English measures time with pictures: a nick, an eleventh hour, a blue moon, a clock you go around. Each one tells you something a number cannot — how close it was, how rare it is, how long it has been going on.
1. Sofia is walking
Gita: Sofia's walking.
Abel: Already?
Gita: Since Tuesday. She's eleven months.
Abel: Time flies. I remember the photo from the hospital.
Gita: That was last September.
Abel: Exactly.
2. Running for the train
Nora: Did you get it?
Ravi: In the nick of time. The doors closed behind me.
Nora: You ran?
Ravi: From the ticket machine to platform six.
Nora: One day that won't work.
Ravi: One day I'll leave earlier.
3. A change to the contract
Yuki: They changed the price.
Paulo: When?
Yuki: Yesterday. At the eleventh hour, after eight weeks of talking.
Paulo: Did you sign?
Yuki: Not yet. I want a night to think.
Paulo: Take two.
4. Starting a degree at forty-one
Rina: I signed up for the course.
Dev: The one you looked at in March?
Rina: That one. I'm forty-one and starting a degree.
Dev: Better late than never.
Rina: That's what my daughter said. She's doing hers too.
Dev: Do the homework together.
5. Leaving for the airport
Pia: What time's your flight?
Otto: Six. I'm leaving at four.
Pia: That's cutting it close.
Otto: The airport's twenty minutes away.
Pia: On a Friday it isn't.
Otto: Three thirty, then.
6. The cousin outside
Gil: Is that your cousin's car?
Wren: It is. He's here for two days.
Gil: I've never met him.
Wren: He comes once in a blue moon. Christmas, maybe.
Gil: Then say something nice while he's here.
Wren: I'm making dinner. That's nice enough.
7. The last box in the van
Lars: That's the last box.
Mina: There are three more in the van.
Lars: Tomorrow. Let's call it a day.
Mina: It's only six.
Lars: We started at seven this morning.
Mina: You win. Tomorrow.
8. The plant at night
Femi: Do they shut the plant at night?
Ines: Never. It runs around the clock.
Femi: Three shifts?
Ines: Three shifts, seven days. The machines cost too much to stop.
Femi: When do they clean them?
Ines: Sunday morning, for four hours.
Words to know
| time flies | time passes much faster than you expect Time flies. I remember the photo from the hospital. |
| in the nick of time | just before it was too late In the nick of time. The doors closed behind me. |
| at the eleventh hour | at the very last moment, after a long wait Yesterday. At the eleventh hour, after eight weeks of talking. |
| better late than never | doing something late is still better than not doing it Better late than never. |
| cut it close | to leave yourself almost no spare time That's cutting it close. |
| once in a blue moon | very rarely He comes once in a blue moon. Christmas, maybe. |
| call it a day | to stop working and finish for the day Tomorrow. Let's call it a day. |
| around the clock | all day and all night, without stopping Never. It runs around the clock. |
Quick practice
Complete each sentence with an idiom from the conversations above. Change the form if you need to.
1. Abel could still remember the hospital photo, so when Sofia started walking he said ________.
(time passes very fast)
2. Ravi got on the train just before the doors closed. He got on ________.
(just before it was too late)
3. After eight weeks of talking, they changed the price ________.
(at the very last moment)
4. Rina started a degree at forty-one, and Dev told her ________.
(late is better than not at all)
5. Otto planned to leave two hours before a six o'clock flight, and Pia said he was ________.
(leaving almost no spare time)
6. Wren's cousin visits at Christmas, and almost never otherwise. He comes ________.
(very rarely)
Show the answers
1. time flies 2. in the nick of time 3. at the eleventh hour 4. better late than never 5. cutting it close 6. once in a blue moon
Common mistakes
Not: We got there in the nick of the time.
Say: We got there in the nick of time.
No article before time. A nick is a tiny cut, and the idiom means you slipped through a cut in time that was only just wide enough. Add the and the phrase stops sounding like English.
Not: They called us at the eleven hour.
Say: They called us at the eleventh hour.
It has to be the ordinal, eleventh. The idiom comes from the last hour of a twelve-hour working day, so it names a position, not a quantity.
Not: It's late — let's call it the day.
Say: It's late — let's call it a day.
A day, not the day. You are giving a name to the amount of work done, which could be any day. The would point at one particular day and breaks the idiom.
Your turn
Say your answers aloud before writing them. For the time idioms, try to include the real number of minutes or years — it makes the idiom land harder.
- Think of a child you know who grew up fast. Use time flies and say how long ago you last saw them.
- Describe a time you arrived in the nick of time. What would have happened one minute later?
- Who do you see once in a blue moon? Say when you last met and why it is so rare.
- You and a colleague have been working since seven. Write what you would say to call it a day, and what the colleague might answer.
- Write two sentences about a place near you that works around the clock — a hospital, a bakery, a petrol station.
Quick review
Four of these are about being late, and they are not the same. In the nick of time means you made it. Cut it close means you made it but should not have tried. At the eleventh hour means somebody else made you wait and then moved at the end. Better late than never means you missed the moment completely and did it anyway — and it is the only one of the four that is kind. The others measure a different thing: time flies looks backwards, once in a blue moon counts how often, around the clock means it never stops, and call it a day is how you choose to stop. Notice that three of them contain a fixed number or fixed article — the nick, the eleventh, a day. Those small words are the part learners drop first.