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  • Hi.

  • I'm Adam.

  • Welcome to www.engvid.com.

  • In today's lesson, I want to talk to you about six words that all of you already know; they're

  • very common, very easy words, but I'm going to show you the uncommon uses for these words.

  • Now, the reason you want to know uncommon uses of words is: A) to sound more like a

  • native speaker who will use these words regularly, and B) they will actually help you get a better

  • vocabulary range; more variety to your speech, to your writing, and when you read you'll

  • be able to understand these better.

  • So, let's look at these.

  • "Down".

  • We're going to start with the word "down".

  • Now, obviously everybody knows "down" is, you know, down there.

  • Up, down.

  • That's the preposition.

  • Do you know that "down" can also be a verb?

  • For example, you can down a drink, you can down a plane.

  • Now, what does that mean?

  • "Down a drink" basically means have a drink; finish the drink.

  • If you have a glass of beer, you down it before you leave the bar.

  • "Down a plane" means: "Pew" or-sorry-I should say like this.

  • Shoot down the plane and bring it down to Earth.

  • So, in Canada, for example, I live in Toronto and the hockey team here is...

  • You know, it's starting to be a little bit better now.

  • But if I want to go watch a hockey game, the drinks and the food at the... at the arena

  • are very, very expensive.

  • So what a lot of people do - we go to a bar, we down a few beers at the bar, and then we

  • head to the arena and maybe have one beer over there.

  • Don't drink if you're not into drinking; if you're underage, you didn't hear any of that.

  • Plane.

  • Now, in a lot of countries, you know, there's wars and stuff like that, and in some countries,

  • there... the rebels or the local army is a little bit underequipped, and for them a big

  • victory is gotten simply by downing an enemy airplane.

  • So if they're able to down a plane from the enemy, they're very happy about it, even though

  • it doesn't really help that much.

  • So, "down", bring down, or take down a drink.

  • "Foot".

  • Now, the foot, you know the two things at the bottom of your body, here.

  • Most people know them as a noun; the two things there, but we can also use "foot" as a verb.

  • "To foot the bill", or "to foot the cost", or "to foot the expenses" means pay for or

  • cover the expenses of something.

  • So, if I go away on a business trip, I expect that my company will foot the expenses; hotel,

  • flight, food, etc.

  • "Foot it".

  • "To foot" basically means to walk.

  • So, if you're driving around and you...

  • Your car breaks down and you're in the middle of nowhere, and there's nobody to call and

  • there's no, you know, a bus, or a taxi, or anything - you're basically going to have

  • to foot it to the next town to call a tow truck to go get your car.

  • "To foot it" - to walk.

  • "Break".

  • Now, "break" actually has many meanings.

  • You know "break", like break the glass, break...

  • Break something.

  • Anyways, shattered in pieces.

  • Or "to brake" means to slow down in the car.

  • I want to talk to you about other ones.

  • "To be broke".

  • Now, notice that I'm using the past tense.

  • I'm not using "break"; I'm using the past tense "broke", but here, this is an adjective.

  • What does it mean "to be broke"?

  • It basically means to have no money.

  • You open...

  • Pull out your pockets, and lint falls out.

  • No money.

  • So, Bill who's been out of...

  • Out of work for, like, a year is broke and he can't go out to have a drink with us or

  • to watch the hockey game because he's broke.

  • Now, "to break the bank"...

  • If something breaks the bank it means it's overly expensive.

  • If you actually spend the money on it or if you invest in it, you will become broke.

  • So, a lot of companies, they want to invest in innovative, new things for their company-equipment

  • or technology-but they don't want this investment to break the bank; basically cost so much

  • that the whole company falls apart.

  • But at the same time, if you invest in something properly or not, the investment in that thing

  • could make or break the company.

  • "Make or break".

  • "Make" means you will become very successful; "break" means you will fail miserably and

  • fall apart.

  • "Make or break", this is a common expression.

  • Okay?

  • It goes together.

  • Something will make or break something else.

  • Okay?

  • So, a lot of you are thinking that you want to go to university.

  • Keep in mind that you need high scores, you need a good letter, application letter, etc.

