Back from the big smoke
Hello Naheed, and everyone reading!
The first thing I need to do is say a big ‘well done!’ for the homework. First, ‘well done!’ to Raffles – she managed to concentrate on something for longer than one minute in order to tell you what to do! And secondly, ‘well done!’ to Naheed and everyone who explained the meaning of those idioms correctly. You all did fantastically well. I think I have to give a special mention to Manas, who managed to explain the idioms using examples about my pets – no mean feat – and to James, who explained the origins of the phrase every cloud has a silver lining. I can see that next time I’m going to have to make the homework tougher!
Just in case any of you are still wondering about the meaning of these idioms, here they are:
1) There’s no smoke without fire – this means that if there is a rumour about someone, even if you do not know the truth, that rumour is probably true. You usually hear this when the rumour is a bad rumour, rather than a good one, e.g.
People are saying that John was able to move to a bigger house because he was involved in a bank robbery. The police haven’t been able to prove anything, but I say there’s no smoke without fire.
2) Every cloud has a silver lining – this means that even in a really bad situation, you can always find something good, e.g.
I fell sick and had to go into hospital. I couldn’t get out of bed for six months. But, every cloud has a silver lining – I fell in love with my doctor and we got married last month.
3) You could have knocked me down with a feather! You can use this idiom to say you are really surprised or shocked about something, e.g.
Tony never really seemed interested in school or studies, so you could have knocked me down with a feather when he told me he wanted to go to university.
4) There’s no such thing as a free lunch. This means that you never get something for free. Even if something seems free, you’ll be paying for it in a different way, e.g.
The government has announced it’s going to reduce the tax on petrol. But there’s no such thing as a free lunch – from next month, road tax will increase.
5) Give someone an inch and they’ll take a mile – this means that if you allow someone to take advantage of you this time, next time they’ll be even worse, e.g.
Yesterday, little Tommy refused to eat his peas. His Mum said nothing. So today, he said he wouldn’t eat any vegetables at all. If you give someone an inch, they’ll take a mile.
Over the weekend, Naheed has been showing us what a talented artist she is and has been making my tummy rumble with descriptions of tea and snacks. I love the sound of the ginger tea, Naheed. I’m a tea addict too (a tea-aholic?). In fact at the end of last year, my doctor told me I was drinking too much tea and it was making my blood pressure low. Oops! I had to cut back. My favourite is Earl Grey tea with milk. If someone comes to visit you at your home in the UK, you would automatically offer them tea, often with some biscuits. Also, if someone is upset or worried about something, most people’s immediate reaction in the UK is: ‘I’ll put the kettle on'. Tea and biscuits have the power to make everything better, it seems. Is it dinnertime yet? I’m hungry!
Naheed, in the last two sentences of your latest blog you got the articles perfect – brilliant! To give you a little extra practice (then I promise I’ll shut up about articles), I’ve given you some options to choose from in the last couple of paragraphs of my blog today (look for the numbers 1 to 5). I want you to decide whether to use an indefinite article or a definite article – or maybe no article at all. Another change you’ll notice in today’s blog is that I’m answering all your questions and comments at the end, after the vocabulary section. I hope this makes it easier for you to find the answers you’re looking for.
So, we know from the homework set by Raffles that you’re all pretty amazing at idioms. Another idiom you may have heard is ‘An Englishman’s home is his castle’. This basically means that most British people think their home is very important, and they have the right to do whatever they like inside their own home.
This idea of having your own home and doing what you like inside it brings me onto my trip to the big smoke (London) at 1) a/the weekend. I’m afraid I didn’t go shopping, sight-seeing or for a trip on 2) a/the London Eye. No, nothing quite so exciting, I’m afraid! I went to 3) a/the home exhibition. You see, most people in the UK aspire to own their own home. At the moment, I am renting a house with my other half, Richard. A lot of people in the UK think that if you rent, you line someone else’s pockets. Why pay money to rent somewhere, when you could pay money to buy your own home? The problem is that 4) a/the property in the UK is extremely expensive – the average house now costs more than £200,000. That’s a lot of money! So an alternative is to find a plot of land somewhere and build your own home – that’s what Richard and I are thinking of doing, and that’s why we went to the exhibition in London, to find out more about how to do this. It seems our biggest challenge will be to find a plot of land at all, since space is very tight on this cramped island.
