A dictionary of Confusable Phrases: More Than 10,000 Idioms and Collocations

expert at something • expert in something
expert at something —a person who is very skilled at doing
smth.: Dave knows how to communicate with sales profes-
sionals. He is an expert at complex selling and knows exactly
how to get his messages across.
expert in something —a person who knows a lot about a par-
ticular subject: If he is an expert in the problems of bringing
the space station and the module together, he will be invalu-
able.
exposed to the elements • out of one’s element
exposed to the elements —unsheltered from bad weather:
Often a huge wave crashed over the launch and half the sea
washed over us as we were exposed to the elements.
every now and then
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out of one’s element—in an environment or situation not
naturally suited to a person: At first, I felt that I was out of
my element because my background in science was not as
broad as others. Cf.: in one’s element— in an environment or
situation natural or suited to a person: He is in his element
where he feels that he belongs, a small farming village.
extravagant in something • extravagant with
 something
extravagant in something —going beyond what is reasonable
in smth. one does: Roger was a superb teacher of piano and
his own students have frequently been extravagant in his
praise.
extravagant with something —going beyond what is reason-
able in smth. one uses or spends: While unbelievably good-
looking and extravagant with his money, his accent takes away
from his affluent upbringing.
eye dialect • eye language
eye dialect—writing in which spellings are altered to repre-
sent a dialectal or colloquial pronunciation: Which of the elo-
cutionists could object to the vocalized result of enuff, probably
the oftenest repeated of eye-dialect usages?
eye language —interpersonal communication by means of
the expression of the eyes: Although Fran had a stern look on
her face, her eye language clearly indicated that she was not
serious about her statement.