 10 English Expressions with GIVE from espressoenglish.net These expressions are examples of collocations, words that native English speakers tend to use together frequently. If you'd like to learn more collocations, check out my e-book that will teach you a thousand of them in just 10 minutes a day. 1. Give someone a break This means to stop criticizing the person, or stop being so demanding or so harsh to them. For example, if the boss is yelling and screaming at a new employee after he makes a mistake, then you could tell the boss, hey, I know he made a mistake, but give him a break. It's his first day on the job. We also have the expression give me a break, which is usually pronounced fast, like give me a break. And that can be used to say, that's ridiculous, or I definitely don't believe that. For example, you're going to read five books in a single week, give me a break, you don't have time for that. 2. Give someone the boot This expression can be used for firing someone, dismissing the person from a job, often because the person did something bad. For example, Karen wasn't performing well as a salesperson, so the company gave her the boot. Giving someone the boot can also be used for ending a romantic relationship. For example, after Jane found out that John was cheating on her, she gave him the boot. 3. Give way This expression is often used when a structure collapses. For example, the roof of the old house gave way under the weight of the snow. Saying the roof gave way means it collapsed, it fell down, due to the pressure of the snow on top of it. 4. Give someone pause Or give someone pause for thought This means to cause a person to hesitate or to stop and think carefully. For example, if you're considering buying a used car and the car appears nice but you have some doubts, then you might say, It's a nice car, but there are some mechanical issues that give me pause. That means the mechanical problems cause you to hesitate or to stop and think before making the decision to buy the car. Here's another example. When I turned 50 and I realized I still hadn't pursued my dreams, it gave me pause for thought. This realization made me stop and think carefully and reflect on my life. 5. Give someone a lift or give someone a ride These expressions mean to take someone in your car to their destination because the person doesn't have their own transportation. For example, my car's being repaired so my brother gave me a lift to work or gave me a ride to work. 6. Give credence to To give credence to someone or something means to consider that person trustworthy, thinking that you can believe or trust that person or thing. For example, I don't give credence to any claim that hasn't been proved by science. 7. Give someone grief This expression means to criticize, annoy or hassle someone. For example, I lost some money gambling and my wife has been giving me grief about it. This means she has been criticizing me constantly and trying to make me feel bad. 8. Give it time We say give it time when we want to tell someone to be patient because in time things will change and usually improve. For example, you just broke your ankle. I know you're anxious to get back to playing sports but give it time. I am encouraging the person to be patient and wait for their ankle to heal before going back to sports. 9. Give it a rest We use this expression to tell someone to stop talking about a topic that they are constantly talking about. For example, my uncle's constantly complaining about his problems. I wish he'd give it a rest. This means I wish he'd stop talking constantly about that same thing, those same problems. 10. Give someone your word To give someone your word means to make a serious promise. For example, thanks for lending me your computer. I give you my word that I'll take good care of it. If you'd like to learn more collocations, check out my ebook, 1000 collocations in 10 minutes a day. It's great for learning new expressions even if you don't have a lot of time to study. You can do each lesson in 10 minutes, 5 minutes to read the lesson, and 5 minutes to do the practice quiz. Click on the link in the video for more information.