It’s not always been this way in the UK. In the early 1900s, only 10 per cent of people owned their own homes. (5) An/The everyone rented, and you often had generations of families – grandchildren, children, parents, grandparents and even great-grandparents – all living under one roof. Now, people often leave home at 18 or in their early twenties, and live on their own or with friends. You can’t deny that this means we have greater freedom and independence, but I wonder what this means for the future of our family units?
I’d be really interested to know when (and if) you all leave your parental homes, and whether people prefer to rent or buy their homes in your countries.
OK, Naheed’s made me thirsty. I’m off for a cuppa now.
Jo
Vocabulary
In this context, something that is tougher is more difficult.
If someone takes advantage of you, they exploit you in an unfair way.
My tummy rumbles when I am hungry.
Oops! – The usual interjection you use when you’ve done something wrong.
cut back means to reduce.
put the kettle on – this means you’re going to heat up some water to make tea. It’s a comforting phrase to hear.
When I shut up about articles, it means I’ll stop talking/writing about them.
If you aspire to do something, you dream of doing it.
When you rent, you pay money to someone who owns a house/flat, so that you can live there.
Other half – you can use this term to talk about your boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife. Richard and I aren’t married, so he’s my boyfriend, but ‘boyfriend’ seems like a bit of a teenage word to me, so I prefer ‘other half’.
If you line someone else’s pockets, you give them money.
A plot of land is a piece of land.
If space is very tight, there’s not much room.
cramped means overcrowded.
independence means you have the chance to do what you want to do.
a unit is a group.
A cuppa – short for ‘a cup of tea’.
Answers to your comments
Wisarut: I can speak only a little bit of Cantonese, or a siu siu. I have tried cooking phad thai in the past, but I can never make it as well as the phad thai you buy in a restaurant.
Melissa: The second sentence is the most accurate:
Knowing I failed in the entrance exam, I couldn’t help but cry.
James: Your examples of sentences using articles are perfect!
Tomo: Yes, Scratchy is quite naughty. She likes little rabbits best as they are easiest to catch. Raffles is indeed a girl. There is a famous hotel in Singapore called Raffles, and Raffles comes from Singapore, so that’s where the name comes from.
Darsha: It’s quite important to use grammar correctly, as this will help people understand what you want to say. However, I agree that making yourself understood is more important than being grammatically perfect.
Ana Paula: Yes, Raffles is a German Shepherd, but she’s not very brave. That’s why Scratchy can smack her and tell her what to do.
Kailarai: I will try to answer your question about auxiliary verbs in one of my next blogs – I hope you don’t mind being a little bit patient.
Omar: living with an English family would certainly improve your English. I wonder if there are any English teaching colleges in the UAE that have ties with colleges in England? You could ask them for assistance.
David: Maybe, “Aaah!” would be a little bit cute and “Aaaaaaaaah!” would be really cute?!
Rocio: You’re right, Raffles could also have said: “It’s Raffles here.”
Pary: It’s a shame your friends don’t understand those idioms, but it’s great that you can share them with them – so you are becoming a teacher too, now?
Paul: It’s difficult for a perfectionist to learn a foreign language, because it’s almost impossible not to make mistakes! I think you just have to allow yourself to make mistakes and accept that, even if you make a mistake, you will learn from it.
Comments
Hi Jo! Nearly 70 per cent of Italy's families have their own house. It is not advisable to rent over here. Basically, because of the precariousness of the employement, a young Italian person hardly leaves his/her house. If you have a tempt job, you just barely pay the rent, but you also have to pay the other bills and you cannot make it. The same goes for a loan because you hardly get it, if you do not have a stable occupation. As far as I am concerned,I,like the other Italian twentysomething,live with my parents. I hope to have my own house one day though. The answers are: 1)the,2)the,3)a. As usual, it is always a pleasure to read your blog. All the best,Filippo
Hi Jo! Everyone wants to have your own home! Unfortunetaly it´s a dream so difficult to reach due the home prices being scandalously expensive. I live with my mother and two sisters older than me.I´ve been living in my home for 28 years, which means since I was born. My dad bought the land and built our home about 40 years ago, when he came from Paraíbuna( countryside of Sao Paolo state) to Sao Paolo city, in order to find better opportunities of job. Well, I really would like to have my own home, however, I help my mother to support our home, and this is my duty as a daughter, anyway, I have no complain about it. And moreover my dream is going to university, so my own house can wait for a while. :-) I hope that your plans come true, and you and your other half can build the house of your dreams. Best wishes, Ana Paula.
