English Idioms

English Idioms

What are idioms?

• Idioms are expressions which have a meaning that is not obvious from the individual words.
• The best way to understand an idiom is to see it in context.
• Most idioms are fixed in their form and cannot be changed or varied.
• As it can be difficult to work out what an idiom means, you will often need to look them up in a dictionary.

• Why do we learn idioms?

• To improve our level of English
• To understand native speakers

Types of idioms:

• Some idioms are imaginative expressions such as proverbs and sayings e.g.: Too many cooks spoil the broth.
• Other idioms are short expressions that are used for a particular purpose: Get lost!
• Some are considered as idioms because their form is fixed: for certain
• Similes: white like a chalk
• Bionimals: safe and sound (trionimals)
• From grammatical point of view we distinguish: verb+object/complement, prepositional phrase, compound or whole clauses or sentences, e.g. to cut a short story long

He spilled the beans

• He told the secret

Get off my back!

• Leave me alone!

We were in stitches!

• We were laughing very hard!

He kicked the bucket!

• He died

Go fly a kite!

• Go away!

She was dressed to kill

• She was dressed in her finest clothing

I’m at the end of my rope!

• I am so-o-o frustrated!

You have to bite the bullet

• You need to put up with this difficult situation

Teachers always stick to their guns

• Teachers never change their opinions

Money talks

• Have you heard about that new TV?

• Money influences a lot of people.