BODY EXPRESSIONS WITH HAND: 'TO HAVE YOUR HANDS TIED'

Happy Friday everyone and welcome back to the Daily Vitamin.

Today we will finish our series of Daily Vitamins with expressions that use the word hand.

Today's Expression is: to have your hands tied

It means: when you cannot do what you want because something, such as a rule or law or the situation, prevents it.

Example 1:
Alice: You have to begin looking for my husband! He didn't come home last night!
Police Officer: I'm sorry; my hands are tied. We can't consider him a missing person until he has been missing for 24 hours.

Example 2:
John: Jason. We have to get the computer system back online immediately! What are you waiting for?
Jason: My hands are tied. The new software hasn't arrived yet. There is nothing I can do!

There are dozens more of these expressions with hand: first-second-third hand, to play your hand, out of hand, to have your hands full, etc. Our objective this week has only been to introduce you to some of them. We will return to hand expressions sometime soon.

⇒ In order to get some writing practice, I encourage you to write your own sentence (or two) with today's expression. You can post your sentences to one of our social media sites (Facebook or Bluesky) and we will give you feedback about your writing ASAP.

Have a great day and a very relaxing weekend.