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President Donald Trump used an interesting phrase in his recent tweet, when he said "the Fake News is at it again".

Now, what does that mean when you're said to "be at it again"? If you are at it again, you're doing something which you've done before, and which is neither agreeable nor acceptable.

For example, you and your little brother are fighting, and your mother may say, "Are you at it again? Why can't you be nice to each other?" Now their mother's complaining. Actually she can complain just about anything. So now it's the boys' turn to say, "Oh, well, Mom is at it again".

Going back to Mr. Trump, he is constantly criticizing the mainstream media such as CNN and The New York Times. So when he said "the Fake News is at it again", I thought "HE is at it again".

Well, that aside, this is a good phrase to learn. So let's practice together. Please repeat after me:

They are at it again.

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When you want to refer to a popular proverb or saying, you can introduce it by saying "You know what they say". For example, "You know what they say, a friend in need is a friend indeed." "You know what they say, you scratch my back and I'll scrath yours."

Just in case, the first one means a friend who helps you when you really need help is a true friend. The second one? You help me and I'll help you.

In a real conversation, if the saying is really famous, people may just say the first part of it, instead of saying it all, because everyone knows the rest of it. For example, "You know what they say, while the cat's awsay…." or "You know what they say, when in Rome…." If these proverbs are not familiar to you, come visit our website on Thursday and find out the rest of them.

For now, let's practice the phrase together. Please repeat after me:

You know what they say.

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Last time I used the idiom "out of the blue". Are you familiar with the expression? If something happens "out of the blue", it's completely unexpected; it happens suddenly or without warning.

People love to use idioms and proverbs when they give a speech or presentation. And when my client use one in a business meeting, as an interpreter, I must recognize it and come up with a similar expression in Japanese, instantly.

A little while ago, I was translating for a group of business people from the US and one of the gentlemen said in a meeting, "You don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater". This is a very popular English proverb. And here's a question for you: What Japanese equivalent did I use to deliver the same message? To find the answer, come visit our website.

For now, let's practice the phrase together. Please repeat after me:

It came to me out of the blue.

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My mother is learning English. She takes private lessons once a week, plays audio CDs for English learners, while doing the dishes or laundry. She used to play Fujiko Hemming.

When I visited her over the weekend, quite out of the blue, she said, "What do you fancy for dinner, my dear?" Obviously, she has chosen to learn British English because Americans reraly use the word "fancy".

Instead of saying "Do you fancy a cup of tea after dinner?" or "Do you fancy going to the cinema tonight?", they would say, "Would you like a cup of tea after dinner?" or "Do you want to go to the cinema tonight?"

Fancy as an adjective means expensive or not plain but decorative. For example, we stayed in a fancy hotel in Paris. Or, I just want something simple, nothing fancy.

Anyhow, do you fancy learning some British English? Please repeat after me:

What do you fancy for dinner?

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A couple of days ago I had a chance to chat with a gentleman from London. And somehow we came to talk about "mind the gap", which is one of London's most famous tube announcements advising passengers to beware of the gap between the train and the platform. The verb "mind" in this instance means to "be careful of" or "pay attention to".

The verb "mind" also means to be annoyed or worried by something, and often used in questions for making requests or getting permission, as in "Would you mind if I use your phone?" Answering this question can be tricky. If you agree to let me use your phone, then your answer should be "NO" rather than "YES" because you do NOT mind if use your phone. Get it?

Well, I'll continue to discuss to deal with "would you mind" questions on our website. So please come visit on Thursday.

In the meantime, why don't you try a quiz? You'll be given three options. Please listen carefully and choose the one that is TRUE. Ready?

"Mind the gap" means to:

1. be careful of the gap.

2. remind me of the gap.

3. remember the gap.

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I had a busy week last week, assisting a group of business people from the United States as an interpreter.

They're presenting tons of documents, slides and spreadsheets. They often had trouble locating the right files, switching from one folder to another, clicking this file and that file. And one of the gentlemen, while operating his laptop, kept saying "bear with me"

Are you familiar with the expression? It's used as a polite way of asking someone to be patient while you do something. For example, if you just bear with me for a few more minutes, I'll find the right file for you.

Now, be careful with the spelling of the word "bear". It's B-E-A-R, and not B-A-R-E. They sound exactly the same but you'd find yourself in a very embarrassing situation if you mix tem up.

Well, would you like to try a quiz? You'll be given three options. Please listen carefully and choose the one that is TRUE. Ready?

If someone asks you to bear with him, he's asking you:

1. to help him.

2. to come with him.

3. to wait.

Hi everyone! Thank you for tuning in to Time for English.

I recently talked about the idiom "get rid of" on twitter when President Trump suggested the filibuster rule should be gotten rid of. I want to discuss it here again in case you missed it there.

So, what does this idiom mean? If you get rid of something, you throw it away or dispose of it. For example, when you're moving, you may need to get rid of your old furniture or old clothes. It may be time to get rid of your old car too, and get a new one.

Get rid of can be used for things that are not tangible, like get rid of bad habits, get rid of smoke smells, or get rid of pains and feelings.

Interestingly, you can get rid of a person as well. I'll talk more about it on Thursday. So please come visit our website.

In the meantime, let's practice the phrase together. Please repeat after me:

I got rid of my old car.

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Last week I used the sentence "you can eat to your heart's content". Today, I want to talk about this idiom "to your heart's content".

If you feel content, you're satisfied and you're happy. If you do something enjoyable to your heart's content, you do it as much as you like.

Let me give you some example sentences. When the parents aren't home, kids want to play video games to their hearts' content. I wish I could spend the whole week just sitting back and reading to my heart's content. Mary enjoyed shopping to her heart's content while John went to the lake and fished to his heart's content.

You may want to write your own example sentences to make sure you know what the phrase means and how it's used.

In the meantime, why don't you try a quiz? You'll be given three options. Please listen carefully and choose the one that is TRUE. Ready?

When you do something to your heart's content, it's most likely that you feel:

1. frustrated.

2. pleased.

3. sick.

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Are you familiar with the expression "help yourself"? You may have heard this phrase when you're invited to dinner by a friend. There's a whole bunch of food on the table and your host says "Help yourself". That means "Enjoy your meal". In other words, you can eat, without asking, to your heart's content.

If you want to be more specific about what's offered to eat or drink, you can do so by using the preposition "to". For example, help yourself to some coffee. Help yourself to some ice creasm. Help yourself to anything in the fridge.

In fact, you can use this phrase for offering anything. It doesn't have to be food or drink. For example, your friend says, "Can I use your phone?" If it's okay, you can say, "Sure, help yourself".

Now, would you like to practice together? Please repeat after me:

Help yourself.

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Let's say you're trying to remember someone's name. You're sure you know it. You think you can remember it any minute, but you're unable to bring it to mind. I imagine everyon's familiar with this kind of memory lapses.

Actually that happened to me recently. I was trying to remember the name of the book written by a French author, in which a girl called Chloe got a strange disease with a water lily growing in her lung. I definitely knew the title of the book but I just couldn't remember it.

Now, there's an iditom you can use when you can almost but not quite remember something. When it happens, people often say "it's on the tip of my tongue".

Anyhow, let's practice it together so that you can remember this saying instantly when you can't remember something.

Please repeat after me:

It's on the tip of my tongue.