Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO CLUE IN and TO NOT HAVE A CLUE

In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to clue in. When you clue into something, it means you've heard some small facts about something and then suddenly you realize something has happened. Jen's at market right now and I'm home today. I think Oscar has finally clued in that Jen has gone. He's checked outside a few times today. He's gone to look in the flower field and he can't find her. But I think now, because he looks really sad, I think he's finally clued in that Jen is at market. She'll be home in a little bit. So to clue in means you realize something after you find a few clues. Maybe there's a few things that let you come to the conclusion that something is a certain way. You've clued in to that fact.

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The other phrase I want to teach you today is to not have a clue. We use this to talk about someone in a very mean spirited, negative way when they are just not understanding something. So you might have a boss like this. A boss who keeps giving you instructions that don't make sense and you can't help but do the job poorly because your boss just doesn't have a clue. When you say your boss does not have a clue, it means that maybe your boss doesn't really understand the job you do. Sometimes you might have a co worker who does not have a clue and they just don't understand how things work.

So to review, to clue in means to figure something out. After getting a few little clues, you know what clues are like when the police investigate a crime, they look for clues, little hints as to what had happened. So when you clue in, you finally understand something. And then if you say that someone does not have a clue, it means they don't understand what's going on.

But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from MohdAgs at minute 3:26. Yeah, that's a cool little spot indeed. If only you could hang a hammock there. Oops, I said it. Hehe. Sorry Mister Bob. I guess I've been watching far too many Canadians lately and I might have started to pick up some of their passive aggressiveness. And my response? Hint taken. I clued in to what Mohd was talking about. Let's see what I can come up with in August for a video / hammock holder.

So Mohd sent me a gift last year. It was a hammock and I never got around to actually setting it up. I didn't hang it from a couple of trees. There are some nice trees on my property. I was going to build like a little frame to hold it, and I never got around to that as well. But I think I'm going to try that in a couple weeks. I want to do a lesson on tools and woodworking, and I have an idea for something to build. I had this idea last year, and I promised this last year already, but it will happen after this project's done.

You might be wondering, Bob, what are you doing to your house? Well, we had some drainage problems here, and so what I've done is I've dug a ditch all the way out to there. Let me give you a little bit better view of this. So I've dug a ditch, I'm not quite done yet, but I've dug a ditch all the way out to here where the ground is lower. And my plan is actually to dig that ditch even a little bit deeper yet, and then that will have all the water drain back this way.

And then if you look behind me, I've also been kind of clearing out the stone and I'm trying to get it to slope ever so slightly away from the house. It used to do that, but I think over time, the concrete in front of my house kind of settled and the driveway kind of

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Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases THE SHORT TERM and THE LONG TERM

In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase the short term. When we say the short term, we're talking about for the next day or the next few hours or the next week, like a short amount of time between now and a future situation. Sometimes we fix things for the short term. We know that for the short term the fix will last. Maybe you put some tape on a piece of clothing. No one does that, do they? If I had a little tear here, I could put some tape on there so that for the short term it is wearable. That's a bad example. But anyways, I think you get the point when you do something for the short term, or when you refer to the short term, you're referring to a short amount of time. Sometimes your vehicle is broken and there's like a short term fix. So in the short term you might just put a little bit of air in a tire that's actually slowly going flat. Flat. That's a better example.

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Anyways, the other phrase I wanted to teach you today is the long term. The long term means for a long time. So let's use the tire example again. If your tire is leaking air, you can put some air in for the short term. But for the long term you want to replace the tire or get the tire patched and repaired. So the short term would be like a quick fix, something that works but isn't the best fixed. And then a long term fix would be something that is more permanent.

So to review, let me try to explain these again. When you do something for the short term or in the short term, it means for a short amount of time. And when you do it for the long term or in the long term, you do it for a longer amount of time. Let me use that in and for phrase a bit. So in the short term, putting air in will fix the problem. In the long term though, you should get it replaced or fixed. So putting air in the tire will last for the short term. Notice I used for there. But getting the tire replaced or fixed is better for the long term. Hopefully I explained that well.

But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comet is from Vitor. That reminded me of when one of the windows in my parent's house was broken. I had the brilliant idea of removing the last pieces of glass and using adhesive tape to fill the empty space. The other day the window was full of insects. Haha. We didn't have money to replace glass, so I thought I was going to save us some money using adhesive tape. It was certainly not a good idea. And then my response, sometimes things work in the short term, but not in the long term.

