An astoundingly beautiful song by a consistently beautiful songwriter. Why is n´t Ron Sexsmith better known? Is it because he does n´t look like a mugger, a football player or a psycho (Maluma, Big Bunny, etc) Or is it because he has a sad podgy face and a melancholy voice? So how come Ed Sheeran also has a sad podgy face and sells billions? Is it because we can relate to Ed´s trite drivel (“When I was 16 I went to the park and got drunk on a bottle of cider and kissed some gypsy girl and the day was soooooooo perfect, la la la di di da”?) Or is it because we ´re all stupid? Or is it because McDonald´s is still the world´s best loved restaurant despite it´s cheap unpalatable junk food?
Who cares?
This page will highlight day to day words and expressions which will turn our good English into dead good English.
I´ll highlight in bold a lot of stuff you read on this site so if you´re keen to discover it´s use and meaning, visit this page.
MAKE DO AND MEND
Pretty apt for these times. We´re all locked down, you can´t get proper bread flour so you make do and mend with plain flour, in other words you use a different type of flour, they say we have to wear face masks but they re hard to find, so you make do and men with a scarf, or a motorbike helmet.
BINOMIALS BINOMIALS BINOMIALS BINOMIALS
I thought I´d introduce this post with the Bob Dylan song Lo and Behold so I type Lo and Behold into Google and lo and behold I find stacks of songs called Lo and Behold and on top of that I see there´s a documentary film by German film legend Werner Herzog about the internet and A.I. , past, present and future, and lo and behold it´s called “Lo and Behold“, The song´s great, it´s by Bob Dylan, and the documentary looks great too, but my main point is that the phrase lo and behold is such a common English idiom and yet most language learners (yourselves) probably don´t know it (though you will have heard it, as I say, it´s day to day English.
Binomials are idiomatic phrases made up of two words joined by a conjunction or a preposition. There are a lot of them and they are used commonly by native speakers. Like most idioms save you using lots of words to describe a situation. On top of that they can sometimes put colour into the content. Hustle and bustle is a good example. When we were all in lockdown V.1 in the Spring, there was a moment when the restrictions were lifted and we could all go out. I remember writing a message to someone “Madrid back to it´s usual hustle and bustle”. Without the term I would have to write “Madrid back to normal – street life, noise, traffic, commotion, excitement” A bit of a mouthful but that mouthful is in fact a good definition of hustle and bustle.
It´s important totreat binomials as set phrases rather than individual words, so when a native English speaker hears Lo and they know the next word can only be behold or if they did n´t hear the lo but heard the and behold they´d know the first word was lo.
Similarly, expressions such as now or never(ahora o nunca). If you hear now or you know the next word will likely be never. Now or never is not in fact an idiom because the meaning of the words is literal but how about now and then/again (De vez en cuando) When the speak hears now and they will know that the next word is either then or again. This time neither the translation is literal nor is the meaning, now and again/then is an idiom.
It´s important to realise this when you try to learn these expressions, they are whole inseparable idioms so you have to learn them that way.
To practice this the following list is broken up binomials. A word is missing so you have to match a word from the list to complete the binomial. After you have done that I will include some definitions and further practice.
1. odds and —— 2. ——- and don´ts 3. high and ——— 4. to and ——- 5. ——-and dusted 6. ——- and forth 7. ——– and turning 8. rise and ——– 9. Lost and ——–
10. rantin´ and ——— 11. ——- and ready 12. wear and ———-
a. dos b. ends c. tossing d. fro. e. rough f. ravin´ g. dry h. back i. tear j. shine k. done l. Found
DEFINITIONS of 6 of the idioms
1. Say this to somebody if you want to wake them up cheerfully in the morning.
2. If you try to sleep on a really bad matress you will do this
3. When you complete a project you can use this expression to say it´s finished
4. moving in one direction then the other. When used idiomatically with the verb GO it refers to going to one place, then another, then another, constantly. There are two binomials from the above list with this meaning.
5. When an object or a solution is pretty basic or unsophisticated but it works, it´s effective.
6. This one refers to the process when an object deteriorates through normal use of the object.
PRACTICE – CHOOSE A BINOMIAL FROM THE SIX ABOVE AND USE IT IN THE FOLLOWING SITUATION:
1. You find somewhere to live. The furniture and appliances are really old but the flat suits you because it´s near to your work.
2. You´re a working mother with three young children, one´s ill, another needs a lift to his judo class and it´s the other ones birthday and you´ve been trying to organise his party. On top of that you´ve had several meetings today in different buildings.
3. It´s midday and your flatmate is still asleep after last nights partying but the two of you are supposed to be meeting friends at 1pm.
4. You finally sell your house after a lot of problems with potential clients letting you down.
5. Last night you spent the whole night thinking about some stuff you have to do today. You look in the mirror and look awful
6. You complain to the airport that your new suitcase has got marks and scratches on it when you pick it up. They tell you it is not there responsibility. They begin “We do not accept…….”
RingRingEnglish 