Bob's Short English Lessons

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases A SPLIT SECOND and TO SPLIT UPIn this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase a split second. When something happens in a split second, it means it happens in less than a second. It happens instantly. It takes hardly any time at all. The other night I had to hit my brakes in a split second because a deer ran out on the road in front of me. That happens sometimes in this part of Canada, so I hit my brakes in a split second. My foot went from the floor of the van to the brake pedal in a split second. It went immediately like no time passed at all. It was definitely less than a second. I don't usually move that fast, but in situations like that, you need to react in a split second.WANT FREE ENGLISH LESSONS? GO TO YOUTUBE AND SEARCH, "BOB THE CANADIAN"If you enjoy these lessons please consider supporting me at: http://www.patreon.com/bobthecanadianThe second phrase I wanted to teach you today is the phrase to split up. Now you can use this to talk about dividing something up. If I had ten candies and I split up the candies among my children, I would give each of them two. I would put the ten candies on the table and make little piles of two, and I would give each kid two candies. You can also use this to talk about relationships. Sometimes people will split up. Sometimes Frank and Kim have a relationship where things aren't going well and they decide that they want to split up. This means that they are no longer together. They have gone their separate ways.So again, to review when something happens in a split second, it happens immediately.It happens very, very quickly. And when somebody splits something up, it means they divide them up like candies. And if two people split up, it means they are no longer in a relationship.But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Mohd Ags, and my response is pretty long, so this might take a while. I'll try to read clearly and quickly. Mohd says, I really like learning useful phrases like to make a day of it as simple as it might seem, you will most likely only hear native speakers use it because advanced English learners are busy learning some odd fancy words like obfuscate and elephantine. Thank you, Mr. Bob.And my response again, kind of long sorry. Honestly, sometimes I don't know what to think about the advanced English lessons some of the other YouTube teachers create. I'm not one to speak badly of others, so I don't really talk about it much, but sometimes they teach words that simply aren't used very often at all. I think it might be time for me to statistically analyze what I hear every day in the English speaking world. Sometimes simple isn't just better. It's literally the most common and correct.So again, I don't like, thanks Mohd for the comment, I don't like to speak negatively of what other teachers do. I think everyone does a great job. Everyone has their own approach. But sometimes I do think some of the advanced vocabulary being taught isn't very common at all.I think you're better off learning the more common vocabulary and then focusing on vocabulary that has clearly been labeled as important for like an IELTS test or another English test. That can kind of be a really cool way to know if the advanced vocabulary you're learning is important.But yeah, sometimes I'm not sure there are words like I can't even think of some. There are words. Sometimes people will ask me in a live stream and I'll say, You know, I don't think I've ever used that word. I might have read that word somewhere, but I don't know if I've ever used it. So learn to be fluent with all of the simple vocabulary and then slowly build from there by listening to wSupport the show

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases AT THE END OF THE DAY and TO MAKE A DAY OF ITIn this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase at the end of the day. Now, this can literally mean at the end of the day. At the end of the day, I go home. Well, at the end of my workday. But we also use this the same way we use the word ultimately. To kind of sum up a thought. When you're working hard at the end of the day, you can only do so much. When you are helping someone out. At the end of the day, you can only do so much to make their life better. So ultimately you can only help someone so much before they need to help themselves. So we use the phrase at the end of the day to kind of sum up to kind of clarify a thought that we're having. I don't think I'm explaining this very well. Let me try to think of another example. At the end of the day, all I can do is make the best video lessons I can and hopefully they help you. So ultimately, all I can really do is make the lessons as good as I can. So it's not exactly the end of the day, but it's kind of summarizing a thought.WANT FREE ENGLISH LESSONS? GO TO YOUTUBE AND SEARCH, "BOB THE CANADIAN"If you enjoy these lessons please consider supporting me at: http://www.patreon.com/bobthecanadianThe second phrase I wanted to teach you is the phrase to make a day of it. When you make a day of something, it means something wasn't going to take the whole day. But you add one or two things to make a day of it. If we go to visit Jen's parents, sometimes we just go for a cup of tea. But sometimes we decide