hello I'm Emma from English and in this
video I'm going to show you how to use
my favorite English food TM English
idioms are a piece of cake
now if you don't know what English
idioms are they're expressions in
English that are really commonly used or
lots of them are really commonly used
but the individual meaning of each word
each word on their own is different to
the meaning of the expression when all
of these words are together so this
expression means that something is easy
or simple to do I'm confident I passed
the exam it was a piece of cake now
there are hundreds and hundreds of
English idioms
so trying to learn them all is a pretty
overwhelming task isn't it even just
knowing which ones to focus on which
ones to try and learn and which ones to
use some idioms are commonly used and
others are not so my advice to you when
you're learning idioms is not to use a
huge long list of hundreds and hundreds
of idioms in this lesson I'm going to
share with you a few idioms that I use
all the time almost every day and all of
these idioms are to do with food ready
let's try them out to put all of your
eggs in one basket
now this idiom is used to describe when
you risk everything at once and it
usually relates to money or opportunity
or hopes for the future and it's based
on the idea that if you drop the basket
but full of eggs
you'll lose everything perhaps it's a
better idea to put your eggs in a few
different baskets so that if you drop
one you'll still have some others for
example while my brother trained to be a
professional footballer he also studied
a degree in engineering because my dad
told him not to put all of his eggs in
one basket or my uncle invested all of
his savings into a company that went
bankrupt I don't know why he put all of
his eggs in one basket to be in a pickle
we use this idiom when we're in a
difficult situation or we have a problem
and it's often said to be in a bit of a
pickle especially when it's not a
serious problem and you want to make it
seem less serious than it really is I'm
in a bit of a pickle for example we're
in a pickle we've just lost the keys in
the car or I promise to pick up my
sister from the airport but I'm still at
work and I can't leave yet I'm in a bit
of a pickle
can you help to bite off more than one
can choose this is one of my favourite
ones it's when you try to do something
that is too difficult for you and you're
not able to do it maybe you don't have
the skills or you don't have the time to
make sure that you can do it for example
he's been working back late every night
this week trying to finish the project
I think he's bitten off more than he can
chew or I'm so sorry I haven't got time
to meet you for lunch today
I'm organising my sister's surprise
party and I've bitten off more than I
can chew there's so much to do another
good one to butter someone up now this
idiom means that you'd be really nice or
friendly to someone
so that you can get something from them
you want them to do something for you
so you're very nice to them you're
buttering them up have you ever cooked
your mum a really nice meal or maybe
taking her out for dinner and then asked
her if you could borrow some money then
you buttered her up here are some more
examples I know that Paul has a spare
ticket to the concert
perhaps if we butter him up he might
offer it to us or he'll have to butter
his boss up if he wants to take extra
leave at Christmas in a nutshell
now this idiom is used to show that
you're talking about something or
describing something in a really simple
way you're not using many words you're
trying to be as clear and as simple as
possible for example your friend asked
you about a movie that you saw in the
weekend and you answer well it's a
complicated story but in a nutshell it's
about three astronauts who disappear for
about 30 years before returning to Earth
with no memory of anything that had
happened another example I don't want to
explain their whole history but in a
nutshell they just wanted different
things out of life she wanted travel an
adventure he wanted to focus on his
career so in the end they broke up it's
really sad so they are my favorite
English food idioms I hope that you
learned a couple of new ones and maybe
you were reminded about some that you
already knew do you know any other
English food idioms share them in the
comments below I'd love to hear from you
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courses and other information I hope
that you enjoyed this lesson and I will
see you next time - arrows