Archive for May, 2011

idiom: to give someone a taste of their own medicine

{ May 8, 2011 @ 1:29 am } · { idioms }
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This week’s idiom seems like it’s about doctors and hospitals, but actually it’s not. The expression is to “give someone a taste of their own medicine.” It means to do something negative to another person because they have done the same thing to us or someone else, and we want them to know how it feels. For example:

Julia often ignores people at the office that she doesn’t like. Let’s give her a taste of her own medicine and ignore her all week!

Frank often calls me terrible names, so yesterday I gave him a taste of his own medicine and called him “shorty”. He didn’t like it at all.

If we want to stop bullying in schools, I think people need to get together and give the bullies a taste of their own medicine. Then, maybe they would stop.

My supervisor is always making me work on Sundays. Well, he finally got a taste of his own medicine last week when his boss made him do the same thing! I couldn’t stop laughing!

In my final example, I’ve changed the expression slightly to “get a taste of his/her own medicine”. This is the way we use this expression in the passive voice.

In the second example, the slang term “shorty” refers to a person who is short in height. It’s considered very insulting to people who are not tall.

separable phrasal verb: brush off

{ May 6, 2011 @ 1:40 am } · { phrasal verbs }
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This week’s phrasal verb is “brush off”, and we can use it in two different ways in English.

1. to not worry about someone’s negative comment about us. For example:

That guy called me fat, but I just brushed it off. I don’t care what he thinks.

I know that Ned can say awful things to you, but you should try to brush them off. It’s not worth getting upset over.

There’s a rumor going around that Bill and Sarah are getting a divorce, but they just brush it off.

2. to ignore someone or refuse to have a long conversation with them. For example:

I went up to Sue to say hello, but she just brushed me off. She’s such a snob!

What’s wrong with Paul? I asked him for his help, but he brushed me off by saying he was really busy right now.

Ever since Karen was promoted, she just brushes off all the people she used to work with. I don’t like her anymore.

So, the first meaning for “brush off” is positive, but the second meaning is negative. With the second meaning, the person who is brushing off another person can either ignore them completely, as in the first sentence, or they can quickly make an excuse to leave the conversation as soon as possible, as in the second sentence. With the third sentence, it’s unclear if Karen is ignoring people completely or just talking to them as little as possible.

grammatical expression: a tad…

{ May 5, 2011 @ 12:43 am } · { grammatical expression }
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Today I would like to write about the expression “a tad”. It basically has the same meaning as “a little”. However, we use “a tad” when we feel something is negative. For example:

Your report is a tad long. I think you’re going to have to make it shorter.

There was a tad too much spice in the soup. Next time, please don’t put so much in.

My apartment is a tad messy right now so I don’t want to invite anyone over.

My neighbors were being a tad too loud last night, so I went to their apartment and told them to be more quiet.

So, even though “a tad” literally means “a little”, it is sometimes used in a sarcastic way. Therefore, in my examples, the speaker thinks that the report was much too long, that there was much too much spice in the soup, that the apartment is much too messy and that the neighbors were being much too loud. We use “a tad” because it’s softer and it’s often seen as being humorous. When we are speaking, we usually emphasize the word “tad” to indicate that we’re being sarcastic.

adjective: extravagant

{ May 4, 2011 @ 3:13 am } · { adjectives }
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Today’s adjective is “extravagant”, and it is used to talk about a person who often spends a lot of money. It can also be used to talk about a particular purchase in which someone spends more money than is necessary. For example:

My sister is such an extravagant person. She always spends a lot of money to get things of the best quality.

The most extravagant thing I’ve ever bought was a designer handbag! It cost a lot, but I love it!

Generally I’m not an extravagant person, but I do like to go out to nice restaurants for a steak dinner sometimes.

I can’t believe you bought me a diamond necklace! It’s too extravagant! You shouldn’t have spent so much money!

