In today's lesson we are going to look at 10 C2
level idioms that you can use to help you sound more like a native speaker.
Here's a common question, are today's idioms American English or British English? They are both.
There are a couple of minor differences but I will tell you what they are. And you can use
these idioms with everyone. Family, friends, and even people at work. These idioms are neutral.
At the end of this lesson I have a test for you with 10 questions.
Let me know in the comments how you did on the test. Did you get 10 out
of 10? Or maybe 5 out of 10? Let me know. My name is Arnel, let's start.
Are you okay Kelly? No, I've bitten off more than I can chew. I told Bruce that I could
finish all these reports by Friday. Number One, to bite off more than you can chew.
Definition, you agree to do more than you are capable of and this causes stress.
Normally when we take a bite out of something we chew like this...
But if our bite is too big we, we struggle, right? So Kelly has bitten off more than she can chew.
I think our governor bit off more than he can chew with his plan to reduce crime by 90% in six months.
I don't think that's gonna happen, he's definitely bitten off more than he can chew.
I suppose it's, it's just my job you know it's uh, all these people dependent on me, tens of millions
of dollars at stake, you know it's sometimes I feel like I I've been on more than I can chew you know.
You take care of my niece my love... Well Kelly, maybe I can lend you a hand. Number Two, to lend someone
a hand, or to give someone a hand - same thing. Definition, to help someone with a practical task.
Carol is gonna lend me a hand with my website this weekend, she's gonna help me.
Can you lend me a hand with these boxes? Can you help me? So, I'm offering to lend Kelly a hand. Right.
So, Kelly, let's make a list of everything that can help you. Lists are helpful.
Oh God Bruce is gonna be so angry at me. He's gonna fire me. No, I'll quit!
Don't get ahead of yourself, he's not gonna fire you, and you're not gonna quit.
Number Three, to get ahead of yourself. To get ahead of yourself. Definition, to become too excited,
too confident, or too worried about something that hasn't even happened. And remember, too is negative.
[Music] I made one sale! Oh my God, if I make a sale every day, no, if I make 20 sales every day
I can quit my job!
Okay, I think I'm getting ahead of myself. I'm getting too excited and
confident about something that hasn't even happened!
Don't get ahead of yourself and think you've already won the match, there's still a long
way to go. Come on, list of solutions, what can you do to make your situation better?
Well, I could ask Bruce for an extension. Yes! Ask for an extension, that will give you more time.
Ask Bruce for extension... What else? I could work overtime for the next few days.
Yeah, yeah you could work overtime. Work overtime...
I could call in sick on Friday so I don't need to come to work. I think you're scraping the
barrel with that one. Number Four, to scrape the barrel, to scrape the barrel. This is a barrel,
and let's say it's full of olives. The olives at the top are easy to get, right? But as you
get to the bottom of the barrel you need to start scraping, you need to scrape the bottom.
Is the stuff at the bottom any good? No. Definition, there are no more good
options or ideas, so you choose inferior. You choose or think of inferior options or ideas.
The company is scraping the barrel by hiring unqualified candidates due to the immense
shortage of manpower. My fashion design Professor asked all of the students to each think of 10
interesting hat ideas for summer. 10. that's a lot. By number seven I was really scraping the barrel.
I mean, a hard hat that's also a cereal bowl... You don't want to know what I did for 8, 9, and 10.
How did you ever get command of a ship? I realize in Wartime they have to scrape the bottom of the barrel
but whatever scraped you up? There's just one thing left for you mister... So, I was telling Kelly
that she's scraping the barrel with that last idea. Pretending to be sick is a terrible idea.
I also told Kelly not to be tempted to cut corners. Number Five, to cut corners.
Here we have an aerial view, and here we see a corner. Normally we drive like this...
But if someone wants to save time, they do this...
They are kind of cutting off the corner. Is it faster? Yes. But is it correct? No.
To cut corners, definition: You do something to save time or money, but you sacrifice the quality.
So yes, you save time and money but the quality also goes down. Do you think reducing staff
training from two weeks to one week is being more efficient? Or is it just cutting corners?
I know Kelly has a lot to do but I'm also at the end of my tether. Number Six, to be at the
end of your tether. This is a horse, and this is its tether. Can a horse go farther than his tether?
No, definition: You are at your limit in terms of ideas, energy, resources. You can't go on, just like
a horse on its tether. This idiom expresses frustration, frustration due to exhaustion.
After dealing with Bob's complaints for so long, Jake was at the end of his tether.
