like to know is the structure of the organisation
who reports to who so you might look at an organisation chart to see which departments
report into the chief executive which departments report into the financial officer, whatever
it might be, so that you know your place in the organisation, you know, who is who you
know, who you can talk to, if you want to get something done, so to know your place
Not to know his arse from his elbow. Well, as I said, the beginning, this is a little
bit rude and I wouldn't recommend it...Uhmmm to use it with anybody that you value as a
customer or your value as a friend because they could get very insulted. So not to know
your arse from your elbow. Firstly, your arse, your backside or your bottom to be more polite,
and these are your elbows and so to not to know your arse from your elbow means to know
nothing. That guy, you're wasting your time talking to him. You might as well bang your
head off the wall because he doesn't know his arse from his elbow. He'll tell you something,
but to be honest, I wouldn't believe it. I don't really think he understands it correctly.
So that would be quite damaging to hear about yourself or other people but that's how somebody
feels when they're frustrated. And they're angry and they're annoyed because you weren't
able to help them. They can see Oh, that guy, he doesn't know his arse from his elbow. Now,
it might mean that he just doesn't understand something. Yeah, you could often try to get
through to a government department, the health department or the tax department, or whatever
it might be, and you're trying to get something organised or some problem resolved, and they
can't help you. So you put down the phone in an anger is, those people they don't know
their arse from their elbow, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I just write in a letter
and hope somebody intelligent replies to me, so not to know your arse from your elbow is
not to really know or understand anything, but as I said, a little bit rude. So be careful
who you use it with, you really have to trust a friend of yours, say something to them that
they're not going to repeat it to somebody else. Okay. Next,
Knowing my luck, what we use Knowing my luck when we want to tell somebody that either
we have bad luck, or we usually have some bad luck, or we're in the situation where
we have more bad luck than the average person. So we see this, when we then go on to explain
that we expect something unfortunate, or misfortune to happen off Knowing my luck, when I get
there, the shop will be closed. or Knowing my luck, when I go to collect my mobile phone,
they will have lost it. That's what they did the last time or when I tried to pick up the
dry cleaning, I'll get the wrong suit or the wrong trousers that happened to me six months
ago. So we've got endless stories and examples of when we had bad luck, or we had misfortune.
So this is what our experience was. So we use this expression to tell somebody else
that yeah, Knowing my luck, that's what's going to happen to me this time. Okay.
And then finally, before you know it, well, when we use the expression, before you know
it, it means that time is going to pass very quickly. And before you know it, something
will have happened. So let's give you an example. You're talking to the the kids and it's just
after Christmas or New Year, and they're about to start the new school year. And their mornings
are don't want to go back to school, why can't we stay at home another couple of days, luck,
you've had long, long holidays. So let's get into the new term. And before you know it,
it's going to be May, and you're going to be coming to the end of the school year. And
then you've got a big long summer holiday to look forward to. Or before you know it,
they'll start the training again, and your football team will be back playing matches.
So don't worry about it. Okay, so before you know what to say. Now, don't be moaning, don't
worry about this, before you know it, something will have happened and everything will be
okay. So anytime that we want to say that something will happen, and it'll probably
happen a little quicker or time will, as it always does, will pass by a little quicker,
we can use that expression before you know it. Okay,
so let me give you those again. As far as I know, to know something inside out. God
or Heaven only knows. To know something like the back of your hand. To know a thing or
two about something. To know your place and to know your place in society. Not to know
his arse from his elbow. And remember, it's a little bit rude. Knowing my luck. And then
before you know, that's the last one. Okay, well, hopefully, you've got a good understanding
of those expressions with no practice them and use them. They're very, very, very common,
and you'll be able to fit in quite easily when you get a little bit of practice. So
three things I want to add. First thing is you can listen to me on my podcast, okay,
you can watch my YouTube channel and indeed you can subscribe to the channel. And finally,
you can check out on my webpage for lots of wonderful courses that might help you to improve
your English. As always, I really appreciate you watching and listening to me and I'll
join you again soon.