to make a day of it. We go for a cup of tea. We help Jen's dad on his farm a little bit. We help Jen's mom do some work in her garden, possibly, instead of just going for an hour or two, we decide to make a day of it.So to review at the end of the day simply means ultimately, or to summarize or my final thoughts on something and to make a day of it means to plan to do something that will take most of the day instead of just a little part of it.But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Marcio. How are you, Professor Bob? I'm Brazilian and here the autumn season has already started. I really like you and your videos. Thank you. I'm very happy with the new season in your country because you will be able to make video lessons for us without freezing. Hehehe. A hug for you and your whole family. And my response. My favorite type of day for making videos would be cloudy, mild and no wind. Hopefully there are lots of those coming up.So thanks, Marcio, for that comment. Yes, this is literally my favorite type of day for making a video, although it is a little bit windy. I'm hiding by the shed so that the wind doesn't hit the microphone too badly. But my favorite kind of day for making an English lesson would be cloudy. When it's cloudy, the camera can focus really well and the video just looks nice. The cloud kind of diffuses the sunlight. That's how we would describe it in English. So clouds create really nice light for a video. When it's mild then I don't get hot or cold.When we say that it's mild outside, we mean it's like ten degrees or 15 degrees Celsius, something kind of nice. And then what's the last one? No rain. I didn't mention that one. I don't like rain. Oh, no wind. Yeah, wind messes with the microphone. You can't see the microphone, but it's right here. When it's windy, you get that funny sound when I'm outside and it's not very, very pleasant.So yep, that's my favorite kind of day. A day just like today. If we look at the sky, it's overcast or cloudy, we would say. It's a little bit windy, but I have the shed behind me to kind of block the wind and it's mild. I'm outside just wearing mSupport the show

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO BE IN THE WAY and TO GET OUT OF THE WAYIn this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to be in the way. When you are in the way, it means someone is trying to go somewhere and you’re blocking their path. Sometimes at the grocery store when I go down an aisle, there will be someone in the way and I'll have to ask them to move because I can't get my cart through the aisle. So when you are in the way, with... you think someone is going to be in the way it means they're going to be in your path when you're trying to get somewhere. I'm trying to think of another good example. Sometimes when I'm trying to get into my classroom, there will be students in the way. They'll be standing in the doorway and I'll have to ask them to move so that I can get into my classroom. So to be in the way simply means to block someone's path when they're trying to get somewhere.WANT FREE ENGLISH LESSONS? GO TO YOUTUBE AND SEARCH, "BOB THE CANADIAN"If you enjoy these lessons please consider supporting me at: http://www.patreon.com/bobthecanadianThe other phrase I wanted to teach you today is the phrase to get out of the way. I'm offering the solution to the problem from the first phrase. When you see someone in the way, sometimes it's nice to ask them to get out of the way. Sometimes we even say this directly. We'll say, Get out of the way! You might even yell it if your car was rolling along with no one driving it and there was someone walking, you might yell, Get out of the way! to them so that they will be safe, meaning that they need to get out of the way of the vehicle. They need to not be in the path that it is traveling down.So to review, to be in the way means to yeah, be in the way. I can't define it by using the phrase. But if I was standing in my driveway and Jen wanted to leave, I would be in the way. And so I would need to get out of the way so that she could leave.But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. Let me see which pocket I put it in. Here it is right here it is from Andrey or Andrey. Maybe I'm pronouncing it wrong. Such a comfy place on your farm where you're filming the video. And my response? It was a nice little corner. I might have to find another one. It's going to be really windy all this week.So it's a little windy right now, but not too bad. But I found this little corner because I wanted to show you that yes, spring is definitely starting. One of the first signs of spring for me is when Jen starts to put the little baby plants outside. So you can see it's warm enough here today, you can see quite a few of them, that Jen has some of the plants out. So she's decided that it's warm enough today that the plants can be outside for a little bit. So what was I saying? Yes, I picked that comfy corner. I had a nice comfy corner over there the other day.It's not as windy right now, though. This morning it was super windy, so I was worried that I wouldn't be able to find a good place to do this. Anyways, what was I going to talk about? Spring is starting. Here's another little look down here. You can see that the daffodils are just starting to pop out of the ground. Another sure sign that spring is coming. And I was going to show you all the geese in the river, but they all flew away. But there's definitely a lot of Canadian geese and there is either white geese or swans. I'm not sure which it is because I haven't been able to get close. I know they were flying overhead the other day, but I can just sense right now that spring is just around the corner.Actually, it did start yesterday. Yesterday was the first day of spring. I guess I should have mentioned that one of the reasons I'm talking about spring isSupport the show

