Hi. I'm Rebecca from engVid and today we have another lesson on idioms.
"What? Another lesson on idioms?"
Yes, because you can never learn enough idioms.
Why? Because they're everywhere. Right?
They're at school, they're at work, they're when you go out to parties.
People are using idioms everywhere.
Also, when you're watching TV, or watching a drama, you're watching sports, you hear
The sooner you learn idioms, the more advanced your English will be, the more comfortable
you'll feel around people because people use them and you understand what they're saying.
So today we're going to focus on eight idioms, not three, eight, eight-okay?-idioms that
All right? So, let's get started. The first one: "by heart". Okay?
Now, first of all, I've written all of the idioms here.
These are the meanings, but they are all mixed up, so don't look there. Okay?
You need to listen to me, and then we'll check later. All right?
So, the first one: "by heart".
What does it mean to know something or learn something by heart, by heart?
It means from your memory, to know it just like that.
For example, when you were a child-right?-you learned nursery rhymes probably, little poems
that people teach children, and now if I ask you, you probably know them even though you
might not have said them for years, you know them by heart. Okay?
When you say that somebody made something by hand, it literally means by hand, not by
machine, that's the main point, so whether it's embroidery, whether it's making something
out of wood, or making something out of stone, you made it by hand. Okay?
The next one, now, here there are two expressions that pretty much mean the same thing, so you
might hear someone saying: "by chance" or "by coincidence".
That means something happened accidentally, without any planning. All right?
And you were walking down the street, and by chance you met your old teacher, Rebecca,
Okay, all right, so that happened by chance or by coincidence. All right?
And the last one here is: "by mistake" or "by accident". All right.
So, have you ever called someone that wasn't the person you meant to call, you were trying
So then you called that number by mistake or by accident.
That means you didn't plan to do it, it wasn't on purpose, it was a mistake. All right?
So, now let's review them a little bit.
So, if you did something without planning, just happened, then which one of these idioms
It would be "by chance". Okay?
There was no planning involved, it happened by chance or by coincidence.
The next one, not on purpose. Okay?
Dial that wrong number on purpose.
You did it "by mistake" or "by accident" so when someone says: "Hello. Yes?"
And you say: "Oh, I'm sorry, I called you by mistake."
Okay?
Or: "I called you by accident."
The next one, if something is not made by machine, then it is usually made "by hand".
And if you know something from memory, that means you know it "by heart".
Now: "by the book".
What does it mean when someone is the kind of person who goes by the book?
When they say "the book", they're kind of referring to the book of rules, the book of laws.
Okay?
So, a person who goes by the book is a person who follows rules very strictly.
All of us know people like this.
Some people are more relaxed about rules, and some people are very strict about the rules.
And those kind of people who are very strict or who are following the rules very strictly
or applying them very strictly are called...
We say they are going by the book.
Now, another expression, it's a very commonly used one: "by and large".
Okay?
"By and large, how's the weather today?
Is it a good day where you are, is it sunny, is it rainy"?
"By and large" means on the whole, very generally, in general. Okay?
So you can use it to talk about anything at all, you can use it to talk about something
personal, something social, talk about the weather, talk about your studies, talk about
politics, the world, anything. Okay?
"A leap" is like a big jump, and "bounds" is also like a big jump.
So, this expression: "by leaps and bounds" means tremendously, a lot. Okay?
If somebody improved by leaps and bounds, they improved a lot.
And the last one: "by word of mouth".
You might have this expression in your own language, and basically what it means is "by
word of mouth" means through people talking.
Not through advertising, not through marketing. Okay?
By word of mouth, through people telling each other.
So those are the four down here, now let's try to match them up. Okay?
So, how do you say that something happened tremendously and quickly, very fast, very
much?
We say: "by leaps and bounds". Good.
How do you describe someone who follows the rules very strictly, follows the letter of
That someone is going "by the book". Okay?
If you want to convey the idea of on the whole, in general, then you could also use the expression,
very sophisticatedly you could say:
"By and large, I find that", okay, and then say whatever you find.
You see that I put on a little British accent?
Sometimes when we're trying to sound really sophisticated we put on a British accent,
I like my Canadian accent, too.
All right, now, what about through people telling each other?
Not through marketing, not through advertising, through people telling each other.
What's the expression for that?
So, now basically with all idioms what do you need to do? Okay?
You can watch this lesson, and you should, and after the lesson you should practice. Okay?
Go to our website at www.engvid.com, and there you can do a quiz on this. Okay?
And you really should because it's not always enough to learn it once.
It's good, very good to review it, but let's do a little preview right here before that also.
So, let me ask you: What do you know by heart?
Do you remember a poem from school?
Do you know your prayers by heart?
There are all kinds of things that we know by heart. Okay.
Have you ever made anything by hand yourself?
Maybe you embroidered something, maybe you made something out of stone for someone. Okay? All right.
And have you ever met someone famous by chance when you were walking down the street?
Did you ever meet somebody by chance, by accident without planning?
And here: Did you ever forget someone's birthday by mistake?
Yeah, usually if you forget someone's birthday it's by mistake. Okay?
You're not trying to do it, it happened, but not on purpose. Okay?
It happened by mistake. All right?
Or you might have wished somebody for their birthday on the wrong day, so then you wished
them by mistake. Okay? All right.
Now, are you the kind of person who goes by the book or are you kind of relaxed about rules?
Do you know someone who goes by the book?
Maybe a boss, maybe a parent, maybe someone else. Okay?
"By and large, are you a happy person?"
I hope you're saying yes. Okay? All right.
And what could you do to improve your English by leaps and bounds?
Can you think of two or three things you could do to improve your English by leaps and bounds,
to improve your English tremendously? Okay?
I'm sure you could think of some things to do.
And, how did you hear about engVid?
Did you hear about engVid by word of mouth?
Did someone tell you about engVid or did you come across it some other way? Okay?
So: "by word of mouth" -- through people talking and telling each other.
So, these are some ways that you can really make these idioms your own, apply them to
yourself, ask yourself, write examples with people that you know. Okay?
Because then it becomes more personal and you can remember the idioms more easily. All right?
And also, please check out my YouTube channel, and if you want to, which would make me very
happy, please subscribe so that you can get lots of regular lessons which will help you