Understanding American English Phrases

Greetings everyone!  It is my pleasure to return to writing mini lessons on understanding American English phrases.

For those of you who have been following my mini-lessons, I want to apologize to you (especially to those who wrote comments) for my mistake in deleting the posts.  If anyone wants a copy of the last 9 mini-lessons, please send me an email with “Request Mini Lessons” on the subject line and I’ll send you a copy.

We left off on the following phrases:

Hand-over-fist / Between a rock and a hard place / Back in the day

Since I’m starting over, this will be Mini Lesson No. 1, so “on with the show!”

1. Hand-over-fist 

This phrase is used primarily when describing someone/something that is earning money in a fast profitable manner.  Please study the following examples:

1. Henry and his brother Jack had an idea to sell flavored bottle water to people on the island, and they were making money “hand over fist” in their  business endeavor!

2.  Money lenders can make money “hand-over-fist” by charging various transaction fees.

3.  You can make money “hand over fist” if you supply goods to a market with strong demand and no competition.

Background of the phrase:  The origin of this phrase appears to be nautical from sailors who would reel in rope by placing a hand on the rope and pulling and then placing and pulling with the other hand, thereby, using a hand-over-hand motion until the rope was completely in. This phrase is commonly used in everyday American English by someone who wants to quickly convey the message of somebody making money fast, there may be some sarcasm in their tone of voice.  The other person may reply, “yes and they were laughing all the way to the bank!” (phrase for another lesson, try to understand the context)

2.  Between a rock and a hard place

 This phrase indicates that a person is in an unfavorable position of having to make a decision which has choices that are undesirable.  In literal terms, it would express the thought of something caught between a rock and something else hard.  Whatever the hard place is, the result is the same, that is, entrapment.  Consider the examples:

1. Sally says to her mother: “Mom, I have 2 important tests to take for my final examination in school and I only have time to study for 1 of them, I’m really stuck “between a rock and a hard place,” help!”

Mom to Sally: Sally, why did you wait so late to study, you should have allowed yourself enough time!”  Sally to Mom: “Mom, that’s water under the bridge!” (another lesson, understand by the context)

2. The company’s policy was never to eliminate personnel due to financial reasons, however, the economy is so bad that they may have to go out of business unless they can reduce the budget.  Therefore, the company is “between a rock and a hard place” not to eliminate employees.

3. My parents are not in good health and need my help, however, I must work to be able to support them.  I am “between a rock and a hard place” to decide what to do?  

You can understand from the examples above that being “between a rock and a hard place” means having to make a difficult decision with either decision not being desirable.

Background of the phrase:  From Greek mythology of Odyssey.  This phrase is used commonly in everyday English.

3. Back in the day

This is a relatively new phrase that is being used to describe something that happened in the past.

1. “Back in the day” before computers, we relied on writing letters or sending telegrams instead of simply sending an email! 

2. “Back in the day” in high school, chess was a very popular game to play!

3. “Back in the day” during the 1950’s and 1960’s, love song lyrics were very romantic!

You can see from the use of this phrase that it is referring to something that happened during a time in the past that the speaker is causing the listener to refer to.

Background of the phrase:  This is a slang phrase that came from American urban life which has made it’s way into mainstream American English.  It’s used in informal conversation by young and old.

Well, it’s good to be back, thanks for all of the emails and friend requests I’ve received.  Some of you are really serious about learning English and I’ll do my best to help you understand authentic American English. 

Here is my suggestion for you to learn English: Read, Write, Speak and think in English!

Until the next time!

Meyra, you have used all of the phrases correctly, just add store or department after cosmetics. In speaking authentic American English, a native speaker would be impressed to hear you speak like that and would wonder how did you know to use that level of speaking?

The normal everyday speaking of natives is mingled with idioms, phrasal verbs, prepositional phrases, and slang. Therefore, if you learn only formal textbook English, any native speaker would understand you, however, you may not understand native speakers because you would always need any explanation of what was said.  By that time, the conversation has gone on to another topic.

At your level of learning in this forum, you and others have been exposed to  more in these mini lessons than many ESL people who live here.

In regards to your question concerning prepositions, let's make it simple and analyze the word so it'll make sense.  In the term "preposition" it uses the prefix, "pre" which means "before." The base word is "position" which means location. By definition of the word, it literally means "before location."

In grammar, the word preposition means to link nouns, pronouns, and phrases with other words in a sentence.  Therefore, it is used to link two nouns together to give meaning to the sentence.  For example, in the sentence: "the plate is on the table," plate is a noun (person, place or thing) and table is a noun.  The word "on" is the preposition giving meaning to plate and table to describe the fact that the plate is located on the table. There are about 150 prepositions, here are some listed below:

 I hope this will help you and the rest of my students, keep in mind that basic grammar is important, however, you don't need to learn all of the technical aspects of grammar.  Just like you don't have to be a mechanic to learn how to drive an automobile, you don't have to know all of the grammar rules to speak authentic English.  In my opinion, most native speakers don't know it, so you shouldn't stress out over it!

Thank you for the explanation teacher :) Actually I just noticed that I couldn't express myself properly..This information will be helpful though it seems I didn't use the key words about my question..In fact I'm confused about verb-preposition combinations.For ex. : wait up,come up,hold on etc..Sometime there's no any difference between verb and combination as meaning..But sometime combination may come out totally different then the verb itself..Is it something can be learned by listening the native speakers? 

