10 English expressions and idioms with the word 'Let'

Let someone know (about something) To tell someone something; to inform

someone of something.
Example : Please let me know about it soon. Will you be coming to the picnic? Please
let me know.
Let's Say: Used to introduce a suggestion or possible example of something.
Example :Try and finish the work by, let's say, Friday.
Let's see (spoken) It means you are thinking about it, you want to discover more of
it.
Example : Do you have any idea how many people will be there? Well, let's see I
don't think I could put a number on it.
let me see (or think): Used when one is trying to remember something or
considering one's next words.
Example : "Now let me see, where did I put it?"
Let's call it a day: Let us end what we are doing for the day.
Example Mary: Well, that's the end of the reports. Nothing else to do.
Sue: Let's call it a day.
Bob: Let's call it a day. I'm tired.
Tom: Me too. Let's get out of here.
Let's shake on it. To agree on something by shaking hands on it.
Example : Bob: Do you agree?
Mary: I agree. Let's shake on it.
Bob: Okay.
Bill: Good idea. Sounds fine.
Bob (extending his hand): Okay, let's shake on it.
Bill (shaking hands with Bob): Great!
Let it (things) slide: To allow a situation to become slowly worse.
Example : We've really let things slide over the past few months. The accounts are
in a terrible state.
let someone in on (something): To allow to know about something, allow to share
something.
Example : I'm going to let you in on a little secret.
Let go: To allow someone or something to escape or go free.
Example : The kidnappers they let the hostages go.
Let your guard down: To stop guarding oneself against trouble.
Example : He never lets his guard down because he trusts no one.

Verbs + Other Verbs (#3):

Verb + Object + Verb
The verbslet, help, make, and havecan be used in an
unusualway: they can be followed by an object and
the base form of a verb (a simple verb form: no -s,
no pasttense,no -ing).

Examples:
Let me do that for you.
Did anyone help you write this report?
Bob's father made him apologize to his sister.
Please have someone clean up this mess!
______________________________________________
Special Notes: Let and Help
1.

Let cannot be used with to:

not this:
*Will your boss let you to leave work early?
but this:
Will your boss let you leave work early?
not this:
*No, I can't let you to borrow my car.
but this:
No, I can't let you borrow my car.

2.
The meaning of let in the sentences above
is permit or allow to:
Will your boss let you leave work early? =
Will your boss permit you to leave work early? or
Will your boss allow you to leave work early?
No, I can't let you borrow my car. =
No, I can'tpermit you to borrow my car. or
No, I can't allow you to borrow my car.

3.
Help is sometimes used with and object and to
plus a verb (especially in speaking), but many prefer
it without to, especially in writing):
Judy helped me finish my assignment.
(preferred by many for writing)
Judy helped me to finish my assignment.
(sometimes heard in speaking)

_____________________________________________
Special Note: Make and Have
Both make and have are often used with an object and
a base form to show causes:
Bob made his brother clean their room.
Bob had his brother clean their room.
Note, however, that
1.

In "Bob made his brother clean their room,"

madeisvery strong. The meaning is about
the same as"Bob forced his brother to clean
their room." (Bob's brother didn't want to
clean their room, but he had no choice.)

2.

In "Bob had his brother clean their room," had

isnot nearly as strong. The meaning isaboutthe
same as"Bob madearrangementsfor his brother
to clean theirroom." (Bob askedhis brother to clean
their room and Bob's brother agreedto do it.)

______________________________________________
Special Note: Get + Object + to + Verb
The verb get can be used to show a meaning which is
similar to the meaning of made and had in the sentences
above, but the grammar is different: sentences with get
use tobefore the verb that follows the object:
Bob got his brother to clean their room.

In the sentence above, the meaning is about the same

as "Bob convinced (or persuaded) his brother to clean
their room." (Bob had to persuade his brother to clean
their room; Bob's brother didn't offer to clean the room
and he wasn't willing to clean their room until Bob
convinced him to do it.)