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO GIVE IN and TO GIVE OUTIn this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to give in. Now, this is kind of the opposite of the phrase to put your foot down. Sometimes you need to give in when someone asks you if they can do something. Sometimes when my kids ask for something, I put my foot down and I say no. But sometimes I give in and I say yes. This happened a few years ago when they wanted to buy a Nintendo Switch. I put my foot down and said, No, it's too expensive. But they said they would pay for part of it if I paid for part of it. So eventually I was able to give in. Eventually, I decided that it was okay and we went and bought a Nintendo Switch. And by the way, that was a good decision. It's a lot of fun to play games with them. I like Mario Party and Mario Kart the best.WANT FREE ENGLISH LESSONS? GO TO YOUTUBE AND SEARCH, "BOB THE CANADIAN"If you enjoy these lessons please consider supporting me at: http://www.patreon.com/bobthecanadianThe second phrase I wanted to teach you today is the phrase to give out. This is a phrase we use to talk about something that's going to break or something that's going to break down. If I drive my van for another ten years, eventually it's going to give out. Eventually the engine is going to give out. Eventually the wheels are going to give out. Eventually the whole van is going to give out. It's going to stop working.So to review, to give in means to finally say that someone's allowed to do something. Sometimes my classes ask me if they can, I don't know, walk the town for a field trip and eventually I give in and plan something like that instead of saying no. And to give out means to simply break down. Now, both of these phrases have other meanings. Those are just two of the meanings that I wanted to teach today.Hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. I think I have it here in my pocket. Here we go. The comment is from Pristine Horizon. Dear teacher Bob, I wish I had wings to reach there to sit in the classroom there. How beautifully it's designed. And my response? I have to admit, the schools have been getting nicer here in Canada. My favorite thing is that the newer parts of the building have more windows to the outside and more natural light.So that's actually thanks... for the comment for Pristine... that's been a common trend. I don't... Not just in Canada, I think in a lot of parts of the world, buildings have more windows to let more natural light in. Not this barn it’s quite old. There aren't very many windows at all. So in our school, the newer parts of the school are really nice because they have floor to ceiling windows in some spots. It's really, really cool.Hey, you might be wondering, what am I doing standing here? What am I doing wearing a T-shirt? Well, it's spring break. It's really windy, and I had to find a place where I could stand to make this video. So I'm kind of hiding in this kind of gross corner by the barn.I wanted to show you this, though, while I'm standing here. This is the sign that my dad put up when we had animals. It says Stop livestock at work, please obtain authorization before entering. And then this is the name of a feed company. Shur Gain. Back when my parents were farming, it was just starting to become a concern that you didn't want too many people visiting a farm. There are more and more diseases that spread between chicken farms and cow farms or cattle farms and pig farms, and it's just more of a concern. So I think back in that era, the feed companies decided they would start to give farmers signs like that one to put up to tell people, please don't go in this building without first asking if it's okay, without firstSupport the show

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO PUT YOUR FOOT DOWN and TO PUT UP A FIGHTIn this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to put your foot down. When you put your foot down, it means you're not going to agree with someone. Let's say that my kids said that they wanted to have ice cream and I said no. And then they asked again. And then I said no. Eventually I would just put my foot down and say, Stop asking. The answer will always be no. So when you put your foot down, it means you're in charge of something or you're the one that can make a decision and you're not going to change how you feel about it.WANT FREE ENGLISH LESSONS? GO TO YOUTUBE AND SEARCH, "BOB THE CANADIAN"If you enjoy these lessons please consider supporting me at: http://www.patreon.com/bobthecanadianThe second phrase I wanted to teach you today is the phrase to put up a fight. When you put up a fight, it doesn't mean that you're actually, you know, punching and hitting. It means that you're not going to give up on something. When