In this mini episode, you will learn the idiom “out of the question.”
Episode 264 of the Everybody ESL podcast is a mini episode that teaches you the idiom “out of the question.” Send your questions about English and your suggestions for future episodes to EverybodyESL@gmail.com! (And let me know if you’d like to record the introduction to a future episode.)
Intro
“Hi! This is Liyah, from Korea. And you’re listening to Everybody ESL.”
Welcome to episode 264 of Everybody ESL, the podcast for everybody who wants to improve their English, practice their English, or just learn more English. My name is Ben, and I have a mini episode for you today, where I am going to teach you about one English topic. You can subscribe to the Everybody ESL podcast at Apple podcasts, on the Stitcher app, and wherever you find your podcasts. If you like Everybody ESL, leave it a good review so other people can find out about it too. And if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for me, please send an email to everybodyESL@gmail.com. Okay! Let’s get on with this mini episode.
The episode
In this episode, I am going to teach you an interesting and useful idiom. The idiom is “out of the question.” Out of the question. And that is spelled out: o-u-t, of: o-f, the: t-h-e, question: q-u-e-s-t-i-o-n. Out of the question.
What does it mean when we say that something is out of the question?
If something is out of the question, that means that it is impossible. It will not happen. But more than just being impossible, it suggests that we will not even consider doing something. We will not even think about it. It is something that we will not discuss and we will not consider.
Let me give you an example of a situation where somebody might use this idiom—”out of the question.”
Let’s say that my friend just bought a car, and he loves this car. He is so careful with this car. He does not even want other people to ride in the car. But I ask my friend, “Can I borrow your car? Can I take your car and go for a drive? Is that all right? Can I borrow your car?” And my friend says, “That is out of the question.” That is out of the question. In other words, “Borrowing my car is out of the question. Borrowing my car is not possible. I will not even discuss it. I will not think about it. I will not consider it.”
In this example, when my friend says, “That is out of the question,” my friend is saying, “Absolutely not! No way. Don’t even think about it.”
You can see from that example that we use “out of the question” with a noun: Something is out of the question.
This could be a pronoun like that, or it—that is out of the question, it is out of the question—or it can be with a regular noun or a gerund. (If you don’t remember, a gerund is an -ing form of a verb that works like a noun.)
In my example, my friend could say, “That is out of the question” or “Borrowing my car is out of the question.” That’s how we use it: Something is out of the question.
And that is “out of the question,” a very useful idiom that I think you should know.
Outro
This is the end of episode 264 of Everybody ESL. Remember: if you have questions about English, or if you have comments or suggestions for the podcast, or if you would like to record an introduction that I can play at the beginning of future episodes—the same way Liyah recorded the introduction you heard at the beginning of this episode—send an email to everybodyESL@gmail.com. I’ll be back soon with a new episode, and until then, keep going, keep practicing, and keep learning. Goodbye! I’ll see you soon.