執筆者 Modern English | 2014年02月08日 | Phrases
Dad: “I’m worried about Bill. He hasn’t called since last week!” Mom: “Don’t worry. I’m sure he’s studying hard at college. Remember, no news is good news!” If something bad had happened to Bill at college, his parents would probably find out. They would get some bad...
執筆者 Modern English | 2014年02月01日 | Phrases
“Let’s get some rice balls at the convenience store. I really prefer hand-made, but these will do in a pinch.” A “pinch” is a difficult situation. We might do something in a pinch that we wouldn’t normally do. 「コンビニでおにぎりを買おう。本当は手作りが好きだけど、イザとなったらこれでもいい。」...
執筆者 Modern English | 2014年01月25日 | Phrases
“I thought I was finally going to beat you at chess, but you’re always thinking one step ahead of me!” If you win a close race, you may be “one step ahead” of your opponent, but usually this idiom refers to thinking or planning ahead, rather than physical location....
執筆者 Modern English | 2014年01月18日 | Phrases
“I like to dress up my dog in cute costumes, but he always tries to take them off.” “I hate getting dressed up for these formal parties.” Dressing up can mean wearing a costume, such as a Halloween costume, or just wearing fancy clothes, for example, to go to a formal...
執筆者 Modern English | 2014年01月11日 | Phrases
“Hello. This is Bob Johnson. I’m not in right now, so please leave a message after the beep.” This phrase is a common way to end the recorded message played by an answering machine. Another common phrase is, “Please leave your name and number,” because with that...