I tell my kids they can't have ice cream, they tend to put up a fight. They keep asking. They don't want to give up. They just keep asking me about it because they..., they want to put up a fight. They want to discuss it, they want to argue. They want to try and make me change my mind.So to review, when you put your foot down, it means you're saying no to something. I guess it doesn't have to be “no”, it could be, yes. But normally it's no you're saying no and you're not going to change your mind. And when you put up a fight, it means you want to change someone's mind and you're not willing to take no for an answer. You're going to argue and want to discuss it until they change their mind.But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Irina. Hello, Bob. Thank you so much for this video. Usually I am full of energy without coffee and sugar. The river and the fields in the background of the video always calm me down. Oop! I'm somewhere else today. And my response? Right now the river is full of geese. There are probably over a thousand.Yes. It's interesting right now because the river is super, super full of geese. In fact, if you go to my other channel and look for my stories, I did a little video of them. Maybe I'll see if I can do that here as well in the next video if they're still visiting.But hey, I'm at school. It's nighttime. One of my kids had a club that they had to go to, so they're playing basketball right now. So I thought I would show you lockers and combination locks and one of the entrances. And if you look behind me, you can even see a classroom. This isn't my classroom, by the way. My classroom is in a completely different part of the school that's closed right now.But this is what a school looks like. You can see the recycling bins behind me. And if you look behind me, you can see the long, long hallway. This is a pretty traditional school in Canada. Our schools in Canada are usually hallways, lots of lockers. Students can have an upper locker or a lower locker. They prefer the upper locker. They're required to keep their lockers shut, but sometimes they leave them open. Hopefully there's nothing valuable in there.Our newer classrooms have windows, so it's just more of an open concept. We've been building more and more. When we build onto schools in Ontario, Canada, we often build rooms that have more windows. So you can see what's going on. Not all the teachers and students like that. We've had windows in the doors to our classrooms for a very, very long time. That's been pretty normal. But in the last ten or 20 years, we've been adding more and more windows to the walls just to give it more of an opeSupport the show

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO BE WIRED and TO HOT WIREIn this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to be wired. When we say someone is wired, it means they're a little bit nervous or they're a little bit energetic. We usually use this when we talk about the effects of coffee on people or the effects of sugar on kids. You might hear someone say something like this, Oh, I have a lot of energy today. I'm really wired because I had three cups of coffee this morning. So to be wired means that you can feel the effect of the caffeine on you. Sometimes people have trouble sleeping at night because they're just too wired. They've had too much coffee that day. And sometimes little kids, when they have lots of sugar, they're just wired. They run around and they have lots of energy because they've just eaten way too much sugar. So to be wired simply means to have a higher level of energy and maybe even a little bit of nervousness or anxiety as well. There's a couple of different feelings you could be having when you're wired.WANT FREE ENGLISH LESSONS? GO TO YOUTUBE AND SEARCH, "BOB THE CANADIAN"If you enjoy these lessons please consider supporting me at: http://www.patreon.com/bobthecanadianThe other phrase I wanted to teach you today is the phrase to hot wire. I don't really know anything about this phrase. I don't know how to hot wire a vehicle, but I thought it was worth mentioning because you might hear it if you're watching a show about the police or something like that or a movie. When you hot wire a vehicle, it means you start it by just touching wires together instead of turning the key. I think it's harder on modern day vehicles to hot wire them, but I think on older vehicles, if you know what you're doing, you can pull the wires out of the dash and put the right two wires together or three and the car will start without keys.So to review, to be wired, when you are wired, you are just feeling very energetic because you've had something that has stimulated you like caffeine or sugar. And when you hot wire a vehicle, it means you start it illegally without keys.But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Janith. Hi, Bob. Sir, is there a difference between headlight and fog light? And my response? Headlights put a bright white light and are the main light on the front of a car. Fog lights are lower on the front of the car and put out an orange or yellow light.So great question. It's too bad we don't have a vehicle to look at. Oh, wait, we do. So for me, I would call this the headlight. This is what puts out the very bright light that you need to see at night. And this would be what