TRANSCRIPT
Hey, guys. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on causative
verbs. Specifically, we will be looking at the verbs "make", "have", "let", "get", and
"help", and how they are used and formed in a causative sentence structure.
So first, we have the sentence, "She made me wash the dishes." So the causative
verb is "make", and here we're using the past tense. We will be using the past tense
for all the examples today. And, "She made me wash the dishes." Now, in this
situation, the causative verb "make" -- in this context "made" -- means, "She forced
me. She didn't give me a choice." So this could be your mother, for example, forcing
you to wash the dishes. Now, what we notice here is you have the subject, okay? I'm
just going to do this for the first sentence and write a little S, or what looks like an
S. You have your subject, the subject that is going to force the action or cause the
action. You have your causative verb, which we'll call your CV. And then, you have
"me", "she made me". And this will be your object, okay? So, "She made me wash
the dishes. She forced me to wash the dishes." What you'll also notice is you have
"wash". We're using the base verb, okay? So when you have the causative verb
"make", you have this structure of subject, "make", object, base verb. Base verb,
base verb, base verb, okay? Because not all of these causative verbs follow the
same
structure
as
you'll
see.
Okay, the text sentence says, "My dad let me go by myself." So you wanted to go to
a party or you wanted to go to a movie, and your dad let you go. If you "let"
someone do something, you give them permission; you allow them to do it, okay?
Now, what you notice here is "my dad" -- I'm just going to do quick underlines. "My
dad let me." And again, you have the base verb, okay? So just like "make", "let" also
uses
a
base
verb
after
for
your
main
verb.
The next sentence, "She had the students do the assignment." So, "The teacher had
the students do the assignment." Now, here, the verb "had" means "requested" or
"asked". Not really "made" them do it in the same way, but she made them do it in a
polite way. So if a teacher says, "Okay, please turn to page 25 and do the
assignment on that page", she's requesting, but really, you don't have a lot of a
choice because you have to follow the instructions. So if you "have" someone do it
or do something, you are requesting and asking them to do it, but really you're
politely making them do it, okay? So same structure, "He had the students" -- base
verb, okay? We're still using a base verb with "make", "let", and "have".
The next one is "get". So simple past, "She got me to mow the lawn." "Mow the
lawn" means to cut the grass, you know, with a lawnmower. So if someone "gets"

you to "do" something, it means they "persuade" you to do something. They

convince you to do something. So, "She got me to mow the lawn." Maybe she paid
me five dollars if this is my mom, again, all right? So look at this structure, though.
We have "she got me", and we don't say, "She got me mow"; we say, "She got me to
mow." So when you use "get" in this causative form, you have to use the infinitive
phrase of "to" plus the base verb, okay? "To mow", "to do", "to make", "to see",
okay?
And finally, we have the causative verb "help". So for example, "EngVid has helped
me improve/to improve my English." I think you guys know the verb "help". It just
means to "aid" you in doing something. So here, we have EngVid, and we actually
have a present continuous -- present continuous? Present perfect sentence. "EngVid
has helped me" -- and you can say "improve" or "to improve". So the verb "help" in
the causative form doesn't discriminate between the base form and the infinitive
form. You can use either one. Both are 100 percent correct, okay?
All right, guys. So again, what I want you to get from this is number one,
understanding what these causative verbs mean. So if you "make" someone do
something, you "force" them to do it. If you "let" someone do something, you "give
them permission" to do it. If you "have" someone do something, you "request" and
ask them to do something. If you "get" someone to do something, you "convince"
them, "persuade" them, give them an incentive to do it. And finally, if you "help"
someone do something, well, you know, you give them aid; you give them help in
doing it.

