Bob's Short English Lessons

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases WORRIED SICK and SICK AS A DOG  In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase, worried sick. When you are worried sick, it means that you are so worried, you're so stressed about something that you actually feel a little bit sick. When you are worried sick, you're not just worried, you're rea...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases DON'T BEAT YOURSELF UP and TAKE A BEATING In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase don't beat yourself up. When we say don't beat yourself up, it means that you shouldn't think bad things about yourself after you fail at something. Let's say that you've just gone to take...

Read long to learn the terms ROAD RAGE and SWEET SPOT In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English term "road rage." Road rage is anger that's caused by bad drivers. Let's imagine that you're on the highway and everyone around you is driving really fast and they're weaving in and out of traffic and maybe they're almost causing an accident and you...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases A PIECE OF MY MIND and PEACE OF MIND In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase a piece of my mind. If I give someone a piece of my mind, it means that I am angry with them and I'm going to tell them about it. If I see somebody do something that I don't think they should do, and it makes me ang...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases OUT OF HAND and I CAN COUNT ON ONE HAND In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase out of hand. When we say that things have gotten out of hand or that things might get out of hand, we're talking about things getting out of control. We're talking about things not going well. A great example of...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES and THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER  In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase "keeping up with the Joneses." When we say that someone is keeping up with the Joneses or when we say they're trying to keep up with the Joneses, it means they're trying to buy all...

Read long to learn the phrases TO BE ON THE LOOKOUT and LOOK OUT! In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to be on the lookout. When you were on the lookout for something or someone, it means that you are actively looking for them. Here's a great example. I like teaching you little English phrases every day, so I'm always on the lookout for new English phras...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English PUT TWO AND TWO TOGETHER and GET TOGETHER In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase put two and two together. When you put two and two together, you don't just get the number four. Sorry, that was a bad joke. But in English, when we say that you put two and two together, it means you figure something out....

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English terms PICTURE-PERFECT and PERFECT STRANGER In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English term picture-perfect. If you describe something in English as being picture-perfect, it means that it has no flaws. You could say, "The other day I went fishing and it was a picture-perfect day." That would mean the water w...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases REALLY SOMETHING and SOMETHING ELSE In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase. Really something. When you say that something is really something it means that it is amazing or that it was amazing. Let's imagine that you went and watched a soccer game or a football game, and it was an amazing game....

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases ON THE SAME PAGE and TURN THE PAGE In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase on the same page. When you are on the same page as someone else, it means you are thinking the same thing. It means that you agree with each other. Today at work I was talking with a colleague, I was talking with a coworker, an...

Read long to learn the YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR and ON THE MONEY In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase, "You get what you pay for." This is something we say to someone after they buy something where they didn't spend as much money as maybe they should have. A great example would be this. Let's say your friend is wanting to buy a used car, and the...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE and FREE REIN: In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase, "The best things in life are free." We use this phrase in English to remind ourselves that the best things in life are free, to remind ourselves that you can buy a lot of things with money, you can buy f...

 Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases DON'T COUNT YOUR CHICKENS BEFORE THEY HATCH and EARLY TO BED, EARLY TO RISE, MAKES A MAN HEALTHY, WEALTHY, and WISE: In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase don't count your chickens before they hatch. When we say in English that you should not count your chickens before they hatch, we mea...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO BITE THE DUST and TO LET THE DUST SETTLE: In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to bite the dust. When we say something is going to bite the dust, it means it's going to stop working. Maybe you have a computer and it's really, really old. You could say to someone, "I need to buy a...

Read long to learn the English Phrases DODGE A BULLET and MAGIC BULLET In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to dodge a bullet. In English, when you dodge a bullet, it means you avoid something that would have been bad. There are no actual bullets or guns involved so don't worry about that. But normally in English, if you say that someone dodged a bullet, it mea...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO NOT GIVE SOMEONE THE TIME OF DAY and CALL IT A DAY In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase, to not give someone the time of day. If you don't give someone the time of day, it means that you are ignoring them. I mean, on a simple level, it means if they asked you what time it was, you would no...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases GET TO THE POINT and BOILING POINT: In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase get to the point. Are you ever in a conversation where someone's telling you a story or they're telling you about something they did the day before, and they just go on and on? In English, when we say that someone i...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases IT DRIVES ME NUTS and TURN OVER A NEW LEAF: In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase it's driving me nuts. You may have heard the phrase it's driving me crazy, or it's driving me up the wall. We sometimes also say it's driving me nuts. It means that you don't like something or...

Read long to learn the English Phrases GET YOUR FEET WET and MORE BANG FOR YOUR BUCK: In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase, get your feet wet. When we say that someone needs to get their feet wet, it means that before they do something big, they just do a smaller version of it. A good example would be this. My son is learning to drive. Before he starts to drive for...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases FORGIVE AND FORGET and LET BYGONES BE BYGONES: In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase, forgive and forget. When you forgive someone, it means that they did something you didn't like, they apologized and then you forgive them. Basically, if they say, I'm sorry, you say something like, hey, i...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases BREATHE NEW LIFE INTO and BREATHE A SIGH OF RELIEF: In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase, to breathe life into, or we also sometimes say, to breathe new life into. We use this phrase whenever someone or something makes a situation better. Here's a great example. Let's say they are fixing...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English term CLASS CLOWN and the Phrase TO CATCH ON: So in this English lesson, I wanted to teach you the English term class clown. A class clown is a student that is often not doing what they are supposed to be doing in a classroom. A class clown is a student that often tells jokes, sometimes at the expense of the teacher. When you do something...

Read long to learn the English Phrases I DON'T HAVE THE FOGGIEST IDEA and FOG UP: So in this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase "I don't have the foggiest idea." There's actually two forms of this phrase. You can say, "I don't have the foggiest," or "I don't have the foggiest idea," and it simply means that you don&a...

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases SWEPT AWAY and SWEPT OFF YOUR FEET: So in this English lesson I want to help you learn the English phrase, swept away. You can be swept away by something like a river. Yesterday I showed you the river that was in the background. You can be physically swept away. If the current in a river is really, really strong. But you can also...