Phrase of the Week: In the Meantime

“Dad is making dinner. He says it will be ready in an hour. In the meantime, let’s take the dog for a walk.” “Bob is coming over today, but he won’t get here until 7:00. In the meantime, I’ll start studying for next week’s test.” “Meantime” is the time before...

Phrase of the Week: It’s a Good Thing

“It’s a good thing we remembered to close the windows! It started raining while we were out.” We say “it’s a good thing” when we are glad something happened because it led to positive consequences or avoided negative consequences. You could just say “I’m glad we...

Phrase of the Week: Never mind

“What were you doing outside at 3 in the morning? Never mind, I don’t want to know.” “Never mind” is a phrase we use to drop a topic or question. “Mind” here means “be concerned about (something)” or “worry about (something)”, so it’s a little like “Don’t worry about...

Phrase of the Week: I’m Locked Out!

“Oh no! I’m locked out of my car!” “What happened?” “I left my keys inside by mistake and locked the door.” Although many modern cars make it hard to lock yourself out, this remains a problem. You can also lock yourself out of your house or office, or if you forget a...

Phrase of the Week: Run Out

“Pick up some olive oil at the store. We don’t want to run out!” “I was making cookies for the bake sale but I ran out of flour.” “I went to the store to get bananas, but they were all out.” When we use up (or sell) the entire supply of something, we say we run out of...

Phrase of the Week: Would You Care to Dance?

John: Would you care to dance? Marcia: I’d love to. This is a polite way to ask if someone wants to do something. It’s very similar to last week’s phrase (“Would you care for some tea?”) but it end with a verb instead of a noun. An action is being offered, not an...