At Christmas? On Christmas? For Christmas? During Christmas? Over Christmas?

Hey everyone, the holiday season is coming up so I thought I'd revisit prepositions and their slight variations in meaning. 

during Christmas

This isn't used so often in North American English but the expression is talking about during Christmas vacation or during the Christmas holidays/season. Actually, it is rare to hear during Christmas being used on it's own it will usually be followed by another word such as season/holidays/vacation and is usually preceeded by THE.

I love the all the decorations during the Christmas season.

Where did you go during (the) Christmas vacation?

He's always in a good mood during the Christmas holidays.

A similar expression is over Christmas which is used with holidays or vacation.

What did you do over the Christmas holidays?

I stayed home & relaxed over (the) Christmas vacation?

for Christmas

For is used to indicate a PURPOSE, GOAL or REASON. It's not used to talk about time.

This is for you.

I got this for my birthday.

So for Christmas is talking about the reason you did something.

Dan: What are you doing for Christmas?

Alice: Well, I have to work so we'll have a special dinner on December 22nd. How about you?

Dan: For Christmas I'm putting up a ton of decorations & lights before going skiing in Switzerland!

On Christmas

On is used to indicate a specific DAY so if someone says "on Christmas" they're talking about December 25th only.

On Christmas, I always eat a big dinner.

I loved opening presents on Christmas morning when I was a kid.

At Christmas

At is used to indicate a specific time(noon, midnight, 1PM, etc.), in this case it is a time of year. It has a similar meaning to during the Christmas season.

People tend to tip more at Christmas.

I love it when it's snowy at Christmas.

At Christmas time, I always try & drink Christmas beer or eggnog!

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas!

Phil

A few vs few What's the difference?

Way back in 2009 I did a lesson about countable & uncountable nouns today we're gonna look into the difference between a few & few. Both of these are used with countable nouns. HOWEVER, they have a different emphasis.

a few

This is POSITIVE you are stressing that you don't have a lot but you're happy you have a small amount of something.

I'm happy I have a few good friends like you guys.

Do you have a few minutes? I'd like to ask you a question.

On Thanksgiving, when I went to the supermarkets they had a few cans of cranberries left! I got lucky!

Pick up a few beers on your way home.

few

This is NEGATIVE, you're stressing that you're unhappy with how little you have of something.

I have few friends in Kyoto, it sucks.

Few people came to my birthday party, it was a real disappointment.

I got few presents last Christmas.

It's important to note that this usage sounds a bit old fashioned. Nowadays, people are more like to just use a negative sentence.

I don't have many friends in Kyoto, it sucks.

Not many people came to my birthday party, it was really disappointing.

I didn't get many presents last Christmas.

Now if you want to make similar sentences for UNCOUNTABLE nouns use a little and little.

a little

Yeah, I have a little time right now so we can talk if you like.

I had a little extra money left over at the end of the month so I was happy.

Can I have a little water?

little

Hurry up! There's little time left before the dealine.

After finishing our Christmas shopping we had little money left.

A beach with little sand isn't so nice.

Again just like few, little also sounds old fashioned. Any questions?

Phil

He has a hidden agenda.

Have you guys heard this expression before? It sounds somewhat formal so it might be used in business but could also be used among friends or acquaintances (知り合い).

agenda

This word is used in French for your schedule book, this word is used in English to mean a list of things to do or consider. It's often used in British English as well as Business English.

Boss: What's on the agenda today?

Secretary: We have a meeting at 11 & then a factory tour at 2:30.

So the term hidden agenda means that someone has a hidden goal or a secret plan.

I don't trust him, why's he suddenly being nice to me? I think he has a hidden agenda.

My company was bought by an international giant but they had a hidden agenda. They only wanted our software division, now the rest of us are getting fired!

Remember, this is a NEGATIVE expression used when you want to say that a 3rd party has a hidden motive or evil plan. What they say they want is not what they REALLY want.

Have a good week,

Phil

Take it with a grain of salt.

Have you heard this idiom before? It means that you should be skeptical of something, you should have doubts about it, or you shouldn't believe something completely. You can find some example's from the urban dictionary here and in Japanese here.

Take this with a grain of salt but I've heard Sega will launch a new game console in 2014.

This means, I'm not sure if this is true but...

Gerry: My teacher said I'm his favorite student!

Kal: I think you should take that with a grain of salt he told me that last week, too. 

This means that you shouldn't believe what he said completely.

I always take online product reviews with a grain of salt, many reviewers are getting paid by the manufacturers!

This means that I don't completely trust online product reviews.

Have a great week,

Phil