Building Blocks of English: Idioms

Do you want to improve your English in order to open new doors in your career? Or perhaps you wish to go abroad for work or education.

Whatever your need – you have come to the right place! With 10 years of experience with English language training, hundreds of our students now thriving around the world, and a well-developed strategy to help you perfect your English – Hurray will be your perfect partner.   

We’ve launched a series of blog posts, wherein we take up one component of language at a time, and unveil its various nitty-gritties. Today, we’re talking about English Idioms! Read on to learn more.

P.S. don’t forget to update yourself with what we’ve already covered! You can check out blog posts on Adjectives in our blog Top Vocabulary Tips for 2020,  How to Use Articles in English Speaking and Writing, Prepositions and How to Use them and Common Collocations in English.

Idioms: What are They?

Idioms are an integral part of everyday spoken and written English – they’re used to ‘dress up’ your language, and are quite integral to the repertoire of a fluent speaker of English.

Why should you learn them? Simple – being able to incorporate such phrases into your speech and writing indicates your mastery over the language. 

Types of Idioms

Not all idioms are created the same way.

1. Some may be whole sentences by themselves – the meaning is complete in itself, where the listener will know exactly why  you’re saying it. 

2. Some should be used as a part of a sentence – only once it is in combination with other words, will the listener know why this is being used.

Besides this, the context of the conversation also determines which idioms can and can’t be used. 

Idioms in casual conversation

You can easily use such phrases when among your friends, or with peers and colleagues in an informal setting – but you wouldn’t typically bring these into play when speaking to someone in a senior position, or in a big meeting!

How do you identify a casual idiom? It will usually be rather flippant in its tone, or even just a little bit crude – but perfectly fine to use in the right context.

Examples: 

Idioms for regular use

This is typically a rather exhaustive list – there are so many idioms that are used in an everyday context, from the classroom to the conference room! We can’t cover them all here – but we can show you the most common, which you can start to use right away!

Examples:

Idioms as Aphorisms

An aphorism is a ‘truth-saying’ – something someone says when conveying a simple truth about life. Several idioms serve as aphorisms, and they are all typically in the form of a single whole sentence, used independently.

Examples:

Tips to learn

The list of idioms can go on endlessly – but how you learn them, and start using them?

Unfortunately, it’s impossible to sit and memorise them all in one go – and would be quite senseless too!

• Rather, you’d do better by increasing your reading or any exposure to English in use, in movies or on television. When you hear an idiom, keep note of it and how it’s being used.

• You can also look up some of the most common ones – the list we’ve included here is the best place to start!

• Begin using them in your daily conversations – the more you use them, the more natural they’ll start to feel.  

Soon enough, you’ll be a pro.

Tips for usage

Of course, there are a few more tips worth noting – not only should you know idioms but also be able to use them effectively!

1. Avoid clichés

Some idioms, like “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” or “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch”, have become extremely common and boring to hear – using them too frequently may not help you much.

On the other hand, some other idioms such as “Take with a grain of salt” and “Straight from the horse’s mouth” can help put your message across in a very sharp and polished way – these are the ones you should aim to increase using!

2. Pay attention to context

Using an idiom in the wrong context, particularly if you have misunderstood the meaning, can make quite a negative impression. That is why it is so essential to pay attention to or study how they should be used!

This is particularly significant in the case where a few idioms sound rather similar but have completely different meanings.

For example: To “bite the bullet”, means to tackle a difficult situation – while to “bite the dust”, means to die! You can surely imagine the confusion and even offence that may arise if you use the wrong one at the wrong time!

What next?

It must feel quite useful to have all the information in one place like this.

Well, imagine how useful you would find an English training course – where you’d have weeks’ worth of access to expert and experienced trainers, full of several such techniques, and plenty of opportunities to put them into practice.

At Hurray, we have some of the best trainers in Bangalore to provide you with assistance. Whether you need training for IELTS or PTE, or Spoken English training, we are at your service. And best of all, we offer our services online. We can help you reach your full potential!

You can reach out to us at info@hurrayedutech.com 8971357938, to learn more!