Learning English

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Learn more English in a Minute

• Phrases with 'red'
• Phrases with 'head'
• Phrases with 'ear'

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Introduction

‘Hit’ is an action – you hit a ball with a bat in baseball, for example. There are many phrases with ‘hit’ in English. Learn a few of them here with Georgie.

Phrases with 'hit'

hit the ground running
start working on an activity straight away

• The business owner spent years building a social media following so that she could hit the ground running when she finally launched a product.

hit the nail on the head
do or say something that is exactly right

• You really hit the nail on the head with the colour of those curtains – they look great with the furniture.

hit-and-miss/hit-or-miss
sometimes successful and sometimes not; unreliable

• The clothes shop is a bit hit-and-miss. Sometimes I find exactly what I want, and sometimes I think everything in there is horrible.

hit it off
get on really well; like each other instantly after meeting   

• It was obvious you two hit it off – I could see you laughing from across the room.

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 Download a free transcript!

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TRANSCRIPT

Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript.

Georgie
Take a hit! There are lots of phrases with the word 'hit'. Let's learn four.
 
If you hit the ground running, you start working on an activity straight away.
 
The new employee did all the training in her first week so she could hit the ground running with new projects in her second week.
 
If you hit the nail on the head, you do or say something that is exactly right.
 
Your ideas about marketing strategy have hit the nail on the head – that's exactly what I was thinking!
 
If something is hit-and-miss, it means it is successful sometimes and sometimes it isn't. It isn't reliable. We can also say hit-or-miss.
 
That restaurant is a bit hit-and-miss. Sometimes the food is great, but sometimes it's awful.
 
And finally, if two people hit it off, it means they get on really well – they like each other instantly after meeting.   

I met your cousin last night. He's great! We really hit it off.
 
Now it's your turn. Learn these phrases this week to hit the ground running next week!

Next

Learn more phrases and expressions in The English We Speak.

Learn more language for friendships, like hit it off, in this episode of Phrasal verbs with Georgie.