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  • Hi there. My name is Emma and in today's lesson we are going to look at

  • common expressions that use the word "book". So here's my little picture

  • of a book with a smiley face. I love to read, so I'm very excited to do

  • this lesson because I love books. So let's look at the first expression.

  • In total we're going to look at 13 expressions.

  • So the first expression: "bookworm". I don't know if you can see it here,

  • but I've drawn a little worm with glasses and a book. This sort of gives

  • you a hint, maybe, as to what a bookworm is; a bookworm isn't actually a

  • worm. It's a person who loves to read. Okay, so I am a bookworm. Here's

  • my example sentence: "Einstein was a bookworm. He loved to read."

  • How many of you out there are bookworms?

  • So let's look at a second expression, a common expression: "hit the books".

  • So what do I mean when I say "hit the books"? I don't mean physically hit

  • a book. I mean study, okay? So even though the verb is "to hit" we're

  • talking about "to study".

  • So let's look at an example sentence. Now of course, I use "gotta" which

  • isn't grammatically correct. You never write this. This is more for

  • speech. I might say to a friend, "I gotta hit the books tonight." So what

  • does this mean? I have to study tonight. I have to spend time studying

  • tonight. So "hit the books" means to study.

  • Our third expression: "Don't judge a book by its cover." This is a common

  • idiom we use in the English language. "Don't judge a book by its cover."

  • So what does it mean? Well, first of all, "judge" means to criticize

  • something. And cover just in case you're not familiar with this word, this

  • is the cover of a book.

  • So if I judge a "book by its cover" it means I look at the front of the

  • book and I say, "Oh, I don't like the look of this cover, even though

  • there's a smiley face, I'm not going to read this book." So we often say

  • in English, "don't judge a book by its cover" meaning, just because the

  • cover might be nice or ugly, it doesn't mean the book is a good book or a

  • bad book.

  • So we don't just use this expression with books. We use it when we're

  • talking about food, when we're talking about people, when we're talking

  • about pretty much anything. So for example, snails... which is a type of

  • slug, look too gross (ick!) to eat. So in a lot of countries people eat

  • snails. When I look at a snail I think, "Euuagh, I don't want to eat a snail.

  • That looks disgusting."

  • But somebody might say to me, "Emma, don't judge a book by its cover."

  • Meaning, even though the snail might look disgusting, don't judge it based

  • on the fact it looks disgusting. Maybe it tastes really, really good. I

  • don't know. I've never had snail before. If any of you have, please leave

  • a comment, and let me know if snails taste good or not. Okay, so now let's

  • look at some more expressions.

  • So our fourth expression is "to be in someone's good books." So what does

  • this mean? Well, you'll notice I drew a smiley face here. If you're "in

  • someone's good books" it means they're very happy with you. They're

  • pleased with you. So here's an example sentence: "Mulan is in the

  • teacher's good books." Meaning, Mulan has done something good. The

  • teacher is really happy with her.

  • Our fifth expression, "by the book". This means to follow the rules closely

  • or to follow instructions closely. So let me give you an example. Okay

  • police officers, I've written "Police officers should do things by the

  • book." What does this mean? Well, in Canada and in the United States, and

  • in some other countries as well, if a police officer wants to search your

  • house they need something called a "warrant".

  • So they need to talk to a judge. They need to get a piece of paper called

  • a warrant. They can't search your house without a warrant. Now maybe

  • there are some bad police officers, I don't know, but maybe there are, who

  • search your house without a warrant. These police officers are not doing

  • things "by the book." They're not following the rules.

  • Police officers should do things "by the book", and get a warrant before

  • they search your house. Okay just an example, another example with soccer.

  • Maybe when you play soccer you should "play by the book." Meaning you

  • shouldn't cheat. You shouldn't break the rules. You should follow the

  • rules of the game. Okay, so "by the book" -- follow the rules closely.

  • Okay number six: "to book". So this is a verb we use commonly in English,

  • especially for doctors' appointments, dentist appointments. And so it can

  • mean to make an appointment, or also to reserve something, so to make some

  • sort of reservation. So for example, "I booked the meeting room for 3 pm."

  • What does this mean? It means I have reserved the meeting room for 3 pm.

  • At 3 pm, only I, or whoever is in my group ,can use the meeting room.

