Hi there, this is Harry, welcome back to advanced English lessons with Harry, where
I try to help you to get a better understanding of the English language. You might be preparing
for some proficiency exam. Or indeed, you might be looking forward to a job interview with an
international company and you need to brush up on your English. We're here to help you.
And we'll help you with your grammar, those interview questions, whatever it is you need,
you've come to the right place. And in this advanced English lesson, today, we're looking
at prepositional phrases, prepositional phrases with on. So it's an advanced leve, prepositional
phrases using on. I've got 14 of them in the list. So I'm going to go through them one by one, I'll
explain them and give you some working examples. And hopefully, you'll be able to understand those.
And as I always say the best way to understand them is to practice them. And if you can practice
those and learn not all of them, learn some of them, then you'll be in a much better place.
And if you need any more help any examples and all you have to do is right to contact
me at www.englishlessonviaskype.com. And I'll certainly help you with any thing further I can.
Okay, let's get back to the lesson today. As I said, it's an advanced
English lesson using prepositional phrases with on. So let's get started.
On occasion. Yeah, they're on occasion is the same meaning as occasionally or from time to time. So
on occasion, we get a really nice summer here in Ireland, but usually it's a little bit colder
than the continent and a little bit wetter. So on occasion means from time to time do you
meet up with your friends are on occasion, but I don't usually have a lot of time with
family with work and travelling. So it's not so easy on occasion, from time to time, or indeed,
occasionally I meet up with my friends, from time to time I meet up with my friends, from time to
time I go walking in the hills on occasion. Okay, so that's the first one on occasion.
Number two, on the increase. Well, when something is on the increase,
it usually means it's going up. So it could be inflation is on the increase.
The level of crime in certain cities is on the increase strikes by workers looking for
more money is on the increase. So anything that is moving up, or moving up steadily,
or is increasing day to day, week, by week, whenever it is, we can say on the increase.
Number three on board. Okay, now we can say it's good to have people on board means to be on the
same page, to be on the same wavelength, to be in agreement with whatever you've made. So or if
somebody joins a company for the first time. And when he comes in on the Monday when he's starting
work or she's starting work, they may be met by a senior member of the management and the words
they're more likely to say is good to have you on board. I'm glad to have you onboard. Okay,
so it's a way of greeting people. It's a way of welcoming them to a new company to start the new
chapter the next chapter in their career, Welcome on board. Now, you can use it literally when you
climb up those steps or walk along that arm of the in the airport to get to the plane and the the
steward or stewardess or the member the cabin crew will say, Good to have you on board sir or madam.
Welcome on board. So that's a little greeting. But on board, it's good to have you on board in the
company, good to have everybody on board, whether you agree with the next plan, the marketing plan,
the budgets, whatever that might be to be on board together. Part of the team.
On behalf of. This is a well-known expression. It's quite formal, and we would use it in a few
different ways. Let me give you something specific. If you're inviting somebody to
let's say the wedding of your son or daughter, on behalf of my wife and I are I would like to
invite you to the wedding of our daughter or son that is due to take place on certain dates
in April or whenever that might be okay. So on behalf of or if you want to thank somebody so you
might get a letter from the management of your company. On behalf of the board of directors,
on behalf of the management, we would like to thank all staff for their contribution
and their efforts during the year. Without them it wouldn't have been possible. So a way of thanking
people for what work they've done in a year and it might be accompanied by details of a bonus payment
or salary increases. So on behalf of. So it's quite formal, but it's a nice way to be thanked,
it's a nice way to invite people, it's a nice way to welcome people. So the father of the
bride might stand up at the head of the table when they are having the ceremony or the dinner
after the main wedding ceremony. And he would say, on behalf of my family, I would like to welcome
you all here to enjoy the wedding of my daughter to her husband, blah, blah, blah. Okay, so then
crack a few jokes, tell a few funny stories. And hopefully everybody will laugh. So on behalf of.
On your mind, well, when you have something on your mind, it's usually a good idea to try
and share it with people, it's usually a good idea to get it off your mind so that it doesn't
trouble you. I've had something on my mind all day. And I've been meaning to say it to you,
or I've had something on my mind all week, and I would really late to discuss it with you. So if
you've got a problem with one of your colleagues, or one of your classmates or a friend, and there's
something irritating you something bugging you, and it's on your mind, and you really can't sleep.
So you'd really like to discuss. You'd like to get it off your mind, put it out there so that you can
explain to your friend what the problem happens to be. You just want to discuss what is on your mind,
okay? Or if you sit down with the boss, you've told him that you'd like to meet him for 10 or
15 minutes? And he might say to you, Well, yeah, what's on your mind? So he asks the question,
quite an open question. What's on your mind? What can I help you with? What's your problem?
