sift

 Hi there, students. To sift, a sift, to sift is to separate something in a sift to separate the very fine bits from the bigger bits. So this is a sifter, if you put flour in here and you rub it, then you can sift the flour. So all the small small grains go through, and any bigger pieces are left inside the sift. That is to sift. Maybe you can sift sands to get only the fine particles, ok. So to sift is to separate the small pieces from the bigger pieces. Now we can use this verb sift  figuratively as well. Ok, so for example, if you are looking for somebody to do a job and you receive a lot of CVs, curriculums, applications for the job. Maybe you can sift the candidates, you say this one looks interesting, this one doesn't look interesting. So to sift is to separate into the bits you want and the bits you don't want. So to sift , to separate, to separate one type of thing from anohter. You can also use this to mean examine. I had to sift through all the papers  to find the information that I needed. But again this is the idea, separate the bits you don't want from the bits you do want. Maybe you made a beatuiful desert and then you sift a little bit of icing sugar on the top of it, you could even use a sugar sifter, ok, something sifts very fine bits on [the top] of sugar or very fine bits of icing sugar onto something, you can sift, use a sifter. Ok, so to sift, to use this sifter, to separate the small tiny bits from bigger bits.  But you can use sifter as well (phgritifily???) to mean to separate into the bits of something you want and the bits you don't want. I have to sift through the information to find the exact piece of information I want, yeah. Ok, so to sift, something could be useful for you, for your vocabulary. Maybe you need to sift through my videos and find the ones that useful particularly for you. Because there are so many, maybe they need (sifted??). Anyway, if you enjoy the video, give it a rating; subscribe to my channel and I will see you soon. Bye for now.

各位！to sift, a sifter, to sift就是將一些東西用篩子分離出來，將細小的顆粒分離出來。­這就是一個篩子，如果你將面粉放在裡面，然後摩擦面粉，那麼你就­是在篩面粉。所有細小的顆粒漏了下來，大的顆粒則留在了篩子裡。­這就是篩東西。你可以篩沙子，將細小的沙子篩選出來。所以，to sift就是將小粒的東西從較大的顆粒中分離出來。我們也可以用­這個動詞to sift(?)。比如，你在找一個人去做某件工作，你受到很多簡­歷，就是申請工作的簡歷。你可以篩選候選人，你可以認為這個人比­較合適，那個人不太合適。這裡的to sifte就是將你想要的篩選出來，不想要的也篩選出來。to sift就是分離，將一種東西由另外一種東西裡面就是說用將一些不想要的東西由想要的東西篩出來。你也可以做一件­好看的甜點，將一些糖霜sift在甜點的上面。你也可以用一個糖­篩在一些東西上面篩灑出一些糖或糖霜。to sift也用於將一些你想要的部分分離與不要想的部分。我必須將­信息進行sift，找出我需要的東西。好了，這就是sift,一­個可能對你的詞彙庫有用的詞。或許你需要對我的錄像進行篩選，找­出對你有用而且比較特別的東西。錄像是在是太多了，需要篩選。好­了，如果你喜歡這個錄像，留下一個‘喜歡’評級；訂閱我的頻道，­我將很快和你再見面。分離出來。你也­可以用這個詞表示檢查。我要將所有的文件進行sift, 找出對我有用的資料。

keep shtum

Hi there, students. If someone is silent and they don't say anything about the subject, they are keeping shtum. They are not telling anyone the secret. They are not talking about it. If he asks you about the price we paid for it, you keep shtum. You don't say anything, yeah, mum's the word even. Ok, to keep shtum, not to tell a secret, not to say anything about something. Ok, so if you want somebody not to say anything about something, you say 'keep shtum' about this. So let's see. Yeah, I am the best English teacher in thw world, but keep shtum, ok, keep it quiet, don' tell anyone. You could even say 'mum's the word', yeah. Ok, to keep shtum, shtum, I believe originally comes from German and it means to be silent, ok. To keep shtum, to keep silent, to keep shtum about something. Notice, to keep shtum is a quite informal phrase, yeah. And I wouldn't use it in a formal sitting or a formal writting, this is something I would use spoken, ok.  Ok, so when you are writting, don't use to keep shtum, keep shtum and say to keep quiet about it, or don't let on, don't tell anyone about it. Yeah, ok, there you go, another idiom, to keep shtum, not to say anything about something, too keep it secret. Yeah, so anyway, if you enjoy the video, give it a rating, subscribe to my channel and I will see you soon. Bye for now.


