8 English Idioms to learn BY heart!

What do you know "by heart"? Who did you call "by accident"? When will you make something "by hand"? Learn eight easy, everyday idioms in English, all starting with "by". These expressions can be heard at home, at school, and at work, so understanding them is a must, and using them is even better. Learn to do both, confidently and clearly. Let's start now!

WATCH NEXT:
1. 8 IDIOMS WITH 'IN' AND 'ON': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZaFkJPMTjs
2. 5 'WORLD' IDIOMS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IufiEw4SFE
3. EASY EXPRESSIONS WITH 'OUT OF': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erA1adH1R_c

TAKE THE QUIZ: https://www.engvid.com/8-english-idioms-by/

TRANSCRIPT

Hi. I'm Rebecca from engVid and today we have another lesson on idioms. "What? Another lesson on idioms?" Yes, because you can never learn enough idioms. Why? Because they're everywhere. Right? They're at school, they're at work, they're when you go out to parties. People are using idioms everywhere. Also, when you're watching TV, or watching a drama, you're watching sports, you hear them all over the place. The sooner you learn idioms, the more advanced your English will be, the more comfortable you'll feel around people because people use them and you understand what they're saying. Okay? All right. So today we're going to focus on eight idioms, not three, eight, eight-okay?-idioms that all start with the word "by". All right? So, let's get started.

The first one: "by heart". Okay? Now, first of all, I've written all of the idioms here. These are the meanings, but they are all mixed up, so don't look there. Okay? You need to listen to me, and then we'll check later. All right? Let's do it like that.

So, the first one: "by heart". What does it mean to know something or learn something by heart, by heart? It means from your memory, to know it just like that. For example, when you were a child-right?-you learned nursery rhymes probably, little poems that people teach children, and now if I ask you, you probably know them even though you might not have said them for years, you know them by heart. Okay? You know them from memory. All right, good.

The next one: "by hand". When you say that somebody made something by hand, it literally means by hand, not by machine, that's the main point, so whether it's embroidery, whether it's making something out of wood, or making something out of stone, you made it by hand. Okay? It was not made by machine. All right.

The next one, now, here there are two expressions that pretty much mean the same thing, so you might hear someone saying: "by chance" or "by coincidence". And what does that mean? That means something happened accidentally, without any planning. All right? And you were walking down the street, and by chance you met your old teacher, Rebecca, from engVid. "I remember you." Okay, all right, so that happened by chance or by coincidence. All right?

And the last one here is: "by mistake" or "by accident". All right. So, have you ever called someone that wasn't the person you meant to call, you were trying to call? So then you called that number by mistake or by accident. That means you didn't plan to do it, it wasn't on purpose, it was a mistake. All right?

So, now let's review them a little bit. So, if you did something without planning, just happened, then which one of these idioms describes that?

It would be "by chance". Okay? There was no planning involved, it happened by chance or by coincidence. All right.

The next one, not on purpose. Okay? You didn't make that... Dial that wrong number on purpose.

You did it "by mistake" or "by accident" so when someone says: "Hello. Yes?" And you say: "Oh, I'm sorry, I called you by mistake." Okay? Or: "I called you by accident." All right.

The next one, if something is not made by machine, then it is usually made "by hand". Okay? Good.

And if you know something from memory, that means you know it "by heart". All right. Good. Okay?

Let's go on, here. Now: "by the book". What does it mean when someone is the kind of person who goes by the book? When they say "the book", they're kind of referring to the book of rules, the book of laws. Okay? So, a person who goes by the book is a person who follows rules very strictly. All of us know people like this. Some people are more relaxed about rules, and some people are very strict about the rules. And those kind of people who are very strict or who are following the rules very strictly or applying them very strictly are called... We say they are going by the book. All right? Got it? Good.

Now, another expression, it's a very commonly used one: "by and large". Okay? "By and large, how's the weather today? Is it a good day where you are, is it sunny, is it rainy"? "By and large" means on the whole, very generally, in general.