- If you are someone who loves sports,
then you are definitely going to love this idiom lesson.
which is the place that you want to be
to practice and improve your English skills.
And the way that you are going to improve
your skills today is by learning some new idioms.
I'm going to teach you some idioms
That doesn't mean that you can only use these idioms
They can be used in a variety of different situations
and I'm gonna talk to you about that today.
And as I teach you these idioms
and tell you the meaning, I'll give you
some example sentences as well as show you
how these idioms are used in context.
The first idiom is a tennis idiom
and it is the ball is in your court.
And what this means is that it is up to you.
It is your responsibility to do something
So example, when you're playing tennis,
you hit the ball to somebody else
and then the ball is in their court.
So this can be used in a variety of contexts.
It could be used in business in a negotiation.
For example, maybe you make an offer to buy something
and then you'd say well, okay here's my offer,
It is your responsibility to make a decision now
or tell me what you want to do.
And we often use this idiom as just a standalone statement
and you would tell somebody, you know,
the ball is in your court now.
It's up to you, the ball's in your court.
(sniffs) Ball's in your court.
- I said no which means right back in the driver's seat.
- So the ball is in his court?
- The next idiom is to get off the hook.
And if we're talking about hooks, you can probably guess
When you're fishing, you use a hook to catch the fish.
So if the fish gets off the hook, then they are able
They're able to escape punishment.
And that's exactly what this idiom means.
You are escaping responsibility for something
that you are no longer responsible
for this action that happened that was bad or wrong.
You are no longer going to get punished for this thing.
You are able to get off the hook.
I guess I'm kinda hoping you'll come back over the rail
- So for example, when I think of this idiom
because I'm a teacher, I think of students
that when they don't do their homework
and maybe there's a punishment and they're trying
to think of an excuse, I might tell them and say,
you know, you're not gonna get off the hook that easy.
- You are not getting off the hook that easy, mister.
- And that is a common sentence in which you might hear
That you would tell someone that you're not going to get
That you need to be held responsible
You're not going to have it completely removed.
You're gonna have to suffer the consequences
You're not gonna get off the hook that easy.
Then we have a baseball idiom, go to bat for someone.
To go to bat for someone means just to defend somebody.
So in baseball, when you go to bat for another player,
that you're basically helping that person out.
because you're going to do it for them.
You're going to help that person.
- I'm tired of going to bat for you and your show.
- I wanna thank you for going to bat for me last week.
and this idiom is used quite often
and it is to give it your best shot.
And often people would just say it
as a sentence and just say give it your best shot.
And this means that you should just try your hardest.
So when you're hunting, even though I'm not a hunter,
you are shooting something and you want to give it
You tell people this all the time
whether they're doing sports or business.
You would tell them and encourage them
and say give it your best shot.
- Well, go ahead and give it your best shot.
- [Harry] Come on then Nigel, gimme your best shot.
- Stupefy!
- Okay, O'Connor, gimme your best shot.
- So for example, I would tell you guys this.
If you're thinking that learning English is too difficult,
I don't know if I could do it,
I would encourage you and say,
you know, give it your best shot.
That's all that we're asking you do, give it your best shot.
Next is an idiom that comes from horse racing
And if you're talking about the home stretch,
So when talking about horse racing,
at the end of the race, you might hear somebody say
the horses are coming down the home stretch.
They're getting close to the end.
And you can use this when you are getting close
specifically when you're about to complete something
So with this lesson, I'm just about halfway through it.
I'm not quite in the home stretch just yet.
- We're almost done, home stretch.
- Next is a golf idiom and that is
So in golf, you have a score that you try to get
for each hole and if you match that score
If somebody's not up to par, then that just means
that they're not good enough to do a job or a position.
And you just don't have the skills or abilities
to do something and somebody might say, you know,
yeah, you know, this work, it's not up to par.
- So if I'm not up to par performance-wise--
- Jim, this isn't exactly a turn on.
- [Pete] There's a thing called Proposition 48
says that if your grades aren't up to par
and you take the SAT, if you score 700 or more,
- I hope these video lessons are definitely up to par
Next is a boxing idiom, to throw in the towel.
And in boxing, if somebody throws in the towel,
then that just means they give up,
And that's exactly what it means, to give up something.
So if you're tired of doing something,
you don't wanna do it anymore,
you'd say, you know, I'm just gonna throw in the towel.
Or you might hear it being used that somebody's,
you know, they're trying to encourage you
and they'd say don't throw in the towel.
Don't throw in the towel just yet.
Keep going, keep working hard.
- They're throwing in the towel.
He says once the debts are paid,
- Round after round, I kept getting Frank in to patch me up.
And he's talking about throwing in the towel
- Maybe it's time to throw in the towel.
- If you guys are thinking, you know,
I'm done learning English, it's too difficult,
I would tell you, don't give up,
don't throw in the towel just yet.
And I'm not gonna let you off the hook that easy.
I'm always going to encourage you and tell you
to keep going and give it your best shot.
(chuckles) And I'm just gonna keep using these idioms
over and over so that you'll remember them.
We're coming down the home stretch
which means we're getting close to the end
I have some more great idioms for you.
And this next one is a football idiom.
It's an American football idiom.
And I'm sure some of you might be rolling your eyes
(chuckles) Nobody watches that.
But this idiom is a good one and it is blind sided.
And if somebody is blind sided,
it just means that they did not see something coming.
They did not expect this thing to happen.
You were blind sided by something.
So for example, somebody might tell you some news
that is shocking, like, oh they're getting a divorce.
And you're like, oh my goodness.
I was just blind sided by this.
- It's like you're as blind sided by this
- I can't believe she blind sided me like this.
Being so nice and friendly to my face.
- So when you're blind sided, it's not really a good thing.
It's something that you weren't expecting
and you would be blind sided by something.
So we often use it with the preposition by.
I was blind sided by this thing that was not good
Then we have a basketball idiom, slam dunk.
This is probably a phrase that you've heard before
especially if you're a basketball fan.
In basketball, a slam dunk is when you take the ball
and you slam it and hang onto the rim.
Yeah, I can't slam dunk the basketball.
So if something is a slam dunk, then it just means
It's easy to do, it's easy to accomplish.
You know that you're gonna do this thing
and you say, well, you know, it's a slam dunk.
So you're watching this video right now
and I'm thinking like, hmm, I wonder if they're gonna hit
but I know, you know, it's a slam dunk.
You're gonna hit that like button.
Unless you think this lesson's not up to par.
- I hope it's a real slam dunk.
- To me, this decision is a slam dunk.
- The next idiom is call the shots.
because when you're playing billiards,
you often have to call your shots and point to the pocket
where you want to shoot the ball.
So if somebody calls the shots, it just means
they are making the decisions.
You might often hear this idiom in business
because there's a hierarchy of people from the boss,
And your boss would call the shots.
They would be making the decisions.
- I call the shots, I do what I wanna do.
- So you're calling the shots now, huh?
- Gonna see nothing but the bench this year.
- So I'm a bit curious if you knew
I hope that you weren't completely blind sided
by these idioms and I hope that you can go on
to use them and try to use them and give it your best shot.
But because this is Interactive English,
I have a bonus idiom for you. (tada music)
And this is going to be a question
and I want you to click on the correct answer.
Before I ask you this question
and you go off to another video,
I want you to hit that like button
if you enjoyed learning these idioms.
Are you ready for your bonus idiom?
What does it mean to hit below the belt?
If something is below the belt,
If you don't know, please don't give up