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  • Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Idioms 285. The idiom today is to be at liberty

  • to do something. Okay. Let's take a look at the note here. If someone says that he

  • or she is at liberty to do something, it means that they have the right or

  • permission to do a particular thing or they've been given the permission to do

  • a particular thing. So they are at liberty to do it. It is used in a formal

  • sense and it's probably more often heard in the negative than in the positive. So

  • what does that mean ? You're a little more likely to hear somebody says that they

  • are not at the Liberty to do something than they would say I am at the Liberty

  • to do something. Okay. Let's continue. The origin comes from the

  • Latin word" Libertatem ' which meant civil or political freedom and free from

  • restraint. So free from limits. Free from restraint. It was passed down to English

  • from the French word " Liberte " Okay. Meaning freedom or free will. Okay. So it

  • worked its way into English this way and we got four, four examples here today.

  • Here's the first one. Now the first one is not a negative. Your offer is below

  • the amount I am at liberty to accept. I will discuss your offer with the boss

  • and get back to you. So she's saying that it's below the offer she's at Liberty. So

  • the boss probably gave her a certain amount, a bottom line and he offered

  • below that. She doesn't want to say "no. " right now. She's just saying that she's

  • not at liberty to accept this number. That, that's.... that is that low. She'll have

  • to check with her boss first and then let her know if it's still okay or not.

  • All right. Number two here. I am not at liberty. So it's a negative one. I'm not

  • at liberty to discuss the details of this case. This

  • matter is presently under investigation. Yes. So you might have a ... sometimes we say a

  • gag order or something. You're, you're not legally allowed to talk about this

  • because the investigation is going on. They don't want you revealing this

  • information. All right. Number three here. There was a time anyone was at liberty.

  • So anybody could have done this freely. To fish in that lake. Now because of an

  • endangered species, it is against the law. So maybe they passed the law. Maybe

  • there's like one fish or one little microorganism or something in that lake

  • that they didn't like and they're afraid if you fish you might kill it off . So

  • they say no more fishing in that Lake. So you're no longer at liberty to do that.

  • Okay. And number four here. I am not at liberty to discuss confidential matters

  • at my former employer or you know at his last job. There was a clause in my

  • contract that I am not legally allowed to reveal that information. So he's not

  • at liberty to say. So he doesn't have the freedom he has restraints. He cannot say

  • that. He cannot give that information. So he is not at liberty to do that. Okay. I

  • hope you got it. I hope it was clear. I hope it was informative. Thank you for your time.

  • Bye-bye.

Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Idioms 285. The idiom today is to be at liberty

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英語家教Nick P成語(285)自由自在地做某事 (English Tutor Nick P Idioms (285) Be at Liberty to Do Something)

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    anitawu12 posted on 2021/01/14
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