The ways we use just one word

[Dawood Usmani]

Originally Posted by PROESL

To help develop fluency in English, it's, of course, important to learn new words. However, it's also important to know the ways in which we use words in combination with other words. From the simplest English words, it is sometimes possible to learn a number of expressions simply by knowing how a word is used. So what does it mean to really know a word? Knowing a word means understanding a number of common ways in which it is used by native speakers of English.

Let's start with the word "flip". How do we use "flip"? Here are a few ways.

flip a coin
flip out
flip an egg
flip a burger
flip a house
be flip

Post questions about these expressions. When we finish with the word "flip", we can move on to another word. If you know of other ways to use the word "flip", add them to the list.

[anupumh]

hey I m not aware of all these terms.. whenever you please a mention a sentence which illustrates its usage..

[Dawood Usmani]

How about
flip over/on/off?

[misiania]

Originally Posted by PROESL

It's time to move on to another word. The new word is "out".

check it out
check-out counter
leave it out
take it out
take-out orders
out and about
out of the blue
out of nowhere
out to lunch
out back
outback
go all out
go out
talk something out
move out
have a falling out
speak out
outspoken
talk out loud


Got any more?

what if we do?
here it comes.....

out of sight
out of sight, out of mind
out of the way
out of this world
out of order
on the outs (informal)
out for (revenge) or out to (out to get me)
bring out
come out
out of work
hand it out
out of hand
left out
out like a light bulb
out for the count
out cold



'out of bread and rice' - I have never heard it before, care to explain, pretty please

[PROESL]

We're out of bread. = We don't have anymore bread. We ate it all. We have to buy more.

We're out of rice. = We don't have anymore rice. We cooked and ate all of it. We have to buy more.

[PROESL]

Originally Posted by misiania

what if we do?
here it comes.....

out of sight
out of sight, out of mind
out of the way
out of this world
out of order
on the outs (informal)
out for (revenge) or out to (out to get me)
bring out
come out
out of work
hand it out
out of hand
left out
out like a light bulb
out for the count
out cold



'out of bread and rice' - I have never heard it before, care to explain, pretty please

Those look good. Got any questions about any of them?

(We use "got" colloquially in place of "have you got" for a yes-no question. It's informal and used regularly.)

[PROESL]

Originally Posted by dawoodusmani

How about
flip over/on/off?

Yes, we can flip a pancake over or flip an egg over.

flip on - flip off - Those aren't exactly familiar to me, but I would say they might mean, or are similar to, "turn something on" or "turn something off", such as a light switch or something similar.

[indonesia]

Quite a common saying my mum used to say was, 'for crying out loud'. Don't really hear it so much nowadays though. My own entry would be 'sold out', which I suppose we could use in a couple of different contexts.

[PROESL]

Originally Posted by indonesia

Quite a common saying my mum used to say was, 'for crying out loud'. Don't really hear it so much nowadays though. My own entry would be 'sold out', which I suppose we could use in a couple of different contexts.

I don't hear "for crying out loud" either these days. Yes, "sold out" can mean a couple different things.

[misiania]

Originally Posted by PROESL

We're out of bread. = We don't have anymore bread. We ate it all. We have to buy more.

We're out of rice. = We don't have anymore rice. We cooked and ate all of it. We have to buy more.

hehe I thought we're out of bread/rice has got a different, hidden meaning. Other than that I know the meaning 'to be out of something'
Thanks PROESL

What about 'hear me out'?