  • But no one piece of the application will make or break you.

  • Everything together will make the difference.

  • Okay?

  • So don't stress out too much about any one particular thing.

  • Okay?

  • So, here are three; let's look at three more.

  • Okay, so now we have three other words we're going to look at.

  • The first one is: "mum".

  • Now, for a lot of you, you're thinking: "Oh, like, mother, right?

  • Like, mom."

  • Well, the British say: "Mum"; the Canadians and Americans...

  • North...

  • United States people say: "Mom".

  • They sound very similar, but if you pay attention, you can actually hear the difference between

  • "mom" and "mum".

  • But "mum" also means silent.

  • So: "Keep mum" means: "Don't say anything.

  • Be quiet.

  • Keep silent.

  • Don't say anything to anybody."

  • Or: "Mum's the word".

  • This is an expression, it means: "Don't tell anybody.

  • Keep it a secret."

  • Right?

  • So, I tell my friends something that happened to me last night, but I say: "Just keep...

  • Like, don't tell anybody.

  • Okay?

  • I don't want anybody else to know about this", and he responds: "Mum's the word."

  • That's all he needs to say; I understand he won't tell anybody the story.

  • He's going to keep mum.

  • Okay?

  • "Spot".

  • Now, a lot of you know "spot" as to, like, see something.

  • "Oh, I spotted the dog over there."

  • Or it could be, like, a stain, like there's a spot on the table - you want to clean it

  • off.

  • But "spot" also means...

  • Like, when we say: "Can you spot me?"

  • Two meanings for "spot me".

  • One: "Lend me".

  • "Can you spot me $50 until next payday?"

  • It means: "Can you lend me $50?

  • I will pay you back on payday."

  • But if you're at the gym and you want to do some heavy lifting; you want to do some bench

  • presses, but you're worried that the bar will just fall on your chest and maybe kill you.

  • Right?

  • So, you don't want that to happen.

  • So, you ask your friend: "Can you spot me?"

  • So, he will stand over the bench, and he will have his hands just in case you can't lift

  • it, and he will help you lift it up.

  • So, that's "spot".

  • Okay?

  • "Own".

  • Now, of course, everybody knows "own", like: "I own a house.

  • I own a car.

  • I own a casino somewhere in Atlantic City."

  • So, "own" - possess.

  • But: "own to" and "own up to", these are both phrasal verbs, of course.

  • "Own to" basically means take responsibility for.

  • Okay?

  • "Own up to" means admit.

  • Also means take responsibility for.

  • So, you "own", but you don't have to use the "to".

  • You can own your mistake, and you can own to the fact that you made a mistake.

  • So: "own" - take responsibility, say that you will fix it, and do whatever you need

  • to do.

  • "Own up to" - admit that you made the mistake, and then hopefully help everybody fix it.

  • Now, if you "own somebody"...

  • This is mostly slang.

  • Mostly you'll hear it in sports situations.

  • If we're playing basketball, and it's like 20 points for me and two points for you, then

  • I own you.

  • "I own you!"

  • I say it like that, right?

  • I have to be angry when I say it.

  • "To own somebody" - to dominate; to be better than; to have full control over.

  • So, some people think that in the elections one candidate will own the other candidate;

  • maybe not.

  • If it's close, it's a fight; if it's a bad beating, then one owns the other.

  • You can say about teams, you can say about individuals as well.

  • Okay?

  • So, keep all these words in mind.

  • They're used in everyday speech by native speakers.

  • You will hear these all the time; you'll see them in movies, TV shows, etc.

  • And if you're not sure about any of them, please go to www.engvid.com, and you can ask

  • me any question there you like.

  • There's also a quiz that you can take and practice your knowledge of these words.

  • And, of course, if you like this video, subscribe to my YouTube channel.

  • Don't forget to come back again and watch a lot more interesting videos, be more like

  • a native speaker, and I'll see you soon.

  • Bye.

Hi.

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A2 初級 美國腔

6個不常見的英語單詞的不常見用法。 (6 UNCOMMON uses of COMMON English words)

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    Flora Hu 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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