 各位！如果有一個人對所談的話題保持沉默，他們是在keep shtum。他們不會將秘密告訴任何人，他們根本就談論它。如果­­他問你我們所付的價錢，你要keep shtum, 保持沉默，你不要講任何事。你可以說‘mum's the word’來形容。to keep shtum，就是保持沉默，不要談論這件事。如果你不想某人談論­­起某件事，你可以對他說：請對這件事keep shtum。我們看看，好，我是世界上最好的英語教師，但是請k­­eep shtum，不要告訴任何人，保守秘密，當然，你也可以說mum­­'s the word。shtum，我認為應該來源於德語，意思是保持沉默的­­意思。to keep shtum就是保持沉默。注意，to keep shtum是一個很非正式的短語，我不會在正式場合或者書面寫作­­中用到它，它是被用作在口語中的。 當你在寫東西的時候，不要用keep shtum，此時要用keep quiet, 或者don't let on， don't tell anyone about it。好了，這就是keep shtum這個短語，保持沉默，不要告訴他人。如果你喜歡這個錄­像，留下一個‘喜歡’評級；訂閱我的頻道，我將很快和你又見面。

mum's the word

 Hi students! How are you today? So if I tell you a secret, Mum's the word, ok, we use this phrase in English 'Mum's the word' to mean this is a secret, so don't tell anyone. I am the best teacher in the world, but mum's the world, ok, don't tell anyone else. They use this phrase in English to mean this is a secret, so don't tell anyone, don't let on, don't let the cat out of the bag. Ok, so remeber, next time you tell somebody something  that you want them to keep secret and not tell anyone else, what you have to do is to say to them, 'mum's the word', ok, mum is the word. So there you are, a nice little idiom, mum's the word, don't let the cat out of the bag, don't tell anyone this secret. Ok, if you enjoy the video, give it a rating; subscribe to my channel and I will see you soon. Bye for now.

各位同學，你們好嗎？我要告訴你們一個秘密，但是，mum's the word。在英語中，我們用mum's the word表示這是一個秘密，不要告訴他人。我是最好的教師，但是mum's the word, 不要告訴任何人。表示這是一個秘密，不可以告訴別人。don't let on，不要泄密，don't let the cat out of the bag, 不要露餡，不要走漏風聲。好了，下次如果你告訴某人一件事，你希望他保守秘密，你需要做的就是對他說：mum's the word，保守秘密。好了，這是個不錯的短小常用語，對嗎？mum's the word,就是不要泄密，不要走漏風聲的意思。如果你喜歡這個錄像，留下一個‘喜歡’評級；訂閱我的頻道，我將很快和你又見面。

muddle through

Hi there, students. To muddle through something, we will muddle through it, ok this is to manage to do something despite problems, despite difficulties. To continue, despite confusion and difficulties. To manage to get through something but with problems and difficulties. To muddle through. Ok, a muddle is a disorder, a confusion. So to muddle through confusion, through to the end. Ok, so for example, we did a play the other day, but nobody really knew they (lions??) very well, but we muddled through it to the end, ok, we managed to get to the end despite difficulties and problems. There are a lot of financial problems in my family, but we managed to muddle through, we managed to pay the bills somehow with difficulty, not easily but with problems. Ok, so to muddle through soomething, notice this is an inseparable phrasal verb. Muddle through it, so you can't put it, muddle it through, no, that's not right, to muddle through something, inseparable. Ok, so to muddle through, to arrive at the end of process despite confusion and problems and difficulty, arriving there. So I seem to manage to muddle through this video and get to the end. If you enjoy the video, give it a rating; subscribe to my channel and I will see you soon. Bye for now.

各位！to muddle through 某些東西，我們會muddle through它，這個動詞短語的意思是某人將會設法應付某事，而不管這件事有多少問題、本身有多大的困難。不理會困惑和困難，設法應付。在困難和大量問題中，設法做完某件事。muddle是失調、困惑的意思。to muddle through，就是克服困惑，設法完成的意思。比如，我們那一天有一場比賽，但是沒有估計到他們（？？）那麼好，但是我們muddle through困難而堅持到了最後。我們不理困難和難題而設法堅持到了最後。家裡面臨很多財政問題，但是我們設法應付，我們設法去應付困難，支付各種賬單，並不容易，而且還是要在困難中做到如此。to muddle through是個不可分割的動詞短語，我們可以說to muddle through it, 但是不可以說to muddle it through。所以，to muddle through something就是處在困惑、難題、困難中仍設法應付從此到達最後一步。好了，我似乎已經設法應付而完成了這個錄像，如果你喜歡這個錄像，請留下一個‘喜歡’評級；訂閱我的頻道，我將很快和你又見面。