TRANSCRIPT
Hi, guys. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on subject/verb
agreement. And today, we're going to look at subject/verb agreement as it relates to
pronouns,
such
as:
each
one,
anyone,
someone,
etc.
Okay?
Now, the most important thing to know about these subjects -- and again, you have
the whole list here. You have: each, everyone, every one, everybody, anyone,
anybody, someone, somebody. These are all singular subjects. So even though you
have a word like "someone" -- you see the word "some"; you think it's plural -- focus
on the "one", "some one", "some body". This means he or she, okay? So if you have
words like these -- pronouns like these as your subject, the verb you use must also
match them. It must be a singular verb -- basically, a third person verb. Okay?So
they
all
require
singular
verbs.
So here's what we're going to do. We're going to look at some example sentences,
and I want you to identify, No. 1, the pronouns that we have discussed, and No. 2,
the
verb
and
what
form
the
verb
is
taking.
Okay?
So the first sentence says, "Each of the students is responsible." Okay. First, we
identify "each", okay?And we're talking about the students. Now, again, don't
become confused by the plural of "students". You're thinking, "Students are 'they',
so we say 'students are.'" The focus is on "each of the students", so this individual
student, that individual student, you as an individual student, he, she, he, she, he,
she. So your verb must be singular, which is why we say, "Each of the students is,
not
each
of
the
students
are,"
okay?
The next one, "Everybody loves the Beatles!" This is an opinion, of course. Maybe
you share it; maybe you don't. And here we have the subject, "everybody". And
again, you're thinking as everybody as a group, but really, you're talking, again,

"every body" -- if you take the word apart , you have "every body", every individual
person loves. So the verb is not "love", but "loves". He loves. She loves. Okay?
Next, "Do you know anyone who has a PS4?" So you have "anyone". And again,
"anyone" -- you're talking about individuals, okay, which is why we have the verb
"has" and not "have". "Anyone who has." So again, we say "he has" or "she has", not
"he
have"
or
"she
have".
Okay?
The next sentence, "I haven't met anybody who thinks like you." So here, we have
"anybody" -- "I have not met anybody" -- and again, we don't say "who think like
you". It's third person. It's singular. So the verb is "thinks". So "he thinks, "she
thinks", and not "anybody" as in, like, a collective group, but as an individual, okay?
All right. The next two. These ones confuse people sometimes just because you see
the word "some". And again, we know "some" has a plural meaning. However, look
at the complete word. It's "some one" or "some body". And again, think of "body" as
an individual, okay? So, "Someone needs to help us." So you have "someone", and
the singular verb is "needs". "Someone needs", not "someone need". And finally, we
have, "Somebody is waiting for you downstairs." So you're giving news to someone,
and you're saying that they are waiting for you downstairs. So we have "somebody".
And again, here we have a present continuous sentence. However, the first verb, the
auxiliary verb, is the verb "to be" -- "is". We don't say "somebody are" just because
you see the word "some". We focus on the "body", basically, the individual, okay?
Okay, guys. So again, be careful when you see these words. Just always be aware.
Basically, you're using the word "has". You're using the verb "is" or "isn't" or "hasn't"
if we're talking about "has". If you're using present simple sentences, you're adding
the S, okay, at the ends of the verbs after these pronouns. So again, when you see:
each, everyone, every one, everybody, anyone, anybody, someone, or somebody,
they all require a singular verb because they are all singular subjects.
And one quick point before I finish, the difference between "everyone" and "every
one" -- "everyone" refers to the whole group, and "every one" refers to every
individual,
okay,
as
a
separate
entity,
essentially.
Okay, guys. If you would like to test your understanding of this material, as always,
you can check out the quiz on www.engvid.com. Take care.

Hey guys. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on: "Dress up"
or: "Get dressed?" So these are two very common expressions that we use regularly
in English to talk about putting on clothes. However, there is a slight difference in
the usage, and we're going to look at that today. So let's look at the top three
sentences on the board, and see if you can tell me which expression I should use to
complete
them.
So
the
first
one
says:
"It's
your
mom's
50th
birthday!
You
should
__________."
The
second
one
says:
"The
bus
leaves
in
5
minutes!
__________!"
"Do
you
__________
for
Halloween?"
Okay, if you're screaming and saying: "Wait, this one should be: 'get dressed' and
this one should be: 'dress up'", ask yourself: why are you saying that? So first,
before
we
actually
do
the
answers,
let's
do
the
definitions.
So when you "dress up" for something - over here, we'll put it in the middle -, you
basically dress formally. So if you're going to a wedding you have to dress up, if you
go to a nice restaurant you have to dress up or you can put on a costume of some
kind. So those of you who maybe are comic book readers and if you have been to a
comic book convention, people dress up at comic book conventions.

