Idioms

Idiom: “when all is said and done”

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Have you seen the 2020 US Presidential Election lesson?

After about 9.40 minutes, he says:

“Do you have any idea how much the 2016 presidential campaign cost? I’m going to tell you. When everything was all said and done the two campaigns combined spent over one billion dollars”!

when all is said and done

idiom:  said when you are about to tell someone the most important fact they should remember in a situation:

When all was said and done it was only a game, not real life.

It won’t be easy, but when all is said and done, we’ll be glad we did it.

The candidates claim to have different views but, when all is said and done, they’re very much alike.

when all is set and done

Alternative for “when all is said and done:”

When all is set and done, 2 to 5 inches of snow will cause slippery travel into and out of New York City.

Take a week off

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take the (day/week) off

This means to not work, to stay home from work. You usually don’t use this phrase when you’re going on a vacation. Instead, you use it to describe staying home from work because you’re sick, because you want to rest, because you have a doctor’s appointment, and so on.

If you know how long you’re going to take off, you can say “take the day off”, “take a couple days off”, etc. If you don’t know how long it will be, you can say “take some time off”:

I think I’m going to take the day off.

I need to take a week off so I can look after my children.

It’s time to recharge your batteries…

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We have been talking about the pandemic, about health, and remote classes with your device, which requires that you charge/recharge its battery.

And what about you? Do you need to recharge your batteries?

to recharge one’s batteries

to take a break from activities which are tiring and difficult, or to rest and relax for a period of time, so that you feel energetic again:

She took a trip to the South of France to recharge her batteries.

He wanted to recharge his batteries and come back feeling fresh and positive.

What do you do to recharge?

Alone or by oneself?

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In 1958, a self-described 42-year-old kid named Robert Paul Smith penned a little book titled How to Do Nothing with Nobody All Alone by Yourself (public library), a book of advice on how to make one’s own fun, supplied with nothing more than pencils, blades of grass, handkerchiefs, rubber bands, and broken umbrellas. These are things kids can do by themselves. There are no kits to build these things. There are no classes to learn these things, no teachers to teach them, they don’t need any help from their mother or their father or anybody.

With a wink — perhaps inadvertent — to the existential value of philosophy, Smith writes:

I understand some people get worried about kids who spend a lot of time all alone, by themselves. I do a little worrying about that, but I worry about something else even more; about kids who don’t know how to spend any time all alone, by themselves. It’s something you’re going to be doing a whole lot of, no matter what, for the rest of your lives. And I think it’s a good thing to do; you get to know yourself, and I think that’s the most important thing in the whole world.

Now, alone or by oneself?

That’s a really great question because alone and by oneself are very similar in meaning, but there is one key difference. So, let’s have a look at these words, what they mean, and how you can use them in everyday English. We’ll also look at the idiom, to go it alone.

Here are the example sentences. To get the details of this English lesson, you need to listen to this podcast. And make a careful note of his comments! 😉

  • I was home alone.
  • I was home by myself.
  • Jack lives alone in Brooklyn.
  • Jack lives by himself in Brooklyn.
  • Jenny will be by herself for the first time when she moves from her parent’s house to her new apartment.
  • Jenny will be living alone for the first time when she moves from her parent’s house to her new apartment.
  • I fixed my computer by myself.
  • I baked this cake by myself. Do you like it?
  • I heard that Tommy built a computer by himself. He’s so clever!
  • My friend Lauren is good at sewing, and she even made her wedding dress by herself.
  • None of my friends wanted to go to the concert so I’m going to go it alone.
  • When Jack’s wife told him that she didn’t want to go hiking in the mountains, he decided to go it alone.
  • If you don’t want to go on the safari with me, I’m going to go it alone.