I would call a fog light. I think this is also the signal light on my vehicle. I think it does double duty. I think it does both things. Some people have special fog lights that they mount on the front of their vehicle after they buy it. We would call them aftermarket fog lights, but they're also lower down and they're usually orange or yellow.So, hey, many of you have been commenting about how you've been enjoying the change of scenery with the videos - using the phrase from the last video. I've been doing many of these short lessons in town, and I've been really enjoying that. The reason I have been doing them in town is because my schedule changed. So I teach in the morning now and then when I'm done teaching, I'm in town and I usually bring my camera with me and I just go and find some place to shoot a video.Today, though, I'm at home, a little bit of a different day today for me. I had a different sort of schedule this morning, so I'm home now. Let me check the time here. Oh, I have 30 seconds to talk, but that's why there's been a biSupport the show

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO CHANGE THINGS UP and A CHANGE OF SCENERYIn this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to change things up. Now this just means to change things. But we use this phrase a lot in English when we talk about something that we do a certain way, and then when we just do it a different way, one or two days, just to make it a little more exciting. Let me try to think of a good example. The last video, I changed things up a little bit. I just did a quick short video outside. I didn't follow my regular routine. Sometimes when I'm teaching a class, I like to change things up because I don't want students to get bored with what I'm doing. So the other day, in order to change things up a bit, I decided we were going to walk to town instead of staying in the classroom. I'm teaching a business class, so it's okay to walk to town and look at businesses and study how they do business. So anyways, I decided to change things up.WANT FREE ENGLISH LESSONS? GO TO YOUTUBE AND SEARCH, "BOB THE CANADIAN"If you enjoy these lessons please consider supporting me at: http://www.patreon.com/bobthecanadianThe other phrase I wanted to teach you today is the phrase a change of scenery. Did I spell that right? Yes, a change of scenery. We usually use this to talk about when someone moves. The reason for moving might be because they want a change of scenery. They might want to go somewhere where they live and can see other things around them. If you live in the city and you move to the country, you might do it because you want a change of scenery. Maybe you're tired of listening to traffic and hearing people yelling in the night. I don't really know what it's like to live in the ci..., in the city. Maybe you need a change of scenery so you move to the country where things are a little more pleasant, at least in my opinion.So to review, to change things up simply means to change something. If you have a routine and you do something different. On a certain date, we would say that you have decided to change things up and a change of scenery would be when you decide to move somewhere else. It's usually related to moving. Sometimes people use it in a slightly more minor way, but it usually means you've decided to live somewhere else because you just want to see different things around you.But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Oksana. Sometimes it's better than a regular lesson, or at least definitely not worse. Take care. And my response? I think it's good to change things up every once in a while.So Oksana was referring to my sliding down the hill lesson, which, by the way, I did actually end up falling. I don't know if you saw my short lesson on my other channel, but yes, I did actually end up falling. I just hurt my knee a little bit. Wow. Well, I did actually slip and fall, didn't I? Just a little bruise. Nothing major. Hey, anyways, Oksana, thank you for leaving that comment.By the way, I just wanted to show you today. Let me spin you around. I've been trying to find a place in my local town where they're actually building new buildings. This is a multi dwelling house or a multi-unit house that would be a house where more than one person is going to live. At a certain point, you can see this house is almost done. They just need to put the siding on the outside.I'll try to find a house that's earlier in the construction phase because I wanted to show you how primarily we build our houses in Ontario, Canada, out of wood. We have a lot of wood in Canada, so we build a lot of our houses out of wood. Let's do this. I'll keep talking while I give you a bit of a better look.Trying to walk as fast as I canSupport the show