Now, the other one: "get dressed" is much more general. It just means to put on
clothes in a general way. So every morning, you know, you get dressed. If you're
going out somewhere, you have to get dressed; just put on clothes. Okay? So now
that we know this, let's look at the top three sentences and do them one more time.
So:
"It's your mom's 50th birthday! You should get dressed" or: "dress up", what do you
think?
Well, your mom's 50th birthday is a special occasion, so I'm giving you the advice
that you should probably dress up. Okay? Wear nicer clothes. It's her 50th, you're
going
to
a
nice
restaurant.
Okay?
The
second
one:
"The
bus
leaves
in
5
minutes!"
So you're going to school or you're going to work and you just woke up, and you're
still not ready; you're in your pajamas so you have to get dressed. So this could be a
mom yelling at her son or daughter, or a dad I suppose as well.
And
finally:
"Do
you
__________
for
Halloween?"
Again, Halloween is a holiday where you... Well, not really a holiday; people have to
work. But it's a fun day in October where people wear costumes. So: "Do you dress
up for Halloween?" Okay? Now, again, we wouldn't say: "Do you get dressed for
Halloween?" That just means like: do you wear clothes at all or do you go naked for
Halloween?
So
two
very
different
meanings.
Right?
Okay, so now that we... I think we have the basic meaning of these two expressions,
let's
look
at
three
more
to
perfect
it.
First:
"There's
a
dress
code."
So imagine, you're going to a restaurant and some restaurants have dress codes;
you're not allowed to just go in jeans and a t-shirt. You have to either wear a suit or
nice pants or a belt. So: "There's a dress code. You have to dress up." Okay.
Today zombies are very popular, at least at the time of this video. Maybe 10 years
from now when you're looking at this maybe - I don't know, what could be popular? police officers? I have no idea. So imagine there is a costume party and it's a
zombie-themed
party;
the
theme
is
zombies.
So:
"Everyone is", everyone is doing what? "Everyone is dressing up." Everyone is going
to dress up. So you can say: "Everyone is going to dress up." Or: "Everyone is
dressing up for the party." They're putting on zombie costumes, zombie makeup.
Finally:
"In
the
morning,
I
__________
after
I
brush
my
teeth."
So after you brush your teeth, generally you put on clothes in the morning. Right?
So
you
get
dressed.
That's it. So I hope I have cleared up this... These two very common expressions for
you guys. So one more time: "get dressed", very general, put on your clothes.
Usually we're talking about when you get up in the morning or before you leave the
house, you have to get dressed. "Dress up", if it's a formal occasion, if you're
putting on a costume of some kind for a party or a special occasion.
So if you'd like to test your understanding of these two expressions, make sure you
have them perfectly, you can check out the quiz on www.engvid.com. And don't
forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel.