So now you know the source of the topic for this lesson. I was answering that comment. Thanks, Vitor for that comment, by the way. And I used those two phrases and I thought, I don't know if I've taught those two phrases before. I think I just stepped in some mud. I hope it was mud.

Anyways, I hope you are all doing well. I'm having a rare day off, so I've been walking a lot and exercising a lot and doing a lot of physical labor on the farm. And today I'm trying to do nothing. And as things go for me, I haven't succeeded. I've actually done a number of things this morning. I responded to all the comments on the new lesson on my main channel about buying large purchases. I responded to all the comments from the previous video on this channel. I made my Wednesdays with Bob video. I went out and made that, hey, this is a cool little spot here, isn't it? And then now I'm outside making this short lesson.

So I'm trying, though, not to

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Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO GO OFF ON SOMEONE and TO GO OFF

In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to go off on someone. When you go off on someone, it means you get angry. It means you're annoyed with them. They've done something that has really, really annoyed you, and then you are angry. You might even be yelling. Sometimes people have a really mean boss and they're afraid to talk to their boss because their boss might go off on them. That's not a nice thing to do, and you shouldn't ever do that. I know when I was a kid, there was a teacher at my school where students were afraid to talk to that teacher because that teacher might go off on them. That teacher had a tendency to go off on people. That teacher would get really angry and yell for the silliest reason. So I don't do that. I don't go off on people very often. It's pretty rare for that to happen.

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The second phrase I wanted to teach you today is just to go off. I didn't want you to be too confused. An alarm clock can go off. A timer can go off. Maybe you're making something in the kitchen and you set the timer for ten minutes. When ten minutes is up, the timer will go off. It simply means that it will start beeping. When an alarm clock goes off, it starts beeping. And then when a timer goes off, it starts beeping to tell you that time is up.

So to review to go off on someone means to get mad at them, to yell at them, to be angry and to not be very nice to them. And then to go off simply means for a device like an alarm clock or a timer to start making a beeping sound.

But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Know that. And it says here, it's great that despite the constant rain, you were able to complete the installation of the new windows as planned and without any major problems or delays and hopefully without any injuries, Bob. How many windows did you replace? All in one area, floor, or in different parts of your house? Thank you, sir. Have a wonderful day. And my response, we replaced five windows and a door. I'll show the door in the lesson today.

So, yes, we got some windows replaced. The windows were 41 years old. So thanks Know that for that comment. Let me show you at least one window here, down in our basement. Maybe you can see this. There is a brand new window, all nicely installed and ready to kind of help us feel good during the coming winter months. It will certainly be nice to have a window that keeps the cold out, and then that window was replaced a few years ago.

But we also have a new door, so I'm very happy to have a new door. This door was quite drafty. I'm not sure if you know what drafty means, but when something's drafty, it means it lets the cold air in when you don't want cold air to come in.

So we have a new door here, and then we also had several windows replaced in other parts of the house. I bought this house from my parents, and the windows we replaced were the original windows from when the house was built in the early eighties. They were quite rotten and they were kind of falling apart.

So it's nice to see something new. It was nice to have a little bit of money to be able to afford to replace some of those windows. We do have one window left to replace, but yes, if you look down here again, you'll see a really nice brand new basement window. And over here, a second one. And then a few other windows replaced in other parts of the house. So I'm just super happy. Hopefully we save some money on heat this winter as well. Our hous

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Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO FEEL AT HOME and THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME

In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to feel at home. When you go somewhere else, somewhere that's not your home and you really enjoy it. You can describe it by saying that you feel at home. Sometimes when you go and stay at a friend's house, maybe it's just really relaxing and really enjoyable. And you can say, well, when I'm at Joe's place, I just feel at home. What you're saying basically is that you have the same calm feeling you have when you're in your own apartment or in your own house. And then there's an extension to this when you visit. Sometimes people say, make yourself at home or come on over. I hope you feel at home as you visit me. So a nice feeling when you are somewhere else, the feeling that you normally have when you're at home.

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The other phrase I wanted to teach you today is there's no place like home. So this is a phrase that you sometimes say after you've been away and you're home again. I'm feeling this right now. There's no place like home. I am having a very enjoyable summer. I am just enjoying being at home. And I would describe it by using this phrase, there's no place like home.

