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Welcome to English in a Minute from home!
Desperate can mean things are very bad or very difficult.
Speaker A: What in the world are you doing?
Speaker B: Jonathan, I’m playing Connect Four and it’s close.
Speaker A: Isn’t that for two players?
Speaker B: Yes, but I’m alone so I have to play against myself.
Speaker A: Wow, well I guess desperate times call for desperate measures.
Speaker B: Hey, I won! And I lost.
In difficult times, we do things we probably wouldn’t have to do in normal times. The phrase “desperate times call for desperate measures” is a way of expressing this. Just to be clear, playing Connect Four by yourself is a little desperate.
And that’s English in a Minute!
*This article has been edited and reprinted from VOA Learning English with permission from Voice of America (VOA) for use in English language materials.
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