So then you have the opportunity to present your particular position to your boss so that you can
discuss it, hopefully, openly. So on your mind, something that you want to discuss something
literally I want, you want to get off your mind, and you want to share it with him.
On strike. Well, on strike is quite a popular expression, particularly in modern times when
inflation is rising. And salaries are not rising at the same level to meet the cost of living in
the custom inflation. So workers often go on strike, the might be the train drivers,
the bus drivers, the nurses, the doctors, whoever it is that really feel that they play a very,
very important part in the development of the economy feel that they're not getting
paid enough for the job they do. So they approach the union representatives who
tried to discuss it with management, tried to get some reasonable pay deal
that will go some way to covering the costs of inflation. And if they don't get what they want,
then they have a vote among the members, the nurses, the doctors, the bus drivers,
the train drivers, and then they vote to go on strike. And on strike means to stop
working for a period of time until management make an offer or a better offer that they can
consider. So to be on strike means to stop working for days, weeks, whatever it might be.
Next expression, and this one is number seven, on end. Now,
we use this in quite an unusual way. So I'll give it to you. And then I'll explain what it means.
It has it well, it really what it really means, first of all,
is that something happens continuously over a long period of time. It has been raining here for days
on end. So what it means is it has been raining continuously for two three or more days without
any stop and it's there's no sign of it letting up. So when something happens for days on end,
then it's continuous snowing, for days on end, the temperature has been low. Now for days on end,
the wind has been howling or blowing for days on end, meaning one day after another after another
after another. Okay. So usually when we're talking about weather, we can refer to it as something
happening for days on end. And usually it's not good, it's not the sun was shining for days on
end, it was either raining or snowing or the wind was blowing. Okay. When other things are on end,
your they could be turned upside down. So as a result of the very strong wind,
the cars or bicycle sheds or something was on end meaning turned upside down. So we're always
again talking about weather situations. Okay, so then we're on to number eight.
Number eight is on your own. So we can use this in a couple of ways you can be left on your own
so your wife, partner, whoever it happens to be he or she goes off for a day or two days with their
friends and you're left on your own. So you have to look after yourself. You have to get your own
meals you have to occupy yourself. Some people like that because it's a bit of free time for
themselves a bit of me time, nobody to interrupt. You can sleep late, go to bed late, whatever you
have to do. So you're left on your own, or you can also be on your own in relation to a particular
problem. So let's say there's a issue in the office and you're talking to your colleagues over
the coffee machine or in the canteen, and you say, you know, we really should approach management
about this issue, we should sit down and tell them how unhappy we are. And when we all come together,
I think, you know, we'll probably make some progress. And they'll probably listen to us. And
a couple of your colleagues say, Ha, I'm not going to do that you're on your own meaning, you have to
do it by yourself. I'm not prepared to risk my career by going up to manage and perhaps they
don't trust management, perhaps they don't have a good feeling about management. So in relation
to the problem, yeah, I'm sorry, you're on your own, you'll have to fight your own corner, you'll
have to fight for yourself and by yourself, so you're on your own. Bit like the movie Home Alone.
Yeah, so home alone, so you're on your own, you're all by yourself.
Now, the next one we have next expression is on time. And I've already done a lesson
about expressions about time where I set out the difference between on time and in
time. So it is a reference of it's here. So you should check it out. Just if you're a little bit
confused between the difference about on time and in time, when we're talking about on time,
we're talking about being on time for a meeting, okay, so it's all to do with sheduled. Okay,
so scheduling or scheduling depending on which way you wish to pronounce that. So, you know,
if you're on time to have the meeting with your boss, you don't want to be late. If
you're on time for the hair appointment that you've made, or indeed, the train is going to
leave on time according to the announcement in the railway station. So on time, but as I said,
there's a particular lesson that I've already done about expressions of time and they set out in very
clear detail the difference between on time and in time because they can be quite confusing.
Okay, number 10 is on foot. Okay, now this is about walking, how did you get to the
appointment because the trains were on strike. Ah, I went on foot, it's not such a long walk, maybe
25-30 minutes if you've got a comfortable pair of shoes, and good socks then you'll get there
in no time and I like walking so I went on foot. I like to go on foot because I can look around and
see what's happening in the town in the city. If you're travelling by metro you see nothing because
you're underground or the train is travelling very fast but when you're on foot you notice a lot of
different things. Now we also use expressions like to go by bicycle or by car so you know if there's
a train strike or if the trains are not working because of snow or bad weather. Then we can go on
foot to the office, we can go by bicycle to the office, we can go by car. But always on foot.
