Current Goal: Learn 50 American Phrases in 25 Days!
Good evening my fellow foreigners!
Does it happen to you often that you DRAW A BLANK when you’re asked a question?
And does it also happen that you find it hard to remember something specific and in the end you just DRAW A BLANK instead of being able to recall the date, the name or the location you were trying to remember?
Well, if that’s the case, then I have two things to tell you.
First of all, you have a pretty bad memory! 😀
Secondly, the American English idiom TO DRAW A BLANK is very relevant for your particular situation for the simple reason that you often find it hard to remember things, and that’s what this idiom means!
In order to sound a little bit more native-like when speaking in English with others, you may want to use such and similar idiomatic expressions, and you can use this one – TO DRAW A BLANK – in following situations:
- When telling a story about someone struggling to provide an answer to a question (HE DREW A BLANK);
- When telling someone about your inability to respond to a question (I DREW A BLANK).
As you can see, typically you’d use this phrase in the Past Tense, so I’d warmly suggest you learn and memorize the Past Tense version instead of the one where the verb “to draw” stands in its infinitive form.
If you repeat the following phrases – I DREW A BLANK and HE (SHE) DREW A BLANK – many times over and then use them in your spoken English practice sessions, you’ll find is so much easier to put them in context without any hesitation whatsoever (simply because on 99% of occasions the context is going to involve discussing another person!).
If, on the other hand, you learn the infinitive form TO DRAW A BLANK, you might struggle just a tiny bit when it comes to using this phrase within context.
Thanks for tuning in,
Robby 
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