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases AN UNWRITTEN RULE and A HARD-AND-FAST RULEIn this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase an unwritten rule. Now, this is exactly what it sounds like. It's a rule, but it's not written down anywhere. There are a lot of unwritten rules when you are speaking English, because sometimes when you're in an English speaking country, not just the language is different, but the culture is a little bit different. And not everyone writes down those rules. A great example would be the questions that were in my lesson from yesterday on my bigger channel. There are certain questions that you just don't ask when you're having a conversation in English. But there's nowhere to go to find that rule, it's not written down any where. It's just an unwritten rule. It's a rule that we have all agreed to, but no one's actually written them down in a rule book. It's not actually the law. It's just an unwritten rule.WANT FREE ENGLISH LESSONS? GO TO YOUTUBE AND SEARCH, "BOB THE CANADIAN"If you enjoy these lessons please consider supporting me at: http://www.patreon.com/bobthecanadianThe other phrase I want to teach you today is a hard-and-fast rule. Now, a hard-and-fast rule is a rule. It is written down. And if you break the rule, there are consequences. Consequences are what happens after you break a rule. Let's say at your job there is a hard and fast rule that you do not... Let me see... Trying to think of... That you do not. I'm drawing a blank here. Let me come up with a different example. Let's say at the movie theater, there's a hard-and-fast rule that you can't chew gum in the movie theater. That means because it's a hard-and-fast rule, if you're caught, they'll kick you out of the movie theater. Like, there are immediate consequences if you break that rule.So to review an unwritten rule is a rule that everyone kind of knows about, but it's not written down anywhere, someone has to tell you about it. And a hard-and-fast rule is a rule where if you break that rule, you will.. you can expect consequences immediately.But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Vítor and Vítor says, Hello, Bob. It is interesting how we can come up with new ideas nowadays. If one day you run out of ideas or topics for your lessons, you can try crowdsourcing or even A.I.. With crowdsourcing, you can ask your viewers for new ideas or topics they think are gripping for people. In another case, you can try something like ChatGPT or another AI. I do not know if that technology is able to do such a thing, but you can give it a try someday. In the future I think we are going to have a smorgasbord of technology doing things for us. By the way, thank you.And my response? I will keep that in mind. Right now I am around so many people, I just listen for interesting words and phrases. Maybe when I'm older and around less people I'll need some other tools.So yes, AI is becoming quite cool I think. I was playing around with it the other day in one of my classes and my students and I really enjoyed using it. It was kind of fun to play around with it. We even talked a little bit about what would be good jobs to do in the future, jobs that AI couldn't do. And we decided that teaching is probably one of those jobs, although I wasn't sure I agreed with them.But they said that during the pandemic, online learning wasn't fun, and they think for the next ten or 20 years, people will actually prefer to have actual teachers, human teachers in their classrooms doing the teachings, doing the teaching, not teachings the teaching. And I think they might be right. I think the pandemic and remote learning gave us this little view of online learning or rSupport the show

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO COME UP WITH and TO COME AND GOIn this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to come up with. But before I talk about it, sorry, I know you've been enjoying the lessons in my local town. Today I'm just out here in the countryside. Or am I? What if I was to turn the camera? You would then see that I'm actually on the edge of town. I kind of tricked you a bit. But anyways, back to the lesson. We'll walk in a bit.WANT FREE ENGLISH LESSONS? GO TO YOUTUBE AND SEARCH, "BOB THE CANADIAN"If you enjoy these lessons please consider supporting me at: http://www.patreon.com/bobthecanadianTo come up with means to think of something. When you're talking with someone, sometimes you have to come up with topics. You have to think of things to talk about. Sometimes in school, the teacher will ask students to come up with new ideas or to come up with the answer. So the phrase to come up with simply means to think of something. I have to regularly come up with ideas for these English lessons. I sit. Usually if I'm sitting somewhere and I'm bored, I spend the time just thinking so that I can come up with some new ideas.The second phrase I wanted to teach you today is the phrase to come and go. When you say that something is going to come and go, it means it's going to happen and then go away. Probably the best example I can give of this is pain. Sometimes when you have pain, it will come and go. I folded this up. I should show you. Sometimes when you have pain, it will come and go. Is that the right side? Yes, it is. I had this a lot a few years ago when I was having some medical problems. I had pain and it would just come and go. Sometimes I would have pain and then sometimes it would go away, and then it would come back. It would come and go.So anyways, to review, now that I've crumpled up my paper, when you say that you are going to come up with something it means you're going to think of something. Maybe you're going to try and come up with a funny thing to say in your next conversation. And when we use the phrase to come and go, we're talking about something that happens and then doesn't