Hi, guys. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on "good" vs.
"well".
These are two very common words in English, and we often use them to talk about
our states,our feelings, to describe actions. And you might be wondering, you know,
what's the difference between the two? Which one is an adjective? Which one is an
adverb? Is it possible for one of them to be both? This is what this lesson is about
today. So if you've ever wondered, should I say, "I'm good" or, "They played well", or
"They played good", this is the lesson for you. So today, I have three different
situations. Each of them has a question and an answer. And let's see if you can tell
me, do you say "good" or "well" in this situation.
Okay, No. 1, "How are you?" -- probably the most common question that you can ask.
And do you answer with, "I'm good", or "I'm well", or are both possible? Well, this
actually depends on the person's intention with, "How are you?" Are they asking
about your emotional state, or are they asking about your physical state? If you're
asking about a person's emotional state, normally we say, "I'm good." If you're
asking about their physical state -- basically, are they sick? -- generally, we say,
"well" for something that relates to your physical health. So in this situation, both
are actually possible. So you can say, "Yeah, I'm good." "I'm pretty well." "I'm pretty
good." Most of the time we say "good" because we mean, again, that we are
emotionally well. When a person asks you, "How are you?" they are asking about
your emotions more often than not. Now, you might say, "Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait.
Hold on. But "well" -- I've heard that "well" is an adverb. "Well" only modifies
actions." That's not actually true. "Well" is both accepted, if you look in any
dictionary, as an adjective and as an adverb. So "good" and "well" -- "good" is an
adjective. It's an adjective; it can only modify nouns. It can only modify things,
people, places, things, okay? "Well" is an adverb, but it's also accepted as an
adjective in English. Okay, let's look at the second situation with this information.
So the question is, -"Did you see the game?" -"Yeah, they played good", or -"Yeah,
they played well"? Well, you might have heard many, many, many native English
speakers say this, or if you've watched a movie, you might have heard this too that
they say, "Yeah, they played good." This is actually incorrect because -- remember:
"good" is an adjective, which means it only modifies nouns. It modifies things,
people, places. Here we are modifying a verb. So the verb is "played". You are
describing how they played, the quality of their play. So here, you have to say
"well", okay? So if you're modifying a verb, you have to use "well" because "well" is
the only one of the two which is an adverb. Okay, finally, -"You look sick. Are you
okay?"
-"I don't feel good." -"I don't feel well." Okay, in speaking, both of these are
accepted.

Both of these are used. In usage, you can use either one. However, grammatically,
the
one you should be using is "well" since "well", as we have said, refers more to your
actual physical health, okay? So in this situation, try to use "well" more often than
"good". If you say "good": no problem. Everyone says "good" to this question, too.
It's also possible.
However, for questions of physical health, please stay with "well". For questions of
emotional state, you should be using "good", but again, "well" is also accepted. And
I'm
just going to circle these two since I circled these two as well. Okay, guys. So if
you'd like to test your understanding of this knowledge, as always, you can check
out the quiz on www.engvid.com. I'm sure you'll do... "well"? "Good?" You tell me.
Good luck, and take care.

TRANSCRIPT:
Hi guys. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on "start" and
"begin". These are two incredibly common words in the English language, and while
most of the time there is no real difference between one or the other, there are
some situations where one or the other is preferred, or when there is a certain
grammatical structure that is preferred after "start" or "begin". So let's see what I'm
talking
about
here.
In the beginning, we have, "He began/started working here two years ago." Which
one of these should we use in this situation? Should we use "begin"? Should we
"start"? Does it matter? It really doesn't, right? So for the most part -- I mean, you
can say, "He began working here two years ago." "He started working here two
years ago." But usually, there is little to no difference in most situations. In most
situations, you can use one or the other, so: "The concert started at nine." "The
concert began at nine." Whatever you want to say, okay? However, there is a level of
-- or an issue with formality when it comes to "start" and "begin". When you are
talking about a formal situation, "begin" is actually preferred. So if you look at these
two sentences: "Let us begin this meeting with a message from our president." It is
possible to say, "Let us start this meeting", but in formal situations, "begin" is the
one that's actually preferred. He's starting to annoy me!" "He's beginning to annoy
me." "Beginning to annoy me," sounds a little more formal. Like, you're just a little
more upset. So in informal situations, we use "start" more often than not. Again,
"begin" is preferred in formal situations. I'll just leave it as "S"; it means
"situations".
Now, when we're talking about machines, or when we are talking about making
something "start" or "begin", there's only one word that really works, and that word
is "start". So you can't "begin" your car. You can't "begin" your washing machine.
When it comes to machines or making something start or begin, we can only use
"start", okay?So, "My car won't start." We don't say, "My car won't begin." "I started
the washing machine an hour ago." Not, "I began the washing machine an hour ago."
So again, we use "start" for machines and for making something start. And I'm just

going to put "S/T" for something. Okay, so if you're the person who's making
something start, you "start", not "begin". If a machine doesn't work, it means that it
won't "start", not it won't "begin". So you can say, "My laptop won't start." "My
lawnmower won't start." "My car won'tstart." Not "begin". Okay, guys?

