Here's a question what's one of the best ways of making your English sound more
like a native speaker using idioms and I'm gonna share some great ones with you
now let's go
I'm Deirdre Nicholas from palm tree teaching TV your personal language coach
it's actually really easy to sound more like a native speaker but you have to
know the little secrets and the little tricks one of the best tricks is to use
a lot of native speaker idioms and phrases they will take your english
speaking up not just one level but up several levels
now idioms Proverbs expressions and phrases are such an important part of
everyday language amongst native speakers we use them all the time many
times an hour and yet many English learners don't really understand the
importance of using idioms and what using them can do for their spoken
English stick with me and you'll sound more like a native speaker
every time you watch one of my videos the only thing you must remember with
idioms is that they don't make any sense literally or word-for-word so you have
to learn them in their chunks now I'm going to share with you seven of the
most common and modern idioms used by us here in written so using these will
really supercharge your English speaking oh and before I give you these seven
great mediums don't forget to hit the subscribe button and click the bell so
that you don't miss out on any of my videos and lessons number one go the
extra mile this means to make a special effort and to try really hard to reach
your goal so really it's to make more effort than is expected of you you'll
like this one if you want to be really good at English you'll have to go the
extra mile and learn idioms or our teacher was the best she always went the
extra mile to make our lessons great I'm an idiom is a cooking idiom or cooking
phrase really number 2 take something with a pinch of salt in America people
use take something with a grain of salt but here in the UK we would use pinch
I think mainly because that's what we use in recipe books in fact you could
always see in British recipe books a pinch of salt anyway to take something
with a pinch of salt means to not completely believe something that you're
told because it's unlikely to be true so in a sentence it would be you have to
take everything she says with a pinch of salt because she always exaggerates so
much or I read the article in the newspaper but I'm taking it with a pinch
of salt which brings me on to my third idiom it sounds quite horrible actually
but it isn't it number three by the skin of your teeth if you do something by the
skin of your teeth you only just managed to do it you narrowly succeed this is a
strange phrase really but it's because there's no skin on your teeth that it's
a very very small margin for example we managed to get the project done by the
skin of our teeth or I passed the exam by the skin of my teeth
I got 51% and the pass mark was 50 number 4 get your head around it now
this is a really modern idiom and it's very useful in a lot of situations so an
example I find it hard to get my head around rocket science or I can't seem to
get my head around this problem number 5 and my personal favorite comfort food
now you're talking comfort food isn't it wonderful
it's food that makes you feel better makes you feel cared for when you're sad
or worried or when the weather is cold or raining or something like that which
would optimism either it's delicious things like cakes and
chocolate or even crisps or things like hot soup even if it's very very tasty
for example eating pizza can make people feel much happier it's great comfort
or some people like chocolate spread sandwiches as a comfort food me included
number six are no-brainer this is another useful and modern idiom a
no-brainer is an easy question that takes no thinking to answer it's
something where the decision is very easy or obvious so in a sentence it
would be of course you must accept the job it's a no-brainer
it's a brilliant job or you look fabulous in that dress you must buy it's
a no-brainer oh and before I get to my final idiom number seven if you would
like me to coach you on a one-to-one basis to improve your English then just
email me on the email address below it's deirdre at palm tree teaching calm
I can give you a really special price now third idiom number seven number
seven sit on the fence this is actually very related to the last idiom in fact
it's almost the opposite it means to avoid making a decision or to delay
making a decision so you can't sit on the fence any longer you have to choose
which person to hire for the job or she couldn't decide which candidate to vote
for so she just sat on the fence make sure you go and watch all my other
videos to improve your English fast and build your English fluency in a fun way
oh and enjoy your English and I'll see you really soon bye
you