chip away at

Hi there ,students. To chip away, intransitive, or chip away at, transitive. Ok, this means to reduce something slowly and gradually. For example, the bills that I receive every month are more than my salary and they chip away at my savings. They reduce a small piece by small piece. So what is this chip? Well you know a chip, to eat, we all know chips to eat, but a glass or a plate, maybe if you drop it or hit it, it doesn't break completely, but you just..remove a little chip, a little piece. You could have a chip of glass, or a chip of plate, maybe a chip of stone even. Ok, so you are chipping away at something, you are removing little chips, little tiny pieces. When a sculptor makes the statue, he chips away at the piece of stone, he removes little chips piece by piece. He is chipping away at the stone. Ok, to chip away at, to reduce slowly and steadily. Ok, yeah, this is the idea of to chip away at something, to reduce it in a steady way.  If you have a very very big job that you need to do, and you can't do it all at once, I recommend you chip away at it, piece by piece by piece, so you do a little piece of the job and another little piece, another little piece. And suddenly after a long time, you've done all of it. To chip away at, to reduce something slowly and surely. Yeah, ok anyway, so if you enjoy the video, give it a rating; subscribe to my channel and I will see you soon. Bye for now.

各位！ to chip away, 這裡用的是不及物形式，或者to chip away at則是及物動詞形式，它的意思是緩慢地、逐漸地減少某樣東西。­比如，我每月收到的賬單金額超過了我的薪水，它們在逐漸蠶食我的­積蓄，它們一點一點地減少我的積蓄。那麼這裡的chip是什麼意­思？我們都知道chip是吃的東西，但是我們將玻璃或者盤子掉在­地上打碎它們的時候，它們並不會徹底碎掉，有時僅掉下一點碴，比­如一片玻璃碎片、一片盤子碎片或者一小片石頭碎片。所以當你ch­ip away at 某樣東西的時候，你將它一點一點地削減。當雕刻家雕刻雕像的時候­，他慢慢鑿掉石塊，一片一片地逐漸削掉石片，他在chippin­g away at這塊石頭，他在鑿掉石屑。to chip away at就是將某樣東西緩慢而持續地縮小。這就是to chip away at用詞的由來，穩定地縮減某個東西。如果你有某樣非常非常艱巨的工作要做，你無法馬上完成，我建議你­to chip away at 這個工作，逐漸削減、蠶食它，不停地一點一點地做。很長一段時間­之後，你會突然發現你已經將它完成了。chip away at就是要穩定而緩慢地去削減某樣東西。好了，如果你喜歡這個錄­像，請留下一個‘喜歡’評級；訂閱我的頻道，我將很快和你又見面­。

all vs whole

Hi there, students. I've just had a question asking what's the difference between all and the whole? Ok, the difference is really quite easy. We use the whole or the whole of when we talk about singular countable nouns. My whole hand, the whole cake. So we use the whole or the whole of my hand, the whole of the cake. We use whole for singular countable nouns when we are using the entire amount. All or all of, we use for singular countable nouns as well, but also for plural countable nouns. So all my fingers, ok, plural countable nouns. All of my fingers. Or we can also use all of for uncountable nouns. He ate all of the sugar, he drank all of the water. So notice this is the big important difference. We use the whole, the whole of something when we talk about singular countable nouns, singular things, the entire amount of something singular, yeah. But we use all of to talk about singular countable nouns, plural countable nouns and uncountables. Ok, so let's go over these examples again. He ate the whole cake, singular countable, a cake, he ate the whole cake. He ate all of the cake, ok. Or he ate all of the cakes, but we can't use whole with cakes, because it 's a plural. And he drank all of the coffee, ok, coffee, uncountable. He drank the whole cup of coffee, a cup of coffee, countable. We can also use all, we very often use all with all of it, all of them. So he ate the whole cake, he ate all of the cake,  He ate all of it, singular, he ate all of the cakes, he ate all of them. And notice as well, very often we use it after a personal pronoun, a plural personal pronoun, we all like good food, yeah, they all went to the cinema. But notice with this one, with all, it needs to be we, you (plural), and they, yeah, because he all, no! So we all enjoy Alex's videos. Ok, this is saying the whole group, notice a group countable. So let's recap, let's go over again. Whole for singular countable nouns, the entire amount. All for singular countable nouns as well, plural countable nouns and uncountables. Ok, and that's it. If you enjoy the video, give it a rating, subscribe to my channel and I will see you soon. Bye for now.