TRANSCRIPT
Hi guys. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on "as long as".
Now, this lesson is not about "as long as" in a comparative sense, like, if I say, "My
arm is as long as three rulers, maybe?" But it is about three other ways that we can
use this very common, everyday expression. So a couple things that we have to
learn about "as long as", and we'll do them in a three-step process.
No. 1: we're going to look at this sentence, and you will tell me what is the correct
way to finish it. So the sentence is, "I will remember you as long as I live/I will live."
Which one do you think is correct in this situation? Okay, well, you already have "I
will" in the first part of the sentence, so you don't really need it in the second part.
The reason for this is that we generally use "as long as" in the present tense, okay?
So: "as long as I live". We don't really say "as long as he will live" or "I will be here"
or whatever it is. Generally, we just keep it in the present tense. Now, it is possible
to use in the past as well. We just don't really use it with "will". What does "as long
as" mean? Well, in this situation, it actually means, like, "for the duration of", "for
the duration of the period". So "for the duration of my life", "as long as I live", "for
the
duration
of
this
period",
okay?
The second sentence says, "You can come as long as you're quiet." So if you have a
friend who's very talkative, who's very social and loud, and you don't want to them
to come with you to, let's say, the grocery store or in a public place. But you tell
them, "as long as you're quiet, you can come." What do you think "as long as"
means in this situation? What can you replace it with? When you look at the context,
you might think of the word "if", right? So "as long as" can also be used
to mean "on the condition that", okay? So, "as long as" here means "on the condition
that".
"On the condition that you are quiet, you can come." So think of it a little bit like
"if", okay? Now, finally, we have "The meeting could be as long as three hours!" Now,
after "as long as", we said that we can use it for duration, and this is definitely
duration, not condition. But what we are doing is we are emphasizing, right? It's to
emphasize a really long time. So if you want to emphasize a really long time, you
can also use "as long as". So we can use it for emphasis before a number. And I
apologize for my writing. I think you guys can understand that, okay? So we can use
"as long as" to talk about duration. We can use it to talk about conditions, and we
can also use it to emphasize a number like a really long time.
So I have three more sentences at the bottom, and I'd just like you to tell me how
we're using "as long as" in these three situations. "I will help as long as you buy
pizza!" So if you have a new building, a new apartment , you have just moved in a
new house, and you're painting. You need to paint your house. You invite some
friends, and one of your friends says, "Okay, I will help as long as you buy pizza -right? -- for us, for helping." So this is obviously condition, okay?So I'm going to just
put -- maybe I'll write it here -- "condition", just "con." This is a condition. I will help

as long as you buy pizza, on the condition that you buy pizza. "He can talk for as
long as 1 hour!" So if you have, again, a very talkative, chatty person, a talkative
friend, and you want to emphasize -- right -- -that, "Oh, my goodness, they can talk
forever." So here, this is for emphasis. And finally, "As long as I'm here, I will help."
So again, this is for duration -- "for the period of time that I am here", okay? So
guys, here are three ways that you can use this very common, everyday, English
expression.
I'd like to thank you guys for listening to this and listening to me for the past 100
videos. This is actually the one hundredth video that I have done on
www.engvid.com. When we started in 2009, I wasn't sure if we would ever get this
far, so the fact that I'm doing this in this year still is incredible. So once more,
thanks, guys. And as always, if you'd like to test your understanding of this
material, you can check out the quiz on www.engvid.com, and don't forget to
subscribe to my YouTube channel. Thanks, guys. Take care.