So to review, to feel at home means to have that warm, fuzzy feeling that you have when you're at your own home, but have that feeling when you're at someone else's place. And when you say there's no place like home, you're simply saying that you really enjoy being home in your house. Usually after a trip, you walk in, you set down your suitcase and you say, ha, there's no place like home.

But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Meng Ying Zhang. The river has flooded a little bit again. It seems that the water swells every once in a while each summer. Anyways, have a good day. And my response, it's been incredibly wet this past few weeks. I hope the rain stops soon. It's starting to feel a bit like last year.

So yeah, it is wet here. Like when I say wet, like concerning. It just keeps raining every single day. If you look here down at this puddle, you'll see that there are little raindrops hitting it right now. And honestly, I hope it stops soon. This is getting a little bit crazy. We haven't gotten as much rain as other parts of Ontario. Out where Jen's parents live. They're getting horrible amounts of rain. Fields are flooding in some areas. It's just not very good at all. So we're thankful that we're not in that kind of situation.

But if you look over here as well, you'll see that the river hasn't quite flooded. And I really hope it doesn't because I did plant a late crop way in the distance. There's a field way over there and hopefully the river doesn't jump its banks. But yeah, from the comment Meng, definitely the river is higher than it normally is this time of year and not overly concerning.

But you know, I was out in the flower field this morning putting posts in for Jen, like pounding posts into the ground. And everywhere I stepped, I would get a soaker. A soaker is when you step in a puddle and then your shoe gets filled with water. So right now I'm actually wearing my rubber boots. But I did realize that my rubber boots, my one rubber boot has a hole in it. So I'm probably going to end up getting a wet foot as I make this video as well.

But yeah, hopefully it stops raining soon. In fact, it rained so much the other day, I mowed lawn in the rain. You can see I left a whole bunch of little tufts of grass because I was mowi

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Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO HAVE A REPUTATION and YOUR REPUTATION PRECEDES YOU

In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to have a reputation. When you have a reputation, it means that something about you, one of your character traits is so strong that people think about you when they think about that character trait. Let me try to explain this a little bit better. I think I'm a nice teacher. I think I have a reputation as being a nice teacher. You'd have to ask my students to find out for sure. But when people think of me, I hope that I have a reputation of being very nice and kind. You might know someone who's just really mean, and they have a reputation of being mean. So you might have someone in your neighborhood who always yells from their front porch or is never happy, and they have a reputation of being kind of grouchy all the time. So when you have a reputation, it means that your strongest character trait is something that is very obvious about you.

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The other phrase I wanted to teach you today is your reputation precedes you. What this means is that you know something about someone before you actually meet them. If I was to meet the prime minister of Canada, his reputation precedes him. He seems to be a nice person, although right now some people don't like him and we might be having an election in a while and I'm not sure he'll get in again. But I think his reputation is that he's somewhat kind and nice to people. We'll see if Canadians find their way into the comments below and disagree with me. But anyways, when your reputation precedes you, it means that before you even meet someone, you kind of know something about them.

So to review to have a reputation means that you're known for a certain thing. Maybe you're known as being very athletic and very aggressive when you play sports, you have a reputation of being a good athlete. And then your reputation precedes you. Simply means that people know something about you before you meet them. If Wayne Gretzky came to play hockey with me, his reputation precedes him. I already know he's going to be a better hockey player than me.

But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video, an extremely crumpled up comment. The pockets in my shorts are very small, so the comment gets crumpled. From Ruslan I guess teacher Bob had no road rage because all drivers know if they mess with teacher Bob, they will never pass the ielts test. And then Judit or Aerosmith77 has a good laugh. Ha ha ha. And then my response is, my reputation precedes me. So now you can see how I come up with the ideas sometimes. So, as I responded to Ruslan's comment. Thanks, by the way, Ruslan, I had the thought, oh, I should do a lesson on the phrase my reputation precedes me.