Dear Jo, I understand how difficult it could be to have your own house in London. I have read some newpaper reports about it. It is the same in very big and prosperous cities in China. Housing prices are rocketing up with speculative funds flooding into the market. I left my patents when 20 years old, living with roommates. A lof of my friends get married and buy a house and live by themselves. When they have a kid, they will hire a maid or ask their parents to come for care for their baby.
Hello there. What about your day? First of all , on the ground of excellence serie quiz, it is quite interesting for me to answer these questions. I hope I do not answer correctly all choices but I am effortting to try my best.Thus I would like to answer : <1>-THE,<2>-A,<3>-the,<4>-A,<5>-AN. That's it!! Any way, in Thailand tradition concerning leaving parents' home appear to an out of the oridinary opportunity . Right now I am 22 years old, living with my parental home , using their some money or even sometime using the whole life with my dad or mum -looking after the parents. That means we do not earn my some money but it is a social norm that people are from generation to generation ,leading their life banked on the parent.There are the whole of social norm in Thailand . However some parts of Thai clans are never quite their child until they are even an elder. They may not be earned their money and no time to think as an adult. How is embarrassing !! For me after graduating university in master program , I will search for a proper job and accumulate some of moneys in order to look after my parents and give many facilities as many as I can afford. I really love my parents !! Just in case interestingly teacher Kent would like to buy a new home , I hope you instantly have a new home in recently days. It is time to go !! Bye for now . Better luck next time.
Thank you for answering my questions, Jo. I wonder, your other half, Richard reads your blog as well? Nice to meet you, Richard. Jo's a great teacher of us! Jo's blogs are very good and usuful indeed! I'm sure my English will have been much better than now when Jo's all lessons here completely finish. By the way, Jo, it's a piece of cake for Scratchy to catch little rabbits, isn't it? That makes sense! I was imagining she was chasing a big rabbit quickly at the feild in your neighborhood while I was reading your second last blog. I'm sorry to have said like she's a lion... I should say she's an expert on hunting! :-) That's why Raffles name is so gorgeous. She can be one of heirs to the hotel in the future! :-) Jo, are there still some of your other pets who are waiting in a queue for their turn in front of your computer? I've written too much, so I should stop doing any more today. Catch you later.
Hello Jo.I would like to salute you with my sincerity, for your answers to our comments.Well...Jo and her other half went to big smoke at weekend.But there was little time for a trip on the London Eye,they paid a visit to a home exhibition instead.You see, as a old saying said,An Englishman's home is his castle.And they decided to build their own love nest.Property is extremely expensive,which is a fact of life especially in Metropolitans.Everyone rented though, they tried to survive in a cramped island.(My answers hide in the story i have written,please enjoy.For i found Manas' description was brilliant,why can't i).I live with my family now, but i aspire to own my own house.And i hope it won't be long.Cheers!
Hello Jo, Nice to see you back. Your pet troubled me so much while playing the fresbee. Anyway, does not matter, anything for you..:-). So you asked about leaving the parental home, in the place I am coming from, one does not leave the parent's house. However, now a days, things are different as one has to go for job or make living to another place or city, but home remains the same. So, if one is away from home, for job, he goes for rented house, unless he wants to bring his parents and shift totally to the new place, and buy a house. A house in the metro city costs an arm and leg, I mean prices are sky high. On the other day, I was reading some survey which says Mumbai is the seventh expensive city in the world, I am sure prices of a house, has its credit for ranking the city in top ten... Anyway thinking about articles is much better than thinking about buying a house, which is nightmare, so let me go for the path of least resistance...here I go..: (1) The big smoke (London) at the weekend. (2) for a trip on the London Eye. (3) I went to the home exhibition. (4) The problem is that property in the UK is extremely expensive – (5) Everyone rented, and you often had generations Tried for article excercise and I am not sure about 3 out of 5. Cheers Manas.
