Saturday English Quick SHOT – expression FROM SCRATCH

English quick shot

Do you know how to use the English expression from scratch?

One of my students works for a small company, and he was helping to train a new employee. After 6 weeks the new staff member quit. My student was not happy because now he has to train someone else from scratch. Can you guess what the English expression from scratch means?

1- without any previous preparation or knowledge

Randy learned German from scratch in six months.

This means it took 6 months to learn how to speak German without any prior knowledge of the language. Randy started from zero.

2 – from the very beginning, not using any of the work done earlier

They decided to dismantle the machine and start again from scratch.

This means they had to build the machine a second time from the beginning.

To do or make something from scratch is to start from the very beginning, to set out on some action or process without any prior preparation, knowledge or advantage.

My student’s example

The woman was finally doing most tasks by herself, but she quit today. As a result, I have to start from scratch with the new staff member now. It’s a pain.

I have to start from the very beginning again training a new staff member. All the previous work I did is wasted.

My grandmother

My grandmother can bake muffins from scratch.

She can make muffins without any prior preparation, or advantage, like a muffin mix for example. She uses only the basic ingredients.

Another English Quick SHOT – Put (something) Out

*Can you do anything from scratch? Maybe cook something or build something? Did you learn to do something from scratch? If you are proud of what you have learned to do FROM SCRATCH please tell me about it in the comment section below!

The English expression from scratch.

from scratch @ oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com

https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/scratch_2#scratch_2__73

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