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  • Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Idioms 287. The idiom today is in tandem. Okay. Let's

  • take a look at the note here. If something happens, was purposely planned

  • or acts in tandem, it happens at the same time. Kind of like simultaneously or

  • pretty close to it or together with someone or something else. All right. So

  • something... so some people might work kind of as a team doing something together at

  • the same time. That's the idea. All right. We have a second meaning too. If

  • something is in tandem, it is in a single-file. It's following each other too.

  • All right. So let's continue. The origin of the word tandem you know, tandem by

  • itself, comes from Latin and it originally meant "at length" You know , that

  • something was longer. In the past it was often used as a name for like a carriage

  • pulled by horses. One harnessed in front of the other. So

  • two horses, two horses with one in the front and another one behind it and

  • pulling a carriage. Okay. A harness in front of the other.

  • Starting in the 20th century, they say the phrase is or was starting to be

  • mostly used to mean people working together as a team. Okay. And that's

  • pretty much... that's pretty close to the way we're using it more often now. Okay.

  • Let's continue. The noun tandem is still used today to mean a two-seated bicycle.

  • Yeah. Sometimes you hear this. You know they have that one seat in the front, one seat

  • in the back. And you know two people could ride a bicycle together. You know,

  • with both of them pedaling. That's usually referred to as a tandem or any

  • vehicles that are connected kind of like this or following behind each other. Okay.

  • Great. So let's look at several. We got ... we actually have four examples here to try

  • to cover all these ideas. Let's look at the first one. During the 2002 Bali

  • attack or terrorist bombing. Three explosions were set off in tandem in

  • order to have the greatest effect and do the most damage. Yeah. I don't know if

  • you're old enough to remember this now because it is a little while ago I think

  • they set off one in a bar which actually made a lot of the people ... but that wasn't

  • the worst one but it made a lot of people run out of the bar and run to

  • another area right where another bomb went off and then, and then the same thing.

  • another bomb close by. So it ended up having the most damage. It actually had

  • people running into the area where the next bomb was going to go off. So they were

  • all set off in tandem. Kind of simultaneously or very soon following each other. Okay.

  • Let's look at number two. His passport and working visa will

  • expire in tandem. The last time he extended his work visa the immigration

  • office would not extend it past the expiration date on his passport. So then

  • it ended up making both of them ending on exactly the same day. So they will end

  • in tandem. So together simultaneously at the same time. All right. Number three.

  • here. Everyone in that funeral procession followed in tandem. So no one would get

  • lost. All right. This is the like... the second meaning here. Moving in a

  • single-file. And then the last one. Again you know, also groups armies. The two

  • armies decided to attack in tandem from both sides to defeat their common enemy.

  • So they're both attacking in exactly the same time from two different directions,

  • You know, in order to defeat their common enemy. They both have the same enemy . All

  • right. Great I hope you got it. I hope it was clear. I hope it was informative. Thank you for

  • your time. Bye-bye.

Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Idioms 287. The idiom today is in tandem. Okay. Let's

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