happen and then happens again. Pain's a good example. I'm trying to think of another one. You can use it for people as well. Like, Oh, he just kind of comes and goes as he pleases. That would be one.But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Judit. Thanks for the view of a Canadian town and my response? I'll try and find another good place to go today.I am enjoying finding places to go. It's really no worry and no bother. I am enjoying finding different places in my town to just pop pop out from work for a bit and make a little video. So today we're once again in another what we would call subdivision. By the way, this is the playground in the small park. And you can see here some of the houses. These are somewhat big, actually. I thought they were smaller. Maybe I drove too far. My plan was to show you some more modest size houses today. Some houses that are more the size that Jen and I would be able to afford if we decided to live in town, which will probably never happen by the way. We're too happy living out in the country.Oh, and here's a sign for you to read. I'm sure you can figure out what this means. It means if you drive down this road, there is no way to get out at the other end. You'll have to turn around. We would actually call this a cul-de-sac in English. So as you go to the end, there's just a circle. I'm not sure I'll get there fast enough to show you. But if you look at the end, there's just a few houses, and then you can kind of turn your vehicle around and come back out again. So technicallySupport the show

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO DOUBLE-CHECK and A REALITY CHECKIn this English lesson I wanted to help you learn the English verb to double-check. When you double-check something, it means you check it and then you check it again. If you don't know what it means to check something, it means to make sure it's there or to make sure it's in a certain place. Here's a great example. When you pack to go on a trip, you put everything in a suitcase, and then when you're done packing, it's good to double-check. It's good to open the suitcase again and make sure that your toothbrush and your deodorant and your underwear is all in the suitcase. I don't know why I used that example, but you should make sure you bring all that stuff. So to double-check means to check again. It means to make sure that everything is where it needs to be before you go on a trip or before you do something else.WANT FREE ENGLISH LESSONS? GO TO YOUTUBE AND SEARCH, "BOB THE CANADIAN"✅If you enjoy these lessons please consider supporting me at: http://www.patreon.com/bobthecanadianThe other phrase I wanted to teach you today is the phrase a reality check. Now a reality check is when something happens and it makes you realize that maybe things are a certain way and you thought they were a different way. I better think of a good example. Think of a sports team that thinks they are the best. Maybe at the beginning of the season, your favorite sports team thinks they are the best and then they play a team that's really weak and they lose. That would be a reality check for them. It would make them realize that even though they thought they were the best, they're not. It's definitely a reality check. So whenever something happens that reminds you of reality, that is something we would call a reality check.So to review, when you double-check something, it means you check again. I often, when I go on a long trip, I will check the oil in the van and then just to be sure, I'll check again. So I'll double-check the next day to make sure the oil in the van isn't low. And usually I'll make sure it's gassed up as well. And a reality check is whenever something happens that makes you realize again, that not everything is the way you think it is.But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Aleksey. Hi, Bob. Thank you. Finally, it happened today. I did not make a single mistake while transcribing the first part of the lesson. The trickiest sentence was at the 52 second mark. My students were so much work today because, you know, it doesn't look grammatically correct. And this pause... because I paused when I said that... so I have a hunch you wanted to say something different about your students that day. And my response? You are correct about the pause. I changed what I was going to say mid-sentence because I was going to say something a bit more harsh. I was going to say something mean about my students. Congratulations on getting things right and for noticing my speech pattern change. Very advanced. Yeah. Good work, Aleksey. That's awesome.Yeah. You know, as I make these videos, I talk, and sometimes as I'm talking, I have to think about what I'm going to say. And sometimes I have to change what I'm going to say while I'm talking. You just experienced that right there. I don't have a script. When I make these videos, I just come outside, I teach the two phrases, and then for the last bit I just talk. And so yeah, I'm not reading anything. I don't have it scripted. I just come up with it on the fly - off the top of my head.There's another phrase for you. But hey, anyways, we are walking in a typical Canadian subdivision. These are houses that are actually much nicer than what Jen and I could afford. We're in a little bit of a pricier parSupport the show