this blog is a very useful to me whom learning English.so I'd like to say thank you
Hello everyone, I am Richard, Jo's partner. In answer to Tomo's question, yes, of course I read Jo's blog, and Naheed's too and all of your comments. I think you all do very well with your english, and you are very lucky to have Jo as your teacher. I have studied foreign languages before and I find it very difficult, so I am always impressed with all of your efforts. Keep studying and practising and good luck to you all for the future. I won't comment very often because this service is for you all, but I just wanted to give you my best wishes.
Hello Jo! First, I would like to answer your homeworks: 1-the, 2-the, 3-a, 4-a and 5-x, and secondly, I want to tell you about my home-mess because, at the moment, this is my big problem. I had been living for three years with my other half in a rent house until last month. In the roof of the house appeared a big and a really uncomfortable leak. Well, at the beginning it was a leak but, as time goes by, the house become almost a sunk ship! We were in a dilemma. I will explain why. One year ago, we bought a house that was under construction, and this one will be finished in two months. The dilemma was -rent another house for three months or come back to our parent house- The decision that we took was coming back to our childhood home, so I'm with my parents and he is with his parents. During this three years many people told us that to rent a house is waste your money but I can say that it isn't true. I have been living the most wonderful years of my life and If I was born again I would do the same. My best wishes in your difficult goal.
First thing first: 1. a 2. a 3. the 4. a 5. None I am from IT hub of India - Bangalore. You don't dream of buying property here, especially if you are young. Property price here is not very different from the number you mentioned - 200 000. It comes to around Rs 1.2Cr. If you want a good house, close to 2400 sq.feet carpet area, you need nearly 80 Lakhs to 1Cr here in bangalore. Its just that the propery price here is comparable to yours,not the infrastructure, roads are pathetic, trafic is nasty.
First of all i would like to tank u for making a dicition to reply for the comments.i cant express my thanks in words .If you would have been here i would have huuged and kissed you for this.then about getting a plot of our own..in our country India especially in our state, the life of middle class man have a general and common aim.ie earning through out the life making a house and getting the child married,and die.because his life time earning can afford only these.Even though am now in middle east, being a member of a middle class family, my aim is not different.Even we are planning to own a small piece of land jo...Once again thanks jo..for your reply.
Hi,Jo Indeed,Raffles did his chore very well and he is very faithful to you Because he didn't take my bribe.He managed to keep silent about your trip to London. About building your own house I can guarantee that building a house is really challenging and stressful.You need to get an fine architecture who can understand exactly what you want and decent builders not cowboy builders. And of course, finance is the most important.Even though you have them all you will face lots of difficulties one after another.Dealing with a planning permission you need to be really really patience and lots of time.Our house is on the procesure for extending.It'been on for 10 months but we are still waiting for the archictecture to draw the final.it might sound i am a old groaner and i am trying to scare you off but it's true.good luck for your plan!
Hi Jo, I agree with Filippo: in Italy nowadays it has become quite difficult for young people to have their own home (rented or bought). They are so expensive and you can only find temporary jobs (sometimes only for a few months) so you simply can not afford it, and the banks do not give you a loan in this cases. People who find jobs in a city, different from the one their parents live in, use to share a flat with other workers. Usually the rent (not counting the other expenses) of a little flat in a medium city is about the 80% of one's wage. I have friends who live in Milano and they told me that there are many companies who are closing down and many family are in trouble, because at least one of the parents doesn't have a stable job. The same has happened in the area where I live. When my husband and I decided to get married and to live together in a flat on our own, we went to ask for a loan but banks have turned down our request because I had a temporary job and my husband had just started his activity. At the end we got the loan because our parents guaranteed for us. So, actually, we are lucky because they could do this for us. Anyway, with a high respect for those who are experiencing bad time, I would like to say that, apart from serious things, life can be more simple if you do not bother about to many unimportant things. Here are my guesses. 1)the 2)the 3)a 4)none 5)none Love, always
hello,my dear teacher Jo.thank you for your explaniton of the idioms.i learned a lot.The situation that is difficult to own your home maybe is the same as in china now.the price of the house is extremly high.most people will pay the mortgage to buy a house.i didn't leave my parents home until i have married.i think everyone want to own their own houese and to do what they like to do inside.hope your dream will come true soon.