Well, hey, we just got done getting a lot of rain. I was going to use an inappropriate word there, but maybe I should do a lesson someday on inappropriate words. We just got a lot of rain. In fact, we got, I think, two and a half inches. If I spin you around, not sure you can see all the way across the river, but there's water in the field over there where there's normally not water. Somehow the rain came endlessly. So, as I mentioned, it was Hurricane Beryl. We got the remnants of it. So the last little bit. So it rained most of the day yesterday. It was kind of an interesting day. At one point thought, I hope it stops raining soon. When it started, I was happy because it will make everything grow nicely. But at a certain point, I was like, okay, this is getting to be a little bit much. A little b

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Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases ALL THE RAGE and ROAD RAGE

In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase all the rage. When something is all the rage, it means everyone is doing it or everyone is wearing it. In my world, people who are my age, it's all the rage to wear dad shoes. I'll put a picture here of what dad shoes look like, but they're all the rage. But something funny happened because now those shoes are also popular with young people. So it's all the rage to wear New Balance shoes. But it used to be a white pair of New Balance shoes was considered a pair of dad shoes, and they were all the rage for people my age, but now they are for younger people, too. So when something's all the rage, it's very, very popular.

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And then the term road rage. I didn't experience any road rage on my way home from visiting Brent. I was on the highway for about ten or 11 hours. It was quite a long drive and no one got angry with me. Road rage is when you cut someone off or when you do something to make another driver angry. And then that anger that they experience we call road rage. So I myself did not get angry at anyone, nor did anyone get angry at me. So there was no road rage on my trip.

So to review when something's all the rage, it means it's very, very popular. And then let me think of something else that's all the rage. I imagine when they invented sunglasses many, many years ago, they were all the rage. I imagine everyone was wearing sunglasses the year they were invented. And then road rage would simply be anger that is taking place while you're driving. Usually someone gets angry with you and you call it road rage.

But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Tammy. Tammy says you both look like twin brothers. Have a safe trip all the way to Canada. Please take a coffee break if you like. Thank you both for this new video. And my response: I stopped multiple times on the way back. I left really early, but as the day went on, I found I needed breaks more often. I still made good time, though, and was able to return the car rental before 05:00 p.m. that day. So, Tammy, thanks for that comment.

And yes, I did take breaks, quite a few breaks. So I started. For those of you that don't know, I was visiting Brent and I left at 05:00 a.m. last week, Friday. And I actually drove for some pretty long stretches. I drove from five till eight without stopping. Then I drove from eight till about noon, 1130 noon. Two really long stretches. But after that I started to get a little bit, not drowsy, but I just got physically tired. Like between you and me, I'll just tell you, my butt was getting sore from sitting in the car for so long.

So I started to stop like every hour or even less than every hour. So I think I stopped at every single rest stop in New York. Well, no, I think every other. Okay. And I didn't always buy anything. And usually I just walked. I probably looked kind of funny. I was the guy doing loops at the rest stop. But hey, it's really good to be home. It was nice too, because like I said, I was able to return the rental car and I saved myself $30 by bringing it back the same day I drove home instead of the next morning. So that was kind of nice. And what else was I going to say? I was really tired the next day. It surprised me how simply sitting in a car and really doing nothing can be quite tiring. So last week, let me get this all straight, the days in my head. Last week, Saturday, I didn't do much. I was pretty lazy. I just kind of... I did go for a walk to kind of loosen up my legs again. But yeah, it was a good drive back and I

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Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases HOMEWARD BOUND and A STRAIGHT SHOT

Hey, it's been a lot of fun hanging out with Brent. Today's the day where I might be leaving later today. I might be leaving tomorrow morning. I'm gonna be homeward bound. So homeward bound means that you are on your way home. Right, now, so do you think that you're going to stop along the way? It's a twelve hour drive. Maybe you'll get tired and stop halfway. I might stop halfway, or I might do it in a straight shot. So that would mean that I'm going to drive for 11 hours straight. I don't think that's going to happen, but you probably should know that word anyway.

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So later today or tomorrow I will be homeward bound. I think there's a song homeward bound. There is. It's by Simon and Garfunkel. It's a great song. Is it the name of the song? It is, yes. I think there's a book or a movie that involves animals. Oh, there might be a dog that runs away from home and then eventually is home but, anyways, there's definitely a song. There might be a movie with that little phrase in it. And then this one's a little more obscure, maybe. I don't think a lot of people use this, but I might do it in a straight shot.

But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. You can talk if you want, Brent, while I look for the comment. Yeah, I'll talk about straight shot. I think we almost just use that with travel and a lot of times with driving. Yes. Like with a plane, you would use like layover. You would use different terminology. Definitely. Yeah. Because often you'll be like, it's a three hour drive. I'm going to leave at six and do it in a straight shot. I'm just going to go straight there.