To all,

The part of speech that Meyra is confused about can be confusing because it doesn't make sense from the literal meaning of each individual word. For example, the phrase "wait up" means to "wait for me," the "up" doesn't make sense, therefore, it's confusing to non-native speakers.  The solution is to listen very carefully to native speakers in movies, CNN, etc. and analyze the conversation using a voice recorder, afterward, ask an English teacher for the sense of what you don't understand. Eventually (if you don't quit) the light will turn on and you'll find yourself growing in understanding the language.

Nevertheless, learning English can be fun and provides for a valuable skill in the global economy.  Hope this helps!

For those who have been waiting for this lesson, please accept my apology.

Mini Lesson No. 10

Hands down / Blowing smoke / Get over it

A. Hands down= To be acknowledged as the best or something easily won with little or no effort. Here are some examples:

1. Jim's restaurant serves the best barbecue food in town, "hands down!"

2. The Internet can provide more information faster than any other method, "hands down!"

3. Home cooked meals taste better than fast food, "hands down!"

You can see that "hands down" is used to indicate that the subject in the sentence is receiving emphasis of being the best.

Origin/background:

This phrase dates back to the mid-19th century from the world of British horse racing. When a horse jockey (rider) during the race came near the finish line, with a good distance ahead of  the competition and being certain of the victory, would drop his hands, relaxing his grip on the reins. Therefore, he won the race "hands down." The logic of the phrase was that the race was won easily, now the phrase is used in everyday English to indicate something is easily won or honored to be the best.

B. Blowing smoke= This phrase is used to indicate someone is using deception about something. Study the examples below:

1. The company claimed their products has a life-time warranty but they were "blowing smoke" because they didn't honor the warranty.

2. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is, because they're just "blowing smoke!"

3. Be careful when you encounter a very low price for something, because the seller may just be "blowing smoke!"

Origin/background of the phrase:

Smoke deteriorates your vision making it difficult to see clearly. Magicians often use smoke in their performance to obscure your view and conceal some of their trickery.  In English, the phrase is used to indicate the truth is being clouded by falsehood.

Now, when you hear someone using the phrase "blowing smoke" you won't have to ignore what was said, you'll know the meaning.

C. Get over it= Strong advice to not concern yourself with something that has happened but to move on with something more productive. Here are some example sentences:

1. "I understand you failed your class but "get over it" and try again!"

2. "Losing your job can be a tremendous loss, but "get over it" and find another one!"

3. "I know you didn't intend to spend so much money but "get over it," next time keep to your budget!"

Origin/background of the phrase:

This is a relatively new phrase used when someone is strongly telling somebody to accept the failure and move on to other pursuits. It is usually used in an intense situation between people who know each other in a close relationship. It's not a profane phrase but it also is not a polite way of saying something.

In the last lesson I mentioned if you knew about a play on words. Here is an example:  "Don't let anyone egg you on!"

A play on words is when the true meaning of a word is not the meaning intended. In the example above, the literal meaning of an egg is not what's intended but it's not to let anyone encourage you to do something (usually wrong).  Example:

Teacher says to students: "Don't let your friends egg you on to talk in class!"

In regards to "no pun intended" it's related to a play on words, which is a joke.

When a person says, "no pun intended," they're saying that they didn't mean what they said is a joke.  Example:

A friend of a blind man were both listening to a football game on TV, the favorite player of them both caught a long pass.  The blind man's friend says to the blind man, "did you see him catch that pass? no pun intended!"  Of course, the blind man didn't see him catch the pass, he's blind!  His friend says "no pun intended" because he didn't want his friend to think it was a joke.

This is an extreme example, but I wanted you to understand.

I was considering doing a blog on this website called: You Are There!  A blog describing what's it like to live in the United States, covering topics such as:

Going to school, work, traveling cross country by car, life in the 1950's, 60's 70's etc. If at least 25 people will vote yes by leaving a comment I'll plan on writing it.  No comment means a vote for no.

The next mini lesson phrases are:

As all get out / From the get go / From jump street

Finally, for those who have asked when my book on "Understanding American English Phrases" is going to be complete, the tentative date is: December 1, 2010.

Until next time, continue to build your vocabulary of phrases.

okey sir..
thank u so much for this lesson sir..
I’m so happy to have a teacher in this english baby,
I hope u will never bored to teach me sir,
sir..please help me to understant about all tenses,
because I’m comfuse to use it in sentence or conversation.
thanks sir

Ayyi and Everyone,

In regards to an explanation of the use of tenses, to keep it simple for your understanding, there are 2 tenses in the English language: past and present, to indicate future you have to add another word in front of the word you want to indicate future. For example:

Walk= present tense

To indicate past tense, add "ed"

Walked= past tense

I will walk= future tense.

This doesn't apply for all words such as: sing, sang, sung which are words that indicate tense from the word itself, for example:

Sing= Present tense

Sang and sung= Past tense

Will sing= Future tense.

This is a basic crash course on tenses, it gets deeper and would require a course in grammar.  If anyone has any specific questions, ask them.  I hope this helps.

Dear Teacher,

Thank you so much for making the list of prepositions as well as tense(s) and just grammar period. Although my native language is English, it certainly is helping to "refresh" my memory

Also, thank you for taking the time out of your busy life to voluntarily do this! 

thanks sir..

I will try to make a sentence or some sentences with the tenses…

Great

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