各位！我剛剛有個問題想問大家，all和the whole之間的區別是什麼？二者區別實際上是相當簡單，當我們­談論單數可數名詞時，用whole和the whole of。my whole hand,我的整只手，the whole cake，整個蛋糕。所以我們這裡用了whole來表示整只手和­整個蛋糕。當我們表示整體數字時，我們用whole。至於all­和all of,我們同樣用它們表示單數可數名詞，也同樣用它們表示復數可­數名詞。all my fingers,我所有的手指，這是復數可數名詞。all of my fingers,我手指的全部。或者我們可以用all of表示不可數名詞。他把所有的糖都吃了，他把所有的水都喝了。­注意，這是一個非常的分別。我們用whole和the whole of表示單數可數名詞，單數的東西。某單數東西的整體量。我們用all of來表達單數可數名詞、復數可數名詞及不可數名詞。我再把這些­例子重新講述一下。he ate the whole cake, 單數可數名詞，he ate all of the cake,he ate all of the cakes,不能將whole同cakes連用，因為cakes­是復數名詞。he drank all of the coffee,coffee，這裡是不可數名詞。he drank the whole cup of coffee,一杯咖啡，是可數名詞。我們還經常在all of it、all of them中用到all。he ate the whole cake, he ate all of the cake, he ate all of it, he ate all of the cakes, he ate all of them。同時要注意，我們經常在復數人稱代詞後面用到all。­we all like good food,they all went to the cinema。 這裡和all連用的人稱代詞必須是we,you(復數)和the­y。你不可以說he all。we all enjoy Alex's videos,這裡指的是整個團體，整體可數名詞。我們再將重點­概述一下，whole是用來表達單數可數名詞，一個整體數量；a­ll可以用在單數可數名詞、復數可數名詞和不可數名詞前面。好了­，這就是全部了。如果你喜歡這個錄像，留下一個‘喜歡’評級；訂­閱我的頻道，我將很快和你又見面。

keep in check

Hi there, students. Have you ever heard the phrase 'to keep something in check' or 'hold something in check'? This means to restrain, to maintain under control. Ok, so please could you keep your dog in check? Don't let it run around, put a lead or rope around him so that you have him in check, you are holding him in check. You chould also keep or hold a person in check. It means to control them, to stop them acting too rambunctiously, in too a lively manner. Please could you keep your kids  in check? They are running around the place and causing mayhem. Ok, so to keep in check, to restrain, to keep control over. For example I don't have very much money so I need to keep my spending in check, to restrain it, to limit it so that it's not too much, it's not out of control. So yes, the opposite of in check or to keep in check is to lose control (over?), to be out of control, yeah. You are out of control over yourself, you really need to keep yourself in check. I think you drink too much, you need to hold yourself in check and be more abstemiously. So to keep in check or hold in check, to restain, to limit, to keep in control. Ok, so anyway, if you enjoy the video, give it a rating; subscribe to my channel and I will see you soon. Bye for now.

各位！你們曾經聽過keep某樣東西in check 或者hold這個東西in check嗎？這個短語的意思是控制、保持控制的意思。你可以k­eep your dog in check嗎？你可以控制一下你的狗嗎？不要讓它到處亂跑，用狗­帶或者繩子牽住它好嗎？這樣你可以控制它，對它保持控制。你也可­以對一個人keep in check，意思是你要控制他們，阻止他們的粗暴行為，或者過於­活躍的行為方式。可以約束一下你的小孩嗎？他們到處亂跑，搞得一­片狼藉。所以，to keep in check,就是約束，保持控制。我的錢很少，我需要控制支出。­要對它施以約束，要限制，以便不會超額、失控。in check和keep in check的反義詞是lose control,失控的意思。你失控了，你需要自我控制。我認為­你飲酒過量，你要控制，要有節制。好了，如果你喜歡這個錄像，留­下一個‘喜歡’評級；訂閱我的頻道，我將很快和你又見面。