Speaker 1: I've been working all month long to bring you a
variety of podcasts to learn English and American culture. All
along I had an idea that these would be helpful,
and all in all, I think I was right. So
thanks a lot for being all ears when it comes
to my lessons.
Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast coming to you from
New York City. And here's your English teacher, Michael.
Speaker 1: All right, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael
here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.
This is Happy English Podcast, Episode seven forty one Phrases
with all. You know, English is wonderfully filled with colorful
idioms and phrases, and today I'm so happy to present
to you these eight idioms with all. And before we start,
I do have to thank the students in my podcast
Learners study group for giving me the idea for this lesson.
Let's start off with a dialogue to see how these
idioms are used in context. You know, context is king.
Speaker 3: Hey Mark, how's your day going.
Speaker 4: Honestly, I've been on my feet all day long with
meetings and deadlines.
Speaker 3: I'm exhausted, I can imagine. By the way, did you
hear about the new project the boss said it's going
to be all hands on deck to get it done
on time.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I heard all. In all, it seems like a
challenging project, but I think we can handle it.
Speaker 3: Oh and about that email you sent this morning, I
was all ears when you mentioned a possible promotion. Do
you really think it's going to happen.
Speaker 4: I've had a feeling all along that it's coming soon.
I've been working hard, so I hope it pays off.
Speaker 3: I'm sure it will. By the way, the report you
asked me to review, it's all done. I finished it
during lunch.
Speaker 4: Thanks Lisa, You're all heart for always helping out. My
laptop is still not working. I tried fixing it, but
I'm all thumbs when it comes to technology.
Speaker 3: You should get Teddy to look at it.
Speaker 1: Good call, and now let's have a look at the
idioms from this conversation. First of all, we have all
day long, all day long means throughout the entire day,
the entire work day, and so on. Here are some examples.
Tom was on his feet all day long at work.
The kids played outside all day long, enjoying the sunshine.
English comes from England, which is an island having a
long cultural relationship to the sea and ships. Culture and
language go hand in hand, and this next idiom, all
hands on deck, is a good example of this. The
deck is the work area of a ship, and the
sailors are called deck hands. When the captain calls out
all hands on deck, he means that everyone must start
working these days on the land. All hands on deck
means that everyone in the office, in the group, on
the team, and so on needs to work together in
order to get something done. Let's look at some examples.
We have a big project deadline tomorrow, so we need
all hands on deck to get it done. When the
storm hit, it was all hands on deck to make
sure that the house was secure. Next is to be
all ears. Can you imagine if you had more than
two ears, or if you were all ears. With all
those ears, you would certainly be able to give someone
your full attention. Well with that image, when you say
that you are all ears, it means that you are
fully listening and ready to hear what someone has to say.
For example, Marty, I'm all ears. Tell me about your
new business idea. Whenever Karen talks about her travels, I
am all ears. The next one is all along, all
along means the whole time, from the beginning, while something
was happening. Here are some examples. Megan suspected all along
that her boyfriend was cheating on her. We thought the
keys were lost, and we looked everywhere for them, but
they were in the drawer all along. Let's continue with
two similar phrases, all gone and all done. All gone
means that something is completely finished or used up. Like this,
The cookies are all done. James must have eaten them
by the time Linda arrived. The pizza was all gone.
All done means totally finished. For example, I'm glad we're
all done with that project. Hey are you still using
my calculator? Oh noah, I'm all done. Here you go next.
We have all in all. All in all is used
to mean that you are considering every part of a situation.
All in all has the meaning of basically, For example,
all in all, Jessica thought the trip was a success,
even with the bad weather. Brian was nervous about the presentation,
but all in all it went well. We use all
heart when we talk about someone who is very kind, generous,
or loving. John may be tough on the outside, but
he's all heart. Melissa is all heart. She volunteers at
the animal shelter every weekend. The last one for today
is all thumbs. Someone who is all thumbs is clumsy,
especially with their hands. For example, Frank tried to fix
the car, but he's all thumbs when it comes to tools.
Diana is all thumbs. When she's in the kitchen, she's
always dropping something. Keep in mind, the best way to
remember this and any other word or phrase in English
is to take that word or phrase, write it in
a sentence that's true for you or true in your world,
and then memorize your sentences. Did you know that you
can get the chance to practice this kind of English
with me directly. You can get more practice using your
English when you join my podcast Learner's study group. There
you can make new friends, join us for live group
lessons every week where we practice these podcasts lessons together.
Plus you get access to the PDF, transcript and audio
download for every Happy English podcast in the past and
in the future. And on top of that, each episode
has exercises where you can practice this English point with
speaking and writing checked by me. To learn more, just
visit Myhappy English dot com and choose podcast lesson seven
forty one. Remember, learning another language is not easy, but
it's not impossible, and I'm here to help you on
your journey.
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Happy English.