At any given time
What phrase should we do today? There were some hard words, not a whole lot of phrases. We already did “shed light on,” back in Episode 41. So if you want to learn more about “shed light on,” check out PlainEnglish.com/41. How about this one? “At any given time.”
I used to think that the dark side of the moon was whichever side that was not facing us at any given time, but that’s not exactly correct—there is one side that is always facing away from the earth. Any given time, any given moment. The key word here is “given” and that key word…well, it doesn’t mean anything. It’s just a way to emphasize that you mean, at any moment, at any time, any random time, special or not special, any time, something could be true.
At any given time, part of the moon is facing away from the earth. That means, at any time. Pick a time, doesn’t matter, part of the moon is facing away.
Here are a few more examples—and as you listen, remember that the word “given” isn’t even necessary. It’s just there for emphasis. Professional athletes can be tested for drugs on any given day. The league sends a doctor by surprise to take a blood or urine sample—it could be any day of the week, on any given day, they can be tested for drugs.
On any given morning, there could be an accident on the highway that causes me to be late for work. It’s not just Mondays; not just Wednesdays; certainly not just on weekdays or weekends. On any given morning, there could be an accident that makes me late. So I have to leave early if I have an important meeting. Just in case.
There’s a movie called “Any Given Sunday.” And it’s about professional football, which is played on Sundays here in the United States. You can watch the movie, but the main idea is that, on any given Sunday, your team can win or lose. It doesn’t matter if the other team is better—you can win on any given Sunday. There’s always the chance to win.
Your dog might want to play with you at any given moment—could be day or night, right? I’m likely to be hungry at any given time of the day. Chicago is likely to be cold on any given day during the winter, and hot on any given day during the summer. At any given time now, there are thousands of satellites orbiting the earth looking down at us, helping us with our GPS, taking pictures, giving us television, providing internet access, all kinds of stuff. At any given time, there are thousands of those things up there, circling the earth.
The great thing about listening to podcasts is that there’s always an episode available. At any given time, if you want to practice your English, just head to PlainEnglish.com and you can explore all the old episodes. You can go one-by-one using the URL, or just explore the topics by category on the web site. That’s all JR, by the way, he puts all the episodes into categories. And if an episode doesn’t fit, he’ll create a category for it. So if you like today’s episode, check out the Science & Technology category on the web site. In any given category, there are plenty of episodes to explore.
Okay, I’m excited for the next episode. Number 120, it’s coming out on Monday. It’s about the movie Roma on Netflix. So if you’ve been wanting to see that one, watch it this weekend—you won’t regret it, and we’ll talk about it together on Monday.
Use realistic expressions like a native speaker