Dear Jo, Your writig is so simple. I mean easy to understand most of the sentences. Thank you for your great help for new english learners like me. I am from Nepal. Most of the people live in joint family. In our country, normally the daughters have to go to live with her husband house. The liability of one of the son of the parents has to tak care of them. I mean to say that if a parents have more than one son, one has to take care of them and other can stay with joint family or they can live seperately with wife and children. Most of the people in Nepal are involving in farming. The farmer should have own land and they can make a house as per their requirement and capacity. The cost of the land in Nepal differe in city areas and country side areas. Even Nepal is poor country but most (more than 90%) of the people do have their own house somewhare within the country. Now a days, people are getting the education and they have to go to any place for their jobs and for further education. In this case, they have the house but they have to rent another house to live. I have written all these above sentences in English. Most of the time my comments have been published in your blog. It means, am I writing the correct sentences in terms grammer and other structures? Could you please suggest me?
HI dear Jo , Thanks for answering my comment . I wish you can stay in your own house very soon . In Iran nowadays houses are very expensive specially in good distinct inside the cities . In my country houses are not very common as are the big ones in UK . People who are rich enough have their extra houses in country sides and go there for picnic and taking a rest in holidays . Our villages are not so stylish and modern as I see in europian countries . People use to live inside cities . These days because of expensive price of houses people usually live in flats And if they have good job ( regular jobs ) they can have their flats with making loan from banks . In IRAN children usually leave their parents just after their marriage and living with friends and room mates is very rare in IRAN . Here are my homeworks : 1) the 2) the 3 )a 4) - 5) - I cross my fingers for you and your other half See you again
Hello Jo. You are lucky to have managed to earn and save up enough money to buy a plot of land to build your own home on it. Here, where I live, people build houses on hereditary pieces of land or a family unit or clan lives together in a house which was build by their grandparents whose son brought a wife and a child there, and his son brought his wife and child to the same house, and they all live happily together now. I think that this way of housing and living together is so usual in my country due to people's poverty. Before the wars which struck this state, people were moving around the state, looking for jobs and when they found good jobs, they would stay in that new towns and found their families there. Now, there are no available jobs which would be a moving force. We stay miserable where we are. I honestly hope I have not depressed you while telling you my true-to-life story. That is all life. It will be better. I will be reading you soon. Love,Benka
Hi Jo, nice to see you! this is my first time to read you blog, that is very good, I am 40 year old,but I have to learn English because I worked for a USA company in Shanghai as a sales manager, I will read your blog evry day ,and thanks for your help! I bought one house in 2004 in Guangzhou by a loan from a bank, it is a pretty house in the countryside , I don't like liveing in downtown. Now I work in Shanghai,living in the home inn pub,my boss hope me to buy a house in Shanghai!My god! the price is in the sky! maybe I need to go a bank in night for robbery! Just kidding! How about my grammar? Cheerio!
Thank you very much.In here ,I can learn a lot.
Hi Jo, as you lived in Hong Kong for 5 years, I think you should know the price of a flat in here is really expensive, although it is now lower than the peak price in 1997. Normally if you want to buy a new flat, it would cost you at least 320 thousands US dollars for just around 500 sq. ft. So many people can't afford to buy a new at the first time, they would like to buy a second-hand house. And it is funny that some owner like to use this as an investment, so he brought a old house, then painted it as if a new house and designed in a modern way, so he can sell it in a high value. I hope the price of a flat will be lower in the future. Virginia
I think the idom of" every clouds has a silver lining " it means any problem has a good way, and we must search about the door which has a silver line to solve our problem
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