Bob's Short English Lessons Learn the English Phrases TO BANK ON and TO BREAK THE BANK
Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO BANK ON and TO BREAK THE BANK
In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to bank on. When you can bank on something, it means you can be sure that it will happen. Let me think of an example. Maybe when your favorite athlete plays your favorite sport, you can bank on the fact that they will score a goal. You know that they almost score a goal every time they play, and you can be sure of it, you can bank on it. We also use this phrase in the negative. We'll say things like, "Don't bank on it." So if someone was to say, "I think that the Toronto Maple Leafs will win their next game, someone else might say, "Don't bank on it, I don't think they will." It's not something that you can be sure will happen. So you can kind of use it both ways. When you can bank on something, you can be sure it will happen, and when you say "Don't bank on it," or, "I wouldn't bank on it," it means you doubt that it will happen.
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The other phrase I wanted to teach you today is the phrase to break the bank. There's a little bit of mud on my sign. I think when I walked out here today, I got a little bit of mud on it, but to break the bank means to buy something and to use up all the money that you have. If I bought a used van right now, I think I have enough money to buy one, but if I bought a brand-new van, I think that would break the bank. That would mean that I would have no money left in the bank if I bought a brand new van. In fact, I don't even have enough money to buy a brand new van. I think if I bought a used van that might actually break the bank as well. So when you break the bank, it means you buy something and it was so expensive, you use all the money that you had available.
But let's review. To bank on means that you can count on something happening. You can reasonably be sure that something will happen. A lot of times when I watch basketball, I can't bank on whether the Raptors will win or not. I wish I could bank on it. I wish I could be sure of it. And, oop, there's a mosquito in my ear, one sec. I think it's out now, whew. There's still insects, and it's almost November. Actually, you're watching this on November 1st, aren't you? To break the bank means to buy something and to spend every last penny, every last dollar that you have when you buy it.
But, hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This is a fun comment. It's from Alaa Ahmad. The comment is, "Hello, Bob, could you please go closer to the river, to the bank of it so that we can get a better view? Thanks a lot." And my response, for sure I'll do that today.
Well, it doesn't really look like I did that today, does it? Oh, I'm sorry, everyone. I was supposed to make the comment match what I was doing in the video. I am actually by the river. Sorry, that was like a little bit of a trick there. Let me get the full view for you.
So you can see the river is very flooded, and let's spin this way so you can see it in the other direction. You can see that the river is so big right now, it actually looks a little bit like a lake. When I walked out here, I was surprised how close to my fence.