Not a single doctor can tell me what's wrong with my back. I'm in so much pain
but nobody can see anything wrong with my back. I'm really at the end of my tether.
Anyway, I have a lot to do. Let me introduce you to my team, my wonderful team: Kayla, Dan, and Parker.
Parker is great but you need to take everything he says with a grain of salt. Number Seven, to take
something with a grain of salt - or a pinch of salt. Grain is more common in American English, and pinch
is more common in British English. But they are the same thing. Definition, you do not believe something
because you think it's exaggerated or it's just a half truth. So when Parker tells you he was on hold
all day, just take that with a grain of salt. He was probably only on hold for five minutes,
he tends to exaggerate. The Johnny Depp versus Amber Heard trial was a famous trial in 2022. At
one point we hear this: You knew Mr Depp had a scheduled business meeting or a money meeting
that evening, right? No I knew he said he did, I didn't know if he had one. Addicts lie all the time.
So you didn't trust him? I took it with a big grain of addict salt.
This idiom clearly expresses not trusting someone fully.
And normally we do not add anything to this idiom. Here, addict is just an extra description.
The four of us are a great team. We're currently working on a big landscaping project together.
Landscaping is making a garden or a piece of land more attractive. For example, before...
and after. Our company's name is the Big Green. Our main competitor is Garden Bay.
Garden Bay likes to cut Corners. Remember idiom number five, cut corners.
Their services are a lot cheaper than ours, but they do like to use super cheap
fertilizers and materials which contaminate the soil, and harm the wildlife around it.
If we did that we would save so much money, and we would probably get more clients,
but we don't want to stoop to their level. Number Eight, to stoop to someone's level.
Stoop, what is stoop? Stoop is when you bend down a little bit, like this. Stoop,
stoop. So for example, if you're really tall and need to walk through a doorway, you might need to
stoop to get through it. With this idiom we mean you go down morally.
Definition, you do something morally wrong because someone else is doing it.
Tess and I got into an argument. Later, she started posting really nasty things about me on Facebook.
I can also post nasty things about her on Facebook, but I don't want to stoop to her level.
That's her level, this is my level. I don't want to stoop to her level.
How old are you? Oh I'm so sorry did that hurt? No, I will not stoop to your level.
Oh! That's it you're a dead man... Someone from Garden Bay actually contacted us
and multiple other landscaping companies. They want to know who our clients were for research purposes.
Apparently they're writing, um they're trying to publish an article on customer demographics.
I don't believe them. I think they're trying to steal our clients.
But do I have proof of this? No, I don't have proof. Number nine, I decided to give them the benefit of
the doubt. To give someone the benefit of the doubt. You decide to believe someone because:
One, there is no proof they are lying. Two, maybe they're telling the truth. And Three, you want to
be a trusting person. So I gave Garden Bay the benefit of the doubt, and told them about
one client. Maybe they really are trying to do some research and that research might actually help us.
Rick has a history of lying. But I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt,
when he told me that he was late for work because his grandma had needed his help.
I mean maybe his grandma really needed help. You should always help your grandma.
Back to my team, we work really well together. When we get a new client we put all the clients ideas
and our ideas into a hat, yes a literal hat. Hear me out, there's a method to this madness!
We pull out several ideas and that's what we start with. Number 10, there's a method to this madness.
There's a method to this madness is more common in American English, and there's method in this
madness is more common in British English - but they mean the same thing. Madness, madness means
craziness. Definition, what I'm doing might seem crazy, but there's an actual strategy.
So pulling ideas out of a hat might seem like a crazy idea, but it's a fun way to get the project
going, and it divides the work up evenly and fairly. There's a method to the madness. My brother is so
unorganized yet he runs a successful accounting firm. Obviously there's a method to his madness.
Eww. Why do you only use yellow and red for your notes? Well, red means I really understand
and yellow means you need to study more. So after I review my yellow notes, I write over them in red
because I really understand. See, there's a method to my madness. Okay, whatever works for you. You know
what works for me, and I think will work for you? A test! What do you say? Let's move on to my test!
Test time. Here are the 10 idioms we've just looked at. I'm gonna show you five mini
conversations and can you please put the correct idiom into the appropriate space.
Let's start with conversation number one. Pause the video to do this.
Okay. Space one, space two.
Conversation number two, pause again.
Okay. Space one, space two.
Conversation number three.
Space one, space two.
Conversation number four.
Space one, space two.
Last one, number five.
Space one, and space two.
How did you do? Don't forget to leave me your score down below. I really love hearing from
you. I hope this lesson was helpful and I'll see you next time. Thank you for watching, bye!!!