English phrase of the day: Have a leg up

YouTube video

Hello students! In the month of February I’m going to do a special series of “phrase of the day” videos – so I’ll take a phrase I’ve heard recently on TV or in daily life and teach it to you here. Make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel so you don’t miss any phrases!

Our first phrase comes from a show I was watching that’s a cooking competition. One of the activities was baking a cake, and one of the contestants (contestants are the people competing on the show) said that she had a lot of baking experience, so she felt she had a leg up in this round of the competition.

This phrase, to have a leg up, is a very informal way to say “have an advantage,” especially in competitive situations.

Here’s another example. Let’s say a lot of people are trying to get a particular job. If one candidate has an advanced technical degree in that field, it would give him a leg up, an advantage, in the selection process for that job.

Tune in tomorrow for another phrase of the day!

Learn phrases and expressions to improve your spoken English!

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