- Are you sick and tired
of boring English lessons? I am gonna teach you some
very very fun expressions. More or less. What's up, everyone? My name's Wes, this is
Interactive English, which is where you want to be to practice and improve
your English skills. In today's lesson, I am going to teach you about binomial pairs. Now, you might be thinking, what the heck are binomial pairs, and that is a great question. A binomial pair is an expression with two words that's
combined with a conjunction, and most of the time, the conjunction that combines these words is either the word and or the word
or, and, or, and, or. These are expressions
that you will often hear in everyday English,
everyday conversation. We like to throw out these expressions, especially when speaking,
because they're a great way to express how we feel
and really give that extra little bit of information that can really capture a situation. As we go through these
expressions, these binomials, I'll give you the meaning, and I'll throw in some video clips, so that you can see how these expressions are used in context. Let's begin. The first binomial that I
have for you is pros and cons. When we use pros and cons,
we're talking about a situation, and the pros would be the advantages, and the cons are just the disadvantages. A lot of times when people are trying to make a decision and decide what to do, they might make a list, or they might just think about what, what are the pros and cons, what are the good things,
what are the bad things, and that can help us make a decision. Pros and con. - I think there are pros
and cons to every candidate. - Let's look at the pros and cons. - Pro, we can fill in
the pit and build a park. - Con, we might be filling
it in with dirty money. - There's pros and cons. - Yeah yeah, I know, this would be good, but
it would be the same, go someplace else, it would be different, but it might not be as good. - For example, what are the pros and cons of watching Interactive English? The pros would be that you're learning so much about the English language, you're getting to practice
and improve your skills, and the cons, you know, there are no cons. The next one is sick and tired. You're sick and tired of
something, or some situation. If you're sick and tired of something, it means that you are really annoyed, and you've kinda hit your breaking point to where you are about
to get really angry, you're about to lose your patience. You're talking about a bad situation, something that you don't like, because it's something
that you find annoying. You are sick and tired of, something. Like at the beginning, I asked you if you were sick and tired of watching
boring English lessons, which is not what we do here. Not boring. - I'm sick and tired of having nobody. - I am sick and tired of
talking about yo-yo's. ♪ I was sick and tired of everything ♪ - Some examples with sick and tired, people might be like, I'm
sick and tired of the rain, or, I'm sick and tired of
having to stay late after work, or, I'm sick and tired of eating the same thing all the time. You get tired and fed up with something, you're sick and tired of it. Another great binomial, give or take. This means approximately. If you're talking to somebody, and you give them a
number, you say a number, but it's not exact, it may
be more, it may be less, you could say the number
and then give or take. For example, if somebody asks, what's the distance from here to there, and you might say, it's 100
kilometers give or take. That's just an estimate,
you're not exactly sure, but it's somewhere around
there, give or take. Maybe a little more, maybe a little less, but it's approximately that
distance, give or take. - Two weeks, give or take. - Eight days, 11 hours, give or take. - In which case, $49, give or take. - How many people live here? - A million, give or take. - You're up 38 pins, give or take. - Then, we have short and sweet. This means that something is done very quickly, right to the
point, you don't waste any time. It's short and sweet. For example, maybe you're going to give a presentation at work, and you say the information,
you get right to the point, you don't waste any time,
and it's short and sweet. - When they interrogate
us, which they like to do, all your answers, short and sweet. - Okay, guys, let's keep
it short and sweet today. Anybody got anything new? - Thank you, Butters, very
nice, short and sweet. - If something is to
the point, it's direct, doesn't waste time, it's short and sweet. For example, I am not making this
explanation short and sweet, I'm dragging this out, and
now I'm talking slower. It's not short and sweet, even though you're probably ready to move on to the next one, so we'll move on to the next one. Then, we have, and this is
a good one, odds and ends. If you say odds and ends,
then you're talking about something that is unimportant, something that might be inexpensive. Often, the way I would
use it, when people ask, oh, what are you doing today, I'd be like, well, I have some odds and ends