Number 11 on a spree, on a spree usually means that spending spree just before Christmas people
like to buy presents for their friends and family any excuse to go into the shop so they love the
opportunity to to go out and spend money usually the bank's money so it's okay. So they're on a
spending spree off we went on a spending spree last Saturday I don't know how many bags we came
home with. I was embarrassed. I took out two bags, three bags, I don't know how many bags
we had in the boot of the car. But when we got into the house, we were both exhausted. So we
went on a spending spree. So if you have a new outfit or two new outfits and two days in a row,
you're going into the office with a new suit new dress, whatever your friends, Look at you go wow,
you must have been on a spending spree in the last few days. So on a spree means to go a little
bit crazy, a little bit mad but slightly out of control. We're doing something that you're not
you don't normally do. Okay. Now we can also use the expression to describe a spree of breakings
or robbery. So if the police have noticed that in the last three months or four months,
there's been an increase in crime in the area. So some gang of criminals who have been on a
spree of breaking or stealing cars so you can also use it in that context. Something wide,
something big, something continuous, something that goes on for a long period of time.
Number 12 on the move, okay. So when we're on the move, it means literally that we're going
from one place to the other. We can use it when we're talking about changing jobs. I see Michael
is on the move again. He must be getting bored. I heard he's handing in his resignation. And he's,
he's moving to the opposition moving to another company, one of the, the competitors. Yeah. Okay,
so to be on the move in terms of your, your job, or sometimes we just like to, to be on the
move all the time so that we don't get bored. Yeah, so some people are very restless, they
don't like sitting still they get up, they walk around, they go for a cycle, they go for a walk,
they go for a run, they go to the gym. Ah.. he is, David, he's always on the move always on the go,
because he's always active. So there are people like that, you know, if I have a good book,
I like to sit down. I like to read it. But if I'm not reading book, then I like to be on the move as
well, because it stops you getting bored. So when you're on the move, or on the move constantly,
you're walking, you're running, you're doing something not just sitting still on the move.
Number 13. On reflection, well, on reflection means when you've had time to think about
something, okay. So on reflection, I don't think I should have said that. So I want to make an
apology. So if you said something at a meeting or in discussion with your friends and off the top
of your head, you said something that might have caused offence, you might come back the next day
and said, you know, to be honest, on reflection, I really shouldn't have said what I said I didn't
really think about it clearly enough. And if I upset you, or anyway insulted you,
I really apologise because that's was not my intention. So on reflection means looking back
thinking about something you did, or something you didn't do, then, and usually it's about words,
then you may want to offer some form of an apology. And you often hear it from politicians,
you hear it from stars who have been caught slightly off guard, when press no journalists
have come to ask them questions, and they give some off the top of the head comment and it
didn't really go down too well, and have to come back. And they have to clarify what they said.
And they may well say, well, on reflection, I'm not sure I should have said that. On reflection.
What I meant to say was that so if they've been misinterpreted in any way misunderstood,
or indeed, if the words formed some type of insult, then they really need to apologise.
And the last one, number 14 On second thoughts. And when we use this expression and second
thoughts, it literally means that we've thought about it again. And really, we've changed our
mind or change our opinion. Now, it could be as simple as sitting in the restaurant and you're
the waiter comes over. And he asks you what you want to have. And your partner says that he or she
will have a glass of wine. And you say, Oh, yeah, I'd have a glass of wine as well. And then just as
the waiters walking away said, No, no, this isn't on second thoughts. Just bring me a soft drink,
I might have a glass of wine with the meal. So that's it. Very simple way to use it. Or
it could be something a little bit more serious when you received some job offer. And at first,
you were very flattered to get the offer. And you thought that yeah, this was the job for you. And
it would be time to move. But then you think about it. And the next day you ring them up and say,
Look, I've been thinking over that offer. And I know I said I would be interested. But on
second thoughts. I don't think it's a really good time for me to move. I don't think it's right,
at this time for my career. So if you don't mind, I'll turn down the offer. But thank you very much.
Okay, so on second thoughts on second thoughts means you have the opportunity, the chance to
think over something you perhaps reacted to very quickly. And when you have more chance to think
about it more chance to look at the reasoning why you made the decision, then you can say well,
on second thoughts. I'm not so sure that's right. And second thoughts. This is what I would do. And
you can use it in any situation. As I said, when you're at the restaurant, you're in a business
meeting, you get a job offer, whatever it happens to be if you think or you believe that you want to
change your mind, then you can introduce that lock on second thoughts. I think we should do that.
Okay, so that's the 14th preposition prepositional phrases with on Okay, so yeah,
they're not so difficult it is advanced English. So as I always say, you should try and practice
a few of them. And if you can get the hang of a few of them, then introduce them into your own
conversations and and see how you get on. If you need any more help. I've given you my address,
you can contact me and we'll be very, very happy to help you further. And if you like
this particular lesson, then please like the video and if you can subscribe to the channel because
it really, really helps. Okay, well, that's all for this particular lesson. Thanks for
listening and thanks for watching this Harrison. Goodbye. And join me for the next lesson.