Phrases Native Speakers Use ALL THE TIME | Binomial Pairs

today i want to teach you some useful and common phrases that people use in everyday conversation my name is wes and in case this is your first time here at interactive english the channel is all about trying to help you practice and improve your english skills and today i really want to help you build your vocabulary because these are great phrases and i want to teach you some different binomial pairs and if you don't know what a binomial pair is i'm talking about a phrase that has two words that are combined with a conjunction and usually that conjunction is either and or or and the word order for these phrases it's most of the time it's fixed but not always and i will come back to that a little bit later on so what i'm going to do is i'm going to teach you the meaning of these different binomial pairs and then i'll talk to you a little bit about how people may use them in everyday conversation and i will also show you some different video clips so that you can hear how these phrases are used in context let's just begin with our first one which is down and out and if somebody says that they're feeling a little down and out what this means is that they're they're just really going through a difficult time they're having no luck no money no opportunities so if i maybe i recently lost my job i could say yeah i just lost my job and right now i'm feeling a little down and out [Music] you are saying when you're down and out and everybody thinks you're finished that's the time to stand on your two feet of child then we have leaps and bounds and with this binomial pair there's going to be a preposition that comes before it and that preposition is by you would say by leaps and bounds and what this means is really just very quickly and you're really going to use this phrase to talk about something that is progressing or developing or even improving very quickly i could say that well by watching these video lessons i hope that your english will improve by leaps and bounds and i hope that it's going to improve very quickly sheldon what's going on his research and it's leaps and bounds ahead of mine dr evil over the last 30 years perchikon has grown by leaps and bounds you are just progressing by leaps and bounds next is the phrase sink or swim and i really like this binomial pair and what it means is that well you're not given any more help and whether you succeed or fail it's really determined by your own efforts and well think about it this this phrase it kind of means exactly what it sounds like if you sink well then you fail if you swim then you succeed so maybe somebody is getting some training to do something and then at the end of the training they're not going to receive any more help and then whether they succeed or fail it's really up to this person and then you could say well your training's over it's time you're going to do this on your own it's sink or swim now you're just going to have to accept the fact that for now this is beyond your control francis is gonna have to sink or swim on his own and frankly i don't think that's such a bad thing i remind you mr dylan this course has no shallow end sink or swim so right now i want to take a moment and tell you about the sponsor of today's lesson which is lingoda because if you are feeling a little down and out maybe you think that your english is not improving as quickly as you would like then i have a recommendation that i think will really help you improve your english by leaps and bounds and that is by participating in the lingoda language sprint and the cool thing about the language sprint is that if you attend all of your classes you can get 50 cash back i can tell you lingoda is an awesome language school the people are amazing i have worked with them for several years and i have even studied with lingoda there i am taking a spanish class and the classes are great for for helping you develop your language skills because these are small group classes the curriculum is 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more information please read the rules carefully don't forget to use that voucher code change 115 for your 10 euro discount and then just sign up for some online classes so that you can truly improve your english by leaps and bounds now let's get back to the lesson on these useful and common phrases these binomial pairs and the next one that i have for you is fair and square and what this means is that something was done honestly and according to the rules and with this binomial pair i often think about maybe a game or a sport and when somebody's competing with others and you try to tell them that well i won the game fair and square there was no cheating i won fair and square don't tell me after that game i won that game fair and square fair and square congratulations you won fair and square this is not my responsibility i hear you but you were elected fair and square i didn't overrule you on the other i beat you fair and square then we have high and dry and with this binomial pair there's a phrase that comes before it and that is to leave someone to leave someone high and dry and what it means is that you are doing something that is not at all convenient for someone else and it really may put them in a difficult position so maybe my friend wants some help they want me to come pick them up and i say look i just can't do it right now then i am leaving them high and dry so i might ask you i'd say hey can you do me a favor please hit that like button just just please go ahead and do that don't leave me high and dry what did you do what you do sis you left me high and dry how'd you like a shortcut to the bottom of the river if it's your shortcut i'll be high and dry hey are you cool with this i mean i want to leave you high and dry out and about i i really like this binomial pair this is one that i use and what it means is that well you're just saying that someone's active or they're they're out doing normal things that they usually do and i use this informally just to to tell somebody maybe i'm i'm doing things that maybe aren't very important it's just what i usually do i'm outside of the home and i just tell somebody yeah i'm out and about or maybe you could use it if you don't want to be specific and tell the other person what you're actually doing and they ask you hey you know what are you up to and you just say yeah i'm out and about where is she oh here and there out and about i spilled his guts it'd be a big hit in