This adjective is neutral in tone, but if we say “too extravagant”, as in the last example, it becomes negative.

grammatical word: gloat

{ May 3, 2011 @ 10:04 am } · { grammatical word }
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Today, I’d like to write about the verb “gloat”. We use it when we want to talk about  a person who indicates that they are happy to win when competing with another person. We also use it when one person is proven to be right when arguing with another person and they show that they feel happy about being right. For example:

Ken won the tennis game I played with him. He couldn’t stop smiling about it. I hate it when he gloats like that!

Yesterday, my girlfriend was gloating so much. We had a disagreement about what the tallest waterfall in the world is. She said it was the Angel Falls in Venezuela, and she was right.

A: I told you I could beat you at chess, and I did!

B: Oh, stop gloating! You were just lucky!

My friend always gloats when he can answer a trivia question that we can’t. I wish he wouldn’t do that.

The person who gloats can indicate a sense of happiness about being better by something that they say or with the expression on their face. In all cases, gloating is considered a negative thing to do.

the difference between words: above and over

{ May 2, 2011 @ 2:26 am } · { the difference between words }
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Last week, one of my readers wanted to know the difference between “above” and “over”, so that’s what I’ll write about today.

Generally, they have the same meaning, and that is for something to be placed in a higher position to something else. However, the word “above” can either have a word following it or not. In the case of “over”, there must be a word which follows it. For example:

The clouds above are very dark.

The clouds above us are very dark.

The clouds over us are very dark.

The bedroom is on the second floor just above.

The bedroom is on the second floor just above where we are standing.

The bedroom is on the second floor just over where we are standing.

If we say, “above” without any words following it, it sounds very formal. Also, in my opinion, using “above” + something is a little more formal than “over” + something.

We can also use these words to talk about a thing which is higher in number when comparing it to what is considered normal. For example:

You have a fever. Your temperature is 2 degrees above the normal temperature.

You have a fever. Your temperature is 2 degrees over the normal temperature.

This furniture store is very expensive. Their prices are about 20% above all the other furniture stores in this city.

This furniture store is very expensive. Their prices are about 20% over all the other furniture stores in this city.

Once again, in my opinion, I think using “above” is slightly more formal than “over”.

We can also use “over” in ways that we cannot use “above”. The word “over” can also by used when talking about movement that goes above and across something. For example:

The horses jumped over the fence and ran away.

I saw a car run over a dog this morning. It was horrible!

The word “over” can also be used to talk about something covering the entire surface of something else. In these cases, we often put the word “all” in front of it. For example:

When you’re cooking the chicken, make sure that the oil goes all over the chicken.

There is dust all over this table! I want you to clean it right now!

We walked all over the zoo yesterday. It’s a big place, so we were very tired.

I went all over the city trying to find the paint you wanted, but I couldn’t find it.

We can also use “over” to talk about unknown numbers or amounts. For example:

I have over 200 DVDs in my apartment. I really love movies!

I’m not sure how much this chair weighs, but I’m sure it’s over 20 kg.

It will take over three hours to get to Toronto by car from here.

There are several other ways in which we can use these words, especially “over”. If you would like more information about the detailed ways to use them, I recommend The Free Dictionary. The link for that site is on my blog.

idiom: to be a broken record

{ May 1, 2011 @ 9:14 am } · { idioms }
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This week’s idiom is to be “a broken record”, and it is used when we want to talk about a person who says the same thing again and again. For example:

My friend is always telling the story about how we met. He’s such a broken record.

My wife keeps reminding me to buy milk. I wish she would stop being such a broken record.

Charlie’s girlfriend is always asking him to take her out dancing. That’s all she wants to do. What a broken record she is!

I don’t like that TV personality because he always talks about the same things. He needs to stop being such a broken record!

My mother is a broken record about marriage. She’s constantly asking me when I’ll get married!

As you can see from my examples, we often put “such a” in front of the term “broken record”.

As you can imagine, we use “broken record” to talk about people who repeat the same things all the time because if a vinyl record is scratched, it will repeat the same thing again and again.

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