This reference and practice book presents and practises over 1000 of the most useful and frequent idioms in typical contexts. This book will appeal to students from intermediate level upwards who want to understand the English really used by native speakers. Over 1,000 of the most useful and frequent idioms which learners are likely to encounter are presented and practised in typical contexts, so that learners using this book will have hundreds of idioms 'at their fingertips'.
Level: Intermediate/Upper Intermediate/Gymnasium/Language Schools
Sample pages (PDF)
- Self-study reference and practice text for intermediate learners, which can also be used for classroom work.
- Presents and explains over 1000 idioms in typical contexts using tables, charts, short texts and dialogues on left-hand pages. These are practised through a variety of exercises on right-hand pages.
- Error warnings, learning tips and follow-up tasks to encourage learner autonomy
- Comprehensive answer key and index.
Contents
Acknowledgements 3
Using this book 4
Learning about idioms
i What are idioms?
ii Using your dictionary
Idioms to talk about …
1 Health
2 Happiness and sadness
3 Anger
4 Knowing and understanding
5 Experience and perception
6 Success and failure
7 Having problems
8 Dealing with problems
9 Power and authority
10 Structuring and talking about arguments
11 Conversational responses
12 Praise and criticism
13 Opinions on people and actions
14 Behaviour and attitudes
15 Reacting to what others say
16 Danger
17 Effort
18 Necessity and desirability
19 Probability and luck
20 Social status
21 Feelings
22 Human relationships
23 Size and position
24 Money
25 Work
26 Speed, distance and intensity
27 Communication 1: commenting on language
28 Communication 2: getting the message across
29 Life and experience: proverbs
30 Memory
Idioms from the topic area of …
31 Time 1: the past and the future
32 Time 2: clocks and frequency
33 The elements
34 Colour
35 Games and sport
36 Animals 1: describing people
37 Animals 2: describing situations
38 Weapons and war
39 Food
40 Roads
41 Houses and household objects
42 Nature
43 Boats and sailing
44 Science, technology and machines
Idioms using these keywords:
45 Finger, thumb, hand
46 Foot, heel, toe
47 Bones, shoulder, arm, leg
48 Head
49 Face, hair, neck, chest
50 Eyes
51 Ear, lips, mouth, nose, teeth, tongue
52 Heart
53 Brain, mind, blood and guts
54 Back
55 Long
56 Line
57 Act, action, activity
58 Good and bad
59 Ground
60 Similes and idioms with
like
Key 130
List of phonemic symbols 170
Index 171