hi i'm rebecca from invid in this lesson
you'll learn
eight new idioms which are used very
commonly
in personal social and professional
situations
okay now i've divided them for you there
are eight
but four of them are a little bit more
on the negative side
and four of them are quite positive so
let's see what they are
now we could start all of them just in
order to make a kind of a sentence
we could start all of them with the word
it's or it is or it was
okay whatever but we'll say it is so
let's take the first one
it's a tough break so what does that
mean it's a tough break
means something unfortunate happened or
something bad happened
that really was kind of sad okay
for example let's say somebody bought a
house
and which is a good thing but then
he lost his job so that was a tough
break okay
because now he has to cope with that
situation and it's a difficult situation
so it was a tough break that he lost his
job
shortly after buying a new house all
right
let's look at the next one it's a long
shot
a long shot means that there's very
little chance of success
so for example we know that lots of
people around the world
buy lottery tickets even though it's a
long
shot that you're actually going to win
millions of dollars okay so that means
there's very little
chance of success okay the next one
number three
it's a raw deal so when we
say that somebody got a raw deal or that
it was a raw
deal it means that somebody was treated
very
unfairly okay not in a good way it was a
bad deal
so for example if somebody got a job and
then he
found out or she found out that the
person in her job
before then got paid much much more
so she got a raw deal or he got a raw
deal
he got a bad deal and was treated
unfairly okay that's a raw deal
uh the last one here in the negative
section it's a
necessary evil so that seems a little
bit strange right
so evil means something bad necessary
means something that
you need so what's an example of a
necessary evil
let's say taxes right we all have to pay
income taxes in most
parts of the world and we don't like to
do it but we
need to do it because our taxes pay
allow the government to take care of
lots of things for us and provide us
with all kinds of services right
looking after our roads and giving us a
fire department
and all of these kind of things so we
could say that
taxes are a necessary evil
okay did you get those let's review them
a little bit so if we say something is a
long shot
it's unlikely to succeed such as
a lottery or if we say it was a tough
break
it was a difficult thing that happened
like that person who
lost his job after buying a house or if
something is a necessary evil
we say it's necessary but we still don't
like it
for example taxes or exams or other
things like that
okay so what's a raw deal a raw deal is
where someone is treated
unfairly or badly for example
if somebody did some work and was
promised 200
but then at the end of it they got only
100 so
they got a raw deal okay
so let's look at the next four these are
a little bit brighter a little bit more
a little bit happier okay it's a
no-brainer
okay so let me give you a nice example
of that one a good
happy example so let's say that somebody
didn't have work for a long time
could be this guy up here okay who lost
his job
but then after a long time of not having
any work
and not having enough money he was
offered a great job with a high salary
and everything else
so should he have taken that position of
course
yes it's very clear and obvious that he
should
so that's a no-brainer a no-brainer is
something that's very clear
and obvious you don't have to think
about it very much
it's very you don't have to use your
brain very much
to figure out the answer so it was a
no-brainer that he should take that job
when he had no work okay
a turning point a turning point is a
time when everything changes for the
better
for example uh if there is a couple and
they've been trying to have
a child and they couldn't have one for
many years and then they had a baby
and they were so happy and that was a
turning point
in their lives that's what you can say
okay a safe bet so
what's a safe bet do you have any idea
what it could be something that you can
be sure of
okay something that you think
is safe to do for example most people
consider that if you
go to university it's a safe bet that
means
that if you go to university you invest
the time and money
but then for the rest of your life you
will benefit from that
you'll have a career you have an income
so going to university is often regarded
as a safe bet
a good thing to do and the last one
is a win-win situation so what's a
win-win situation
it's a situation in which both sides win
both sides are happy both sides come out
ahead
for example let's suppose you want to
improve your english
and you meet someone who is an english
speaker who wants to learn your language
so you could do a kind of language
exchange
and both of you would benefit both of
you
would win so that's called a win-win
situation it's often used in business
situations
when there's some sort of negotiation
between two sides
and finally everybody is really happy so
that means it's a
win-win situation all right so again
what's a no-brainer
something that's very clear and obvious
what's a safe bet something that you can
be pretty sure and certain it will
succeed or it's a good thing to do
what's a turning point it's a time when
everything changes for the better and
what's a win-win situation
a situation in which both sides or all
sides
are happy with the results okay
so maybe as a way to review this you can
do a few things
first go to our website at www.invid.com
there you can do a quiz on this all
right just to make sure that you really
understood these well
while you're there you can leave a
comment for me in the comments section
and maybe use one or two of these um
idioms for example you could tell me
about a turning point in your life
something that happened and and a good
time when something good happened
maybe you met somebody maybe you started
a business maybe you did something
and or you could give me an example of
some win-win situation in your life
okay but find an idiom that you like and
that you can apply
because when you use your own examples
that's when you really understand
something
okay and last of all subscribe to my
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more lessons that will help you to
improve your english
okay all the best bye for now