  • "I booked an appointment with the doctor for Thursday." So we use "book" a

  • lot for appointments or to reserve something. "I booked the TV for next

  • week, for my classroom."

  • Okay, so now let's look at some more expressions.

  • So our next expression,

  • expression number seven: "to read someone like a book". "To read someone

  • like a book." Can you guess what that means? Well, if you can "read

  • someone like a book", it means it's easy to tell what they are thinking and

  • feeling, so you have no trouble, very easy to see what someone is thinking

  • or feeling.

  • So for example, "My students know I'm angry, because I'm an open book." So

  • maybe my face when I'm angry it looks really angry. Maybe my voice, I

  • can't hide how I feel in my voice. So some of you might "read like a book".

  • Meaning, it's easy to tell what you are thinking.

  • This is similar to expression number eight, "an open book". So for

  • example, "Your thoughts are an open book," meaning people can easily tell

  • what you are thinking. "It's easy to read you" is another expression. So

  • what's the opposite of this? What if it's not easy to tell what you are

  • thinking?

  • Well, you would be a "closed book" then. So an "open book" -- you're easy to

  • understand, easy to know what you are thinking. "A closed book" -- nobody can

  • tell what you're thinking. So I could say, "My boss is a very closed book.

  • I can never tell what he's thinking."

  • Okay, expression number nine, this is actually one of my favorite

  • expressions because it just seems so dramatic, "to throw the book at

  • someone". So you have a book, you throw it at someone; not literally. What

  • this expression means, it's a legal term. So we use it when we're talking

  • about the law, when we're talking about going to court.

  • If you break the law and you have to go see a judge, if the judge doesn't

  • like you and thinks you're guilty, and they want to punish you for the

  • crime you did they "throw the book at you". So usually judges are the

  • people who do the throwing of the book.

  • So, for example, there's a TV show, on I think it's on FOX, called "Judge

  • Judy". And in this TV show there's an angry judge who always -- well, not

  • always -- but often punishes the people in her court. So if somebody is

  • there, maybe they stole money, they didn't pay back a loan, Judge Judy will

  • throw the book at them. Okay, so again it's used with legal situations.

  • Okay so here is our tenth expression: "every trick in the book". So what

  • does this mean? It means if you try "every trick in the book" it means you

  • do everything possible to achieve something, to achieve some goal. So I'm

  • a teacher, my goal is to get my students to do their homework.

  • "I've tried every trick in the book to get my students to do their

  • homework." I've offered them candy. I've threatened to fail them, if they

  • don't do their homework. I've given them high marks if they do it, low

  • marks if they don't. I've tried everything to get them to do their

  • homework. I've tried "every trick in the book".

  • Okay, number 11, similar to number 10: instead of having "every trick in

  • the book" we're using "the oldest trick in the book". Okay? So let me

  • give you an example, to give you sort of an understanding of this. I don't

  • know if you've ever had an exam or a test, and you were really nervous

  • about it, and maybe you tried to cheat.

  • What a lot of students do is they lift up their sleeve and they write the

  • answers on their arm or they write notes on their arm. Writing the answers

  • on your arm before a test is "the oldest trick in the book". So what does

  • this mean? It means so many people have done it before. So a lot of

  • people have done it, and they've been doing it for a very, very long time.

  • So if you do "the oldest trick in the book" it means it's very obvious what

  • you're doing. Everyone's done it before, or most people have done it, and

  • it's done too often. So you probably won't be successful if you try "the

  • oldest trick in the book". And I hope none of you have done this, although

  • when I was a kid I did that. So don't do this one, because it's the

  • oldest trick in the book.

  • Okay, number 12: "in my book". So what's "in my book"? It just means in my

  • opinion. So, for example, "She's very kind, in my book". So this means

  • she's very kind, in my opinion. Okay so I said that there were going to be

  • 13 expressions, we did reach 13.

  • I know it says 12 here, but "closed book" was actually the thirteenth

  • expression, okay? So in my book, you are all great students, and I look

  • forward to teaching you in these videos. If you want to be in my good

  • books, come visit us at our website, at www.engvid.com. We have a quiz

  • there. I advise you to hit the books in order to do the quiz, so study

  • before you do the quiz, study this video. And until next time, take care.

  • Learn English for free www.engvid.com

Hi there. My name is Emma and in today's lesson we are going to look at

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