prison what about morelli he's out and about well you had us worried dusty glad to see you're out and about then we have first and foremost and this binomial pair means well more importantly or more than anything else and i could say i am first and foremost a teacher this is the thing that i do more than anything else this binomial pair may also commonly be used as an introductory phrase so they would say this at the beginning of their their speech or their statement i i could say first and foremost i would like to thank all of you my audience for hitting that like button because i know that you don't want to leave me high and dry and i'm really i'm really fishing for that like but just to give you a little bit of review with high and dry first and foremost this commission worked for the good of the country first and foremost it's the face we present to the world i am first and foremost a journalist the eu bowl is first and foremost a dance then we have on and off and remember i i told you that most of these phrases are fixed you can't really move them around but this one is not fixed because you may hear somebody say off and on and it really it means the same thing it means that something is happening or existing some of the time and you could use this binomial pair to describe things that well that may sometimes happen during the day or perhaps you're describing things at work or maybe even a friendship if things are good and then they're bad you could say well you know it's off and on or on and off see your boyfriend we're on and off and she just sits there alone all the time how long has this been going on on and off since the seventh grade are you still taking your medication off or not it's really sort of helped me stay sober off and on then we have ins and outs and this is referring to the the detailed and complicated facts of something and for this binomial pair i think people may often use it with certain verbs like you're trying to learn the ins and outs of something or maybe you're telling someone that you know the ins and outs or perhaps you're trying to teach someone the ins and outs i am trying to teach all of you the ins and outs of these different phrases so that you have a better understanding as to how they're used okay i have spent the last 15 years learning the ins and outs of the paper industry you know i've done my share of ride-alongs i know the ins and outs of your profession donner taught rudolph all the ins and outs of being a reindeer null and void this binomial pair means that something is having no legal force no binding power no validity and often i think people might use it to talk about some type of agreement or maybe even a contract i could say well you didn't you didn't sign your name so this contract it's null and void this is an unenforceable contract it is null and void your friends found a loophole when they made seven human rendering all agreement null and void conrad's prenup with you is null and void then we have all or nothing and this means that you are either doing something completely or not at all there's really no in between and i i think often people would describe some situation and they're going to say that statement right there after they talk about it they'll say it's all or nothing we're going to do it completely or not at all it's all or nothing we're playing to keep this team you up for it dude i'm in all or nothing what was love like in your family it was all or nothing there's no partial credit baby with me it's all or nothing then we have step by step and notice with this one we're not connecting the words with and or or like the other binomial pairs we're using by step by step and it means to gradually and carefully move from one stage to the next i could say that i have been trying to walk you through this lesson step by step so that you easily understand the meaning of these different binomial pairs and right now i want to check i want to see how much you remember from this lesson and how much you've learned with a quick little quiz i'm going to give you a sentence and i want you to complete the sentence with one of the binomial pairs from this lesson so your first sentence is it's rained um most of the day it would stop and then start again okay something stopping and then starting again something that could usually happen during the day like rain so the answer i hope you said off and on or on and off you could use either one it's rained off and on most of the day it would stop and then start again then we have if you're feeling um you should come with us to the party it'll cheer you up okay so if someone needs to be cheered up then they're probably well they're in a difficult situation they're not very happy which means maybe they're feeling a little down and out if you're feeling down and out you should come with us to the party it'll cheer you up our agreement is um if you don't keep up your end of the deal okay so remember i talked about a binomial pair that we often use with maybe an agreement or a contract and that is null and void i'm pretty sure i'm confident that's what all of you said our agreement is null and void if you don't keep up your end of the deal then we have when you learn the um of these useful phrases i truly believe it will help you build your vocabulary by um okay there's two of them i think you know this let's look at that first one i said that we we often use this binomial pair with the verb learn when you learn the ins and outs of these useful phrases i truly believe it will help you build your vocabulary by leaps and bounds you will build your vocabulary quickly i truly do believe that and i know i i went through this quiz rather quickly but it's always good to get a little bit of review i hope that you enjoyed this lesson i hope that you learned something new and as always thank you guys so much for watching and i will see you next time

Channel: Interactive English

Views: 20,452

Keywords: interactive english, learn english, learn english vocabulary, build vocabulary, advanced vocabulary, learn binomial pairs, binomial pairs, binomial pairs in english, common english phrases, common english expressions, binomial expressions english, english binomial pairs, by leaps and bounds meaning, ins and outs meaning, null and void meaning, high and dry meaning, english vocabulary everyday conversation, useful vocabulary, common phrases, useful phrases in english

Id: TFtwUv4DAaQ

Length: 14min 40sec (880 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 17 2021