1 Minute Lessons

So, I imagine this expression sounds a little weird; after all, how much skin do you have on your teeth?  Well, English speakers do—that’s how we pronounce that “R”.  Just kidding! So, what does this expression mean? Actually, this expression refers to the fact that there is no skin on the teeth, so if you […]

Both of these expressions are used when someone has done far, far more than was required of them. Have a look at the following examples:    – Sergeant McCrosky received a medal for Service Above and Beyond the Call of Duty for saving that drowning girl last week.    – Melanie in customer service really […]

Put the words in the correct order:

a and create dough eggs flour Mix the to together.
a battery cellphone doesn’t few find hours I last more my than!
cook dishes I has My partner to the wash whenever.
after dictionary I in kids looked looking my some the up while words.
an ball big, in red the There’s ugly, yard.

We use either of these expressions to express the idea that we are preparing something that will be the base of what is to come later.

Lay the groundwork comes from construction, when a foundation must be laid before a building can be built.

Sowing the seeds comes from agriculture, referring to when the seeds are placed in the ground so they can grow and then be harvested later.

Choose the correct alternative.

Beverly, would you like any/some coffee or tea?
Nate always has anything/something to say, whether it’s useful or not.
Yolanda didn’t want any/some dessert, but I did!
Call me sometime/anytime you need help.
Will there by anything/something else for you today?

  The word dejar is quite useful in Spanish, but for English learners, it’s a bit more difficult, because there are various translations for it. Let’s look at two of them: to leave and to let. So, what’s the difference between these verbs? How do we tell them apart? Leave has two main meanings: 1) […]

This refrain is used to describe a situation where the total of all the individual parts is less than the total of all of those parts working together.

One of these machines can pull 1000 pounds; individually, three of them can pull a total of 3000 pounds. But if you put the three of them together, they can pull 5000 pounds! So, the whole is 5000 pounds even though the sum of the parts is only 3000!

Oftentimes, when we have problems on our minds, we may find it hard to fall asleep at night, as our brains process and think and generally worry. When this happens, we say that we’re losing sleep over something.

However, if someone mentions a problem and you are not at all worried about it, you can express that idea saying, “I’m not losing any sleep over it.”

A: I’m worried about our situation in the company.

This expression is useful for those times when we feel that as soon as one bad thing happens to us, many others follow. It’s as if all the bad things happened at once.

First, I tripped over my shoelaces and fell. I was fine, but right then the big boss came in and tripped over me! He didn’t fall down, but he spilled his coffee all over my immediate boss, who was coming over to schedule my quarterly review! When it rains, it pours!

I hope you never need to use this expression!

Articles are always an issue for English learners, so try practicing by putting in the right one (a/an, the, or nothing) in the following text:

Have you ever gone to (1)___ drive-in cinema? I love them. I went to my first one when I was (2)___ 12. My father took me to (3)___ one at the edge of town. We parked our car in (4)___ front row, and tuned our radio to the local station. We saw (5)___ comedy film and (6)___ action film, and while I didn’t really enjoy (7)___ movies,