From Maxim Dear Bob, I hope you are doing well. I want to thank you for your amazing English lessons on YouTube. I watched all of your episodes when I was living in Ukraine. Your lessons helped me learn English and prepare for that ielts exam. Now I live and work in London, Ontario, Canada. And I think you might have been on a live stream recently mentioning that. Thank you so much for your help and teaching. It made a big difference in my life. Best regards, Maxim and my response. So cool that you're living in London. Welcome to Canada. I'm actually out that way every once in a while. Congrats on passing your ielts.

So two things there. Ielts. That's a pretty good accomplishment. Absolutely. Sounds like a dream come true. Very cool. Congratulations on that. And then London, Ontario. Have you ever been there? I've not. When I hear London, I automatically think England. Yes. There's a lot of places in Canada and the United States that kind of harken back to England. So it's kind of a funny thing. Let's walk this way. I'm supposed to walk and talk during this part of the lesson. I almost forgot. Love it. London, Ontario. There's also a Stratford, Ontario. There's a Stratford in England as well. The Stratford in Ontario also has a theater. And you can go watch Shakespeare there and, yeah, definitely you can see the origins of those countries.

Brent. Yep. Where are... what are we standing in front of? What is all this? So my brother loves wood and he has a lot of wood that he chops up. Some he sells to other people, some he actually uses to heat his house in the winter. Oh, yeah, we're in Maine. And if you look over here, this makes sense to me. Lots of firewood back there and then back over there. Lots of trees. Definitely. Pretty cool. Um, I noticed though that this. So Brent lives in a city? Yeah... Town? City? ...small city. Yeah, large town. So in a real city, there's lots of pav

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Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases FINALLY DONE and FINELY DONE

In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase finally done. Now, I used this phrase, actually, in yesterday's video. I think I said something like, the school year is finally done. And this simply means that something that you want to be finished has actually finished. And maybe you've been waiting for that for a long time. Maybe you're studying English and you're finally done studying for an exam that you have coming up. Maybe you're working at a job on a big project and it's taken months, but you're finally done and you're happy because you can move on to something new. So when something is finally done, we often use that phrase. We just say, oh, it's finally done. Or I'm so happy that the school year is finally done. That would be another good example.

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The second phrase I want to teach you today is finely done. Now, that might sound the same to you, but it's not. Finally done. Finely done. There's one less syllable here. When something is finely done, it means it's done with a high degree of precision, and it's just done really well. The best thing I can think of is if you buy an expensive car and it has a leather steering wheel. The work on the steering wheel is very finely done. They've probably stitched it very precisely. It's probably done in a way where it looks really, really good. You would say that it's finely done.

So to review, when something is finally done, you're just happy that it's over. Sometimes I'm sad, though, when the school year is finally done. But mostly I'm happy. Actually, that's not true. I'm usually not ever sad when the school year is done. And when something is finely done, it means it's done well. Like, if you think about the stitching around the pockets of your pants, it's very finely done. It's done with precision and accuracy. So one more time, just so you can hear the difference. Finally done. Finally done. And finely done. Finely done. I know to your ear they might sound very similar, but they are definitely different in pronunciation and meaning.

But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Ünsal. Hello, teacher Bob. I'm so glad to see you. I will be looking forward to your trip to the USA, and I'm already curious about what you will do with teacher Brent. Have you made any plans for what you will do together, or will it be spontaneous? Have a great day. Bye. And my response, we haven't made any specific plans yet, but I'm sure we'll think of something.

So, no, we haven't really talked too much about this trip. Brent's actually been on a trip of his own and so it hasn't been like a good time. I've been busy. He's been away to Iceland and Poland and Turkey, I think were the three places that he went. I'm pretty sure he's on his way home now. I did text him a little bit yesterday and we finalized some little parts of the plan, but no, I'm not sure yet what exactly we will be doing. It should be fun. We'll have to see. I'm excited to go, though. I think it will be a lot of fun. But I have a few things to do around here before I head out next week and then I'll be on the road. I will hit the road and drive to Maine, so that will be fun.

A few things around here, though, that I wanted to show you, in particular, I love it when flowers really start to take off, when they start to bloom. In English, when you say something is taking off, it means it's doing well or growing well or things are just going well. So you can see here sunflowers, they grew like crazy. These aren'

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