to tie up around the house. I have some things that I have to do, they're not super important,
but I should still do 'em, these are just some odds and ends that I have to take care of. We all have odds and
ends that we have to do. It's just part of life. - Just tying up a few odds and ends. - I know you have things to do. - What do you mean? - Packing last minute odds and ends. - [Character] What did you do back then? - Odds and ends. - The next binomial, and
it's another great one, hustle and bustle. This means to work very hard, to be very active, and to do something with a lot of effort and a lot of energy. You are hustling and bustling. Oftentimes, I think you hear
it in the continuous tense. If you're describing a person and say, you know, he or she has really been hustling and bustling lately. They've been really working
hard and getting a lot done. Hustle and bustle. - [Character] I've never seen this. I hear there's so much hustle and bustle. - Ask me, Reverend, how can
you live in such a small town, so far away from the hustle and bustle of the 20th century? - Do you like to hustle and bustle? Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't, sometimes I get sick and tired
of hustling and bustling. The next expression, and
this is a really common one, back and forth, and it means moving in one direction and then
moving back in the other. You're moving back and
forth, back and forth. We often use this to describe
some situation that we see, or something that's happening that is actually moving from one
direction to another, it's moving back and forth. - A mother held her new baby
and very slowly rocked him back and forth, back and forth. - [Buck] I hung on to that sucker, and I swung back and forth,
back and forth, back and forth. - You can also use it in other contexts, like, such as, people having
a back and forth exchange, they're having a conversation,
they're having a discussion, and it's back and forth. - We started texting back and forth. - The next binomial is by and large. This is an expression that means the same thing as saying, in general. It would just replace those two words. By and large, overall is
another way of saying it. You'd often find it maybe at
the beginning of a sentence, because you could say, by and large, this neighborhood, it's
a really safe area. By and large, in general. - Yeah, by and large, they
are still made of steel and plastic, and that consumes
a huge amount of energy. - It was, by and large,
a pleasant assignment, except for one thing. - By and large, there
are many great channels to learn English, but again, nobody has the hustle and
bustle like Interactive English. We keep our lessons short and sweet. There are many pros, and very few cons, about learning with us, and ya see, I like to keep using 'em again, so that you can try to remember. Another great binomial, more or less. It means, approximately, mostly, almost, you know, more or less. More or less is a little
bit similar to give or take. The only thing is, I think give or take is often used with a quantity, it's often used with a number; whereas, more or less, you would hear it often with things that are
a little more abstract, so if somebody said, oh, did
you have fun at the party? You're like, yeah, you know,
I had fun, more or less, or maybe, oh, was he telling the truth? Yeah, he told the truth, more or less. - Did you find what you
were looking for, Logan? - More or less. - Are we hit? - More or less. - A boys home, like a reform school? - Yeah, more or less. - And I can sound like
I'm speaking Italian, so it's more or less the same thing. - Then, we have loud and clear. This is talking about something that is easy to understand, easy to follow, confirming that, yes, you understand. You understand the
directions loud and clear. You understand the
instructions loud and clear. It can even be an answer,
if somebody asks you, do you understand, you
say, loud and clear. That's just a simple response. Yes, I understand exactly
what you're telling me loud and clear. - Do you read me, Vice President Jetson? - Loud and clear, sir, loud and clear. - You guys said that prison
was better than this place, and I heard ya, loud and clear. - This isn't over yet,
buster, do you read me? - Loud and clear, Mister Peterson. - I hope you learned some new expressions, because, again, binomials,
they're fun to learn. We use them often when
we're speaking informally. If you understood all of these binomials, let me know in the comments. I want you to write loud and clear. Did you understand this lesson? If you did, loud and clear. That way, I know that, okay, this person, this person gets it. Right now, I gotta head out. I have some odds and ends
to do before tomorrow. It's gonna be a very busy day tomorrow. I'm gonna be hustling and bustling and making new lessons for you guys to make this channel the best,
because, by and large, I do. I think it's the best place
out there to learn English. If you think so, too, please hit that like button down below. As always, thanks so much for watching, and we'll see ya next time.
